The connection between Zenos's olive tree and the Tree of Life

I have started digging into tree-language in the scriptures since there is a lot of it. I believe that there are two primary sources of this: 

1. The trees in the Garden of Eden, especially the tree of life
2. Joseph of Egypt / The olive tree in Zenos' allegory

In the previous post, we saw how these two sources seem to influence almost all tree symbolism in the scriptures. Today we will look at a possible connection between the two.

Helaman 14:16-18 brought me down this rabbit hole.

16 Yea, behold, this death bringeth to pass the resurrection, and redeemeth all mankind from the first death—that spiritual death; for all mankind, by the fall of Adam being cut off from the presence of the Lord, are considered as dead, both as to things temporal and to things spiritual.

17 But behold, the resurrection of Christ redeemeth mankind, yea, even all mankind, and bringeth them back into the presence of the Lord.

18 Yea, and it bringeth to pass the condition of repentance, that whosoever repenteth the same is not hewn down and cast into the fire; but whosoever repenteth not is hewn down and cast into the fire; and there cometh upon them again a spiritual death, yea, a second death, for they are cut off again as to things pertaining to righteousness.

We have already seen that "hewn down and cast into the fire" is a reference to Zenos' olive tree. But in verse 18, "hewn down" seems synonymous with "cut off", which is a reference to the tree of life. At least it talkes about Adam being cut off from the presence of the Lord, referring to the Garden of Eden and the first death in verse 16, and then "cut off again" in verse 18 as part of the second death.
The observation that the synonymous "hewn down" and "cut off" in this verse are associated with Zenos' olive tree and the tree of life, respectively, indicates a connection between the two.

Another relevant scripture is this

that they might receive the word with joy, and as a branch be grafted into the true vine, that they might enter into the rest of the Lord their God. (Alma 16:17)

"As a branch be grafted into the true vine" sounds like Zenos language we find in Jacob 5, but the outcome, "enter into the rest of the Lord", sounds like the tree of life. Perhaps there isn't that much of a difference? There are several other indications that there isn't. I was afraid I had read too much into this, but started to find parallels between Alma's tree of life and Jacob 5 as I looked further into it. While searching to see if anyone else had made this connection I found an article that I also linked to in my previous post on this subject and it points out the same plus a lot of other reasons to connect the tree of life with Zenos' olive tree. It's quite long but if you want read the details of these connections, the first 10 pages or so would do. A shorter summary is given below

• The end of Alma 32 talks about the seed (word of God) we plant in our hearts growing to a tree of life. It uses expressions like "nourish the tree" and focuses on "diligence" when doing so. He describes the fruit as "precious" and says that unfruitful trees are "plucked up and cast out". We find all of this language in Jacob 5 too.
• Jacob's comments after quoting the allegory in Jacob 6 shares many common elements with Lehi's vision of the tree of life in 1 Nephi 8. Jacob talks about a "narrow" way leading to "eternal life" (Jacob 6:11) and those who make "a mock of the great plan of redemption", elements found in Lehi's dream. Cleaving to God (Jacob 6:5) is similar to clinging to the iron rod. The vineyard represents "the world", similar to Lehi's field and the fruit is described in similar terms by Lehi (1 Nephi 8:10-12), Nephi (1 Nephi 11:8-9) and Zenos (Jacob 5:61)
• After Lehi has told his family about his dream of the tree of life, he starts talking about the scattering and gathering of Israel and uses Zenos's tree to explain it in 1 Nephi 10:12-14. In 1 Nephi 15, when Nephi's brothers ask Nephi what this means, he uses the same Zenos language to explain. After that, his brothers ask about the tree that Lehi had seen in vision. It seems evident that they saw a connection between these two trees.
• In early Jewish and Christian tradition, the tree of life is sometimes considered to be an olive tree. Hugh Nibley has pointed out that in the art-work of the third century A.D. Dura-Europos synagogue, the tree of life is depicted as both a tree and a vine.

But what does this all mean? Is the tree in Jacob 5 really the tree of life? Wouldn't it lead to a lot of inconsistency if the two were equated? The tree of life represents the love of God, the olive tree represents the House of Israel. People eat the fruit of the tree of life but produce the fruit of the olive tree. On the other hand, you could argue that the love of God is manifest through his invitation to us to become his covenant people. And the other argument is actually solved beautifully by Isaiah 3:10.

Say to the righteous that it shall be well with them, for they shall eat the fruit of their doings. 

