Site:SS lessons/BOM lesson 18

From Feast upon the Word (http://feastupontheword.org). Copyright, Feast upon the Word.

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Mosiah 12:1-5

The Book of Mormon > Mosiah > Chapter 12

Previous (Mosiah 11:26-29)

Next (Mosiah 12:6-10)

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Questions

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Verse 1

Why does Abinadi come in disguise, but then announce his name to everyone?
The LORD says that the people haven't repented. In what ways had the people of Noah been given previous opportunities to repent?
What does it mean to be visited by the LORD in his "fierce anger"? How does this challenge our notions of a kind, patient, and loving Heavenly Father?

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Verse 2

Is this a quotation of any recognizable Old Testament or apocryphal passages, or conglomeration of such passages?
Why does Abinadi have to "stretch forth" his hand?

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Verse 3

What does it mean to "value" a life "as a garment in a hot furnace"? What can this possibly have to do with Noah knowing the LORD?

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Verse 4

How does the LORD smite people? Does he actually do something proactive here, or is he just going to withdraw his protection from their enemies and the elements?
Is this image of people howling used just for effect, or is there something more significant about the people howling?

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Verse 5

What is a dumb ass? Domestic donkeys (Equus asinus) are not known to have occurred anywhere in the Americas before European colonization. Is the LORD referring to another beast of burden here, is our archaeological picture of domestic animals in the Americas incomplete, or is there something else going on here?

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Lexical notes

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Verse 2

"Wild beasts." "Wild beasts" are mentioned in 21 other passages of LDS scripture. Perhaps most relevant to this context are the following: Lev 26:22 where wild beasts are included among the covenantal curses following disobedience; Isa 13:21-22 (also quoted in 2 Ne 23:21-22) where the destruction of Babylon is described; Isa 34:14 where the day of the LORD's vengeance is described--notice vultures are also mentioned in close proximity (v. 15).

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Exegesis

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Questions

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Verse 8

Were the people of Noah "utterly destroyed"?
This warning sounds a lot like what happened to the Jaredites (destroyed, but left a record). Is the LORD likening the people of Noah to the Jaredites? How much might the people of Noah known about the Jaredite destruction before their expedition bring back the 24 plates of Ether?

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Verse 9

Why would the people charge Abinadi with prophesying evil "concerning" the people? Does this constitute a legal charge?

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Verse 10

On what basis would the people charge Abinadi with prophsying evil concerning the life of the king?

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Questions

Why do Noah's priest choose to quote this part of Isaiah? How in quoting this part were they hoping to "cross [Abinidi], that therebey they might have herewith to accuse him" (verse 19)? What trap were they laying for Abinidi?

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Lexical notes

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Exegesis

It seems that the priests were using Isaiah’s praise here to justify their flattering of the people and their own debauched lifestyle Mosiah 11:7. In contrast, Abinadi has been telling the people that they were sinning and needed to repent (e.g. Mosiah 12:13).

In verse 25 Abinidi asks the priests why, since they are the priests, they are looking to Abinidi to explain the scriptures. Then in the next several chapters Abinidi provides his explanation culminating in Mosiah 15:10-14 where he says that those who prophesy of the coming of Lord and remission of sins are those Isaiah is talking about in verse 21.

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Verse 1

Chapter breaks in Isaiah. Most modern commentators seem to begin this suffering servant passage with Isa 52:13. What do we know about the history of these chapter breaks in Isaiah as we have received them today? Why might Abinadi not include Isa 52:13-15? How do the different ways of breaking up the chapters in Isaiah affect the interpretation of these passages?

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Verse 1

What does it mean for God to "come down"?
What does the plural phrase "chidren of men" mean and how might it be related to the identical (in Hebrew) but singular title "Son of Man" which is later used for Christ?
If Christ comes down "among" the children of men, is that how he attains the title "Son of Man"?
Who are "his people" that God will come down to redeem? What makes them "his"?
Is there a difference between "the children of men" and "his people"?

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Verse 3

Here it states that Christ is the Father because He was conceived by the power of God. How does this make Christ more of a father rather than a son if He was begotten of another?
In verse 3 "God" must refer to God the Father--the father of Jesus Christ. Why doesn't Abinadi give God the Father a title that would distinguish him from the many names he is using for Jesus Christ in these verses?

