Greek And Hebrew

[Uncle Dale]

...

Wilford Wood Museum in Woods Cross, Utah.

 ...

 

 

Been there a couple of times -- through the kindness of the family.

More than anything else, what interested me were some tiny

shreds of paper -- about what you'd end up with, if you left a

small napkin in your shirt pocket by mistake and sent it through

the wash.

 

Though slightly less yellow, and barely legible, it was obviously

the same stuff that I had seen laminated and spread out upon

Dr. Arrington's desk, back when the archives were still in

the COB.

 

Two disparate specimens of foolscap, not joined together since 

Major Bidamon fished the whole mass out of a water-soaked

Nauvoo cornerstone... reunited together, at last, in the memory

cells of this old infidel.

 

An experience not to be had by more than a tiny handful of

The Handful. Probably it deserved a more loyal witness than I.

 

UD

[Robert F. Smith]

Well, the people to ask were the Whitney family in Kirtland.

Seems that angelic (?) voices were heard in their residence,

announcing that wonderful things were about to occur in

their little town. Other members of Rigdon's congregations

in the area had less supernatural, but equally exciting

discoveries to rally their enthusiasm. Eliza Snow had heard

of Joseph Smith's gold bible, before the "four missionaries"

ever showed up -- as had Orson Hyde, another of Rigdon's

parishioners. Not to mention the fact that the local newspaper

had printed the breath-taking news as early as 1829.

 

Parley P. Pratt's "Angel of the Prairies" experiences date to

this era, and his lore-revealing serif compares well with Eliza's

published poem, hinting at similar fore-telling.

 

Obviously "something" was in the air...

 

UD

Well, yeh, now that you mention it, I have ancestors among the charismatic Hulets (early Mormon converts), and the late A. J. Simmonds of Utah State University, Logan, found that one did not have to look far afield in that milieu to find groups (including future Mormons) shot through with occult and prophetic activity --  Simmonds, "John Noah and the Hulets: A Study in Charisma in the Early Church," paper presented 26 May 1979 at the Mormon History Association annual meeting in Lamoni, Iowa (I attended it).

Maybe you knew Simmonds, and that he was an early mentor of forger Mark Hofmann (but not in a bad way).

 

I am also aware of the following precursor visions:

 

On the same night that Joseph took the numinous gold plates from the hill, at separate locations, and knowing nothing of Joseph Smith, Brigham and Miriam Young, John and Fanny Young, Heber and Vilate Kimball, and John and Rhoda Greene all experienced an extraordinary heavenly vision, as noted by Daniel Peterson in Sunstone, 4/2 (Mar-April 1979):31, and W. Jeffrey Marsh in Journal of Book of Mormon Studies, 10/2 (2001):8-9, both citing especially O. F. Whitney, Life of Heber C. Kimball, 2nd ed. (1945/1992), 15-17.   In fact non-Mormon Willis Barnstone, ed., The Other Bible (1984), 537, was quite taken with the strong parallels adduced in comparison with the Apocalypse of Paul and Joseph’s obtaining the Book of Mormon (cited by Kevin Barney in FARMS Review of Books, 13/1 [2001]:16).

 

But what was that night?  Why was it significant?  It was September 22, 1827, the Autumnal Equinox and New Moon (first crescent).  Joseph had been coming to the hill every year on Sept 22, but this was the first time that it coincided with the close of a Sabbatical Year, and began on 1 Tishri of the floating Jewish calendar, New Year's Day, the beginning of the High Holy Days, concluding on the tenth day with the Day of Atonement, the most holy day of the Jewish year.  Tishri 1 was the day of coronation (cf. Alma 51:34 - 52:1, 62:36-39), temple dedication (I Ki 8:2-66, II Chron 7:8-10; cf. Ex 40:2-38), and covenant renewal beginning the High Holy Days (Neh 8:1-18; Alma 28:4 - 30:2, 44:24 - 45:1,20), but it was also an anniversary of cosmic proportion: 1 Tishri was the traditional day of Creation of the World, the day of birth of Adam, the Patriarchs, Jesus, and the day of the accession of God to His Throne.

 

Indeed, Eric Werner shows that the ancient christian liturgy of Christmas was taken originally from the Jewish liturgy for the Autumnal New Year and that Jewish-Christians first celebrated the Nativity (Christmas) then, rather than in December at the Winter Solstice (Werner,  The Sacred Bridge, 79-83, 89-90, and nn. 94, 110-111, citing esp. L. Venetianer, Jüdisches im Christentum, 139).

 

EDIT:  P.S.  Sometime I'll explain the significance of the tenth day being a special day of safety in Jewish tradition, and how that aided Joseph with the plates -- unless you already know that odd fact.

Edited February 16, 2015 by Robert F. Smith

[omni]

Hebrew or Semitic?  Perhaps you could offer an etymology?  Or, are you being snide?

 

 

 

Isn't Hebrew a Semitic language?

 

Of course, nowhere does the text suggest that Enish-go-on-dosh is Hebrew or Semitic, but instead terms it "Egyptian" for "the Sun" (Abraham Fac 2:5).  

 

 

Yes, I'm aware of that.  However, Joseph was likely unfamiliar with the pronunciation of ancient Egyptian and could have logically concluded it would have "sounded" Semitic.

[Uncle Dale]

...

(I attended it).

...

EDIT: P.S. Sometime I'll explain the significance of the tenth day being a special day of safety in Jewish tradition, and how that aided Joseph with the plates -- unless you already know that odd fact.

Yeah, I was living in Utah at the time and flew back to Kansas City

on the same plane as Arrington and crew. It was in the men's

showers at the dorms they stuck us in that I heard the quip

that the Tanners "ought to be put on the Church payroll," that

I think must be preserved among my early MD&D postings.