However, I don't think the point is that we are supposed to equate the two. I just think that this connection is meaningful and provides depth to my understanding of the gospel and the plan of salvation. Instead of talking about the two trees (in the Garden of Eden), perhaps we should talk about the three trees. Not to make it a tongue twister but to highlight all the aspects of the plan of salvation with the beautiful tree symbolism.

1. The tree of knowledge of good and evil represents our transition from the premortal existence to this life. We become subject to death and sin. We enter into a world full of opposition to learn and grow.
2. Zenos's olive tree represents the covenants offered in this life (including the spirit world for many). The growth we were supposed to experience in this life of oppositions is multiplied when we are grafted into that tree through covenants and receive nourishment through the roots.
3. The tree of life represents the transition into the eternities for the righteous: Immortality and eternal life and a full-scale experience of the love of God that we only got a small taste of in mortal life.

As with all symbolism, there are different ways to look at it and layers of meaning. I have been thinking and posting about "Christ and covenants" lately. The connection between these trees adds depth to that. The tree of life represents the love of God manifest in the atonement of Christ. Being grafted into the olive tree through covenants bring us to Christ and enable us to experience the full effect of his atonement. It is like being grafted into the tree of life because life is exactly what Christ is offering and covenants ultimately unite us with God.

Seeing this connection helps make sense of the "cut off" expression discussed a while back. The "cut off from the people" (olive tree) in the Old Testament is synonymous with the "cut off from his presence" (tree of life) in the Book of Mormon. It also adds depth to these words by Christ

1 I am the true vine, and my Father is the husbandman.

2 Every branch in me that beareth not fruit he taketh away: and every branch that beareth fruit, he purgeth it, that it may bring forth more fruit.

3 Now ye are clean through the word which I have spoken unto you.

4 Abide in me, and I in you. As the branch cannot bear fruit of itself, except it abide in the vine; no more can ye, except ye abide in me.

5 I am the vine, ye are the branches: He that abideth in me, and I in him, the same bringeth forth much fruit: for without me ye can do nothing.

6 If a man abide not in me, he is cast forth as a branch, and is withered; and men gather them, and cast them into the fire, and they are burned. (John 15)

There is a lot of Zenos language here, but viewing this both in terms of the House of Israel (coming to Christ through covenants) and the tree of life (the effects of His atonement) is very meaningful.

Sources of tree symbolism in the scriptures

I have started to dig into tree-language in the Book of Mormon since there is a lot of it. I believe that there are two primary sources of this: 

1. The trees in the Garden of Eden, especially the tree of life
2. Joseph of Egypt / The olive tree in Zenos' allegory

Yes, Joseph and Zenos are two different sources, but I will get back to that. Two ideas I would like to explore are

1. These two sources of tree symbolism influence a lot if not all of the other tree symbolism used in the scriptures
2. These two sources, although using different tree symbolism, are connected

This post will deal with the first idea. I have primarily researched the Book of Mormon myself but recently found an article dealing with the tree symbolism and Zenos's possible influence in the Bible that I will get back to. In the Book of Mormon, the most well-known uses of tree symbolism except for Jacob 5 are probably Lehi's dream (and later Nephi's vision where he sees the same tree) and Alma's lecture on faith, where the seed eventually grows to a tree. In both of these cases, the trees are named the tree of life so these are clear references to the tree in the Garden of Eden.

And thus, if ye will not nourish the word, looking forward with an eye of faith to the fruit thereof, ye can never pluck of the fruit of the tree of life. (Alma 32:40)

21 And it came to pass that they did speak unto me again, saying: What meaneth this thing which our father saw in a dream? What meaneth the tree which he saw?

22 And I said unto them: It was a representation of the tree of life. (1 Nephi 15)

Other direct references to the tree of life are made in Alma 5, Alma 12, Alma 42 and 2 Nephi 2. As far as I can see, all other tree symbolism in the Book of Mormon that is not related to the tree of life, deals with the scattering or gathering of Israel. Keep in mind that the scattering and gathering of Israel has both a physical and spiritual dimension, both of which are reflected in the tree symbolism. In Zenos's olive tree allegory, these aspects are generally symbolized by

• Branches broken off and planted elsewhere - Physical scattering of Israel (captivity or emigration)
• Grafting of branches into the mother tree - Physical (but also spiritual) gathering (entering into covenants, unification, Zion)
• Bringing forth wild/evil fruit - Spiritual scattering (distancing from God, apostasy, covenant breaking)
• Bringing forth good fruit - Spiritual gathering (repentance, works of righteousness, covenant keeping)

This symbolism is quite common in the rest of the Book of Mormon too. I will give one example from each category.

