"Divided hither and thither" -- a sermon in a phrase, part 1

My most recent post (re-)introduced a concept I recently learned about from Stisa which gives a name to a phenomenon I've noticed and blogged about in the past -- metalepsis.  In short, it's a technique used by ancient scribes to reference an older account by using key wording from that account as they tell a different story. I gave the example from Mormon 8:8, from which I unpacked four sermons last October. I ended the post by quoting Helaman 10:1 and hinting that a sermon is packed into words "divided hither and thither" in that verse.

Here is the whole verse:

1 And it came to pass that there arose a division among the people, insomuch that they divided hither and thither and went their ways, leaving Nephi alone, as he was standing in the midst of them. (Helaman 10)

This all began as a hunch on my part.  The initial thought was: "What a weird way to end a story!" The mental image of the people dividing into two groups and going their own way conjured an image of Moses parting the Red Sea.

Of course, Nephi had just finished teaching the people about the role of prophets, including a reference to Moses, so I went back and reviewed that passage:

11 Therefore he was constrained to speak more unto them saying: Behold, my brethren, have ye not read that God gave power unto one man, even Moses, to smite upon the waters of the Red Sea, and they parted hither and thither, insomuch that the Israelites, who were our fathers, came through upon dry ground, and the waters closed upon the armies of the Egyptians and swallowed them up?
12 And now behold, if God gave unto this man such power, then why should ye dispute among yourselves, and say that he hath given unto me no power whereby I may know concerning the judgments that shall come upon you except ye repent?
13 But, behold, ye not only deny my words, but ye also deny all the words which have been spoken by our fathers, and also the words which were spoken by this man, Moses, who had such great power given unto him, yea, the words which he hath spoken concerning the coming of the Messiah. (Helaman 8)

Notice the common elements between this passage and the verse above: division/parting, "one man"/"Nephi alone," two groups of people (one preserved and one destroyed)

And just before that, Mormon described how Nephi was causing two distinct reactions among the people, a group of believers and group that was hostile:

5 Therefore [the corrupt judges] did cry unto the people, saying: Why do you suffer this man to revile against us? For behold he doth condemn all this people, even unto destruction; yea, and also that these our great cities shall be taken from us, that we shall have no place in them.
6 And now we know that this is impossible, for behold, we are powerful, and our cities great, therefore our enemies can have no power over us.
7 And it came to pass that thus they did stir up the people to anger against Nephi, and raised contentions among them; for there were some who did cry out: Let this man alone, for he is a good man, and those things which he saith will surely come to pass except we repent;
8 Yea, behold, all the judgments will come upon us which he has testified unto us; for we know that he has testified aright unto us concerning our iniquities. And behold they are many, and he knoweth as well all things which shall befall us as he knoweth of our iniquities;
9 Yea, and behold, if he had not been a prophet he could not have testified concerning those things. (Helaman 8)

As I read and re-read the passage, the words "divided hither and thither" really stood out as a key connecting phrase. I looked up every instance I could find in all of the scriptures where "hither and thither" is used in connection with "divide" or something like it. Aside from the verse above (Helaman 10:1), I found four references in the Book of Mormon and two in the Old Testament. That's it. Here they are:

Old Testament

8 And Elijah took his mantle, and wrapped it together, and smote the waters, and they were divided hither and thither, so that they two went over on dry ground. (2 Kings 2)


14 And he took the mantle of Elijah that fell from him, and smote the waters, and said, Where is the Lord God of Elijah? and when he also had smitten the waters, they parted hither and thither: and Elisha went over. (2 Kings 2)

Book of Mormon

2 Therefore let us go up; let us be strong like unto Moses; for he truly spake unto the waters of the Red Sea and they divided hither and thither, and our fathers came through, out of captivity, on dry ground, and the armies of Pharaoh did follow and were drowned in the waters of the Red Sea. (1 Nephi 4)


26 Now ye know that Moses was commanded of the Lord to do that great work; and ye know that by his word the waters of the Red Sea were divided hither and thither, and they passed through on dry ground. (1 Nephi 17)


11 Therefore he was constrained to speak more unto them saying: Behold, my brethren, have ye not read that God gave power unto one man, even Moses, to smite upon the waters of the Red Sea, and they parted hither and thither, insomuch that the Israelites, who were our fathers, came through upon dry ground, and the waters closed upon the armies of the Egyptians and swallowed them up? (Helaman 8)


