Keywords
Joseph Smith, Moses, ancient Egypt, deciphered hieroglyphs
Abstract
After about 1500 years of slumber, ancient Egyptian was brought back to life in the early 19th century, when scholars deciphered hieroglyphs. T his revolutionary success opened the door to a reevaluation of history from the viewpoint of ancient Egypt. In the wake of this new knowledge, the first scholar posited the idea in 1849 that the name of Moses stemmed from the Egyptian word for child. Subsequently, this idea was refined, and currently the majority of scholars believe Moses’s name comes from the Egyptian verb “to beget,” which is also the root for the Egyptian word for child, or in the case of a male child, a “son.” Before this discovery and certainly before a scholarly consensus formed on the Egyptian etymology of the name of Moses, Joseph Smith restored a prophecy from the patriarch Joseph that played upon the name of Moses and its yet to be discovered Egyptian meaning of “son.” This article explores the implications of this overt Egyptian pun and its role as a key thematic element in the restored narratives in the Book of Moses.
Recommended Citation
Arp, Nathan J.
(2019)
"Joseph Knew First: Moses, the Egyptian Son,"
Interpreter: A Journal of Latter-day Saint Faith and Scholarship: Vol. 32, Article 10.
Available at:
https://scholarsarchive.byu.edu/interpreter/vol32/iss1/10
