Hebrew Idioms and Analogies in the Book of Mormon. II

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Hebrew Idioms and Analogies in the Book of Mormon. BY THOMAS W. BROOKBANK.

II.

These instances in which the principles of enallage have been applied, are not the only ones that occur in the Book of Mormon, and a few additional ones, without accompanying remarks, shall now be given, in connection with certain Biblical texts, in order that the correspondence of the two records upon the point in question may be perceived at a glance BIBLE. BOOK OF MORMON. Ye shall not afflict any widow We knew that ye could not or fatherless child. If thou afflict construct a ship, for we knew that them in any wise, and they cry at ye were lacking in judgment; where- all unto me, I will surely hear fore, thou canst not accomplish so their cry (Ex. 22: 22, 23.) great a work (I NephilT: 19). And it shall be if thou do at For the Lord had not hitherto all forget the Lord thy God, and suffered that we should make much walk after other gods, and serve fire, as we journeyed in the wilder- them and worship them, I testify ness; for he said, I will make thy against you this day, that ye shall food become sweet, that ye cook surely perish (Deut. 8: 19.) it not (INephi 17: 12). Remember and forget not how And I said unto him, Belie v- thou provokest the Lord thy God est thou the scriptures? And he to wrath in the wilderness: for said, Yes. And I said unto him, from the day that thou didst de- Then ye do not understand them part out of the land of Egypt, (Jacob 7: 10, 11), until ye came into this place, ye Now Amulek said, thou child have been rebellious against the of hell, why tempt ye me. Know- Lord (Deut. 9:7). est thou that the righteous yieldeth And thou shalt write them to no such temptation? (Alma upon the door-posts of thine house, 11: 23).

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BIBLE. BOOK OF MORMOM. and upon thy gates: that your days Now I would that ye should may be multiplied, and the days of remember that what I say unto your children (Deut. 11: 20, 21). thee, I say unto all (Alma 12: 5).

Notwithstanding thou mayst Behold my sons and my daugh- kill and eat flesh in all thy gates, ters, who are the sons and daugh- whatsoever thy soul lusteth after, ters of my second son, behold I

according to the blessings of the leave unto you the same blessing Lord thy God which he hath given which I left unto the sons and thee * * * only ye shall not daughters of Laman; wherefore eat the blood; ye shall pour it upon thou shalt not utterly be destroyed; the earth as water. Thou mayst but in the end thy seed shall be not eat within thy gates, etc. saved (II Nephi 4: 9). (Deut. 12: 15-17.)

These Hebraisms are thus demonstrated to be fully as charac- teristic of the language of the Book of Mormon as they are of that of the Bible, and some of the grammatical errors in the former, to which our attention is sometimes called by our opponents, are also found in the Bible, which is a model of correct English; and they should not be regavded by any one as fit matters for ridicule, but be viewed in their true light, as peculiarities necessarily asso- ciated with the use of a Hebrew idiom, and hence as affording unim- peachable evidence that the Book of Mormon was not written by Joseph Smith, nor by any other man who was not thoroughly familiar with some peculiar principles of the Jewish language. If those who peruse these remarks will turn to Christ's ser- mon on the mount, and read especially Matt. 5: 39; 6: 1, 2 and 6, 7, and 16, 17, and 7: 1-5, they will find that, if there is any ground for charging illiteracy against the Book of Mormon writers because of the peculiarities in the use of language just passed upon, an identical charge of illiteracy can be sustained against the writers of the Bible. Remarks relative to the Hebraisms in the Book of Mormon will be closed, for the present, with a few observations respecting the use of we in the text where Nephi says, " We are a descendant of Joseph'' (I Nephi 6: 2). Writers of these times frequently use we instead of the singular /, as it seems to savor less of egotism, and Nephi 's substitution of we for / in the cited text, suggests to

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some minds grounds for the charge of modernism against his writ- ings; but his language is fully sustained as proper by examples already produced, where a plural form is used for the singular to imply that the person or thing contains within himself or itself what is to be divided amongst many. In this case, Nephi could not alone claim the honor of being a descendant of Joseph, for his illustrious descent was necessarily shared with all the other mem- bers of his family. Thus this alleged mistake, or error, on the part of Nephi is, when rightly viewed, simply another evidence of the authenticity of his writings. Passing now to another phase of our general subject, it

becomes necessary to quote again some recognized authority as the foundation for our remarks. Turning, therefore, once again to Greene's Hebrew Grammar, paragraph 69, welearn that the ' 'formation of words and their inflections are accomplished partly by internal changes and partly by external additions. * * *

The external additions are significant syllables welded to the root or to the word, either at the beginning or the end.'' This state- ment of the principles upon which Jewish words are built up, shall be supplemented with a part of paragraph 181, as follows: "All nouns are, with respect to their formation, reducable to cer- tain leading types or classes of words, each having a primary and proper import of its own. The derivation of nouns, as of the verbal species, from their respective roots and themes, calls into requisitionall the expedients, whether of internal or of external changes, known to the language.'' A general exhibit, illustrating the application of some of these principles in the formation of many of the Nephite proper names, is to be submitted; but before presenting it, there is one Nephite name that deserves special consideration, together with the meaning given to it in the Book of Mormon. The one thus singled out is Rabbanah (Alma 18: 13)). The termination in ah is a very common one among Jewish proper names, and almost invariably carries with it the idea of some kind of relationship to Jehov-ah. For example: Abij-ah,means him to whom Jehov-ah is a father. Azari-ah signifies helped of the Lord, and Hezeki-ah, strength of the Lord. Further the meaning of the Hebrew name Rabbi is, ''' generally, "teacher but

