Was the Book of Joseph of Egypt found with the Book of Abraham? If so, do we have it today? Did Joseph Smith translate the Book of Joseph? Were there Vignettes/Facsimiles like the ones we found with the Book of Abraham? What was/is in the Book of Joseph?
Join Bruce Porter and Greg as they UNVEIL what few know about this part of Church History and what we have today. You'll see the actual fragments of the papyrus, the vignettes/facsimiles, and images and the writing of the Book of the Dead, a portion of the scroll.
that do we have references from individuals that talked about the book of Joseph were there fact similes in the
book of Joseph and the Scrolls just like there were with the book of Abraham and its Scrolls its Papas yes do we have
them yes in this interview with Bruce Porter we're going to pull back the Veil
and go over the book of Joseph now of course this episode is brought to you by the gospel on the Nile Cruise coming
September 10th through 19th this year 2024 we're going to go to the exact lot
or plot where the mummies and the papai were found and then eventually ended up
in Joseph Smith's hands we're going to go to the Temple of Luxor we're going to go to the Temple of carac and many other
of The Magnificent ruins that you find in Egypt out side of the temple itself you'll learn more about the temple and
your experience there in Egypt than anywhere else go to quick media.com
that's cwic media.com go to trips and events at the top scroll down to gospel
on the Nile I would love to see you there here we
[Music]
go all right welcome to Quick show my name is great GRE Matson and I am your host in this episode we bring back Bruce
Porter who is going to help us unveil the very elusive book book of Joseph
Bruce welcome to the show thank you Greg Greg it's good to be back it's good to be back well this is uh this is really
an interesting subject because it's rarely ever mentioned I think that a lot of members of the church are even in a
you know they may not even know about this they may have never even heard about it and those that may have heard about it might be like well is this just
Legend is this a myth about the uh the book of Joseph can you start off talking
about the origins of this where do we get this is there really a book of Joseph and then which there is and we'll
we'll talk a little bit more about the specifics of what is actually known about the book of Joseph well the origin um it begins in
Egypt in a place called Abu alorna which is in thieves um leelo Antonio leolo I
guess if you want to call it that or how you pronounce it but digs up the mummies
he tanks them to Italy where they are then uh put on consignment in
triest uh after leelo's death he um the executive of the estate sends him to his
son leelo's nephew who is uh his name is berola who is a veterinarian in
Philadelphia or New York I believe Philadelphia um who then ends up selling
them to Chambler through um a law firm um who
lends or gives the mummies to Chandler with a promise of payment and Chandler goes about on the East Coast New York U
Philadelphia Baltimore then over to Harrisburg um uh Cleveland and then
Kirtland and on the way he's he's dropping mummies he there's been a couple of mummies there in in
Philadelphia There's um I believe two of them went to the um Academy of Science in Philadelphia one of them went to the
um it looks like one of them went to the um Masonic Hall in Philadelphia does the
same in Baltimore uh by the time he gets to uh Harrisburg he's got six the winner
of 34 1834 35 he's got six in Harrisburg
and then he goes to Cleveland early that spring and then of 35 and then by July
uh 3 of 35 he comes into curland he's only got four of them and these These are the mummies and
they had there's papar along with these that include the book of Joseph or
whatever triggers the book of Joseph if you will along with the papar and the
fimbles of the book of Abraham correct exactly Joseph said when he reviewed the
when he reviewed the um Papyrus between the 3rd and 6th of July in 1835 he said
this would lead to the to the book of Joseph that that this this collection that
Chandler had for sale for $2,400 would lead to the book of Joseph and the Book of Abraham and so they were purchased
and um shortly after July 6 the 35 Chandler takes the money
$2,400 and goes outside of Kirtland and buys a buys a farm brings his family in
lives there for the rest of his life but Joseph um made the statement that it would lead to both books the book of
Abraham and the Book of Joseph okay
so there there is a manuscript of papus of some sort that is separate we know
it's separate from the book of Abraham in fact I think that there's even an account one of the accounts we'll go
over here talks about two separate Scrolls the vignettes are
apparently a that are with the book of Joseph are are part of the same
scroll and the just like it is with the Abraham right where you've got the the fa similes that
are at least one of them right was was was part of the same papers the same scroll it's hard to say I guess it is
because I think Chandler I think all of the mummies that Chandler had of the 11
mummies that he acquired I believe that they all had uh Papyrus connected to
them mhm now Chandler uh the description that Chandler has a he had a a chest of
drawers of of uh drawers that were not very deep
that had multiple drawers and he kept the Papyrus flat inside of those inside of that
chest um and it appears that most of the Papyrus from the other mummies that
never made it to Joseph Smith's hands were were sold to Joseph Smith I mean
the mummies Joseph got four mummies of the 11 mummies it appears that that the Chandler kept the Papyrus from the other
11 in this chest and Joseph in the purchase acquired not just the four mummies but the Papyrus from those four
