3 Nephi 8-11 Quotes and Notes

3 Nephi 8-11 Show Notes podcast #70

Main things to cover

1. Jesus visits the Nephites
2. Why the destruction came – 3 Nephi 9.3-13
3. Jesus testifies of who he is – 3 Nephi 9.15-18; 3 Nephi 11

3 Nephi 8

Mormon tells us to trust the person who give the dating for the arrival of Christ (1)

33^rd year passed away, and it was the 34^th year, first month, 4^th day (5)

Great storm, tempest, thunder, shaking of the earth, lightning (5-7)

Cities wrecked: Zarahemla (fire-8), Moroni (water-sunk-9), Moronihah (earth-10)

The northern area was hit worse than the southern area (11-12), perhaps as a warning to the dissenters (north), versus the Lamanites (south)

The [three hour long – 19] storm did eventually cease (19), then there was darkness.

The darkness lasted for 3 days (23)

The people wail, wishing they had repented (24-25)

3 Nephi 9

A voice is heard through the darkness (1)… Ritually, this voice would be coming from the Holy of Holies. Those who remain are ritually hearing the voice of Yahweh through the veil, and this God is about to manifest himself to these people. We will see the threefold statements here and in future chapters, something which is connected to this pattern, and in other places in the Book of Mormon (see Helaman 5.33).

Three “woes” (2) הֹוי הֹוי הֹוי = hoy hoy hoy! = ah!, alas!, ha!, ho!, O!, woe!

According to Amy Hardison, along with covenant blessings, ancient Near Eastern treaties and covenants contained covenant curses. Curses were basically a reversal of blessings, though the curses were typically far more detailed and extensive. Covenants were written with a specific vocabulary. Inside the covenant context, certain words had official and legal meanings that sometimes differed from their normal, everyday use. For instance, “woe” is the pronouncement of a covenant curse, and to do “evil” is to break one’s covenant. Evil in covenant curses conveys disaster, calamity, and misfortune–not the moral opposite of righteousness.₁

Yahweh proclaims that he has burned Zarahemla with fire (3)

He proclaims that he “caused” the city of Moroni to be sunk in the depths of the sea (5), Gilgal he caused to be sunk (6) as well as the people buried in the earth (6)

Onihah, Mocum, Jerusalem – waters he caused to hide their wickedness (7)

Gadiandi, Dadiomnah, Jacob, Gimgimno – all sunk, people buried in the earth, to hide their abominations “from before my face” (8)

Jacobugath – burned w/fire (9), this was a secret combination center where King Jacob lived … to destroy them from before my face…

Laman, Josh, Gad, Kishkumen- burned with fire (10), because of how they treated the prophets

Pattern to the destruction of the cities

According to John Sorenson, at least three types of cities are indicated in the Book of Mormon. The first is a city that is the administrative center for a local land. The second is a city without any significant amount of dependent land. The third is a “great city.” . . . .

We observe that six “great” cities are specifically identified in [New World] Book of Mormon lands: Zarahemla (3 Nephi 9:3), Moroni (3 Nephi 9:4), Moronihah (3 Nephi 9:5), Jerusalem (Alma 21:2), Ammonihah (Alma 9:4), Jacobugath (3 Nephi 9:9), and the Jaredite city built by king Lib (Ether 10:20). In addition, when the Savior spoke to the people from above on the occasion of the great catastrophe, he referred to additional “great and notable cities” (3 Nephi 8:14) and “great cities” (3 Nephi 10:4) which had been destroyed (compare the “large cities” mentioned in Mosiah 27:6). . . .

It should be of interest to know something of how Mesoamerican settlement patterns compare with the Book of Mormon. A number of characteristics of settlements that are cited in the archaeological literature have direct parallels with statements and intimations about settlements in the Book of Mormon. This mere sampling of parallels points to the need for a more comprehensive comparison yet to be done.

1. Population size was not a vital consideration in whether a Mesoamerican settlement was to be classified as a city. Political or military function of the status of being a planned city was instead determinative.

2. City and land or surrounding area shared the same name and were not conceptually distinguished from each other.

3. Ruler and place shared the same name.

4. Fortified sites could also qualify as cities despite lack of other criteria.200

5. A city could accommodate various ethnic or linguistic groups, normally in different residential sectors.201

6. Unquestionable cities, and perhaps even great cities, existed throughout most of Mesoamerican history, even prior to 600 B.C.₂

Before the face of Yahweh

That their wickedness and abominations might be hid from before my face (11)

There were none righteous among them… might be hid “from before my face”… blood of the prophets… before the face- this has religious connotations… אֶת־פְּנֵי before the face can be seen as something associated with the temple… et paniy, or before the face has to do with being in God’s presence, in the Holy of Holies, or before his throne.