8 For behold, the dust of the earth moveth hither and thither, to the dividing asunder, at the command of our great and everlasting God. (Helaman 12)

Aside from Mormon's more generic use of the phrase in Helaman 12 (which relates to the story it follows, for reasons I'll flesh out in a future post), the rest of these passages make reference to Nephi-2, Moses, or Elijah. Very interesting. As I read through these, I marveled at the connections between the three prophets being mentioned. Here's a rough draft of what was starting to take shape in my head:

All three had power over the elements. All three are associated with the sealing power.  Moses and Elijah were present at the Kirtland Temple dedication when important priesthood keys were restored.  All three had mysterious non-deaths (only according to latter-day scripture in the case of Moses).

What's the deeper message from all of this? Well, it seems to have a lot to do with priesthood authority and the purpose of mortality. "One man" is given power to cause a division by preaching the word of God. This results in the formation of a covenant people -- creation by division. We'll get into this in more depth in the next post.

Metalepsis in the Book of Mormon, an introduction

The Book of Mormon was carefully written and deserves our careful attention.

Regular readers of this blog know that this is a principle Stisa and I feel strongly about. I'm in the early stages on creating a whole series of content on this specific topic.  Recognizing this fact has completely transformed my scripture study and my spirituality over the past few years. 

I owe the recent surge in my interest in the Book of Mormon to Stisa, who several years ago demonstrated to me the high degree of internal consistency found in the Book of Mormon text.  Both of us have posted at length on that topic. It's a very interesting topic, one that supplies a very intriguing line of evidence supporting the divine origin of the Book of Mormon. It has largely been untouched by the critics.

Internal consistency is very interesting and important. However, focusing solely on that might cause us to miss something much bigger, something more doctrinally relevant.  

Looking for internal consistency helped me develop a careful eye and that careful eye has allowed me to find other examples of the multi-layered richness of the text. As I trained my mind to search the Book of Mormon for subtle details, I began to find doctrinal lessons which had eluded my detection for decades. As readers of this blog will already know, I find great joy in finding and pondering these subtle lessons.

Mormon 8:8 -- four sermons in a single verse!

Here is one such example -- a series of posts on Mormon 8:8 (This link will take you to one post which links to the other posts in the series.). I spent a big part of a month studying that verse alone (along with all of the other verses those phrases are meant to point us to).  It was a very exciting discovery. Moroni wasn't just playing MadLibs with his father's writings, he was combining short phrases in a way to point careful readers to other parts of the records and drink deeply from his father's masterpiece. The lessons range from the everlasting covenant to the creation account to the resurrection.  

Since making that discovery, I've tried to really maintain a humble attitude when studying the scriptures. Whereas, I used to dismiss certain awkward phrasings as nothing more than antiquated English, I now ask myself why those precise words were used, and whether that wording might be a clue to look at other verses.

My study of Mormon 8:8 made it clear to me that important truths were waiting to be found but identifying them requires patience, humility, and a deep commitment to studying the scriptures. Nevertheless, two facts make this effort worth the investment:

1. The process of discovery is very exciting and satisfying.
2. The more one studies and becomes familiar with the scriptures, the easier these connections are to find.

A few months later, I learned (again from Stisa, thanks buddy) that this technique is recognized by scholars as a powerful literary device used by ancient Hebrew scribes.

It even has a fancy name! Metalepsis.

Metalepsis

As Stisa recently posted (here), ancient Hebrew scribes used a technique scholars refer to as metalepsis, defined by Richard Hays as:

"a literary technique of citing or echoing a small bit of a precursor text in such a way that the reader can grasp the significance of the echo only by recalling or recovering the original context from which the fragmentary echo came and then reading the two texts in dialogical juxtaposition" (quoted here)

Bible scholars have noted that the New Testament is best understood when studied in the context of the Old Testament. To ignore the OT influence on the NT is to misinterpret the NT.

My not-so-technical term for this is "a sermon in a phrase." By invoking a certain phrase from a well-known story, the author can draw out new meaning from that old story and teach a deeper lesson in the new story at the same time. It makes perfect sense that this kind of technique would be used widely at a time when writing materials were harder to come by, when oral tradition played a huge role in religious tradition, and when cultures saw time as circular rather than linear. This technique allows the author to highlight an echo from the past on demand to add depth and richness to an account. I recently discovered an example that demonstrates this so perfectly, which will be the subject of my next post.

