Taken from
Robert F. Smith, Egyptianisms
in the Book of Mormon and Other Studies (Provo, Utah: Deep Forest Green
Books, 2020), 90-91
Errors and
Corrections
Some years ago,
the late Mary Lee Treat took into account the difficulty of making scribal
erasures during engraving on metal plates [9] showing how scribes
instead overcame their errors or infelicitous descriptions by inserting the
word “or,” or the phrase “or rather” (and similar phrases) in order to correct
of clarify an already engraven, unchangeable text, as at Mosiah 7:8,
And they stood
before the king, and were permitted, or rather commanded, that they
should answer the questions . . .
Another powerful
indicator of authentic scribal activity in engraving metal plates is Alma
13:16, which clearly should have been inserted immediately following 13:12, but
was instead dropped during ancient dictation due to a Nephite scribal failure
to maintain the proper verse sequence due to verses 12 and 16 having the same
final line (homoeoteleuton), i.e., the Nephite scribe (Mormon?) was
unable to maintain sequence while moving his eyes back and forth from one text
to the other, although he finally noticed his error and picked up the lost
verse (in yellow)
three verses later. Herewith the correct sequence (emphasis added):
Alma 13:12-16
12 Now they, after being
sanctified by the Holy Ghost, having their garments made white, being pure and
spotless before God, could not look upon sin save it were with abhorrence; and
there were many, exceedingly great many, who were made pure and entered into
the rest of the Lord their God.
16 Now these ordinances
were given after this manner, that thereby the people might look forward on the
Son of God, it being a type of his order, or it being his order, and this that
they might look forward to him for a remission of their sins, that they might enter
into the rest of the Lord.
---------------------------
13 And now, my brethren, I would
that ye should humble yourselves before God, and bring forth fruit meet for repentance,
that ye may also enter into that rest.
14 Yea, humble yourselves even as
the people in the days of Melchizedek, who was also a high priest after this
same order which I have spoken, who also took upon him the high priesthood
forever.
15 And it was this same
Melchizedek to whom Abraham paid tithes; yea, even our father Abraham paid
tithes of one-tenth part of all he possessed.
This was not a mistake of Oliver Cowdery as scribe for Joseph, nor of
Joseph Smith as he dictated the continuous text in 1829. For the Original
Manuscript (O MS) itself contains the error, without any correction
being attempted then (Oliver and the other scribes made regular corrections and
insertions immediately, where they noticed the need) B nor in any subsequent manuscript
or edition. No one noticed the problem until it was pointed out recently by
Grant Hardy. [10] This means that the error must go back to a much
earlier scribe or editor, such as Mormon himself.
Notes for the Above
[9] Treat, “No Erasers,” Zarahemla
Record, 13-14/5 (1981), reprinted in Recent Book of Mormon Developments (Independence:
Zarahemla Research Foundation, 1984), I:54; D. Heater, “’No Erasers’ Update
2011,” Quetzal Codex, #2 (Spring 2011):2-5, online at http://www.quetzalarchaeology.org/ old-site/QC-Issue2.pdf ;
Angela M. Crowell, “Hebraic Insights: ‘Or, or rather’ – A Newly Recognized
Hebraism,” Qumran Quest, 5/2 (2000):1-3; cf. Alma 39:16.
[10] G.
R. Hardy, “The Book of Mormon as a Literary (Written) Artifact,” JBMS,
12/2 (2003):107-109,118.