Yea, blessed is the name of my God, who has been mindful of this people, who are a branch of the tree of Israel, and has been lost from its body in a strange land (Alma 26:36)

That they might not be hardened against the word, that they might not be unbelieving, and go on to destruction, but that they might receive the word with joy, and as a branch be grafted into the true vine, that they might enter into the rest of the Lord their God. (Alma 16:17) 

For behold, the time is at hand that whosoever bringeth forth not good fruit, or whosoever doeth not the works of righteousness, the same have cause to wail and mourn. (Alma 5:36)

And now I speak concerning baptism. Behold, elders, priests, and teachers were baptized; and they were not baptized save they brought forth fruit meet that they were worthy of it. (Moroni 6:1)

I have a hard time finding any tree-related symbolism in the Book of Mormon that is not in line with either Zenos's allegory in this manner or the tree of life. In fact, the Book of Mormon people seem very aware of the fact that they are a "branch of the tree of Israel" that "has been lost from its body". It is also prophesied that their seed eventually will become a "righteous branch" of the House of Israel (see for instance 2 Nephi 9:53 and Jacob 2:25). This idea seems to originate from Joseph of Egypt.

Wherefore, Joseph truly saw our day. And he obtained a promise of the Lord, that out of the fruit of his loins the Lord God would raise up a righteous branch unto the house of Israel; not the Messiah, but a branch which was to be broken off, nevertheless, to be remembered in the covenants of the Lord (2 Nephi 3:5)

This is the same kind of tree symbolism that is found in Jacob 5, but it comes from Joseph. In the Old Testament, Joseph received the following in his patriarchical blessing

Joseph is a fruitful bough, even a fruitful bough by a well; whose branches run over the wall (Genesis 49:22) 

This is similar to the Zenos symbolism and among Latter-Day Saints understood to mean that Lehi and his group will cross the ocean and establish their society in the Americas. But this is very sparse. Knowing from the Book of Mormon that there is much more Joseph material on the brass plates and even having the quotes containing tree symbolism in 2 Nephi 3, would lead us to believe that the tree allegory in Genesis originally was more detailed. What does that have to do with Zenos? Well, Zenos was likely a North Kingdom prophet and descendent of Joseph and "testified particularly concerning [the Nephites], who are the remnant of their seed" (3 Nephi 10:16). I am wondering if his olive tree allegory is a sort of expansion on whatever tree allegory Joseph had been using when prophesying of his seed.

Another use of tree analogy similar to Zenos is Lehi in 1 Nephi 10. This article proposes that Lehi drew from Zenos's allegory when comparing his family to one of the branches on the olive tree. I already mentioned this article by John A. Tvedtnes discussing numerous examples of tree symbolism in the Bible and even extra-Biblical religious texts and how they might be influenced by Zenos. It makes a lot of sense to me that Zenos influenced these texts and not the other way around. For that argument, I will just quote the Tvedtnes article

Critics of the Book of Mormon will undoubtedly continue to maintain that Joseph Smith invented the Zenos parable by borrowing elements from the Bible. Three facts make me think otherwise. The most obvious is the vast array of biblical texts from which he would have had to derive these elements. After more than forty years of studying the Bible, I needed the help of a computer to find some of the passages. I doubt that Joseph Smith could have had very many of these passages at his command. The second point is the fact that different Bible passages have combinations of elements found in Jacob 5. The variety of these combinations is so complex that I suspect that no two of the texts share all elements with any of the others except with the Zenos parable. Finally, we have the fact that a number of pseudepigraphic works (only a few of them discussed herein), like the various biblical passages, contain elements found in Zenos's olive tree parable, with the same variety of combinations seen in the Bible. Indeed, some of them have elements of Jacob 5 that are not found in any of the Bible passages. Since Joseph Smith did not have access to these pseudepigraphic books, we conclude that the authors of those works had direct or indirect access to the Zenos parable.

In simple terms: If you find a long self-contained text and a bunch of fragments with elements of that text, you would naturally conclude that the longer one came first rather than being patched together from bits and pieces here and there.

