Another candidate for a lost portion of the Book of Abraham is a Pseudepigraphal book known as the “Testament of Abraham.” This book records events immediately before the death of Abraham, in which Abraham has an apocalyptic experience shortly before his death. The account, as it has come down to us, flows in and out of the first person. But there is something else which connects this document closely with the Book of Abraham.
The Book of Abraham is said to have been derived in some manner from Egyptian Papyri which came into the hands of Joseph Smith. There are many theories on how the Book of Abraham came to be derived from these Papyri, which are beyond the scope of this article.
What is clear is that there are three Facsimiles which are presented with the Book of Abraham. Facsimile 2 appears to be an ancient Egyptian Hypocephali. Facsimiles 1 and 3 appear to be variations of vignettes from the Book of Breathings, a simplified version of the Book of the Dead, but with explanations that differ from those Egyptologists assign to them in relation to their context in the Book of the Dead. Instead, the Book of Abraham interprets these vignettes as illustrations related to the Book of Abraham.
Likewise the Testament of Abraham contains a section which also appears to parallel a common vignette appearing in many copies of the Book of the Dead:
XII. While he was yet saying these things to me, behold two angels, fiery in aspect, and pitiless in mind, and severe in look, and they drove on thousands of souls, pitilessly lashing them with fiery thongs. The angel laid hold of one soul, and they drove all the souls in at the broad gate to destruction. So we also went along with the angels, and came within that broad gate, and between the two gates stood a throne terrible of aspect, of terrible crystal, gleaming as fire, and upon it sat a wondrous man bright as the sun, like to the Son of God. Before him stood a table like crystal, all of gold and fine linen, and upon the table there was lying a book, the thickness of it six cubits, and the breadth of it ten cubits, and on the right and left of it stood two angels holding paper and ink and pen. Before the table sat an angel of light, holding in his hand a balance, and on his left sat an angel all fiery, pitiless, and severe, holding in his hand a trumpet, having within it all-consuming fire with which to try the sinners. The wondrous man who sat upon the throne himself judged and sentenced the souls, and the two angels on the right and on the left wrote down, the one on the right the righteousness and the one on the left the wickedness. The one before the table, who held the balance, weighed the souls, and the fiery angel, who held the fire, tried the souls. And Abraham asked the chief-captain Michael, What is this that we behold? And the chief-captain said, These things that thou seest, holy Abraham, are the judgment and recompense. And behold the angel holding the soul in his hand, and he brought it before the judge, and the judge said to one of the angels that served him, Open me this book, and find me the sins of this soul. And opening the book he found its sins and its righteousness equally balanced, and he neither gave it to the tormentors, nor to those that were saved, but set it in the midst.
XIII. And Abraham said, My Lord chief-captain, who is this most wondrous judge? and who are the angels that write down? and who is the angel like the sun, holding the balance? and who is the fiery angel holding the fire? The chief-captain said, "Seest thou, most holy Abraham, the terrible man sitting upon the throne? This is the son of the first created Adam, who is called Abel, whom the wicked Cain killed, and he sits thus to judge all creation, and examines righteous men and sinners. For God has said, I shall not judge you, but every man born of man shall be judged. Therefore he has given to him judgment, to judge the world until his great and glorious coming, and then, O righteous Abraham, is the perfect judgment and recompense, eternal and unchangeable, which no one can alter. For every man has come from the first-created, and therefore they are first judged here by his son, and at the second coming they shall be judged by the twelve tribes of Israel, every breath and every creature. But the third time they shall be judged by the Lord God of all, and then, indeed, the end of that judgment is near, and the sentence terrible, and there is none to deliver. And now by three tribunals the judgment of the world and the recompense is made, and for this reason a matter is not finally confirmed by one or two witnesses, but by three witnesses shall everything be established. The two angels on the right hand and on the left, these are they that write down the sins and the righteousness, the one on the right hand writes down the righteousness, and the one on the left the sins. The angel like the sun, holding the balance in his hand, is the archangel, Dokiel the just weigher, and he weighs the righteousnesses and sins with the righteousness of God. The fiery and pitiless angel, holding the fire in his hand, is the archangel Puruel, who has power over fire, and tries the works of men through fire, and if the fire consume the work of any man, the angel of judgment immediately seizes him, and carries him away to the place of sinners, a most bitter place of punishment. But if the fire approves the work of anyone, and does not seize upon it, that man is justified, and the angel of righteousness takes him and carries him up to be saved in the lot of the just. And thus, most righteous Abraham, all things in all men are tried by fire and the balance."
Vignettes from one Book of the Dead to another had variances, but this material certainly seems to be related to a vignette like the one below:
If the Testament of Abraham
contains a form of the conclusion of the Book of Abraham, then a vignette
similar to the one above would certainly be a “Facsimile” at the end of the
Book of Abraham.How could Joseph Smith had known that a close relationship exists between ancient first person accounts attributed to Abraham, and vignettes found in ancient Egyptian texts of the Book of the Dead?
Are any of these documents lost fragments of the Book of Abraham? Certainly their amazing parallels make us ask the question: How could Joseph Smith known?
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