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Journal of Studies

Volume 19 Number 1 Article 5

1-31-2010

On Elkenah as Canaanite

Kevin L. Barney

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BYU ScholarsArchive Citation Barney, Kevin L. (2010) "On Elkenah as Canaanite El," Journal of Book of Mormon Studies: Vol. 19 : No. 1 , Article 5. Available at: https://scholarsarchive.byu.edu/jbms/vol19/iss1/5

This Feature Article is brought to you for free and open access by the Journals at BYU ScholarsArchive. It has been accepted for inclusion in Journal of Book of Mormon Studies by an authorized editor of BYU ScholarsArchive. For more information, please contact [email protected], [email protected]. Title On Elkenah as Canaanite El

Author(s) Kevin L. Barney

Reference Journal of the Book of Mormon and Other Restoration Scripture 19/1 (2010): 22–35.

ISSN 1948-7487 (print), 2167-7565 (online)

Abstract Many easily recognizable Hebrew words and names can be found in the Book of . One name that hasn’t had a concrete meaning attached to it, however, is Elkenah. In this article, Barney addresses whether Elkenah is a person, place, or name; what its possible linguistic structures are; and what it might mean. Most importantly, Barney links Elkenah with the Canaanite El and the attending cult—a cult that practiced human . This has significant ramifi- cations for the Book of Abraham, which has been criti- cized for its inclusion of . Assuming a northern location for the city Ur and taking Elkenah as the Canaanite El resolve the issue of in the Book of Abraham. On Elkenah as Canaanite El

Kevin L. Barney

uch like the Book of Mormon, the Book of Abraham is extant only in its English translation (and in other translations based on the English text). In such a situation, the transliterated wordsM in the text’s onomasticon take on added significance as represent- ing possible fossilized remnants of the original text.1 Although the Book of Abraham contains a number of easily recognizable Hebrew words and names, many of the names in the book are obscure and have a less obvious derivation. The first of these words to appear in the text is Elkenah. In this article, I will explore the possible derivations of this word and then articu- late some of the ramifications the most likely derivations would have for understanding the Book of Abraham generally.

Elkenah in the Book of Abraham The name Elkenah appears twelve times in the Book of Abraham. The first three occurrences appear in the explanations of the figures in Facsimile 1. Figure 3 therein is identified as “the idolatrous priest of Elke- nah attempting to offer up Abraham as a sacrifice,” referring to the person standing at the left of the altar. Figure 4 shows “the altar of sacrifice by the

22 Volume 19, number 1, 2010 Facsimile 1 from the Book of Abraham. Courtesy of the Church History Library, The Church of Christ of Latter-day Saints.

idolatrous priests, standing before the of Elkenah, Libnah, Mahmack- rah, Korash and Pharaoh,” referring to the lion couch, the four canopic jars, and the crocodile of the facsimile. Figure 5 is labeled “the idolatrous god of Elkenah,” referring to the falcon-headed jar, generally understood in its Egyptian context as Qebehsenuf, one of the four sons of . Turning to the text itself, we note that Elkenah is mentioned an addi- tional seven times in Abraham 1, at verses 6, 7(bis), 13, 17, 20, and 29, and again in Abraham 2:13 and 3:20. The first three of these occurrences appear in the following quotation from Abraham 1:5–7:

My fathers, having turned from their righteousness, and from the holy commandments which the Lord their God had given unto them, unto the worshiping of the gods of the heathen, utterly refused to hearken to my voice; for their hearts were to do evil, and were wholly turned to the god of Elkenah, and the god of Libnah, and the god of Mahmackrah, and the god of Korash, and the god of Pharaoh, king of Egypt; 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

journal of the Book of M ormon and other restoration scripture 23 endeavored to take away my life by the hand of of Elkenah” would be the priest dedicated to the the priest of Elkenah. The priest of Elkenah was god of that particular cult. While either “the god also the priest of Pharaoh. [worshipped by the person] Elkenah” or “the god [worshipped at the place] Elkenah” is conceivably This text mentions both “the god of Elkenah” possible, and while I do believe that this is the cor- and “the priest of Elkenah,” who also does double rect way to read the text in the case of “the god of duty as “the priest of Pharaoh.” The principal evils Pharaoh,” 5 these alternatives in the case of “the god involved in the of this and the other “hea- of Elkenah” strike me as unduly strained. In par- then” gods are and child sacrifice. Abra- ticular, I believe the language of verse 20, “and the ham speaks against the practice of child sacrifice Lord broke down the altar of Elkenah, and of the but is rebuffed. Verse 10 of Abraham 1 tells of the gods of the land,” equates Elkenah with the other “thank-offering of a child,” and verse 11 tells us of gods of the land (in this instance not separately three virgin girls who were sacrificed by the priest named as was the case previously).6 Indeed, since of Elkenah. According to verse 12, the priests also Elkenah is specifically named here and the other attempted to sacrifice Abraham, apparently in gods are not, and since Elkenah is always listed first part as a response to his speaking out against the (even to the point of requiring right-to-left number- practice, his father having been an instigator of the ing of the four gods before the altar in Facsimile 1), attempted sacrifice (v. 30). Abraham lifted up his Elkenah would appear to be not only a god, but the voice unto the Lord, who filled him with the vision preeminent god in the cultus described in the story.7 of the Almighty and sent the angel of his presence At this point, let us stop and summarize the to unloose Abraham’s bands (v. 15). In verse 16 the main points we can derive from the text concerning angel speaks as if were the Lord (or possibly this Elkenah: was the Lord himself), announcing to Abraham that he has heard him and has come down to deliver • Although the name conceivably could refer to a him into a strange land. The angel/Lord announces person or place, it most likely refers to a god. that the fathers have turned their hearts away • Elkenah represents the chief god in the cult of from him to worship the god of Elkenah and the the fathers against which Abraham argued. other idolatrous gods, and that for this reason he • Child sacrifice was offered to this god, which has come to destroy the priest who sought to take was evil in the sight of the Lord. Apart from Abraham’s life (v. 17). Verse 20 tells us that this took idolatrous representation, this seems to have place in the land of Ur, of Chaldea. And so the Lord been the principal fault of this deity from Abra- breaks down the altar of Elkenah and of the gods ham’s perspective. of the land and utterly destroys them and smites • A priest of this god attempted to sacrifice Abra- the priest so that he dies. Finally, verse 29 reports ham in Ur of the Chaldees. that following the of the priest of Elkenah, • The priest of Elkenah was also the priest of there was a famine in the land, in response to which Pharaoh. Abraham follows God’s direction and starts for the • Elkenah was represented on Facsimile 1 by the land of (Abraham 2:4). falcon-headed canopic jar of Qebehsenuf, one of Was Elkenah the name of a god, a place, or the sons of Horus. a person? Each appearance of the name Elkenah • The Lord broke the bands that bound Abraham, in the text is preceded by “the god of,” “the gods broke down the altar of Elkenah, destroyed the of” (usually part of a sequence),2 “the priest of,” or gods, and killed the priest of Elkenah. “the altar of.” 3 There is an inherent ambiguity in • Following the death of the priest of Elkenah, the English genitive particle of, and Hugh Nibley there was a famine in the land that necessitated has suggested that, instead of the name of a god, Abraham’s removal to the land of Canaan. Elkenah could be the name of a person or place.4 While I would acknowledge this as a possibility, in The name is spelled different ways in the extant my view, the most natural way to read the text is to Book of Abraham manuscripts. The distribution of take “the god of Elkenah” as an epexegetic genitive these variant spellings is set forth in the accompa- (i.e., Elkenah is the god), in which case “the priest nying table:

