Adam and adamah -- Part 3 ("in thee shall all families of the earth be blessed")

Links to 

• Part 1 
• Part 2

We have looked at the story in Genesis 2-4 from the perspective of the ground (Hebr. adamah) because it plays a central role and is even sometimes personified, but also because it forms an intimate relationship with man (Adam) in the text emphasized through the similarity of words. In part 1 we considered these three levels

1. Garden of Eden. No cultivation needed because the ground brings forth "every tree" (Genesis 2:9)
2. Cursed ground outside the Garden of Eden. Needs cultivation by man to bring forth fruit. (Genesis 3:19,23)
3. Both ground and tiller of the ground (Cain) are cursed. The ground no longer yielding its strength. (Genesis 4:12)

To make it back to the tree of life, we need to reverse these curses. The plan of salvation can be framed in different ways but the reversal of these curses is one of them. I think Alma agrees

5 For behold, if Adam had put forth his hand immediately, and partaken of the tree of life, he would have lived forever, according to the word of God, having no space for repentance; yea, and also the word of God would have been void, and the great plan of salvation would have been frustrated.

6 But behold, it was appointed unto man to die—therefore, as they were cut off from the tree of life they should be cut off from the face of the earth—and man became lost forever, yea, they became fallen man. (Alma 42)

In part 2 we considered the connection of blood (Hebr. dam) to adamah and adam. As Alma later explains in this chapter and as discussed in the last post, the sanctifying blood of Christ provides the means to reverse these curses. In this post I will demonstrate that keeping covenants is another. We are back to Christ and covenants (see here and here). No surprises there really. 

The intimate relationship between man and ground characterizes the curses from Genesis 3 and 4 and their reversal. We see this pattern clearly in Lehi's dream, for example. It starts out in a dark and dreary wilderness. The wilderness is a place where the ground does not yield its strength. The endowment pattern that Lord Wilmore has discussed often starts there. Next, Lehi sees a large field. Then he gets to the tree of life.

After the wilderness phase, there is tilling of the ground. Lord Wilmore points out in this post that both the Nephites and Jaredites start tilling the ground as soon as they get to the promised land. I want to include additional examples because I think they tie back to the reversal of the curses in Genesis. They also link to covenants. Recall in Mosiah 5, when King Benjamin has finished his speech, his people enter into a covenant. In Mosiah 6, they write down the names of all those who have entered into the covenant, Mosiah starts his reign, and then they till the ground

And king Mosiah did cause his people that they should till the earth. And he also, himself, did till the earth, that thereby he might not become burdensome to his people, that he might do according to that which his father had done in all things. And there was no contention among all his people for the space of three years. (Mosiah 6:7)

We see the same pattern in Mosiah 23. The people of Alma have just entered into a covenant at the waters of Mormon. This is what happens next.

3 And they fled eight days’ journey into the wilderness.

4 And they came to a land, yea, even a very beautiful and pleasant land, a land of pure water.

5 And they pitched their tents, and began to till the ground, and began to build buildings; yea, they were industrious, and did labor exceedingly. (Mosiah 23)

The intimate connection between man and ground is reflected in a covenant people prospering in the land and the land yielding its strength. I quoted Moses 7:15-17 in the previous post with the promise that I would get back to that. It is worth repeating in this context of curses and blessings on man and land alike, (in this case also coupled with bloodshed)

15 And the giants of the land, also, stood afar off; and there went forth a curse upon all people that fought against God;

16 And from that time forth there were wars and bloodshed among them; but the Lord came and dwelt with his people, and they dwelt in righteousness.

17 The fear of the Lord was upon all nations, so great was the glory of the Lord, which was upon his people. And the Lord blessed the land, and they were blessed upon the mountains, and upon the high places, and did flourish.

When we enter into and keep covenants, the earth yields its strength. The land is blessed and flourishes and so does the covenant people. This prepares us for Zion, the enclosed garden, where we can finally "put forth [our] hand" and "partake of the tree of life". Here is a final covenant example:

And I will bless them that bless thee, and curse him that curseth thee: and in thee shall all families of the earth be blessed. (Genesis 12:3)

This is Yahweh's covenant with Abraham. "Earth" in this verse is from the Hebrew, adamah. Breaking the covenant brings a curse, keeping the covenant (by "blessing" Abraham as his seed) brings blessings. Adamah was cursed for Adam's sake after his transgression, but as a reversal of that curse, the families of adamah will be blessed in Abraham when entering into and keeping covenants.

I think all these examples are sufficient to conclude that the intimate relation between man and ground is reflected not only in Genesis 2-4 when they are cursed, but also in the covenant path that reverses those curses to blessings. Along with the sanctifying blood of Christ, covenants are what brings us back to the garden and the tree of life.

