Internal consistency alert, from 2 Nephi 26:

7 O the pain, and the anguish of my soul for the loss of the slain of my people! For I, Nephi, have seen it...

He saw it in 1 Nephi 12.

Compare 2 Nephi 26:10

10 And when these things have passed away a speedy destruction cometh unto my people; for, notwithstanding the pains of my soul, I have seen it; wherefore, I know that it shall come to pass; and they sell themselves for naught; for, for the reward of their pride and their foolishness they shall reap destruction; for because they yield unto the devil and choose works of darkness rather than light, therefore they must go down to hell.

...with 1 Nephi 12:16-19

16 And the angel spake unto me, saying: Behold the fountain of filthy water which thy father saw; yea, even the river of which he spake; and the depths thereof are the depths of hell.
17 And the mists of darkness are the temptations of the devil, which blindeth the eyes, and hardeneth the hearts of the children of men, and leadeth them away into broad roads, that they perish and are lost.
18 And the large and spacious building, which thy father saw, is vain imaginations and the pride of the children of men. And a great and a terrible gulf divideth them; yea, even the word of the justice of the Eternal God, and the Messiah who is the Lamb of God, of whom the Holy Ghost beareth record, from the beginning of the world until this time, and from this time henceforth and forever.
19 And while the angel spake these words, I beheld and saw that the seed of my brethren did contend against my seed, according to the word of the angel; and because of the pride of my seed, and the temptations of the devil, I beheld that the seed of my brethren did overpower the people of my seed.

Internal consistency between 2 Nephi 26, 3 Nephi 8, and 1 Nephi 12

Internal consistency alert, from 2 Nephi 26:

5 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.
6 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, and the day that cometh shall consume them, saith the Lord of Hosts.

Compare to 3 Nephi 8:5-11

5 And it came to pass in the thirty and fourth year, in the first month, on the fourth day of the month, there arose a great storm, such an one as never had been known in all the land.
6 And there was also a great and terrible tempest; and there was terrible thunder, insomuch that it did shake the whole earth as if it was about to divide asunder.
7 And there were exceedingly sharp lightnings, such as never had been known in all the land.
8 And the city of Zarahemla did take fire.
9 And the city of Moroni did sink into the depths of the sea, and the inhabitants thereof were drowned.
10 And the earth was carried up upon the city of Moronihah, that in the place of the city there became a great mountain.
11 And there was a great and terrible destruction in the land southward.

Also compare 1 Nephi 12:4

4 And it came to pass that I saw a mist of darkness on the face of the land of promise; and I saw lightnings, and I heard thunderings, and earthquakes, and all manner of tumultuous noises; and I saw the earth and the rocks, that they rent; and I saw mountains tumbling into pieces; and I saw the plains of the earth, that they were broken up; and I saw many cities that they were sunk; and I saw many that they were burned with fire; and I saw many that did tumble to the earth, because of the quaking thereof.

Nephi summarizes 12 chapters of Isaiah

2 Nephi 25 immediately follows 12 chapters of Isaiah, which were originally presented in the Book of Mormon as three chapters (they were later reformatted when the book was put into chapter and verse format). The original chapters grouped things as follows: Isaiah 2-5; Isaiah 6-12; Isaiah 13-14

Nephi includes very succinct summaries of each of these passages in verses 9 and 11:

Isaiah 2-5 (from verse 9): "And as one generation hath been destroyed among the Jews because of iniquity, even so have they been destroyed from generation to generation according to their iniquities;"

Isaiah 6-12 (from verse 9): "...never hath any of them been destroyed save it were foretold them by the prophets of the Lord.

Isaiah 13-14 (from verse 11): "And notwithstanding they have been carried away they shall return again, and possess the land of Jerusalem; wherefore, they shall be restored again to the land of their inheritance."

Iniquity leads to destruction. Prophets warn the people. A remnant shall return. 

