in verse #47 : Voice of the turkey

I just noticed that this is the second time this year that my post is due on a holiday.  And it’s due on Christmas Day, too.  Next year it won’t be due on the 24^th of July, but it will come in on Thanksgiving and Christmas Eve, should I love so long[i].  So in the spirit of that observation, I assert that we should celebrate March 20^th each year as a holiday,[ii] as the anniversary of the letter from Liberty Jail.[iii]  This is a date that could conceivably be viewed as “early in the spring,” the only date Joseph gives to what we call the First Vision, so we could celebrate both on the same day. To me, the letter has at least the same value as the vision, because of what it reveals about the nature of God and how they deal with the weak reeds they rely on to give them voice in this world. And although I view it as verse in these posts, it has a far greater significance as wisdom literature, let alone as scripture.

This is demonstrated by the introduction to Section 122 of Doctrine and Covenants, which reads as follows:

₄₃reproving betimes with sharpness when moved upon by the holy ghost
and then showing forth afterwards an increase of love
to ward him whom thou hast reproved
lest he esteem thee to be his enemy
₄₄that he may know that thy faithfulness is stronger than the cords of death
₄₅thy bowels also being full of charity to ward all men
and to the household of faith
and virtue garnish thy thoughts unceasingly —
then shall thy confidence wax strong in the presence of God
and the doctrines of the priesthood distill upon thy soul as the dews from heaven
₄₆the Holy Ghost shall be thy constant companion
and thy scepter an unchanging scepter of righteousness and truth
and thy dominion shall be an everlasting dominion
and without compulsory means it shall flow unto thee for ever and ever[iv]

Now I realize that you know that as the end of Section 121, and it is. But to me it seems to flow thematically into Section 122, as it did in the dictation. I characterized verses 1-6 of Section 121 as a prayer for vengeance[v] from Joseph, and verses 7-25 as the Lord’s rebuke, a reproof with sharpness[vi]; to me, Section 122 is the showing forth of love to him who has been reproved. This is how that love is shown forth, in verse:

₄₆the Holy Ghost shall be thy constant companion
and thy scepter an unchanging scepter of righteousness and truth
and thy dominion shall be an everlasting dominion
and without compulsory means it shall flow unto thee for ever and ever
₁the ends of the earth shall inquire after thy name
and fools shall have thee in derision and hell shall rage against thee
₂while the pure in heart and the wise and the noble and the virtuous
shall seek counsel and authority and blessings constantly from under thy hand —
₃and thy people shall never be turned against thee by the testimony of traitors
₄and although their influence shall cast thee into trouble and into bars and walls
thou shalt be had in honor, and but for a small moment
and thy voice shall be more terrible in the midst of thine enemies
than the fierce Lion because of thy righteousness —
and thy God shall stand by thee for ever and ever.
₅If thou art called to pass through tribulation
if thou art in peril among false brethren
if thou art in peril amongst robbers
if thou art in peril by land or by sea
₆if thou art accused with all manner of false accusations
if thine enemies fall upon thee
if they tear thee from the society of thy father and mother and brethren and sisters
and if with a drawn sword
thine enemies tear thee from the bosom of thy wife and of thine offsprings
and thine elder son although but six years of age shall cling to thy garment
and shall say my father O my father why can’t you stay with us
o my father what are the men agoing to do with you
and if then he shall be thrust from thee by the sword
and thou be dragged to prison
and thine enemies prowl around thee like wolves for blood of the Lamb
₇and if thou shouldest be cast into the pit
or into the hand of murderers
and the sentence of death passed upon thee
if thou be cast into the deep
if the billowing surge conspire against thee
if the fierce wind become thine enemy
if the heavens gather blackness and all the elements combine to hedge up thy way
and above all if the very jaws of hell shall gape open her mouth wide after thee
know thou my son that all these things shall give thee experience
and shall be for thy good
₈The son of man hath descended below them all —
art thou greater than he?
₉therefore hold on thy way and the priesthood shall remain with thee
for their bounds are set they cannot pass
thy days are known and thy years shall not be numbered less
therefore fear not what man can do
for God shall be with you for ever and ever.[vii]

This has all the concreteness that verses 34-46 of Section 121 lack. You might think of the latter as the voice of the eagle, and of Section 122 as the voice of the turkey. The voice of the eagle has been heard in the land at least as far back as its adoption by the Romans for their battle standards. And probably a lot further back. They are magnificent birds in flight, omnivores, birds of prey — but also feeders on carrion. The voice is more of a screech or a squawk than a song. I prefer the voice of the turkey, which as any American alive today can verify is “gobble gobble gobble.” I prefer that voice because the turkey is not an apex predator, as it the eagle. The first to hatch of the former’s brood (usually the female) does not kill the second (and last).[viii]

The turkey, on the other talon, feeds by walking backward, gobbling as it goes, scratching through the duff of the forest floor looking for its food: acorns, nuts, trees — no posing atop cacti with rattlesnakes in its talons. They go after seeds and berries and roots, worm and grubs and beetles — and the occasional amphibian, or small reptile, like lizard or snakelet.  In forage or in mating, they vocalize in a wide range of domestic sounds: not only “gobbles” but “clucks,” “yelps,” “cutts,” “whines,” “cackles,” and “kee-kees,”[ix] and even the latter I have heard from my children.   A far greater conversational range that the pathetic eagle’s limited range.

But hold on, I hear you say: what about the voice of the turtle?

Your turn.

_________________________

[i] And I don’t care what you say, I can’t live in a world without love.

[ii] That is, a holy-day, not a hollow-day.

[iii] That is the date transcribed by Dean Jessee in Personal writings of Joseph Smith. — Revised edition / compiled and edited by Dean C. Jessee. — Salt Lake City : Deseret Book ; Provo, Utah : Brigham Young University Press, c2002 (hereafter Personal writings). However, in History of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. Period I : History of Joseph Smith, the Prophet / by himself. Volume III, revised (Salt Lake City : the Church, 1948) (cited hereafter as HC, against which I checked my transcription), on p. 289, the date is transcribed as March 25, 1839.

[iv] The letter appears on pp. 429-446 of Personal writings. This excerpt is taken from p. 441. I have, however, normalized much of the spelling (though not capitalization) and supplied my own punctuation — mostly as em-dashes — along with, of course, the line breaks; the subscripted numbers indicate verses in Section 121 of Doctrine and Covenants — and these lines mark the end of the excerpt canonized as D&C 121:34-46, which I regard as the perfect description of the Patriarchal Order, if such we need.

[v] I may have been wrong about that, in the light of how the pavilion of God is characterized in Psalms 27:5 and 31:20; I will have to revisit that in my longer writings on the letter from Liberty Jail, which are a series of linked essays reaching nigh unto the length of a book.  But for now I hold to this characterization.

[vi] Whether you read “sharpness” as meaning clarity and precision, or the more conventional meaning in a context of reproof as “brisk; ardent; vigorous” if not “harsh; biting; acrimonious” (as my Illustrated heritage dictionary and information book puts it in its entry for “sharp”).

[vii] Personal Writings, pp. 441-442.

[viii] I owe the details on the bald eagle to http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bald_eagle, accessed 27 November 2014.

[ix] And, yes, I lifted that list direct from http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wild_turkey, accessed 27 November 2014, because I had to pause in writing this post to eat Thanksgiving dinner with my family, so I was unable to go out and interview any of the local turkeys.