To summarize

• Tree symbolism in the Book of Mormon seems to be based on one of two sources: The tre of life in the Garden of Eden or the olive tree representing the House of Israel originating from either Joseph of Egypt or Zenos.
• Joseph used tree symbolism to prophesy of his posterity. In the Bible it is only found in the form of his patriarchical blessing, but the Book of Mormon teaches us that he also used it in his prophesies contained on the brass plates 
• Presuming Zenos was a descendent of Joseph (the Book of Mormon indicates so), he might have expanded on this symbolism to include the House of Israel and the Gentiles in the allegory in Jacob 5
• Zenos's allegory seems to have been highly influential in the Bible and even the Apocrypha, even though the original source has been lost 

In the next post we will consider the connection between the tree of life and Zenos's olive tree.

"Hewn down and cast into the fire"

I'm not yet quite sure where I will be going with this, but I have started looking into all the "tree-language" in the Book of Mormon and other scriptures. Trees are commonly used as symbols and can mean different things, but I have also found that there are connections between many of these various tree references and considering them together can provide additional insight. These are preliminary findings as I have just started studying the subject.

One finding is that the Zenos allegory in Jacob 5 seems to be highly influential in both the Bible and the Book of Mormon. I will post more on that later. But one example is the expression, "hewn down and cast into the fire". This expression is used 14 times in the Book of Mormon. It is found 3 times in the New Testament and nowhere in the Old Testament, but "hew(n) down" as a general term is found several times, which shouldn't be all that surprising. Traditionally it is regarded as one of those textual connections between the Book of Mormon and the New Testament. There are many of those and they are interesting, but not the subject of this post. But in this case, it is obvious to me that the earliest source (that we know of) is Zenos (again!). Jacob 5 uses this expression 5 times and when Jacob comments on this in the next chapter, it is used once more.

I am very curious about when the knowledge of Zenos disappeared in the Old World. Since he was highly esteemed among the Nephites and this expression is used so much in the Book of Mormon, this seems to be originating from his olive tree allegory. But did Matthew and Luke know about Zenos? I would think that the knowledge of Zenos was lost at this point or otherwise we would have heard of him from other sources than the Book of Mormon. But perhaps his influence was not completely lost, even though his name was? At least the context in the New Testament is completely aligned with Jacob 5. It is always about trees and producing bad fruit. For instance:

every tree which bringeth not forth good fruit is hewn down, and cast into the fire. (Matthew 3:10)

And now these which have once brought forth good fruit have also become corrupted; and now all the trees of my vineyard are good for nothing save it be to be hewn down and cast into the fire. (Jacob 5:42)

If Jacob 5 were in the Old Testament, we would naturally conclude that Matthew was a reference to it.

When this expression is used in the Book of Mormon other than Jacob, it is not necessarily related to trees. But Jacob explains that the trees are really about us.

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? (Jacob 6:7)

The other examples of "hewn down and cast into the fire" are aligned with this understanding. For instance:

whosoever repenteth the same is not hewn down and cast into the fire; but whosoever repenteth not is hewn down and cast into the fire (Helaman 14:18)

Yea, come unto me and bring forth works of righteousness, and ye shall not be hewn down and cast into the fire (Alma 5:35)

The Zenos influence is apparent even though they talk about people rather than trees or branches, because they are familiar with the symbolism. In fact, branches or trees symbolically representing people is common in the Book of Mormon and the Old Testament and might be the subject for another post.

The conclusion I draw from this is that Zenos once again is the original source of a Book of Mormon expression, and in this case perhaps also a New Testament expression. It wouldn't be the first time, and several of these Zenos related posts show other examples. I don't think the New Testament authors knew about Zenos, but since he was an important prophet in the Northern Kingdom, I don't find it unlikely that parts of Zenos influence and tradition survived the Assyrian and Babylonian destructions. Another possibility is that he was censored while going through the hands of "the great and abominable church" that Nephi saw in vision. Zenos was outspoken about the coming of Christ, which probably did not make him popular among a lot of Jews, presumably including those who were responsible for preserving and transmitting the scriptures.

