"What profit will we gain if we kill our brother and cover up his blood?"

As I study the Old Testament this year, I am going out of my way to study several different translations, and I'm frequently checking the underlying Hebrew text whenever a verse catches my attention.  The Old Testament is delightfully written, with so many layers of meaning and puns waiting to be discovered.

Here's an example from the familiar story in Genesis 37 where Joseph's brothers have just taken away his coat and cast him into a pit. Judah tries to persuade the brothers to reconsider their plan to kill him:

26 And Judah said unto his brethren, What profit is it if we slay our brother, and conceal his blood? (Genesis 37, KJV)

I can't help but think of Cain and Abel when I read that verse, so I looked into it further. The word translated to "profit" is:



betsa (בֶּצַע): gain made by violence, unjust gain, profit

This plot of the brothers is a secret combination, a plan to gain at the great expense of their little brother.

Here is the same verse in the Berean Study Bible, which does a better job emphasizing the connection to the story of Cain and Abel:

Then Judah said to his brothers, “What profit will we gain if we kill our brother and cover up his blood?

Given that the name Cain means "to gain" I like how this translation carries some of that meaning into the English.

10 And he said, What hast thou done? the voice of thy brother’s blood crieth unto me from the ground.

11 And now art thou cursed from the earth, which hath opened her mouth to receive thy brother’s blood from thy hand; (Genesis 4)

In both accounts, jealous older brothers kill (or plot to kill) their younger brother, which is a recurring theme in these stories as well as the story of Isaac and Jacob.. 

Symbolic connections to the Book of Mormon

As I ponder the significance of this account, I see how the story of Joseph mirrors the story of the arc of God's covenant people in some ways.  For example, many years after Joseph was sold into slavery by his brothers only to later rescue them from a famine in the land, the descendants of Judah in Jerusalem would seek to kill Lehi, a descendant of Joseph, who would instead escape by the hand of the Lord.  His posterity would produce the Book of Mormon, which would be hidden in the ground for centuries until our day, when it has come forth in a time of spiritual famine to reunite and gather scattered Israel.

שָׁמַר -- shamar: to keep, watch, preserve, part 1

I came across an interesting Hebrew root as I was studying the Garden of Eden narrative.

שָׁמַר -- shamar: to keep, watch, preserve

We first encounter this root in the command given by God to Adam to "keep" the garden. After their disobedience, Adam and Eve are expelled from the garden and cherubim and a flaming sword are placed before the tree of life to "keep" the way of the tree of life. The same root is used in both instances.

As readers of this blog will know very well by know, I'm intrigued and inspired by how seamlessly the Hebrew language embodies covenant concepts. This is yet another example of that.

This concept beautifully reflects an inherent balance in the nature of the relationship between God and His covenant people -- they keep their covenant by keeping His commandments and in turn they are kept and preserved under His watchful care.

Let's look at how words related to this root are used in the Book of Mormon. As I studied the the 469 instances of "shamar" in the Old Testament, I found it translated into these words (among many):

• Keep
• "keep the charge of the Lord thy God, to walk in his ways, to keep his statutes, and his commandments, and his judgments..." (1 Kings 2:3)
• Beware

• 20 ¶ Behold, I send an Angel before thee, to keep thee in the way, and to bring thee into the place which I have prepared. 21 Beware of him, and obey his voice, provoke him not; for he will not pardon your transgressions: for my name is in him. 22 But if thou shalt indeed obey his voice, and do all that I speak; then I will be an enemy unto thine enemies, and an adversary unto thine adversaries. (Exodus 23)

• Take heed
• "If thy children take heed to their way, to walk before me in truth with all their heart and with all their soul..." (1 Kings 2:4) 
• Observe
• "And his brethren envied him; but his father observed the saying." (Genesis 37:11)
• To mark
• "he marketh all my paths" (Job 33:11)
• Preserve
• "the Lord loveth judgment, and forsaketh not his saints; they are preserved for ever" (Psalm 37:28)

I'm not really trying to convince you of anything here, just outlining the various ways this root is used, and the balance that can be seen between those things that expected of the covenant people in terms of keeping/watching/preserving, and the keeping/watching/preserving that is promised from God as a blessing of covenant faithfulness.

This is a context which can also be found in the Book of Mormon. In the next post we'll look at examples of these same terms used in the Book of Mormon.

Repetitive Resumption in the Book of Mormon

Suppose you are writing an ancient manuscript and you really want to insert a parenthetical comment, but parenthesis won't be inverted for hundreds of years?  What do you do?

Repetitive resumption is one way for an ancient scribe to bracket a narrative aside. Here is a description from the article linked in the previous sentence:

How is the reader going to be able to jump back into the main story line once this is done? How does the scribe keep the reader from getting lost? Enter the ancient scribal technique of Weideraufnahme, also called a resumptive repetition or epanalepsis.
Simply put, after including the note, parenthetical remark or supplementary source, the ancient scribe would restate or paraphrase the last point in the narrative before the extra piece was added.

An example of this technique from the Old Testament can be found in Genesis 37:28, 36 and Genesis 39:1. These verses contain the same information about Joseph being sold to Potiphar. The verses bracket chapter 38, which tells a different story related to Judah.

The author of this article points out that this technique, which was probably very useful to an ancient reader, can be quite confusing to a modern reader.

