Latter-day Saints have been known to use a number of “proof-texts” to support the idea that the Bible predicts, rather explicitly at times, the coming forth of the Book of Mormon; such texts would include Ezek 37:15-19 and Isa 29:1-4. I have discussed Ezek 37 here. One of the many exegetical problems with Isa 29:1-4 being applied to the Book of Mormon is that the New World is not in view, but the Old World, as evidenced by v.1:
Woe to Ariel, to Ariel, the city where David dwelt! add ye year to year; let them kill sacrifices.
Ariel, of course, was the ancient name for Jerusalem.
Some may object, and state that what is being said about the Old World is then applied to the New World in v. 2, where we read that Yahweh “will distress Ariel, and there shall be heaviness and sorrow: and it shall be unto men as Ariel.” However, this is a Semitic parallel in Hebrew that doubles up as being a pun; here is the Hebrew:
וַהֲצִיק֖וֹתִי לַֽאֲרִיאֵ֑ל וְהָיְתָ֤ה תַֽאֲנִיָּה֙ וַֽאֲנִיָּ֔ה וְהָ֥יְתָה לִּ֖י כַּאֲרִיאֵֽל
The term לַֽאֲרִיאֵ֑ל means “to Ariel (Jerusalem)”; the term כַּאֲרִיאֵֽל is a combination of the prefixed preposition meaning “like/as” with אֲרִיאֵֽל which means the hearth of an altar, an apt simile for the then-forthcoming divine judgement against Jerusalem, and one that plays on the various meanings and nuances of the Hebrew אריאל term.
Furthermore, the “book” in Isa 29 is not an actual, literal book; the “book” in view is clearly a simile, as evidenced by v. 11 ("as the words of a book" [KJV]; "like the words of a sealed document" [NRSV]).
Notwithstanding the problems with the common LDS interpretation of Isa 29, critics of LDS usage of this chapter are oftentimes guilty of eisegesis of their own. Consider the following from Ron Rhodes and Marian Bodine, when they discuss the term "familiar spirit" in v.4:
· Did you know that every single reference to a "familiar spirit" in the Old Testament relates to necromancy or spiritism?
· Did you know that in passages like Deuteronomy 18:9-12 God condemns anyone who relates in any way to a familiar spirit?
· In view of this, what do you make of the claim by Mormon leaders that the Book of Mormon has a "familiar spirit?" (Reasoning from the Scriptures with the Mormons [Eugene, Oreg.: Harvest House Publishers], 97-98).
Despite this claim, the Hebrew word the KJV translates as "familiar spirit" ( אוֹב) does not directly relates to necromancy. The biblical expression "familiar spirit" often refers to a ghost, and the KJV takes great liberty in construing statements about "them that have familiar spirits" as referring to spirit mediums, even when that is not always intended in the underlying Hebrew. The Hebrew word comes through in the KJV in terms like these:
"Them that have familiar spirits" (Lev 19:31; Isa 8:19; 19:3)
"Those that have [or had] familiar spirits" (1 Sam 28:3, 9)
"The workers with familiar spirits" (2 Kgs 23:24)
"Counsel of one that had a familiar spirit" (1 Chron 10:13)
"Familiar spirits" (2 Kgs 21:6)
In the case of Isa 29:4, the underlying Hebrew is best read as "thy voice shall be as a ghost out of the ground"--it has nothing to do with spirit mediums or other elements of the occult. Notice how the NRSV translates this verse:
Then deep from the earth you shall speak, from low in the dust your words shall come; your voice shall come from the ground like the voice of a ghost, and your speech shall whisper out of the dust.
Alternatively, note how the 1985 JPS Tanakh renders the verse:
And you shall speak from lower than the ground, Your speech shall be humbler than the sod; Your speech shall sound like a ghost's from the ground, Your voice shall chirp from the sod.
Are there any “valid” (read: exegetically sound) texts Latter-day Saints have pointed to that do indeed serve as meaningful evidence for the Book of Mormon? I would be the very first to state that there is no explicit verse or pericope about the Book of Mormon in the Bible, but that is not a problem, unless one works under the false assumption that something must be explicated in the Bible for it to be true; if Latter-day Saints truly held to that view, then one must embrace some form of sola scriptura, a doctrine that I have discussed, and thoroughly refuted, on this blog, as have many other LDS and non-LDS apologists and scholars. Further, there is nothing in the Bible that teaches for “x” to be true “x” must be mentioned, even implicitly, in the Bible. So even if no direct or indirect prophecy of the Book of Mormon were to be found in the Bible, such would not be problematic.