When one saw the face of another it meant they were “in the presence” of that person. It was not merely a matter of looking at their physical face. When they “faced” someone they entered into the full presence of that person.

To the face of God

Additional evidence suggesting that Enos had his ancestor Jacob in mind is found in his words “I will tell you of the wrestle which I had before God” (Enos 2). In Hebrew the words before God would be liphney el, literally “to the face of God.” The name of the place where Jacob wrestled all night, Peniel, is from the same Hebrew phrase. “And Jacob called the name of the place Peniel: for I have seen God face to face, and my life is preserved” (Genesis 32:30).

After his wrestle with God, Enos expressed the hope that, at the resurrection, he would “stand before him; then shall I see his face with pleasure” (Enos 27). This passage is also reminiscent of Jacob’s reunion and reconciliation with his brother Esau the day after his nightlong wrestle. Jacob said to his brother, “I have seen thy face, as though I had seen the face of God, and thou wast pleased with me” (Genesis 33:10). Just as Esau was “pleased” when Jacob saw his face, Enos hoped to see the face of God “with pleasure.”₃

Ye are spared because ye were more righteous than they, will ye not now return unto me, and repent… שׁוּב (shoov – repent/return) (13)

Arm of mercy extended… come unto me (14)

Jesus testifies of his Divine Sonship (15-16)

Power to become the Sons of God… in him is the law of Moses fulfilled (17)

J. Reuben Clark said:

“It is difficult for us today to realize the tremendous revolution involved in altering the ritualism of the Law of Moses into the humble and lowly concept of worship, not with the sacrificial blood of animals, but with this broken heart and contrite spirit of the worshiper…[Animal sacrifice] was always a vicarious sacrifice, apparently with little actual sacrifice except for the value of the animal sacrificed, by the individuals themselves, to cancel the debit, so to speak, against their lives and living in the eyes of the Almighty One. The sinner seemingly, in general, took on no obligation and considered himself under no obligation to abandon his sins, but took on only the obligation to offer sacrifice therefore. But under the new covenant that came in with Christ, the sinner must offer the sacrifice out of his own life, not by offering the blood of some other creature; he must give up his sins, he must repent, he himself must make the sacrifice.”₄

What were the sacrifices that the Nephites engaged it? Was their system similar to what we read in the Torah?

According to John Sorenson, the performance of sacrifices is not mentioned in the bulk of the Book of Mormon record between Mosiah 2.3 and 3 Nephi 9.19. The later verse tells us that some sacrifices were being practiced, but we are not told of what they consisted… We simply don’t know what was in the Nephite version of the “law of Moses.”₅

What does it even mean that the Law of Moses was fulfilled?

No more offerings of blood, burnt offerings (19)

We are the offering! (20), a broken heart and a contrite spirit

“…in the scriptural usage a broken heart is a malleable, meltable, moveable heart, and a contrite spirit is an honest, acknowledging spirit that says, ‘I am, in fact, dependent…’ There is not self-deprecation here, only honesty: ‘I need help.’ And when that is acknowledged, help comes.”₆

3 Nephi 9:5-11 From Before . . . (Circular Repetitive Parallelism):

Allen & David Richardson and Anthony Bentley note that the Book of Mormon makes use of the authentic Hebrew usage of two prepositions that introduce a single prepositional phrase. For example, 1 Nephi 4:28 tells of some that “fled from before my presence.” Jacob 5:30 indicates that “the servant went down into the vineyard.” The example “from before” is a literal translation of the Hebrew words mippene and milliphen. The writer found that it was used twenty-three times in the Old Testament Hebrew text, but that it was translated into English (KJV) only four times (for example, Genesis 23:3; Exodus 4:3; 1 Chronicles 11:13; Judges 11:23). The other verses all translate it “from,” giving us a more precisely worded English sentence, even though in the Hebrew text it reads, “from before.” It would have been quite difficult for Joseph Smith to have copied this Hebraism from the King James Version of the Bible when the construct only appears four times in the entire English text. Yet there are at least ten instances where the combination “from before” is found in the Book of Mormon. In this instance, the Book of Mormon contains a Hebraism “more literally” translated than its counterpart from the King James Version of the Bible.

