Mormon Dilemma 477

Mormon Priesthood and Horus-Ra (Horus-Re)

In part 3 of our series from the Book of Abraham we’re taking a look at Smith’s rendition of Egyptian hieroglyphics and comparing his handiwork with the experts. The hieroglyph showcased here today has a notable inscription you can also see on the Nauvoo temple; the Wedjat Eye, also called the Left Eye of Horus.

Joseph’s interpretation is as follows:

3. Is made to represent God, sitting upon his throne, clothed with power and authority; with a crown of eternal light upon his head; representing also the grand Key-words of the Holy Priesthood, as revealed to Adam in the Garden of Eden, as also to Seth, Noah, Melchizedek, Abraham, and all to whom the Priesthood was revealed.

If Ra is the god of Mormonism this would be a good drawing of him here.  Ra (also known at times as Horus-Re) is a personification of the sun and depicted in Egypt as a hawk sitting on a barque [boat] sailing through the sky. He was the chief god of Egypt taking on multiple forms and expressions. 

His three primary depictions were the morning sun as a scarab beetle, the noon day sun as the solar disk and evening sun as a 4 headed ram. 

Joseph’s hypocephalus was missing this section. He obviously took liberty to insert what he thought may have been there originally. 

Notice the Wedjat eyes, one on either side of the boat. These were for protection against the evil-eye and also known as the eye of Horus. This is also seen on the LDS Nauvoo Temple (picture on left).

The Eye of Horus was a representation of when Horus’ left eye was gouged out by his brother Set after the death of their father Osiris while fighting for his throne.