The Journal of Book of Mormon Studies, a publication of the Neal A. Mawell Institute at BYU, just published vol. 24. This annual publication will appear again in the spring of 2016. The editorial board consists of Brian Hauglid, Mark Wright and Joseph Spencer. Kerry Hull's article entitled "War Banners: A Mesoamerican Context for the Title of Liberty" I found particularly interesting.
It is great to see this important organ focused again on the Book of Mormon and re-vitalized.
Tuesday, September 15, 2015
Sunday, September 13, 2015
Elder Ballard on Scholarship
In the Utah South Area Stake Conference broadcast originating from the Marriott Center this morning, Elder M. Russell Ballard shared this wise counsel:
- Ask questions. Allow others to ask questions. Don't assume a person is faithless because they are wrestling with tough and persistent questions. It was a difficult question that led the Prophet Joseph to the grove.
- Priesthood leaders, help members in your stewardship find satisfying answers to their questions. Seek faithful scholars who can provide context for our scriptures and our history.
- The Church is committed to transparency. The Joseph Smith Papers project is one example. The Gospel Topics Essays on lds.org are another.
- "... be ready always to give an answer to every man that asketh you a reason of the hope that is in you..." 1 Peter 3:15.
- Since you have been blessed with learning and some measure of prosperity, do not mock or ridicule weak or poorly-educated members of the Church. Many of those living in less fortunate circumstances around the world are valiant, faithful latter-day Saints.
Tuesday, September 1, 2015
Greg Welch on Chiasmus
Greg Welch, son of John W. (Jack) and Jeannie Welch, has just posted an excellent YouTube video entitled "The Amazing True Story of How Chiasmus was Discovered in The Book of Mormon." I highly recommend this production which runs for 10 minutes and 9 seconds. Greg has included a number of engaging visuals that I have never seen before in any previous presentation.
The story of this modern-day miracle deserves to be widely known. Some details that resonate with me:
This is off-topic, but I can't resist telling another story. I shared this with Jack and the Book of Mormon Central employees at our aforementioned staff meeting. One of Pres. Monson's cherished stories is about the General Handbook of Instructions. At Spencer W. Kimball's suggestion, then Elder Monson memorized large portions of the newly-updated Handbook, traveled into East Germany, and proceeded to type up a copy from memory for the Saints behind the Iron Curtain to use. It was forbidden at the time for the Church to send literature directly into the German Democratic Republic. After he was about 30 pages into his arduous task, Elder Monson stood up to stretch. He noticed a copy of the recently-printed Handbook in German on the shelf in the room. Heidi S. Swinton in her biography of Thomas S. Monson entitled To the Rescue concludes her retelling of the story "How a Handbook came to be in East Germany, no one would say." I know exactly how the Handbook got into the then-Communist country. Orville Gunther told me all about it with an impish grin on his face. After he was released as Mission President, Orville (with Betha frequently accompanying him) made a number of trips into East Germany. A wealthy man with a passion for fine machinery, he went to the Mercedes Benz factory in Stuttgart and had them build him a custom vehicle with a false floor. He loaded the car with copies of the German Book of Mormon, lesson manuals, and other important works including the Handbook. When he came to the border, Gunther chatted up the guards and suggested they take his car for a spin. They drove crummy little Trabants if they had a car at all, so Gunther's invitation was irresistible.
After each guard had his turn behind the wheel of the Benz, they waved Orville on through without inspecting his vehicle. Gunther pulled this stunt several times with the same results, supplying a number of East German branches with precious Church literature.
The story of this modern-day miracle deserves to be widely known. Some details that resonate with me:
- Jack served in the South German Mission under Pres. Orville C. Gunther (1912 - 2007). Gunther was my Bishop in the American Fork 12th Ward when he received his call to be a Mission President. Six years after returning from Germany, Orville and Betha Gunther began serving as President and Matron of the Provo Temple. Gunther for many years was Chairman of the Bank of American Fork. His autobiography entitled Ideals and Sacred Things, self-published in 2000, occupies an honored place in my library. Jack was in the missionary choir that sang at Gunther's funeral. Pres. Thomas S. Monson, for whom Germany is a very special place, was the concluding speaker at the funeral.
