Commenting on facsimile 1 of the Book of Abraham, one Protestant New Testament scholar wrote the following:
As to the alleged near-sacrifice of Abraham, it is actually a representation of “the resurrection of the Osiris Hor on the customary lion-headed funerary couch.” (Matthew W. Bates, Salvation by Allegiance Alone: Rethinking Faith, Works, and the Gospel of Jesus the King [Grand Rapids, Mich.: Baker Academic, 2017], 16)
This is a typical charge by critics of the Book of Abraham. However, recent scholarship has shown that there were some blending of identities concerning Osiris. Roy B. Ward noted that with respect to Luke 16:19-31 where Lazarus is taken to the bosom of Abraham:
The story is probably, as Gressman proposed, dependent on an Egyptian tale, whose closest descendant is the Demotic tale of Satme. The role of Osiris in the Egyptian tradition has been replaced in the Lukan story by Abraham.
Additionally, ancient mummification rites associated with Osiris had the goal of "bestowing the fate of Osiris on the dead man."[2]
Therefore, from the ancient Egyptian perspective, identities were not exclusive; a single figure could represent Osiris and other individuals, too, Abraham included, as we see in the Book of Abraham.
Notes
[1] Roy B. Ward, "Abrahamic Traditions in Early Christianity," in Studies on the Testament of Abraham, ed. George W.E. Nickelsburg, Jr., Missoula, Montana: Scholars Press (1976): 177
[2] R.B. Finnestad, "The Pharaoh and the 'Democratization' of Post-Mortem Life," in The Religion of the Ancient Egyptians: Cognitive Structures and Popular Expressions, ed. G. Englund, Uppsala, Sweden: Almqvist and Wiskell (1989): 91
