Hebraisms in the Book of Mormon

Parent page: Book of Mormon Language

Semitic use of the plural for a noun of quality

Hugh Nibley commented:

Things looked dark when Nephi broke his fine steel bow, for the wooden bows of his brothers had "lost their springs" (1 Nephi 16:21; note the peculiarly Semitic use of the plural for a noun of quality^[1]

Merismus

In the Book of Mormon the Lord clearly outlines his gospel, particularly in 2 Nephi 31:, 3 Nephi 11:, and 3 Nephi 27:, using a pattern with six major points of doctrine: faith in Jesus Christ, repentance, baptism of water, baptism of fire and of the Holy Ghost, endurance to the end, and eternal life. This same doctrinal pattern appears in the teachings of all the Book of Mormon prophets in the form of injunctions to the people. Throughout the Book of Mormon, the many statements regarding the gospel contain instructive variations on terminology and are often elliptical, leaving out one or more of the six points in any one articulation. However, for an audience familiar with the basic pattern, the allusion to that pattern is perfectly clear.

The elliptical references often take the form of merismus, a classical rhetorical device in which the division of an important topic or statement into component parts allows for its full invocation by explicit listing of selected parts only. In the Hebrew Bible merismus occurs as concise or condensed expressions that, by mentioning the first and last or more prominent elements of a series, invoke the entire list.28 In other words, once a pattern is established in the form of A, B, C, D, E, F (such as the list of elements of the gospel), the mere mention of two or more of these items, such as A and F, is used to represent the entire series. Understood as a formula composed of a list of ordered items, the gospel lends itself well to this rhetorical device. For example, a typical Book of Mormon merism states that believing in Jesus and enduring to the end is life eternal (see 2 Nephi 33:4). While repentance, baptism, and the gift of the Holy Ghost are not explicitly mentioned, they are implied by the use of merismus. Thus, using the pattern described above, the scripture uses the items A, E, and F to evoke the entire list in the minds of readers.

A conservative count of gospel-related merisms in the Book of Mormon gives at least 130 meristic statements of the gospel or doctrine of Christ.29 The use of this ancient rhetorical device in the Book of Mormon, combined with the use of other ancient literary devices, most famously chiasmus, is strong evidence that the Book of Mormon was not the product of nineteenth-century America. Though not the way American writers would ordinarily have invoked formulas or lists, it is an appropriate rhetorical device for a book with ancient biblical connections.^[2]

Simile curses

Simile curses are well-attested literary forms in the Old Testament and ancient Near East.2 They also appear in the Book of Mormon.3 A simile curse combines the elements of a simile (a comparison of two things or a resemblance, customarily marked with like or as) with a curse (a statement that misfortune, injury, or death will befall the recipient of the curse). They are found in prophecies, treaties between suzerains and vassals, and in texts pertaining to religious covenants.

A treaty between Ashurnirari V, king of Assyria, and his vassal Mati'ilu contains an example of an ancient Near Eastern simile curse, wherein Mati'ilu is cautioned against breaking the treaty:

If Mati'ilu sins against [this] treaty made under oath by the gods, then, just as this spring lamb, brought from its fold, will not return to its fold, will not behold its fold again, alas, Mati'ilu, together with his sons, daughters, officials, and the people of his land [will be ousted] from his country, will not return to his country, and not behold his country again. This head is not the head of a lamb, it is the head of Mati'ilu, it is the head of his sons, his officials, and the people of his land. If Mati'ilu sins against this treaty, so may, just as the head of this spring lamb is torn off, . . . the head of Mati'ilu be torn off.

An example of an Old Testament simile curse appears in 1 Kings 14, which registers Jeroboam's evil deeds and idolatries in verses 7–8 and then records the curse in verse 10: "Therefore, behold, I [the Lord] will bring evil upon the house of Jeroboam . . . and will take away the remnant of the house of Jeroboam, as a man taketh away dung, till it be all gone." Note the simile marker as, which connects the two points of comparison (house of Jeroboam and dung) to graphically portray the manner whereby the remnant of Jeroboam's family will be exiled. In another example, in 2 Kings 21:12–13, the Lord curses Judah's king Manasseh, members of the tribe of Judah, and Jerusalem for their considerable iniquities. The curse compares the destruction of Jerusalem and Judah to the cleaning of a dirty dish: "Thus saith the Lord God of Israel, Behold, I am bringing such evil upon Jerusalem and Judah, that whosoever heareth of it, both his ears shall tingle. . . . I will wipe Jerusalem as a man wipeth a dish, wiping it, and turning it upside down."