Zenos and Enos

While I was studying Alma 33, I came across an interesting similarity between the life of Enos (son of Jacob) and the Zenos passage Alma-2 quotes to the poor Zoramites, regarding prayer:

4 For he said: Thou art merciful, O God, for thou hast heard my prayer, even when I was in the wilderness; yea, thou wast merciful when I prayed concerning those who were mine enemies, and thou didst turn them to me.
5 Yea, O God, and thou wast merciful unto me when I did cry unto thee in my field; when I did cry unto thee in my prayer, and thou didst hear me. (Alma 33)

Compare the highlighted parts of that passage with these details from the story of Enos:

3 Behold, I went to hunt beasts in the forests; ...

11 And after I, Enos, had heard these words, my faith began to be unshaken in the Lord; and I prayed unto him with many long strugglings for my brethren, the Lamanites.
12 And it came to pass that after I had prayed and labored with all diligence, the Lord said unto me: I will grant unto thee according to thy desires, because of thy faith.
13 And now behold, this was the desire which I desired of him—that if it should so be, that my people, the Nephites, should fall into transgression, and by any means be destroyed, and the Lamanites should not be destroyed, that the Lord God would preserve a record of my people, the Nephites; even if it so be by the power of his holy arm, that it might be brought forth at some future day unto the Lamanites, that, perhaps, they might be brought unto salvation— ...
16 And I had faith, and I did cry unto God that he would preserve the records; and he covenanted with me that he would bring them forth unto the Lamanites in his own due time.
17 And I, Enos, knew it would be according to the covenant which he had made; wherefore my soul did rest. (Enos 1) 

Not sure exactly what to make of this similarity. Is it possible that Enos, as a record-keeper, knew of this passage from Zenos and tailored his writing to mirror these words?  Perhaps.

More Zenos references

The prophet, Zenos, has intrigued me for a while and I have made several posts in the past demonstrating how influential he was to Book of Mormon prophets. (Examples here, here and here) I noticed another interesting example in 2 Nephi 30. In verses 9 and 11-15, Nephi is quoting Isaiah 11:4-9. Verse 10 is interrupting the Isaiah quote with some sort of commentary on verse 9 before moving on. Here are verses 9-11

9 And with righteousness shall the Lord God judge the poor, and reprove with equity for the meek of the earth. And he shall smite the earth with the rod of his mouth; and with the breath of his lips shall he slay the wicked.

10 For the time speedily cometh that the Lord God shall cause a great division among the people, and the wicked will he destroy; and he will spare his people, yea, even if it so be that he must destroy the wicked by fire.

11 And righteousness shall be the girdle of his loins, and faithfulness the girdle of his reins.

Verses 9 and 11 are a word for word quote of Isaiah 11:4-5. Verse 10 is sandwiched in there to comment on "slay the wicked" before he moves on with the quote. It is not the first time Nephi does something like this.

Now compare verse 10 with 1 Nephi 22:15-18

15 For behold, saith the prophet, the time cometh speedily that Satan shall have no more power over the hearts of the children of men; for the day soon cometh that all the proud and they who do wickedly shall be as stubble; and the day cometh that they must be burned.

16 For the time soon cometh that the fulness of the wrath of God shall be poured out upon all the children of men; for he will not suffer that the wicked shall destroy the righteous.

17 Wherefore, he will preserve the righteous by his power, even if it so be that the fulness of his wrath must come, and the righteous be preserved, even unto the destruction of their enemies by fire. Wherefore, the righteous need not fear; for thus saith the prophet, they shall be saved, even if it so be as by fire.

I have argued before that the unnamed "prophet" in the second half of 1 Nephi 22 is Zenos. In that case, Nephi is quoting or paraphrasing Zenos in 2 Nephi 30:10. The reason I find this interesting is the tremendous knowledge of the scriptures that Nephi demonstrates. He quotes Isaiah, feels for some reason that one of the verses needs more elaboration, is aware of the fact that a passage by Zenos helps clarify what Isaiah is writing, and paraphrases that before moving on with the Isaiah quote.

This is in fact very similar to what Nephi does in 1 Nephi 19:11 - 1 Nephi 22:28. Here he first quotes Zenos (19:11-19:17), then eventually he starts quoting Isaiah in chapters 20-21. In 22:1-14, Nephi comments on and keeps paraphrasing Isaiah. Then in 22:15-28, he seems to quote and paraphrase Zenos along with his own comments. This all comprises a coherent unit of text. To Nephi, Isaiah and Zenos seem to go hand in hand.

What little we have of Zenos' writings turns out to have had an influence on several Book of Mormon prophets's writings. Assuming that Zenos wrote a lot more than the few quotes we have in the Book of Mormon, I wonder how much else is influenced by him.

A possible meaning of the name, Zenos

I have hade some interest in the prophet, Zenos, from the brass plates lately. Trying to figure out what his name means, I looked at this web page containing known or assumed Hebrew meaning for Book of Mormon names. Unfortunately, the entry on Zenos, has not been completed there. Although I'm far from an expert, I had this idea that Zenos contains the same prefix as e.g. Zeezrom and Zenephi. On the Book of Mormon onomasticon page, it says that the prefix 'Ze' used in these names means "he of" or "the one of", which in turn can imply "son/descendent of". Consequently, Zenephi can mean descendent of Nephi and Zeezrom can mean "he of silver" creating the pun addressed by Lord Wilmore in this post.