24 Volume 19, number 1, 2010 Verse Location in Ab2 Ab3 Ab4 Ab5 Printed Book of (Williams) (Parrish) (Phelps/Parrish) (Richards) Abraham 1:6 Elk=kener Elkkener Elkkener Elkenah 1:7 Elk=kener Elkkener Elkkener Elkenah 1:7 Elk=Keenah Elkkener Elkkener Elkenah 1:13 Elk-keen__ Elkkener Elkkener Elkenah 1:17 Elk-kee-nah Elkkener Elkkener Elkenah 1:20 Elk-keenah Elkkener Elkkener Elkenah 1:29 Elk+keenah Elkkener Elkkener Elkenah 2:13 Elkenah 3:20 Elkenah8

Frederick G. Williams seems to have started spell- It would appear that the six most likely possible lin- ing the name with an -er ending, but then correct- guistic structures for this name are as follows: ing to an -ah ending for most of his occurrences. A. El could be used as the generic appellative Warren Parrish and W. W. Phelps, perhaps fol- god with a divine name following in apposition— lowing the beginning of the Williams document, that is, “the god Kenah.” This usage is, however, retained the -er ending. Willard Richards gives the relatively rare (one parallel being ʾil Haddu “the god form of the name as it was published in the Times Haddu”).9 and Seasons, and given that would have B. Elkenah could be a predi- approved that text prior to publication, this is pre- cating some quality of the El- compound—that is, sumably the form of the name as Joseph intended it “El is kenah” or “El kenah [as a verb],” whatever to be presented in the Book of Abraham. kenah might mean. For instance, Abraham’s chief servant was named Eliezer, “God of help” or “my 10 The Name Elkenah God is help” (Genesis 15:2). This type of structure would only work if Elkenah were the name of a With that background, we can begin to human being (or an angel) and not the name of the approach the name itself. We are fortunate to have a god himself. partial Rosetta Stone to aid us in our investigation. C. The-kenah element could refer to a place or The El- element of Elkenah almost certainly repre- people. In this event, the name would mean “El of sents the Semitic word for deity, ʾel (or ilu in Akka- Kenah,” where Kenah is a land, country, or ethnic dian). Further, in the as elsewhere, Semitic El designation. An analogous form in the Old Testa- is very commonly modified in some fashion, which ment would be ʾEl Yisrael “the God of Israel” from appears to be the case here as well. Based on known Psalm 68. uses of the word El, I will suggest six (not necessar- D. The-kenah element could refer to a person. ily exhaustive) possibilities for how we might take In this event, the name would mean “El of Kenah,” the -kenah element. As a general matter, El could where Kenah is a human being. An analogous form be either the proper name of the god or the generic in the would be ʾelohim Abraham Semitic term for god. In either case, the following “the God of Abraham,” as in Genesis 31:53. -kenah element could be in apposition with the E. The-kenah element could be an epithet El- element or in a genitival relationship, or acting modifying the El- element. Such epithets are com- as an attributive adjective or participle, a verb con- mon in the Old Testament. Examples of El epithets strued with El, or a pronominal suffix of some sort. include the following: 11

journal of the Book of M ormon and other restoration scripture 25 El Combination Meaning two columns of text to explaining this suggestion, which appears to have been his favorite, I would El Almighty discount it for the same reason I would discount ʾEl El El the Highest One qanah above; I do not believe Elkenah in the Book of Abraham is meant to refer to a human being. El Olam El the Everlasting One 3. Il Kinaḫḫi “El of Canaan.” This was the El of (i.e., the El second of Nibley’s three suggestions, and one that El Bethel revealed at the shrine I came to myself independently. Although Nibley Bethel) devoted only a few sentences to it, I believe it is actually by far the strongest of his proposals. El Roi El of Vision (or Divining) On the surface, however, this might appear to El Berith El of the Covenant be one of the weaker proposals, since in Hebrew Canaan is spelled with a second n: Knʿn, or Kenaʿan with Masoretic vocalization (accented on the sec- F. Kenah could be the name of a deceased king. ond ). Egyptian also prefers the second n There is evidence of a Canaanite in postmor- with the spellings Kynʿnw, Knʿnʿ, and Knnʿn. The tem divinization.12 The king list precedes name is also found syllabically written in Akkadian each name with the word ʾl, “god.” 13 as Ki-na-aḫ-num (gentilic), with the pharyngeal With this brief survey of some of the possibili- represented by ḫ, and as Ki-in-a-nim,18 ties inherent in an El combination, let us now turn with the pharyngeal unrepresented. In our attention to six concrete proposals for how the texts from Tell El Amarna and Bogazkoy, how- name Elkenah should be understood in the Book of ever, the following spellings are attested: Ki-na- Abraham (see appendix 1 for a summary): aḫ-ni, Ki-na-aḫ-na. Ki-na-aḫ-ḫi, Ki-na-a-aḫ-ḫi 1. ʾEl qanah “God has created.” This name and Ki-na-ḫi (see image on p. 27).19 Ugaritic also occurs a number of times in the Old Testament as reflects both spellings with the final -n and spell- a personal name, mostly with reference to Korahite ings without it, as in mârîM MATki-na-ḫi, “men of the Levites (see appendix 2), transliterated in the King land of Canaan.” 20 The appearance of the (normal- James Version as Elkanah. The name also occurs ized) reduced base Kinaḫḫ- indicates that the final in Akkadian, both as Ilu-qana and (with the ele- -n in the other examples is an affixational mor- ments reversed) as Qana-ilu.14 The precise meaning pheme (i.e., a grammatical element).21 The geminate of the name is disputed because there is a signifi- (doubled) final consonant in Kinaḫḫu 22 (ḫḫ-) is a cant scholarly debate over whether the Hebrew common feature of the Akkadian transcription verb qānah principally means “to create” or “to of non-Akkadian words and geographic names, acquire.” 15 In any event, as a theophoric name (pat- as in , Simurru, Mitanni (nominative tern B), this name would work only if one were will- Mitannu), and Hilakku.23 Of the dozen occurrences ing to take Elkenah in the Book of Abraham as the of “Canaan” in the Tell El Amarna letters, those name of a person, as in “the god [worshipped by the originating in Canaan itself (i.e., Tyre and ) person] Elkenah.” Pace Nibley, I do not believe that use the -n affix, but those originating in and this is a correct reading of the Book of Abraham; Mesopotamia do not.24 I therefore would discount this name as a possible In the Greek of the as well as in the solution.16 It would also be difficult to account for New Testament, Canaan is transliterated Χανααν the /a/ to /e/ vowel shift in the second syllable sug- Chanaan, based on the . There are gested by Book of Abraham “Elkenah.” other Greek sources, however, that spell the name

