In God's Image and Likeness 2: Enoch, Noah, and the Tower of Babel
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In God’s Image and Likeness 2 Enoch, Noah, and the Tower of Babel Excursus, Bibliography, References & Indexes Authors: Jeffrey M. Bradshaw and David J. Larsen This book from which this chapter is excerpted is available through Eborn Books: https://ebornbooks.com/shop/non-fiction/mormon-lds/mormon-new/in-gods-image- likeness-2-enoch-noah-tower-of-babel/ Recommended Citation Bradshaw, Jeffrey M., and David J. Larsen. In God's Image and Likeness 2, Enoch, Noah, and the Tower of Babel. Salt Lake City, UT: The Interpreter Foundation and Eborn Books, 2014, https://interpreterfoundation.org/reprints/in-gods-image-and-likeness-2/IGIL2IChap09.pdf. Front Matter – iii In God’s Image and Likeness 2 Enoch, Noah, and the Tower of Babel Jeffrey M. Bradshaw David J. Larsen TempleThemes.net The Interpreter Foundation Eborn Books 2014 iv Front Matter – © 2014 Jeffrey M. Bradshaw, http://www.templethemes.net All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced in any format or in any medium without written permission from the first author, Jeffrey M. Bradshaw. Unauthorized public performance, broadcasting, transmission, copying, mechanical or electronic, is a violation of applicable laws. This product and the individual images contained within are protected under the laws of the United States and other countries. Unauthorized duplication, distribution, transmission, or exhibition of the whole or of any part therein may result in civil liability and criminal prosecution. The downloading of images is not permitted. This work is not an official publication of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. The views that are expressed within this work are the sole responsibility of the authors and do not necessarily reflect the position of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints or any other entity. 2018 17 16 15 14 5 4 3 2 1 Published by: The Interpreter Foundation MormonInterpreter.com and Eborn Books 254 S. Main Street Salt Lake City, UT 84101 EbornBooks.com Cover: Stephen T. Whitlock, 1951-: Noah Sees the Ark in Vision Printed and bound in China through Bolton Associates, Inc., San Rafael, CA 94901 Library of Congress Control Number: 2013918331 Bradshaw, Jeffrey M. In God’s Image and Likeness 2: Enoch, Noah, and the Tower of Babel / Jeffrey M. Bradshaw.—1st ed. Includes bibliographical references and index. ISBN-13: 978-1-890718-62-6 (Hardbound), 978-1-890718-64-0 (Softbound) ISBN-13: 978-1-890718-65-7 (PDF edition) 440 Excursus – Table of Contents Excursus 1: Revelatory Experiences of Oliver Cowdery ......................................... 437 2: The Song of Enoch ................................................................................... 447 3: Zion Is Fled ............................................................................................ 453 EXCURSUS Excursus – 1: Revelatory Experiences of Oliver Cowdery 441 E xcursus 1 R evelatory Experiences of Oliver Cowdery N reviewing early correspondence between Oliver Cowdery and Joseph Smith that demonstrates clearly Cowdery’s “authentic religious piety,” Grant Underwood nonetheless observes that he “had a serious flaw, a fatal Achilles’ heel. It was his fiery Iindependence of mind” that was sometimes exercised “to challenge the Prophet Joseph Smith. Yielding to God was one thing; passivity and humility in the face of divinity was de rigueur for genuine Christians. But in true religion there was no place for fawning sycophancy … Even a prophet could be suspect.”1 A review of the revelatory experiences of Oliver Cowdery will demonstrate why the revisions to the ages of the patriarchs that Oliver apparently made on his own volition in the Joseph Smith Translation did not represent a one-time anomaly of attitude but rather part of an ongoing pattern of thinking and conduct that led to periodic conflicts with the Prophet. We will first examine Oliver Cowdery’s attempt at translation of the Book of Mormon. Then we will describe conflict relating to Oliver’s 1829 “Articles of the Church of Christ.” Finally, we will discuss his revisions to the ages of the patriarchs in the ot1 manuscript of the Joseph Smith Translation. O liver Cowdery’s Attempt to Translate the Book of Mormon The first recorded revelatory experiences of Oliver Cowdery occurred in conjunction with the work of translating the Book of Mormon. According to his own account, Oliver journeyed on foot from Palmyra, New York to the home of Joseph and Emma Smith in Harmony, Pennsylvania arriving near sunset on the Sabbath, April 5, 1829.2 After settling some affairs on Monday, he began his work as scribe for the Book of Mormon on Tuesday April 7th. Soon after his arrival, Oliver requested the Prophet to inquire of the Lord on his behalf. As part of the revelation, Oliver was told:3 25 And, behold, I grant unto you a gift, if you desire of me, to translate, even as my servant Joseph. 