The Facsimiles and Semitic Adaptation of Existing Sources As found in Astronomy, Papyrus, and Covenant, edited by John Gee and Brian M. Hauglid, p. 107-30. Provo, Ut: Farms, 2005. This article points to known cases where Jewish authors adapted Egyptian iconography and scenes to a Jewish point of view andContinue Reading

Scripture is both human and divine First, that in the Bible the divine and human are blended. We must not regard the Bible as an absolutely perfect book in which God is Himself the author using human hands and brains only as a man might use a typewriter. God usedContinue Reading

A translation of Facsimile #2 I appreciate the work that Michael Dennis Rhodes has put forward in our understanding of Facsimile #2. Below is an article that he published several years ago which has helped me in my quest to further understand how this text relates to Abraham, the gospelContinue Reading

Moroni 10:4 Ask if these things are not true? Negative Questions in the Book of Mormon Ben Spackman Much research has been devoted to identifying and examining language patterns in the Book of Mormon that appear to reflect the book’s underlying Semitic character.1 One possible Hebraism in the Book of MormonContinue Reading

Assessing the Joseph Smith Papyri: An Introduction to the Historiography of their Acquisitions, Translations, and Interpretations Kerry Muhlestein Interpreter: A Journal of Mormon Scripture 22 (2016): 17-49. Kerry Muhlestein received his Ph.D. from UCLA in Egyptology. He is a professor in the Ancient Scripture Department at Brigham Young University, where heContinue Reading

Egyptian stories repackaged in scripture: Lazarus and the Rich Man Luke’s parable of Lazarus and the Rich Man is an excellent example of how a 1st century Jew wrote down the words of a parable of Jesus, a story which, when analyzed, is really a much older story from EgyptContinue Reading

On Difficult Questions The Prophet Joseph Smith taught that “by proving contraries, truth is made manifest” (HC 6:248). To “study it out in your mind” is often a prerequisite to heavenly assistance (D&C 9:8), and communication from God may sometimes be recognized by its effect on the mind. Latter-day Saints wereContinue Reading

The god Zedek in the Ancient Near East The West Semitic deity Zedek, ‘Righteousness’, is found in the Old and New Testament in the personal names Melchizedek (Genesis 14:18; Hebrews 5:6; 6:20-7:17) and Adonizedek (Joshua 10:1), both Canaanite kings of pre-Israelite Jerusalem. The term “zedek” is found throughout the variousContinue Reading