mummies as well as Papyrus from the mummies that Channer had sold along the
way that's the way it comes across Joseph so so Clarity here so he he also
acquired the Papas from each of the other uh uh uh seven mummies that had
been sold at least part of that at least yeah at least that's it appears that
Chandler kept the Papyrus separate from the mummies that he was selling along the way in this chest of drawers and the
reason we think that is because Joseph said when he had the Papyrus he says he
said it covered the floor covered the floor of the Parlor of the mansion house
yeah now we're looking at a at a 12 by 12
room The Parlor of the mansion house and he said it would cover the whole floor of the Parlor of the mansion house now
what the church has the 11 fragments that the church has would set would
would easily fit on the top of a normal desk now now what what fit on the floor
though wasn't that the book of Abraham no he just said the Papyrus that he had that he had okay so that could have been
both then yeah right and it could have been more that's why we think that it was probably more than just the four
mummies that he acquired yeah okay yeah I I know that John G had said uh that
just with a book of Joseph he figured that alone had to be at least 23 feet
long by itself but could have been much more who knows so I did notice also in
one of the uh the statements uh the one of the references that we have to the book of Joseph and it said
that there was it's like there's a pap it's a sign to each mummy right it's like a book of the Dead would be a sign
to each mummy because they're going to take that into the underworld right into the Afterlife with them with the
blessings basically it's the blessings and Direction and maybe map Etc of what they're going to be going through in the
Underworld and I I don't know if we know was it on their chest typically it seems like it was from the description almost
like they left it on their chest maybe with their arms over it or in part some of them could have been
on the chest they could have been inside the sarcophagus rolled up up as rolls inside hypo seis was generally separate
because it would always go under the head of the Mummy itself and the the head would R rest on that uh but the
rolls of Papyrus they could be quite long The Book of the Dead could be quite long or the portions that they wanted
buried with them or um in the sarcophagy would um could be different lengths but
they could be rolled up and along the sides of the uh of the Mummy itself within the within the sarcophagy okay so
Chandler brings these two Joseph Smith Joseph Smith purchases them there's also an early emphasis it seems actually on
the book of Joseph and not on the book of Abraham from the references uh which makes sense right
because there's so much information it seems not so much but there's so much
more information that we have from Genesis in the Book of Mormon talking
about Joseph right it's a very ifite record and and and so for that perhaps
there's a little more excitement about the writings of Joseph Joseph Smith is told he's a direct descendant of of
Joseph um so maybe there's a little more emphasis on that but seems there's a little bit more excitement about this
but of course he ends up going with the book of Abraham first and preparing that for publication and we never
get uh any specific written document that we know of that has
been translated although it's obvious he did some translating but it's no we
don't have any record of any of the translation that he's done and certainly nothing that's been prepared for
publication right I mean you when you talk about Genesis and the importance of Joseph I mean outside of the of the
story of Rebecca being the longest chapter um there is probably more about
about Joseph in Genesis than any other patriarch or prophet in the Book of
Genesis there's more about him and that's I think there's a reason for that is because he
becomes um the patriarch to all of the children of Israel he is he is the
patriarch and and the patriarchal narratives are focusing in on those Patriarchs be it from Adam to Seth to
Enoch you know right on down to Abraham Isaac Jacob and Joseph Joseph is the ending of those patriarchal Nar Ives and
he is he is the going to be that he is the grand patriarch for the children of Israel for the rest of time which trans
translates into his two sons Ephraim and Manasseh yeah and their blessing and that's why they have to be gathered out
even in the last days first Ephraim and Manasseh have to be gathered first because Joseph is the patriarch to all
of Israel Ruben lost that Birthright and so it moves over to Joseph that's why he gets the coat of many pieces or the coat
of many colors the different it's the Garment of the priest as people yeah I've got some questions about that on
for you actually another time but thoughts that I have on that but so yeah
and also in fact I've heard Jewish Scholars say um or read Jewish Scholars who have said that uh in a sense the
children of Israel had two different arcs they had the Arc of the Covenant and they were carrying the the bones of
Joseph and they were treated very similarly right it was like this was like another Arc or at least a
representation of of Israel right you had the Throne of God and then you had kind of this representation of Israel
that They Carried around which were the bones of Joseph it is not only do they have not only are there Traditions about
the two arcs the bones of Joseph which tradition has that they they
remained with Israel and others are that he was buried north of Jerusalem there but
within the Jewish tradition they have two Messiahs they have Messiah Ben Judah
which is Jesus Christ and they have Messiah Ben Joseph H which is which is