As for the related topic of 2 Nephi 27, the JST, and their relationship to Isa 29, see the essay, "Isaiah 29 and the Book of Mormon" by Robert A. Cloward in Donald W. Parry and John W. Welch, Isaiah in the Book of Mormon (Provo: FARMS, 1998), 191-247, a pdf of the book being available here.
Perhaps the best verse Latter-day Saints can, and indeed, have, pointed to is John 10:16, where the words of the Lord Jesus Christ are referenced:
And other sheep I have, which are not of this fold: them also I must bring, and they shall hear my voice, and there shall be one fold, and one shepherd.
The historical Christian/non-LDS interpretation of this verse is that the “other sheep” in view are the Gentiles, and that the Gentiles would “hear” Christ’s voice through the preaching of the gospel (cf. Matt 28:19). To be fair, this is not an exegetical stretch by any imagination, and if I were not a convinced Latter-day Saint, I would hold to this view, as it is the majority view of all respected commentators and scholars on the Gospel of John (FWIW, I did my undergraduate dissertation on the Gospel of John under Michael Mullins, one of Ireland’s leading New Testament scholars).
In the LDS view, among the “other sheep” Christ had in view were His covenant people in the New World; indeed, we get this identification from Jesus Christ Himself when he appears in ancient Mesoamerica to the Nephites at Bountiful after his resurrection:
Ye are my disciples; and ye are a light unto this people, who are a remnant of the house of Joseph. And behold, this is the land of your inheritance; and the Father hath given it unto you. And not at any time hath the Father given me commandment that I should tell it unto your brethren at Jerusalem. Neither at any time hath the Father given me commandment that I should tell unto them concerning the other tribes of the house of Israel, whom the Father hath led away out of the land. This much did the Father command me, that I should tell unto them: That other sheep I have which are not of this fold; them also I must bring, and they shall hear my voice; and there shall be one fold and one shepherd. And now, because of the stiffneckedness and unbelief they understood not my words; therefore I was commanded to say no more of the Father concerning this thing unto them. But, verily, I say unto you that the Father hath commanded me, and I tell it unto you, that ye were separated from among them because of their iniquity; therefore it is because of their iniquity that they know not of you. And verily, I say unto you again that the other tribes hath the Father separated from them; and it is because of their iniquity that they know not of them. And verily I say unto you, that ye are they of whom I said: Other sheep I have which are not of this fold; them also I must bring, and they shall hear my voice; and there shall be one fold, and one shepherd. And they understood me not, for they supposed it had been the Gentiles; for they understood not that the Gentiles should be converted through their preaching. And they understood me not that I said they shall hear my voice; and they understood me not that the Gentiles should not at any time hear my voice--that I should not manifest myself unto them save it were by the Holy Ghost. (3 Nephi 15:12-23)
On page 195 of their book, Rhodes and Bodine offer the following criticisms directed to an imaginary LDS interlocutor, in conjunction to their citing Eph 2:1-22 and other texts discussing the preaching of the Gospel to the Gentiles (emphasis in original):
Would you please read aloud from John 10:16?
· Since Jesus' words in John 10:16 were addressed specifically to Jews, does it not make sense that when He referred to "other sheep" who were "not of this fold," He was talking about non-Jews who were not of the "fold" of Judaism?
· Please demonstrate from the context of John 10 that the references in verse 16 deals with "sheep" in America?
The attempted bombardment of the Bible notwithstanding, the critic will have to do a better case to disprove the LDS thesis and prove his thesis. Nowhere in the biblical texts will one ever come across people who are labelled God or Christ's "sheep," at the time the term is being used of them, who are unbelievers. Sheep, by definition, are following the shepherd at the time the term is predicated upon a person or a group. Matthew clearly tells us that the Lost Sheep are of the House of Israel (Matt 10:6). Further, John 10:4, 27 says that the “Sheep” are Christ's followers because they "know" Christ (οιδα is used in v. 4; the more potent term γινωσκω in v.27 [cf. its usage in John 17:3]), suggesting not just intellectual ascent, but inter-personal knowledge and commitment to Jesus Christ. Such descriptions do not fit the Gentiles at the time Jesus spoke the words of John 10:16; instead, it refers to people who had already accepted Him and had been following Him, which fits the interpretation offered by none other than Christ Himself in the Book of Mormon.
