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The characterization of Death and Hell, together with themes such as the “bands of death,” preparing an escape route, and swallowing up one’s adversary, are textual evidences that illustrate a genuine underlying background to the Book of Mormon’s assertion that it is connected to the Ancient Near East.
In Joseph Smith’s day people were not aware of these thematic connections the Book of Mormon text had to Ancient Near Eastern texts like the Ugaritic documents discovered at Ras Shamra in 1928.[1]J. Philip Hyatt, The Ras Shamra discoveries and the interpretation of the Old Testament, Journal of Bible and Religion, Vol. 10, No. 2 (May, 1942), pp. 67-75. For modern understanding of the Ugaritic … Continue reading Yet Book of Mormon prophetic authors drew upon these archaic themes without difficulty when offering their witness of Christ as the Messiah who would defeat the enemies of death, hell, and the grave. In the attached article, the connection of these themes is demonstrated in detail.
References
| ↑1 | J. Philip Hyatt, The Ras Shamra discoveries and the interpretation of the Old Testament, Journal of Bible and Religion, Vol. 10, No. 2 (May, 1942), pp. 67-75. For modern understanding of the Ugaritic texts, see Mark S. Smith, The Origins of Biblical Monotheis: Israel’s Polytheistic Background and the Ugaritic Texts, Oxford University Press, 2001. See also Smith, The Early History of God: Yahweh and Other Deities in Ancient Israel, 2002. |
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