Mormon uses this technique as well.  Here is an example, with the repeated information in yellow and the side comment in red:

6 So that when he had finished his work at Melek he departed thence, and traveled three days’ journey on the north of the land of Melek; and he came to a city which was called Ammonihah.
7 Now it was the custom of the people of Nephi to call their lands, and their cities, and their villages, yea, even all their small villages, after the name of him who first possessed them; and thus it was with the land of Ammonihah.
8 And it came to pass that when Alma had come to the city of Ammonihah he began to preach the word of God unto them. (Alma 8)

Here are two additional examples from the story of Korihor:

6 But it came to pass in the latter end of the seventeenth year, there came a man into the land of Zarahemla, and he was Anti-Christ, for he began to preach unto the people against the prophecies which had been spoken by the prophets, concerning the coming of Christ.
7 Now there was no law against a man’s belief; for it was strictly contrary to the commands of God that there should be a law which should bring men on to unequal grounds.
8 For thus saith the scripture: Choose ye this day, whom ye will serve.
9 Now if a man desired to serve God, it was his privilege; or rather, if he believed in God it was his privilege to serve him; but if he did not believe in him there was no law to punish him.
10 But if he murdered he was punished unto death; and if he robbed he was also punished; and if he stole he was also punished; and if he committed adultery he was also punished; yea, for all this wickedness they were punished.
11 For there was a law that men should be judged according to their crimes. Nevertheless, there was no law against a man’s belief; therefore, a man was punished only for the crimes which he had done; therefore all men were on equal grounds.
12 And this Anti-Christ, whose name was Korihor, (and the law could have no hold upon him) began to preach unto the people that there should be no Christ. (Alma 30)

And another at the end of the story:

56 And it came to pass that the curse was not taken off of Korihor; but he was cast out, and went about from house to house begging for his food.
57 Now the knowledge of what had happened unto Korihor was immediately published throughout all the land; yea, the proclamation was sent forth by the chief judge to all the people in the land, declaring unto those who had believed in the words of Korihor that they must speedily repent, lest the same judgments would come unto them.
58 And it came to pass that they were all convinced of the wickedness of Korihor; therefore they were all converted again unto the Lord; and this put an end to the iniquity after the manner of Korihor. And Korihor did go about from house to house, begging food for his support. (Alma 30)

For more examples and additional information, this link is useful.

Hat Tip: Brant Gardner

Moroni and the Title of Liberty -- Connections to the Northern Kingdom, Joseph of Egypt, and "nakedness"

Stisa's recent post on the origins of the Brass Plates reminded me of the symbolic significance of the Title of Liberty in Alma 46.

As Stisa also points out in this post, there is a clear cultural context channeled by Moroni as he rends his garment, writes covenant language on it, and uses this symbol to unite his people to stand up for their defense.  He doesn't stop there, either.  Notice how in verse 23 he explicitly references Joseph in Egypt:

23 Moroni said unto them: Behold, we are a remnant of the seed of Jacob; yea, we are a remnant of the seed of Joseph, whose coat was rent by his brethren into many pieces; yea, and now behold, let us remember to keep the commandments of God, or our garments shall be rent by our brethren, and we be cast into prison, or be sold, or be slain.

Notice in this verse the direct connection between the garment and faithfulness to the covenant.

I want to take this same idea and tie it into the concept of the covenant/garment themes laced (pun intended) throughout the Book of Mormon. In verse 21, the rending of garments becomes a ritual performed to remind the people of their covenant:

21 And it came to pass that when Moroni had proclaimed these words, behold, the people came running together with their armor girded about their loins, rending their garments in token, or as a covenant, that they would not forsake the Lord their God; or, in other words, if they should transgress the commandments of God, or fall into transgression, and be ashamed to take upon them the name of Christ, the Lord should rend them even as they had rent their garments.

It goes without saying, then, that the people were already wearing garments to rend at the time of Moroni's impassioned speech. These Nephites, descendants of the tribes of Joseph, who were at the time living in the middle of the tropical jungle in Mesoamerica 500 years after Lehi left Jerusalem, were clothed in a garment of special significance.

For this to be the case so many generations later indicates to me how culturally vital it must have been to them.  Remember that Joseph's "coat of many colors" (mentioned in the KJV in Genesis 37:3) is thought by some biblical scholars to be a mis-translation. Other scholars believe it refers to a ceremonial garment of special, temple-related significance: 

"The article so described was a ceremonial robe which could be draped around statues of goddesses, and had various gold ornaments sewed onto it."

Indeed, the NIV translates this as "ornate robe." The NRSV calls it "a long robe with sleeves." The Expanded Bible calls it "a special robe with long sleeves."

The Lamanites, on the other hand, were frequently described as naked. Alma 43:20, for example:

20 Now the army of Zerahemnah was not prepared with any such thing; they had only their swords and their cimeters, their bows and their arrows, their stones and their slings; and they were naked, save it were a skin which was girded about their loins; yea, all were naked, save it were the Zoramites and the Amalekites;

Notice this reference mentioning that all of the Lamanites were naked except the Zoramites and Amalekites.

This begs the question: what is different about the Zoramites and the Amalekites that caused them to be clothed among all the naked Lamanites?

In short, both groups used to be Nephites. It seems that despite abandoning their loyalty to the Nephites, they maintain a cultural commonality and continued to wear a garment like the Nephites.