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Verse 4

Does the title "the very Eternal Father of heaven and of earth" refer to Christ? If so, why does Abinadi apply this title to him?

With our understanding of the Godhead, this seems like a really complicated way to explain things. Did Abinadi have the same knowledge about the Godhead that we now do? If so, why did he choose this way of explaining things?

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Lexical notes

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Verse 1

"Children of Men" This phrase (HEB Ben Adam) occurs only sparingly in most of the Old Testament--only 9 times (Gen 11:5,1 Sam 26:19, 2 Sam 7:14, 1 Kings 8:39, 2 Chronicles 6:30, Proverbs 15:11, Lamendations 3:33, Eze 31:14, Daniel 2:38) outside of the 14 times in Psalms. Its primary use in Psalms may indicate that it perhaps has an unrecognized ritual context. In particular, it occurs in the early Davidic Psalms and four times in Ps 107, presumably written after the Exile for the dedication of the Second Temple, which has the theme "The LORD delivers from trouble".

This phrase is much more common in the Book of Mormon, where it occurs 7 times in 2 Nephi 27, and more especially in King Benjamin's discourse about Christ (Mosiah 3). Its usage here by Abinadi is practically identical to that used at roughly the same time by King Benjamin, where he declares that "For behold, the time cometh, and is not far distant, that with power, the Lord Omnipotent who reigneth, who was, and is from all eternity to all eternity, shall come down from heaven among the children of men, and shall dwell in a tabernacle of clay, and shall go forth amongst men, working mighty miracles" (Mosiah 3:5). Both statements are in turn closely related to Nephi's account of his vision, where he reported that "I looked, and I beheld the Son of God going forth among the children of men" (1 Ne 11:24)

The singular version of this phrase (son of man) is very common in the OT after the exile, occuring 108 times. This phrase is a title for the Messiah/Christ that some scholars such as Margaret Barker believe date to First Temple practices preserved in apocryphal literature such as 1 Enoch that pre-date more extensive usage in the New Testament.

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Verse 2

"Will of the Father." In the small plates, the Son is referred to as the son of the Father or the son of God in several places: 1 Ne 11:21; 1 Ne 13:40; 2 Ne 25:16, 19; 2 Ne 31:11-14, 18, 21; Jacob 4:5. However, in the large plates, there is only one previous reference to "the Son of God," in Mosiah 3:8, and this is followed by the modifier, "Father of heaven and earth, the Creator of all things," which is similar to the wording here. Even if Nephi thought about the Father and the Son as separate persons, it is not clear whether Abinadi would have had this understanding. Notice also that in a subsequent story, Amulek answers affirmatively when Zeezrom asks, "Is the Son of God the very Eternal Father" in Alma 11:38ff. Later, in 3 Nephi, the Son seems to refer to himself as the Father, or in terms of the Father ("of the Father because of me", 3 Ne 1:14) early on but, after his resurrection, he refers to himself as being "with the Father", in a term that seems to imply distinction, although "in the Father" (3 Ne 9:15).

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Exegesis

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Setting of the Discourse

Many readers consider the first verses of this chapter among the most confusing in the Book of Mormon. By way of context, this discourse follows immediatly upon Abinadi's full quotation of Isa 53, and should be seen as an explanation of Isaiah's song of the Suffering Servant. In particular, one way to read Abinadi's commentary here of Isa 53:2 (Mosiah 14:2), is to make the following pronouns substitutions: "For he [Christ] shall grow up before him [Elohim] as a tender plant" (see Nyman and Tate, pp. 165-166). In Mosiah 12:21ff, the priests of Noah quoted Isa 52:1ff; then in Mosiah 12:28ff, the priests respond to Abinadi's question about what they are teaching the people by claiming to teach the law of Moses which they later claim brings salvation (Mosiah 12:32). In response, Abinadi chastises the priests for perverting, failing to understand, and not teaching the law of Moses. In Mosiah 12:27ff, Abinadi begins to explain that the priests were wrong for believing that the law of Moses brings salvation. Abinadi's discussion of Isa 53, then, is given in response to this question about the purpose of the law of Moses. In returning to the very passage the priests quoted to Abinadi earlier (or one that was most likely in very close proximity to the one the priests quoted, in whatever scroll or book the priests were reading from), Abinadi shows the priests how they failed to "appl[y] their hearts to understanding" (Mosiah 12:27) by explaining how Isaiah's words should've been (or at least could've been) understood in terms of the Son's crucial role in bringing salvation.