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HEBREW ANALOGIES IN THE BOOK OF MORMON. 237

it also has the meaning of "master," or Lord, as we readily gather from the context of Matt. 23: 7, 8. A few relative remarks from the able pen of Dr. Adam Clarke in his notes on the text just cited now follow, and the special attention of our readers is requested to the points that he presents for our consideration. He says: "There are three words used among the Jews as titles of dignity, which they apply to their doctors — Rabh, Rabbi and Rab- ban, each of these has its particular meaning: Rabban implies much more than Rabbi, and Rabbi much more than Rabh. They may be regarded as three degrees of comparison: Rabh great, Rabbi greater, and Rabban greatest." Now it is evident, from all the facts which bear upon this matter, that Rabban-ah must have some meaning that is associated with the highest of earthly dig- nities on one hand, and with the power, wisdom, or other attri-

butes of Jehovah on the other, — with those of Him who is King of all kings. The Book of Mormon, therefore, in giving to the nam e Rabban-ah the meaning of "powerful or great king," is correct to the last degree. From the context of Alma 18: 13, where the name occurs, we learn that Lamoni, a Lamanitish king, and his people did not think the appellation beneath the dignity of the Great Spirit, whom they imagined they saw in their presence clothed upon with a body of flesh and bones. Not only is the meaning of this word correctly interpreted by the Book of Mormon writer, but it is built up upon unquestioned principles for the form- ation of names in the Hebrew. No mistake of any character has been made. It is derived from the proper root. The proper modification of that root is selected in order that its whole force allthe force and meaning that it was capable of being made to express— might appear in the new name, and, finally, the proper termination is added to associate it with the Almighty, or the Great Spirit, as he was known to the Lamanites.

The evidence which other Nephite names afford in favor of the Jewish origin of the Book of Mormon is very valuable; and some of the characteristics, by which they are distinguished as Hebraic, shall now be made apparent by means of the promised exhibit, which is of a comparative nature, showing at a glance the correspondence that exists between many Biblical names and others that are of Nephite formation. By means of this exhibit, our

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readers will also get a view of the prefixes and suffixes, and other modifications that have been applied or effected in the formation of these Nephite names, which have been constructed according to the principles last quoted from Greene's Hebrew Grammar: BIBLE. BOOK OF MORMON BIBLE. BOOK OF MORMON f Abinad-i f Gid Abinad-ab ( Abinad-om I Gid-don-ah Abish-ag Abish Gid-eon { Gid-ianhi Gosh-en A-gosh I Gid-gid-doni f A-kish I Am-gid Eish \ Eish-cumen f Mori-ancumer Riblah ( Ripla-kish Mori-ah \ Mori-anton Aminad-ab Aminod-i ( Mori-antum Gola-n An-gola Zer-ah Zer-ah-emn-ah Car-chemish Chemish Gaz-ara Gaz-elem \ Math-on-i Hesh-bon Hesh-lon Math-u-sala / Math-on-ih-ah Jacob It, Jacob-u-gath Mil-com Com Gath j-

Gim-zo Gim-gim-no Josh-u-a Josh Hag-gai Hag-oth Gath O-gath Jeho-ash Jeho-cab f Shem-non Eim Shem j I Shem-lon Eli-a-kim 1 Eim-nor Shim-nil-on Shim-ron 1

Shiz-a Shiz I Shim Tubal Tubal-oth f Nephi-h-ah Nephi Zara / ( Ze-nephi Zara-hem-la Hem-dan f Enoch Z-enock f Amni-gad-d-ah Enos Z-enos Gad j Gad-iandi Ammon Ammon-ih-a ] Gad-iant-on Par- ah Anti-par-ahh L Gad-iomn-ah Sar-ah Sar-i-ah Amal-ek Amal-icki-ah Nim-rod Nimrah Jon-ah Ant-(j)i-on-ah Nahor Nehor Gil-gal Gil-g-ah Jared Shared Shilo Shilo-m Shillem Shilem Elam He-lam-an Sidon Sidom Hem-dan Hem Zorab Zoram Nahum Nahom Onam Ante-onum Shur j Shurr Emmer Emer 1 Sher-riz-ah Etham Ethem Ah-i-ah Ah-ah Ezra Ezrom Ah-i Ah-a Jacob Jacom Rib-blah Rip-l-ah Mosol-lamon Laman Ab-(sa)-lom Ab-lom Omar Omer j Am-aron Shiz-a Shez Aaron i. Amm-aron Shulam Shule Amnon Amnor Zera Zeram Melech Melek Jashen Jashon Jordan Jordon