If you had to summarize Isaiah 2-12 in 12 words, this is how I would do it. Perhaps Nephi loved Isaiah so much because his message was so similar to what Nephi was experiencing. He was called as a prophet as the Lord created a remnant out of his father's seed, but he saw in vision that his seed would ultimately ripen in iniquity and reject the warnings of the prophets, leading to their utter destruction. And yet, in the latter days, a remnant will return.

Jesus Christ as "Firstfruits"

One of the benefits of re-reading the Book of Mormon is that you see the same verse in a new light based on life experiences and things you've learned since the last time you read a verse.

Such is the case with 2 Nephi 2:9 for me:

9 Wherefore, he is the firstfruits unto God, inasmuch as he shall make intercession for all the children of men; and they that believe in him shall be saved.

The idea of a sacred offering made by giving up the first grain of the harvest to God is symbolic of Christ--he came to earth to dwell in a "tabernacle of clay" (Mosiah 3:5) and "[make himself] an offering for sin" (Mosiah 15:10)

Grain grows from the ground, and in this case the first grain to spring forth from the ground is consecrated for a sacred offering.

Firstfruits were offered to God on 16 Nisan, two days and one sunset after Passover, at the Feast of Firstfruits.  For Christians, there is obvious symbolic reference to the Resurrection. As Paul notes in 1 Corinthians 15:20-23:

20 But now is Christ risen from the dead, and become the firstfruits of them that slept.
21 For since by man came death, by man came also the resurrection of the dead.
22 For as in Adam all die, even so in Christ shall all be made alive.
23 But every man in his own order: Christ the firstfruits; afterward they that are Christ’s at his coming.

Yet another note on dust

Since the topic of dust/ground/telestial earth has been up a lot lately, I came to think of a very interesting Reddit post I read a while back. Not only do angels shake the earth, they also seem to avoid touching it. When Christ in his glory is described as standing on something, it is on a mountain like in D&C 45:48

And then shall the Lord set his foot upon this mount

or in the temple like in D&C 110:2

We saw the Lord standing upon the breastwork of the pulpit, before us; and under his feet was a paved work of pure gold

Gold is frequently used in the Bible as symbol of something purified as opposed to the dirty ground or dust. For instance, the streets in the New Jerusalem are paved with gold (Rev. 21:21).

When we "arise from the dust" (2 Nephi 1:23), only our feet are touching this telestial earth. When that dust is washed off our feet (John 13, D&C 88:139-141), we are completely separated from the telestial, like the angels.

In light of all this, there is some new and interesting meaning for me to the phrase, "shake off the dust from your feet" (Matthew 10:14, Luke 9:5, D&C 60:15, etc).

What does an angel's voice shake?

In light of the beautiful symbolism of dust, fruit, and cleanliness/filthiness before God that is discussed in many places in the Book of Mormon (see this recent post from Stisa, for example), I had a thought this morning about how Alma describes the voice of the angel that called him to repentance.

11 And as I said unto you, as they were going about rebelling against God, behold, the angel of the Lord appeared unto them; and he descended as it were in a cloud; and he spake as it were with a voice of thunder, which caused the earth to shake upon which they stood;
12 And so great was their astonishment, that they fell to the earth, and understood not the words which he spake unto them.
13 Nevertheless he cried again, saying: Alma, arise and stand forth, for why persecutest thou the church of God? For the Lord hath said: This is my church, and I will establish it; and nothing shall overthrow it, save it is the transgression of my people. (Mosiah 27)

 Each of these details is also included in the account Alma gives to his son Helaman:

6 For I went about with the sons of Mosiah, seeking to destroy the church of God; but behold, God sent his holy angel to stop us by the way.
7 And behold, he spake unto us, as it were the voice of thunder, and the whole earth did tremble beneath our feet; and we all fell to the earth, for the fear of the Lord came upon us.
8 But behold, the voice said unto me: Arise. And I arose and stood up, and beheld the angel. (Alma 36)

We also hear this sentiment in Alma's "O that I were an angel" lament:

1 O that I were an angel, and could have the wish of mine heart, that I might go forth and speak with the trump of God, with a voice to shake the earth, and cry repentance unto every people!
2 Yea, I would declare unto every soul, as with the voice of thunder, repentance and the plan of redemption, that they should repent and come unto our God, that there might not be more sorrow upon all the face of the earth. (Alma 29)

In the context of Lehi's plea to his sons to "arise from the dust" in 2 Nephi 1, these verses take on new depth.