- Jack's reviewer for his landmark 1969 BYU Studies article entitled "Chiasmus in the Book of Mormon" was Truman G. Madsen. Jack did not find this out until he had been General Editor of BYU Studies for many years.
- Jack's second LDS-oriented publication on chiasmus was in the February, 1972 New Era edited by Brian Kelly. Kelly was the one who first introduced me to the discovery. He was the instructor in the American Fork 12th Ward Elder's Quorum I attended before I moved to Provo to begin my freshman year at BYU. Kelly came into quorum meeting one Sunday waving a copy of BYU Studies and announcing, "You won't believe what's in the Book of Mormon."
- The copy of the German Das Buch Mormon that Jack was reading on the morning of August 16, 1967 had an image of Izapa Stela 5 on the dust jacket. Orville Gunther explained to me that the German saints love scientific and scholarly approaches to the Book of Mormon. The most avid followers of FARMS publications outside the US during the 1980's and '90's were in Germany. One day Jack was in the Minneapolis airport. A German brother approached him, "Are you brother Welch?" When Jack responded affirmatively, the man proceeded to tell him about the LDS group in Chemnitz (formerly Karl-Marx-Stadt) who had shared their copies of the precious FARMS Newsletter in a kind of lending library. Jack asked how FARMS materials got past the East German censors. "We believe they saw 'FARMS' on the masthead and assumed it was an agricultural publication." Story told by John W. Welch at the inaugural Book of Mormon Central staff meeting on Tuesday, September 1, 2015 in Springville, Utah.
This is off-topic, but I can't resist telling another story. I shared this with Jack and the Book of Mormon Central employees at our aforementioned staff meeting. One of Pres. Monson's cherished stories is about the General Handbook of Instructions. At Spencer W. Kimball's suggestion, then Elder Monson memorized large portions of the newly-updated Handbook, traveled into East Germany, and proceeded to type up a copy from memory for the Saints behind the Iron Curtain to use. It was forbidden at the time for the Church to send literature directly into the German Democratic Republic. After he was about 30 pages into his arduous task, Elder Monson stood up to stretch. He noticed a copy of the recently-printed Handbook in German on the shelf in the room. Heidi S. Swinton in her biography of Thomas S. Monson entitled To the Rescue concludes her retelling of the story "How a Handbook came to be in East Germany, no one would say." I know exactly how the Handbook got into the then-Communist country. Orville Gunther told me all about it with an impish grin on his face. After he was released as Mission President, Orville (with Betha frequently accompanying him) made a number of trips into East Germany. A wealthy man with a passion for fine machinery, he went to the Mercedes Benz factory in Stuttgart and had them build him a custom vehicle with a false floor. He loaded the car with copies of the German Book of Mormon, lesson manuals, and other important works including the Handbook. When he came to the border, Gunther chatted up the guards and suggested they take his car for a spin. They drove crummy little Trabants if they had a car at all, so Gunther's invitation was irresistible.
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| Postcard from Berlin showing East German Trabant (Trabi) Autos |
Thursday, August 20, 2015
Printer's Manuscript
Royal Skousen and Robin Scott Jensen gave a presentation on the printer's manuscript this evening in the Assembly Hall on Temple Square. They were the volume editors of the 11th volume published in the Joseph Smith Papers Project which will eventually run to at least 24 volumes. Skousen, Professor of Linguistics and English at BYU, has been the principal researcher on the Book of Mormon Critical Text since 1988. Jensen is a historian employed by the Church.
28% of the original text is extant. 25% is owned by the Church. 2% is owned by the Wilford Wood family in Bountiful. 1% is owned by various individuals, the University of Utah, and the Community of Christ. John Gilbert was the 1830 typesetter. Most of the printer's manuscript was penned by Oliver Cowdery. Cowdery made approximately 3 errors per page as he copied the original to the printer's manuscript. Gilbert made approximately 3 errors per page as he set type from the printer's manuscript. The original manuscript was finished in June, 1829. The printer's manuscript was begun in August, 1829 and completed in January, 1830. Helaman chapter 13 through Mormon chapter 9 (one sixth of the text) was typeset from the original, not the printer's manuscript, because in February, 1830, Oliver Cowdery, Hiram Page and others had the printer's manuscript in Canada trying unsuccessfully to secure the Canadian copyright which would have provided intellectual property protection throughout the British realm.
