Book of Mormon language in D&C 10

D&C 10 was part of the the Come, Follow Me reading for this week and the revelation that Joseph Smith received as he and Oliver tried to figure out how to go on with the translation after the loss of the 116 pages (which according to church historian Don Bradley probably were much more than 116). As I read it, I noticed all the Book of Mormon language in this Section. This is of course language from the Book of Mormon we have today, not the part that was lost. At the time of this revelation, this part had not been translated yet. Consequently, God gives Joseph Smith a revelation about a record that he is about to translate containing some of the language that God uses in the revelation.

Consider these examples:

D&C 10	Book of Mormon
I will show unto them that my wisdom is greater than the cunning of the devil. (v. 43)	I will show unto them that my wisdom is greater than the cunning of the devil. (3 Nephi 21:10)
build up churches unto themselves to get gain (v.56)	build up churches unto themselves to get gain (4 Nephi 1:26)
I am Jesus Christ, the Son of God. I came unto mine own, and mine own received me not. (v.57)	I am Jesus Christ the Son of God. I created the heavens and the earth, and all things that in them are. I was with the Father from the beginning. I am in the Father, and the Father in me; and in me hath the Father glorified his name. I came unto my own, and my own received me not. (3 Nephi 9:15-16)
I am he who said—Other sheep have I which are not of this fold—unto my disciples, and many there were that understood me not. (v.59)	And verily I say unto you, that ye are they of whom I said: Other sheep I have which are not of this fold; them also I must bring, and they shall hear my voice; and there shall be one fold, and one shepherd. And they understood me not (3 Nephi 15:21-22)
And this I do that I may establish my gospel, that there may not be so much contention; yea, Satan doth stir up the hearts of the people to contention concerning the points of my doctrine; and in these things they do err, for they do wrest the scriptures and do not understand them (v.63)	29 For verily, verily I say unto you, he that hath the spirit of contention is not of me, but is of the devil, who is the father of contention, and he stirreth up the hearts of men to contend with anger, one with another. 30 Behold, this is not my doctrine, to stir up the hearts of men with anger, one against another; but this is my doctrine, that such things should be done away. (3 Nephi 11:29-30)
For, behold, I will gather them as a hen gathereth her chickens under her wings, if they will not harden their hearts (v.65)	O ye house of Israel whom I have spared, how oft will I gather you as a hen gathereth her chickens under her wings, if ye will repent and return unto me with full purpose of heart. (3 Nephi 10:6)
Yea, if they will come, they may, and partake of the waters of life freely. (v.66)	Therefore, O my son, whosoever will come may come and partake of the waters of life freely (Alma 42:27)
And now, behold, whosoever is of my church, and endureth of my church to the end, him will I establish upon my rock, and the gates of hell shall not prevail against them. (v.69)	Verily, verily, I say unto you, that this is my doctrine, and whoso buildeth upon this buildeth upon my rock, and the gates of hell shall not prevail against them. (3 Nephi 11:39)

Most of this comes from 3 Nephi where Christ himself speaks to the Nephites. But Joseph Smith has not translated this part at the time when D&C 10 was given. The language Jesus Christ uses when giving this revelation to Joseph Smith is a sort of precursor to what is going to come when he later reveals to Joseph Smith the English translation of the Book of Mormon of his own words to the Nephites of old.

I think the standard works are given to us not only to be considered as separate witnesses of Christ to different people at different times, but also as a unified whole set of God's words to us today. Comparing the word of God across different standard works and seeing how they both confirm and supplement each other enriches my studies.

Forbidden to write -- Part 2

In part 1, we started looking at examples in the Book of Mormon where the author is forbidden to write certain things. We saw two examples from Nephi and one from Mormon. In this part we will look at one more example from Mormon and two from Moroni. That gives two examples each for the three main Book of Mormon authors.

3 Nephi 28:13-14, 25

13 And behold, the heavens were opened, and they were caught up into heaven, and saw and heard unspeakable things.

14 And it was forbidden them that they should utter; neither was it given unto them power that they could utter the things which they saw and heard...

25 Behold, I was about to write the names of those who were never to taste of death, but the Lord forbade; therefore I write them not, for they are hid from the world.

I can understand the one in verse 14. We are not going to get a full description of what they saw in heaven. It wasn't possible for them to express in words anyway. But it makes me think. How many times do we speculate about the afterlife, try to describe or imagine conditions there, the nature of the Godhead, etc. When we learn that power from God is required to enable us to utter those things, we should be humble and realize that a detailed knowledge of the heavens is beyond our comprehension at the moment.