2. ʾEl qeni “El is mighty.” This was the first of Chna [Χνα chi-nu-alpha]. For instance, Hecataeus of three suggestions offered by Hugh Nibley in his Miletus affirmed that was called Chna.25 Improvement Era series 17 and involves a combina- of Byblos in his Phoenician History identifies tion of the Semitic El with an Egyptian element a certain Chna as the first to carry the name “Phoe- qen- or qeni, which means “mighty, powerful, nician,”26 and Herodianus Grammaticus (second brave.” The form would be analogous to Amon- century ad) and (s.v. Chnâ) qen(i), “Amon is mighty.” Although Nibley devotes report that the Phoenicians were formerly called

26 Volume 19, number 1, 2010 Chnâ. These Greek sources appear to represent a continuity with the Akkadian reduced form Kinaḫḫ-.27 The etymology of Canaan has been somewhat elusive. Schol- ars have moved from Semitic, to non-Semitic, and back to Semitic assumptions concerning the origin of the name. Ephraim A. Speiser argued that Kinaḫḫu had a Hur- rian origin, consisting of kina and the Hurrian suffix -(ḫ)ḫi “belong- ing to.”28 The meaning of the kina element was somewhat uncertain. One possibility was that it meant “reed,” with the word itself mean- ing “land of reeds” (compare Byb- los, so named for being an exporter of papyrus, which was made from reeds, whence the Greek word for “book” [bublos] and English “bible”). A second possibility was that kina meant red purple dye (derived from a certain type of shell common on the seacoast), which seemed to be supported by cuneiform texts from Nuzi. On this theory the occasional -n affix would be the Hurrian definite arti- cle or a determinative suffix, and Kinaḫḫu would mean “Belonging to (the land of) Purple.” This etymol- ogy was appealing because it sug- gested a continuity with the Greek word for the Phoenicians, Phoinikē (from phoinix, “red purple”), and it also explained the use of Hebrew knʿny for “merchant.” But it has since been shown that the Hur- rian word had a different history than that posited by Speiser,29 and improved attestation of third- millennium-bc geographic names from Syria- has lessened the likelihood of a Hurrian etymol- ogy for Canaan. For instance, the ethnicon Canaanite is now attested Tell El Amarna tablet from Egypt (E29813, obverse, object 1; lu 1888,1013.56). © The Trustees of the British Museum. Inset: in a text from Mari as ki-na-aḫ- mes 30 The Middle Babylonian word for Canaan, Kina ḫḫi, appears num . It now appears that the about halfway down on the far right and wraps around the words for “purple” and “merchant” edge.

journal of the Book of M ormon and other restoration scripture 27 took their names from the region, rather than giv- 4. ʾEl Qini “El of the Kenites.” This was the ing their names to the region. The meaning of the third of Nibley’s three suggestions. The Kenites are word now most likely must be sought in the Semitic first mentioned at Genesis 15:19 (as part of a list of lexicon, in which event the -n affix is not a Hurrian peoples God would dispossess to give their land to grammatical element at all, but an attested, though Abraham’s descendants) and were understood to rare, Semitic noun-forming suffix.31 be descendants of Cain [Qayin], although in fact If, as most scholars now believe, the word is their name probably refers to their metalworking Semitic in origin, it almost certainly derives from craft. These were desert nomads who lived to the the *KNʿ (“to bend the knee, to bow”), with east of Egypt and were generally viewed favorably an afformative -n sometimes added. One possible by the . Moses’s father-in-law, Jethro, was a Semitic etymology for the word, suggested long ago Kenite. Part of the rationale for this proposal, apart by , is “lowland” (as opposed to from a mild linguistic resemblance, is based on the higher country of to the east),32 but this something of a misunderstanding. Apparently fol- is problematic because the root does not have the lowing Klaus Baer,41 Nibley took the hawk-headed intransitive meaning “to be low.” The most recent jar of Facsimile 1, figure 5 (i.e., “the idolatrous god and widely accepted Semitic etymology for Canaan of Elkenah”), as Duamutef,42 who represented the was put forward by Michael Astour.33 He noted that East. Since the Kenites lay to the east of Heliopolis, *KNʿ in [kanaʿ] is found only in this seemed to him like a natural fit. The hawk- the niphal verb stem (“to be subdued,” “to lower headed figure is usually not, however, Duamutef, oneself’) and in the hiphil (“to subdue”). In Ara- but Qebehsenuf, and this is the god representing the maic, the verb [kenaʿ] also occurs in the qal, “to West, not the East, as described above. Therefore, a bow down, bend.” kanaʿa has several usages, significant portion of the rationale for this proposal including (1) “to fold wings and descend to earth” was based on a mistake. 5. dIl-gi-na (meaning uncertain). John Lund­ (said of a large ) and (2) “to bow, to incline 43 toward the horizon” (said of a star). As applied to quist has suggested this as a possibility. It is num- the sun, the word would be exactly equivalent to ber 407 on a list of 3,800 Mesopotamian . Lundquist suggests that the gi syllable can also be occidere.34 Therefore, Astour takes the derived read as ki,44 and the name is accompanied by the form Kinaʿu as signifying the “Occident,” the Sumerian determinative, indicating that “Land of Sunset,” or “Westland.”35 This is the West this is the name of a god. This is certainly a pos- Semitic equivalent of Akkadian Amurru “West.” sibility; since, however, we know nothing else about In Amarna-era texts and in the Bible, the terms 36 this deity, it is rather difficult to evaluate how strong Canaan and Amurru are largely synonymous. It a possibility it might be (apart from linguistic is interesting in this connection that the sons of 37 similarity). Horus stood for the four cardinal directions and 6. ʾEl qoneh “El the Creator.” This would be a that Qebehsenuf, which represents “the idolatrous 38 hypocoristic form of the well-attested Canaanite god of Elkenah” on Facsimile 1, was indeed the epithet l qn ar , “El, Creator of the Earth,” which is 39 ʾ ṣ god of the West. itself a shorter version of the later and longer form I am not aware of an actual attestation of Il of the epithet found at Genesis 14:19, 22: ʾel ʾelyon Kinaḫḫi. The tablets come close, however, qoneh shamayim weʾareṣ “El Most High, Creator of d describing an offering to BAD ka-na-na “Lord of the and the Earth.” 45 In a Hittite bor- d Canaan,” where the appellative BAD (the Sum- rowed from Canaan prior to 1200 bc, El is called erogram for “divine Lord”) most likely refers to “Elkunirša” (the Hittite spelling of West Semitic 40 Dagan. The Ras Shamra tablets equate Dagan ʾl qn ʾarṣ). This El was the husband of the with El, each of which is described as the father of (= Ashertu) and lived in a tent at the head- . Note also the usage in Psalm 106:38, ʿatsabbe waters of the Euphrates (= Mala) River.46 This name

Kenaʿan, “the idols of Canaan” (used in a child appears in the Phoenician-Hittite bilingual inscrip- sacrifice context). Note further that some form of tion of Azitawadda.47 This same epithet (ʾl qn ʾarṣ, the word Canaan appears six times in the Book of partially restored) was found in a three-line inscrip- Abraham text. tion dating to the eighth or seventh century bc by

