The current Book of Abraham identifies the deities in facsimile 1 as follows:
Fig. 4. The altar for sacrifice by the idolatrous priests, standing before the gods of Elkenah, Libnah, Mahmackrah, Korash, and Pharaoh.
Fig. 5. The idolatrous god of Elkenah.
Fig. 6. The idolatrous god of Libnah.
Fig. 7. The idolatrous god of Mahmackrah.
Fig. 8. The idolatrous god of Korash.
Fig. 9. The idolatrous god of Pharaoh.
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Notice that the gods are named from right to left. The text of the Book of Abraham follows the same pattern whenever it lists the deities that stood before the altar (e.g. Abr. 1:6):
"For their hearts were set to do evil, and were wholly turned to the god of Elkenah, and the god of Libnah, and the god of Mahmackrah, and the god of Korash, and the god of Pharaoh, king of Egypt..."
Curiously, though, the name Korash doesn't appear in any of the Book of Abraham manuscripts till manuscript 1. In previous manuscripts, the list included only four deities. So continuing with Abr. 1:6 as our example,
MS 2:
for their hearts wer{e} set to / do evil
and were wholly turned to the {G}od of
Elk=kener and the / God of Zibnah and the
God of Mah-ma{c}{k}rah [ ] and / the God
of Pharoah King of Egypt
MS 3:
for their hearts were set to do / evil
and were wholly turned to the / God of
Elkkener and the god of / Zibnah and the
god of mah = / machrah [ ] and the god
of Pharo / {a}h, King of Eg{y}{p}t.
MS 1:
for their hearts were set to do evil, and / were wholly turned to the god of Elkkener / and
the god of Zibnah and the god of // Mahmackrah and the god of Koash / and the
god of Pharaoh King of Egypt,
(Transcription courtesy of Brent Metcalfe's handout from the 2006 Exmormon conference.)
Notice that Will's theory that MS 2 and 3 were copied from a common source doesn't change anything; since both of them omit any mention of Korash, so presumably would their source document. Notice also that this isn't a simple mistake; we find the same pattern in 1:13 and 1:17. And finally, recall that the gods are listed from right to left.
That would mean that, according to the earlier manuscripts, these gods from left to right are
Pharaoh, Mahmackrah, Zibnah, and Elkkeener
Notice that the one on the far left looks exactly like a pharaoh! This confirms, in my view, that Korash is a later addition.
So I pose to you two questions:
1) Why was Korash added? and
2) What is the proper methodology for studying possible ancient parallels? Do we revert to the earliest manuscripts as Dr. Skousen would undoubtedly have us do, or do we study Joseph's final, presumably inspired redaction? Or do we throw consistency to the wind and go with whichever version produces the most faith-promoting results?
-CK