What is the gift of tongues? -- Part 2

In part 1, I suggested a more expansive view of the gift of tongues. It is not just about speaking a different language in a miraculous way, it is about speaking a heavenly language, the tongue of angels. Nephi explained that it simply means speaking by the power of the Holy Ghost. That is a game-changer for me. But is this really true? I think so, but I will be careful to not eradicate the whole language element. It is definitely there. Let's have a closer look at what Moroni says when he lists the spiritual gifts in Moroni 10:

15 And again, to another, all kinds of tongues;
16 And again, to another, the interpretation of languages and of divers kinds of tongues.

"All kinds of tongues" implies there are many different ones. This would suggest different languages. But in the next verse he seems to make a distinction between languages and tongues. We know that poetic parallelism is common in the Book of Mormon, so "languages" and "tongues" could just be synonyms. But this does not seem like poetic parallelism. It implies that tongues could be understood as something else than just languages. I honestly am a bit unsure how exactly I should understand these verses. 

1 Corinthians 13:1 gives an interesting clue. In chapter 12, Paul also listed lots of spiritual gifts, the gift of tongues being one of them. Then he writes:

1 Though I speak with the tongues of men and of angels, and have not charity, I am become as sounding brass, or a tinkling cymbal.

In the next verse he goes on to mention other spiritual gifts, making the point that charity is better than all of them. So speaking with tongues in this verse should also be understood in this context, as one of the spiritual gifts. That is why I find it interesting that he mentions

1. Tongues of men
2. Tongues of angels

I understand "tongues of men" to mean languages (one aspect of the gift of tongues). Nephi has defined "tongues of angels" to mean speaking by the power of the Holy Ghost. That is another aspect of the gift of tongues, and from what I can find in the scriptures, this seems to be the most common one. Here are some examples of this aspect of the gift of tongues in the scriptures:

2 Samuel 23:2

The Spirit of the Lord spake by me, and his word was in my tongue.

2 Nephi 1:27

27 And it must needs be that the power of God must be with him, even unto his commanding you that ye must obey. But behold, it was not he, but it was the Spirit of the Lord which was in him, which opened his mouth to utterance that he could not shut it.

Moses 6:32

Open thy mouth, and it shall be filled, and I will give thee utterance

Helaman 13:5

And he said unto them: Behold, I, Samuel, a Lamanite, do speak the words of the Lord which he doth put into my heart

Focusing on this aspect, we suddenly see that there are plenty of examples of the gift of tongues manifest in the scriptures, not just the day of Pentecost. There is another interesting example that is not found in our standard works. I came across the tongues of fire fragment from the Dead Sea Scrolls. Unfortunately, lots of text is missing, but these are my observations:

• It mentions "tongues of fire" several times, one of the symbols of the gift of tongues, as discussed in part 1
• Interestingly, the tongues of fire are connected to Urim & Thummim (Only Urim is mentioned but a lot is missing and it also mentions "the left-hand stone" and "the right-hand stone")
• The setting seems to be priests and prophets, possibly doing temple service(?)
• They speak to the people and also "interpret His will"

The fragment is very incomplete, but it is another case of tongues of fire, before the day of Pentecost, in a setting that supports the gift of tongues as a type of heavenly language.