John Gilbert added punctuation in pencil directly on the printer's manuscript and on the portion of the original manuscript he used to set type. Gilbert also added the letter "p" where he wanted a new paragraph to begin. Joseph Smith made hundreds of changes as he edited the printer's manuscript for the 1837 Kirtland edition. Changing "which" to "who" was his most common change. We now know the revealed text was rendered in Early Modern English where "which" is a perfectly good personal pronoun. The Prophet was trying to make the verbiage in the 1837 edition more like Modern English to make it more respectable in Jacksonian America. After Smith marked up the printer's manuscript, Oliver Cowdery incorporated those changes into a marked up 1830 copy from which the 1837 edition was typeset.
John Gilbert followed the KJV as he punctuated the Isaiah chapters. Gilbert also changed one instance of "that" to "at" in one of the Isaiah chapters to conform to the KJV. Our current book of Mosiah begins in the middle of chapter 2. The 116 lost pages contained the Book of Lehi, the first chapter, and part of the second chapter of Mosiah. Larger books not authored by Mormon or Moroni have book summaries. Mosiah would have a book summary if we had the complete text. Hyrum Smith as a scribe was a lousy speller. Oliver Cowdery had to heavily edit his work. Joseph Smith saw some kind of textual marking indicating a chapter break. When he came to these marks he instructed Oliver to write the word "chapter" without a number. Cowdery wrote "chapter 3" near the beginning of our current book of Mosiah which is one of the ways we know the original chapter 1 and part of chapter 2 are missing.
John Gilbert cut the printer's manuscript up into strips with a pen knife, set type from those strips, and then re-assembled the manuscript with pins which eventually rusted and left stains on the paper. 6 sheets comprised a gathering. Abner Cole published parts of the Book of Mormon as installments in his local newspaper. His is therefore the earliest publication. Joseph Smith had to exercise his privilege as the copyright owner to shut down Cole's piracy. The printer's manuscript was not available for the 1840 Nauvoo (Cincinnati) edition because Oliver Cowdery by then had been excommunicated from the Church and taken the manuscript with him. Cowdery gave it to David Whitmer, another of the three witnesses, before he (Cowdery) died in 1850. Upon Whitmer's death in 1888, the manuscript passed to his grandson, George Schweich, who sold it to the RLDS Church (now Community of Christ) in 1903. It was used in the 1908 RLDS edition.
Royal showed a photograph of Ron Romig (RLDS), Skousen's wife, himself, Rick Turley and Stephen Nadauld (both LDS) and a Catholic man then working as a document conservator at the BYU library. They were in Independence. The Utah contingent had brought with them most of the extant original manuscript. They were comparing the various types of paper used in both the original and the printer's manuscript. Skousen considered this ecumenical group a metaphor for the universal appeal of the Book of Mormon, "scripture for the whole world." The printer's manuscript at this time was deteriorating. It was written in vegetable rather than iron-based ink. The LDS Church conserved the manuscript, washing and de-acidifying it and then encasing it in mylar before returning it to Independence.
The modern Book of Mormon timeline divides into four phases:
Emma Smith acted as Joseph's scribe for a time in Harmony. Martin Harris took the 116 manuscript pages from Harmony to Palmyra just before Emma gave birth to their first child, a stillborn son.
In 1841 as he deposited the original manuscript in the cornerstone of the Nauvoo House, Joseph Smith remarked "I've had trouble enough with this."
In June, 1878, a tornado devastated Richmond, Missouri where David Whitmer was living. 10 people died. Whitmer's two story house had the roof torn off and most of the structure was destroyed except for the room containing the printer's manuscript. Whitmer himself was injured by flying debris. In recounting this experience to George Q. Cannon, Whitmer called the preservation of the manuscript a miracle and attributed it to the power of God.
The yarn that originally bound the printer's manuscript together came from David Whitmer's mother, Mary. In June, 1829, Mary Musselman Whitmer was taking care of her own large family while at the same time entertaining Joseph and Emma, Oliver, and others. A heavenly visitor showed her the plates, an experience which gave her the resolve she needed to carry on with her heavy responsibilities. She was the only woman privileged to formally see the plates.