In 3 Nephi 9 the words “from before” are part of a phrase that amazingly appears five times in seven verses, four of them word-for-word, representing yet another Hebrew language pattern called circular repetitive parallelism. Circular repetitive parallelism is found when a phrase is repeated at intervals in a longer passage, as if the message keeps coming back in a circular motion to the key phrase. The key phrase has been highlighted as follows:

And behold, that great city Moronihah have I covered with earth, and the inhabitants thereof, to hide their iniquities and their abominations from before my face, that the blood of the prophets and the saints shall not come any more unto me against them. . . .

the city of Jerusalem . . . and waters have I caused to come up in the stead thereof, to hide their wickedness and abominations from before my face, that the blood of the prophets and the saints shall not come up any more unto me against them.

And behold, the city of Gadiandi, . . . Gadiomnah . . . Jacob . . . Gimgimno . . . have I buried up in the depths of the earth to hide their wickedness and abominations from before my face, that the blood of the prophets and the saints should not come up any more unto me against them.

And behold the great city Jacobugath . . . I did cause them to be burned, to destroy them from before my face, that the blood of the prophets and the saints should not come up unto me any more against them. . . .

And behold, the city of Laman . . . Josh . . . Gad . . . Kishkumen . . . And because they did cast [the prophets] out, that there were none righteous among them, I did send down fire and destroy them, that the wickedness and abominations might be hid from before my face, that the blood of the prophets and the saints whom I sent among them might not cry unto me from the ground against them. (3 Nephi 9:5-11)   

How can we account for this? Richardson, Richardson and Bentley note that it is remote that Joseph Smith on his own would have been able to identify these constructs as Hebraisms. Rather, we see original Hebraic authorship and a correct translation through divine aid.₇

Repent and come as a little child… for such I have laid down my life, and have taken it up again (22)

3 Nephi 10

All the people of the land heard Jesus’ voice (1) and after this there was silence

Silence

Habakkuk 2.20 But the LORD is in his holy temple: let all the earth keep silence (hasah הָסָה) before him (before the face of him- paniym פָּנִים). Compare this text to D&C 88.95-98.

The idea of silence has not only the connotation of awe and reverence but also a worshipful meaning. As Hayward noted, “The proper attitude of the highest heavenly beings in the face of the Divine Presence is a silent worship of God in their uttering the prescribed formula of blessing.”₈

Was the temple service done in silence? Was this part of their reverence for God and his name?

Robert Hayward continues:

An attempt has been made here to provide an explanation of this apparently unique description of a silent liturgy. It is drawn from the Bible and later tradition, and suggests that Aristeas regarded the Temple Service, whatever else it might signify, as above all else a kind of display, an exhibition, a revealing on earth, of the heavenly world. For all his emphasis is on what is seen, He insists that nothing is heard. And yet, as if to heighten the mystery, he lets slip a tell-tale remark that the golden bells attached to the high priest’s robe ‘gave out a particular sound of musical tone’. The bells, if we take in an absolutely literal sense what he has said about silence elsewhere, must have been the only sound heard in the entire course of the liturgy. That sound would inevitably direct the worshipper’s attention to its source, the high priest in his vestments, crowned with the Divine Name Itself. For Aristeas (the letter was penned by a Jew – the letter of Aristeas (2^nd century BCE considered by some to be an apologetic text), the Service might be a vision of heaven evoking wonder, awe, and an inevitable loss for words in silence.₉

Gathering chickens – 3 Nephi 10.5

Gathering chickens (5)… how oft will I gather you as a hen… return unto me (6) this echoes Psalm 91:

1 He that dwelleth in the secret place [Holy of Holies] of the most High

            shall abide under the shadow of the Almighty.

2 I will say of the Lord, He is my refuge and my fortress:

            my God; in him will I trust.

3 Surely he shall deliver thee from the snare of the fowler,

            and from the noisome pestilence.

4 He shall cover thee with his feathers, and under his wings shalt thou trust:

            his truth shall be thy shield and buckler.

5 Thou shalt not be afraid for the terror by night;

            nor for the arrow that flieth by day;

6 Nor for the pestilence that walketh in darkness;

            nor for the destruction that wasteth at noonday (Psalm 91:1-6).

LeGrand Baker gives readers excellent insight into what Mormon is doing and how he is constructing his history of these events. He writes:

On the seventh day of the festival drama, the king sat on the throne of God in the Temple. The throne was overshadowed by the great golden wings of the cherubim. Thus, to be invited to come under the Savior’s wings was the same as being invited to sit on his throne as his son and heir (as in Psalm 2). That was the invitation the Savior referred to as he spoke in the darkness, and that is the invitation he would issue again when he came to his temple.

