Figure 4 ~ Sokar ~ The Falcon God

The fourth figure is found in the upper left quadrant of the hypocephalus.  It is a hawk or falcon with outstretched wings riding on a barque similar to the one in figure three.  According to Joseph Smith's interpretation, this figure "answers to the Hebrew word Raukeeyang, signifying expanse, or the firmament of the heavens; also a numerical figure, in Egyptian signifying one thousand; answering to the measuring of the time of Oliblish, which is equal with Kolob in its revolution and in its measuring of time." 

I went to Wikipedia for information about the word firmament.  It stated the following:

The word "firmament" is used to translate raqia, or raqiya` ( רקיע), a word used in Biblical Hebrew. It is derived from the root raqa ( רקע), meaning "to beat or spread out" . . . 

Keep this definition, particularly the part about beating or spreading out as we look at the figure from the point of view of the Egyptologist:

A falcon, representing Horus, 'lord of the sky', or Sokar sitting on a mummy case, with outstretched wings, sitting upon a papyrus boat.

Horus was mentioned in reference to figure 3.  He was the son of Isis and Osiris, a god in his own right.  He was frequently represented as a falcon-headed god.  As I have been reading about the religious beliefs of the Egyptians, I have found them to be very complex.  Deities often merge with one another into hybrid deities.  For example, in the later dynasties, the gods Osiris, Ptah, and Sokar become the hybrid of Ptah-Sokar-Osiris.  That makes it very difficult for a novice like me to make sense of any of it.  It would take years of dedicated study to even crack the surface of Egyptian cosmology. 

The other possible candidate for the figure is Sokar or Seker, a falcon god. . .  [as opposed to a falcon-headed god.] Although the meaning of his name remains uncertain, the Egyptians in the Pyramid Texts linked his name to the anguished cry of Osiris to Isis 'Sy-k-ri' ('hurry to me'.)

Sokar was usually depicted as a mummified hawk and sometimes as mound from which the head of a hawk appears.  Sometimes he is shown on his barque which was an elaborate sledge for negotiating the sandy necropolis [city of the dead.]

In the New Kingdom Book of the Underworld, he is shown standing on the back of a serpent between two spread wings; as an expression of freedom this suggests a connection with resurrection or perhaps a satisfactory transit of the underworld

I'd like to go back to the Prophet, Joseph's, description, that this represented the expanse or firmament of the heaven.  I believe that what the Egyptians are representing in this figure of a hawk on a barque is this god who is associated with resurrection traversing the expanse of the heavens or the Egyptian equivalent.  In meaning, I think that the prophet was on point.  Also, if we return to the Hebrew definition of the word meaning firmament, the root word means "to beat" or "to spread out."  Both of these words could be applied without much of a stretch to the hawk of Egyptian mythology.  A third connection could be that Ra, the original sun or celestial god transverses the expanse of the heavens in his solar barque every day.  The barque itself, therefore, represents the God's ability to transverse the entire firmament of heaven.

I'm not sure what the numerical reference is, but I trust the prophet that it is there, implicitly if not explicitly.  Remembering that no one could translate even a fraction of these documents helps you think that Joseph either translated by the gift of God or he was a really good guesser!  He's just too close for coincidence.

Direct quotes in this segment (as indicated by italics) are from several articles found at www.wikipedia.com.

© Gebara Education, 2016