As for Jewish calendars and all, that's fine stuff, so long as we

remember that the word doesn't even occur in scripture until

after the Babylonian captivity. If we wish to apply a label to

any calendar carried across the oceans by Lehites (and thus

presumably sanctioned by God for Manchester manifestations

in a later century) the proper designation would be Israelite.

Then again, Mulekites were partly from Judah, so perhaps

there's some passage in the Nephite Record applicable to

things Jewish...

As for Brigham seeing signs in the heavens, etc., I'm more

interested in the claim made by his Gentile neighbor, that

the excited glazier took the trouble to go visit the Palmyra

area, and ask about these "heavenly" matters.

Brigham need not have journeyed far to get some personal

testimony. When Father Smith was held for a month in

Canadaigua jail (with Eli Bruce) Brigham was working on

a house in the same township. I'd list him as a likely

attendee at one or more of Father Smith's Sunday jail

yard preaching services.

And yet....

An informal critic recently e-mailed me, in regard to some

stuff featured at Solomonspalding-dot-com, and had this

to say:

"Every thing you quote comes from a time AFTER the

Book of Mormon was published. The 1833 letter came

three years too late to prove anything. Where are the

letters and articles about Dr. [sic] Spaulding's alleged

ten lost tribes, written before that book? If anything,

what you've put online serves to show that the testimony

was made up to attack Mormons, and isn't true..."

It's a hard thing, to discover evidence to support the

Spalding claims, written or published prior to 1830.

But, perhaps some dedicated documents explorer will

one day uncover a Brigham Young or Eliza R. Snow

holograph from before that date -- complete with an

account of the visions and blessings of old returning

and angels coming to visit the soon-to-be Saints.

UD

Edited February 16, 2015 by Uncle Dale

[Uncle Dale]

...

As for Brigham seeing signs in the heavens, etc., I'm more

interested in the claim made by his Gentile neighbor, that

the excited glazier took the trouble to go visit the Palmyra

area, and ask about these "heavenly" matters.

 

 

 

On the night of the 21st of September 1827, Brigham purportedly witnessed a  

supernatural manifestation at Oswego, on the shores of Lake Ontario:

>"The night the plates were found, there was a great light in the East and it

>went to the West and it was very bright although there was no moon at the

>time. I gazed at it in company with my wife. The light was perfectly clear

>and remained several hours. It formed into men as if there were great

>armies in the West; and I then saw the northwest armies of men come up.

>They would march to the South West and then go out of sight. It was very

>remarkable occurrence. It passed on, and continued perhaps two hours.

>Soon after this the Book of Mormon was printed and came into our section

>of the country...."

>("Family Meeting in Nauvoo," Utah Genealogical and Historical Magazine,

>XI:3 -- July, 1920 pp. 104 ff.)

 

Given the fact that Brigham's friend, Henry Wells, claimed to have visited the

Smith home at about this same time (and there to have handled "the plates"),

it is no wonder that Brigham's employer during the mid-1820s would later make

this assertion:

>While engaged in boat building, the air became filled with rumors

>of a new revelation, to the effect that a new Bible written upon golden

>plates had been dug out of the earth at Palmyra, a canal village 25

>miles west of Port Byron. Each day brought new accounts of the

>wonder and each account would differ from its predecessor. Finally

>Brigham determined to investigate for himself, expecting to be able

>to expose it as a fraud.

>

>Accordingly, on a Saturday morning he boarded a west-bound canal

>boat and Sunday morning found him in Palmyra, where he spent the

>day with those who had been investigating the subject. Becoming

>interested, he spent several succeeding Sundays in like manner and,

>instead of exposing the new teaching as a fraud as he had anticipated

>doing, he became a firm convert to the doctrines there expounded.

>>Most 19th and 20th century LDS renditions of Brigham Young's biography

>>omit the c. 1827 episode mentioned by William Hayden, regarding

>>Brigham's trip to Palmyra to investigate Joseph Smith and the Book of

>>Mormon. (One of the rare exceptions can be found in the the article

>>"Brigham Young in His Earlier Years," in the Deseret Evening News of

>>Dec. 20, 1913, p. 68).

>>

>>in Salt Lake City, on April 6, 1855, Brigham is reported to have said

>>"I was somewhat acquainted with the coming forth of the Book of Mormon,

>>not only through what I read in the newspapers, but I also heard a great

>>many stories and reports which were circulated as quick as the Book

>>of Mormon was printed, and began to be scattered abroad." (Journal of

>>Discourses, Vol. 2, p. 249.)

>>

>>In an interview with the New York Sun's reporter, Melville D. Landon, in

>>1877 Brigham reportedly said: "when I was 26 old -- this was in 1827,

>>and I was living on [Ontario] Lake -- I picked up a Palmyra newspaper

>>one day and read this paragraph: 'A young man named Joseph Smith,

>>formerly of Palmyra, but now living in Manchester, N. Y., claims to have

>>received a spiritual revelation from God, They say a messenger from God

>>has visited Smith in person, surrounded by a halo of glory, and given him

>>information in regard to the aboriginal prophets of this continent.

 

hmmmm.... If Brigham did indeed witness this marvelous vision

above the waters of Lake Ontario, and did indeed hear of Smith's

claims regarding the plates, and did indeed investigate the claims

coming out of Palmyra, why did he not "put two and two together"

and realize that the simultaneous Port Byron and Manchester

Cumorah events confirmed one another?

 

Why wait until after moving to within walking distance of the

Hill Cumorah, himself?

 

 

 

Why wait until after building the house so near Father Smith's

Canandaigua incarceration?

 

Enquiring minds wish to know...

 

UD

Edited February 16, 2015 by Uncle Dale