This is a plea to make and keep covenants and leave behind our carnal desires. This is what the Holy Spirit prompts each of us to do. Angels speak by the power of the Holy Ghost.

Alma's lament fits in very nicely with the writings of Nephi in 2 Nephi 32:

2 Do ye not remember that I said unto you that after ye had received the Holy Ghost ye could speak with the tongue of angels? And now, how could ye speak with the tongue of angels save it were by the Holy Ghost?
3 Angels speak by the power of the Holy Ghost; wherefore, they speak the words of Christ. Wherefore, I said unto you, feast upon the words of Christ; for behold, the words of Christ will tell you all things what ye should do.
4 Wherefore, now after I have spoken these words, if ye cannot understand them it will be because ye ask not, neither do ye knock; wherefore, ye are not brought into the light, but must perish in the dark.
5 For behold, again I say unto you that if ye will enter in by the way, and receive the Holy Ghost, it will show unto you all things what ye should do.

The beasts of the field and the natural man

I'm stuck in the Garden of Eden and related symbolism these days, it seems. We learned that the serpent in the Garden of Eden was more "arum" than any beast of the field. How about the other beasts of the field? They are "arum" (naked) too. For me, the beasts of the field are symbols of the carnal or the natural man. Dwelling in the fields, they are also confined to the ground.

Joseph Smith said:

If a man learns nothing more than to eat, drink and sleep, and does not comprehend any of the designs of God, the beast comprehends the same things

The beast follows its instincts. If man does the same, the natural man takes control and we become subject to the flesh or our carnal desires.

This leads me to the Exodus, another story in the Bible with layers of symbolism. Among Israelites, Egypt is considered the low point on earth, the antithesis of Jerusalem. As you always go up to Jerusalem, you always go down to Egypt. These opposites are also found in their respective ways of worship. The Egyptians worshiped their idols/Gods. Egyptian Gods are often in the form of a human with an animal head. Symbolically, they worshiped that animal side of man, the carnal. The Israelites on the other hand, were asked to sacrifice it! They were asked to put the beast of the field on the altar as a sign of forsaking their carnal desires or sins.

Leaving Egypt can thus be symbolic for forsaking sin. You leave the worshiping of the beast/carnal to offer up the beast/carnal instead. Also, in the scriptures, sin is often associated with captivity of the devil and the children of Israel were in bondage. The people of Israel were now free. What did they do with their freedom? By Mount Sinai we see the contrasts play out. Moses ascends from the field/ground/dust to the mountain top to converse with the Lord, the mountain often being used as symbol for the temple where covenants are made binding us to God. The people of Israel, however, were not ready to enter into the higher covenant. They stayed on the ground and started worshiping the golden calf, a beast of the field. In the Exodus this lead to physical death. In the spiritual sense, worshiping the carnal leads to spiritual death, whereas arising and ascending to the mountain and entering into covenants leads to spiritual life.

Again, this was a Bible note rather than a Book of Mormon note, but we see a lot of the same concepts in the Book of Mormon. For instance, the famous "the natural man is an enemy to God" and Nephi ascending on the mountain to gain understanding, whereas his brothers stay on the ground and remain in confusion and sin.

"Cunning" in the Book of Mormon

In light of the Hebrew connection between "naked" and "shrewd" or "cunning" in the word arum, I decided to look at how the word cunning is used in the Book of Mormon.

First, a little background on the word itself and what it meant at the time of the publication of the Book of Mormon.  Webster's 1828 dictionary is helpful, offering us two definitions -- "skillful" and curious/ingenious" which are "quite obsolete." We then get three more definitions which are apparently more contemporary: "Shrewd," "deceitful," and "assumed with subtilty."