28 Volume 19, number 1, 2010 Nahman Avigad in the Jewish quarter of Jerusalem Elkenah as Canaanite El 48 in 1971. There is a substantial body of literature on this name.49 Does an equation of Canaanite El with Elke- The similarity in form of this name to pro- nah fit what we know of Elkenah from the Book posal 1 is due to the fact that the same verb is used of Abraham text? I believe that it does. First of all, in both names, but here the verb is an attributive we suggested that Elkenah must be a reference to a participle. While the work well, the god and not a man. We know that Elkenah could vowels are a weakness of this theory. The participial be a human’s name from biblical attestations, but form in Phoenician and Ugaritic would be qaniy(u) we have now also demonstrated that Elkenah works (where the final u– is the case ending). Due to the very well as the name of a god. Canaanite and other sound shifts, that participial Second, we deduced that this god was likely the form comes into Hebrew as qoneh. In neither case chief god of its . El in fact was the supreme do the vowels mesh well with kenah, with its short deity of the Canaanite pantheon. El was the father initial vowel followed by an /a/ quality second and creator of gods and men. He was perceived as vowel. Of course, the Book of Abraham was trans- an aged patriarch, wise in judgment, the king of lated by an inspired rather than an academic trans- heaven, and chief of the council of the gods. He lation process, and it is possible that the representa- was a tent dweller and lived in the far north. His tion of the name in English is but an approximation patriarchal authority was won in the ancient wars of of the original, ancient form. the gods as a great warrior. His principal wife was In assessing these six proposals, for the reasons Asherah, mother and creatress of the gods, although I have indicated, I would consider numbers 1, 2, his other sisters and also served as consorts. His vigorous procreative powers populated and 4 as the least likely possibilities. Number 5 is heaven and earth.51 possible, but in the absence of further information Third, we saw that Abraham’s experience with it cannot be effectively assessed. In my view, the this god took place at Ur of the Chaldees. If we can strongest proposals are numbers 3 and 6. Based on assume the northern location for Ur in Syria,52 the present information, however, it may be difficult to presence of a Canaanite cult (together with some select between these options. This is because num- Egyptian , seen in the priest of Elkenah ber 3 is based on the *KNʿ, and num- also acting as the priest of Pharaoh) in that area is ber 6 on *QNH, and the English element -kenah in not surprising. El was not only the supreme deity the Book of Abraham is not sufficiently precise to 53 50 in Canaan, but in Syria-Palestine generally. Lund­ distinguish between these two roots. Number 6 quist reports that the chief deities at Ebla were gets points for being based on a strongly attested El Dagan, Baal, Sipish (or Shemesh), Kemash, Ashtar epithet. Also, some Book of Abraham manuscripts (the male version of Ishtar), and Hadda.54 Syncretis- spell Elkenah as “Elkkener,” with an “r” ending, tic Canaanite versions of these deities also existed which is at least suggestive of the plene form of the (with Dagan being the Syrian equivalent of El). epithet. On the other hand, while Kinaḫḫi is not to If proposal 3 is correct, this may explain why my knowledge attested with an El combination, the it was necessary to qualify the name El with “of patterns “El of [place-name]” and “[god] of Canaan” Canaan” or “of the West,” in order clearly to distin- are both attested. Kinaḫḫi itself is attested earlier guish this from another El cult. If proposal 6 is cor- than number 6, and this proposal does not require rect, note that the relating to this deity place that we posit a hypocoristic form. Also, in my view, him at the headwaters of the Euphrates, which is in the vowels work better for proposal 3 than for any the general area of the northern location for Ur. other (including proposal 1). All things considered, Fourth, and perhaps most importantly, an it seems to me that we have a draw between propos- identification of Elkenah as Canaanite El would als 3 and 6, at least pending further research. For help to explain the presence of child sacrifice in many purposes, however, our inability to decide the Book of Abraham account. In 1969, William conclusively between these two proposals will not J. Adams Jr. published an article in BYU Studies matter, because both have reference to the same entitled “Human Sacrifice and the Book of Abra- deity: Canaanite El. ham.” 55 At the time Adams was a graduate student

journal of the Book of M ormon and other restoration scripture 29 in Akkadian, Ugaritic, and Old Testament lan- sacrifice in the Book of Abraham fits that cult very guages at Hebrew Union College. Adams showed well indeed. Facsimile 1 to some of his fellow students in Assyri- Although the Molech cult spoken of in the ology, who immediately claimed that there was no Bible, which is a particular manifestation of the evidence the Babylonians ever practiced human long-standing Canaanite penchant for child sacri- sacrifice. This led Adams to look into the matter; fice, postdates the time of Abraham,65 it does have his interest in the topic was further spurred with some indirect relevance to the Book of Abraham. the recovery of the original of Facsimile 1 from the Some scholars, notably Moshe Weinfeld,66 have Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York. questioned whether the cult really involved child Adams found that, while there was a wide- sacrifice, preferring to see the key expression “to spread scholarly assumption against Babylonian pass through the fire” as a simple dedication to the human sacrifice, certain scholars remained uncom- god. Most scholars, however, acknowledge that the mitted either way. Looking into the evidence cult did indeed involve the actual killing of chil- himself, he did find some suggestive items from dren. A second issue is whether Molech should be four sources: (l) circumstantial evidence from taken as the name of a god or simply as the name archaeological digs, (2) comments in ancient written of an offering, as Otto Eissfeldt argued in 1935.67 texts, (3) human as pictured on cylinder Although there is in fact a Punic term mulk that seals, and (4) the behavior of other Semitic peoples means “offering,” most scholars believe that the Old regarding the practice of human sacrifice. Adams Testament references to Molech are to an actual assumed that Ur of the Chaldees was in southern deity. A third issue is the identification of this deity. Mesopotamia and therefore assumed that evidence There have been many proposals, but the most for human sacrifice in the Book of Abraham should widely held view today equates the god with the come from Babylonian sources. Most of the evi- Mlk resident at ‘ttrt mentioned in the Ras Shamra dence Adams found was either subject to alternative tablets (Malik in Akkadian texts),68 a god of the explanations or apparently based on influence from netherworld.69 56 western Semitic . It has sometimes been supposed that human If we assume a northern location for Ur 57 and sacrifice to Molech should be identified with the take Elkenah as Canaanite El, then human sacrifice offering of the firstborn male to mentioned in the Book of Abraham is no longer a difficulty. in the Pentateuch. In distinguishing these practices, While Babylonian (and Egyptian) evidence of scholars have pointed out that the Canaanite sacri- human sacrifice of the type portrayed in Abraham 1 fices were not limited to the firstborn, nor were they may be somewhat limited, scholars generally agree limited to one child only per family, nor were they that human sacrifice was a long-accepted practice in limited to sons, as the sources speak repeatedly of Canaanite .58 The Old Testament preserves offering daughters as well as sons. It is interesting a number of allusions to Canaanite practices of in this light that the Book of Abraham mentions human and child sacrifice, such as Deuteronomy the sacrifice of three daughters, which thus accords 12:31; Psalm 106:37–39; Isaiah 66:3; Micah 6:7, with known Canaanite practices. and the numerous references to the Molech cult (including Leviticus 18:21; 20:2; 2 Kings 3:27; 16:3; Conclusion 17:17, 31; and 23:10; 7:31–32; 32:35; and Ezekiel 16:20–21). The Akedah ( “binding” of ) We began by examining the Book of Abraham in Genesis 22 likely had a Canaanite background.59 text to see what it tells us about the figure Elkenah. It was El among the gods who sacrificed his own Based on an assumption that the El- element in the children, Yadid and .60 Classical sources 61 and name is Semitic ʾel, we identified a number of pos- archaeological discoveries 62 attest to human sacri- sible linguistic structures for an ancient El combi- fice in the continuum from Canaanite to Phoenician nation. We then reviewed six concrete proposals for to ,63 with the popularity of child sac- Elkenah, concluding that the strongest possibilities, rifice at being dependent on an El cult.64 If “El of Canaan” and “El the Creator,” both point in Elkenah was Canaanite El, then the feature of child the direction of the same deity: Canaanite El.

