Moroni's "covenant of peace" -- part 2 (sending forth angels)

In my last post, I outlined an example of what I call the covenant worldview on display in Alma 44.

There's a little more to the story which I'd like to share in this post, which relates to the principle of mercy. The Doctrine & Covenants summarizes this principle very nicely:

42 But, behold, I say unto you that I, the Lord God, gave unto Adam and unto his seed, that they should not die as to the temporal death, until I, the Lord God, should send forth angels to declare unto them repentance and redemption, through faith on the name of mine Only Begotten Son.

43 And thus did I, the Lord God, appoint unto man the days of his probation—that by his natural death he might be raised in immortality unto eternal life, even as many as would believe;

44 And they that believe not unto eternal damnation; for they cannot be redeemed from their spiritual fall, because they repent not;

45 For they love darkness rather than light, and their deeds are evil, and they receive their wages of whom they list to obey. (D&C 29)

In short, we are destined to die at the end of the probationary phase known as mortality, but we are given a promise that divine messengers will show us the way to avoid spiritual death at the day of judgment.

These angels come in various forms (Hebrew malak simply means messenger). All the way back in Genesis 3:24 we are told that cherubim (a Hebrew transliteration referring to "probably an order of angelic beings", derived from an ancient Akkadian word for "an intercessor," NIDOTTE Vol. 2, p. 717)

Notice how even in the war chapters of Alma, this principle is on display. I always found this part of the story quite confusing, but now I see its purpose clearly:

13 And it came to pass that the soldier who stood by, who smote off the scalp of Zerahemnah, took up the scalp from off the ground by the hair, and laid it upon the point of his sword, and stretched it forth unto them, saying unto them with a loud voice:
14 Even as this scalp has fallen to the earth, which is the scalp of your chief, so shall ye fall to the earth except ye will deliver up your weapons of war and depart with a covenant of peace.
15 Now there were many, when they heard these words and saw the scalp which was upon the sword, that were struck with fear; and many came forth and threw down their weapons of war at the feet of Moroni, and entered into a covenant of peace. And as many as entered into a covenant they suffered to depart into the wilderness. (Alma 44)

The imagery of a soldier holding aloft his sword and warning the wicked must have been too close to the "angels will declare repentance and redemption" message for Mormon to avoid weaving that core concept into the narrative. And so the soldier "stretche[s] forth" his sword to the people and says "with a loud voice" that they must -- in a way -- repent and enter into a covenant of peace or be destroyed.

It works, only for some.

Those who died were "not numbered because of the greatness of the number" (verse 21) and they were "cast ... into the waters of Sidon, and they have gone forth and are buried in the depths of the sea" (verse 22).

Verse 18 contains several more covenant allusions:

18 But behold, their naked skins and their bare heads were exposed to the sharp swords of the Nephites; yea, behold they were pierced and smitten, yea, and did fall exceedingly fast before the swords of the Nephites; and they began to be swept down, even as the soldier of Moroni had prophesied.

The soldier had spoken through the spirit of prophecy that those who would not enter into the covenant would be destroyed, and they were.  The word of God is often referred to as a sword which is quick, powerful, sharp, and able to divide asunder (see D&C 6:2, 11:2, 12:2, 14:2, 33:1).

The enemies of the Nephites were not able to withstand the swords because of their naked skins and bare heads. Compare D&C 27:15-18, especially verse 18.

Similar to the story of Ammon defending King Lamoni's flocks in Alma 17, I believe this was a real event recounted by a faithful historian who never missed an opportunity to put the covenant worldview on display.

The (s)word of God -- Part 1

I have written extensively about "the word" on this blog and apparently I cannot give it up quite yet. The word is frequently likened to a sword in the scriptures.

And now, as the preaching of the word had a great tendency to lead the people to do that which was just—yea, it had had more powerful effect upon the minds of the people than the sword, or anything else, which had happened unto them—therefore Alma thought it was expedient that they should try the virtue of the word of God. (Alma 31:5)

The Lord hath called me from the womb; from the bowels of my mother hath he made mention of my name. And he hath made my mouth like a sharp sword (Isaiah 49:1-2)

Behold, I am God; give heed to my word, which is quick and powerful, sharper than a two-edged sword, to the dividing asunder of both joints and marrow; therefore, give heed unto my word. (D&C 12:2)

A Jewish rabbi commenting on 1 Nephi 8:19, where the rod of iron in Lehi's dream is introduced, states:

According to Rashi in his commentary of Psalm 2:9 an iron rod is a poetic euphemism for a sword. The sword in ancient Jewish mysticism is represented by the letter ז (zayin) which in Kabbalah is associated with understanding. So the sword represents the word of G-d which brings understanding to some and judgement to others.

It is therefore ironic that these two words are so similar in English that Oliver Cowdrey likely misread it and confused them when creating a copy of the original manuscript.