The Book of Mormon was a direct word-for-word revelation from God. Joseph was not at liberty to articulate ideas in his own language.
The Community of Christ, in addition to the printer's manuscript, has letters between Joseph and Emma and the JST manuscript. They have contributed significantly to the Joseph Smith Papers Project.
In Alma 45 Oliver got tired and began to write rubbish. Joseph took over and the original manuscript has 28 words in Joseph's hand. This is one of the reasons why Royal believes Joseph saw about 30 words at a time in the seer stone. There is one place in the original manuscript where Joseph dictated about 20 words, but the average was closer to 10 words that Joseph dictated and then Oliver read back to him for verification. Ben Hunter staged a replication of this dictation/verification process. He estimates Joseph and Oliver spent about 6 hours per day on average engaged in the translation process during their time of sustained productivity. This article by Ben Hunter and Doug Christensen in the BMAF archive contains additional interesting information about the awe-inspiring translation process.
28% of the original text is extant. 25% is owned by the Church. 2% is owned by the Wilford Wood family in Bountiful. 1% is owned by various individuals, the University of Utah, and the Community of Christ. John Gilbert was the 1830 typesetter. Most of the printer's manuscript was penned by Oliver Cowdery. Cowdery made approximately 3 errors per page as he copied the original to the printer's manuscript. Gilbert made approximately 3 errors per page as he set type from the printer's manuscript. The original manuscript was finished in June, 1829. The printer's manuscript was begun in August, 1829 and completed in January, 1830. Helaman chapter 13 through Mormon chapter 9 (one sixth of the text) was typeset from the original, not the printer's manuscript, because in February, 1830, Oliver Cowdery, Hiram Page and others had the printer's manuscript in Canada trying unsuccessfully to secure the Canadian copyright which would have provided intellectual property protection throughout the British realm.
John Gilbert added punctuation in pencil directly on the printer's manuscript and on the portion of the original manuscript he used to set type. Gilbert also added the letter "p" where he wanted a new paragraph to begin. Joseph Smith made hundreds of changes as he edited the printer's manuscript for the 1837 Kirtland edition. Changing "which" to "who" was his most common change. We now know the revealed text was rendered in Early Modern English where "which" is a perfectly good personal pronoun. The Prophet was trying to make the verbiage in the 1837 edition more like Modern English to make it more respectable in Jacksonian America. After Smith marked up the printer's manuscript, Oliver Cowdery incorporated those changes into a marked up 1830 copy from which the 1837 edition was typeset.
John Gilbert followed the KJV as he punctuated the Isaiah chapters. Gilbert also changed one instance of "that" to "at" in one of the Isaiah chapters to conform to the KJV. Our current book of Mosiah begins in the middle of chapter 2. The 116 lost pages contained the Book of Lehi, the first chapter, and part of the second chapter of Mosiah. Larger books not authored by Mormon or Moroni have book summaries. Mosiah would have a book summary if we had the complete text. Hyrum Smith as a scribe was a lousy speller. Oliver Cowdery had to heavily edit his work. Joseph Smith saw some kind of textual marking indicating a chapter break. When he came to these marks he instructed Oliver to write the word "chapter" without a number. Cowdery wrote "chapter 3" near the beginning of our current book of Mosiah which is one of the ways we know the original chapter 1 and part of chapter 2 are missing.
John Gilbert cut the printer's manuscript up into strips with a pen knife, set type from those strips, and then re-assembled the manuscript with pins which eventually rusted and left stains on the paper. 6 sheets comprised a gathering. Abner Cole published parts of the Book of Mormon as installments in his local newspaper. His is therefore the earliest publication. Joseph Smith had to exercise his privilege as the copyright owner to shut down Cole's piracy. The printer's manuscript was not available for the 1840 Nauvoo (Cincinnati) edition because Oliver Cowdery by then had been excommunicated from the Church and taken the manuscript with him. Cowdery gave it to David Whitmer, another of the three witnesses, before he (Cowdery) died in 1850. Upon Whitmer's death in 1888, the manuscript passed to his grandson, George Schweich, who sold it to the RLDS Church (now Community of Christ) in 1903. It was used in the 1908 RLDS edition.
