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The Interpreter Foundation is a nonprofit educational organization focused on the scriptures of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (the Book of Mormon, the Pearl of Great Price, the Bible, and the Doctrine and Covenants), early LDS history, and related subjects. All publications in its journal, Interpreter: A Journal of Latter-day Saint Faith and Scholarship, are peer-reviewed and made available as free internet downloads or through at-cost print-on-demand services. Other posts on the website are not necessarily peer-reviewed, but are approved by Interpreter’s Executive Board. Our goal is to increase understanding of scripture through careful scholarly investigation and analysis of the insights provided by a wide range of ancillary disciplines, including language, history, archaeology, literature, culture, ethnohistory, art, geography, law, politics, philosophy, statistics, etc. Interpreter will also publish articles advocating the authenticity and historicity of LDS scripture and the Restoration, along with scholarly responses to critics of the LDS faith. We hope to illuminate, by study and faith, the eternal spiritual message of the scriptures—that Jesus is the Christ. Although the Board fully supports the goals and teachings of the Church, The Interpreter Foundation is an independent entity and is not owned, controlled by, or affiliated with The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints or with Brigham Young University. All research and opinions provided on this site are the sole responsibility of their respective authors, and should not be interpreted as the opinions of the Board nor as official statements of LDS doctrine, belief, or practice.

  1. 6 DAYS AGO

    The Man with No Name: The Story of the Brother of Jared as an Anti-Babel Polemic

    Abstract: Within the text of the Book of Mormon, the name of Jared’s brother is never revealed. Various reasons have been offered for the lack of a name, but nothing conclusive has been offered. Taking a cue from the polemical nature of Old Testament theology, this paper argues that the opening of the book of Ether is a polemic against Babel, with the brother of Jared being contrasted against the people and ruler of Babel. Led by the mighty hunter Nimrod, the people of Babel refused God’s command to multiply and fill the earth. Instead, they gathered together, built a tower to reach the heavens, and explicitly sought to make a name for themselves. In response, the Lord confounded their language and scattered them abroad. In contrast, the brother of Jared was a mighty, unnamed man who communed with the heavens on top of a high mountain. The language of his people was spared, and they spread across the face of the promised land. Moroni’s abridgement of Ether thus may present the anti-Babel origins of the Jaredites. It is well known that within the text of the Book of Mormon, the name of Jared’s brother is not revealed. He is simply known as “the brother of Jared.” Extratextual sources have potentially identified his name. A late, third-hand source provides the most detailed account: While residing in Kirtland Elder Reynolds Cahoon had a son born to him. One day when President Joseph Smith was passing his door he called the Prophet in and asked him to bless and name the baby. Joseph did so and gave the boy the name of Mahonri Moriancumer. When he had finished [Page 320]the blessing he laid the child on the bed, and turning to Elder Cahoon he said, the name I have given your son is the name of the brother of Jared; the Lord has just shown [or revealed] it to me. Elder William F. Cahoon, who was standing near heard the Prophet make this statement to his father; and this was the first time the name of the brother of Jared was known in the Church in this dispensation.1 Other sources lend increased credence to the account. For example, “Moriancumer” is the name given by the Jaredites to the place they settled prior to their sea voyage (Ether 2:13). Furthermore, an 1835 Church publication identified the brother of Jared as “Moriancumer.”2 But the Book of Mormon does not identify the brother of Jared as “Moriancumer,” and external sources do not answer the question of why his name is never given within the text itself. Various reasons have been offered for the missing name of this prominent figure. These include modesty on the part of the brother of Jared, difficulty in transliterating the name into English during the translation process, or the emphasis on Jared’s ancestral lineage (instead of his brother).3 On the latter, Brant Gardner has suggested that “Jared is the ruler and his brother is his accompanying priest. . . . Ether is writing this story as it has descended through Jared’s line.”4 While there may be some truth to these explanations, the Genesis account of the Tower of Babel (Genesis 11:1–9) may provide a potential answer and act as a key in interpreting the brother of Jared story. The opening of the book of Ether could be seen as a polemic against Babel and its leader,