The bold part of the last quote is actually a common theme in the Book of Mormon. When prophets speak, the word tends to have a divisive effect, depending on the audience.

There is a much more subtle example that I have been pondering. When Nephi gets the brass plates, he kills Laban and takes his sword. This sword is not just something nice and convenient that Nephi brings along. It is later used by Nephite kings to protect their people and becomes a sacred artifact handed from one generation to the next. Why? This is speculative, but I think there was much symbolic value in the sword of Laban for the Nephites. It was the means by which the brass plates were obtained. The sword and the word were obtained together and brought out in the wilderness. Later, the Liahona was found and became another sacred artifact. These things were handed from one generation of kings or prophets to the next. This verse describes king Benjamin handing these to his son, Mosiah.

And moreover, he also gave him charge concerning the records which were engraven on the plates of brass; and also the plates of Nephi; and also, the sword of Laban, and the ball or director, which led our fathers through the wilderness, which was prepared by the hand of the Lord that thereby they might be led, every one according to the heed and diligence which they gave unto him. (Mosiah 1:16)

 According to this verse, the following sacred relics were passed from father to son:

• The brass plates = The word of God
• The plates of Nephi = The word of God
• The sword of Laban = The word of God?
• The Liahona = The word of God

Just to comment on the Liahona as the word of God, consider another example of handing these sacred artifacts from one generation to the next. In Alma 37, this is Alma-2 entrusting these to his son, Helaman. In verse 45, he compares the Liahona with the words of Christ.

And now I say, is there not a type in this thing? For just as surely as this director did bring our fathers, by following its course, to the promised land, shall the words of Christ, if we follow their course, carry us beyond this vale of sorrow into a far better land of promise. (Alma 37:45)

The sword of Laban fits well in this context as an artifact accompanying the word of God and perhaps a symbol of the word of God in itself. I wonder if that is how the Nephites saw it. The early Nephite kings protected their people from physical destruction with the sword and from spiritual destruction with the word. See for instance the description of King Benjamin in the Words of Mormon

But behold, king Benjamin gathered together his armies, and he did stand against them; and he did fight with the strength of his own arm, with the sword of Laban. (WoM 1:13)

Then a few verses later

it came to pass that king Benjamin, with the assistance of the holy prophets who were among his people—
17 For behold, king Benjamin was a holy man, and he did reign over his people in righteousness; and there were many holy men in the land, and they did speak the word of God with power and with authority; and they did use much sharpness because of the stiffneckedness of the people—
18 Wherefore, with the help of these, king Benjamin, by laboring with all the might of his body and the faculty of his whole soul, and also the prophets, did once more establish peace in the land.

King Benjamin established peace in the land by fighting with the strength of his own arm, with the sword of Laban, and by "laboring with all the might of his body and the faculty of his whole soul" to "speak the word of God". He spoke with "much sharpness" the word of God, which is "sharper than a two-edged sword". The sword was "sharp" enough to protect from physical death. But to protect from spiritual death, something even sharper was needed: The word. In any case, it seems that the sword of Laban was one of the sacred relics to remind the Nephites of how they obtained the word in the first place and to symbolise the power of the word.

In his book "The lost 116 pages: Reconstructing the Book of Mormon's missing stories", Don Bradley calls these sacred Nephite relics the ark of the new covenant and draws a parallel to the ancient Israelite ark of the covenant. The old ark of the covenant was made during the exodus and carried into the promised land and placed in the Holy of Holies, first in the tabernacle and later in the temple of Solomon. It contained:

• The stone tablets with the commandments
• Aaron's rod
• A pot of manna

Comparing with the "ark of the new covenant", the stone tablets are clearly similar to the plates and a direct manifestation of the word of God. The pot of manna is another symbolic reminder of the word of God, just like the Liahona in the ark of the new covenant.

And he humbled thee, and suffered thee to hunger, and fed thee with manna, which thou knewest not, neither did thy fathers know; that he might make thee know that man doth not live by bread only, but by every word that proceedeth out of the mouth of the Lord doth man live. (Deuteronomy 8:3)

What about Aaron's rod? It might be interpreted as another symbol of the word, in this case in the form of priesthood power. Perhaps it is the old covenant version of the sword of Laban, the "iron rod" (yes, the sword of Laban was made of steel, but all steel contains iron). Again, comparing the old and new world ark of the covenant, the metal sword would seem like an upgrade from the wooden rod, just like the Mechizedek priesthood represent higher power and authority than the Aaronic.

I realize this is all a bit speculative. But there must be a reason why the sword of Laban was treated like a sacred relic. I think it carries some symbolic significance. I also like thinking about the sacred Nephite artifacts as the ark of the new covenant and the word of God being the central element in it. The word is to be protected, held sacred and handed from generation to generation.

The next post will discuss another aspect of the sword/word relation and be perhaps even more speculative. I apologize in advance.