the which is Joseph that was sold into Egypt um and so even Within These Jewish
Traditions these two Messiah are there they're they're always in the background
Messiah Ben Judah and Messiah Ben Joseph and it's interesting that that John Taylor says in our in our Doctrine
covenants that no one's done more for the Salvation of man than Joseph Smith except for Jesus
Christ so we even see these two Messiahs this Messiah Ben Judah Jesus Christ
Messiah Ben Joseph the descendant of Joseph as predicted and has prophesied
in a record of Joseph that's in our Book of Mormon because Joseph prophesies about his descendants in the last day
who's going to be named Joseph after him and after the name of his father who will bring Salvation to Mankind and so
that's a direct connection back to to Joseph Messiah Ben Messiah Ben Joseph
and a direct connection back to Abraham and his yeah there there's also of course
the uh before we get into some of this unveiling here there's also the the apocryphal book of of Joseph and
asith I'm not sure how you pronounce it asith how do you say it asith as well okay asth um and uh which I actually
really love this story and I've really pulled a lot out of it but there's a a paper written by a man named uh I think
it's Gideon I want to say boak and uh he
uh he writes something very very interesting about this but this is a you know he he ties it to a place called
leontopolis which is in the gnome of heliopoulos and there is a temple built here in Le
leontopolis it's actually a Jewish temple in Egypt that they had the
permission they've got the writings on this they had the permission to build this Temple we know of the other one further south and Upper Egypt down down
in uh uh on the island elephanttine Island yeah but but this
was another one right that that is in in Lower Egypt in in heliopolis and and there's a
uh there's a it's all about the priesthood it's very interesting it's it's just it's about this honeycomb
there's a vision asth has about the honeycomb and these bees that have the colors of the high priests as they come
out anyway but there's just this tie there seems like there's always this strain of Joseph that we don't really
know about we don't learn about except we get pieces of this in scripture that's been restored like
like in in the Book of Mormon and in our tradition and the things that we talk about in gathering Israel and of course
the Joseph uh uh tribes of manasse and Ephraim and the focus on these that we
have in latterday Saint scripture all right so with that let's go into these slides that you have if you want to go
ahead and I'll add this in and and uh it should be
right there okay and why don't you uh go over some of this with us and and tell us what we know about the book of
Joseph well Joseph Smith um Joseph Smith began TR when he began translating he
translated not only the book of Abraham um as he as well as the book of Joseph
he he he had a manuscript for both translations in preparation um for
publication he would go through those manuscript scripts and prepare them um to be public or for the public and to be
published and he did that in installments in the times and Seasons so we get two installments in the book of
Abraham um and he never finished the last third installment of the book of Abraham and he didn't finish the book of
Joseph uh in its preparation for publication so um the manuscripts were
there and manuscripts existed now um with Oliver cry he starts to explain
some of the papyrus to Oliver calri and in particular one of the
faimes uh that were contained in the book of Joseph like there were faimes in the book of Abraham and so that's this
second picture here um is a description Joseph's description to Oliver calri and
it's in the Messi it was in in the messenger and Advocate this is Joseph description of that fact siming and he
says and Oliver is writing this he says the iner into of the same role now we're talking about this role of
Papyrus so he's talking about you have the text and then you have this fact
simbly and he says on the inner end of the same role of Joseph's record presents a representation of the
judgment and that part's important because the Judgment scene is very important in all books of the dead at
one view you behold the Savior seated upon his throne now I put a number one there because the other femes in Abraham
are numbered and so I just kind of numbered these for the for the sake of being able to see it later on the Savior
Seated on his throne crowned and holding the scepter of righteousness and power be before whom also are assembled the 12
tribes of Israel representing the Nations the language tongues of the Earth the kingdoms of the world over
which Satan is represented is reigning then number three Michael the Archangel holding the key of the bottomless pit at
the same time number four the Devil as being chained up and shut up in the bottomless pit but upon this last scene
I'm only able to give you a shadow of the real text so this is this is what's
published about this is the explanation of the faim one of the one of the faimes
in the book of Joseph okay that Oliver calri is giving us from Joseph Smith this is interesting
real quick I just intervene here I know that in one of the statements I want to say it's by Oliver cowry uh number four
there the devil as being Chained and shut up in the bottomless pit
um he gives a description it says there's a description all so at least in one of something some type of vignette
within the scroll of Michael holding the emblem of the bottomless pit or the
freedom from the bottomless pit yeah that's kind of interesting but then you got that that puts you know Michael
against Lucifer I guess in a way there which is which is always the case in the in all extra biblical literature Michael