Royal showed a photograph of Ron Romig (RLDS), Skousen's wife, himself, Rick Turley and Stephen Nadauld (both LDS) and a Catholic man then working as a document conservator at the BYU library. They were in Independence. The Utah contingent had brought with them most of the extant original manuscript. They were comparing the various types of paper used in both the original and the printer's manuscript. Skousen considered this ecumenical group a metaphor for the universal appeal of the Book of Mormon, "scripture for the whole world." The printer's manuscript at this time was deteriorating. It was written in vegetable rather than iron-based ink. The LDS Church conserved the manuscript, washing and de-acidifying it and then encasing it in mylar before returning it to Independence.
The modern Book of Mormon timeline divides into four phases:
- Pre-translation 1823 - 1827
- Translation 1827 - 1829
- Publication 1829 - 1830
- Post-publication 1830 - present
Emma Smith acted as Joseph's scribe for a time in Harmony. Martin Harris took the 116 manuscript pages from Harmony to Palmyra just before Emma gave birth to their first child, a stillborn son.
In 1841 as he deposited the original manuscript in the cornerstone of the Nauvoo House, Joseph Smith remarked "I've had trouble enough with this."
In June, 1878, a tornado devastated Richmond, Missouri where David Whitmer was living. 10 people died. Whitmer's two story house had the roof torn off and most of the structure was destroyed except for the room containing the printer's manuscript. Whitmer himself was injured by flying debris. In recounting this experience to George Q. Cannon, Whitmer called the preservation of the manuscript a miracle and attributed it to the power of God.
The yarn that originally bound the printer's manuscript together came from David Whitmer's mother, Mary. In June, 1829, Mary Musselman Whitmer was taking care of her own large family while at the same time entertaining Joseph and Emma, Oliver, and others. A heavenly visitor showed her the plates, an experience which gave her the resolve she needed to carry on with her heavy responsibilities. She was the only woman privileged to formally see the plates.
The Book of Mormon was a direct word-for-word revelation from God. Joseph was not at liberty to articulate ideas in his own language.
The Community of Christ, in addition to the printer's manuscript, has letters between Joseph and Emma and the JST manuscript. They have contributed significantly to the Joseph Smith Papers Project.
In Alma 45 Oliver got tired and began to write rubbish. Joseph took over and the original manuscript has 28 words in Joseph's hand. This is one of the reasons why Royal believes Joseph saw about 30 words at a time in the seer stone. There is one place in the original manuscript where Joseph dictated about 20 words, but the average was closer to 10 words that Joseph dictated and then Oliver read back to him for verification. Ben Hunter staged a replication of this dictation/verification process. He estimates Joseph and Oliver spent about 6 hours per day on average engaged in the translation process during their time of sustained productivity. This article by Ben Hunter and Doug Christensen in the BMAF archive contains additional interesting information about the awe-inspiring translation process.
Sunday, August 16, 2015
Chiasmus Day
It was 48 years ago today, on August 16, 1967, that John W. Welch discovered chiasmus in the Book of Mormon while serving in the South German Mission under Pres. Orville C. Gunther. Chiasmus Day 2016 will be commemorated in a significant way. The 50th anniversary of this ground-breaking discovery will be an even more important event. If someone were to rank research findings in order of importance to the Book of Mormon studies discipline, Welch's 1969 BYU Studies article entitled "Chiasmus in the Book of Mormon" would almost certainly be #1.
See the article "Chiasmus Day 2016."
Article updated August 16, 2016.
See the article "Chiasmus Day 2016."
Article updated August 16, 2016.
Wednesday, August 5, 2015
Joseph's Seer Stone
The seer stone Joseph Smith used to translate most of the Book of Mormon has lain in a vault at Church headquarters for more than 100 years. Joseph gave it to Oliver Cowdery whose wife gave it to Phineas Young who gave it to his brother, Brigham. President Young announced publicly that he possessed one of Joseph's seer stones. It was a symbol of his legitimacy as the Prophet's successor. Following Brigham Young's death in 1877, the stone was included in the part of his estate controlled by his wife, Zina D.H. Young, who served as the third General President of the Relief Society from 1888 until her death in 1901. Sister Young donated the sacred relic to the Church. Wilford Woodruff in 1888 placed this stone on the altar of the Manti Temple as he pronounced its dedicatory prayer. The Church History Department has just published first-ever photos of the stone in the 11th volume of the Joseph Smith Papers Project.