The word cunning appears 23 times in the Book of Mormon, in the following contexts:

1 Nephi 16:38 -- Laman and Lemuel murmur against their father and accuse him of "work[ing]
many things by his cunning arts"

2 Nephi 9:28, 37 -- 28 O that cunning plan of the evil one! O the vainness, and the frailties, and the foolishness of men! When they are learned they think they are wise, and they hearken not unto the counsel of God, for they set it aside, supposing they know of themselves, wherefore, their wisdom is foolishness and it profiteth them not. And they shall perish. ... 39 O, my beloved brethren, remember the awfulness in transgressing against that Holy God, and also the awfulness of yielding to the enticings of that cunning one. Remember, to be carnally-minded is death, and to be spiritually-minded is life eternal.
2 Nephi 13 -- [quoting Isaiah] "the cunning artificer"

Mosiah 7:21 -- King Zeniff was "deceived by the cunning and craftiness of king Laman"

Mosiah 9:10 -- King Laman was "cunning" and crafty and brought the people of Zeniff into bondage.

Mosiah 10:18 -- King Laman deceived the Nephites "by his cunning, and lying craftiness."

Mosiah 24:7 (x2) -- The Lamanites began to be a "cunning and a wise people, as to the wisdom of the world, yea, a cunning people, delighting in all manner of wickedness."

Alma 2:1-2 (x2) -- Amlici was a "very cunning man, yea, a wise man as to the wisdom of the world." He drew people away "by his cunning."

Alma 10:13 -- "cunning devices" designed to catch someone in their words and have them cast into prison or slain as a result.

Alma 20:13 -- Lamoni senior chastises Lamoni junior for associating with the Nephite missionaries and accuses them of attempting to deceive them "by their cunning."

Alma 28:13 -- 13 And thus we see how great the inequality of man is because of sin and transgression, and the power of the devil, which comes by the cunning plans which he hath devised to ensnare the hearts of men.

Alma 44:9 -- Zarahemnah claims it is the Nephites' cunning and not their faith that delivered them.

Alma 46:10/47:35 -- Amalickiah "was a man of cunning device and a man of many flattering words," and obtained the Lamanite kingdom "by the assistance of his cunning servants."

Alma 51:27 -- The Lamanites obtained cities by the "cunning" of Amalickiah.

Helaman 3:29-30 -- 29 Yea, we see that whosoever will may lay hold upon the word of God, which is quick and powerful, which shall divide asunder all the cunning and the snares and the wiles of the devil, and lead the man of Christ in a strait and narrow course across that everlasting gulf of misery which is prepared to engulf the wicked—30 And land their souls, yea, their immortal souls, at the right hand of God in the kingdom of heaven, to sit down with Abraham, and Isaac, and with Jacob, and with all our holy fathers, to go no more out.

Helaman 16:21 -- the people suppose that believing in the prophecies of Christ will bring the into servitude "by the cunning and the mysterious arts of the evil one."

3 Nephi 21 -- 9 For in that day, for my sake shall the Father work a work, which shall be a great and a marvelous work among them; and there shall be among them those who will not believe it, although a man shall declare it unto them. 10 But behold, the life of my servant shall be in my hand; therefore they shall not hurt him, although he shall be marred because of them. Yet I will heal him, for I will show unto them that my wisdom is greater than the cunning of the devil.

Ether 8:2 -- Jared flattered many people "because of his cunning words" to gain half of the kingdom.

Ether 13:16 -- Coriantumr had studied "in all the arts of war and cunning of the world."

The usage of this word seems to fall into three categories, both negative: (1) crafty, deceptive individuals are described as "cunning" and use their skills for their own selfish purposes. (2) Righteous people/efforts are mischaracterized as attempt to decieve by cunning.
(3) Satan's tactics are described as "cunning" and meant to bind us and subject us to misery and endless woe.