is the one in is has the power he's the one that casts him out of out of U
heaven in the pre Earth counsil he's the one that controls him he's the one in our Doctrine covenants that um depicts
Satan when he's appearing as an angel of Light to Joseph Smith he's the one that's arguing with Satan over the body
of Moses you know see uh in the Book of Revelations Michael is the one that puts
him into the bottomless pit holding the key of the bottomless pit so yeah um that's one of Michael's responsibilities
or Adam's responsibilities in doing that and so you have this description the
this is a this is a a picture of the Papyrus that the church has of the 11
fragments now it was torn in two down through the middle there but when you put it back together you get this
judgment scene um in this picture you have the you have the uh dead person on
the right now I've I've gone through and I've put it on white paper so you can see it a little bit better
um uh so that you can kind of see what's going on on in this case you have the dead person on the right hand on the
right side um with the attendants and the escorts that are there um and then
going on you have the scale which is down at the bottom you have um
thth uh writing the Judgment you have the great Devour the four sons of Horus
and Osiris on the left you have the and then you have the god the um judges um
the gods who set in Judgment at the top as as is common in most most scenes now
I turn this around just so we can look at it from left or right I I reverse it so you can
look at it in left or right and so on here if you and I don't know whether you can see this or not I will be able to
see it I've put the same numbers that I had in in Oliver cry's explanation on the on this fa simbly so
that you can see it the Savior Seated on his throne Osiris is the is the one who
uh was killed by his either evil brother Seth who's resurrected and then exalted giving everyone that power to be exalted
the 12 tribes of Israel setting at the top representing the 12 tribes of Israel All Nations uh languages and tongues of
the Earth the statements down below are the are right out of the times or out out of the messenger and advocate so
they're the exact statements um three is Michael you can't see it very well you can see his two feet at the at about the
middle of the paper one foot on one side the other foot on on the other side that's that's generally represented as
Thoth uh writing down the judgment and then the devil uh is number four there
that's called the Great devour he's part lion um part hyena um uh his his face
his mouth and and head is alligator then his neck and shoulders are lion his body
is hyena and his hind quarters are hippopotamus he's everything you don't
want to meet in the Egypt after Dart and he uh consumes if the judgment is not
correct he consumes the heart I uh of the individual which is being we weighed
on the scale which is down below now this is a this is a very these are some
just common pictures of the Judgment scene you and you have all of the elements here the same thing the dead
person on the left uh the scale in the center um uh being checked by Anubis so
that mercy and Justice neither Mercy nor Justice will be robbed you have the
heart of the individual on the left uh which is his character weighed against
the character of God on the right the Maat uh you can see the great devour there the the alligator lion hyena and
hippo and th is writing it down that was in the centerpiece and then the escort
presenting the dead person to Osiris on the other side with the god setting at top so this is very this is a very
common scene in almost all judgments or Symposium
scenes now I've taken on this particular one um I took the Joseph
Smith book of Joseph judgment scene at the top and then Annie's from the
Papyrus of Annie is down at the bottom there and Annie's is the most one of the
most complete judgment scenes and it's because Annie was a scribe and so he he these cost money and since
Annie was a scribe he did his own and he did it complete more complete than any of them and so I put the same I I
highlighted the same elements that we see in the Joseph faimly with those in
Annie you can see all the same key elements that are there um so that a person can see see
what's see what's going on there now if you break it down and I so I've taken the Papyrus of Annie and broke it down
here so you have Annie the dead person in the upper left there you have Annie and his wife there you see Annie on the
tomb um is sitting on a tomb with a bird bird body and his head which represents
his spirit and his heart is in that jar that's I IB his heart is his character
and it's being weighed against Maat every the character of God everything everything that's true and right and
just and and perfect uh thought in the next uh on the on the right hand side
tho is writing the Judgment down and the great devour um which in the explanation
that Joseph G gives represents Satan the great devour is waiting to eat the heart
uh of Annie again you can see his crocodile head and his Lion's man his hyena spots and his hippopotamus hind
quarters and then you have Horus who is now escorting Annie there's always an
escort even in within our own scriptures when a person um not just our scriptures
but in extra biblical text too when there's when there's a vision or a manifestation or uh translation there
seems to always be an escort involved there much like our temples there's an escort to assist yeah and so Horus is
the escort of Annie holding his hand and has his arm up in the presentation scene
and the presentation uh talking to Osiris on the other side and then on the bottom one
you see Horus there on the um left there has his hand up and he's presenting