Examples of thematic repetition in Mosiah -- part 1

Stisa's recent series of posts about thematic repetition in scripture (here, here, and here) got me thinking.  As I recently re-read the Book of Mosiah, I couldn't help but see numerous examples, which I'll lay out in two posts.

We already know a lot about the complexity of the Book of Mosiah, so this added layer of subtle thematic repetition is just another layer to learn from. We'll start with a long example.

Example #1: Limhi's speech and Benjamin's speech

Shortly after the account of Benjamin's speech and covenant-making with his people(s), we switch to the account of Limhi and those Nephites who had departed Zarahemla years earlier to reclaim the land of their first inheritance. I noticed two specific details about Limhi's speech to his people which seem to echo the description of Benjamin. 

I can think of two reasons for Mormon to link these two accounts:

1. Limhi's people will later re-unite with the main body of Nephites ruled by Mosiah-2 in Zarahemla.
2. Limhi's leadership mirrors aspects of Mosiah-1's leadership in taking a group of Nephites away from danger in the land of Lehi-Nephi to "go down" to Zarahemla.

The first set of overlapping details is found in Mosiah 7:17 --

17 And now, it came to pass on the morrow that king Limhi sent a proclamation among all his people, that thereby they might gather themselves together to the temple, to hear the words which he should speak unto them.

Compare this to Mosiah 2:1 --

1 And it came to pass that after Mosiah had done as his father had commanded him, and had made a proclamation throughout all the land, that the people gathered themselves together throughout all the land, that they might go up to the temple to hear the words which king Benjamin should speak unto them.

Three common details are shared in the matching verses, which read very closely to one another.

We also get this set of details in Mosiah 8:4 --

4 And it came to pass that after he had done all this, that king Limhi dismissed the multitude, and caused that they should return every one unto his own house.

This matches up with Mosiah 6:3: 

3 And again, it came to pass that when king Benjamin had made an end of all these things, and had consecrated his son Mosiah to be a ruler and a king over his people, and had given him all the charges concerning the kingdom, and also had appointed priests to teach the people, that thereby they might hear and know the commandments of God, and to stir them up in remembrance of the oath which they had made, he dismissed the multitude, and they returned, every one, according to their families, to their own houses.

Here we again find three very similar phrases in common between the two passages, in the same order, albeit with some additional details given in King Benjamin's account.

The second set of details is especially interesting because it appears right after Ammon is invited to rehearse the words of Benjamin (see Mosiah 8:2-3). This is yet another link between Limhi and Benjamin, and shows Limhi to be in harmony with Benjamin's teachings.

One final link between the two stories is that Limhi asks Ammon about interpreting the Jaredite records they found. Ammon refers him to Mosiah-2 (Benjamin's son), and Limhi rejoices and gives thanks to God:

19 And now, when Ammon had made an end of speaking these words the king rejoiced exceedingly, and gave thanks to God, saying: Doubtless a great mystery is contained within these plates, and these interpreters were doubtless prepared for the purpose of unfolding all such mysteries to the children of men. (Mosiah 8)

This is quite reminiscent of Benjamin's words to his sons:

5 I say unto you, my sons, were it not for these things, which have been kept and preserved by the hand of God, that we might read and understand of his mysteries, and have his commandments always before our eyes, that even our fathers would have dwindled in unbelief, and we should have been like unto our brethren, the Lamanites, who know nothing concerning these things, or even do not believe them when they are taught them, because of the traditions of their fathers, which are not correct. (Mosiah 1)

The Lord's course is one eternal round. It seems Mormon was able to embed an additional layer of teaching into his abridgement by intentionally creating links between certain accounts. These deeper messages would be apparent once the connection was found. In this case, the deeper message seems to be: "Even those who separated themselves from the covenant people have access to the blessings of the covenant if they hearken to and believe the words of faithful messengers sent to reclaim them from bondage."

In the next post I'll outline several more examples of thematic repetition.

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!

The Math of King Mosiah-2

In Mosiah 6:4, we learn that Mosiah takes over for his father at age 30, about 476 years from the time Lehi left Jerusalem.

Twenty-three chapters later, we find out the Mosiah dies at age 63, about 509 years after Lehi left Jerusalem.

Simple math, yes, but these are details that need to be kept in mind for several days, along with dozens of other important details. Also remember that the story of Lehi as we have it was not dictated until after Mosiah was completed.  The Book of Mosiah is complicated.

"Continual Peace"

Here is yet another example of a subtle detail that could easily get mixed up and present a glaring inconsistency in the Book of Mormon:

In Mosiah 1:1 we learn that King Benjamin had "continual peace" for the remainder of his days. He decides to pass the kingship along to his son, which he does, and according to Mosiah 6:3, he lived three more years and then died.

In Mosiah 7:1 we learn that his son, King Mosiah, had "continual peace" for the first three years of his reign.

Each of these verses is referring to the same three years.