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| Vol. 3 Part 1 of the Joseph Smith Papers Project Edited by Royal Skousen and Robin Scott Jensen |
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| One of Joseph Smith's Seer Stones |
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| Joseph's Egg-shaped Seer Stone Viewed From the Side |
Royal Skousen's methodical research on the original manuscript has shown that Joseph Smith saw approximately 20 - 30 words appear in English on the stone and dictated approximately 10 words at a time to his scribe. After the scribe (primarily Oliver Cowdery) wrote and read back each snippet of text, the display would refresh and different words would appear. Joseph spelled out the first occurrence of unusual proper names letter by letter. Joseph put his seer stone in a hat to exclude ambient light, making the words easier to read. For Jack Welch's insightful comments about Joseph's stone in his hat, see the blog article "English in the Book of Mormon."
Alma2 prophesied about this stone in his instructions to his son, Helaman1, ca. 73 BC Alma 37:23.
Friday, June 5, 2015
At Jerusalem
Dirt archaeology is expensive. Even a modest dig can cost hundreds of thousands of dollars per field season with more required for lab work to analyze samples and artifacts. Institutions sponsor most projects. Occasionally a generous soul comes along who is willing to privately fund excavation out of an altruistic motivation to advance scientific knowledge. I have met three such noble individuals.
- Tim Tucker sponsors research at various sites in the state of Puebla, Mexico.
- Joe V. Andersen funds excavation in the department of Baja Verapaz, Guatemala.
- Alan Rudd supports field work at the Beit Lehi site about 35 kilometers SW of Jerusalem.
Beit Lehi has gained some notoriety among students of the Nephite text as a candidate for the Judean home of Lehi, Sariah and their children. Many LDS scholars, led by Jeffrey R. Chadwick of the BYU religion faculty, debunk that idea as a myth. The crux of the issue lies in the interpretation of 1 Nephi 1:4 and 1 Nephi 1:7. The text says Lehi dwelt and owned a house "at Jerusalem." Does that mean the walled city proper or its environs round about? As we have found dozens of times before in dealing with geographic questions, the text on this point is clear and unequivocal. "At Jerusalem" in Nephite parlance meant in the land of Jerusalem and was not limited to the urban area in the capital city.
The phrase "at Jerusalem" occurs 19 times in the text:
1 Nephi 1:4 Lehi "dwelt at Jerusalem in all his days."
1 Nephi 1:7 After witnessing a pillar of fire upon a rock, Lehi "returned to his own house at Jerusalem."
1 Nephi 2:13 "The Jews who were at Jerusalem" sought to take away Lehi's life.
1 Nephi 5:4 Had Lehi not seen visions he would have "tarried at Jerusalem" and perished with his brethren. The Kingdom of Judah was destroyed by the Babylonians under Nebuchadnezzar in a series of military actions ca. 597 - 582 B.C.
The context for these passages is explained in Nephi's colophon: "The Lord warns Lehi to depart out of the land of Jerusalem" and "Nephi taketh his brethren and returneth to the land of Jerusalem after the record of the Jews."
1 Nephi 19:13-14 In Nephi's gloss on Zenos, he explains that because they will crucify the Christ, the Jews "who are at Jerusalem" will be scourged by all people, wander in the flesh, perish, become a hiss and a byword, and be hated among all nations. This is an accurate description of the Jewish diaspora and holocaust.
1 Nephi 19:20 explains that Nephi, like earlier prophets, saw in vision the destruction decreed "for those who are at Jerusalem." The Lord was merciful to Nephi, warning him to flee and avoid death. 1 Nephi 19:22, 2 Nephi 1:3 and Ether 13:7 all provide context. The land of Jerusalem was destroyed.
1 Nephi 22:3-4 Many in scattered Israel "are already lost from the knowledge of those who are at Jerusalem." The more part of the tribes will be scattered upon all the face of the earth, and also among all nations, and upon the isles of the sea.