Annie to Osiris which is on the far right um and this middle one is the in
between this middle one is now this middle part of this bottom vignette is Annie's in the presence of God and he's
making offerings to Osiris on the other side if you were to see this is actually in the British museum if you were to see
this in the British museum it's in color it's still in the original colors and you will see Annie get as Annie
progresses through this he gets whiter and whiter and whiter until his clothes are perfectly white and even his hair is
white by the time he reaches this last pin yet Bruce Bruce hold on let me see I I've got one of these I want to see if
that's the case on this one I don't know if it is just gonna change this to here so I've got a little cylinder here this
is from Egypt when I was with with you and this is on
actual Papyrus is made locally there and let's
see if I can unroll this and have this show up
properly well that's not even gonna hold on let's see if I can fit this into the camera you can have to get way back on
way there we go okay so I don't know I can't see that where is he getting wider as he goes through uh yeah no he does on
this one his hair is white in the end one but it's not it's not true to the color in the British museum but it's but
it's very close it's very close but his hair is white in the end there yeah okay but that is that is the copy from the of
the Papyrus of Annie so this last this last vignette this bottom vignette becomes very important and the important
part of this is what's being said by the escort by Horus on the leftand side and
what he is saying is above his head and below his arm there that is reaching
that's in the presentation mode of of of making a statement to Osiris on the
other side um and so this is it up a little more up close you have Annie here on the
left his heart being weighed in the balance against his character weighed against the character of God it's an
interesting thing that Joseph Smith said that we can't dwell with God until we have the character of God um made a
statement uh you have the 12 who set in judgement up at the top here um going on
to the next one you have tho writing it down the great devour there again alligator lion hyena and hippo and then
Horus making the presentation with Annie over on the right hand side and the important thing is what's being said
here the words that Horus is saying to Osiris on the other side of this of his
um we might call it a veil but it's the it's the separation between him and the
rest of the rest of the world uh when osire before Annie goes into the presence but the important thing is
what's being said now I've got Bud's translation here on the
left of what's there in front of Horus I got Bud's translation and my translation
on the right which is going to be easier to see and this is what um this is what Horus is saying
to uh Osiris on the other side and it says in the hieroglyphics thus saith
Horus the son of Isis I have come unto thee oh great God and have brought the resurrected Annie his heart or character
if you want to translate it that his heart is pure and has come forth from the balance and he has not sinned
against any God or any goddess th hath waited according to the decree uttered
by the counsel of the Gods those up above um of the Gods unto unto him it
and his heart is true and very righteous grant that he may be given cakes and beer and may He enter into the presence
presence uh of Osiris and be like the followers of Horus forever which is another form of exalted so if you look
at it it's what the escort is saying to the God on the other side what Horus is
saying look he's done everything he's supposed to do according to the counsil of gods he's done everything that he's
supposed to do and his heart is right and pure he's not sinned against any God or any goddess and then then the request
is may he enter into the presence in other words he's been true and faithful now may he enter into the presence of
Osiris become like the followers of Horus forever so it's a veil scene a Sy what
we might call a symposium scene but it's it's it's connected too um there's been
a number of Brethren say that the things that were contained in the book of Joseph were of such a sacred nature that
it shouldn't be published to the world and this is this may be part of uh of what Joseph restored in the
book of Joseph that may be because of the things that were that were in the book of Joseph or revealed to to Joseph
Smith through the through which could be very sacred things about the temple exactly and Elder mcon even went on to
say that he felt that much of the endowment restored at navoo was because of the things that were in the book of
Joseph so anyway that just goes on it's just this that's basically all I have
there so there so there is beer in the afterlife well they even in Egypt it says it says may he be given cakes or
bread and beer they didn't even drink the water back then I guess okay
anyways so that's just part I've got a lot of other information on this but this is just a quick quick kind of
review of the Papyrus that's that's really cool and so just interesting right that it's very similar to The Book
of Abraham you've got you've got what we think is at least the Book of the Dead in there um some vignettes that go along
with it and then of course the question is well is there more right is there you were talking about this filled the floor
of one of the rooms and so was there much more that was used for translation
and all we have left are the fragments from The Book of the Dead portion on on this or did Joseph Smith translate these
things as you know triggers uh from the vignettes and even the Book of the Dead perhaps and and receive Revelation
