Linguistics and the Book of Mormon ~ Hebraisms and Word Prints

Here are some interesting notes regarding the Book of Mormon. They strengthen my testimony that it is a translation of an ancient document with roots in the Near East and not a 19th Century American fabrication. 

One such note concerns its linguistic connection to Hebrew language and culture.  People who read the book sometimes comment on what seems to be awkward sentence structure and grammar.  More recent research by scholars shows that, while it is not good English syntax, it is excellent Hebrew.  For example, the cumbersome phrase, “and it came to pass” is a literal translation of a small Egyptian symbol used in ancient middle-eastern writing to indicate that one thought has finished and another begun, much in the same way we would use a period.  It also has inverted terms such as plates of brass instead of brass plates. It is full of cognitive accusatives which is more common in Hebrew and awkward in English.  The plates of Cumorah are as full of what scholars call Hebraisms as are the scrolls from Qumran.

 

Chaismus

 

In 1962, a young LDS missionary noticed that the Book of Mormon is full of ancient Hebrew poetic forms such as parallelism and, more complexly, inverted parallelisms or chiasmus.

Chiasmus, a complex Hebrew poetic form, is difficult to master and was unknown in the United States until the Twentieth Century  It uses inverted parallelism to make a point. Some of the chiasmus in the Book of Mormon are more intricate than anything in the Bible, including Isaiah.  Hebrew scholars (non-LDS) who have read, for example, the writing of Alma, have commented that Alma was a master poet, skilled at writing in chiasmus form.

This poetic form was used in Middle Eastern literature because it made it easy for people to remember.  Most people in ancient times didn't read scripture and other texts first hand: they heard them.  The Old Testament (particularly Isaiah) is full of chiasmus, as is the Book of Mormon.  In form, it makes an X, hence the name (chi being the Greek name for the letter X.)  It involves telling a story one way, then repeating the in reverse order.  Here is an old nursery rhyme that is a very simple chiasmus used here to show the form:

Old King Cole was a merry old soul (King, merry) 

And a merry old soul was he. (merry, King) 

Now, here is a chiasmus from a Book of Mormon text that we have already read.  It is slightly more complex because it is and Aa Bb, then an AB/C c/ab:

And it shall come to pass that the Jews shall have the words of the Nephites, (Jews A, Nephites, B) and the Nephites shall have the words of the Jews; (Nephites b, Jews a) and the Nephites and the Jews shall have the words of the lost tribes of Israel; (Jews and Nephites AB, other tribes C) and the lost tribes of Israel shall have the words of the Nephites and the Jews. (other tribes c, Jews and Nephites ba)

We will revisit this literary form when we get to the writings of Mosiah and Alma.

Word Prints

Another point of interest to me is the science of word prints.  Writers have distinctive styles of writing that are as unique to them as their fingerprints.  Using computers and the statistical analysis of variance techniques, writings can be analyzed to determine authorship.  This technique has been used to prove that Shakespeare did indeed write the works whose authorship had been questioned for years.  Word print studies indicate multiple authors in the Book of Mormon.  Even with Mormon’s abridgement and Joseph’s translating, the individual styles of the original authors are evident.  This would have been very difficult if not impossible for any one individual to have fabricated.  Mormon often interjects his own ideas into a passage he is quoting which could be very confusing, but word print analysis can indicate where Mormon is quoting Alma and where Mormon is writing as Mormon!

 

Spaulding

Word print analysis has also shown that the writings in the Book of Mormon do not match the writing of the 19^th century writers Joseph Smith, Oliver Cowdery, or a man named Spaulding (someone anti-Mormons have claimed for years wrote the Book of Mormon.) Scholars of linguistics who have studied this subject in depth have come to the conclusion than no 19th Century American could have written the Book of Mormon.

 

Bottom line: Joseph Smith did not write the Book of Mormon. No one from the 19^th century did or could have.  It is an ancient record whose very content testifies of its Hebrew roots. Joseph Smith found it the way he said he found it and he translated it by the gift and power of God.  I challenge you to read his testimony and the testimony of eleven other witnesses, pray about it, and ask God who wrote it.  And when ye shall receive these things, I would exhort you that ye would ask God, the Eternal Father, in the name of Christ, if these things are not true; and if ye shall ask with a sincere heart, with real intent, having faith in Christ, he will manifest the truth of it unto you by the power of the Holy Ghost.  And by the power of the Holy Ghost ye may know the truth of all things. (Moroni 10: 4-5)

Text copyright July 2013 Gebara Education

Pictures:

Qumran from www.christianity.about.com 

Chiasmus from www.inthebeginning.org

Joseph and Oliver from www.lds.org

Spaulding from www.alexandriave.gov

Old King Cole chiasmus from www.inthedoghousenow.wordpress.com