For it were not possible that our father, Lehi, could have remembered all these things, to have taught them to his children, except it were for the help of these plates; for he having been taught in the language of the Egyptians therefore he could read these engravings, and teach them to his children, that thereby they could teach them to their children, and so fulfilling the commandments of God, even down to this present time. (Mosiah 1:4)
I was listening to this chapter yesterday and then read it again today. I don’t know that I have anything profound to say about it but I wanted to point a few things out that I think are of interest.
The plates and the information they contained was critically important in perpetuating the covenants between the people and God. Lehi was taught in the language of the Egyptians, it never says how but that information might have been in the book of Lehi that was unfortunately lost.
This verse says that the engravings on the brass plates were in the Egyptian language, but I guess that somehow I missed that detail. I had speculated that perhaps Lehi knew Demotic and that was the language they wrote their plates in.
The brass plates might have been an unprecedented artifact, something akin to the Antikythera mechanism or the Codex Gigas, crafted by some passionate visionary and retained in a private treasury.
Because Hieratic was used in priestly texts, it might have proven suitable for something sacred and special like a one-of-a-kind brass edition of the Hebrew scriptures. There could be many other reasons for using the Egyptian language, they could have been created in Egypt as part of an Egyptian library, their creator might have been Egyptian convert living in Jerusalem, or perhaps the more cursive script was more attractive and sophisticated than the blocky Paleo-Hebrew used at the time.
I think much of the Anthon transcript, which contains characters allegedly copied from the Nephite ‘golden’ plates, looks more Demotic, but perhaps the same sort of simplifications to Heiratic that resulted in Demotic could have happened independently among the Nephites over time. They did alter their alphabet and language over time, but we don’t know in what way or to what extent. The fact that the Brother of Jared’s interpreters were included signified that this would be a lost language to future generations and would require special means for interpretation.
Lehi and his party would have all most likely written in Paleo-Hebrew which preceded the more block-style alphabet used when the Aramaic alphabet gained popularity 100 years after they left Jerusalem. Paleo-Hebrew is virtually identical to the Phoenician alphabet and they are both strikingly similar to Hieratic. The Heiratic seems to be a more beautiful-looking alphabet compared to the Paleo-Hebrew and that combined with the brass plates as precedent might be the reason why Lehi and his posterity continued to use Hieratic or some form of Egyptian writing on the plates.
If the alphabets were virtually the same, then it stands to reason that it would be no problem writing the Hebrew language using the Hieratic alphabet. I’m guessing it might not have been much different than cursive versus regular block lettering. I could be wrong about any of what I just wrote, don’t take my word for it but that’s my working theory for the moment.
The other thing in this verse that caught my eye was that Lehi taught his children the Egyptian language so that they could read the plates. I wonder how many of his children actually learned the Egyptian language. I think we could reasonably agree that Nephi and Jacob knew the language since they wrote on the plates. Not being able to read the plates was just as bad as not possessing them at all in the first place. Perhaps that is part of the curse that fell upon those that left the Nephites, that they perished in ignorance, descending into a darkness where the light of truth could not penetrate.
This brings to mind what I think is a very cool idea. The Nephites had to actually learn a new language to read their scriptures and a very similar challenge is before us today. The standard King James Version of the Bible is, in a way, another language from the English we speak in the present.
What steps are we taking to help our children read the scriptures and understand not just the physical words that are spoken, but the symbolism, metaphors, idioms, cultural peculiarities, and writing styles? Ideally, we could learn Greek and Hebrew and read them straight from the source, but until then we can explore other translations of the Bible or study a concordance for greater insight.
Lehi saw that the plates were not only secured but that his posterity could read and understand them. That took effort, time, and dedication, but how much are we willing to put in to see that our posterity has that same blessing? Will we stand as great patriarchs and matriarchs of the next generation or perpetuate a casual relationship with sacred things?
What do you think?
- What challenges have the scriptures presented to you in terms of language? Have you found any success in overcoming those challenges?
- What are some good approaches for helping children overcome the language hurdle scripture presents.
2 Comments
I’m assuming that you are Jerry Grover based on a comment thread I found on a forum where you have the same username and identify yourself as Bro. Grover.
I skimmed the entire document today and frankly, I found it to be quite an interesting read, one that I would highly recommend. You’ve done quite a bit of research here, this is a very beefy document and there is a ton of stuff to think about and research independently.
It would be interesting to see if you could have your research peer-reviewed by any open-minded scholars who would be willing to take a swing at some of your conclusions.
If I have to be honest, it seems a little suspicious on the surface that you would be able to identify any kind of narrative from the Anthon transcript as an independent researcher. But then again, I don’t know how many people have taken that seriously. I just watched a documentary a few days ago about cracking the Mayan code so many of the things you brought up about the Mayan language were fresh in my mind.
Many of the angles you took in this document reflect some of my own personal theories and ideas so it was kind of a pleasant surprise to see that you came to some of the same conclusions that I have. You’ve taken things a step further by comparing the characters with Mayan which I haven’t seen anyone do before.
While some things in your document are beyond my capacity to validate, you raise some very interesting points and identify some direct hits with Hieratic and there is a wealth of new questions and ideas that this document brings up that could potentially spawn some new discoveries.
Kudos for putting this together. While I remain healthily skeptical, I applaud your efforts and look forward to taking a deeper look at this content and following the progress of your research. Thank you for sharing.
I’d be interested in having you put together a synopsis of your work to post here on my blog so that others can learn more.
You brighten my day with new and wonderful things to think about. Thank you.
I think one of the basic issues here was simply that of space. Consider the following from Mormon Chapter 9:
32 And now, behold, we have written this record according to our knowledge, in the characters which are called among us the reformed Egyptian, being handed down and altered by us, according to our manner of speech.
33 And if our plates had been sufficiently large we should have written in Hebrew; but the Hebrew hath been altered by us also; and if we could have written in Hebrew, behold, ye would have had no imperfection in our record.
I like what you say here, and I think it’s another key: “The brass plates might have been an unprecedented artifact, something akin to the Antikythera mechanism or the Codex Gigas, crafted by some passionate visionary and retained in a private treasury.”
Perhaps it was the material itself that was so precious. Maybe they knew they needed every little scrap of space on this metal that was not plentiful, but very sacred. We know for instance that precious materials might have been rare. It says in 2 Nephi 5:16 that, “And I, Nephi, did build a temple; and I did construct it after the manner of the temple of Solomon save it were not built of so many precious things; for they were not to be found upon the land, wherefore, it could not be built like unto Solomon’s temple. But the manner of the construction was like unto the temple of Solomon; and the workmanship thereof was exceedingly fine.”
So that’s my basic theory: the plates may have been the only type of a particular precious metal that they had, or, the Lord dedicated, consecrated, and commanded them to use those particular small plates for a wise and glorious purpose. And because we know they were very small, the Nephites needed to do the best they could with what they had. Remember when you could only have 60 characters or so to send a text message? That was really a trial for me in learning how to say something direct using such a limited space.
Regarding the scriptures that we use today, I would argue that it is precisely the “King James” language that helps keep the records so sacred. The youth of the Church are able to know through the Spirit that the language is sacred, partially because the language is so different from what they are seeing on the internet, watching on TV, or texting with their friends. I think this is a great “built in security feature.” As a convert to the Church, I knew the scriptures were special. Thinking back on it, it was probably the nature of the language, (along with what I was reading), that had such a profound impact on me. I noticed the special quality right away – just like the language of prayer. The Lord knows what he is doing, and through His ways and means he is able to keep sacred what is meant to be sacred.