In the graduate student lounge in Padelford Hall that snakes along the top of a hill at the back of the University of (there is no R in) Warshington campus I came across a book Larry Woiwode had sent one of his friends on the faculty there, something one of Woiwode’s students had written, I think the inscription said.
I didn’t have time to read it but the opening scene was memorable, a pastor greeting his congregation after the service, and one says, “We’re praying for you, pastor,” meaning your sermons aren’t inspiring and we’re praying you’ll get the Spirit and be a worthy pastor for us.
I don’t think that was the undertone a few weeks ago when a member of the Gospel Doctrine class prayed the teacher would have the Spirit. It was a conventional prayer and was answered with a blessing on my head, or at least words that came to my mouth. That morning I had read the following at the beginning of Lesson 21, “What is the Sign of Thy Coming?”
Explain that Matthew 24 contains the Savior’s prophecies about the destruction of Jerusalem and about his Second Coming. Over time, the verses in this chapter have been changed and rearranged, making it sometimes difficult to understand which event a particular verse describes. Fortunately, as part of his inspired translation of the Bible, Joseph Smith clarified the two prophecies and restored additional information.
I read it to the class and said we may be the only religion to hold that scripture can be imperfect and still be scripture.
I referred briefly to the first 11 verses of Omni, where we see the record passed among four generations of not very talkative record keepers. There’s a fifth record keeper, but he has more to say, and what I’m interested in here is the brevity.
1 Behold, it came to pass that I, Omni, being commanded by my father, Jarom, that I should write somewhat upon these plates, to preserve our genealogy— 2 Wherefore, in my days, I would that ye should know that I fought much with the sword to preserve my people, the Nephites, from falling into the hands of their enemies, the Lamanites. But behold, I of myself am a wicked man, and I have not kept the statutes and the commandments of the Lord as I ought to have done. 3 And it came to pass that two hundred and seventy and six years had passed away, and we had many seasons of peace; and we had many seasons of serious war and bloodshed. Yea, and in fine, two hundred and eighty and two years had passed away, and I had kept these plates according to the commandments of my fathers; and I conferred them upon my son Amaron. And I make an end.
Omni starts his record in the conventional way, giving some history, then gives a poignant note about himself that distinguises himself from unrighteous people in the Book of Mormon who insist on their righteousness (See Alma 10:28ff, and Mosiah 17:7-8 for example.)
4 And now I, Amaron, write the things whatsoever I write, which are few, in the book of my father. 5 Behold, it came to pass that three hundred and twenty years had passed away, and the more wicked part of the Nephites were destroyed. 6 For the Lord would not suffer, after he had led them out of the land of Jerusalem and kept and preserved them from falling into the hands of their enemies, yea, he would not suffer that the words should not be verified, which he spake unto our fathers, saying that: Inasmuch as ye will not keep my commandments ye shall not prosper in the land. 7 Wherefore, the Lord did visit them in great judgment; nevertheless, he did spare the righteous that they should not perish, but did deliver them out of the hands of their enemies. 8 And it came to pass that I did deliver the plates unto my brother Chemish.
Amaron’s comment is longer than Omni’s, but he doesn’t tell us much more, perhaps for the reason given in verse 11.
9 Now I, Chemish, write what few things I write, in the same book with my brother; for behold, I saw the last which he wrote, that he wrote it with his own hand; and he wrote it in the day that he delivered them unto me. And after this manner we keep the records, for it is according to the commandments of our fathers. And I make an end.
My neighbor read this as part of his Gospel Doctrine lesson one day, made a checkmark sign, and said, “Another thing to cross off the to do list.” I share Lyle’s wish that Chemish and Amaron and Omni had written more, but I suspect more went into their writings than just casually checking off a to do list, or even certifying the provenance of the record, as Chemish does. For one thing, Abinadom confirms in verse 11 that the record is engraven, so each of the record keepers had to spend some time learning how to engrave, how to get the characters onto metal plates.
There is also some indication that the language of the plates was a hieratic language, priestly language, not the everyday language of the people. Thus the record keepers must have spent a fair amount of time getting ready to write. So why the brevity?
10 Behold, I, Abinadom, am the son of Chemish. Behold, it came to pass that I saw much war and contention between my people, the Nephites, and the Lamanites; and I, with my own sword, have taken the lives of many of the Lamanites in the defence of my brethren. 11 And behold, the record of this people is engraven upon plates which is had by the kings, according to the generations; and I know of no revelation save that which has been written, neither prophecy; wherefore, that which is sufficient is written. And I make an end.
Maybe this is the reason for the brevity, no new revelations. Or maybe the plates were getting full, though there is room for Amaleki’s extended comment. Whatever the reason for the brevity, these verses are, as I told my class, still scripture.
There’s no claim to inspiration in these verses, and Omni makes no claim to be a worthy record keeper, and there’s no sense of dictation from the Lord, only a strong sense of keeping the commandment to pass along the record.
Passing along the record, that’s a large part of how the Book of Mormon pictures scripture being written, and how The Book of Moses pictures the creation and transmission of scripture. If we want to think deeply about the implications of that portrait we have a better tool for understanding scholarly theories about how the scriptures came together than many believers do.
I’ve mentioned Who Wrote The Bible? before, Richard Elliott Friedman’s book on the documentary hypothesis, the idea that the Books of Moses were written and or compiled hundreds of years after Moses died, written after Judah and Israel had split into two kingdoms following the death of Solomon, with additions to Deuteronomy dating as late as the time of Jeremiah.
It can be deeply disconcerting to be told Moses didn’t write the books of Moses, that they represent concerns, conflicts and cultures hundreds of years after Moses. And yet the Book of Alma represents concerns, conflicts and cultures more than 500 years removed from Alma. The extensive record of wars in the last half of the book surely represent the attempt of a warrior to make sense of the destruction of his people.
He sees in those wars and the ones that follow the seeds of his people’s destruction (see Helaman 2:13), and there is no reason we can’t apply our understanding of how Mormon wrote his book to ideas about how J, E, P, D, and R did their work.
There’s a lot more I could say about the Book of Mormon’s concept of scripture and what it can help us understand, but I’ll leave it at this for the moment, as I want to shift my momentum to something of greater moment.
I hope to talk next month about rhetoric. As I’ve said before,what I’m leading up to is a reconsideration of Jesus’s debates with the Pharisees, and how the rhetoric of those debates was reinterpreted after the Jewish/Christian split.
Thy serve.