Osiris, Isis, and Horus - Egyptian Family Gods

Osiris was a righteous man in Egyptian mythology.  He was murdered by his own brother, Set. Set hid parts of Osiris' body all over Egypt.  Osiris' wife, Isis, searched for all of his body parts and found all but one.  With these, she was able to reassemble and resurrect Osiris.  Osiris became the Egyptian god of life after death.  Together with his wife, they had a baby, the god Horus.  According to the Egyptian Book of the Dead, each person who died must have his or her heart weighed before Osiris. There is a lengthy list of negative confessions they must make: I did not kill.  I did not commit adultery.  I did not lie against my neighbor, etc.  Fidelity to family was a strong value in early Egyptian culture.

Finally, the person's heart is weighed on a scale against the weight of a feather.  If the heart is heavier than the feather, the person's heart is eaten by a cruel monster that is 1/3 crocodile, 1/3 hippo; and 1/3 lion.  But because Osiris has heard the negative confessions, if he can see that the heart if pure, he will weight the scale on the side of the feather so that the person can go on to the next life and become a god or goddess - his own Osiris.

In these stories, I can see images and events that are reminiscent of the blessings and promises of the fathers.  The story of Cain and Able; the resurrection of a mortal man into an immortal god; a son born of a god and a mortal woman; the final judgment; a god weighing the scale in behalf of an imperfect person who has tried to do his/her best in life; the potential of becoming a god in the afterlife.

Some may say that Moses and later writers borrowed their stories from the Egyptians since Moses grew up in that culture.  I think it is more likely that the similarities come from the Egyptian's knowing the stories of creation, life, death, birth, etc., from the fathers going back to Adam and Eve.  Just as Abram was descended from Shem, so, too, was Pharaoh descended from Ham, Shem's youngest brother, son of Noah.

Abraham taught this very thing when he wrote the following:

Now this king of Egypt was a descendant from the loins of Ham, and was a partaker of the blood of the Canaanites [descendants of Cain] by birth.  From this descent sprang all the Egyptians, and thus the blood of the Canaanites was preserved in the land.

The land of Egypt being first discovered by a woman, who was the daughter of Ham, and the daughter of Egyptus, which in the Chaldean signifies Egypt, which signifies that which is forbidden;   When this woman discovered the land it was under water, who afterward settled her sons in it; and thus, from Ham, sprang that race which preserved the curse in the land.

Now the first government of Egypt was established by Pharaoh, the eldest son of Egyptus, the daughter of Ham, and it was after the manner of the government of Ham, which was patriarchal.  Pharaoh, being a righteous man, established his kingdom and judged his people wisely and justly all his days, seeking earnestly to imitate that order established by the fathers in the first generations, in the days of the first patriarchal reign, even in the reign of Adam, and also of Noah, his father, who blessed him with the blessings of the earth, and with the blessings of wisdom, but cursed him as pertaining to the Priesthood.  (Abraham 1: 21-26)

The Book of the Dead is sometimes referred to as a funerary text, but it was more than that.  It was a book of instructions given to the Egyptians so that they could study the things they must know to pass the sentinels guarding the way to exaltation in the afterlife.  Some LDS scholars have referred to it as the Egyptian endowment.  A shortened version of this book, called the Book of Breathings was buried with the person.  The few fragments of papyrus left to the Church are from a Book of Breathings.

If Abraham wasn't that far removed from Shem, then Pharaoh wasn't that far removed from Ham.  Each in his own way sought the blessings of the fathers.

Gebara Education 2016