This is from John A. Tvedtnes, "Reinventing the Book of Mormon":
"Our Brethren"
Metcalfe's
first example derives from Alma 31:35, where Alma prays for the Zoramites,
saying, "O Lord, their souls are precious, and many of them are our brethren." While
some understand this to mean that "many" but not all the Zoramites
were of Israelite descent, Metcalfe argues that this "interpretation is
unsound" (p. 20). He points out that the printer's manuscript and the 1830
edition of the Book of Mormon use the term near brethren, which he interprets as meaning that
"'many'—but not all—of the Zoramites were close relatives of Alma and some of his
companions" (p. 21). To illustrate that the term near denotes a close relative, he cites
Alma 10:7, where Amulek speaks of "journeying to see a very near kindred" (p. 21). On the surface,
this seems plausible, but there are factors that Metcalfe does not consider.
The first is that Amulek used the term very near in reference to his relative, not
merely near, as in Alma's prayer for the Zoramites.
Assuming
that Alma uttered his prayer in Hebrew,16 what
words would he have used? A check of occurrences of the term near kin in the
Bible shows that, in Leviticus 18:12-13, 17; 20:19, the King James Version
(KJV) actually translates a single Hebrew word, (see'r), which really means
"flesh," as near kinswoman, the way it is translated in most Old
Testament passages. KJV's near kin in Leviticus 18:6 employs two Hebrew
words (, see'r, and basar), but both of
them mean "flesh."17
So in
all these examples, the Hebrew text does not contain a word meaning
"near," thus invalidating Metcalfe's citation of some of the biblical
passages (p. 24 nn. 9-10). However, the word near (Hebrew qarob) does appear
with (see'r) in Leviticus 21:2, which KJV
renders his kin that is near unto him,
while the word (qarob) alone is rendered near of kin in 2 Samuel 19:42 and Ruth 2:20 and kin in Leviticus 25:25.18 Other
occurrences of near kinsman or next kinsmen in the book of Ruth (Ruth 2:20; 3:9,
12 KJV) derive from the term (go'el), which alludes to a clan
member with specific obligations and not to kinsmen in general. In these
passages, the Hebrew employs a single word, without an additional word
suggesting the near of the KJV, and it is interesting that
elsewhere KJV renders that term kinsman without the word near (Ruth 3:13; 4:1, 3, 6, 8, 14). The
term near kinsman of Ruth
3:12 KJV is a translation of the single word go'el while kinsman nearer in the
same verse is the only time we find both go'el and qarob together. Had
there not been the necessity of comparison, the word nearer would not have been used. Dropping the
word near in Alma 10:7 in post-1830 editions of
the Book of Mormon actually produces a better correspondence to the normal
Hebrew usage.
How
proper is it to assume that "many" of the Zoramites were "close
relatives" to Alma and his missionary companions? These companions
included two of Alma's sons, three of the sons of King Mosiah, and two of the
men Alma had converted in the city of Ammonihah (Alma 31:6-7). Does Alma's use
of the term brethren (or even near brethren)
really imply close family members? To this, we must add that the Nephites often
termed the Lamanites brethren,19 so
one would expect that there were others who were not descendants of the
Mulekite and Lehite migrants.20
Notes for the Above:
16. Some assume that the Nephites used only "reformed Egyptian," although the term is used only in reference to the abridgment plates prepared by Mormon and used also by Moroni. Indeed, Moroni indicates that Hebrew, the native tongue of the Israelites, was still used in his day (Mormon 9:32-33).
17. The second of these is rendered "kin" in Leviticus 25:49.
18. See also Numbers 27:11: "And if his father have no brethren, then ye shall give his inheritance unto his kinsman that is next to him," which employs the same two words.
19. See the discussion in John A. Tvedtnes, "The Charge of 'Racism' in the Book of Mormon," FARMS Review 15/2 (2003): especially 185 n. 6, in which the Book of Mormon passages are listed. Significantly, the vast majority of the passages that refer to the Lamanites as "brethren" are in portions of the Book of Mormon that predate the coming of Christ and the union of the Nephites and Lamanites that took place at that time.
20. I have proposed elsewhere that the tribal affiliations of Book of Mormon peoples remained part of their culture even during times when various peoples merged. This does not preclude the adoption of other peoples into these cultures. Thus, the Zoramites whom Alma and his companions sought to recover (they being "dissenters from the Nephites," Alma 31:8) may have been descendants of the original Zoramites (Jacob 1:13) as well as others who merged with them. See John A. Tvedtnes, "Book of Mormon Tribal Affiliation and Military Castes," in Warfare in the Book of Mormon, ed. Stephen D. Ricks and William J. Hamblin (Salt Lake City: Deseret Book and FARMS, 1990), 296-326.