Given the ancient Near Eastern background of the Book of Mormon, the presence of simile curses therein is not surprising to those who embrace it as an authentic ancient record translated through divine inspiration. For those who believe otherwise, the presence of simile curses in that record is hard to explain, since not many examples of simile curses appear in the Old Testament and it is doubtful that Joseph Smith was aware of their form or setting in scripture.

In the Book of Mormon, the Lord, speaking through his prophet Abinadi, curses king Noah because of his great wickedness. Following the Lord's command, Abinadi stretches forth his hand, introduces his words with the phrase "Thus saith the Lord," and pronounces three curses upon Noah's head, each in the form of a simile. In the first, Abinadi says, "And it shall come to pass that the life of king Noah shall be valued even as a garment in a hot furnace; for he shall know that I am the Lord" (Mosiah 12:3; see v. 10). In the second, Abinadi promises that Noah shall be "as a stalk, even as a dry stalk of the field, which is run over by the beasts and trodden under foot" (v. 11); and in the third, the prophet promises the king, "Thou shalt be as the blossoms of a thistle, which, when it is fully ripe, if the wind bloweth, it is driven forth upon the face of the land" (v. 12). King Noah, the point of comparison in each similes, is likened to a garment, a dry stalk, and the blossoms of a thistle. Noah's subsequent death by fire is recorded in Mosiah 19:20.

The narrative of commander Moroni's raising the title of liberty contains three simile curses. The first is recorded in Alma 46:21: "And it came to pass that when Moroni had proclaimed these words, behold, the people came running together with their armor girded about their loins, rending their garments in token, or as a covenant, that they would not forsake the Lord their God; or, in other words, if they should transgress the commandments of God, or fall into transgression, and be ashamed to take upon them the name of Christ, the Lord should rend them even as they had rent their garments." In the very next verse the people throw their garments at Moroni's feet and declare: "We covenant with our God, that we shall be destroyed, even as our brethren in the land northward, if we shall fall into transgression; yea, he may cast us at the feet of our enemies, even as we have cast our garments at thy feet to be trodden under foot, if we shall fall into transgression" (v. 22).

The simile curses in the Book of Mormon have the same form as those of the Bible and ancient Near East, and they appear in similar religious contexts, thus providing additional indications that this volume of scripture was framed in antiquity.^[3]

Peculiarities regarding names

Of all the names of persons mentioned in the Old Testament, none are surnames. Biblical characters, whether notable or not, were known by one name only. And those names, as translated into the English language, neither use the letters q, x, or w nor begin with F.5

The Book of Mormon shares those same peculiarities: not one surname is mentioned among its 337 proper names, which, as transcribed into English, do not use the letters q, x, or w and do not begin with F. Had Joseph Smith authored the Book of Mormon in an attempt to pass it off as an ancient record, he might easily have slipped up by giving at least a few of his characters surnames, as was the custom for centuries before the coming forth of the Book of Mormon. And even if he were careful to model his expression after the Bible and thereby avoid obvious pitfalls, chances are slim that he would have noticed that in the Bible the letters q, x, and w are not used in proper names.^[4]

The Prophetic Perfect

The "prophetic perfect" is the use of the past tense or past participle verb forms (present and past perfect tenses) when referring to future events in prophecy. On occasion, Old Testament prophets prophesied using these forms "to express facts which are undoubtedly imminent, and therefore, in the imagination of the speaker, already accomplished."13 Isaiah used the prophetic perfect in Isaiah 53 to prophesy of Jesus Christ's atoning sacrifice more than seven hundred years before Jesus' mortal ministry. Note the use of the past and perfect tenses (both in italics) in the following phrases, each of which expresses a future event:

he has borne our griefs and carried our sorrows (v. 4)

he was wounded for our transgressions (v. 5)

he was bruised for our iniquities (v. 5)

the chastisement of our peace was upon him (v. 5)

the Lord hath laid on him the iniquity of us all (v. 6)

he was oppressed, and he was afflicted (v. 7)

he was cut off out of the land of the living (v. 8)

for the transgression of my people was he stricken (v. 8)