2 Nephi 6:8 In Jacob's gloss on Isaiah, he explains that "those who were at Jerusalem, from whence we came, have been slain and carried away captive." After describing the Savior's mortal ministry and crucifixion, Jacob prophesies the Jewish diaspora, holocaust, and eventual return to "the lands of their inheritance." 2 Nephi 6:9-11.
2 Nephi 9:5 Jacob refers to prophecies that the Savior in his mortal ministry will "show himself unto those at Jerusalem, from whence we came."
2 Nephi 10:3-6 Jacob again speaks of the mortal ministry of the Savior among the Jews who are in the more wicked part of the world. He calls them "they at Jerusalem" and prophecies the Jewish diaspora at the hands of the Romans.
2 Nephi 25 is Nephi's plain explanation of Isaiah 2-14 which he has just quoted verbatim in 2 Nephi 12-24. Isaiah explicitly describes the parallel couplet "Judah and Jerusalem" 2 Nephi 12:1, 2 Nephi 13:1, 2 Nephi 13:8, 2 Nephi 15:3 as does Malachi 3 Nephi 24:4. Isaiah refers to "their land" 2 Nephi 12:7-8 and "whole Palestina." 2 Nephi 24:29-31. Isaiah also rhythmically couples Zion and Jerusalem 2 Nephi 14:3-4. 2 Nephi 20:12, 2 Nephi 20:32, 2 Nephi 20:36-37. Nephi's plain descriptions of Isaiah's referents include:
Alma 11:4 Mormon says the Nephites used a different measure of stored value than "the Jews who were at Jerusalem."
Helaman 16:18 refers to the mortal ministry of the Savior "unto them who shall be at Jerusalem." Helaman 16:19 clarifies that the geographic referent is "the land of Jerusalem."
3 Nephi 10:5 The risen Lord compares "ye people of the house of Israel, ye that dwell at Jerusalem" with the fallen Nephites and Lamanites.
3 Nephi 15:14 The risen Lord tells the Nephites that knowledge of them was withheld from "your brethren at Jerusalem." In the following verse the Lord again refers to "them" who are in "the land."
3 Nephi 16:4 The risen Lord says "my people at Jerusalem" are "they who have seen me and been with me in my ministry." Earlier in the passage He describes the geographic referent as "the land of Jerusalem." 3 Nephi 16:1.
3 Nephi 17:8 The risen Lord perceives that the Nephites wanted to see the same healing miracles He had "done unto your brethren at Jerusalem."
4 Nephi 1:31 "The Jews at Jerusalem sought to kill Jesus." Conspiracy against the Savior is attested as early as Matthew 12:14, Mark 3:6, and Luke 6:11.
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Close reading of all 19 occurrences of the phrase "at Jerusalem" in the text shows a consistent pattern. "At Jerusalem" among the Nephites meant in the land of Jerusalem and environs. It was not limited to the capital city itself. This does not mean Beit Lehi was the ancestral home of Lehi and his family, but it means Beit Lehi could have been Lehi's home, contra Chadwick.
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The phrase "at Jerusalem" occurs 19 times in the text:
1 Nephi 1:4 Lehi "dwelt at Jerusalem in all his days."
1 Nephi 1:7 After witnessing a pillar of fire upon a rock, Lehi "returned to his own house at Jerusalem."
1 Nephi 2:13 "The Jews who were at Jerusalem" sought to take away Lehi's life.
1 Nephi 5:4 Had Lehi not seen visions he would have "tarried at Jerusalem" and perished with his brethren. The Kingdom of Judah was destroyed by the Babylonians under Nebuchadnezzar in a series of military actions ca. 597 - 582 B.C.
The context for these passages is explained in Nephi's colophon: "The Lord warns Lehi to depart out of the land of Jerusalem" and "Nephi taketh his brethren and returneth to the land of Jerusalem after the record of the Jews."
1 Nephi 19:13-14 In Nephi's gloss on Zenos, he explains that because they will crucify the Christ, the Jews "who are at Jerusalem" will be scourged by all people, wander in the flesh, perish, become a hiss and a byword, and be hated among all nations. This is an accurate description of the Jewish diaspora and holocaust.
1 Nephi 19:20 explains that Nephi, like earlier prophets, saw in vision the destruction decreed "for those who are at Jerusalem." The Lord was merciful to Nephi, warning him to flee and avoid death. 1 Nephi 19:22, 2 Nephi 1:3 and Ether 13:7 all provide context. The land of Jerusalem was destroyed.