If Zenos is based on the same prefix, it could actually be a contracted form of Ze'enos. Enos or 'Enosh' as they would pronounce it in Hebrew, is another Book of Mormon name and means 'man' or 'mankind', synonymous with 'Adam'. As a side note, Enos opens his account by saying "I, Enos, knowing my father that he was a just man" (Enos 1:1), which is another of many examples of word-plays in the Book of Mormon when someone is introduced.

So Zenos could then mean "he of mankind". It might even imply "son of man", although this expression in the Bible uses the literal word for 'son', which is 'ben' in Hebrew. In any case, it could work as some sort of allusion to the "son of man", the Savior of the world who Zenos testified of (see e.g. 1 Nephi 19:12-15). In the Book of Moses in tPofGP "the son of man" is used several times as a name of the Savior, so it's not a New Testament invention.

Anyway, I need to re-emphazise that I am no expert and may be way off. If any Hebrew expert reads this, I would very much appreciate comments.

"Nations, kindreds, tongues and people" - links to the Book of Revelation, Zenos and the brass plates

The expression, "nation, kindred, tongue and people" appears 19 times in the Book of Mormon. A closer look reveals some interesting connections. 3 of these are the testimony of the 3 and 8 witnesses and the testimony of Joseph Smith. Since these are influenced by the Book of Mormon text rather than a part of the original text, we ignore these for now. I will not quote the rest of the scriptures containing this expression, but they are found in 1 Nephi 5:18, 11:36, 14:11, 14:15, 19:17, 22:28, 2 Nephi 26:13, 30:8, Mosiah 3:20, 15:28, 16:1, 27:25, Alma 9:20, 37:4, 45:16 and 3 Nephi 28:29.

Some observations:

• In the Bible, this expression appears nowhere except for twice in Revelations (one of those times in a different order). There seems to be some kind of connection, since it is used 3 times in Nephi's vision in 1 Nephi 11-14, and Nephi states in 14:25, 27 that John the Revelator will write the rest of the vision
• The first time this expression is used is when Lehi gets the brass plates in 1 Nephi 5:18. The expression is related to the future of the brass plates as demonstrated in this post
• The expression is used in 1 Nephi 19:17 when Nephi is quoting Zenos as well as in 1 Nephi 22:28 where he also might be quoting Zenos (in this post, I argue that Nephi was quoting Zenos in the latter half of the chapter, even though he is only referred to as "the prophet"). Zenos seems to be an important prophet on the brass plates, which emphasizes the previous point. It seems that Zenos may be the originator of this expression and the Book of Mormon prophets adapt it.
• When Abinadi uses this expression twice, he makes a clear allusion to Zenos. Compare 1st Nephi 19:16-17

Yea, then will he remember the isles of the sea; yea, and all the people who are of the house of Israel, will I gather in, saith the Lord, according to the words of the prophet Zenos, from the four quarters of the earth.

Yea, and all the earth shall see the salvation of the Lord, saith the prophet; every nation, kindred, tongue and people shall be blessed.

with Mosiah 15:28

And now I say unto you that the time shall come that the salvation of the Lord shall be declared to every nation, kindred, tongue, and people.

and Mosiah 16:1

The time shall come when all shall see the salvation of the Lord; when every nation, kindred, tongue, and people shall see eye to eye 

Zenos influencing Nephi's psalm?

I found a connection between Alma 33 and 2 Nephi 4 that seems more than coincidental. The second half of 2 Nephi 4 has become known as Nephi's psalm. It is very poetic and as such seems to draw on Old Testament/Hebrew poetry and content, which makes sense as Nephi spent his childhood in Jerusalem. One of the sources of influence seems to be Zenos. Zenos seems to be an important prophet on the brass plates, even though we only have parts of his writings through various quotes in the Book of Mormon. One quote we know is from Zenos, is found in Alma 33. Compare this with 2 Nephi 4:29-31

29 Do not anger again because of mine enemies. Do not slacken my strength because of mine afflictions.

30 Rejoice, O my heart, and cry unto the Lord, and say: O Lord, I will praise thee forever; yea, my soul will rejoice in thee, my God, and the rock of my salvation.