Regarding verse 25, Mormon was forbidden to write the names of the "3 Nephites". They were to be "hid from the world". I don't know why knowing their names would make much of a difference. We already know the names of the 12 disciples from 3 Nephi 19:4, so it would have to be 3 of them I would suppose? But the Lord forbade it for a reason. Perhaps it is just to avoid needless speculations like this? I really don't know.

Ether 4:4-7

4 Behold, I have written upon these plates the very things which the brother of Jared saw; and there never were greater things made manifest than those which were made manifest unto the brother of Jared.

5 Wherefore the Lord hath commanded me to write them; and I have written them. And he commanded me that I should seal them up; and he also hath commanded that I should seal up the interpretation thereof; wherefore I have sealed up the interpreters, according to the commandment of the Lord.

6 For the Lord said unto me: They shall not go forth unto the Gentiles until the day that they shall repent of their iniquity, and become clean before the Lord.

7 And in that day that they shall exercise faith in me, saith the Lord, even as the brother of Jared did, that they may become sanctified in me, then will I manifest unto them the things which the brother of Jared saw, even to the unfolding unto them all my revelations, saith Jesus Christ, the Son of God, the Father of the heavens and of the earth, and all things that in them are.

The brother of Jared is one of a few people in the scriptures that are described as seeing everything. In the case of the brother of Jared

25 And when the Lord had said these words, he showed unto the brother of Jared all the inhabitants of the earth which had been, and also all that would be; and he withheld them not from his sight, even unto the ends of the earth.

26 For he had said unto him in times before, that if he would believe in him that he could show unto him all things—it should be shown unto him; therefore the Lord could not withhold anything from him, for he knew that the Lord could show him all things. (Ether 3)

The brother of Jared was commanded to write it down and Moroni was commanded to seal the translation of it. We learn that we will not get it until we repent and show the same kind of faith that the brother of Jared had. My guess is that we will have to wait for the millennium. We learn from Ether 4:2 that the people had access to it after Christ had visited them and they lived in a righteous Zion-like society for many years. When wickedness started prevailing again, we read

yea, there were many churches which professed to know the Christ, and yet they did deny the more parts of his gospel, insomuch that they did receive all manner of wickedness, and did administer that which was sacred unto him to whom it had been forbidden because of unworthiness. (4 Nephi 1:27)

I wonder if at least part of "that which was sacred" could be the record of Jared's brother?

Ether 13:13

And I was about to write more, but I am forbidden; but great and marvelous were the prophecies of Ether

Another case of Moroni being forbidden to write while abridging the Book of Ether. Right before Moroni gets this message, he writes about Ether's prophecies concerning the gathering of Israel, the New Jerusalem and related end-time events. Why is he not allowed to write more? Here is my theory: Remember the first example in part 1, where Nephi is not allowed to continue because that is John the revelator's domain? The last thing Nephi wrote before that was the wrath of God poured out upon the "mother of harlots" (1 Nephi 14:17). This is something we read about in Revelation 17-18 too. In the remaining chapters of Revelation, we read about the gathering of the Lord's elect, his second coming, the millenium and the New Jerusalem, just what Ether was talking about. But because that is John's territory, Moroni gets the same commandment as Nephi to not write it down.

Mormon's inclusio in 3rd Nephi

These verses at the end of 3 Nephi 26 caught my attention

17 And it came to pass that the disciples whom Jesus had chosen began from that time forth to baptize and to teach as many as did come unto them; and as many as were baptized in the name of Jesus were filled with the Holy Ghost.

18 And many of them saw and heard unspeakable things, which are not lawful to be written.

19 And they taught, and did minister one to another; and they had all things common among them, every man dealing justly, one with another.

20 And it came to pass that they did do all things even as Jesus had commanded them.

21 And they who were baptized in the name of Jesus were called the church of Christ.

I marked some key phrases that will show up later and gives us a clue about what is going on here. It seems that Mormon is basically on his way into 4 Nephi at this point, describing the time after Jesus had visited the Nephites. Compare with 4 Nephi 1-3:

And as many as did come unto them, and did truly repent of their sins, were baptized in the name of Jesus; and they did also receive the Holy Ghost.

2 And it came to pass in the thirty and sixth year, the people were all converted unto the Lord, upon all the face of the land, both Nephites and Lamanites, and there were no contentions and disputations among them, and every man did deal justly one with another.

