Saturday, February 22, 2020

"Stand up manfully and I will advise thee"

Although this post is admittedly a little weird (that's what I get for dabbling in apocryphal texts from time to time), I found this passage from the KJV of 4 Ezra 10 interesting:

28: Where is Uriel the angel, who came unto me at the first? for he hath caused me to fall into many trances, and mine end is turned into corruption, and my prayer to rebuke.29: And as I was speaking these words behold, he came unto me, and looked upon me.30: And, lo, I lay as one that had been dead, and mine understanding was taken from me: and he took me by the right hand, and comforted me, and set me upon my feet, and said unto me,31: What aileth thee? and why art thou so disquieted? and why is thine understanding troubled, and the thoughts of thine heart?32: And I said, Because thou hast forsaken me, and yet I did according to thy words, and I went into the field, and, lo, I have seen, and yet see, that I am not able to express.33: And he said unto me, Stand up manfully, and I will advise thee.34: Then said I, Speak on, my lord, in me; only forsake me not, lest I die frustrate of my hope.35: For I have seen that I knew not, and hear that I do not know.36: Or is my sense deceived, or my soul in a dream?37: Now therefore I beseech thee that thou wilt shew thy servant of this vision.38: He answered me then, and said, Hear me, and I shall inform thee, and tell thee wherefore thou art afraid: for the Highest will reveal many secret things unto thee.39: He hath seen that thy way is right: for that thou sorrowest continually for thy people, and makest great lamentation for Sion. (source)

The visual metaphor in this passage is pretty striking: an angel takes a (literally) fallen man by the right hand, commands him to stand, and then delivers a message from "the Highest" (including many secret things).

There are many occasions in the Book of Mormon where a divine messenger commands a person to stand up and delivers an important message:

1 Nephi 17:7

And it came to pass that after I, Nephi, had been in the land of Bountiful for the space of many days, the voice of the Lord came unto me, saying: Arise, and get thee into the mountain. And it came to pass that I arose and went up into the mountain, and cried unto the Lord.


Mosiah 27:13

13 Nevertheless he cried again, saying: Alma, arise and stand forth, for why persecutest thou the church of God? For the Lord hath said: This is my church, and I will establish it; and nothing shall overthrow it, save it is the transgression of my people.


Alma 36:8

But behold, the voice said unto me: Arise. And I arose and stood up, and beheld the angel.


3 Nephi 11:14

14 Arise and come forth unto me, that ye may thrust your hands into my side, and also that ye may feel the prints of the nails in my hands and in my feet, that ye may know that I am the God of Israel, and the God of the whole earth, and have been slain for the sins of the world.



I'm not trying to make a deep point here, just noticing a common pattern between two texts.