"Hidden wisdom"

This type of study is greatly helped when a reader is intimately acquainted with the source text. In other words, my relative unfamiliarity with the Old Testament puts me at a disadvantage when it come to identifying metalepsis involving the Old Testament.

This is also a great way to bless the hard work and diligence it takes to uncover these lessons. (Imagine if every possible lesson contained in the scriptures could be fully recognized in a single reading!)

Perhaps this is also part of a divine pattern, where certain aspects of the Gospel are metaphorically shouted from the rooftops, while others lay in wait to be discovered by those who earnestly seek in patience and faith.

Whatever the case, I'm hooked. My scripture study will never be the same, and I'm very glad for that!

The upcoming series of posts on Helaman 8-10 will attempt to outline some of the "sermons in a phrase" hiding in those verses.

I'll end this post with the little detail that opened up my understanding in what will follow, found in Helaman 10:

1 And it came to pass that there arose a division among the people, insomuch that they divided hither and thither and went their ways, leaving Nephi alone, as he was standing in the midst of them.

I think I've found a whole sermon tucked away in the words "divided hither and thither," which I'll discuss in the next posts. 

August 24–30. Helaman 7–12: “Remember the Lord” -- Additional resources

This week's lesson is found here.

Helaman 7 -- Heart and soul poetry, Nephi's lament, Shepherd symbolism

Helaman 8 -- Fear and secret works, Heaven and earth (part 1), References to Jesus Christ

Helaman 9 -- Fasting (part 1)

Helaman 10 -- Secret works, Heaven and earth (part 2), cast/hard heart, powerful words

Helaman 11 -- Fasting (part 2), two types of turning

Helaman 12 -- Subtle Isaiah references, Good works and faith/repentance, good works as a covenant symbol, Psalms in the Book of Mormon

Fear and secret works

Mormon subtly connects "fear" and "secret works." Interestingly, this connection is only present in parts of the Book of Mormon authored by Mormon.  See the table below. Nephi does not seem to do this, nor Jacob, Alma-2 or Moroni, even though each of them mentions "secret works."

In the table below, the line is colored green if both "fear" and "secret works" are mentioned together and red if "secret works" is mentioned without "fear." Notice which author consistently connects these two concepts.

Reference	Author	Fear?	“Secret works”
Alma 37	Alma-2	N/A	21, 23, 25
Helaman 2	Mormon	11: “he feared lest that he should be destroyed;”	4
Helaman 8	Mormon	4: “for they feared the people lest they should cry out against them.”; 10 (x2): “those people who sought to destroy Nephi were compelled because of their fear...insomuch that the remainder of them did fear.”	4
Helaman 10	Mormon	4: “thou hast not feared them,”	3
Helaman 11	Mormon	32: “they did cause great fear to come unto the people upon all the face of the land.”	2 (secret band); 10/26 (secret plans); 25 (secret places, murder, plunder); 28 (work of destruction);
3 Nephi 3	Mormon	12: "this Lachoneus...could not be frightened by the demands and the threatenings of a robber"; 16: “the words and prophecies of Lachoneus ...did cause fear to come upon all the people”; 25: “they did fear the words which had been spoken by Lachoneus,”	7, 9
Mormon 8	Moroni	N/A	27 (secret combinations and the works of darkness)
Ether 8	Moroni	N/A	18 (secret combinations)
2 Nephi 9	Jacob	40: “The righteous fear [the words of truth] not” -- completely different context 31 verses later.	9 (secret combinations of murder and all manner of secret works of darkness.)
2 Nephi 10	Jacob	N/A	15 (secret works of darkness)
2 Nephi 26	Nephi	N/A	22 (works of darkness)
2 Nephi 30	Nephi	N/A	17 (work of darkness)

It is interesting to note how the concept of "fear" gets worked into the text in a variety of contexts when Mormon mentions the secret works, as if he does this on purpose to teach us to connect these secret works with fear:

In Helaman 2, Gadianton fears when Kishkumen did not return from a planned secret murder of Helaman, the chief judge.