3 And they had all things common among them

Do you see that the beginning of 4 Nephi and the last verses of 3 Nephi 26 contain 4 identical phrases? In addition, there is "were filled with the Holy Ghost" and "did receive the holy Ghost". This cannot be a coincidence. Rather, this is a marker creating an inclusio. This means, Mormon is bracketing 3 Nephi 27-30 for some reason. Here is my very speculative view on what I think might have happened: Perhaps Mormon didn't originally plan on creating an inclusio. He writes his abridgment but mentions two things more or less in passing

• The church was called the church of Christ
• There were many who saw and heard unspeakable things, that were not allowed to be written

Doing so, Mormon gets a little bit ahead of himself and realizes that these two items need some more background or elaboration and decides to include them in his abridgment. First the background for the yellow part, which he gives in Chapter 27.

8 And how be it my church save it be called in my name? For if a church be called in Moses’ name then it be Moses’ church; or if it be called in the name of a man then it be the church of a man; but if it be called in my name then it is my church, if it so be that they are built upon my gospel.

Then the background for the red part which he gives in Chapter 28. Notice the textual connections in the example below:

13 And behold, the heavens were opened, and they were caught up into heaven, and saw and heard unspeakable things.

14 And it was forbidden them that they should utter

So two things that he wrote at the end of 3 Nephi 26 reminded him that he couldn't go straight to the description of the righteous Nephite society after Christ had "ascended unto the Father" (3 Nephi 26:15). He first needed to write Chapters 27 and 28 to provide some background for the statements marked with yellow and red. While he was at it, Mormon also addressed his future readers in Chapter 29 and 30 before returning to where he left off at the end of 3 Nephi 26. This is done in the beginning of 4 Nephi. But he repeats some of the phrases as an inclusio to bracket everything in between and take the reader back to where he left off.

Book of Mormon - Old Testament connection series: Receiving the Law

In this chiasmus, we now consider element B. That means moving one step forward in the Book of Mormon and one step backwards in the Bible from the last post about the period of judges. That brings us to 3 and 4 Nephi in the Book of Mormon and Exodus-Deuteronomy in the Old Testament. What do these have in common? It describes receiving (and in the case of 4 Nephi, also living) the law. When giving the new law in 3 Nephi, Christ even refers to the law of Moses as defined in Exodus-Deuteronomy several times, like 12:17-47 and 15:2-10. Another interesting link is found in 3 Nephi 20:23, where Jesus refers to Deuteronomy 18:15-19

Behold, I am he of whom Moses spake, saying: A prophet shall the Lord your God raise up unto you of your brethren, like unto me; him shall ye hear in all things whatsoever he shall say unto you. And it shall come to pass that every soul who will not hear that prophet shall be cut off from among the people.

Moses received the old law on Mount Sinai but prophesied of another later prophet that they should hear. Jesus identifies himself as this prophet and gave the new law at the temple in Bountiful. So these parts of the Book of Mormon and Old Testament are not only connected because of the law, but also the lawgiver. In addition, the circumstances of the people at these periods seem to be linked as well, at least so Kramer makes his case in the book, "Beholding the tree of life - A rabbinical approach to the Book of Mormon".

Both Exodus and 3 Nephi begin with a crisis for the people of God. In Exodus, Israel are enslaved by the Egyptians and Pharaoh orders all of the male Israelite infants to be killed in Exodus 1:9-16. In the Book of Mormon, faithful Nephites live in a similarly oppressive state where all those who believe in the birth of Christ are scheduled to be executed (3 Nephi 1:9). Both peoples are rescued by a deliverer, who is the same as the later lawgiver. After Moses' birth, there is no more mention of killing Israelite babies in the Exodus. Moses loses contact with his people as he grows up in Pharaoh's court before he delivers Israel out of Egypt. Similarly, at the sign of Christ's birth the killing of faithful Nephites is called off. Jesus grows up in a far away land before he appears to the Nephites.

Kramer mentions many more connections, like the condition of the people worsening while waiting for the deliverer (slavery in Egypt and Gadianton robbers in America), the plagues in Egypt resembling the signs of Christ's death in America, etc. These similarities continue also during Sinai/the temple where they receive the law, and afterwards.

As always, these connections are only there to inspire a parasha - haftarah type rabbinic reading that can enhance learning. One learning point Kramer identifies, is that the connection "greatly increases the significant of the Sermon on the Mount. It shows Jesus not merely intensifying the laws of Moses but realizing Moses' mission." What was Moses' mission or the purpose of the old law? At least one of them was to make unto the Lord a "holy nation/people" (see for instance Exodus 19:6, Deuteronomy 14:2 and 28:9). The last post in this series about the subsequent time of Judges is a reminder that this mission was not really fulfilled. But after the "New Moses", Jesus, visited the Nephites, there was a 200-year period of prosperity and peace.