  2. AUG 30

    Restoring Melchizedek Priesthood

    Abstract: Church historical sources make four differing claims as to when, how, and by whom Melchizedek priesthood was restored. These seemingly conflicting sources have led to many theories about what happened, including the idea that Joseph Smith changed his narrative and rewrote history as his ideas of priesthood evolved. A closer look at the sources, more carefully defining the terminology, and being more aware of ancient patterns provide a better solution for understanding the purpose and relationship of these four narratives and thus the nature of the Melchizedek priesthood Joseph Smith restored. “In establishing his kingdom, church, or order, in the world the Savior seems to have pursued a certain system.” —Sidney Rigdon1 On 27 August 1843, in the grove next to the Nauvoo temple site, Joseph Smith gave a sermon on the biblical Letter to the Hebrews, stating that it, particularly the seventh chapter, referenced “3 grand principles or orders of Priesthood” or “three different priesthoods.”2 According to those who left a record of the sermon, the Prophet referenced these three priestly orders as follows: [Page 264]Willard Richards * “King of Shiloam,”3 “the power of Melchisedick,”4 “Presthood of Melchisedek”5 * “patriarchal authority”6 * “Levitical Prest”7 James Burgess * “the priesthood of Aron,” “Levi’s [priesthood],” “priesthood of Levi,”8 “that of Levi or Aron,” “levitical priesthood”9 * the “priesthood of . . . Abraham,” “Abraham’s priesthood,” “that of Abraham”10 * “the priesthood of . . . Melchesedek,” “Melchesedeck’s [priesthood]”11 “the order of Melchesideck”a id="footnote12anc" href="#footnote12sym" title="12. “Discourse, 27 August 1843, as Reported by Burgess,

  3. AUG 23

    “That They May Know That They Are Not Cast Off Forever”: Jewish Lectionary Elements in the Book of Mormon

    Abstract: It is not uncommon for Jews who join The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints to notice connections between certain events in the Book of Mormon and modern Jewish practices associated with the feasts of Passover, Weeks, Tabernacles, and Rosh Hashanah. Aware that traditional Christianity holds not only that Jews were ousted from God’s covenant but that Jewish traditions in support of that covenant are spiritually worthless, these Jews find great comfort in these connections as well as in Book of Mormon statements that affirm their continued inclusion in that covenant. But aren’t there also connections to the modern Jewish lectionary—the order in which Jews today read and explain their scriptures as part of their worship services? And don’t these connections similarly affirm Jewish efforts to uphold that covenant? This article explores these possibilities, first by describing three of the most basic principles behind that lectionary and second by showing how Book of Mormon prophets, Jacob in particular, adhere to these principles in their presentation of passages from the Hebrew Scriptures. In this way, this article shows how the Book of Mormon strengthens its already strong refutation of Christian supersessionism and encourages its readers to value Jews as Jews and to cease all anti-Semitic activities and attitudes. For many Latter-day Saint Jews, several events in the Book of Mormon resonate remarkably well with current Jewish practices. Gale Boyd, for instance, a Jewish woman who joined the Church as a teenager and has studied the “connection between Judaism and [Page 244]Mormonism” for decades,1 sees a striking similarity between the way Alma counsels his sons (Alma 36–42) and the way adult Jews are encouraged to teach children during Passover. As she writes, the modern Seder text “describes four kinds of children: the wise child, the wicked child, the innocent child, and the child unable to inquire” and “instructs the leader on how to inform and encourage [these different children] to feel the meaning of the Passover.” According to Boyd, “Alma’s counsel to his sons parallels the structure presented in the Passover ritual.”2 Marlena Tanya Muchnick, another Latter-day Saint with a similar Jewish background, even suggests that Alma’s counseling sessions may have actually occurred during a Passover service.3 After all, not only does Alma tailor the tellings of his own miraculous deliverance from the “everlasting chains of death” (Alma 36:18) to the unique situation of each of his sons, but he begins the first session much like a Seder leader, by admonishing Helaman to “do as I have done, in remembering the captivity of our fathers; for they were in bondage, and none could deliver them except it was the God of Abraham, and the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob” (Alma 36:2). However, these perceived linkages to modern Jewish practices are not limited to Passover. They include connections to other festivals as well. Jason Olson, for instance, author of The Burning Book: a Jewish-Mormon Memoir,4 sees “pretty clear imagery with King Benjamin that [the Nephites] are practicing some form of Sukkot or the Feast of Tabernacles.”a id="footnote5anc" href="#footnote5sym" title="5. Rebecca Devonas,

