Pearl of Great Price Central, "Sobek, the God of Pharaoh" and a Note on Adam Clarke's Purported Influence on Joseph Smith

An excellent Website on the Book of Abraham is Pearl of Great Price Central. One of their wonderful articles is

 

Sobek, the God of Pharaoh

 

In endnote 11, we read the following about the claim (forwarded recently by Paul Nurnberg) that Joseph associated the crocodile figure in facsimile 1 with “the God of Pharaoh” from Adam Clark’s Commentary on Exodus:

 

One source contemporary to Joseph Smith did report that “the crocodile or hippopotamus” was “the emblem of Pharaoh and the Egyptians” and “was one of their principal divinities.” This source also reported that “Pharaoh . . . signifies a crocodile.” Adam Clarke, The Holy Bible, Containing the Old and New Testaments (London: Thomas Tegg and Son, 1836), 1901, 2148. (This Bible edition with Clarke’s notes was based on an eight-volume commentary series Clarke published between 1810–1826.) By contrast, the Book of Abraham says nothing about hippopotami and indicates that “Pharaoh signifies king by royal blood” (Abraham 1:20), not “crocodile.” Furthermore, none of the archaeological or inscriptional evidence confirming Sobek’s presence in northern Syria or his association with Egyptian kingship was available in Joseph Smith’s lifetime.

 

 On the purported use of Adam Clarke by Joseph Smith in the production of the JST, see:

Kent P. Jackson, Some Notes on Joseph Smith and Adam Clarke