through these things um you know that that's my opinion I think it's more revelatory translation than just about
anything else uhhuh yeah um I want to go over some of
the uh um references that have been made uh to
the book of Joseph historically and just get your thoughts on these things I've got six of them here six
references [Music] um as I said John G suggests that one
scroll this would be the one of the book of Joseph could have been as long as 23
feet um Joseph Smith made multiple uh presentations in which he assumed very
much a a being familiar with the text of the book of Joseph so he seems to have
gone through it and if not having written it down through translation he's familiar with this he he knows what this
is he he's probably understood the entire you know it seems like he's
understood maybe the Crux of what the book of Joseph is is talking
about here's one of them from uh uh uh Joseph Smith um this is actually written by
Willard Richards but it's in the first voice of Joseph Smith as as an entry he says with ww Phillips and Oliver cowry
as scribes this is Joseph Smith would be speaking I commenced the translation of some of the characters or hieroglyphics
and much to our joy found that one of the roles contained the writings of Abraham one of the roles another role
the writings of Joseph of Egypt a more full account of which will appear in its
place as I proceed to examine or unfold them truly we can say the Lord is
beginning to reveal the abundance of peace and truth so this is in Joseph Smith's own words there is a book of
Joseph by his own words there is a at least one scroll on on uh the book of uh
the book of Joseph here there's another account here by John Whit
um who says about the 1 of July 1835 there came a man having four Egyptian
mummies this is Chandler exhib exhibiting for them for Curiosities which is a Wonder indeed having also
some words connected with them which were found deposited with the mummies
but there being no one skilled in the Egyptian language therefore could not translate the record after this
exhibition Joseph The Seer saw these records and by the revelation of Jesus Christ could translate these records
which gave an account of our forefathers much of which interesting he
says that our forefathers much of which was written by Joseph of Egypt who was
sold by his Brethren which when all translated will be pleasing history and
great value to the Saints and this word history comes up over and over again in these references to the point that one
scholar recommends that the title of the book is
the history of Joseph um it it that it seems that they
make this reference to the history of Joseph not just in an a
description of of what it is but actually as a title just which is which is kind of interesting I think I think
too from that quote there he says that it was a revelation from Jesus
Christ if you notice in that that yes that it's a it's a revelation from from
from Jesus Christ about the which we're getting the translation from yeah yeah
exactly it's a revelation here again in his ww Phelps um the last of June four Egyptian
mummies were brought here there were two papus roles he says besides some other
ancient Egyptian writings with them that that's so there's two Papas rols besides
some other ancient Egyptian writings with them maybe hyp hypos who knows or something as no one could translate
these writings they were presented to president Smith he soon knew what they were and said the role they the roles of
papus contained the SEC sacred record of Joseph in Pharaoh's Court in Egypt and
the teachings of Father Abraham God has so ordered it that these mummies and writings have been brought in the church
and the sacred writing I have just locked up in brother Joseph's house when your letter came so I had two cons cons
consolations of good things in one day these records of old times when we translate and print them in a book will
make a good witness for the Book of Mormon again this is I I think that primarily it seems to
me like he's thinking of the Joseph stuff here right there is nothing secret or hidden that shall not be
revealed um any comment on that no I I think it is I think there's
connections especially um not knowing what's in the book of Joseph exactly but
I wouldn't doubt that perhaps an explanation of the Prophecies of Joseph that we that are recorded in the Book of
Mormon uh may have been revealed to Joseph Smith through through that record or through that
translation so that letter was written to a woman named Sally and in the same letter then uh uh from
written I don't know who wrote it but it's from Joseph Smith he says
um this is from ww Phelps he says Brother Joseph remarked that it was easy
to shed tears while reading that letter this is a letter from this woman Sally and it was as easy to shed tears
while reading that letter as it was when reading the history of Joseph in Egypt
this is why one of the scholars says no he thinks the history is capitalized and in fact he says that uh see if I've got
this here in several of the incidents where there is
a this is written this description so to speak of history of Joseph the H is
actually capitalized along with Joseph and Egypt in the phrase history of Joseph and
Egypt by those original you know uh those original people that saw the record or with Joseph at the
time the fourth is a reference from the a convert named Albert Brown he had
recently arrived in Kirtland and he says I will relate one incident that happened not long since in our favor by some men
that had four Egyptian mummies which they were carrying through the world to exhibit and also an ancient record that
was found in their coffins This Record contained some of the history of Joseph while in Egypt and
also of Jacob and many prophecies delivered by them so that's interesting