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Verse 1

Abinadi's discourse—or really, the whole situation in which Abinadi delivers his discourse—is riddled with direct quotation, something that happens relatively infrequently in the large plates. This verse, as in every other instance of quotation connected with Abinadi, closes off the quotation with a narrative note of return: "And now Abinadi said unto them..." (cf. 12:25, 37; 13:25). In all previous instances, Abinadi turns immediately to comment upon, or at least to refer to, the texts just quoted, and one might be justified in assuming that something quite similar is at work here: Abinadi's words in this chapter would likely best be read as a kind of commentary on Isaiah 53, albeit a rather complex and unsystematic commentary (that is, it is not a verse-by-verse commentary as one commonly finds today).

Perhaps this is confirmed by the phrasing of Abinadi's first words as recorded in this first verse: "I would that ye should understand...." It would appear that Abinadi knew how Isaiah's words would be interpreted, and so his first words of commentary—though they do not amount to direct commentary at all—anticipate a misunderstanding. Indeed, this first verse might be read as Abinadi's laying out his own presuppositions (quite authoritatively): there is a truth, undiscussed in the text in question, through which the text is to be read. Strictly speaking, of course, this is "bad literary technique," but perhaps it lends some credibility to readings of these verses from a post-First-Vision standpoint. At any rate, it is quite clear that Abinadi announces a kind of programmatic reading: Isaiah 53 is here to be read from the standpoint of one who believes in a still-to-come divine redemption, a condescension through which salvation is to come. This presupposition makes all the difference, and it itself deserves careful interpretation.

The presupposition, in short: "God himself shall come down among the children of men, and shall redeem his people." On the surface, this sentence would not have seemed too radical to Israelite ears (cf. Ex 6:6: "I am the LORD, and I will bring you out from under the burdens of the Egyptians, and I will rid you out of their bondage, and I will redeem you with a stretched out arm, and with great judgments"). And yet it is clear that Abinadi expects Noah's priests not to bring this idea to bear on their reading of Isaiah. It would seem, then, that though Abinadi hardly introduces a radical idea in suggesting that "God himself shall come down ... [to] redeem his people," he recognizes that this idea would never be attached to Isaiah 53 in any kind of traditional reading.

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Verse 13: The phrase "that has not fallen into transgression," sandwiched between two statements about the prophets, seem out of place. Is it referring to anyone in particular?

Answer: Yes, Abinadi is getting ready to turn this all around on the wicked priests. He can't give them any wiggle room.

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Who will partake in the first resurrection?

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Verse 21

The name Christ had already been used in 79 verses prior to Mosiah 15. This clarification "for so he shall be called" seems strange here on the 80th usage when considering the context of the Book of Mormon as a single book, but not when considering Abinadi's context.

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Verse 27

Cannot deny justice. God cannot save everyone, because to do so would make him a liar and he would cease to be God (see Alma 42:13). God's justice is based on just (true, correct) principles; he has clearly set forth the rules and the punishment for breaking those rules (see Alma 5:21-25). We can only choose to obey them or not. Ultimately, our downfall will be our own doing.

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Verse 2-5

Abinadi tells us in verse 3 that because of the fall all mankind is carnal, sensual and devilish. He teaches us in verse 5 that we start out in this state of "carnal nature"—as indicated by the terms persists, goes on, and remaineth. Only by hearkening to the Lord's voice (verse 2) can we be redeemed from that state.

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Questions

In verse 6, Abinadi notes that he is now speaking about the coming of Christ in the past tense. Is there some significance to this switch? If so, what?

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Site:SS lessons/BOM lesson 18

From Feast upon the Word (http://feastupontheword.org). Copyright, Feast upon the Word.

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