Book of Moses Evidence: Wordplay on Moses

The Meaning of Moses

In the Old Testament, the name Moses is introduced as follows: “And the child grew, and she brought him unto Pharaoh’s daughter, and he became her son. And she called his name Moses: and she said, Because I drew him out of the water” (Exodus 2:10).

As both a Hebrew child and an Egyptian prince, it isn’t surprising that the name Moses seems to hold what Herbert Marks refers to as a “double etymology.”1 As explained by Matthew Bowen, this name “connotes ‘begotten [of deity]’ or ‘[the deity is] born’ (< Egyptian ms[i] ‘beget’) and ‘drawer’ or ‘puller’ (Hebrew Mōšeh, is pointed as a pseudo-active participle of *mšh/mšy, Exodus 2:10), but also baptism and being ‘born again.’”2

James Hoffmeier writes, “There is widespread agreement that at the root of the name of the great Hebrew leader is the Egyptian word msi, which was a very common element in theophoric names throughout the New Kingdom (e.g., Amenmose, Thutmose, Ahmose, Ptahmose, Ramose, Ramesses) and derives from the Egyptian verb to give birth.”3 Hoffmeier also explains that Moses “corresponds to the Egyptian word mose, meaning ‘son’ or ‘child’.”4 According to Jeffrey Bradshaw and Matthew Bowen, 

Despite the surface level differences between the Hebrew and Egyptian etymologies, it can be shown that the two derivations function very well together. To be “drawn” (Hebrew mšy/mšh) from evokes “birth” imagery (Egyptian ms[i])—i.e., “drawn” from amniotic waters. In fact, it represents the birth image par excellence. One can virtually substitute the meaning of the Egyptian verb ms(i) for the meaning of the Hebrew verb mšy/mšh in the explanation for Moses’ name in translation: “And she called his name Moses: and she said, ‘Because I birthed him from the water.’” The homonymy between Hebrew ms(i) and mšy/mšh is key and causes the Hebrew verb to function almost like a Janus pun.5

Although the name’s Hebrew connotation is made fairly explicit in Exodus 2:10 through a provided explanation (“Because I drew him out of the water”), Marks describes the Egyptian etymology as being “disguised.”6 In other words, unless one is familiar with the Egyptian language and attuned to the tendency for wordplay in biblical texts, the emphasis on Moses’s status as a “child” or “son” in Exodus 2 could easily be missed or overlooked.  

A Theme of Divine Sonship in the Book of Moses

When viewed in light of the Egyptian etymology standing behind Moses’s name, the recurring theme of divine sonship found throughout the Book of Moses—especially in chapters 1 and 4 which specifically involve narratives about Moses himself—is truly striking. Those familiar with the first chapter may have noticed that when speaking to Moses, the Lord repeatedly refers to him as “my son.” In several of these instances, the Lord includes Moses’s own name immediately beforehand:

• “And, behold, thou art my son; wherefore look, and I will show thee the workmanship of mine hands” (Moses 1:4)
• “And I have a work for thee, Moses, my son; and thou art in the similitude of mine Only Begotten” (Moses 1:6)
• “And now, behold, this one thing I show unto thee, Moses, my son, for thou art in the world, and now I show it unto thee (Moses 1:7)
• “And now, Moses, my son, I will speak unto thee concerning this earth upon which thou standest” (Moses 1:40)

While other individuals throughout scripture are certainly described as God’s son, this particular situation—where an individual is repeatedly called by name and immediately labeled as a son of God—appears to be unprecedented. This type of close textual proximity and unusually emphatic connection between a name and its meaning is precisely what scholars look for when seeking examples of intentional wordplay.

Yet the association doesn’t stop there. After the Lord departed from Moses, “Satan came tempting him, saying: Moses, son of man, worship me. And it came to pass that Moses looked upon Satan and said: Who art thou? For behold, I am a son of God, in the similitude of his Only Begotten; and where is thy glory, that I should worship thee?” (Moses 1:12–13). Notice, once again, the immediate adjacency of “Moses” and “son” in Satan’s initial statement.