Book of Mormon prophets also used the prophetic perfect in their prophecies. Lehi declared, "I have obtained a land of promise" (1 Nephi 5:5) long before he actually arrived in the promised land; and Nephi spoke of Jesus' baptism and reception of the Holy Ghost as though those events had already happened: "Wherefore, after he was baptized with water the Holy Ghost descended upon him in the form of a dove" (2 Nephi 31:8).

After quoting Isaiah 53:, Abinadi taught a concept that seems to indicate he was aware of the prophetic perfect: "And now if Christ had not come into the world, speaking of things to come as though they had already come, there could have been no redemption" (Mosiah 16:6). Similarly, Jarom recorded, "Wherefore, the prophets, and the priests, and the teachers, did labor diligently, exhorting with all long-suffering the people to diligence; teaching the law of Moses, and the intent for which it was given; persuading them to look forward unto the Messiah, and believe in him to come as though he already was" (Jarom 1:11). Further, King Benjamin stated, "And the Lord God hath sent his holy prophets among all the children of men . . . that thereby whosoever should believe that Christ should come, the same might receive remission of their sins, and rejoice with exceedingly great joy, even as though he had already come among them" (Mosiah 3:13; compare Mormon 8:35).

The Book of Mormon, with its prophetic perfect forms, reads like an ancient scriptural work rather than a nineteenth-century text.^[5]

Climax: A Unique Poetic Form

In 1898 the biblical scholar E. W. Bullinger identified a poetic form in the Bible that he called "climax" (Greek for "ladder").14 He described this unique form in the Bible as "a beautiful figure, very expressive; and at once attracts our attention to the importance of a passage."15 Climax occurs when the same word or words found at the end of one clause are repeated at or near the beginning of the next clause. Bullinger also refers to this form as "gradation," because the structure of a passage presents an ascension of thought, going up by steps from one level to the next.

Bullinger provides the following biblical example of climax, found in Joel 1:3–4. To make the form easily recognizable, the verse has been structured with the repeated words aligned on the left:

Tell ye

your children of it, and let

your children tell

their children, and

their children another generation. That which the palmerworm hath left hath the

locust eaten; and that which the

locust hath left hath the

cankerworm eaten; and that which the

cankerworm hath left hath the

caterpiller eaten.

Note the four sets of repeated words: your children, their children, locust, and cankerworm. This duplication creates a continuation of thought from one segment to the next. In a dramatic way, four generations of one family are spoken of (ye, your children, their children, and another generation). This structure indicates an ascension of thought from the first generation to the last. The four generations parallel another gradation of thought—the four "generations" of the caterpillar family: the palmerworm, locust, cankerworm, and caterpillar.

The following climax, from Moroni 8:25–26, demonstrates the existence of this poetic form in the Book of Mormon:16

And the first fruits of repentance is

baptism; and

baptism cometh by faith unto

the fulfilling the commandments; and

the fulfilling the commandments bringeth

remission of sins; And the

remission of sins bringeth

meekness, and lowliness of heart; and because of

meekness and lowliness of heart cometh the visitation of the

Holy Ghost, which

Comforter filleth with hope and perfect

love, which

love endureth by diligence unto prayer,

until the end shall come, when all the saints shall dwell with God.

There are six repeated words or phrases in this climax—baptism, the fulfilling the commandments, remission of sins, meekness and lowliness of heart, Holy Ghost (paralleling Comforter), and love. The beginning point of the climax (or ascension of expression) is repentance, an essential step onto the path of eternal life. Repentance is followed by baptism, obedience, and so on, finally culminating in salvation as the righteous receive an eternal station with God.

A climactic passage in Mormon 9:12–13 begins with the fall of Adam but concludes with humankind's being "brought back into the presence of the Lord" because of Jesus Christ.