1 Nephi 22:3-4 Many in scattered Israel "are already lost from the knowledge of those who are at Jerusalem." The more part of the tribes will be scattered upon all the face of the earth, and also among all nations, and upon the isles of the sea.
2 Nephi 6:8 In Jacob's gloss on Isaiah, he explains that "those who were at Jerusalem, from whence we came, have been slain and carried away captive." After describing the Savior's mortal ministry and crucifixion, Jacob prophesies the Jewish diaspora, holocaust, and eventual return to "the lands of their inheritance." 2 Nephi 6:9-11.
2 Nephi 9:5 Jacob refers to prophecies that the Savior in his mortal ministry will "show himself unto those at Jerusalem, from whence we came."
2 Nephi 10:3-6 Jacob again speaks of the mortal ministry of the Savior among the Jews who are in the more wicked part of the world. He calls them "they at Jerusalem" and prophecies the Jewish diaspora at the hands of the Romans.
2 Nephi 25 is Nephi's plain explanation of Isaiah 2-14 which he has just quoted verbatim in 2 Nephi 12-24. Isaiah explicitly describes the parallel couplet "Judah and Jerusalem" 2 Nephi 12:1, 2 Nephi 13:1, 2 Nephi 13:8, 2 Nephi 15:3 as does Malachi 3 Nephi 24:4. Isaiah refers to "their land" 2 Nephi 12:7-8 and "whole Palestina." 2 Nephi 24:29-31. Isaiah also rhythmically couples Zion and Jerusalem 2 Nephi 14:3-4. 2 Nephi 20:12, 2 Nephi 20:32, 2 Nephi 20:36-37. Nephi's plain descriptions of Isaiah's referents include:
- "among the Jews" 2 Nephi 25:1, 2 Nephi 25:6, 2 Nephi 25:9
- "of the Jews" 2 Nephi 25:2, 2 Nephi 25:5-6, 2 Nephi 25:18
- "from Jerusalem" 2 Nephi 25:4-5
- "the Jews" 2 Nephi 25:5, 2 Nephi 25:15
- "Jerusalem" 2 Nephi 25:14, 2 Nephi 25:19
- "land of Jerusalem" and "land of their inheritance" 2 Nephi 25:11
- "at Jerusalem" and "the regions round about" 2 Nephi 25:6
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| Bethlehem 7 Kilometers South of the City of Jerusalem |
Helaman 16:18 refers to the mortal ministry of the Savior "unto them who shall be at Jerusalem." Helaman 16:19 clarifies that the geographic referent is "the land of Jerusalem."
3 Nephi 10:5 The risen Lord compares "ye people of the house of Israel, ye that dwell at Jerusalem" with the fallen Nephites and Lamanites.
3 Nephi 15:14 The risen Lord tells the Nephites that knowledge of them was withheld from "your brethren at Jerusalem." In the following verse the Lord again refers to "them" who are in "the land."
3 Nephi 16:4 The risen Lord says "my people at Jerusalem" are "they who have seen me and been with me in my ministry." Earlier in the passage He describes the geographic referent as "the land of Jerusalem." 3 Nephi 16:1.
3 Nephi 17:8 The risen Lord perceives that the Nephites wanted to see the same healing miracles He had "done unto your brethren at Jerusalem."
4 Nephi 1:31 "The Jews at Jerusalem sought to kill Jesus." Conspiracy against the Savior is attested as early as Matthew 12:14, Mark 3:6, and Luke 6:11.
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Close reading of all 19 occurrences of the phrase "at Jerusalem" in the text shows a consistent pattern. "At Jerusalem" among the Nephites meant in the land of Jerusalem and environs. It was not limited to the capital city itself. This does not mean Beit Lehi was the ancestral home of Lehi and his family, but it means Beit Lehi could have been Lehi's home, contra Chadwick.
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| Beit Lehi Relative to Bethlehem, Jerusalem |
In a conversation with John W. Welch on Thursday, June 18, 2015, he indicated that the Semitic phrase translated into English as "at Jerusalem" connotes "near Jerusalem" and clearly does not imply a location within the city proper.
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