  4. AUG 16

    Insights into the Story of Korihor Based on Intertextual Comparisons

    Abstract: A brief outline of the saga of Korihor, the Anti-Christ, is provided along with a discussion of his affinities with other Book of Mormon anti-Christs, including those in the order of Nehors. Literary allusions suggesting Korihor as a foil to the king of the Lamanites are examined. Evidence of a schism among the order of Nehors leading to violence is discussed. Korihor’s unusual death is examined within the context of the theme of crushing the serpent from the stories of Adam, Eve, and Cain. The brash materialism of Korihor during his trial as he argues against the existence of prophecy, sin, and even basic morality mark him as one of the most modern-sounding antagonists in the Book of Mormon. His arguments that “every man prospered according to his genius, and that every man conquered according to his strength; and whatsoever a man did was no crime” and “that when a man was dead, that was the end thereof” (Alma 30:17–18) would be at home on many college campuses worldwide. Like many of the other antagonists in the Book of Mormon, his origins, motivations, and purposes are all rather murky. John Welch notes: The text gives no indication whatever of his ethnic or tribal origin, his city or land of residence, or his religious or political affiliations. All these omissions cannot be accidental. Indeed, the text wants readers to see Korihor as an isolated individual defying the foundation of collective responsibility that undergirded the concepts of justice, ethics, prosperity, and well-being in Nephite and Israelite societies. In the Book [Page 224]of Mormon array of typologies, Korihor represents the radical individual thinker, detached from community and unconcerned about the consequences of his ideas, who is bound and determined above all to speak his mind. Speech was his stock-in-trade.1 Korihor challenges the basis of legitimacy of both the Nephite legal system and the Christian church, but his swift rise in the text is followed by an equally swift fall. The end of Korihor has provoked much speculation, for it is difficult to understand what circumstances might have led to him getting trampled “until he was dead” (Alma 30:59). After a brief discussion of some of the information that can be gleaned about Korihor, we will see that Korihor was viewed by the authors of the Book of Mormon as a villain stamped in the mold of Cain, and that his eventual end is as predictable as that of any of the biblical antagonists who hearken to the whisperings of that old serpent, the devil. The Mission and Life of Korihor In his efforts to undermine the foundations of the Nephite government and religion, Korihor seems to be attempting to advance the agenda of either the Nehors or the Zoramites. The text tells us that Nehor was executed based on the logic that, “were priestcraft to be enforced among this people it would prove their entire destruction” (Alma 1:12). Amlici, a follower of Nehor, later alarmed the Christian Nephites because “it was his intent to destroy the church of God” (Alma 2:4), and “the Nephites greatly feared that the Zoramites would enter into a correspondence with the Lamanites, and that it would be the means of great loss on the part of the Nephites” (Alma 31:4). These warnings suggest that the religious and political turmoil swirling through the Nephite polity during the timeframe in question were of a sort that could bring about their entire destruction. Korihor seems, in turn, to have been actively promoting the very ideas that the Christian Nephite leaders feared. Alma had seen firsthand what could happen when the ideas propounded by the Nehors propagated freely among his people, which is perhaps why later on he worked so hard and enlisted ...