The theme of sonship is invoked again a few chapters later, when the Lord describes to Moses what happened in the debate that took place in the premortal council in Heaven: 

Satan, whom thou hast commanded in the name of mine Only Begotten, is the same which was from the beginning, and he came before me, saying—Behold, here am I, send me, I will be thy son, and I will redeem all mankind, that one soul shall not be lost, and surely I will do it; wherefore give me thine honor. But, behold, my Beloved Son, which was my Beloved and Chosen from the beginning, said unto me—Father, thy will be done, and the glory be thine forever. (Moses 4:1–2)

The narrator seems to want the reader to notice a connection here: just as the debate between Moses and Satan was about whether Moses was truly a son of God or merely a “son of man,” the debate in the premortal realm was about who was truly God’s beloved and chosen son, whether Satan or Jesus.

The theme of sonship is then repeatedly picked up again in chapters 5–7. Adam and Eve were taught by an angel that “thou shalt do all that thou doest in the name of the Son, and thou shalt repent and call upon God in the name of the Son forevermore” (Moses 5:8). Then, immediately after Adam and Eve begin to teach their children these truths, the reader is told that “Satan came among them, saying: I am also a son of God … and they loved Satan more than God” (Moses 5:13). This parallels Satan’s earlier appearance unto Moses, when he tried to get Moses to believe Satan was the Only Begotten and to worship him (Moses 1:19).

In the ensuing verses in chapters 5 and 8, those who reject the true Son of God and instead follow after Satan are repeatedly labeled as the “sons of men” or “daughters of men”:7

• “and their works were abominations, and began to spread among all the sons of men. And it was among the sons of men. (Moses 5:52)
• “Wherefore Lamech was despised, and cast out, and came not among the sons of men, lest he should die” (Moses 5:54)
• “And thus the works of darkness began to prevail among all the sons of men” (Moses 5:55)
• “And God cursed the earth with a sore curse, and was angry with the wicked, with all the sons of men whom he had made” (Moses 5:56)
• “the sons of men saw that those daughters were fair, and they took them wives” (Moses 8:14)
• “the Lord said unto Noah: The daughters of thy sons have sold themselves; for behold mine anger is kindled against the sons of men” (Moses 8:15)
• “Behold, we are the sons of God; have we not taken unto ourselves the daughters of men?” (Moses 8:21)

Once again, the astute reader will notice that this is precisely the label that Moses earlier rejected when Satan declared, “Moses, son of man, worship me” (Moses 1:12). The designation also compares well with the repeated references to “children of men” back in Moses 1, some of which also have a somewhat negative connotation:

• “and Moses beheld the world and the ends thereof, and all the children of men which are, and which were created” (Moses 1:8)
• “And now of this thing Moses bore record; but because of wickedness it is not had among the children of men” (Moses 1:23)
• “And in a day when the children of men shall esteem my words as naught and take many of them from the book which thou shalt write” (Moses 1:41)
• “and they shall be had again among the children of men—among as many as shall believe” (Moses 1:41)
• “These words were spoken unto Moses in the mount, the name of which shall not be known among the children of men” (Moses 1:42)

In Moses 6 we get an aside about Adam, emphasizing his own status as a son of God: “And this is the genealogy of the sons of Adam, who was the son of God, with whom God, himself, conversed” (Moses 6:22). Then, as soon as Enoch shows up on the scene, the reader is informed that “he heard a voice from heaven, saying: Enoch, my son, prophesy unto this people” (Moses 6:27).

When recounting the story of Adam’s baptism, Enoch noted that Adam heard a voice from heaven declaring, “Behold, thou art one in me, a son of God; and thus may all become my sons. Amen” (Moses 6:68). In the next chapter, the narrator immediately reports that “Adam taught these things, and many have believed and become the sons of God” (Moses 7:1). The theme is then continued in Moses 8, where “Noah and his sons hearkened unto the Lord, and gave heed, and they were called the sons of God” (Moses 8:13).8

We can therefore see how the status of divine sonship is presented in the text as something that one attains through righteously believing in and following Jesus Christ. Just as Adam, Enoch, Noah, and other righteous men became sons of God through their covenant relationship with him, so too was Moses a true “son of God.” The narrative traces the positive meaning of this title from Moses himself back through the ages and even into the premortal council in heaven. 

Yet, unlike the passages specifically involving Moses, the epithet “my son” or a similar designation is never repeated after the names of Adam, Enoch, or Noah. Nor is there any sort of debate between these prophets and Satan about their specific status as sons of God, as there is for Moses. In other words, while these antediluvian prophets are also designated as sons of God, the emphasis doesn’t seem to be nearly as strong as it is for Moses, which strengthens the proposal for intentional wordplay in his particular case.

