I have interacted with some of Richard Packham’s
arguments in his online paper, “A Linguist Looks at Mormonism: Notes on Linguistic
Problems in Mormonism” (searching on “Packham” will bring up a few results on
this blog). In this post, I will discuss his argument under the heading, “Isabel
the Harlot”:
The Book of Mormon
mentions a harlot named Isabel (Alma 39:3). "Isabel" is a name that
only came into use in France and Italy during the late Middle Ages. How could it occur in the Book of Mormon
during Alma's life?
Being rather frank, this argument is unbecoming of
someone who (allegedly) knows Hebrew. The name appears in the Hebrew Bible. The
Hebrew underlining "Jezebel" in the KJV is אִיזֶבֶל. The KJV transliterates the
letter yod (י) as “j,” which is common
(e.g., Jesiah; Jesaiah; Joshua), though the more proper transliteration would
be “I” (e.g., Isaiah; Ishmael); furthermore, the letter zayin (ז) can be transliterated as “s”;
indeed, the Hebrew can be transliterated as 'izebel, similar to how it
appears in the Book of Mormon. Packham’s claims notwithstanding, there is no
issue with the appearance of “Isabel” in the Book of Mormon.