  5. AUG 16

    Did Korihor Usurp the Words of Zeniff?

    Abstract: The Book of Mormon contains several instances where a speaker or author in the Book of Mormon quotes a previous one. This article presents one such example: It appears that Korihor usurped the words of Zeniff, quoting some of them for his own purposes. The context of this reference to Zeniff’s words lies in Korihor’s claims that the Nephites were in bondage to the priests, just as the Lamanites wanted to bring Zeniff’s people into bondage. The connections between these two passages cross multiple generations and narrative events internally, and multiple pages of translated, dictated manuscript by Joseph Smith. It provides yet another example of the authenticity and complexity of the Book of Mormon, revealing the subtle rhetorical devices of the Book of Mormon, and further revealing the devices of an anti-Christ. In the land of Zarahemla around 200 years before Christ, the Book of Mormon records that a military leader named Zeniff led a group of Nephites back to the land of Nephi, from which they had previously fled (Omni 1:27–30; Mosiah 9–10). However, this land was now ruled by the Lamanites, and after allowing Zeniff and his people to inhabit the land of Nephi, King Laman desired to bring them into bondage, which was his secret goal from the beginning (Mosiah 9:11–12). Zeniff, now a king himself, rallied his people to defend themselves “in the strength of the Lord” (Mosiah 9:17–18; 10:10–11).1 Before his death, he recorded a brief history of his reign and left his son, King Noah, to reign, rather [Page 212]disastrously, in his stead. Approximately eighty years after Zeniff left Zarahemla, and following much tribulation, the Lord enabled his people to return (Mosiah 25:16). After their return, life continued in Zarahemla for the next forty-six years. With a few notable exceptions, “the establishment of the church became general throughout the land, in all the region round about, among all the people of the Nephites” (Alma 16:15). Many Lamanites were converted and brought under the protection of the Nephites, which strengthened the Church greatly (Alma 27:26–30). But those years were also marked by vigorous defensive wars to keep the Lamanites out of their land. Following one such war, the believers “were strict in observing the ordinances of God according to the law of Moses” (Alma 30:3), and the people lived in peace for two years. Then, an anti-Christ named Korihor came among the Nephites in the latter end of the seventeenth year of the reign of the judges (around seventy-four years before Christ). He attempted to counter the prevailing beliefs by preaching that there would be no Christ. While it is appropriate that much has been written about the teachings of Korihor and how they are echoed in our day, this article will focus on a different aspect of Korihor’s preaching: the accusation that the people in the land of Zarahemla were in bondage, both to a belief in Christ and to the leaders of the Church. “O ye that are bound down under a foolish and a vain hope, why do ye yoke yourselves with such foolish things? . . . Ye say that this people is a free people. Behold, I say: These are in bondage” (Alma 30:13, 24). This theme of bondage is what connects Korihor to Zeniff. He even repeats a passage from Zeniff’s record. He was making a rhetorical appeal to the Nephite history of bondage to make his message more persuasive. Zeniff’s Description of the Lamanites Zeniff realized that the Lamanites had only allowed them to live in the land of Nephi so that they could bring them into bondage. He explains the motive of the King of the Lamanites and provides a description of his people in stark but clear terms:

