Turning to another of the drawers, and pointing to a hieroglyphic representation, one of the Mormons said, "Mr. Smith informs us that this picture is an emblem of redemption. Do you see those four little figures? Well, those are the four quarters of the earth. And do you see that big dog looking at the four figures? That is the old Devil desiring to devour the four quarters of the earth. Look at this person keeping back the big dog. That is Christ keeping the devil from devouring the four quarters of the earth. Look down this way. This figure near the side is Jacob, and those are his two wives. Now do you see those steps?" "What," I replied, "do you mean those stripes across the dress of one of Jacob's wives?" "Yes," he said, "that is Jacob's ladder." "That," I remarked, "is indeed curious." (Henry Caswall, City of the Mormons, 23.)The vignette to which Caswall was referring is from chapter 125 of the Neferirnub Book of the Dead. Here is a reproduction from pages 40-B and 40-C of the February 1968 Improvement Era. (Click to enlarge.)
The vignette is a judgment scene, in which the deceased lady Neferirnub is introduced by the Two Maats into the presence of the judge, Osiris. The "big dog" is the monster Ammit. Here is what Wikipedia says about Ammit:
In ancient Egyptian religion, Ammit (also spelt Ammut and Ahemait, meaning Devourer or Bone Eater) was a female demon with a body that was part lion, hippopotamus and crocodile. A funerary deity, her titles included “Devourer of the Dead,” “Eater of Hearts,” and “Great of Death.”
Ammit lived near the scales of justice in Duat, the Egyptian underworld. In the Hall of Two Truths, Anubis weighed the heart of a person against Ma'at, the goddess of truth, who was sometimes depicted symbolically as an ostrich feather. If the heart was judged to be not pure, Ammit would devour it, and the person undergoing judgement was not allowed to continue their voyage towards Osiris and immortality. Once Ammut swallowed the heart, the soul was believed to become restless forever; this was called "to die a second time". Ammit was also sometimes said to stand by a lake of fire. In some traditions, the unworthy hearts were cast into the fiery lake to be destroyed. Some scholars believe Ammit and the lake represent the same concept of destruction.
The figure standing behind Ammit is the deity Thoth, who is recording the proceedings.
As for Jacob's Ladder, here is a close-up of that portion of the vignette:
Caswall appears to have been correct that this is merely the front of Neferirnub's dress. Perhaps the interpretation of it as "Jacob's Ladder" stemmed from the awkward way that the dress is drawn, in combination with the little human-shaped hieroglyph off to the side that appears to be climbing the "ladder". I can't help but think that the close association of Jacob's ladder with polygamy in Joseph Smith's understanding of this vignette reflects his sense of the importance of polygamy as a means of deification and celestial ascent.
7 comments:
Chris, I think your closing note is most important. The image of Jacob's Ladder was of paramount importance with Joseph Smith since he was revising the Protestant Great Chain of Being, so it I think it is likely he was trying to read it into lots of things. Arthur Lovejoy points out how Jacob's Ladder was the most common biblical allusion used in western Chain formulations, and with Smith's revision of it came a reemphasis on Genesis 28. This broadening of the chain and ladder was paramount to their understanding of polygamy and adoption rituals.
My soon-to-be-published article on Mormon angelology (which should be out within a week or so) has a (brief) section on it, but it will be more fully explicated in chapters 8-9 of Sam Browns forthcoming book manuscript on Smith's conquest of death culture.
Hi Ben. As usual, I'm disgusted with Sam Brown for beating me to the punch on that! Joseph's conception of the Great Chain of Being is something that has fascinated me recently, as well. Hopefully there will be something left to be said when Sam is done, but I doubt it. ;)
This wasn't a first-hand source by Joseph so it certainly can't be trusted.
Hi Loyd, I assume you're just sarcastically channeling John Gee. :-) FWIW, though, Sarah Sturdevant Leavitt also reported seeing a vignette that was interpreted as "Jacob's Ladder", and that the four sons of Horus were understood to be the four quarters of the earth is corroborated in the Facsimile 2 explanation. Some of Caswall's details could be incorrect, but there's nothing in his description that is demonstrably so.
Incidentally, I'm willing to give JS some credit for his interpretation of Ammit as a devouring Devil. That's about as close a Judeo-Christian analog as one could get for that particular figure.
Hello Chris. I would like to get in contact with you. My name is Ed Goble, one of the few apologists out there that I know of that doesn't believe in the missing papyrus theory. Please email me if you would at kokobim@gmail.com. I'm thinking about writing a book on the Kirtland Egyptian Papers/Sensen Papyrus from a faithful point of view that challenges/critiques/rebuts the missing papyrus theory, and I was hoping I could possibly get your permission to quote some of your research. I figure if people like Will Shryver can get away with being an amateur scholar on this subject, I have every right to write about it as well. I'm a member of FAIR but I'm not united with the Gee/Shryver/Hauglid strain of thought. However, I would like to know where you stand. Are you a critic of the Church or are you friendly to the Church?
Hey Ed, I sent you an email.
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