30 Volume 19, number 1, 2010 This deity compares favorably with the infor- the cultic of human sacrifice.71 Although mation set forth in the Book of Abraham text there is much more work to be done (including regarding Elkenah.70 In particular, the type of sac- similar studies of the other names in the Book of rifice described in Abraham 1 fits a cultic setting Abraham onomasticon), both the name Elkenah in Syro-Palestinian or Canaanite territory much and the cult described in the text seem to point to a more readily than it fits a Mesopotamian or Assyro- Syro-Palestinian context for Abraham 1. Consistent Babylonian scenario. More to the point, the scene with Lundquist’s study, I believe that future research on Facsimile 1, with its representation of a human should focus on this region as a prime location for sacrifice on an Egyptian lion couch, fits extremely the possible setting of the text. n well with Egyptian Middle Kingdom evidence for appendix 1 Summary of Proposed Derivations of Elkenah

Transliteration(s) Meaning Language(s) Structure

1. Ilu-qana; ʾEl qanah God has created [a son] Akkadian; Hebrew (B) Theophoric

2. ʾEl qeni El is mighty [Semitic]/Egyptian (B) Theophoric

Akkadian; Greek El of Canaan (C) God of [place/people] 3. Il Kinaḫḫi; El Chna transliteration

4. ʾEl Qini El of the Kenites [Semitic] (C) God of [place/people]

[uncertain; possibly “God [uncertain; possibly (E) 5. dIl-gi-na Sumerian of Regular Offering”] God + epithet]

El the Creator 6. ʾl qn a[rṣ]; Canaanite; Hittite; [hypocoristic for El, (E) God + epithet Hebrew Elkuni[rša]; ʾEl qoneh Creator of the Earth]

journal of the Book of M ormon and other restoration scripture 31 Appendix 2 The Name Elkanah in the Old Testament

1. Son of Korah (and great-grandson of Levi) Exodus 6:24

2. A Korahite Levite (possibly the same as 1) 1 Chronicles 6:23, 25, 36

3. A Korahite Levite, descended from 2 1 Chronicles 6:26, 35 4. A Korahite Levite, descended from 3 and father 1 Chronicles 6:27, 34; 1 Samuel 1–2 (8 occurrences) of Samuel 5. A Korahite Levite who was one of ’s 1 Chronicles 12:6 warriors at Ziklag 6. A Levite who was one of two doorkeepers for the 1 Chronicles 15:23 ark of the covenant

7. A high official in the court of Ahaz, assassinated 2 Chronicles 28:7 by Zichri, an Ephraimite warrior 8. A Levite who was the ancestor of Berechiah son of Asa, who settled in Jerusalem after returning 1 Chronicles 9:16 from the Babylonian exile

Adapted from Ronald Youngblood, “Elkanah,” in ABD, 2:475–76.

Notes god of Pharaoh” must mean “the god Pharaoh” based on A draft of this article was posted on the Internet at BCC consistency of usage. Nibley made the opposite argument; Papers 2/2 (2007) at bycommonconsent.com. he (correctly, in my view) observed that, since Pharaoh is 1. Paul Y. Hoskisson, “An Introduction to the Relevance of and a human king and is consistently represented as such in a Methodology for a Study of the Proper Names of the Book the text, “the god of Pharaoh” most likely means “the god of Mormon,” in By Study and Also by , ed. John M. worshiped by Pharaoh,” and then argued based on consis- Lund­quist and Stephen D. Ricks (Salt Lake City: Deseret tency of usage that “the god of Elkenah” means “the god Book and FARMS, 1990), 2:126–35, although focused on the worshiped by Elkenah,” as discussed above. I believe both Book of Mormon, provides useful methodological comments of these scholars are wrong to assume consistency of usage. that can be applied to the study of the Book of Abraham ono- I believe Thompson is correct vis-à-vis Elkenah (Thompson masticon as well. points out that the reference in Abraham 1:7 to a “priest of 2. In Abraham 2:13, “gods of Elkenah” is not used as part of a Elkenah” and not a “priest of the god of Elkenah” supports sequence. I would read that as a further evidence that Elke- this reading), but Nibley is correct vis-à-vis Pharaoh (there nah was the chief deity of the pantheon, preeminent among are a number of references to Pharaoh in the text, in which the gods. he is consistently portrayed as a human king and not in his 3. Note that in the usage of the , the expression divinized aspect). This reading is confirmed by Abraham “altar of” can be followed by the material of which the altar 1:13: “and it stood before the gods of Elkenah, Libnah, Mah- is composed (“altar of stones,” “altar of gold”), the purpose of mackrah, Korash, and also a god like unto that of Pharaoh, the altar (“altar of incense”), or the deity to whom the altar king of Egypt.” The genitive with the first four names is is dedicated (“altar of the Lord,” “altar of Baal”). This last epexegetic, meaning that they were themselves gods, but the type of occurrence is attested at Leviticus 17:6; Deuteronomy construction is modified when it comes to describing the god 12:27; 16:21; 26:4; 27:6; Joshua 9:27; 22:19, 28–29; Judges 6:25, worshipped by Pharaoh, a human king. Further support for 28, 30; 1 Kings 8:22, 54; 18:30; :9; 2 Chronicles this reading occurs at Abraham 1:17, which mentions “the 6:12; 8:12; 15:8; 29:19, 21; 33:15–16; 35:16; Nehemiah 10:34; god of Pharaoh, king of Egypt.” Malachi 2:13. The expression “altar of X” is never used to 6. In Mesopotamian thought, an ilu had greater fluidity of refer to a human being who owns or has constructed the manifestation and a larger potential for identification with altar. other ilus who shared similar qualities or powers than did 4. Hugh Nibley, An Approach to the Book of Abraham (Salt Lake the biblical God. See Barbara Nevling Porter, “The Anxiety City: Deseret Book and FARMS, 2009), 313–19. of Multiplicity: Concepts of as One and Many in 5. Stephen E. Thompson, “Egyptology and the Book of Abra- Ancient Assyria,” in One God or Many? Concepts of Divinity ham,” Dialogue 28/1 (1995): 156 n. 66, correctly reads “the in the Ancient World, ed. Barbara N. Porter (Casco Bay, ME: god of Elkenah” as “the god Elkenah,” but then assumes “the Casco Bay Assyriological Institute, 2000), 211–72.