The lost Jesus quote

The Book of Mormon quotes itself several times. One example is in Moroni 7:26

And as surely as Christ liveth he spake these words unto our fathers, saying: Whatsoever thing ye shall ask the Father in my name, which is good, in faith believing that ye shall receive, behold, it shall be done unto you.

This is a reference to 3 Nephi 18:20

And whatsoever ye shall ask the Father in my name, which is right, believing that ye shall receive, behold it shall be given unto you.

But a few verses later there is another reference to something Jesus taught. In Moroni 7:33

And Christ hath said: If ye will have faith in me ye shall have power to do whatsoever thing is expedient in me.

We don't find this quote anywhere in 3 Nephi. But interestingly, we find another reference to this same statement in Moroni 10:23

And Christ truly said unto our fathers: If ye have faith ye can do all things which are expedient unto me.

Probably, this statement by Jesus was written on the large plates of Nephi, but Mormon chose not to include it in his abridgment. After all, he could not even write "a hundredth part of the things which Jesus did truly teach unto this people" (3 Nephi 26:6).

 

Chronological detail in the Book of Mormon

It is interesting to note that the portions of the books of Mosiah and Alma detailing events that took place in Lamanite territory (Mosiah 9-24 and Alma 17-27) have far fewer chronological markers than the portions of these book which take place in Nephite lands. It seems as if the sources had a different level of attention to this detail, which is evident even in Mormon's abridgment.

I read this assertion about the chronological markers not being found in long stretches of the story that takes place in the land of Nephi and (as usual) I wanted to see it for myself. So I made a chart of the number of chronological markers in each chapter of Mosiah and Alma.

This was a really interesting exercise.  What I found was that in chapters where Mormon is abridging Nephite history (presumably working from detailed Nephite records), there are many chronological markers (up to 12 in Alma 63 alone). Whenever possible, it seems, Mormon likes to give these markers as bookends in his narrative, documenting the beginning and the end of the year in many instances. In other chapters, when we are reading the direct words of others, particularly in sermons and some epistles, we get no chronological markers at all.

I made a graph.

In some ways, this is completely obvious and expected--the "historical record" part of the text is replete with chronological indicators and the other parts are not.

What is interesting to me is how intricate and complicated the narrative is.  Let me give a few examples that stood out while I undertook this exercise:

1. Alma 47 (0 chronological markers) begins with the words: "Now we will return in our record to Amalickiah and those who had fled with him into the wilderness..." We then get a pretty detailed account of the inner workings of "the bad guys." What source is Mormon using here?
2. Whenever possible, Mormon gives us exact dates.  We get to know the exact date Moroni received the epistle from Helaman (30th year, 1st month, 2nd day).  This must have been recorded somewhere for Mormon to have knowledge of it hundreds of years later. Helaman's epistle goes on for three chapters (Alma 56-58), and contains several chronological markers, all of which refer to the 4 years prior to the 30th year.  So we get a small flashback contained in the bigger narrative. 
3. The same thing happens on a bigger scale when the sons of Mosiah meet Alma-2 in the 14th year and we then get 11 chapters detailing their missionary labors (kept by someone who apparently didn't include many dates.)
4. The result of skimming the 92 chapters of these two books in one sitting specifically for this purpose highlights how many different voices Joseph Smith would have had to keep track of, had he been authoring the book spontaneously, as some believe he did: King Benjamin, Mosiah-2, Zeniff, Abinadi, Alma-2, Amulek, Ammon, Lamoni, Lamoni's father, Helaman, Moroni-1, Pahoran, etc.  Not to mention Mormon's editorial comments laced throughout and in between.  It's a complicated arrangment.

Of course, this is not a very hard task for any author to accomplish, if they are given the time and the ability to take notes. Making the argument that Mormon had the time, education, and means to carry out this task is easy. Joseph Smith had neither time nor notes from which to work, and the work was completed in a single draft. It's remarkable.

Hat tip: Grant Hardy.