Ironically, beginning in Moses 6:57, Christ is labeled as a “Son of Man” in connection to his mortal ministry: “and the name of his Only Begotten is the Son of Man, even Jesus Christ, a righteous Judge, who shall come in the meridian of time.” This title is then used positively throughout chapter 7:

• “and Enoch was high and lifted up, even in the bosom of the Father, and of the Son of Man” (Moses 7:24)
• “And behold, Enoch saw the day of the coming of the Son of Man, even in the flesh” (Moses 7:47)
• “And it came to pass that Enoch cried unto the Lord, saying: When the Son of Man cometh in the flesh, shall the earth rest?” (Moses 7:54)
• “And the Lord said unto Enoch: Look, and he looked and beheld the Son of Man lifted up on the cross, after the manner of men” (Moses 7:55)
• “and the saints arose, and were crowned at the right hand of the Son of Man, with crowns of glory” (Moses 7:56)
• “And Enoch beheld the Son of Man ascend up unto the Father” (Moses 7:59)
• “And it came to pass that Enoch saw the day of the coming of the Son of Man, in the last days” (Moses 7:65)

Clearly, this title is meant to have an altogether different connotation from the wicked “sons of men” who followed Satan in chapter 5. Instead, it relates to the Father’s title “Man of Holiness,” as explained back in Moses 6:57. This ambiguity involving the “Son of Man” is well known to scholars, as it also turns up in the Bible, and there is actually support for its use (as well as the title “Only Begotten” which will be discussed below) in other ancient Enochic texts.9

In any case, the concept of divine sonship established in the opening chapter in relation to Moses never truly dissipates. This book-wide theme—initiated through what appears to be repeated wordplay on Moses’s own name—is brought up again and again, providing similarities or contrasts between characters, connections between stories, and an overall unity to the entire work.10

The “Only Begotten”

The recurring name-title “Only Begotten” is also worth highlighting. This title is obviously relevant because, as mentioned previously, the name Moses derives from the Egyptian name element msi, which “connotes ‘begotten [of deity]’ or ‘[the deity is] born’.”11

This title is twice invoked at the outset of Moses’s prophetic call: “And I have a work for thee, Moses, my son; and thou art in the similitude of mine Only Begotten; and mine Only Begotten is and shall be the Savior” (Moses 1:6). In addition to the close textual proximity of these elements, the message itself is important. Moses is said to be in the “similitude” of the “Only Begotten,” establishing a close conceptual relationship between this specific title and Moses’s own name and status as God’s son. And, indeed, it has been demonstrated that Moses did meaningfully function as a type of Christ, just as the Law of Moses did.12

The title “Only Begotten” is then abundantly used throughout the rest of this opening chapter, sometime in close proximity to “Moses” or “son” or both, with nine instances in total. The title is also liberally sprinkled throughout the rest of the book, producing a combined total of 26 instances. Here is a good sampling of examples:

• “And it came to pass that Moses looked upon Satan and said: Who art thou? For behold, I am a son of God, in the similitude of his Only Begotten” (Moses 1:13)
• “Call upon God in the name of mine Only Begotten, and worship me” (Moses 1:17)
• “And now, when Moses had said these words, Satan cried with a loud voice, and ranted upon the earth, and commanded, saying: I am the Only Begotten, worship me” (Moses 1:19)
• “and Moses received strength, and called upon God, saying: In the name of the Only Begotten, depart hence, Satan” (Moses 1:21)
• “And worlds without number have I created; and I also created them for mine own purpose; and by the Son I created them, which is mine Only Begotten” (Moses 1:33)
• “And it came to pass that the Lord spake unto Moses, saying … by mine Only Begotten I created these things” (Moses 2:1)
• “And I, the Lord God, spake unto Moses, saying: That Satan, whom thou hast commanded in the name of mine Only Begotten, is the same which was from the beginning, and he came before me, saying—Behold, here am I, send me, I will be thy son, … But, behold, my Beloved Son, which was my Beloved and Chosen from the beginning, said unto me—Father, thy will be done, and the glory be thine forever.” (Moses 4:1–2)
• “And in that day the Holy Ghost fell upon Adam, which beareth record of the Father and the Son, saying: I am the Only Begotten of the Father from the beginning” (Moses 5:9)
• “For they would not hearken unto his voice, nor believe on his Only Begotten Son” (Moses 5:57)
• “be baptized, even in water, in the name of mine Only Begotten Son” (Moses 6:52)
• “for, in the language of Adam, Man of Holiness is his name, and the name of his Only Begotten is the Son of Man” (Moses 6:57)
• “I ask thee, O Lord, in the name of thine Only Begotten, even Jesus Christ” (Moses 7:50)
• “thou hast sworn unto me, and commanded me that I should ask in the name of thine Only Begotten” (Moses 7:59)