12 And they did not walk any more after the performances and ordinances of the law of Moses; but they did walk after the commandments which they had received from their Lord and their God, continuing in fasting and prayer, and in meeting together oft both to pray and to hear the word of the Lord.

...

15 And it came to pass that there was no contention in the land, because of the love of God which did dwell in the hearts of the people.

16 And there were no envyings, nor strifes, nor tumults, nor whoredoms, nor lyings, nor murders, nor any manner of lasciviousness; and surely there could not be a happier people among all the people who had been created by the hand of God.

17 There were no robbers, nor murderers, neither were there Lamanites, nor any manner of -ites; but they were in one, the children of Christ, and heirs to the kingdom of God. (4 Nephi)

In this sense, the Mosaic mission was fulfilled. But we also notice that Jesus spends a lot of his time among the Nephites speaking about the latter-day gathering of Israel. There is clearly an aspect of the law that has a future fulfillment. Kramer states

The more righteous Nephites have been miraculously delivered from their oppressors, they have gathered at the temple, they are listening to Jesus, and they will soon become the kind of people God wanted them to be at Sinai. But there is more to do, and the holy state of these New World Israelites is but a foretaste of what God has in store for all Israel in the future.

We live in a day that has been prophesied, where Israel will be gathered. I have written before about how the Exodus was a foreshadowing of that. If we receive and keep the law, we will be blessed as the Lord's "holy people".

Keeping track of the timeline

Many posts have been written about the internal consistency of the Book of Mormon. Those who believe that a poor young farmer invented it and dictated it at record speed without notes or manuscript, would need to answer why he made it so complicated for himself. A collection of revelations of the type "thus saith the Lord" should do. But in addition to the theology, we get complex interwoven stories, about 200 personal names, a consistent geography with an additional 100 names, internal references and a timeline. Some examples of the latter are given in this post. We have seen some examples of long side stories resuming. Another one of those is the flashback to the Lamanite mission of the Sons of Mosiah. In Alma 16:21

thus ended the fourteenth year of the reign of the judges over the people of Nephi.

In the next chapter, Alma meets the sons of Mosiah. In 17:4

And they had been teaching the word of God for the space of fourteen years among the Lamanites

This is consistent with Mosiah 28, where the Sons of Mosiah leave on a mission to the Lamanites, right before the start of the reign of the judges in Mosiah 29, i.e. the first year. In Alma 17, when Alma meets his old friends, the flashback starts and we follow them on their mission to the Lamanites. This story is told over 10 chapters and in Alma 27, we get a second account of their meeting. After that, in Alma 28:7:

And thus endeth the fifteenth year of the reign of the judges over the people of Nephi

Since the fifteenth year ends after they meet and the fourteenth year ends before they meet, this is all consistent, but due to the flashback, these two are 12 chapters apart. In order to keep the timeline straight, the author needs to not only know what happened in previous chapters but when.

Some other examples:

Mosiah's reign

Mosiah 6:4: 

And Mosiah began to reign in his father’s stead. And he began to reign in the thirtieth year of his age, making in the whole, about four hundred and seventy-six years from the time that Lehi left Jerusalem

Then 33 years later in Mosiah 29:46

And it came to pass that Mosiah died also, in the thirty and third year of his reign, being sixty and three years old; making in the whole, five hundred and nine years from the time Lehi left Jerusalem

These are not numbers just thrown out there. Anything else in Mosiah 29 would make it inconsistent with Mosiah 6.

The reign of judges

The reign of judges started in Mosiah 29 and with it a new time reckoning. Mosiah 29:46:

making in the whole, five hundred and nine years from the time Lehi left Jerusalem

So the reign of the judges started 509 years after Lehi left Jerusalem. Then in 3 Nephi 1:1, 80 chapters later:

Now it came to pass that the ninety and first year [of the judges] had passed away and it was six hundred years from the time that Lehi left Jerusalem

509+91=600

Mormon's age

4 Nephi 1:48

when three hundred and twenty years had passed away, Ammaron, being constrained by the Holy Ghost, did hide up the records which were sacred

Mormon 1:2

about the time that Ammaron hid up the records unto the Lord, he came unto me, (I being about ten years of age…)

So Mormon was about 10 years old when 320 years had passed, and in Mormon 2:2

In my sixteenth year… 326 years had passed

And it adds up again. It always does. The Book of Mormon authors have been thorough with their time-keeping. Or was it just Joseph Smith making this up without notes or manuscript? Ummm, no!