Thursday, September 8, 2022

Robert F. Smith on Evidence for homoeoteleuton in the Text of the Plates

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.

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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.