Interestingly, in several passages where the Book of Moses mirrors similar content in Genesis, one can see that this particular title has been added to the text (or perhaps was anciently removed from the Genesis account at some point):

However one might account for these textual differences, the prevalent use of this title seems to be quite intentional. Remarkably, the 26 instances of “Only Begotten” in the Book of Moses make up nearly half of all instances of this title in the entire Standard Works!13 But nowhere is it more concentrated than in chapter 1, where the other lines of wordplay involving Mose’s divine sonship also strongly converge.

It is also significant that the name of Moses doesn’t appear to be meaningfully connected with the title “Begotten” or even the generic verb “beget” anywhere else in scripture outside of the Book of Moses.14 Joseph Smith, therefore, couldn’t have just been mimicking some other passage in the Bible to make this connection.

Moses Shall Be "Called" Her Son

Technically speaking, the Book of Moses is an expansive portion of Joseph Smith’s inspired translation of the Bible, often referred to as the Joseph Smith Translation (JST). In a separate portion of this same project, when translating the concluding chapters of Genesis, Joseph Smith again placed an unusual emphasis on Moses’s name in connection with his status as a son.

In a prophecy given to Joseph who was sold into Egypt, the Lord declared, “for a seer will I raise up to deliver my people out of the land of Egypt; and he shall be called Moses. And by this name he shall know that he is of thy house; for he shall be nursed by the king’s daughter, and shall be called her son” (JST Genesis 50:29). Note that the parallel wording here (“shall be called Moses” / “shall be called her son”) differs from that found in Exodus 2:10: “And the child grew, and she brought him unto Pharaoh’s daughter, and he became her son. And she called his name Moses.”

Whereas the Exodus text states that Moses “became” her son, the JST passage prophesies that he would be “called” her son—a notable distinction, as well as a reasonable grounds for wordplay, when one considers that the name Moses “corresponds to the Egyptian word mose, meaning ‘son’ or ‘child’.”15 Bradshaw and Bowen note that the unique phrasing in the JST passage “corresponds neatly to the ‘adoption’ or ‘rebirth’ formula” that was used anciently for divinely appointed rulers.16 As concluded by Nathan Arp, “It is fitting that Joseph, who knew Egyptian, would prophesy of Moses and include an Egyptian pun.”17

Conclusion

There is no reason to suspect that Joseph Smith had any academic knowledge of the Egyptian language in 1830, much less any specific awareness of the name of Moses, considering that Egyptology was still very much in its infancy at the time.18 According to Arp, the first time any modern scholar is known to have connected the name Moses with the Egyptian root msi took place in 1849, nearly two decades after the Book of Moses was produced. This was proposed by “Richard Lepsius, one of the founders of Egyptology.”19

Arp further explains,

His suggestion was followed by Georg Ebers’ independent discovery published in Durch Gosen Zum Sinai in 1881. Although Lepsius and Ebers published this theory in the mid-1800s, it wasn’t until the mid-1900s with the work of J. Gwyn Griffiths that more scholars began to accept it. Before Lepsius, there were other scholars who suspected that the origin of Moses’s name was Egyptian, but these earlier academics did not connect it with the Egyptian verb to beget or the related Egyptian word for child.20

In light of this history, it is rather remarkable how immediately and prominently these elements are connected with Moses, and specifically with his name, in the Book of Moses. It is true that the concept of a “son” is rather generic and quite prevalent throughout scripture. And if all we had to go on was a passing reference, such as of Moses becoming a “son” of Pharaoh’s daughter, one might rightly doubt if the association was intentional.

Instead, the opening chapter of the Book of Moses places a concentrated emphasis on divine sonship—directly linked to Moses himself—that is arguably more prominent than for any other prophet in all of scripture. This theme is then sustained, in various forms, throughout the rest of the book.

