Book of Abraham Evidence: The Angel of the Lord (Fac. 1, Fig. 1)

Within the Book of Abraham, Figure 1 of Facsimile 1 appears to depict the body of a hawk or falcon and is located in the upper-right register of the vignette.1 In its original 1842 publication, the figure clearly has the head of a bird. However, because this portion of the papyrus was missing in Joseph Smith’s day, the head had to be reconstructed. Although some lion-couch scenes similar to Facsimile 1 feature hovering birds with typical avian heads, most depict birds with human heads. This has led some to conclude that the bird in Figure 1 likely had a human head.2 Whatever its complete form may have been, the explanation provided for this figure is “The Angel of the Lord.”3 

Narrow Egyptological Interpretations

Over the years, a number of non-LDS scholars have offered varying interpretations of Figure 1. Some of these were published in 1912 by Franklin S. Spalding, who corresponded with several prominent Egyptologists of that time and compiled their assessments of the Book of Abraham facsimiles.4 Among the responses, Flinders Petrie identified the bird in Figure 1 as the “hawk of Horus.”5 James H. Breasted explained Figure 1 as “a bird, in which form Isis is represented.”6 According to John Peters, “at the head” of the deceased body, “the soul (Kos) is flying away in the form of a bird.”7 Edward Meyer described it as “the soul in the shape of a bird flying above” the “body of the dead.”8 Along the same lines, Friedrich von Bissing explained, “The soul is leaving the body in the moment when the priest is opening the body with a knife for mummification.”9

In 1968, Richard Parker described the bird of Figure 1 as “Nephthys, sister to Osiris and Isis.”10 In the same year, Klaus Baer, under the assumption that the original bird indeed featured a human head, interpreted it specifically as the “ba [i.e., spirit] of Osiris … hovering above his head”.11 Robert Ritner’s explanation in the year 2000 is quite similar: “the human-headed ba-spirit of [Osiris] Hor hovers above his head.”12 Despite some differences in identification, these later interpretations echo earlier proposals that associate the bird with the spirit of the deceased or with divine figures connected to Osiris.

A Broader Interpretive Context

Because of their Egyptian origin, it has often been assumed that the facsimiles of the Book of Abraham should be exclusively interpreted from an ancient Egyptian perspective. Many Latter-day Saint scholars, on the other hand, have viewed their interpretation as a much more open-ended question, leaving room for both Egyptian and Semitic explanations from various time periods, as well as the possibility of ancient or modern syncretization.13

With these broader interpretive frameworks in mind, it is important to recognize that Joseph Smith’s explanations relate first and foremost to the text of the Book of Abraham itself. His primary purpose was not to restore ancient Egyptian religion. Figure 1 (“The Angel of the Lord”) corresponds to a moment in the text of the Book of Abraham itself, as narrated in the first-person by Abraham: “the priests lifted up their hands upon me, that they might offer me up and take away my life, behold, I lifted up my voice unto the Lord my God, and the Lord hearkened and heard, and he filled me with the vision of the Almighty, and the angel of his presence stood by me, and immediately unloosed my bands” (Abraham 1:15).

In an ancient Jewish context, the phrase “angel of his presence” essentially meant “messenger of his face”—signifying that the messenger is a representative or manifestation of the deity himself.14 In Abraham’s account, the “angel of his presence” announces that he is (or, at least, represents) none other than Jehovah: “my name is Jehovah, and I have heard thee, and have come down to deliver thee …. Behold, I will lead thee by my hand, and I will take thee, to put upon thee my name, even the Priesthood of thy father, and my power shall be over thee” (Abraham 1:16–18).15

Within Latter-day Saint theology, such terminology resonates with the purpose of the temple endowment, which prepares individuals to overcome the effects of the Fall through Christ’s redeeming power and ultimately return to God’s presence in glory.16 Viewed in this light, Abraham’s rescue from sacrifical death by the “angel of his presence” may typologically anticipate Jehovah’s triumph over death and hell, through which humanity is freed from the bonds of death and enabled to receive eternal life.17

This expanded contextual understanding of Figure 1 invites a closer examination of its various meanings in ancient Egyptian settings. The first thing to consider is the remarkable flexibility of avian symbolism in Egyptian thought. Through the convention of fictional dialogue, Nibley explains the following concerning a human-headed hawk at Opet: “The hawk can be Osiris as well as his father, his mother, and his son! The whole amazing operation takes place on the lion couch, and to put over the whole message, a variety of birds is necessary. It is as silly to think that a bird can have only one significance as to think the same of a lion couch.”18

This interpretive flexibility is reinforced by Lloyd Graham’s much more recent study of birds hovering above Osiris in scenes associated with his regeneration, which share some common elements with Facsimile 1. Tracing the changing depictions and identifications of these avian images from the Thirteenth Dynasty through the Greco-Roman period, Graham concludes that “pluralistic interpretations—in the case of such scenes, the ability to identify the same bird as an Isis-kite, a Nekhbet-vulture and a Horus-falcon—are very much in keeping with the Egyptians’ penchant for flexible ‘both/and’ thinking and their well-known ability to entertain multiple parallel truths.”19