yeah so he mentions Jacob in there uh if that's true that uh you know maybe
Joseph like Nephi does with Lehi maybe maybe Joseph has had included
some of Joseph or Jacob's prophecies uh as well in
there and uh and then we get this really long one and this is the longest one we get which is from oliv calry and I think
you had some of this in your description there but I'm going to go ahead and read it anyway yeah it says the language in
which This Record is written is very comprehensive and many of the hieroglyphics exceedingly striking the
evidence is apparent upon the face that they were written by persons acquainted with the history of the
creation the fall of Man and more or less of the correct ideas of Notions of
the deity the representation of the godhead three yet in one is curiously
drawn to give simply the impressive The Writer's views of the exalted personage
the serpent represented as walking now there's a vignette in in the that we
have on one of the fragments that has a walking Ser serpent in front of one of the women a woman right and and and he
is saying that this is looks like it's you know from the Garden of Eden or a formed in a matter to be able
to walk standing in front of and near a female figure is to me one of the
greatest representations I have ever seen upon paper or a writing substance
and he says this I'm not sure if you're familiar with this I look this up he says Enix pillar as mentioned by
Josephus is upon the same role you know about Enix pillar yeah Josephus does
talk about it in in his record and there is in that in the Papyrus there is a a
pillar uh kind of a triang not it's not triangle but it's it's sloped side with
a with a staff on the top of it there's that the other one though is there's I
have seen some people use the representation apparently there's two pillars one that's supposed to be made
of brick one that's supposed to be made of stone and and because the uh
apparently Adam originally had said that there was uh um that the Earth would be destroyed by water and that would not be
good with a brick and then it would be destroyed by fire somehow that's not going to be good by the stone and so they wanted both that that could
withstand both catastrophes right but one of them based on josephus's writings
was written by the descendence of Seth and and the other one was written
by the Egyptians and and that they were the these were the pillars and so a lot of people make the connection that it was a
pyramid and there is actually an upside down pyramid on one of the vignettes in the papis there with the Book of the
Dead uh which is the book of Joseph part of the book of Joseph scroll so that's that's kind of I had never seen that
before so so that was kind of interesting um at the inner end of the same role of Joseph's record present
presents a representation of the Judgment which is what you had shown uh at one view you behold the
Savior seated upon his throne crowned and holding the scepter of righteousness and power before whom also are assembled
the TW tribes of Israel the Nations languages and tongues of the Earth the kings of the world over which Satan is
represented as reigning Michael the Archangel holding the key of the bottomless pit and at the same time the
devil as being Chained and shut up in the bottomless pit so that's that's kind of interesting you've got kind of what
you were saying there about that uh not much more on this but uh it does say at
the very end here um he's judging judging from their size and the comprehensiveness of the language one
might reasonably expect to see a sufficient develop to develop much upon
the mighty acts of the ancient men of God and of his dealing with the children of men when they saw him face to face so
this is not a small piece that he's looking at right right again it's there's much much much more than than
what we have here it seems over and over again as one scholar here had uh
commented Barney Quinton Barney that there is a there is a clear temple theme uh similar to The Book of Abraham
maybe more descriptive right with the vignettes all the vignettes and uh and with the descriptions here
and like you said I mean maybe that's maybe that's the reason that uh
that that it can't be published and and now Bruce arakaki did say another comment from Bruce arakaki was um the
day shall come when the book of Joseph shall be restored and its contents shall be known
again yeah so yeah both um Sydney B sperry and Elder James talage
kind of said the same thing that makoni did in that it contained things of such a sacred nature that it shouldn't be
published so that was their feeling towards the the things in the book of Joseph so yeah it always is I always you
obviously you know I'm gonna I'm going to subject myself to the will of the Lord on these things but I always feel a
frustration it's like why I wish we had this you know how much how much more
knowledge would we have about these things how much more testimony and faith building would this be if we had this
but you know all things in their due time I suppose well the question is you know you're not going to get more until
you read and understand what you already have yes and so maybe it's a maybe it's a protection to not get certain things
that are Sac of such a sacred nature if we don't take the scriptures seriously now it makes you think we'll take
something more sacred seriously yeah yeah that judgment seam is now bluring in my head here thinking about that so
yeah yeah yeah well this is awesome this is great stuff um I I you know again I
think that a lot of people don't realize that there is a book of Joseph um oh you know what let's finalize this with uh
the story of I think parle P Pratt and Joseph F Smith and and and kind of uh
