Could there have been a real Egyptian scroll that actually, literally discussed Abraham?
In addition to evidence for Egyptian connections to Abrahamic literature found in the Testament of Abraham and the Apocalypse of Abraham (discussed more fully in Part 2 of this document), both of which were found after Joseph Smith’s time, other more recently found ancient Egyptian texts contain references to Abraham, including an Egyptian lion couch scene like Facsimile Number 1. Several related examples are provided by John Gee [Gee, 1992b]. Interestingly, most of these Egyptian documents that mention Abraham are from the same general era (ca. 1st to 3rd century A.D.) and location (Thebes) as the papyri that Joseph Smith had. These documents are not necessarily evidence that Abraham was known to the Egyptians of his time and may instead reflect much later Egyptian contact with Jews and Christians. But they do lend a little plausibility to Joseph’s claim to have had Egyptian writings about Abraham. In addition to the six instances of Abraham in Egyptian texts discussed in the Ensign a
In addition to evidence for Egyptian connections to Abrahamic literature found in the Testament of Abraham and the Apocalypse of Abraham (discussed more fully in Part 2 of this document), both of which were found after Joseph Smith’s time, other more recently found ancient Egyptian texts contain references to Abraham, including an Egyptian lion couch scene like Facsimile Number 1. Several related examples are provided by John Gee [Gee, 1992b]. Interestingly, most of these Egyptian documents that mention Abraham are from the same general era (ca. 1st to 3rd century A.D.) and location (Thebes) as the papyri that Joseph Smith had. These documents are not necessarily evidence that Abraham was known to the Egyptians of his time and may instead reflect much later Egyptian contact with Jews and Christians. But they do lend a little plausibility to Joseph’s claim to have had Egyptian writings about Abraham. In addition to the six instances of Abraham in Egyptian texts discussed in the Ensign a
Related Questions
- How literally do you take the myths? For instance, do you actually believe that a huge, red-bearded man with a hammer is driving a wagon through the sky when it thunders?
- Could there have been a real Egyptian scroll that actually, literally discussed Abraham?
- Is there any commentary that suggests that Abraham actually DID sacrifice Isaac?
