INTERPRETER§ A Journal of Mormon Scripture Volume 22 • 2016 The Interpreter Foundation Orem, Utah The Interpreter Foundation Chairman and President Contributing Editors Daniel C. Peterson Robert S. Boylan John M. Butler Vice Presidents James E. Faulconer Jeffrey M. Bradshaw Kristine Wardle Frederickson Daniel Oswald Benjamin I. Huff Allen Wyatt Jennifer C. Lane David J. Larsen Executive Board Donald W. Parry Kevin Christensen Ugo A. Perego Steven T. Densley, Jr. Stephen D. Ricks Brant A. Gardner William J. Hamblin G. Bruce Schaalje Jeff Lindsay Andrew C. Smith Louis C. Midgley John A. Tvedtnes George L. Mitton Sidney B. Unrau Gregory L. Smith Stephen T. Whitlock Tanya Spackman Lynne Hilton Wilson Ted Vaggalis Mark Alan Wright Board of Editors Donor Relations Matthew L. Bowen Jann E. Campbell David M. Calabro Alison V. P. Coutts Treasurer Craig L. Foster Kent Flack Taylor Halverson Ralph C. Hancock Production Editor & Designers Cassandra S. Hedelius Kelsey Fairbanks Avery Benjamin L. McGuire Tyler R. Moulton Timothy Guymon Mike Parker Bryce M. Haymond Martin S. Tanner Bryan J. Thomas Gordon C. Thomasson A. Keith Thompson John S. Thompson Bruce F. Webster The Interpreter Foundation Editorial Consultants Media & Technology Talia A. K. Abbott Sean Canny Merrie Kay Ames Scott Dunaway Jill Bartholomew Richard Flygare Tyson Briggs Brad Haymond Starla Butler Steve Metcalf Joshua Chandler Tyler R. Moulton Kasen Christensen Tom Pittman Ryan Daley Russell D. Richins Marcia Gibbs S. Hales Swift Jolie Griffin Victor Worth Laura Hales Alex Hugie Jordan Nate Don Norton Neal Rappleye Jared Riddick William Shryver Stephen Owen Smoot Kaitlin Cooper Swift Jennifer Tonks Austin Tracy Kyle Tuttle Scott Wilkins Chandler Yamane © 2016 The Interpreter Foundation. A 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization. This work is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivs 4.0 International License. To view a copy of this license, visit http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/ or send a letter to Creative Commons, 444 Castro Street, Suite 900, Mountain View, California, 94041, USA. ISSN 2372-1227 (print) ISSN 2372-126X (online) The goal of The Interpreter Foundation is to increase understanding of scripture through careful scholarly investigation and analysis of the insights provided by a wide range of ancillary disciplines, including language, history, archaeology, literature, culture, ethnohistory, art, geography, law, politics, philosophy, etc. Interpreter will also publish articles advocating the authenticity and historicity of LDS scripture and the Restoration, along with scholarly responses to critics of the LDS faith. We hope to illuminate, by study and faith, the eternal spiritual message of the scriptures—that Jesus is the Christ. Although the Board fully supports the goals and teachings of the Church, The Interpreter Foundation is an independent entity and is neither owned, controlled by nor affiliated with The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, or with Brigham Young University. All research and opinions provided are the sole responsibility of their respective authors, and should not be interpreted as the opinions of the Board, nor as official statements of LDS doctrine, belief or practice. This journal compiles weekly publications. Visit us online at MormonInterpreter.com You may subscribe to this journal at MormonInterpreter.com/annual-print-subscription Table of Contents The Small Voice................................................................................................vii Daniel C. Peterson The Changing Forms of the Latter-day Saint Sacrament..............................1 Ugo A. Perego Assessing the Joseph Smith Papyri: An Introduction to the Historiography of their Acquisitions, Translations, and Interpretations....................................................................................................17 Kerry Muhlestein “Creator of the First Day”: The Glossing of Lord of Sabaoth in D&C 95:7...........................................................................51 Matthew L. Bowen Nephi’s Use of Inverted Parallels.....................................................................79 Dennis Newton Reclaiming Jacob..............................................................................................107 Duane Boyce On the Dating of Moroni 8-9..........................................................................131 Joseph M. Spencer The Parable of the Benevolent Father and Son...........................................149 Matthew R. Linford “Arise from the Dust”: Insights from Dust-Related Themes in the Book of Mormon (Part 1: Tracks from the Book of Moses).................179 Jeff Lindsay “Arise from the Dust”: Insights from Dust-Related Themes in