Notice another a propos instance of προβατον being used in the Gospel of John:
A second time he said to him, Simon, son of Jonas, lovest thou me? He saith unto him, Yea, Lord; thou knowest that I love thee. He saith unto him, Feed my sheep (προβατον). he saith unto him the third time, Simon, son of Jonas, lovest thou me? Peter was grieved because he said unto him the third time, Lovest thou me? And he said unto him, Lord, thou knowest all things; thou knowest that I love thee. Jesus saith unto him, Feed my sheep (προβατον). (21:16-17)
Outside the Gospel of John, Matthew has the highest instances of the usage of προβατον in any singular book of the New Testament (11 instances, where John has 15). Sometimes, it is coupled with ως or ωσει (“like/as”) when discussing false prophets or those who are not true believers in the Gospel (Matt 10:16; cf. 7:15) or when being used purely as a simile to discuss the movements of a crowd (Matt 9:36), but it is also used to describe people who, at the time it is used of them, are true believers, not then-future converts (Matt 10:16; 25:32-33; 26:31; cf. 15:24), again fitting the Book of Mormon and the historical LDS interpretation of John 10:16.
Further evidence against the "Gentile" reading is summed up by one Protestant apologist:
Further evidence against the "Gentile" reading is summed up by one Protestant apologist:
There are two major problems with this interpretation. First of all, if men are sheep before they believe then they already have eternal life: “And I give unto them eternal life; and they shall never perish, neither shall any man pluck them out of my hand” (John 10:28). If the sheep were never goats then how can they be born “dead in trespasses and sins” (Eph. 2:1)? No one among the unsaved Gentiles is ever called sheep. Try pigs and dogs (Mat. 7:6; 15:26-27; 2 Pet. 2:1, 22). The Gentiles were “without Christ, being aliens from the commonwealth of Israel, and strangers from the covenants of promise, having no hope and without God in the world” (Eph. 2:12). Can one of God's sheep go to hell? Why then must God's sheep believe on Christ?
The second problem concerns the identification of the sheep. Who are the sheep? According to Micaiah (1 Kgs. 22:17), Asaph (Psa. 74:1; 78:52; 79:13), the Psalmist (Psa. 44:11, 22; 95:7; 100:3), David (Psa. 119:176), Isaiah (Isa. 53:6), Jeremiah (Jer 23:1; 50:6, 17), Ezekiel (Eze. 34:6, 11, 12), and Jesus Christ (Mat. 10:6: 15:24): the sheep are Israel. Notice the condition of Israel in the Old Testament:
My people hath been lost sheep: their shepherds have caused them to go astray, they have turned them away on the mountains: they have gone from mountain to hill, they have forgotten their restingplace (Jer. 50:6) My sheep wandered through all the mountains, and upon every hill: yea, my flock, was scattered upon all the face of the earth, and none did search or seek after them (Eze. 34:6). Then notice a forgotten prophecy from the Lord:
For thus saith the Lord GOD; Behold, I, even I, will both search my sheep, and seek them out. As a shepherd seeketh out his flock in the day that he is among his sheep that are scattered; so will I seek out my sheep, and will deliver them out of all places where they have been scattered in the cloudy and dark day. And I will bring them out from the people, and gather them from the countries, and will bring them to their own land, and feed them upon the mountains of Israel by the rivers, and in all the inhabited places of the country. I will feed them in a good pasture, and upon the high mountains of Israel shall their fold be: there shall they lie in a good fold, and in a fat pasture shall they feed upon the mountains of Israel. I will feed my flock, and I will cause them to lie down, saith the Lord GOD. I will seek that which was lost, and bring again that which was driven away, and will bind up that which was broken, and will strengthen that which was sick: but I will destroy the fat and the 1 strong; I will feed them with judgment. (Eze 34:11-16) Note also the New Testament counterparts:
But go rather to the lost sheep of the house of Israel (Mat. 10:6) But he answered and said, I am not sent but unto the lost sheep of the house of Israel (Mat. 15:24) When Christ came, his sheep—like Simeon (Luke 2:25), Annas (Luke 2:36-38), Zacharias and Elisabeth (Luke 2:8-20), and the disciples (John 1:40-49)--knew him (John 10:14), followed him (John 10:27), and received eternal life (John 10:28). We have here the separation of the Jewish sheep from the goats and the drawing of them to the Messiah. (Laurence M. Vance, The Other Side of Calvinism Rev. Ed. [Vance Publications, 1999], 339-40)
Which much more could be said about this and related issues, the Latter-day Saint interpretation of John 10:16 is not an exegetical stretch, and is perhaps the best passage in the Bible relating to the Book of Mormon and its peoples.