Sometimes, to help establish the plausibility of proposed wordplays in Joseph Smith’s revelations, it can be useful to compare them with analogous examples presented by biblical scholars in settings that have nothing to do with the Restored Gospel. For instance, concerning Moses’s introduction in the book of Exodus, Herbert Marks explains, “In the account of Moses’ birth, our attention is drawn immediately to the persistent יֶלֶד (‘child’), which occurs eight times in as many lines between v. 3 and the naming [of Moses] in v. 10. Since ‘child’ (mesu in Egyptian) is at the root of Moses’ name, we begin with a double etymology, one public, one disguised.”21

In other words, Marks sees in this repetition an intentionally “disguised” or “covert meaning”—essentially a play on words.22 For him, the mere fact that the term “child” is repeatedly used in fairly close proximity to Moses’s introduction is enough to suggest an implicit knowledge of the name’s Egyptian etymology on the part of the narrator. Marks reaches this conclusion even though no special emphasis on this term is apparent in the text and the association could be easily overlooked (since the narrative is, indeed, about a child).

One can contrast the simple and fairly unobtrusive repetition of “child” in Exodus 2 with the much more pronounced and multi-layered emphasis on sonship found throughout the Book of Moses. The factors suggesting wordplay include at least the following:

1. Chapter 1, in which Moses is introduced, contains a generic repetition of the etymologically relevant terms “son” (10 instances) and “children” (5 instances) for a combined total of 15 instances.
2. Moses is specifically and uniquely designated as God’s son four times, with the significant phrase “Moses, my son” being employed three of those times (Moses 1:4, 6–7, 40). An additional instance of adjacency between “Moses” and “son” can be seen in Moses 1:12: “Moses, son of man, worship me.” Thus, the name Moses is repeatedly, emphatically, and immediately connected to its associated Egyptian etymology.
3. Moses 1:12–13 presents a debate between Moses and Satan specifically regarding Moses’s status as a son of God, which mirrors a subsequent debate about divine sonship between Christ and Satan in Moses 4:1–2. Thus, a prominent theme within the Moses-oriented narratives is also directly relevant to the etymology of Moses’s own name.  
4. The important distinction between Moses’s status as a “son of God” vs. “son of man” in Moses 1:12–13 provides another strand of this etymologically relevant theme. It is picked up in later chapters, where “sons of men” are repeatedly differentiated from righteous “sons of God” like Adam, Enoch, and Noah.
5. What may be an intentional inversion of the negative “son of man” connotation is introduced in Moses 6:57, where “Son of Man” becomes a positive title that is repeatedly used for Christ, with a total of 8 instances throughout Moses 6–7.  
6. Moses 1:6 directly describes Moses as being in the similitude of God’s “Only Begotten”—another etymologically significant title—which is repeated 9 times in chapter 1 (the highest concentration in all of scripture) and a total of 26 times throughout the entire Book of Moses.

When the various lines of textual evidence are considered together, it is hard to imagine an instance of wordplay that is much more inviting than this. Rather than being just an isolated aesthetic flourish, this type of multi-layered punning establishes the name of Moses as a key-word for the entire book—which, it should be remembered, is eponymously named after Moses himself.23

If there were any remaining doubt about the intentionality of this wordplay, the unique parallel phrasing in the prophecy of Joseph who was sold into Egypt adds a subtle corroborating witness. Just as Joseph anciently prophesied that a prominent deliverer of his people “shall be called Moses,” he also, in the very same verse, emphasized that he “shall be called her son” (JST Genesis 50:29). As concluded by Arp, 

Before the first known scholars published the idea that Moses’s name might be Egyptian and certainly before a general scholarly consensus was reached, the texts Joseph Smith restored contained evidence to support Moses’s Egyptian heritage. Indeed, Joseph the patriarch, who prophesied of Moses, and Joseph Smith Jr., who restored these texts, knew first!24

One might also consider the literary implications of this evidence. It should be remembered that Joseph Smith produced the Book of Moses shortly after his translation of the Book of Mormon, when he was still a relatively uneducated young adult.25 Yet the thematic complexity of the Book of Moses comes across as having been produced by someone with more literary talent than would be expected of Joseph Smith in 1830. When viewed together, this combined linguistic and literary evidence considerably strengthens the case for the Book of Moses as an authentic ancient text translated by the gift and power of God.