Dan Vogel, in an attempt to bolster a connection between Joseph Smith and Adam Clarke’s commentaries on the Bible, wrote the following:
“Ah brah-oam” is defined
as “Ah brah-oam—a father of many nations a prince of peace, & one who keeps
the commandments of God. A patriarch a rightful heir, a highpeist” (GAEL, 2 [JSP,
R4:119).
Ah brah-oam was created
from the name Abraham, and giving a meaning to the name would be similar to
Adam Clarke’s explaining in his influential nineteenth-century Bible commentary
that Abraham in Hebrew means “the father of a multitude” or “great multitude”
(Adam Clarke, The Hole Bible . . . With a Commentary and Critical Notes,
vol. 1 [New York: N. Bangs and J. Emory, for the Methodist Episcopal Church,
1825], 90, 109; s.v. Gen. 12:2 and 17:5). (Dan Vogel, Book of Abraham Apologetics:
A Review and Critique [Salt Lake City: Signature Books, 2021], 4-5)
Joseph Smith need not be dependent on Adam
Clarke for this explanation of the name “Abraham”/” Ah brah-oam.”
Firstly, in Gen 17:5 itself (referenced in
the very note by Vogel!), we read the following in the KJV:
Neither shall thy
name any more be called Abram, but thy name shall be Abraham; for a
father of many nations have I made thee.
Secondly, such was not unique to Adam Clarke and his commentaries.
In the Hebrew lexicon Joseph Smith owned, we even have this. We read the following form Josiah W. Gibbs, A Manual Hebrew and English Lexicon Including the Biblical Chaldee. Designed Particularly for Beginners (Andover: Flagg and Gould, 1828), p. 2:
אַבְרָהָם m. (father of a multitude)
Abraham, the well-known progenitor of the Jews. His former name was אַבְרָם (father of
exaltation)
John Hewlett, The
Holy Bible, Containing the Old and the New Testament, and Apocrypha, with
Critical, Philological, and Explanatory Notes, volume 1 (London:
Longman, Hurst, Rees, Orme, and Co.:, 1812)
“. . . Abraham means
the father of a multitude.”
John Shute Barrington, The Theological Works of the First Viscount Barrington, volume 3 (London: C & J Rivington, 1828)
The name Abraham has
this additional signification, beyond that of Abraham, signifying high father,
by the addition of the letter H, the initial letter of the Hebrew word Hamon, signifying
a multitude.
"For a father of
a multitude of nations I have made thee." God had before told him that He
would make him "a great nation," Gen. xxi. 2; namely, the Israelites;
and that He would make him a "father of nations," namely, of
Israelites, Ishmaelites, and Edomites, ver 6. But here He says, He will make
him a father of "a multitude of nations;" which three nations (of
which alone Abraham, in a literal sense, may he said to be the father) cannot
be . . . He is the father of all the faithful; and the heir of the new world,
Rom. iv. 13.
It should also be noted that the purported use of Adam Clarke's commentary by Joseph Smith for the JST project has been greatly over-exaggerated to the point that very little, if any credence, remains. Sadly, people who larp as scholars like Vogel and Colby Townsend repeat this claim. For a thorough examination, see:
Kent P. Jackson, Some Notes on Joseph Smith and Adam Clarke
One thing is clear: Vogel's claim that Joseph Smith could have derived this from Adam Clarke is complete and utter nonsense, and reflective of the often amateur research Vogel engages in, notwithstanding his attempt to portray himself as objective, not just on the Book of Abraham, but early Latter-day Saint Christology and other topics. Such is not the case, and his book was already refuted before it was published. On this, see:
Tim Barker, Translating the Book of Abraham: The Answer Under Our Heads