In Helaman 8, the corrupt judges feared the people who seemed to be believing the words of Nephi. They were compelled because of their fear not to lay their hands on him.

In Helaman 10, a voice comforts Nephi as he is "much cast down" while pondering the secret works of darkness of the people. The voice tells him he is "blessed" because he "[has] not feared them."

In Helaman 11, the growing numbers of the robbers were able to "defy the whole armies of the Nephites, and also of the Lamanites."  This caused "great fear to come unto the people."

In 3 Nephi 3, the people face a serious threat from the robbers.  Their righteous leader Lachoneus "could not be frightened by ... a robber." He tells the people what they must do in order to stay safe. His "words and prophecies" caused fear to come upon the people. They feared his words. (Later in 3 Nephi 4, when the robbers come to battle against these righteous, prepared Nephites, this happens:

8 And it came to pass that the armies of the Nephites, when they saw the appearance of the army of Giddianhi, had all fallen to the earth, and did lift their cries to the Lord their God, that he would spare them and deliver them out of the hands of their enemies.
9 And it came to pass that when the armies of Giddianhi saw this they began to shout with a loud voice, because of their joy, for they had supposed that the Nephites had fallen with fear because of the terror of their armies.
10 But in this thing they were disappointed, for the Nephites did not fear them; but they did fear their God and did supplicate him for protection; therefore, when the armies of Giddianhi did rush upon them they were prepared to meet them; yea, in the strength of the Lord they did receive them. (3 Nephi 4)

This is a very interesting spectrum of treatments of the words fear.  We learn several important lessons, right up to the most important lesson -- we should fear God, not man, and certainly not secret works of darkness.

Secret works and works of darkness

Like many covenant symbols in the Book of Mormon, "good works" (see here and here for a thorough discussion on this covenant symbol) has an opposite: "secret works." Also referred to as "works of darkness," these are described in some detail by several Book of Mormon writers.

What are they?

Alma-2 describes these works to his son Helaman as he commands him regarding the records in Alma 37. From this passage, we learn that these "secret works of darkness" include "oaths," "covenants," "agreements in their secret abominations," as well as "signs" and "wonders."

In Helaman 10:3, we learn that these secret works are associated with "murderings, plunderings, and all manner of iniquities."

Where do they come from?

Both Jacob and Mormon make it clear these works are ancient, though in very different ways. Jacob accomplishes this by teaching us who authored them in the first place: "the father of lies...that being who beguiled our first parents, who transformeth himself nigh unto an angel of light, and stirreth up the children of men unto secret combinations of murder and all manner of secret works of darkness." (2 Nephi 9:9)

In 3 Nephi 3:9, Mormon quotes the leader of the Gadianton robbers, Giddianhi, in which he makes this assertion: "I am the governor of this the secret society of Gadianton; which society and the works thereof I know to be good; and they are of ancient date and they have been handed down unto us."

Are they among us now?

Sadly, Moroni teaches us that the Book of Mormon would come forth "in a day when the blood of saints shall cry unto the Lord, because of secret combinations and the works of darkness." (Mormon 8:27)

Nephi prophesies that these things will be among us at the same time he reveals their author:

22 And there are also secret combinations, even as in times of old, according to the combinations of the devil, for he is the founder of all these things; yea, the founder of murder, and works of darkness; (2 Nephi 26)

What becomes of those who participate in secret works?

This should come as no surprise...things don't end well for those who engage in secret works:

15 Wherefore, for this cause, that my covenants may be fulfilled which I have made unto the children of men, that I will do unto them while they are in the flesh, I must needs destroy the secret works of darkness, and of murders, and of abominations. (2 Nephi 10)

25 I will bring forth out of darkness unto light all their secret works and their abominations; and except they repent I will destroy them from off the face of the earth; and I will bring to light all their secrets and abominations, unto every nation that shall hereafter possess the land. (Alma 37)

 

9 And behold, that great city Jacobugath, which was inhabited by the people of king Jacob, have I caused to be burned with fire because of their sins and their wickedness, which was above all the wickedness of the whole earth, because of their secret murders and combinations; for it was they that did destroy the peace of my people and the government of the land; therefore I did cause them to be burned, to destroy them from before my face, that the blood of the prophets and the saints should not come up unto me any more against them. (3 Nephi 9)