After the voice had spoken, the oppressive darkness remained for three days. When the darkness lifted, the scenes that followed might most easily be visualized as they would have occurred at the conclusion of the drama’s coronation ceremony, when the darkness dispersed and the world was light again:

and their mourning was turned into joy, and their lamentations into the praise and thanksgiving unto the Lord Jesus Christ, their Redeemer (3 Nephi10:10b).

Here, once more, Mormon interjects himself into the story, not in an autobiographical way, but in the much more typical “and thus we see” kind of way. He wrote, “And thus far were the scriptures fulfilled which had been spoken by the prophets” (3 Nephi 10:11)₁₀

Three Days

“thus did the three days pass away, and it was in the morning, and the darkness dispersed…” (3 Ne. 10.9)

Then Mormon again picked up the pattern of the temple drama. During the three days when the king was in the confines of death, the drama turned its focus from the king to the psalms that told of the Savior’s life, death, Atonement, and Resurrection. Mormon maintained that sequence of thought by quoting the prophecies of Zenos, and Zenock, and Jacob with reference to the coming of Christ (3 Nephi 10:12-17). Their testimonies provided a kind of conjunction that allowed Mormon’s narrative to move from the events that began on the fourth day of the thirty-fourth year to “the ending of the thirty and fourth year” (3 Ne. 8.5 and 3 Ne. 10.18) without a break in the continuity of his thought. Even though a year had passed, he could now pick up the sequence of the festival in the same place where he had left it.

This Mormon did that with great grace and, typically, without calling undue attention to what he was doing. Accordingly, he tells us nothing about the remodeling of the temple and its immediate environs, which would have been necessitated by the Savior’s instructions that sacrifice and burnt offerings should no longer be performed.

In the festival drama, on the morning of the seventh day a new temple was symbolically re-created. In a great procession, the people walked around Jerusalem, measuring it with their steps and redefining it as sacred space. Thus, there was a New Jerusalem, a new Temple, and those who entered were a new Zion. The sequence of events in America followed that same pattern. The destruction began on the fourth day in both the drama and in the reality. After three days, that is, on the seventh day of the drama, Jehovah came to his temple. Mormon’s account virtually jumps over the intervening time between the end of the darkness and the time the Savior came, so that if one reads it quickly, it appears that he is saying the Savior came to the temple almost immediately after the darkness dissipated, thus implying but not saying that it was also on the seventh day. Mormon then recounts the events of that and the following day as corresponding to the seventh and eighth days of the festival temple drama.₁₁

The Remodeling of the Temple

The Saints gathered here at the new year for the rededication of the temple and must have been surprised at how it had changed. We read that they were “gathered together round about the temple … in Bountiful; and were marveling and wondering … the great and marvelous change which had taken place.” (3 Nephi 11.1)

The remodeling of the temple was also the signal for the establishment of the new government. Bible scholar Sigmund Mowinckel asserts that “together with the enthronement of the god goes the building and construction of his temple.”₁₂ LDS scholar John Lundquist explains why that is the case. He writes, “In the Near East, temple  building/rebuilding/restoring is an all-but-quintessential element in state formation and often represents the sealing of the covenant process that state formation in the ancient Near East presumes.”₁₃ . Donna Runnalls’s argument that the building or restoration of temples was such an important part of the overall enthronement process that Jesus’ claim to the messiahship would not have been complete had he not cleansed the temple can readily be adapted to fit the situation described in 3 Nephi.₁₄

The remodeling of the temple in Bountiful would probably have required a rededication. If such were to occur it should have happened during the next New Year’s festival because that was the occasion of the dedication of Solomon’s temple.₁₅ Another commentator has claimed that “Solomon would have no choice as to the date when the Temple should be dedicated. He was bound to wait until the next annual feast after the completion of the building operations. It was in the proper month and at the proper full moon that the people would appear with their gifts.”₁₆

 In Psalm 60 the people sing:

1 O God, thou hast cast us off, thou hast scattered us,

            thou hast been displeased; O turn thyself to us again.

2 Thou hast made the earth to tremble;

            thou hast broken it: heal the breaches thereof; for it shaketh.

3 Thou hast shewed thy people hard things:

            thou hast made us to drink the wine of astonishment.

4 Thou hast given a banner to them that fear thee,

            that it may be displayed because of the truth.

5 That thy beloved may be delivered;

            save with thy right hand, and hear me (Psalm 60:1-5).

