Norman: Here is some food for thought Sapiens.
Jewish and Other Semitic Texts Written in Egyptian Characters
John A. Tvedtnes and Stephen D. Ricks
The Book of Mormon indicates that it was written using Egyptian characters, called by Moroni "reformed Egyptian," though the Nephites also knew Hebrew (see Mormon 9:32-34). Nephi made "a record in the language of my father, which consists of the learning of the Jews and the language of the Egyptians" ( I Nephi 1:2). Evidently, the brass plates of Laban also contained Egyptian characters, for King Benjamin informed his sons that, without a knowledge of Egyptian, Lehi would not have been able to read them (Mosiah 1:3--4). Non-Latter-day Saint scholars and others have long scoffed at the idea that an Israelite group from Jerusalem should have written in Egyptian and mocked the term "reformed Egyptian" as nonsense. Since Joseph Smith's time, we have learned a great deal about Egyptian and Israelite records and realize that the Book of Mormon was correct in all respects. The ancient Egyptians used three types of writing systems. The most well known, the hieroglyphs (Greek for "sacred symbols"), comprised nearly 400 picture characters depicting things found in real life. A cursive script called hieratic (Greek for "sacred") was also used, principally on papyrus. Around 700 B.C., the Egyptians developed an even more cursive script that we call demoric (Greek for "popular"), which bore little resemblance to the hieroglyphs.5 Both hieratic and demotic were in use in Lehi's time and can properly be termed "reformed Egyptian." From the account in Mormon 9:32, it seems likely that the Nephites further reformed the characters. While it is clear that the Book of Mormon was written in Egyptian characters, scholars are divided on whether the underlying language was Egyptian or Hebrew. Recent discoveries have provided evidence that at least some ancient Israelite scribes were, like the Nephite scribes, acquainted with both languages. A number of northwest Semitic texts are included in Egyptian magical papyri. These are mostly incantations that, instead of being translated, were merely transcribed in Egyptian hieratic .6 The underlying language is a Northwest Semitic tongue, an early form of Hebrew/Canaanite'? The texts include the London Magical Papyrus (fourteenth century B.C.),8 the Harris Magical Papyrus (thirteenth century B.C.),9 Papyrus Anastasi I (thirteenth century B.C.), \0 and Ostracon 25759 recto. I I The latter dates to the early eleventh century B.C., the time of Israel's judges. While a Semitic text appears on one side, the verso has a text that is pure Egyptian, though whether there is a connection between the two is unknown. In any event, it is clear that some Egyptian scribes were sufficiently versed in the Northwest Semitic tongue that they were able 10 transliterate it using their own writing system. Closer to Lehi's time are Israelite documents from the ninth to sixth centuries B.C., from which we learn that the Israelites adopted the Egyptian hieratic numerals and mingled them with Hebrew text. I 2 More important, however, are Hebrew and Aramaic texts- languages used by the Jews of Lehi's time-that are written in Egyptian characters. One of these is Papyrus Amherst 63, a document written in Egyptian demotic and dating to the second century B.C,13 The document had. like the Dead Sea Scrolls, been preserved in an earthen jar and was discovered in Thebes, Egypt, during the second half of the nineteenth century. For years, Egyptologists strugg led with the text but could make no sense of it. The letters were clear, but they did not form in telligible words.In 1944, Raymond Bowman of the University of Chicago realized that, while the script is Egyptian, the underly ing language is Aramaic, l4 Bowman managed to trans late portions of the lext, but it did not become the object of serious study until the 1980s. Among the writings included in the religious text is a paganized version of Psalms 20:2--6. Here, then, we have a Bible passage, in its Aramaic translation, written in late Egyptian characters. In 1965, during excavations at the southern Judean site of Arad, a number of ostraca were found. Most of the documents were written in Hebrew and dated to ca. 598-587 B.C.16 One, however, dating "to the seventh century B.C.," was written in Egyptian hieratic. 17 Here, then, was evidence that Egyptian writing was known in an Israelite city. This was not surprising, for Egyptian documents from an earlier time had been discovered at the Phoenician (Lebanese) city of Byblos. More significant, however, was an ostracon uncovered at Arad in 1967.18 Dating "toward the end of the seventh century B.C.," it reflects usage from shortly before 600 B.C., the time of Lehi. The text on the ostracon is written in a combination of Egyptian hieratic and Hebrew characters, but can be read entirely as Egyptian. Of the seventeen words in the text, ten are written in hieratic and seven in Hebrew. However, all the words written in Hebrew can be read as Egyptian words, while one of them, which occurs twice, has the same meaning in both Egyptian and ebrew.19 Of the ten words written in hieratic script, four are numerals (one occurring in each line).20 One symbol, denoting a measure of capacity, occurs four times (once in each of the four lines), and the remaining Egyptian word occurs twice.