32 Volume 19, number 1, 2010 7. Nibley’s emphasis in his Improvement Era series (now 17. Nibley, An Approach to the Book of Abraham, 313–15. reprinted in An Approach to the Book of Abraham, 313–19) 18. The m at the end of these words is called mimation and falls was to lay out as many different possibilities as he could, into disuse after the Old Babylonian period. without necessarily choosing the strongest among them. 19. Michael Astour, “The Origin of the Terms ‘Canaan,’ ‘Phoe- It remains for those who follow him to sift through the nician,’ and ‘Purple,’ ” Journal of Near Eastern Studies 24/4 many tantalizing leads he provided and make these kinds of (1965): 346. judgments. 20. G. Johannes Botterweck, Helmer Ringgren, and Heinz-Josef 8. In manuscript Ab5a, Willard Richards spells the three occur- Fabry, eds., Theological Dictionary of the Old Testament, rences of the name in the explanations to Facsimile 1 as Elke- trans. David E. Green (Grand Rapids, MI: Eerdmans, 1974– nah. The manuscript designations are those used by Brian M. 2006), 7:212. Hauglid in his forthcoming textual history of the Book of 21. Philip C. Schmitz, “Canaan (Place),” in ABD, 1:828. Abraham. These sigla relate to the traditional designations as 22. As a geographic name, Kinaḫḫi usually appears with an -i follows: Ab2 = KEPA 2; Ab3 = KEPA 3; Ab4 = KEPA 1; and genitive ending. Ab5 = KEPA 4. 23. On the linguistic tendency toward the reduction of final 9. , Canaanite Myth and Hebrew Epic: Essays double consonants to single consonants, see Zellig S. Har- in the History of the Religion of Israel (Cambridge, MA: Har- ris, Development of the Canaanite Dialects (New Haven, CT: vard University Press, 1973), 50. American Oriental Society, 1939), 76. 10. There is often an ambiguity in ancient Hebrew theophoric 24. Astour, “Origin of the Terms,” 346; Jack M. Sasson, “The names reflecting a medial yod, which could be either a first Earliest Mention of the Name Canaan,” Biblical Archaeologist person pronominal suffix or an archaic genitive. So, for 47/2 (1984): 90. example, the name could mean either “My king 25. Francis Brown, S. R. Driver, and Charles A. Briggs, eds., is righteousness” or “King of righteousness.” Hebrew and English Lexicon (Peabody, MA: Hendrickson, 11. Numerous other El epithets exist, such as the following 1979), 488. examples from the Old Testament: ʾel deʾoth “God of Knowl- 26. Harold W. Attridge and Robert A. Oden Jr., : edge” (1 Samuel 2:3), ʾel neqamoth “God of Vengeance” (see The Phoenician History: Introduction, Critical Text, Transla- Psalm 94:1), and ʾel gemuloth “God of Recompenses” (Jere­ tion, Notes (Washington, DC: Catholic Biblical Association miah 51:56), as well as these examples from the Ras Shamra of America, 1981), 60–61 and n. 144; Albert I. Baumgarten, Tablets: il ṣpn (ʾIlū Ṣapuni “The gods of Mount Sapunu”), lb The Phoenician History of Philo of Byblos: A Commentary (ʾIluʾibi “The God-of-the-Father”), l ddmm (ʾIlū Dadmima (Leiden: Brill, 1981), 232. “Gods-of-the-Land-of-”), l lb[-]n (ʾIlū LB[-]N “Gods 27. Schmitz, “Canaan (Place),” 1:829. of Labana”), and l bt (ʾIlū-Bêti “God-of-the-House”). See 28. Ephraim A. Speiser, “The Name Phoinikes,” Language 12 the Ugaritic deity lists in Dennis Pardee, Ritual and Cult at (1936): 121–26. (Atlanta: Society of Biblical Literature, 2002), 11–24. 29. Benno Landsberger, “Über Farben im Sumerisch- 12. John Day, “Canaan, Religion of,” in The Anchor Bible Dic- akkadischen,” Journal of Cuneiform Studies 21 (1967): 166– tionary (hereafter ABD), ed. David Noel Freedman (New 67. York: Doubleday, 1992), 1:834. 30. Georges Dossin, “Une mention de Canaanéens dans une 13. Manfried Dietrich, Oswald Loretz, and Joaquin Sanmartín, lettre de Mari,” Syria: Revue d’art oriental et d’archéologie 50 eds., Die keilalphabetischen Texte aus Ugarit: Einschliesslich (1973): 277–82; Sasson, “Earliest Mention,” 90. der keilalphabetischen Texte ausserhalb (Kevelaer, 31. See Astour, “Origin of the Terms,” 346–50, and Schmitz, Germany: Verlag Butzon & Bercker, 1976), 1:113. “Canaan (Place),” 1:829. 14. Johannes C. de Moor, “El, the Creator,” in The Bible World: 32. Gesenius’ Hebrew-Chaldee Lexicon to the Old Testament, Essays in Honor of Cyrus H. Gordon, ed. G. Rendsburg et al. trans. Samuel P. Tregelles (Grand Rapids, MI: Eerdmans, (New York: KTAV, 1980), 176. 1978), 405. 15. The debate often centers around christological arguments 33. Astour, “Origin of the Terms,” 348. over Proverbs 8:22. The meaning “acquire” predominates in 34. Jeremiah 10:17 reads as follows: “Gather up thy wares out Biblical Hebrew. In fact, Bruce Vawter, “Proverbs 8:22: Wis- of the land, O inhabitant of the fortress.” The King James dom and Creation,” Journal of Biblical Literature 99/2 (1980): Version rendering “wares” of the hapax legomenon kinʿa or 205–16, argues that it always means “acquire,” although kenaʿa is supported by the Targums [sǝ̻chorta] and by Sym- most, such as the dated but still useful C. F. Burney, “Christ machus [emporia]. The Septuagint, however, has simply as the APXH of Creation,” Journal of Theological Studies 27 hypostasis, here evidently designating any “bundle, load, or (1926): 160–77, acknowledge that in some biblical passages burden set down from the shoulder or an animal back to the the verb does seem to mean “create.” But in the Ras Shamra ground,” thus showing how the word derives from *KNʿ. See tablets the verb definitely means “to create.” It now appears Astour, “Origin of the Terms,” 347 n. 17. that there were two roots in West Semitic underlying Hebrew 35. That the name was originally a generic term such as “the qānah, one meaning “to acquire” (*QNW) and the other West” is suggested by the fact that it often appears with meaning “to create” (*QNY). See R. N. Whybray, “Proverbs the definite article the (especially Egyptian p), i.e., “the VIII:22–31 and Its Supposed Prototypes,” Vetus Testamentum Canaan.” 15/4 (1965): 504–14; William A. Irwin, “Where Shall Wisdom 36. If one accepts the , note that the Be Found?” Journal of Biblical Literature 80/2 (1961): 133–42; pre-Israelite inhabitants of Palestine are called “Canaanites” and Marvin H. Pope, El in the (Leiden: Brill, in J and P but “Amorites” in E and D. See Kevin L. Barney, 1955), 51. “Reflections on the Documentary Hypothesis,” Dialogue 33/1 16. Critics typically assume that the Book of Abraham is a (2000): 57–99. Note that E. Jan Wilson, “ ‘A Bird in the Hand nineteenth-century production and therefore claim that . . .’: Some Thoughts on the Search for Abraham” (unpub- Joseph Smith simply adapted the name Elkenah from the bib- lished paper), independently suggests that the setting for lical precedents. See, for example, newsgroups.derkeiler.com/ Abraham may have involved Amorites. Archive/Soc/soc.religion.mormon/2005-08/msg00763.html 37. Thompson, “Egyptology and the Book of Abraham,” 152, (accessed 17 March 2010). While this is of course possible, it in a misguided attempt to deny Joseph Smith even so much is my intention in this article to explore openly the possibil- as a lucky guess, tries too hard to rebut this point. See the ity of an ancient origin for that book without making any discussion of Thompson’s article in Kevin L. Barney, “The such a priori assumption. Facsimiles and Semitic Adaptation of Existing Sources,”