the Book of Mormon (Part 2: Enthronement, Resurrection, and Other Ancient Motifs from the “Voice from the Dust”).....................233 Jeff Lindsay Reading 1 Nephi With Wisdom.....................................................................279 Taylor Halverson “Arise from the Dust”: Insights from Dust-Related Themes in the Book of Mormon (Part 3: Dusting Off a Famous Chiasmus, Alma 36)........................................................................................295 Jeff Lindsay The Small Voice Daniel C. Peterson Abstract: Revelation comes in various forms, some of them spectacular and some of them extremely subtle. The scriptures and the history of the Restoration offer numerous examples across the entire spectrum. Whatever its form, however, divine revelation remains divine revelation, and it is the avowed mission of the Interpreter Foundation to thoughtfully ponder such revelation, to try to explicate its meaning, and to illustrate its richness. In turn, such examination can itself provide an opportunity for personal revelation—both for the examiners and, we hope, for those who read or hear the results of their work. ntertextuality is a fancy word that many contemporary literary Ischolars use to describe ways in which various texts refer to, or play off of, each other. Often, writers do this without explicitly indicating it; in such cases, only fairly sophisticated (or, at least, well informed) readers will notice. But it isn’t always subtle. To choose an example essentially at random, a 2012 book by Satinder Dhiman was titled Seven Habits of Highly Fulfilled People, alluding unmistakably to Stephen Covey’s famous 1989 bestseller, The Seven Habits of Highly Effective People.1 Sometimes, though not always, subsequent authors hope that their audiences will have prior texts in mind as they read. 1 Satinder Dhiman, Seven Habits of Highly Fulfilled People: Journey from Success to Significance (Fawnskin, CA: Personhood Press, 2012); Stephen Covey, The Seven Habits of Highly Effective People: Restoring the Character Ethic (New York: Simon and Schuster, 1989). viii • Interpreter: A Journal of Mormon Scripture 22 (2016) The Book of Mormon contains numerous such examples, and probably quite a few remain to be discovered.2 Perhaps I may suggest two additional illustrations here. The first involves the famous passage in which Alma the Younger expresses his yearning to reach all humanity with the message of the gospel: O that I were an angel, and could have the wish of mine heart, that I might go forth and speak with the trump of God, with a voice to shake the earth, and cry repentance unto every people! Yea, I would declare unto every soul, as with the voice of thunder, repentance, and the plan of redemption, that they should repent and come unto our God, that there might not be more sorrow upon all the face of the earth.3 Alma’s expression of his desire seems plainly based upon his own personal conversion experience, in which an angel appeared to him who “spake as it were with a voice of thunder, which caused the earth to shake,” and who summoned him to repentance. “Doth not my voice shake the earth?” the angel asked, rhetorically. “He spake unto us, as it were the voice of thunder, and the whole earth did tremble beneath our feet.”4 In fact, Alma felt guilty about his desire for an angelic voice. If God had willed such a thing, he realized, it would be so. That it isn’t typically the case is clear evidence that God doesn’t wish to convince us by means of dramatic special effects.5 The second proposed example suggests a reliance upon the Old Testament story of Elijah, presumably available to the Nephites via the brass plates that Lehi brought with him from the Old World. (John Sorenson, incidentally, has suggested on other grounds that the brass plates originated in the northern kingdom of Israel, where Elijah lived and prophesied.)6 2. Compare, for instance, 1 Nephi 1:8 and Alma 36:22, as well as Mosiah 3:8 and Helaman 14:12. 3 Alma 29:1–2. 4 See Mosiah 27:10–15; Alma 36:6–11. 5 See Alma 29:3–8. 6 John L. Sorenson, “The ‘Brass Plates’ and Biblical Scholarship,” Dialogue: A Journal of Mormon Thought 10/4 (Autumn 1977): 31–39. See http://www. dialoguejournal.com/wp-content/uploads/sbi/articles/Dialogue_V10N04_33.pdf. Peterson, The Small Voice • ix In the Old Testament’s First Book of Kings, we read of Elijah’s experience in the wilderness (perhaps in the Sinai or else across the Gulf of Aqaba in what is today Saudi Arabia) that the Lord passed by, and a great and strong wind rent the mountains, and brake in pieces the rocks before the Lord; but the Lord was not in the wind: and after the wind an earthquake; but the Lord was not in the earthquake: And after the earthquake a fire; but the Lord was not in the fire: and after