If that were true in America, as it was in Palestine, then the remodeling of the temple had been a necessary prerequisite to the establishment of the theocracy of 4 Nephi. If, then, the Temple at Bountiful had been remodeled it would also have needed to be rededicated. The most likely time for that ceremony would be during the New Year celebration. One scholar asserts that the New Year festival was “especially celebrated in connection with the consecration of temples.” ₁₇

It is possible that this rededication took place after the temple was remodeled after Jesus’ crucifixion. We read that after Solomon’s Temple was finished, he waited until the New Year festival to hold its dedication.₁₈ It is possible Nephi III would have felt it necessary to do the same. Lundquist gives us another bit of good circumstantial evidence that this was the time of a temple rededication. He wrote that new kings would typically do five things:

l. Cite their divine calling.

2. Issue new laws.

3. Ordain officers.

4. Erect monuments.

5. Enter into a new legal order by way of covenant with a ritually prepared community.₁₉

We do not know, from the Book of Mormon, of any new monuments erected, but the other four were exactly what the Savior did when he came to his temple in America.

Mormon tells us nothing about what happened during that intervening year. He spares us all accounts of the aftermath of the wind, fire, and earthquake. But he introduced us to one of the most important elements of the New Year festival: the establishment of a new order and a new world. A new world must follow the destruction of the old. The central feature of that new creation must be a temple, as Lundquist explained:

A community is made cosmic through the foundation of the temple. The elaborate ritual, architectural, and building traditions that lie behind temple construction and dedication are what allow the authoritative, validating transformation of a set of customary laws into a code.

The temple creates law and makes law possible. It allows for the transformation of a chaotic universe into a cosmos. It is the very capstone of universal order and by logic and definition creates the conditions under which law is possible. …

Thus order cannot exist, the earth cannot be made cosmic, society cannot function properly, law cannot be decreed, except in a temple established on earth that is the authentic and divinely revealed counterpart of a heavenly prototype . …It is the creation of the temple, with its cosmic overtones, that founds and legitimizes the state or the society, which, in turn makes possible the formal promulgation of law.₂₀

3 Nephi 11

The change, the temple precincts would have been re-ordered to a new form of worship without sacrifice. All of this would have been constructed following the directions of the leadership of the church at that time, by Nephi.

Pre-requisites to see the face of the Savior, the King

Faith – Ether 12.7

Be pure in heart – Matthew 5.8

Forsake sin, call on his name, obey his voice, keep his commandments – D&C 93.1-5

Follow peace with all men and holiness – Hebrews 12.14

Receive the ordinances – D&C 84.20-22

The voice speaks three time (1-5)… Ritually, the hearers would be in the Holy Place, facing the veil of the First Israelite Temple. The voice of God would be then coming to them through the veil, from the oracle, or the devir – דְּבִיר. These hearers are about to behold the face of God. We see the same kind of ritual representation of individuals conversing with the angels of God in Helaman 5.39, being encircled about by fire (Helaman 5.44).

The Father declares Jesus as king and His Son (7)

Jesus explains who he is (10), what he has done (11)

The people fall to the earth to their God and King (12)

They are allowed to come forth and feel the prints in his hands and feet (14-16), all of them do so

In A Coming Day

Elder McConkie shared his last public testimony of Jesus in the 1985 April conference. In part he said:

And now, as pertaining to this perfect atonement, wrought by the shedding of the blood of God—I testify that it took place in Gethsemane and at Golgotha, and as pertaining to Jesus Christ, I testify that he is the Son of the Living God and was crucified for the sins of the world. He is our Lord, our God, and our King. This I know of myself independent of any other person.

I am one of his witnesses, and in a coming day I shall feel the nail marks in his hands and in his feet and shall wet his feet with my tears.

But I shall not know any better then than I know now that he is God’s Almighty Son, that he is our Savior and Redeemer, and that salvation comes in and through his atoning blood and in no other way.

God grant that all of us may walk in the light as God our Father is in the light so that, according to the promises, the blood of Jesus Christ his Son will cleanse us from all sin.