journal of the Book of M ormon and other restoration scripture 33 in Astronomy, Papyrus, and Covenant, ed. John Gee and as interchangeable as they might appear. Sumerian gi-na = Brian M. Hauglid (Provo, UT: FARMS, 2005), 122–24. Akkadian ginû “regular offering”; see Rykle Borger, Meso- 38. Note that this arrangement was not standardized until potamisches Zeichenlexikon (Münster: Ugarit-Verlag, 2004), the Saite Period (Twenty-Sixth Dynasty, 685–525 bc). See 280; Chicago Assyrian Dictionary G 80–82. Maarten J. Raven, “Egyptian Concepts on the Orientation of 45. I am uncertain as to which LDS scholar deserves credit for the Human Body,” in Proceedings of the Ninth International first suggesting this connection. Stephen D. Ricks makes Congress of Egyptologists, ed. Jean-Claude Goyon and Chris- the suggestion in John Gee and Stephen D. Ricks, “Histori- tine Cardin (Leuven: Peeters, 2007), 2:1570–71. cal Plausibility: The Historicity of the Book of Abraham as 39. To summarize, the attested Akkadian forms reflect two a Case Study,” in Historicity and the Latter-day Saint Scrip- variations: (1) the pharyngeal consonant can be represented tures, ed. Paul Y. Hoskisson (Provo, UT: BYU Religious Stud- or not, and (2) the -n affix can be appended or not (this ies Center, 2001), 75. The suggestion was also made in W. V. usage apparently being dependent on geographic location). Smith, A Joseph Smith Commentary on the Book of Abraham, The forms also reflect two linguistic developments: (1) the at www.boap.org/LDS/BOAP/SecondEd/index.html, p. 22 of dropping of mimation and (2) the reduction of the final commentary (accessed 25 March 2010). I also found a signifi- double consonant to a single consonant. The form Elkenah cant amount of information on this subject in the archives in the Book of Abraham reflects two additional linguistic of the ANE Listserv at the University of Chicago for 23 June developments, which are both easily predictable and actually 1998 (volume 1998, number 171); John Tvedtnes of the Neal attested in the later Hebrew and Greek forms: (1) the shift A. Maxwell Institute for Religious Scholarship at BYU was from Akkadian i to e or schwa and (2) the dropping of the one of the posters in that thread and had significant informa- case endings. If proposal 3 is correct, then the only remain- tion on this epithet at his fingertips, which suggests that he ing ambiguity in Elkenah is whether the final -h represents may also have known about this proposal at that time. The the pharyngeal consonant or is simply to be taken with the archive is available at oi.uchicago.edu/research/library/ane/ preceding a vowel. digest/1998/v1998.n171 (accessed 17 March 2010). Of course, 40. Giovanni Pettinato, “Culto ufficiale ad Ebla durante it regno another scholar may have noted this possibility even earlier, di Ibbi-Sipiš,” Oriens Antiquus 18 (1979): 103; Fritz Stolz, or perhaps several scholars noted the connection indepen- “Kanaan,” in Theologische Realenzyklopädie, ed. Gerhard dently. Krause and Gerhard Müller (Berlin: de Gruyter, 1976– ), 46. Harry A. Hoffner Jr., trans., Hittite Myths, ed. Gary M. Beck- 17:540. Also note that in bilingual passages, the Sumerian man (Atlanta: Scholars, 1990), 69–70, 83. See Heinrich Otten, determinative DINGIR (represented by the superscript d) “Ein kanaanäischer Mythus aus Boğazköy,” Mitteilungen des equals ilu. See “ilu” in the Chicago Assyrian Dictionary (Chi- Instituts für Orientforschung (1953): 125–50; Harry A. Hoff- cago: Oriental Institute, 1921– ), 7:91. ner Jr., “The Elkunirša Myth Reconsidered,” Revue hittite et 41. See H. Michael Marquardt, “The Book of Abraham Revis- asianique 23/76 (1965): 5–16; Maciej Popko, Religions of Asia ited,” Journal of Pastoral Practice 5/4 (1983): 107. Minor, trans. Iwona Zych (Warsaw: Academic Publications, 42. There has been unfortunate confusion on this point since 1995), 128; Gary Beckman, “Elkurniša and Ašertu,” in The the summer of 1968. Polemically oriented treatments are Context of Scripture, ed. William W. Hallo and K. Lawson found in Robert L. and Rosemary Brown, They Lie in Wait Younger Jr. (Leiden: Brill, 2003), 1:149. See also Ben H. L. van to Deceive (Mesa: Brownsworth, 1981), 1:160, and Jerald and Gessel, Onomasticon of the Hittite Pantheon (Leiden: Brill, Sandra Tanner, Can the Browns Save Joseph Smith? (Salt Lake 1998), 1:63, but note the review by Harry A. Hoffner Jr. in City: Utah Lighthouse Ministry, 1981), 23–27. Benjamin Journal of Near Eastern Studies 59/4 (2000): 295. Urrutia, “The Joseph Smith Papyri,” Dialogue 4/2 (1969): 133, 47. For the Phoenician version, see Herbert Donner and Wolf- and Nibley, An Approach to the Book of Abraham, 319, both gang Röllig, Kanaanäische und Aramäische Inschriften equate Facsimile 1, figure 5 (the hawk-headed canopic jar), (Weisbaden: Harrassowitz, 1966), #26 A, III, line 18 (p. 37). with Duamutef (although Nibley gives the names in their Tvedtnes points out that there are Luvian correspondences standard order on pp. 296–301). As noted above, these schol- for this title, on which see Emmanuel Laroche, “Etudes sur ars appear to have been following Klaus Baer, “The Breathing les hiéroglyphes hittites,” Syria 31 (1954): 102–3. Permit of Hôr,” Dialogue 3/3 (1968): 118. John Gee reports in 48. Patrick D. Miller Jr., “El, the Creator of the Earth,” Bulletin his “Notes on the Sons of Horus” (Provo, UT: FARMS, 1991), of the American Schools of Oriental Research, no. 239 (1980): 43–44, that there was a certain ancient variation in the iden- 43–46. This article also lists other and Neo-Punic tification of the different heads of the canopic jars, and Baer’s sources for this epithet. equating of the hawk head with Duamutef is indeed attested 49. Including Pope, El in the Ugaritic Texts; Frank Moore Cross in antiquity. Nevertheless, in its standard form the hawk- Jr., “Yahweh and the God of the Patriarchs,” Harvard Theo- headed jar is a representation of Qebehsenuf. In addition logical Review 55 (1962): 236; de Moor, “El, the Creator,” to Gee, see the following: Richard A. Parker, “The Joseph 171–87; Day, “Canaan, Religion of,” 1:831; Lowell K. Handy, Smith Papyri: A Preliminary Report,” Dialogue 3/2 (1968): Among the Host of Heaven: The Syro-Palestinian Pantheon as 86; Leonard H. Lesko, in his response to Thomas Stuart Fer- Bureaucracy (Winona Lake, IN: Eisenbrauns, 1994), 34–37; guson, as reported in Stan Larson, Quest for the Gold Plates and Hoftijzer and K. Jongeling, Dictionary of the (Salt Lake City: Freethinker Press in association with Smith North-West Semitic Inscriptions, part 2 (Leiden: Brill, 1995), Research Associates, 1996), 97; Michael D. Rhodes, “A Trans- 1015–16, which provides substantial additional bibliography. lation and Commentary of the Joseph Smith Hypocephalus,” 50. For instance, the Sephardic transliteration method Joseph BYU Studies 17/3 (1977): 272; and Thompson, “Egyptology Smith learned from Joshua Seixas in the Kirtland Hebrew and the Book of Abraham,” 152. School does not distinguish and , using k for both; 43. John M. Lundquist, “Was Abraham at Ebla? A Cultural see Joshua Seixas, A Manual Hebrew Grammar for the Use Background of the Book of Abraham (Abraham 1 and 2),” in of Beginners (Andover: Gould and Newman, 1834), 5. As we Studies in Scripture, Volume Two: The Pearl of Great Price, have seen, Akkadian represented the guttural at the end of ed. Robert L. Millet and Kent P. Jackson (Salt Lake City: Ran- *KNʿ (ʿayin in Hebrew) either with a hard ḫ (like Hebrew dall, 1985), 232, citing Anton Deimel, Pantheon Babylonicum ḫeth) or not at all. oder Keilschriftkatalog der Babylo. Gn. (Rome: Pontifical Bib- 51. In general, see Frank Moore Cross Jr., “ʾel,” in Theological lical Institute, 1950), 48. Dictionary of the Old Testament, 1:242–53. 44. Lundquist overstates this possibility. The GI5 sign is the KI 52. Numerous LDS scholars have argued for a northern location sign and the GI sign is also the KI2 sign, but they are not of Ur in Syria rather than the location in southern Mesopo-

