1. Chapters 29 and 30 both start on "seed".
2. 29:12 "I shall speak unto all nations [goyim?] of the earth, and they shall write it". 29:14 does "fight against my word" here mean "Word" as in John 1?
3. 30:6 after "scales of darkness" "fall" from the the eyes of the Lamanites, they become "pure and delightsome". Again, I don't think that when Nephi talks about his relatives having "skins of blackness", he means that they turned from Semites to Amerindians. We're talking about something that is more figurative here, unless we believe that the Lamanites were both black and lizards.
4. 31:3 God gives light to the understanding -- that's the mind, not feelings. It's funny to see Nephi say he delights in plainness after all the visionary, almost encrypted stuff he's written, but of course he had to. Let he who has ears hear, the evangelists would say. So now, at the end of his writings, Nephi gets to the heart of the matter as directly as he can, without connecting it to or explaining the visions that have gone before.
5. 31:13-14 the tongue of angels shouting praises to the Holy One of Israel is temple imagery -- it's the Levites, singing in the temple. (In apocalyptic visions, angels = priests). So even Nephi, in his plain doctrine of Christ, talks (subtly) about entry into the temple. Then when he repeats the repentance, baptism, Holy Ghost sequence in verse 17, he doesn't talk about the tongue of angels anymore, but instead talks about the strait and narrow path... for which, see below -- we are again in temple imagery. And once you're in the strait and narrow path, you just press forward to get eternal life (= life with God = entry into the Holy of Holies).
6. 32:7 Don't make Nephi mourn -- search knowledge! Understand great knowledge! How? vv.8-9, prayerfully!
7. 33:1 It's absolutely hilarious that Nephi says he isn't powerful in writing. Either he's super-modest, or he has a little bit of mischief in his heart and a wink in his eye when he scratches this out on the plates. Ha!
8. Temple and Day of Atonement images in 33:9.
2. & 1.
ReplyDeleteThere are those who trace the root of the word goyim back to the sanskrit work go, meaning cow. This would definitely fit into the herd/shepherd imagery prevalent throughout the scriptures coming from that part of the world, especially where a large herd represent wealth.
Later the supposition is that this sanskrit word also evolved into the word Guhyakha which was a pejorative term for slaves evolving from the meaning for cow dung. Thus depending on the context this could have either positive or negative meaning.
When taken with the seed imagery it is clear there is an intermingling of shepherding the herd, and "inseminating" the herd. In this context though the insemination is not physical but rather spiritual and is the foundation for the complex language in 2N29:2 "words of your seed should proceed forth out of my mouth unto your seed." 2N30:2 revisits this in declaring the Gentiles (goyim) who repent as part of the covenant, and the Jews who don't as cast off.
Why doesn't this crummy blog give me some way to +1 your comment? Do you want to be a blog Author?
ReplyDeleteWould being a blog Author eliminate the need to enter the captcha for each comment? ;)
ReplyDeleteI think it would, actually. Also, you could make original posts.
ReplyDeleteThanks! I was happy to skip the captcha on the last comment, but original posts seem somewhat intimidating. If I am so inspired, I'll probably save as a draft first for you to check out prior to posting.
ReplyDeleteAw, man, what is there to be intimidated about? Just post on the Book of Mormon.
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