26 Verily, verily, I say unto you, that there are records which contain much of my gospel, which have been kept back because of the wickedness of the people; 27 And now I command you, that if you have good desires—a desire to lay up treasures for EXCURSUS yourself in heaven—then shall you assist in bringing to light, with your gift, those parts of my scriptures which have been hidden because of iniquity. In accordance with his approximate chronology of the translation of the Book of Mormon, Elden J. Watson put the date of D&C 6 on or about Wednesday, April 22, 1829. He also saw it as a reasonable possibility that section 6 was received on the same day that Alma 37 was translated: 1 G. Underwood, Oliver Cowdery’s Correspondence, p. 116. 2 O. Cowdery, Dear Brother, p. 14. 3 D&C 6:25-27. 442 Excursus – 1: Revelatory Experiences of Oliver Cowdery I presume that Oliver Cowdery was not allowed to translate the Book of Mormon, as that was Joseph’s gift, but in Alma 37, Oliver would have been made poignantly aware that there were other ancient records which the Lord could grant him permission to translate. In Alma chapter 37, Alma entrusts to his son Helaman the Nephite records,4 an abridgement of which Oliver is assisting Joseph to translate. Also entrusted to Helaman are the brass plates of Laban5 which are to be preserved, and handed down from generation to generation, eventually to “go forth unto every nation, kindred, tongue, and people, that they shall know of the mysteries contained thereon.” In D&C 6, Oliver is given a sacred gift from above, by which he will “know mysteries which are great and marvelous; therefore thou shalt exercise thy gift, that thou mayest find out mysteries.” In Alma 37 we are told that the contents of the brass plates have been of great worth to the Nephite people, and “convinced many of the error of their ways, and brought them to the knowledge of their God.”6 In D&C 6, Oliver is told that by exercising his gift, he will “bring many to the knowledge of the truth, yea, convince them of the error of their ways.”7 Helaman is also given possession in Alma 37 of the twenty-four plates which are being preserved by the Lord for “a wise purpose, which purpose is known unto God;”8 “that he may show forth his power unto future generations.”9 This statement is repeated in verse 18, and reiterated a third time in verse 19. In verse 23 the Lord says that he will prepare his servant Gazelem “a stone, which shall shine forth in darkness unto light.”10 “And now, my son, these interpreters were prepared that the word of God might be fulfilled, which he spake, saying: I will bring forth out of darkness unto light all their secret works and their abominations; and except they repent I will destroy them from off the face of the earth; and I will bring to light all their secrets and abominations, unto every nation that shall hereafter possess the land.”11 Can there be any doubt that Oliver Cowdery considered himself to be of one of the “future generations” that “shall hereafter possess the land,” of which Alma wrote? And did not Joseph Smith have the interpreters of which Alma wrote? And was not the purpose of the interpreters to bring forth or translate all these records which God promised he would reveal to the future inhabitants of the land? I suggest that upon reaching this point in the translation of the Book of Mormon, Oliver desired to be able to translate from the brass plates of Laban, and from the twenty-four gold plates, and from other records which the Lord had preserved to come forth in our day. D&C 7 provided an example of the kinds of ancient records that Oliver might have expected EXCURSUS to translate. It is “a translated version of the record made on parchment by John and hid- den up by himself.”12 We know from Joseph’s history that this revelation was given to the Prophet following a disagreement with Oliver: A difference of opinion arising between us about the account of John the Apostle, mentioned in the New Testament, John, twenty first chapter and twenty second verse, whether he died, 4 Alma 37:2. 5 Alma 37:3. 6 Alma 37:8. 7 D&C 6:11. 8 Alma 37:12. 9 Alma 37:14. 10 Alma 37:23. 11 Alma 37:24-25. 12 D&C 7, preface. Excursus – 1: Revelatory Experiences of Oliver Cowdery 443 or whether he continued. We mutually agreed to settle it by the Urim and Thummim, and the following is the word which we received … [D&C 7].13 Assuming a rate of about three chapters per day, Joseph and Oliver would have translated Alma 45 two or three days after Alma 37.