31 O Lord, wilt thou redeem my soul? Wilt thou deliver me out of the hands of mine enemies?

with Alma 33:10-11

10 Yea, and thou hast also heard me when I have been cast out and have been despised by mine enemies; yea, thou didst hear my cries, and wast angry with mine enemies, and thou didst visit them in thine anger with speedy destruction.

11 And thou didst hear me because of mine afflictions and my sincerity; and it is because of thy Son that thou hast been thus merciful unto me, therefore I will cry unto thee in all mine afflictions, for in thee is my joy; for thou hast turned thy judgments away from me, because of thy Son.

Nephi is not directly quoting the Zenos passage in Alma 33. But we have seen other examples of Zenos having an influence on Nephi's writings without being explicitly mentioned. This seems to be the case here as well.

Zenos as a common source for Malachi and Nephi?

This is copied from a long post I wrote on Reddit a while back. I thought it would fit here. Besides, this gives good background for other notes about Zenos that I will be posting this week.

There are a few passages in 1st and 2nd Nephi that seem to quote or paraphrase Malachi. Since Malachi lived after Nephi, this is a problem that critics like to point out. However, 3rd Nephi makes it clear that the Book of Mormon authors did not have the words of Malachi until Christ appeared. In 3rd Nephi 23:6, the Savior tells the Nephites that he will give them scriptures that they don’t have. In 3rd Nephi 24:1, he commands them to write the words of Malachi, “which he should tell unto them”.

If Joseph Smith were the author of the Book of Mormon, it is evident that he knew the Nephites could not have the words of Malachi because he lived after Lehi left Jerusalem.

Another relevant fact is that most scholars agree that 3rd Nephi was dictated before 1st and 2nd Nephi. That is, the Book of Mormon displays the knowledge of the Nephites not having access to Malachi’s words before those quotes in 1st and 2nd Nephi. Even to a non-believer, that should be a bit puzzling. Did Joseph Smith know that Malachi was written after 600 B.C. and then just forget a few weeks later? I think that seems very strange. But Malachi is never mentioned by name in 1st or 2nd Nephi. Did he quote or paraphrase him without mentioning him and hope nobody would notice? I also think that seems very strange. 

What about believers? For them, there are two common explanations. The first is that Nephi is not quoting or paraphrasing Malachi at all, they both just tend to use some of the same words and expressions. I am not quite sure what I think of that. Personally, I believe that the English translation of the Book of Mormon is given directly by God, but in a way that resembles familiar scriptural (i.e. KJV Bible) terms and phrases. So perhaps Jeff Lindsay is right. But I still feel that the texts are sufficiently similar to display some relationship.

The other explanation is that the Book of Mormon translation was Joseph Smith only getting ideas revealed to him that he needed to phrase in his own language, and he happened to be familiar with those passages in Malachi. I’m not going into details about that now, but I am not a big fan of this theory due to research on the Book of Mormon language, which does not seem to come from Joseph Smith at all.

I don’t think any of these explanations are completely satisfactory. That’s life sometimes. We want reasonable answers but we don’t get them.

However, a closer study of the passages in 1st and 2nd Nephi that resemble Malachi, has led me to an interesting observation: Every passage seems to be linked to the prophet, Zenos!

Let’s first look at Malachi. Chapter 4, verses 1 and 2:

For behold, the day cometh that shall burn as an oven; and all the proud, yea, and all that do wickedly, shall be stubble; and the day that cometh shall burn them up. But unto you that fear my name, shall the Sun of Righteousness arise with healing in his wings; and ye shall go forth and grow up as calves in the stall.

Colored phrases are the ones which have an exact or close match in certain 1st and 2nd Nephi passages. These are 1st Nephi 22:15, 1st Nephi 22:23-24, 2nd Nephi 25:10 and 2nd Nephi 26:4,6,9.

1st Nephi 22:15 reads like this:

…for the day soon cometh that all the proud and they who do wickedly shall be as stubble; and the day cometh that they must be burned.

1st Nephi 22, last part of verse 23 and first part of verse 24, read like this:

they are those who must be consumed as stubble; and this is according to the words of the prophet. And the time cometh speedily that the righteous must be led up as calves of the stall.

We observe many similarities with Malachi 4:1-2. But to put this in context, let us back up three chapters. In 1st Nephi 19:10-17, Nephi is quoting Zenos, but he often refers to him as “the prophet”. Then he goes on to quote Isaiah in chapters 20 and 21. In chapter 22, he comments on what he just quoted from Isaiah. He also keeps paraphrasing Isaiah as he comments in verses 1-14. Then from verse 15, he quotes “the prophet” several times. These quotes are not found in Isaiah. But since verse 15 and some of verses 23-24 resemble Malachi 4:1-2, many people think that this unnamed prophet is Malachi.