Heaven and earth -- Part 2

In part 1 we considered how the pairing of heaven and earth in scripture comes from an ancient Israelite tradition and signifies God's power and major events in his dealings with his children. An important part of that is his desire that we enter into covenants with Him. In Alma 7:9 that I quoted in part 1, the covenant term, "walk in his path", (that Lord Wilmore has recently written about, see here and here) is coupled with the heaven-earth dualism. There are many other examples of covenant terms appearing together with heaven-earth, like Mormon 9:11

But behold, I will show unto you a God of miracles, even the God of Abraham, and the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob; and it is that same God who created the heavens and the earth, and all things that in them are. 

or Helaman 10:7

Behold, I give unto you power, that whatsoever ye shall seal on earth shall be sealed in heaven; and whatsoever ye shall loose on earth shall be loosed in heaven

or 1 Nephi 22:9

And it shall also be of worth unto the Gentiles; and not only unto the Gentiles but unto all the house of Israel, unto the making known of the covenants of the Father of heaven unto Abraham, saying: In thy seed shall all the kindreds of the earth be blessed.

There are several aspects of this heaven-earth pairing and covenant relation.

• When a covenant is entered into or renewed, both heaven and earth serve as witnesses. This was the backdrop for Deuteronomy 32:1, for example, quoted in part 1. See also D&C 128:2-7, where Joseph Smith explains the book-keeping both on earth and in heaven when ordinances are performed.
• A covenant is between a person on earth and a God in heaven. Covenant making unites the two. See for instance the verse just quoted from 1 Nephi 22. The Father of heaven blesses the people on earth by enabling them to ascend to His heavenly home through covenants.
• The major events listed in part 1, are all part of God's plan for his children and the covenant established "before the foundation of the world". The creation, the atonement, the restoration, etc. are all part of this and involve both heaven and earth. 

This realization made me think of the story of King Lamoni and see his dialogue with Ammon in a new light. I will try to explain as I go through some of those verses.

And Ammon said unto him again: Believest thou that this Great Spirit, who is God, created all things which are in heaven and in the earth? (Alma 18:28)

The heaven-earth coupling in the scriptures is often related to creation. This supports the idea of heaven-earth as a covenant symbol, because creation and covenant seem to originate from the same root, as Lord Wilmore has previously explained. See this post for an introduction and several other posts for more detail.

So in a sense, Ammon is asking King Lamoni if he is familiar with the covenants of God. Lamoni answers that he is not

And he said: Yea, I believe that he created all things which are in the earth; but I do not know the heavens. (Alma 18:29)

King Lamoni only knows about the earth/man/physical things. But since he is unfamiliar with heaven/God/spiritual things, he cannot make the connection between the two. The purpose of a covenant is to unite the two and bring them together. King Lamoni is not yet ready to do that. He needs to know about the heavens first. So Ammon explains.

And Ammon said unto him: The heavens is a place where God dwells and all his holy angels. (Alma 18:30)

Ammon is familiar with the heavens. He has even been visited by one of those "holy angels" as recounted in Mosiah 27. That chapter focuses on Alma but we know that Ammon was in the group. It is also interesting to see how Mormon describes the consequence of the angelic visit at the end Mosiah 27.

36 And thus they were instruments in the hands of God in bringing many to the knowledge of the truth, yea, to the knowledge of their Redeemer.

37 And how blessed are they! For they did publish peace; they did publish good tidings of good; and they did declare unto the people that the Lord reigneth.

In verse 37, Mormon quotes Isaiah 52 coupled with the term "blessed". This happens several times in the Book of Mormon and "blessed" seems to be referring to the Abrahamic covenant ("in thy seed shall all the kindreds of the earth be blessed"). See this post for details.

After having been visited by an angel, Ammon became "blessed" by entering into a covenant. After that he also became an angel/messenger (those two words have the same Hebrew root), a publisher of peace whose feet are on a mountain, according to Isaiah 52. The mountain is where heaven and earth meet. It is also often used as symbol of the temple where covenants are made. Lord Wilmore has written several posts about angels and used the phrase "see an angel, be an angel", as several stories in addition to Ammon show this pattern. Here is one example (see point 4). As for Ammon, Mormon includes this detail:

Now when Ammon and his brethren saw this work of destruction among those whom they so dearly beloved, and among those who had so dearly beloved them—for they were treated as though they were angels sent from God to save them from everlasting destruction—therefore, when Ammon and his brethren saw this great work of destruction, they were moved with compassion (Alma 27:4)

Notice how Ammon and his brethren were considered "angels sent from God" to the Lamanite converts. The exact same phrase that is used about the angel who once appeared to Ammon and his brethren.