  6. AUG 9

    Nurture and Harvest: A Continued Conversation with The Annotated Book of Mormon

    Abstract: Because Grant Hardy’s important book deliberately contextualizes the Book of Mormon in light of “the generally agreed upon findings of modern biblical scholars and historians,” it invites further discussion on points in which the Book of Mormon and other significant biblical scholars and historians challenge those findings. Hardy also declares that his commentary “is consistently focused on the plain meaning of the text,” which is understandably appealing, but which is in tension with Joseph Smith’s foundational observation that “the different teachers of the religion understood the same passages of scripture so differently as to destroy all confidence in settling the question by an appeal to the Bible.” I argue on several key issues that a different contextualization can radically change meaning. All the texts in the chosen canon would have had an original context, which presupposed a certain pattern of shared beliefs within which the text was set. The context was as much a part of the meaning as the words themselves. Set in a new context, the same text would soon acquire a new meaning. —Margaret Barker1 The [Page 110]Annotated Book of Mormon2 is, true to its title, an annotated edition of the Book of Mormon, providing notes and commentary on a text held sacred by millions of people. I previously reviewed the book and recommended it for its valuable insights and contributions.3 But I also noted that despite the author’s insider background and careful observations, the lens through which he views the text is, on several key issues, defined by an outsider perspective. The purpose of this essay is to examine the lens used for those key issues and provide additional information that thoughtful readers will want to consider in their own study. That being said, readers should understand that I make no claim that my examination is exhaustive. Indeed, this essay should be considered a “continued conversation,” drawing upon my own collection of thoughts that reflect my understanding of some topics addressed in The Annotated Book of Mormon. In no way should engaging in such a conversation be construed as disparaging the author (Grant Hardy), his faith commitment,4 or the book he has meticulously created. Hardy explains his approach to his work this way: All commentaries have biases of some kind or another. This work is an experiment in reading the Book of Mormon as scripture, a genre that is somewhat distinct from both history and fiction. On the one hand, I take its ostensible historical context seriously, trying to imagine how it might be read as an example of exilic literature informed by Hebre...

  7. AUG 2

    Uncanonized Revelations

    Review of Stephen O. Smoot and Brian C. Passantino, eds., Joseph Smith’s Uncanonized Revelations (Provo, UT: Religious Studies Center; Salt Lake City: Deseret Book, 2024). 184 pages, $24.99 (hardcover). Abstract: In an important new volume, we now have easy access to revelations received by the Prophet Joseph Smith that were not included in the Doctrine and Covenants. In November 1831, while the early latter-day revelations were being prepared for eventual publication in the Book of Commandments, Joseph Smith invited Church leaders attending a conference to express their collective testimony about the revelations.1 They wrote, in part, We the undersigners feel willing to bear testimony to all the world of mankind to every creature upon all the face of all the Earth upon the Islands of the Sea that god hath born record to our souls through the Holy Ghost shed forth upon us that these commandments are given by inspiration of God & are profitable for all men & are verily true.2 In August 1835, when the Doctrine and Covenants was being prepared for publication, the Quorum of Twelve Apostles issued a testimony about the revelations it contained, a testimony that was published in the book. It included these words: [Page 104]The testimony of the witnesses to the book of the Lord’s commandments, which he gave to his church through Joseph Smith, jr. who was appointed by the voice of the church for this purpose: we therefore feel willing to bear testimony to all the world of mankind, to every creature upon the face of all the earth, and upon the islands of the sea, that the Lord has borne record to our souls, through the Holy Ghost shed forth upon us, that these commandments were given by inspiration of God, and are profitable for all men, and are verily true. We give this testimony unto the world, the Lord being our helper.3 The testimony of the Twelve was then followed by the testimony of the Seventy, who “accepted and acknowledged it as the doctrine and covenants of their faith,” and then in turn by the two bishoprics, the traveling elders, the priests, the teachers, the deacons, and then “the whole congregation, . . . the several authorities, and the general assembly.”4 These efforts can be seen as the beginnings of the process of canonization in the Church. The word canon—from Latin, which got it from the Greek word meaning rule or measuring stick, which got it from the word for reed or reed length in Semitic languages—implies a rule, ruler, or standard against which other things are measured. Regarding sacred writings, canonization is the formal acceptance by a constituted body of Church members, representing the whole Church, of a text as scripture—as authoritative and binding, as a “standard work.” The Bible and the Book of Mormon apparently didn’t need to be canonized, because they had already been designated by God as scripture (1 Nephi 13:20–25; Doctrine and Covenants 17:6; 20:8–11; 33:16). In preparation for the printing of the Book of Commandments and, later, the Doctrine and Covenants, Joseph Smith and his associates went through the Prophet’s recorded revelations and selected those th...

