Lehi had mastered the difficult Egyptian language, in addition to the learning of the Jews. This is noted as one of his great accomplishments. Of Moses, too, it was said that he was learned in all the wisdom of the Egyptians (Acts 7:22), which, of course, included the language of and their writing.
The Egyptians had no less than three different kinds of characters. The oldest was the hieroglyphs. They had about a thousand of these, and some of these were pictures of the celestial bodies, human figures, limbs, animals, such as quadrupeds, birds, fishes, insects, reptiles, houses, furniture, tools, etc., all symbolic of some object, some quality or some action. The Hieratic characters were less elaborate, but still too numerous for practical purposes. The Demotic characters were the simplest. Clement of Alexandria is quoted as having said: “Those who are educated among the Egyptians learn first that mode of writing which is called epistolographic (demotic or common); secondly Hieratic, which the sacred scribers use, and lastly, the Hieroglyphic.”
Those who had mastered the difficulties of the language of Egypt, spoken and written, could study the entire civilization of the country. And, be it remembered, the Egyptians excelled in architecture, in sculpture, painting, navigation, metallurgy. They knew how to work in gold, silver, copper, iron and lead. They had musical instruments and were skilled in the art of weaving and dyeing. They had a law code for which they claimed divine origin. They were great agriculturists and prosperous merchants. As for religion, they believed in One God—the only living Substance, “the only existence in heaven and on earth that is not begotten.” They further, believed in two divine Beings, whose unity was expressed in the name, “UAEN-UA,” which is said to mean, “One of One.” But they had, further, so great a number of gods that someone said it was easier to find a god in Egypt than a man. The principal gods were eight in number. Amun was the chief of these, and Maut or Mut was the mother of all. They had a priesthood and a number of consecrated women who assisted in the temple service. The presiding high priest was called Sam. They also had a system of “mysteries” into which only a few were initiated. They had altars and sacrifices, and above all, an elaborate ritual for the dead. One of their resurrection of the body and the appearance of man before the judgment seat of the gods, as understood in Egypt, are set forth.