And now behold, can ye dispute the power of God? For behold, doth not my voice shake the earth? And can ye not also behold me before you? And I am sent from God. (Mosiah 27:15)

So Ammon sees an angel, enters into a covenant as a result and becomes an angel to help others entering into the covenant, signified by the unification of heaven and earth. As Ammon goes on to teach Lamoni and his servants, he explains about those major events that I listed in part 1: The creation, the fall, the atonement and the whole plan of redemption. Lamoni and his servants believe and are converted. Mormon relates:

34 And behold, many did declare unto the people that they had seen angels and had conversed with them; and thus they had told them things of God, and of his righteousness.

35 And it came to pass that there were many that did believe in their words; and as many as did believe were baptized; and they became a righteous people, and they did establish a church among them.

See what happened to the Lamanite converts? They too learned about "the heavens" as they saw angels who told them "things of God". Now they were ready for the heaven-earth connection, the first covenant of baptism. Later, we learn that they also made a covenant pertaining to their use of weapons (see Alma 24:18).

"Cast..." and "hard heart"

I'm looking at symbols of the covenant between God and man.  They come in two basic forms, which I call "positive" and "negative."  For example, singing praises unto God is a positive symbol. (See Ether 6:9 or 3 Nephi 20:32, 34.)

I've found great joy as I search for these symbols, come to understand their context, then find additional examples of the same symbol in other passages of scripture. In fact, it was over one year ago that I decided to follow a prompting to study the Book of Mormon with a specific goal of understanding my covenants better.  At the time, I'm a bit embarrassed to say, I was under the false assumption that the temple covenant was rarely, if ever, mentioned in the Book of Mormon.  Many hours of study have demonstrated to me how incorrect this assumption was.  The temple covenant can be found all over the Book of Mormon, but only if one knows what symbols to look for.

Over time, one by one, many of these symbols have become familiar to me, and these days it is rare for me to study the Book of Mormon without recognizing numerous instances where covenants are discussed, just a little bit hidden from plain view, which seems entirely appropriate.

This post will discuss a connection between two negative covenant symbols: "cast off" and "hard heart." My main goal here is to illustrate how a passage that doesn't necessarily seem to be discussing covenants at first glance can actually be filled with symbolic covenant language (positive and negative).  Here are verses 1-8 of Jacob 6, in which Jacob discusses Zenos' allegory.  I'll highlight positive covenant symbols in green and negative symbols in red. "Cast" and "hard heart" will be placed in bright red with white text to help them stand out.

1 And now, behold, my brethren, as I said unto you that I would prophesy, behold, this is my prophecy—that the things which this prophet Zenos spake, concerning the house of Israel, in the which he likened them unto a tame olive tree, must surely come to pass.
2 And the day that he shall set his hand again the second time to recover his people, is the day, yea, even the last time, that the servants of the Lord shall go forth in his power, to nourish and prune his vineyard; and after that the end soon cometh.
3 And how blessed are they who have labored diligently in his vineyard; and how cursed are they who shall be cast out into their own place! And the world shall be burned with fire.
4 And how merciful is our God unto us, for he remembereth the house of Israel, both roots and branches; and he stretches forth his hands unto them all the day long; and they are a stiffnecked and a gainsaying people; but as many as will not harden their hearts shall be saved in the kingdom of God.
5 Wherefore, my beloved brethren, I beseech of you in words of soberness that ye would repent, and come with full purpose of heart, and cleave unto God as he cleaveth unto you. And while his arm of mercy is extended towards you in the light of the day, harden not your hearts.
6 Yea, today, if ye will hear his voice, harden not your hearts; for why will ye die?
7 For behold, after ye have been nourished by the good word of God all the day long, will ye bring forth evil fruit, that ye must be hewn down and cast into the fire?
8 Behold, will ye reject these words? Will ye reject the words of the prophets; and will ye reject all the words which have been spoken concerning Christ, after so many have spoken concerning him; and deny the good word of Christ, and the power of God, and the gift of the Holy Ghost, and quench the Holy Spirit, and make a mock of the great plan of redemption, which hath been laid for you? (Jacob 6)