Importantly, Nibley has demonstrated that divine messengers in ancient Egyptian texts are indeed sometimes associated with the hawk or falcon, often representing the ba or spirit of a deity.20 The term “angel” would not be inappropriate in this context. As noted by John Gee, “Most Egyptologists think that Figure 1 should have a human head, which would make it a ba-bird, a term which ancient Egyptians translated into Greek as angelos, or angel.”21

In this regard, an ancient dialogue recorded in Coffin Text 312 may be significant. The scene opens with the god Osiris, representing the deceased person, in a state of weariness and vulnerability, pleading to Horus for help to escape the gates of the Netherworld. Horus then sends a messenger, identified as a ba-spirit, who specifically takes the form of a divine hawk or falcon.22 As explained by Nibley, “The leading character is the messenger-bird, who is dressed as a hawk in imitation of Horus.”23 Nibley then draws out a fascinating connection to this scene, in which a figure on a lion couch is specifically concerned about death and execution:

In one of the Coffin Text inscriptions (T1C) the ideogram for the helplessness of the god shows him on the lion couch; that this is more than a meaningless convention is indicated in T. George Allen’s edition of the Book of the Dead, where chapter 85 is headed by a vignette of a figure on a lion couch under the ba-bird with an unerased falcon head and is entitled “Spell for assuming the form of a Soul and not entering the place of execution” (see p. 259, fig. 31). “Dying is my abomination,” says the figure on the lion couch; “I enter not into the execution-place of the Nether World.” Here the lion-couch vignette matches the lion-couch scenes of the temples of Opet, Seti I, Philae, and so forth, as well as the situation in the play.24

In other vignettes, the ba-bird can be seen as the “protector of the corpse” of the deceased.25 The Litany of Re describes “one with the speaking Ba, who is content (united) with his utterance, who protects Spirits-Akhu, the Westerners, so they could breathe through him.”26 Related imagery arises in Coffin Text 312, where the divine falcon (the ba of Horus) declares to the deceased Osiris, “Be high on your seat, O Osiris; may your breast live.”27 Iconography from a tomb in Thebes is also relevant, in which a ba-bird with a human head hovers over a mummy on a lion couch. The bird is depicted as giving life and breath to the deceased, as symbolized by the ankh and sail in the bird’s hands, which are positioned over the mummy’s head.28 Typically, it is gods who offer these symbols to the king or deceased, suggesting that the bird in this context is not the ba of the deceased, but the ba of a god—i.e., the messenger or angel of the god.

Jiri Janak has noted that the “terms ba or bau were used in the Pyramid Texts to denote the power of the gods and the resurrected king, or to describe the gods and the king as ‘powers’. The deceased king was transformed (by the funerary rites and by overcoming death) into a super-human or rather divine entity endowed with great power and might.”29 This recalls the specific promise given to Abraham by the angel of the Lord in Abraham 1:18: “I will take thee, to put upon thee my name, even the Priesthood of thy father, and my power shall be over thee.”

Thus, not only could the ba-bird of Egyptian iconography function as a divine messenger (i.e., an angel) that was imbued with the form and power of the God it represented, but it could also be associated with the protection of the deceased, deliverance from the underworld, and the restoration of life itself. These associations resonate with Joseph Smith’s interpretation of Figure 1, in which the bird represents the heavenly messenger who rescues Abraham from imminent death. Moreover, insofar as Abraham’s deliverance foreshadows Christ’s ultimate victory over death and hell through the Resurrection, the Egyptian funerary imagery provides an illuminating backdrop for the story’s typological significance.

Parallels with the Apocalypse of Abraham

A surprisingly similar scene from the Apocalypse of Abraham becomes quite significant in understanding this broader interpretive framework. Although there are differences between it and the Book of Abraham, they share numerous intriguing parallels.30 Both texts, for instance, describe the idolatrous practices of Abraham’s father and situate his rejection of false worship within a broader context of sacrifice and divine intervention. Moreover, in both narratives, Abraham receives a revelation from a divine messenger who addresses him by name and promises protection or deliverance.

The most relevant correspondence, however, concerns the heavenly messenger’s power over death itself. Abraham reports, according to Abraham 1:15–16, that “the angel of his presence stood by me, and immediately unloosed my bands; And his voice was unto me: Abraham, Abraham, behold, my name is Jehovah, and I have heard thee, and have come down to deliver thee.” In the Apocalypse of Abraham, however, the scope of the angel’s deliverance is considerably broadened. Yahoel identifies himself as one commissioned to restrain “Leviathan” (a monster symbolizing primordial chaos), as well as to “loosen Hades and to destroy those who wondered at the dead.”31

Also of interest is the emphasis in the Apocalypse of Abraham on the angel specifically taking Abraham by the right hand and bringing him into a standing or raised position. “The angel he sent to me in the likeness of a man came, and he took me by my right hand and stood me on my feet. … And I stood up and saw him who had taken my right hand and set me on my feet.”32 Some scholars have connected this imagery to the theme of resurrection.33