They cry out “God save us!” Hosanna! (17) – see Psalm 60.5

Jesus calls Nephi out (18)

Nephi acknowledges Jesus’ power and kisses his feet (19)

Jesus gives Nephi power (20-21)

I give unto you power to baptize

Reading these verses, one may wonder whether Nephi did not already have priesthood authority and whether the ordinance of baptism was not already being practiced among the Nephites. The answer to both questions would be yes. Nephi already had authority, and baptism was already being practiced. The doctrinal significance of these verses is not merely to reiterate the importance of baptism by the proper priesthood authority but rather to demonstrate the establishment of a new gospel dispensation among the Nephites and the accompanying ordinations and ordinances that a new dispensation necessitated.₂₁

We know that the Nephites practiced baptism at least since Alma’s instruction in Mosiah 18.8-10, and Nephi speaks of this as well (2 Nephi 31). But baptism would take on a new significance with Jesus’ visit to the Nephites. Here we have a new creation. A new people. Yahweh has come amongst his people to proclaim his Divine Sonship and his authority as King of the cosmos and of the Nephite people. With this new creation, all things are new. This is the New Year festival, a rededication of the new temple precinct, and a new understanding of what it is that connects the Nephites to God, namely, his atoning sacrifice and their sacrifice of their wills to him as their God. We see something similar to this when John’s baptism becomes the baptism of Jesus in the Gospel of John. We also see a new creation and a recovenanting happening when in this dispensation we have the organization of the church. People are rebaptized into this new church. We also saw this when the Saints arrived in the Salt Lake valley in 1847, when they were rebaptized in a new land, covenanting in this new place to once again give their lives to Jesus.

President Joseph Fielding Smith explained it this way: “There is nothing strange in the fact that when the Lord came to the Nephites, Nephi was baptized and so was everybody else although they had been baptized before. The Church among the Nephites before the coming of Christ was not in its fulness and was under the law of Moses. The Savior restored the fulness and gave them all the ordinances and blessings of the gospel. Therefore, it actually became a new organization, and through baptism they came into it. We have a similar condition in this dispensation. The Prophet Joseph Smith and Oliver Cowdery were baptized by command of the Angel John the Baptist. Several others were baptized before the organization of the Church. However, on the day the Church was organized, all who had been previously baptized were baptized again, not for the remission of sins, but for entrance into the Church. In each case the reason was the same.”₂₂

Joseph Fielding McConkie wrote:

I give unto you power] Nephi was not being given any additional priesthood by the Lord, but rather he was receiving new authority to perform ordinances associated with the “new organization” that Christ established among them. With “old things” done away, Nephi was given power and authority to administer in the “new things” in a dispensation with the fulness of gospel ordinances. Nephi, in turn, was then able to ordain (or in our terminology “set apart”) others to establish and set in order this new Church.₂₃

The Lord calls others (22)

He instructs on baptism (23-26)

The Father and I are one (27)… no more disputations! (22, 28)

The Father, and the Son, and the Holy Ghost are ONE (27) – this is the first time the Father, Son, and Holy Ghost are in the same verse… That there was a heavenly father to that God (Yahweh) did not figure in the main religious thought either in the Old World or the New- until the presence of Jesus on earth required an elucidation of those relationships. The presence of Yahweh-Messiah on earth with a Father who announced his Son from the heavens forcibly returned God the Father (The Most High God – El Elyon) to the forefront of religious consciousness and required that theology clarify his place. Therefore, from this point on, the Book of Mormon delineates the identity and relationship of the three. The simple association of the Messiah as the one God is replaced by a Godhead with an important Father/Son relationship. This same shift occurred for the apostles in the Old World and for the same reason. The presence of the Messiah on earth with the simultaneous presence of a deity in the heavens required a conceptual restructuring.₂₄

The Spirit of contention is not of me (29)

I will declare unto you my doctrine (31-39)

Repent and believe (32)

Be baptized (33)

Receive the Holy Ghost (35)

Become as a little child (37-38)

The gates of hell will not prevail (39)

Jesus is proclaiming war on the forces of Hades. In the New Testament context, from my reading of the Enoch literature, Jesus is claiming his right to take possession of the earth against the forces of the rebellious Watchers who departed God’s presence. See Enoch 7 and Michael Heiser’s book The Unseen Realm.

Another look at this verse will also show us that the gates of Hell will not withstand Jesus’ power to storm this territory, decimate the gates, and reclaim the prisoners. Using the power of his atonement and resurrection, Jesus reclaims these people from death and hell. The apocryphal book of Nicodemus (a text possibly written in the 3^rd  or 4th century AD, this text was rejected as part of the canon by the early church, however, it contains many accurate portrayals of Jesus) has a description of this event, of Jesus assaulting the gates of hell:

And while all the saints were rejoicing, behold Satan the prince and chief of death said unto Hell: Make thyself ready to receive Jesus who boasteth himself that he is the Son of God, whereas he is a man that feareth death, and sayeth: My soul is sorrowful even unto death. And he hath been much mine enemy, doing me great hurt, and many that I had made blind, lame, dumb, leprous, and possessed he hath healed with a word: and some whom I have brought unto thee dead, them hath he taken away from thee.