about when this happened and and and what what we know about this which might
pertain to the book of Joseph you know I was I was
um I was working for the religious study center uh BYU which is really focuses on
scripture on scriptural research and I had worked for the Old Testament um I don't know what you want
to call it Department of the religious study center and I was working that for the Pearl great
price um Department of the religious study center and at that particular time Donell
Peterson H Donell Peterson was the director of the Pearl great
price um Department of the religious study center and so I was working with
him and we were given the assignment to actually try and find the will of
Antonio leelo because Michael Chandler when he comes to Joseph Smith in 1835 says that he was the nephew of labelo
and that labelo will before his he died in in triaz that he will all of the mummies and Papyrus to him and so I was
asked um we were asked the religious study center pear great price Department
was asked to to try and do the research surrounding that will and eventually we
were sent um over to Europe Donell um and myself brother Peterson and myself
were sent over to Europe um the Mediterranean area Italy and into the
Middle East into Egypt to do research and continue the research we went into Ireland to do research on Chandler where
he was from um and we were gone for almost eight months um in that in that
time um I had gone back to New York and Philadelphia two summers to do research
prior to that in preparation for that but but in in in doing that in looking
at that research we were tasked with the to try and find the will of labelo which
we did find the find the will of labelo they had been looking for it for 150 years but they're just looking in the
wrong place and under the wrong name but but we did find the um the will of of labelo showing
that there was no connection to Michael Chandler that he was just telling a story so yeah he was he was using
Shenanigans he was but um in in the
1870s um Elder Pratt and Elder Smith were given the assignment to go back to
navoo um where Emma was still alive and living
and and and brother Peterson and I we had asked for permission to see the
minutes of the first presidency when they set Elder Pratt and Elder Smith part now he had done it before and this
time under assignment we were basically giving given a lot of access to what's
now called the Joseph Smith papers and things like that that we hadn't been before and so um looking at the minutes
we were given permission to look at the minutes of the first presidency when they set set him apart and they
specifically set him apart um Pratt and Smith to go back they they sent Joseph F
Smith back there because he was the nephew of of um Lucy and so they were
set apart to do basically three things one is to purchase the rest of the book
of Abraham manuscript that last third and to purchase the second thing was to purchase the book of Joseph manuscript
and the third thing was to invite Emma uh to come West with him to come back with him
and um it was called a mission to the states and you can look it up it was a mission
to the states just going back to Nauvoo and back again they weren't gone very long but they both returned they
returned together about two or three days before October conference and uh we had um as any good researcher would do
we asked to see the minutes of the first presidency when they returned and reported we saw the setting apart and
what they were set apart to do specifically to do but we they wouldn't allow us to see the minutes of the
return and Report part but they both spoke in in conference that October conference when
they got back and they both said that we had a very successful Mission but Emma
didn't come he didn't she didn't come back with him which to have a successful Mission
would imply that they were able to acquire the manuscripts from her that
she kept uh of the rest of the book of Abraham and the Book of Joseph now that
may be why Sperry and and Elder Talmage and Elder mcon said what they said because
they may have reviewed that manuscript but and I don't know for sure and I can't say that they have or that the
church has it we were never we never got that far but I do I do know why they were set apart and went back to navu and
they did say that they both said that they had a very successful Mission so it could be that the
manuscripts somewhere yeah well they're somewhere yeah yeah exactly well that's
that's very very intriguing and and uh you know it's I I think your point is
well taken that we as members of the church need to prepare ourselves more to be able to receive more and there is
more and and not just the book of Joseph which is yet to be revealed to us although we're doing what we can here a
little bit on the on the fringes of this but it's uh but there's probably much much more there's a sealed portion of
the Book of Mormon there's there's other records from John there's there's so much more that we could have if we just
adopted what we already have and and understood it more and and prepared ourselves more and um I hope we're going
in that direction I hope we're we're moving toward the direction of actually being able to receive more and I'm not
sure we are there's a there's a great verse in the doctrine in the doctrine Covenant section 88 says you'll receive
that which you're willing to receive because you would not receive that which you might have received yeah so we hope
we're preparing for more yeah I hope we get past those might havs so Bruce thanks so much really appreciate it
awesome information very exciting stuff and uh we'll like you said we'll we'll
see you in Egypt yeah thanks a lot Greg we appreciate it all righty
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