Behold, he created

Adam, and by

Adam came

the fall of man. And because of

the fall of man came

Jesus Christ, even the Father and the Son; and because of

Jesus Christ came the

redemption of man. And because of the

redemption of man, which came by

Jesus Christ, they are brought back into the presence of the Lord.

The key words and concepts repeated in this passage—Adam, fall of man, Jesus Christ, and redemption of man—create a series of parallel statements. Through the alternating parallelism coupled with these climactic lines, Adam is seen as a character complementary to Jesus Christ, and the concept of the fall of man stands opposite to the redemption of man. Through Adam (the "first man Adam," the Apostle Paul says) came the fall of man, but through Jesus Christ (the "last Adam") came the redemption of man (see 1 Corinthians 15:45). A similar passage is found in 1 Corinthians 15:22, where the words Adam and Jesus and die and alive are found in the couplet—"For as in Adam all die, even so in Christ shall all be made alive." Because of Jesus Christ's infinite atonement, repentant souls "are brought back into the presence of the Lord."

The fact that climactic forms appear in the Book of Mormon is good evidence that this volume of scripture belongs to the ancient world of its companion volume, the Bible. Bullinger discovered climax in the Bible more than six decades after the coming forth of the Book of Mormon. For that reason, and because of the scarcity of climax in the Old Testament, it is highly improbable that Joseph Smith was aware of this poetic device. Rather than attribute the approximately twenty examples17 of climax in the Book of Mormon to happenstance or to Joseph Smith's uncommon literary knowledge and skill, it is more reasonable to accept that the Book of Mormon authors who used climax belonged to an ancient Near Eastern literary tradition corresponding to that of the Old Testament.^[6]

Prophetic Speech Formulas

In Prophecy in Early Christianity and the Ancient Mediterranean World, biblical scholar David E. Aune sets forth the various formulaic expressions that characterize prophetic speech in the Old Testament.18 Often employed at the beginning of a prophetic speech, prophecy, or reve-lation, these expressions serve to formally introduce vital, sacred utterances and to announce that the Lord is the source behind them. The Book of Mormon prophets used the same formulas in their prophetic discourse. The formulas are as follows:

• The messenger formula—"Thus saith the Lord . . ." (e.g., Amos 1:3,6:{{{4}}}). The purpose of the expression, found thirty-nine times in the Book of Mormon (e.g., 1 Nephi 20:17; Mosiah 3:24; Alma 8:17), is to indicate the origin of the revelation. The revelation is directed to the messenger (i.e., a prophet) from the Lord himself.

• The proclamation formula—"Hear the word of the Lord . . ." (e.g., 1 Kings 22:19; Amos 7:16; Isaiah 49:1). The declaration is an emphatic summons to hear God's word. Book of Mormon instances of this formula include "hearken to the word of the Lord" (Jacob 2:27), "hear the words of Jesus" (3 Nephi 30:1), and "hearken unto the words which the Lord saith" (Helaman 13:21).

• The oath formula—"The Lord God hath sworn . . ." (e.g., Amos 4:2; 8:7) or "as the Lord liveth" (e.g., Judges 8:19; Ruth 3:13). This formula presents an oath. The phrase As the Lord liveth is found in 1 Nephi 3:15 and 4:32 and elsewhere in the Book of Mormon.

• The revelation formula—"The word of the Lord came to . . ." (e.g., 1 Samuel 15:10; Zechariah 7:1). This expression indicates the origin of the message and the authority of the speaker. Of the Lamanite prophet Samuel, the Book of Mormon states, "Behold, the voice of the Lord came unto him" (Helaman 13:3; see also vv. 13:5,7; Jacob 2:11; Alma 43:24).

• The woe oracle—"Woe unto . . ." (e.g., Isaiah 5:8,11,20; Habakkuk 2:9,12,15). Approximately forty examples of this formula are found in the Book of Mormon (e.g., 1 Nephi 1:13; 2 Nephi 9:27; 15:21). Often part of a judgment speech, it is used to pronounce anguish and distress upon a person or group of people.

It is not by chance that the Book of Mormon contains these formulas, and a writer who wished to imitate the Bible would likely have overlooked them, employed them in improper contexts, or failed to integrate them into the text in a natural manner.^[7]

Video: Hebraisms in the Book of Mormon

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Notes