Place.
Another Hebrew word is used in the Book of Mormon for the term place. The
Hebrew word in the King James Bible is מקום (māqōm), literally “place of
arising.” (HALOT, 626-27, 1086-89) Some Bible scholars have suggested that, in
at least some passages (for example, Job 16:18; Eccles. 3:20; 6:6), it should
be rendered “grace” or “destruction of the dead” (BDB). Indeed, this is the
meaning of the word when it appears in the inscriptions found on the sarcophagi
of the ancient Phoenician kings Panamuwa and Eshmunezer, found in Lebanon. The
Arabic cognate maqam is used to denote the tomb of a prominent
individual, usually an ancient prophet. The renowned Arabist William M.
Brinner, while acknowledging its primary meaning of “standing-place,” noted
that “maqam, today usually, means ‘shrine’ or ‘place of martyrdom.’” (William
M. Brinner, trans., The History of al-Tabari Vol 2: Prophets and Patriarchs [Albany,
MY: State Univ. of NY Press, 1978], 78n210) Significantly, the Book of Mormon uses
the word place once to denote where someone was buried (1 Ne. 16:34),
twice to denote where people died (Mosiah 9:4; Alma 14:9), and ten times to
denote the destination of the spirits of the dead (1 Ne. 15:34-35; 2 Ne. 28:23;
Jacob 6:3; Enos 1:27; Mosiah 26:23-24; Alma 5:24-25; 54:22). (John A. Tvedtnes,
“Hebrew Words Reflected in the Book of Mormon,” in Seek Ye Words of Wisdom:
Studies on the Book of Mormon, Bible, and Temple in Honor of Stephen D. Ricks,
ed. Donald W. Parry, Gaye Strathearn, and Shon D. Hopkin [Provo, Utah:
Interpreter Foundation and Religious Education, Brigham Young University,
2020], 145-46)