There are several problems with this interpretation, however. As explained before, the Book of Mormon text makes it clear that the Nephites didn’t have the words of Malachi. Also, when Nephi continues to quote “the prophet” from verse 15, there are quotes which are neither from Isaiah nor Malachi. For instance, in verse 17: “thus saith the prophet, they shall be saved, even if it so be as by fire.” This wording is not found anywhere in the Old Testament.

But what about Zenos? Since we don’t have his writings (other than what Book of Mormon prophets quote) we would not recognize if he was quoted. Also, we know he was quoted 3 chapters earlier before Nephi started quoting Isaiah and he was referred to several times as “the prophet”. It makes sense that when Nephi starts quoting “the prophet” again and we know it is not Isaiah, he is really going back to Zenos. It seems that Zenos was highly regarded on the brass plates. Except for Isaiah, he is the prophet quoted the most in the Book of Mormon. Notice in 3rd Nephi 10:16 how Zenos is “the prophet” and Zenock is… just Zenock.

It gets even more interesting when we consider the other “Malachi” quotes in the Book of Mormon. In 2nd Nephi 25:13, we read:

Behold, they will crucify him; and after he is laid in a sepulchre for the space of three days he shall rise from the dead, with healing in his wings;…

“with healing is his wings” is again a unique phrase in Malachi 4:2. But what is also unique is the notion of Christ in a sepulchre (the other colored phrase), which is not mentioned anywhere in the Old Testament and only one other place in the Book of Mormon: In 1st Nephi 19:10 where Nephi is quoting Zenos!

be buried in a sepulchre, according to the words of Zenos, which he spake concerning the three days of darkness, which should be a sign given of his death

Again, there seems to be a relation between Zenos and an apparent Malachi quote.

Finally, the last passage with wording that resembles Malachi 4:1-2 is found in 2nd Nephi 26, verse 4, the end of verse 6 and beginning of verse 9:

Wherefore, all those who are proud, and that do wickedly, the day that cometh shall burn them up, saith the Lord of Hosts, for they shall be as stubble… they shall be as stubble, and the day that cometh shall consume them, saith the Lord of Hosts. But the Son of Righteousness shall appear unto them; and he shall heal them

Interestingly, this passage can be tied to Zenos too. The part between verse 4 and the end of verse 6 as quoted above, reads:

And they that kill the prophets, and the saints, the depths of the earth shall swallow them up, saith the Lord of Hosts; and mountains shall cover them, and whirlwinds shall carry them away, and buildings shall fall upon them and crush them to pieces and grind them to powder. And they shall be visited with thunderings, and lightnings, and earthquakes, and all manner of destructions, for the fire of the anger of the Lord shall be kindled against them, and they shall be as stubble…

Notice the similarities between this and the Zenos quote in 1st Nephi 19:11

For thus spake the prophet: The Lord God surely shall visit all the house of Israel at that day, some with his voice, because of their righteousness, unto their great joy and salvation, and others with the thunderings and the lightnings of his power, by tempest, by fire, and by smoke, and vapor of darkness, and by the opening of the earth, and by mountains which shall be carried up.

And all these things must surely come, saith the prophet Zenos…

It may seem that Nephi is paraphrasing Zenos in 2nd Nephi 26:5-6 where he also seems to be paraphrasing Malachi. For further evidence that this is "Zenos-language", see this previous post.

So what is going on here? Why can all the passages from 1st and 2nd Nephi, which use Malachi 4:1-2 language, be connected to Zenos? To me the answer is getting more and more obvious: Nephi is really quoting and paraphrasing Zenos and so is Malachi. If Malachi 4:1-2 borrows from Zenos, this all makes sense.

1. This is something we know prophets did, even Old Testament prophets borrowing from each other. (See e.g. Isaiah 2:2-3 and Micah 4:1-2)
2. The impossibility of the brass plates 600 B.C. quoting Malachi 400 B.C. is no longer an issue
3. It explains why all “Malachi-like” quotes in the Book of Mormon can be tied to Zenos
4. Zenos seems to have been an important prophet on the brass plates and it would make sense that he is “the prophet”, rather than Malachi, especially since we know he is referred to as such several times in the Book of Mormon