Opening the Mouth as Ancient Religious Imagery

[mfbukowski]

Reminds me of the mis pi and pit pi rituals ("mouth-washing" and "mouth-opening"). Does the idea of being God's "mouth" have anything to do with this type of imagery? From what I've read elsewhere, the creation of Adam and the "breath of life" certainly reflect these elements.

I think that creation was primarily linguistic- that is, giving a human context to the chaos- organizing "matter unorganized". Every act of perception is creating a world out of the chaos of sensory input. Abraham 3 and 4 make this pretty clear. "And they CALLED it the third day" etc.

The definition in itself makes it so.

The act of "naming" and "defining" with the "words of my mouth" is what in fact creates this human linguistic context.

Both philosophy and semiotics recognize the importance of linguistic constructivism.

[Joseph Antley]

Cool post, David. The same thing seems to be going on in Joseph Smith's Moses where Satan uses the serpent as his 'prophet':

"And Satan put it into the heart of the serpent, (for he had drawn away many after him,) and he sought also to beguile Eve, for he knew not the mind of God, wherefore he sought to destroy the world. And he said unto the woman: Yea, hath God said

[blackstrap]

Is there any connection with the Egyptian ceremony or is that what WW referred to?

[WalkerW]

Is there any connection with the Egyptian ceremony or is that what WW referred to?

That's what Urrutia's article is on, I believe. I actually think he cites Nibley in it.

[Kevin Christensen]

From an obscure spear carrier on the the Opening of the Mouth:

Not only does Alma declare himself as near death, but the formal response of those around him resembles the "Opening of the Mouth" rite for initiation and rebirth that was intended to "reverse the blows of death."7 A religious leader called a multitude of people to gather to witness the event ritually (Mosiah 27:21). The priests assembled and fasted and prayed for two days and nights that "God would open the mouth of Alma, that he might speak, and also that his limbs might receive their strength" (Mosiah 27:22). Notice the word pairs in Mosiah 27:22

[David Bokovoy]

Cool post, David. The same thing seems to be going on in Joseph Smith's Moses where Satan uses the serpent as his 'prophet':

"And Satan put it into the heart of the serpent, (for he had drawn away many after him,) and he sought also to beguile Eve, for he knew not the mind of God, wherefore he sought to destroy the world. And he said unto the woman: Yea, hath God said

[David Bokovoy]

From an obscure spear carrier on the the Opening of the Mouth:

http://maxwellinstitute.byu.edu/publications/jbms/?vol=2&num=1&id=16

Kevin Christensen

Pittsburgh, PA

Thanks Kevin for drawing our attention to your article. It's worth noting that in Mesopotamian ritual prayers, mouth purification symbolized total and complete purity. Biblical scholar Moshe Weinfeld drew attention to the analogy between Isaiah

[etana]

And working the other way, the mouth is used to add to what a man is, i. e.

Rev 10:10

And I took the little book out of the angel's hand, and ate it up; and it was in my mouth sweet as honey: and as soon as I had eaten it, my belly was bitter

Ez 3:1-3

Then He said to me,

[mfbukowski]

From an obscure spear carrier on the the Opening of the Mouth:

Wow. We definitely have to promote that guy at least to "spear thrower".

[USU78]

This is interesting.

It is also interesting to search "mouth" in the scriptures and see the various uses and some of the similarities in them.

I don't know if this applies, but it came to my mind while reading your OP.

Isa 6:5

[Vance]

You know, this was the one I wanted to list . . . so I went looking and found the Psalm, but it's not nearly as good an example, and it's a wonderful parallel to Moses' calling.

Well this is the one that came to my mind, BUT for some reason I was think it was John the Revelator, so I went looking for it in Revelation. Oops, not there. Then I realized that it was Isaiah.

But now I realize why I was thinking it was John.

Rev 10:8 And the voice which I heard from heaven spake unto me again, and said, Go and take the little book which is open in the hand of the angel which standeth upon the sea and upon the earth.

9 And I went unto the angel, and said unto him, Give me the little book. And he said unto me, Take it, and eat it up; and it shall make thy belly bitter, but it shall be in thy mouth sweet as honey.

10 And I took the little book out of the angel

[USU78]

Well this is the one that came to my mind, BUT for some reason I was think it was John the Revelator, so I went looking for it in Revelation. Oops, not there. Then I realized that it was Isaiah.

But now I realize why I was thinking it was John.

Rev 10:8 And the voice which I heard from heaven spake unto me again, and said, Go and take the little book which is open in the hand of the angel which standeth upon the sea and upon the earth.

9 And I went unto the angel, and said unto him, Give me the little book. And he said unto me, Take it, and eat it up; and it shall make thy belly bitter, but it shall be in thy mouth sweet as honey.

10 And I took the little book out of the angel

[Vance]

Good stuff, and all in the Moses tradition:

Ah Joseph, you magnificent B#$%@$^ evil genius you.