Sunday, October 1, 2023

William J. Hamblin on Alma 57:33

  

The only major implication of thrusting with Book of Mormon swords is an ambiguous passage in Alma 57:33 (63 B.C.), where the Lamanites “did in a body run upon our swords.” Although this passage could imply that the Lamanites rushed against the points of the Nephite’s extended swords, this is not necessarily the intent of the passage. It is probably another sword metaphor referring to weapons in general. Second Nephi 2419 reads, “those that are slain, thrust through with a word,” clearly described thrusting as opposed to cutting with a sword, but this passage is a quotation from Isaiah 14:19. (William J. Hamblin, “Swords in the Book of Mormon,” in Warfare in the Book of Mormon, ed. Stephen D. Ricks and William J. Hamblin [Provo, Utah: Foundation for Ancient Research and Mormon Studies; Salt Lake City: Deseret Book, 1990], 348 n. 7)