Heavens Expanse and Sokar
Welcome to part 4 in our series! This time we’re looking at Joseph Smith’s translation of Egyptian hieroglyphs found in Facsimile 2 from the Book of Abraham.
Today we’ll see just how wrong Joseph’s translation skills were when he said this inscription meant the expanse of the heavens. What we know from the experts is that this is the evil Egyptian god of the underworld sometimes referred to as Sokar.
From Joseph Smith:
4. Answers to the Hebrew word Raukeeyang, signifying expanse, or the firmament of the heavens; also a numerical figure, in Egyptian signifying one thousand; answering to the measuring of the time of Oliblish, which is equal with Kolob in its revolution and in its measuring of time.
The Hebrew word for firmament or heaven is raqiac and has nothing to do with what is going on here in figure 4.
According to Deveria (Egyptologist and curator for the Louvre in the mid 1850’s) this is a representation of a mummified hawk known as Ah-em or what Egyptians called the divine repose of death; “its extended wings have reference to the resurrection”.
This deity was also known as Sokar or Ptah Sokar, a god of the underworld. His name is believed to mean “opening of the mouth ceremony”, derived from a funeral ritual. He was known as a falcon god found primarily in the regions of Memphis who came to be a god of the necropolis. Ptah was also a god of the underworld.
Pyramid texts describe him as a god active in the rebirth of the king and transfer of royal power. Sokar festivals were well known in Ancient Egypt for celebrating the wealth of soil and power or growth.
Sokar took Ptah’s consort Sekhmet and in this form the three gods combined formed a formidable deity which held lasting significance for the remainder of Egypt’s dynastic periods. Mention of this god is found in the earliest known text predating the dynastic years.
The Pyramid Text was the oldest collection of religious spells known in ancient Egypt and formed much of their later religious theology and literature. They were eventually separated and evolved into the Book of the Dead. The spells have shown up on numerous sarcophagus chambers, temples, pyramids and hypocephali.
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