Later in this text, Abraham explains that the angel “took me with his right hand and set me on the right wing of the pigeon and he himself sat on the left wing of the turtledove.”34 This curious imagery of Abraham and Yahoel ascending into heaven on the wings of sacrificial birds offers yet another intriguing connection, especially when Yahoel’s own form is considered.35 As observed by Andrei Orlov, scholars have found it “unusual and even puzzling” that Yahoel appears to be depicted as a “pteromorphic creature who possesses the body of a griffin.”36 Whatever explanations might be offered for this imagery, it is fascinating that the Apocalypse of Abraham portrays a bird-like heavenly messenger escorting Abraham (presumably his soul or spirit) into heaven, each on the wings of sacrificial birds. This parallels the conventional Egyptological interpretation of Figure 1, in which the bird represents the ascending ba (or soul) of the figure lying on the altar, whom Joseph Smith identified as Abraham.37

As for the imagery of Abraham’s being raised up by the right hand, it seems to relate to the Day of Atonement ritual, in which the high priest used his right hand in handling the sacrificial offerings, particularly the goat designated for the Lord. Orlov explains,

This peculiar hand laying gesture occurs right before Abraham’s entrance into the celestial Holy of Holies. This further strengthens the possibility that the patriarch is being portrayed as the immolated goat—the crucial sacrificial agent who was consistently handled in the Jewish atoning rite with the high priest’s right hand.38  

This interpretation finds a meaningful parallel in Abraham 1, where Abraham is likewise depicted as a sacrifice (albeit of a different type), with particular emphasis on how he is handled. The narrative depicts wicked priests who seek to “offer up” Abraham as a sacrifice and who “lift up” their hands against him. In contrast, Abraham “lifted up” his voice to God, and the angel “stood” by him and took him “by [his] hand” to deliver him from death:

• “Therefore they turned their hearts to the sacrifice of the heathen in offering up their children unto these dumb idols, and hearkened not unto my voice, but endeavored to take away my life by the hand of the priest of Elkenah.” (Abraham 1:7)
• “And as they lifted up their hands upon me, that they might offer me up and take away my life, behold, I lifted up my voice unto the Lord my God, and the Lord hearkened and heard, and he filled me with the vision of the Almighty, and the angel of his presence stood by me, and immediately unloosed my bands;” (Abraham 1:15)39
• “Abraham, Abraham, behold, my name is Jehovah, and I have heard thee, …  therefore I have come down to visit them, and to destroy him who hath lifted up his hand against thee, Abraham, my son, to take away thy life.” (Abraham 1:16–17)
• “Behold, I will lead thee by my hand, and I will take thee, to put upon thee my name, even the Priesthood of thy father, and my power shall be over thee.” (Abraham 1:18)

When read alongside the Apocalypse of Abraham, these details reinforce the proposed cosmological interpretation of Abraham’s deliverance. In contrast to the hands of the wicked priests that threaten Abraham, the hand of Jehovah brings about his immediate rescue, symbolically foreshadowing Abraham’s eternal deliverance from death and his eventual exaltation as a resurrected being. In both accounts, the imagery of sacrifice, divine intervention, and being raised or led by the hand evokes themes central to Latter-day Saint temple worship. Abraham’s rescue thus becomes a fitting symbol of Christ’s redemptive atoning sacrifice, through which the bonds of death and hell are broken and the faithful are raised up to eternal life in God’s presence.40

Conclusion 

To many Egyptologists, Figure 1 appears to depict the ba or spirit of the deceased Osiris rising from his body in a funerary context. At first glance, this narrow interpretation may seem at odds with the explanation given in the Book of Abraham. Yet Joseph Smith’s revelation never suggests that its explanation of this figure was derived primarily or exclusively from an ancient Egyptian worldview. This leaves open the possibility that the original Egyptian iconography was adapted or reinterpreted to reflect Abraham’s deliverance in Abraham 1, perhaps preserving some of the cosmic elements of its Egyptian symbolism while incorporating additional Semitic and temple-related meanings.41

Several strands of evidence lend plausibility to this broader interpretive framework. Egyptian traditions associated the ba-bird not only with the spirit of the deceased but with divine messengers, the spirit of a god, endowments of supernatural power, the protection of the deceased, deliverance from the underworld, and the restoration of life. These associations resonate with Abraham’s miraculous rescue from imminent death by an angel or messenger of the Lord who identified himself with Jehovah, who promised to endow Abraham with divine power, and whose intervention seems to symbolically anticipate Christ’s ultimate triumph over death and hell. The parallels become even more intriguing when considered alongside the Apocalypse of Abraham, where a divinely empowered birdlike angel raises Abraham by the right hand in a scene evoking the Day of Atonement, escorts him into heaven on the wings of sacrificial birds, and exercises authority over a primordial chaos monster and Hades itself.

As can be seen, Joseph Smith’s explanation of Figure 1 resonates with a rich tapestry of religious imagery and symbolism. The convergence of Egyptian funerary connotations, ancient Abrahamic traditions, and the Book of Abraham’s own typological narrative is quite striking. These mutually reinforcing connections provide meaningful evidence that Joseph Smith’s explanation reflects an authentic ancient religious context, rather than merely a modern reinterpretation of an Egyptian image.