Hell answered and said unto Satan the prince: Who is he that is so mighty, if he be a man that feareth death? for all the mighty ones of the earth are held in subjection by my power, even they whom thou hast brought me subdued by thy power. If, then, thou art mighty, what manner of man is this Jesus who, though he fear death, resisteth thy power? If he be so mighty in his manhood, verily I say unto thee he is almighty in his god-head, and no man can withstand his power. And when he saith that he feareth death, he would ensnare thee, and woe shall be unto thee for everlasting ages. But Satan the prince of Tartarus said: Why doubtest thou and fearest to receive this Jesus which is thine adversary and mine? For I tempted him, and have stirred up mine ancient people of the Jews with envy and wrath against him. I have sharpened a spear to thrust him through, gall and vinegar have I mingled to give him to drink, and I have prepared a cross to crucify him and nails to pierce him: and his death is nigh at hand, that I may bring him unto thee to be subject unto thee and me.

Hell answered and said: Thou hast told me that it is he that hath taken away dead men from me. For there be many which while they lived on the earth have taken dead men from me, yet not by their own power but by prayer to God, and their almighty God hath taken them from me. Who is this Jesus which by his own word without prayer hath drawn dead men from me? Perchance it is he which by the word of his command did restore to life Lazarus which was four days dead and stank and was corrupt, whom I held here dead. Satan the prince of death answered and said: It is that same Jesus. When Hell heard that he said unto him: I adjure thee by thy strength and mine own that thou bring him not unto me. For at that time I, when I heard the command of his word, did quake and was overwhelmed with fear, and all my ministries with me were troubled. Neither could we keep Lazarus, but he like an eagle shaking himself leaped forth with all agility and swiftness, and departed from us, and the earth also which held the dead body of Lazarus straightway gave him up alive. Wherefore now I know that that man which was able to do these things is a God strong in command and mighty in manhood, and that he is the saviour of mankind. And if thou bring him unto me he will set free all that are here shut up in the hard prison and bound in the chains of their sins that cannot be broken, and will bring them unto the life of his god head for ever.

And as Satan the prince, and Hell, spoke this together, suddenly there came a voice as of thunder and a spiritual cry: Remove, O princes, your gates, and be ye lift up, ye everlasting doors, and the King of glory shall come in. When Hell heard that he said unto Satan the prince: Depart from me and go out of mine abode: if thou be a mighty man of war, fight thou against the King of glory. But what hast thou to do with him? And Hell cast Satan forth out of his dwelling. Then said Hell unto his wicked ministers: Shut ye the hard gates of brass and put on them the bars of iron and withstand stoutly, lest we that hold captivity be taken captive.

But when all the multitude of the saints heard it, they spake with a voice of rebuking unto Hell: Open thy gates, that the King of glory may come in. And David cried out, saying: Did I not when I was alive upon earth, foretell unto you: Let them give thanks unto the Lord, even his mercies and his wonders unto the children of men; who hath broken the gates of brass and smitten the bars of iron in sunder? he hath taken them out of the way of their iniquity. And thereafter in like manner Esaias said: Did not I when I was alive upon earth foretell unto you: The dead shall arise, and they that are in the tombs shall rise again, and they that are in the earth shall rejoice, for the dew which cometh of the Lord is their healing? And again I said: O death, where is thy sting? O Hell, where is thy victory?

3 When they heard that of Esaias, all the saints said unto Hell: Open thy gates: now shalt thou be overcome and weak and without strength. And there came a great voice as of thunder, saying: Remove, O princes, your gates, and be ye lift up ye doors of hell, and the King of glory shall come in. And when Hell saw that they so cried out twice, he said, as if he knew it not: Who is the King of glory? And David answered Hell and said: The words of this cry do I know, for by his spirit I prophesied the same; and now I say unto thee that which I said before: The Lord strong and mighty, the Lord mighty in battle, he is the King of glory. And: The Lord looked down from heaven that he might hear the groanings of them that are in fetters and deliver the children of them that have been slain. And now, O thou most foul and stinking Hell, open thy gates, that the King of glory may come in. And as David spake thus unto Hell, the Lord of majesty appeared in the form of a man and lightened the eternal darkness and brake the bonds that could not be loosed: and the succour of his everlasting might visited us that sat in the deep darkness of our transgressions and in the shadow of death of our sins.