  8. AUG 2

    The Anomaly: Elliott West’s Continental Reckoning and its Latter-day Saints

    Review of Elliott West, Continental Reckoning: The American West in the Age of Expansion (Lincoln: University of Nebraska Press, 2023). 704 pages, $39.95 (hardcover). Abstract: This review explores how Latter-day Saints are portrayed in a new landmark history of the American West. Noting the author’s generally accurate portrayal of the Saints, this review focuses on some areas that were missing in this Bancroft Prize winning book that has numerous implications for Latter-day Saint studies. Elliot West, a prolific historian of the American West and author of numerous works including The Contested Plains1 and The Last Indian War,2 explores an expansive history of the Greater Reconstruction in the American West in his recently published prize-winning work Continental Reckoning: The American West in the Age of Expansion.3 “Greater Reconstruction” is a larger temporal framing of the United States’ effort to “reconstruct” the nation following the Civil War. West argues that the process of Reconstruction began not in 1865 with the end of the Civil War but instead in the 1840s, as [Page 98]American forces marched into Mexican territory. This view prioritizes the American West not only as a laboratory for society and empire, but as a place of dramatic change that influenced the eastern United States far more than scholars have previously suggested. West skillfully argues throughout his book that the birthing and growth of the American West led to dramatic changes in the rest of the United States. As he notes near the beginning of his text, “the remaking of the nation . . . unsettled it more profoundly than ever in its history” (p. 2). Following explorers, settlers, soldiers, Native Americans, politicians, and miners across the wide expanse of the American West, Continental Reckoning is a tour-de-force that will be generative of many important discussions in coming years. Stretching across twenty-three chapters, West explores the familiar and the less well known as he suggests that “the American West was both the child and the midwife of the new United States” (p. 454). While there are numerous aspects of this work that will be of interest to scholars of Latter-day Saint history, I will focus primarily on the role that Latter-day Saints play within the text itself. The idea of expanding Reconstruction beyond the eastern United States with a longer temporal framework will likely receive a warm welcome by Latter-day Saint scholars, some of whom have already sought to push the timeframe of Reconstruction to include the federal government’s campaign against the Latter-day Saints in the 1880s and 1890s.4 Scholars of Latter-day Saint history will readily note that the Latter-day Saint experience of Reconstruction could be said to have started long before the final shots of the Civil War, as eastern politicians sought to remake the Latter-day Saint faith to match a broader American Protestant tradition. Latter-day Saints were an “other,” demonized and racialized as a sub-human group throughout America and the broader...

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The Interpreter Foundation is a nonprofit educational organization focused on the scriptures of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (the Book of Mormon, the Pearl of Great Price, the Bible, and the Doctrine and Covenants), early LDS history, and related subjects. All publications in its journal, Interpreter: A Journal of Latter-day Saint Faith and Scholarship, are peer-reviewed and made available as free internet downloads or through at-cost print-on-demand services. Other posts on the website are not necessarily peer-reviewed, but are approved by Interpreter’s Executive Board. Our goal is to increase understanding of scripture through careful scholarly investigation and analysis of the insights provided by a wide range of ancillary disciplines, including language, history, archaeology, literature, culture, ethnohistory, art, geography, law, politics, philosophy, statistics, etc. Interpreter will also publish articles advocating the authenticity and historicity of LDS scripture and the Restoration, along with scholarly responses to critics of the LDS faith. We hope to illuminate, by study and faith, the eternal spiritual message of the scriptures—that Jesus is the Christ. Although the Board fully supports the goals and teachings of the Church, The Interpreter Foundation is an independent entity and is not owned, controlled by, or affiliated with The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints or with Brigham Young University. All research and opinions provided on this site are the sole responsibility of their respective authors, and should not be interpreted as the opinions of the Board nor as official statements of LDS doctrine, belief, or practice.

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