Ether 4:11-15
From Feast upon the Word (http://feastupontheword.org). Copyright, Feast upon the Word.
The Book of Mormon > Ether > Chapter 4
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Contents |
Questions
- How is Christ the light, life, and truth of this world?
Lexical notes
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Exegesis
Verses 13-14
After the equivalence between the Gentiles and the brother of Jared, as worked out in verses 6-7, the structure of these two verses is somewhat surprising: the Israelites and the Gentiles seem to be equated in their relation to the "veil of unbelief" of verse 15. If the Gentiles and the brother of Jared are equivalent in that they can only come into the presence of God through the visitation of the Holy Ghost or through an incredibly superabundant faith that rends the veil, then it is not exactly clear why the Israelites are paired with the Gentiles here. What is most confusing, in the end, is that both the Gentiles and Israel are given the same three word command: "Come unto me." When spoken to the Gentiles, in verse 13, the command seems quite clearly to have reference to the approach as performed by the brother of Jared: the Gentiles are to come before the Lord in an absolutely humble faith, and just so they will be able to rend the veil and pass into the presence of the Lord to see everything. But when the same phrase is spoken to Israel, it is not clear how one should read it. The unquestionable identity with the invitation to the Gentiles suggests that it be read as a similar invitation: Israel is to come in the same humble faith and rend the veil as did the brother of Jared. At the same time, however, that Israel is here in question suggests otherwise, that the invitation is somehow misguided, misplaced, or worded oddly. Clearly, something more is at work here.
Perhaps a first possibility for unraveling this difficulty can be found by thinking the connection implied between the Gentiles and Israel: this is not the only place in the Book of Mormon where the Israelites and the Gentiles are understood to perform their work together before the Lord. In fact, once this pairing is described this way, a thousand passages in the Book of Mormon suddenly come to mind, all suggesting that the Gentiles and Israel are eventually to be combined, the Gentiles joined to Israel in a joint return to the presence of the Lord (the gathering, etc.). But a difficulty nonetheless remains, or rather, this interweaving of Gentiles and Israel does not quite seem to release the tension of the present passage. Throughout the Book of Mormon, the Gentiles are presented as being joined to Israel, the latter being bound, after all, by covenant to the Lord. In the present passage, however, it appears that the Gentiles are the ones with the faith and ability to approach ("come unto me" can only be the approach of the Gentiles/brother of Jared), and it appears as if Israel were attached to the Gentiles in their odd approach, rather than vice versa. There is, in other words, still an important tension between this passage and other Book of Mormon discussions of the Gentiles and Israel: elsewhere Israel seems privileged (through the covenant), but here the Gentiles seem privileged (through the brother of Jared faith/approach).
At the very least, this tension calls for a more careful reading of all Gentile/Israelite relations as worked out in the Book of Mormon.
Related links
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