When Hell and death and their wicked ministers saw that, they were stricken with fear, they and their cruel officers, at the sight of the brightness of so great light in their own realm, seeing Christ of a sudden in their abode, and they cried out, saying: We are overcome by thee. Who art thou that art sent by the Lord for our confusion? Who art thou that without all damage of corruption, and with the signs (?) of thy majesty unblemished, dost in wrath condemn our power? Who art thou that art so great and so small, both humble and exalted, both soldier and commander, a marvelous warrior in the shape of a bondsman, and a King of glory dead and living, whom the cross bare slain upon it? Thou that didst lie dead in the sepulchre hast come down unto us living and at thy death all creation quaked and all the stars were shaken and thou hast become free among the dead and dost rout our legions. Who art thou that settest free the prisoners that are held bound by original sin and restorest them into their former liberty? Who art thou that sheddest thy divine and bright light upon them that were blinded with the darkness of their sins? After the same manner all the legions of devils were stricken with like fear and cried out all together in the terror of their confusion, saying: Whence art thou, Jesus, a man so mighty and bright in majesty, so excellent without spot and clean from sin? For that world of earth which hath been always subject unto us until now, and did pay tribute to our profit, hath never sent unto us a dead man like thee, nor ever dispatched such a gift unto Hell. Who then art thou that so fearlessly enterest our borders, and not only fearest not our torments, but besides essayest to bear away all men out of our bonds? Peradventure thou art that Jesus, of whom Satan our prince said that by thy death of the cross thou shouldest receive the dominion of the whole world.

Then did the King of glory in his majesty trample upon death, and laid hold on Satan the prince and delivered him unto the power of Hell, and drew Adam to him unto his own brightness.₂₅

Go and tell everyone what I have spoken (41)

Notes

1. Amy Blake Hardison, “Being a Covenant People,” in Covenants Prophecies and Hymns of the Old Testament, pp. 24, 28.
2. John L. Sorenson, “The Settlements of Book of Mormon Peoples,” in Nephite Culture and Society, New Sage Books, 1997, pages 131-154.
3. John Tvedtnes & David Bokovoy, Testaments: Links between the Book of Mormon and the Hebrew Bible, Heritage Press, 2003, chapter 17.
4. J. Reuben Clark, Behold the Lamb of God, pp. 107-9.
5. John L. Sorenson, “Viva Zapato! Hurray for the Shoe! in Review of Books on the Book of Mormon, Vol. 6, Num. 1, p. 343.
6. Truman G. Madsen, The Radiant Life, p. 113.
7. Allen H. Richardson, David E. Richardson, and Anthony E. Bentley, Voice from the Dust-500 Evidences Supporting the Book of Mormon, pp. 267, 280-281.
8. Robert Hayward, The Jewish Temple: A Non-Biblical Sourcebook, London: Routledge, 1996, 34.
9. Ibid., p. 37.
10. LeGrand Baker and Stephen Ricks, Who Shall Ascend to the Hill of the Lord?, p. 626-627.
11. Ibid., 627-628.
12. Sigmund Mowinckel, The Psalms in Israel’s Worship, volume 1, p. 132.
13. John Lundquist, “Legitimizing Role of the Temple in the origin of the state,” in Temples of the Ancient World, ed. Donald W. Parry, 1994, p. 180.
14. Donna Runnalls, “The King as Temple Builder: A Messianic Typology,” in, Spirit Within Structure: Essays in Honor of George Johnston, ed. E. J. Furcha, Allison Park, Pennsylvania: Pickwick, 1983, 19, 30.
15. 2 Chronicles 7:8-10. See Geo Widengren,”King and Covenant,” Journal of Semitic Studies, Volume 2, Issue 1, January 1957, p. 8-9. See also: Aubrey Johnson, Sacral Kingship in Ancient Israel, Wipf and Stock, 2006, 54. Sigmund Mowinckel, Psalms in Israel’s Worship, 1:127.
16. Norman H. Snaith, The Jewish New Year Festival: Its Origins and Development, Wipf and Stock, 2016, 52.
17. Ivan Engell, Studies in Divine Kingship in the ancient near east, 1967, p. 10.
18. 1 Kings 8:2.
19. John Lundquist, “Temple, Covenant, and Law,” p. 293-305.
20. Ibid., 299, 302.
21. Millet & McConkie, Doctrinal Commentary on the Book of Mormon, vol. 4, p. 56.
22. Joseph Fielding Smith, Answers to Gospel Questions 3:205-6.
23. Doctrinal Commentary on the Book of Mormon, Vol. 4, p. 56.
24. Brant Gardner, Second Witness, vol. 5, p. 346.
25. The Gospel of Nicodemus, or Acts of Pilate, From “The Apocryphal New Testament” M.R. James-Translation and Notes, Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1924.