"Hard hearts" and "cast" are two symbols that center on the subject of unbelief. Unbelief is toxic to spirituality. Connecting these two symbols to the covenant help we appreciate deeper meaning in some passages where either or both of these terms are used:

• In Alma 33:20-21, Alma teaches why the people at the time of Moses would not "cast their eyes" and be healed. "Now the reason they would not look is because they did not believe that it would heal them." He asks, "would ye rather harden your hearts in unbelief, and be slothful, that ye would not cast about your eyes, that ye might perish?"
• In Alma 20:29-30, Ammon and Lamoni (a recent convert) go to the rescue of Ammon's brethren. They find them naked, bound with strong cords, hungry, and thirsty. This happened because "it was their lot to have fallen into the hands of a more hardened and a more stiffnecked people; therefore they would not hearken unto their words, and they had cast them out, and had smitten them, and had driven them from house to house, and from place to place, even until they had arrived in the land of Middoni;"
• "And it came to pass that when Nephi had declared unto them the word, behold, they did still harden their hearts and would not hearken unto his words; therefore they did revile against him, and did seek to lay their hands upon him that they might cast him into prison." (Helaman 10:15)
• Nephi laments his weakness in writing in 2 Nephi 33:1-2: "And now I, Nephi, cannot write all the things which were taught among my people; neither am I mighty in writing, like unto speaking; for when a man speaketh by the power of the Holy Ghost the power of the Holy Ghost carrieth it unto the hearts of the children of men. But behold, there are many that harden their hearts against the Holy Spirit, that it hath no place in them; wherefore, they cast many things away which are written and esteem them as things of naught."

These symbols help us see that unbelief causes us to underestimate, disregard, and discard sacred and precious truths and cast them away.  A hard heart causes us to cast out prophets from among us (or cast their words out of our lives and routines).  In doing so, we reject the covenant and we will end up cast out from the presence of the Father at the day of judgment.

Powerful words

Notice this connection between Moroni's description of the power of the words of the brother of Jared:

24 And thou hast made us that we could write but little, because of the awkwardness of our hands. Behold, thou hast not made us mighty in writing like unto the brother of Jared, for thou madest him that the things which he wrote were mighty even as thou art, unto the overpowering of man to read them. (Ether 12)

This is similar to the language of Enoch:

13 And so great was the faith of Enoch that he led the people of God, and their enemies came to battle against them; and he spake the word of the Lord, and the earth trembled, and the mountains fled, even according to his command; and the rivers of water were turned out of their course; and the roar of the lions was heard out of the wilderness; and all nations feared greatly, so powerful was the word of Enoch, and so great was the power of the language which God had given him. (Moses 7)

This is also comparable to God's words to Nephi, son of Helaman-2:

4 Blessed art thou, Nephi, for those things which thou hast done; for I have beheld how thou hast with unwearyingness declared the word, which I have given unto thee, unto this people. And thou hast not feared them, and hast not sought thine own life, but hast sought my will, and to keep my commandments.
5 And now, because thou hast done this with such unwearyingness, behold, I will bless thee forever; and I will make thee mighty in word and in deed, in faith and in works; yea, even that all things shall be done unto thee according to thy word, for thou shalt not ask that which is contrary to my will.
6 Behold, thou art Nephi, and I am God. Behold, I declare it unto thee in the presence of mine angels, that ye shall have power over this people, and shall smite the earth with famine, and with pestilence, and destruction, according to the wickedness of this people.
7 Behold, I give unto you power, that whatsoever ye shall seal on earth shall be sealed in heaven; and whatsoever ye shall loose on earth shall be loosed in heaven; and thus shall ye have power among this people.
8 And thus, if ye shall say unto this temple it shall be rent in twain, it shall be done.
9 And if ye shall say unto this mountain, Be thou cast down and become smooth, it shall be done.
10 And behold, if ye shall say that God shall smite this people, it shall come to pass.
11 And now behold, I command you, that ye shall go and declare unto this people, that thus saith the Lord God, who is the Almighty: Except ye repent ye shall be smitten, even unto destruction. (Helaman 10)

I see this as a clear reference to the power of God over His own creation, or the Creation-Covenent connection discussed in other posts.