34 Volume 19, number 1, 2010 tamia. See Nibley, An Approach to the Book of Abraham, 427– and an obscure god Malik/Malku from Akkadian god lists 28, and Abraham in Egypt, 2nd ed. (Salt Lake City: Deseret who in two texts was equated with , the Mesopota- Book and FARMS, 2000), 85–86; Lundquist, “Was Abraham mian god of the . A god of the underworld is just at Ebla?” 225–27; Paul Y. Hoskisson, “Where Was Ur of the the kind of god one might worship in the valley of Hinnom Chaldees?” in The Pearl of Great Price: Revelations from God, rather than on a hilltop. ed. H. Donl Peterson and Charles D. Tate (Provo, UT: BYU 69. Actually, if one were so inclined, one could make an argu- Center, 1989), 119–36; John A. Tvedtnes, ment that this deity is to be equated with El. It has been sug- “ ‘Ur of the Chaldees’ and the Book of Abraham” (unpub- gested that Molech is a dysphemism, the vowels having been lished paper); and Gee and Ricks, “Historical Plausibility.” I tampered with by replacing them with the vowels of boshet concur with the position of these scholars. Wilson, “A Bird “shame” (a process that has been demonstrated in the case of in the Hand,” strikes a cautionary note and argues for the the corruption of Ashtart to Ashtoreth; compare also the use southern location in Mesopotamia. If this position is correct, of Ishbosheth “man of shame” for Saul’s son Eshbaal “man of more research would be required to determine to what extent the lord,” as described in Hoskisson, “Proper Names,” 128– there may have been Canaanite influences there. The Amor- 29). If that is true, the name in reality could be the generic ite migrations mentioned by Wilson would certainly suggest melek “king” (especially since it is usually preceded by the a possible source of such influence. definite article), in which event the reference would most 53. Handy, Syro-Palestinian Pantheon, 69–95. likely be to El or Baal, the Canaanite deities most commonly 54. Lundquist, “Was Abraham at Ebla?” 232. designated as “king” in epithets (as in ʾl mlk, “El the King”). 55. William J. Adams Jr., “Human Sacrifice and the Book of 70. On why a Canaanite deity would be represented by Egyp- Abraham,” BYU Studies 9/4 (1969): 473–80. Adams’s conclu- symbols on the facsimiles, see Barney, “Facsimiles and sions also find support in a later study; see Alberto R. W. Semitic Adaptation.” Green, The Role of Human Sacrifice in the 71. See the extensive bibliography in the unpublished article, “An (Missoula, MT: Scholars Press, 1975). Egyptian Context for the Sacrifice of Abraham,” by John Gee 56. Thom Wayment, “Traditions of Child Sacrifice in the and Kerry Muhlestein on human sacrifice in the Egyptian Ancient Near East” (unpublished paper), also addresses evi- Middle Kingdom. dence for both Assyro-Babylonian and Egyptian practices of human sacrifice. 57. Intriguingly, near the end of his lengthy study, Green con- cludes that “almost all evidence of human sacrifice in the Palestinian region can be traced back to a northern origin around north Syria and south Anatolia. This northern strand may be traced chronologically from the Abraham-Isaac nar- rative based on seals and subsequently through each con- secutive period.” See Green, Role of Human Sacrifice, 200. 58. Day, “Canaan, Religion of,” 1:834. 59. John Day, Molech: A God of Human Sacrifice in the Old Testament (Cambridge: University of Cambridge Oriental Publishers, 1989), 70. See also Jon Levenson, The Death and Resurrection of the Beloved Son: The Transformation of Child Sacrifice in and (New Haven: Yale - versity Press, 1993). 60. See Sakkunyaton’s “Phoenician ” preserved in frag- ments in , Praeparatio Evangelica i.10.21, 34, 44, cited in Cross, “ʾel,” 1:248. 61. Day, God of Human Sacrifice, 86–91, in an appendix gives 19 quotations from classical and patristic sources attesting to Phoenician and Carthaginian practices of human and child sacrifice. 62. See the discussion in Wayment, “Traditions of Child Sacrifice.” 63. The Canaanites and the Phoenicians represent approximately the same culture. Scholars generally use the word Canaan- ite to refer to the period antedating roughly 1200 bc, and the word Phoenician to refer to the period thereafter. Punic derives from the Latin form of Phoenician and has special reference to Carthage, a Phoenician colony founded on the north coast of Africa in the ninth century bc. 64. Cross, “ʾel,” 1:248. 65. In addition to Day, God of Human Sacrifice, see George C. Heider, The Cult of Molek: A Reassessment (Sheffield: Shef- field Academic Press, 1985); and Heider, “Molech,” in ABD, 4:895–98. 66. Moshe Weinfeld, “The Worship of Molech and of the Queen of Heaven and Its Background,” Ugarit-Forschungen 4 (1972): 133–54. 67. Otto Eissfeldt, Molk als Opferbegriff im Punischen und Hebräischen und das Ende des Gottes (: Nie- meyer, 1935). 68. This proposal can be found in Day, God of Human Sacrifice, where he argues that the existence of a god named Molech is suggested by a god mlk from two Ugaritic serpent charms,

journal of the Book of M ormon and other restoration scripture 35