A reader recently sent me a section of an article that's being circulated among Mormons. Its premise is that the Book of Mormon reflects Semitic peculiarities.
The original article is here. (Update: Apparently Sami Hanna left the LDS church and here is a retraction of his statements that once supported Mormonism, as seen below. Interesting!)
It says that a native Arabic speaker saw Semitic features in the Book of Mormon, and my friend sent a list of them and asked me to respond. Obviously what Joseph Smith did was a nineteenth-century version of cutting and pasting from the Bible. Here's what I said in my letter to my friend:
I am delighted to respond to this one. Since you're from the South you'll understand when I say that this is like saying “sic'em to a dog.”
For more information, see The Mormon Mirage 3rd Edition: A Former Member Looks at the Mormon Church Today(Zondervan, 2009). Also available as an audiobook and as an expanded-text E-book for Nook, Kindle and other reading devices.
Here's the deal. If I wanted to produce a book that sounded like the King James Bible (which of course has Semitic roots), I wouldn't have to be Semitic or know a Semitic language. I would only have to imitate the King James Version! See below.
1. Jarom 2: “It must needs be…” This expression, odd and awkward in English, is excellent Arabic grammar. Elsewhere in the book, the use of the compound verbs “did eat”, “did go”, “did smile”… again, awkward and rarely used in English, are classical and correct grammar in the Semitic languages.This phrase occurs in the King James Bible which Joseph Smith had, in Matthew 18:7 —Woe unto the world because of offences! for it must needs be that offences come; but woe to that man by whom the offence cometh!2. Omni 18: “Zarahemla gave a genealogy of his fathers, according to his memory.” Brother Hanna indicates that this is a typical custom of his Semitic forbearers to recite their genealogy from memory.And how do you think the genealogies of Genesis were conveyed before they were written down? All strict Jews had to MEMORIZE the first five books of the Bible! 3. Words of Mormon 17: Reference is made here as in other parts of the Book of Mormon, to the “stiffneckedness” of his people. Brother Hanna perceives that this word would be a very unusual word for an American youth, Joseph Smith, to use. An American would likely prefer an adjective such as stubborn or inflexible. But the custom in the Arabic language is to use just such a descriptive adjective. Stiffnecked is an adjective they use in describing and obstinate person.And Jesus used this word in the New Testament.
4. Mosiah 11:8: “King Noah built many elegant and spacious buildings and ornamented them with fine work and precious things, including ziff.” Have you ever wondered about the meaning of the word “ziff” referred to in this scripture? This word, although in the Book of Mormon, is not contained in dictionaries of the English language. Yet it translates freely back into the Arabic language, for ziff is a special kind of curve sword somewhat like a scimitar which is carried in a sheath and often used for ornamentation as well as for more practical purposes. The discovery of the word “ziff” in the Book of Mormon really excited my neighbor, Brother Hanna.ZIff? You mean they decorated the buildings with fine works and precious things that included scimitars hanging off them?
5. Alma 63:11: Reference is made to Helaman, son of Helaman. Why did not Joseph Smith interpret this as Helaman, Jr., which would have been more logical for him, bearing the same name as his father, Joseph, and being named Joseph Smith, Jr. In Arabic, Brother Hanna explains, there is no word “junior” to cover this circumstance. Their custom is to use the terminology Joseph, son of Joseph; Helaman, son of Helaman, etc.Good grief. This is ALL over the Bible. It proves Joseph Smith imitated the Bible. 6. Helaman 1:3: Here reference is made to the contending for the judgment seat. Brother Hanna observes that the use of the term “judgment seat” would be quite strange to an American who might have used a more familiar noun such as governor, president, or ruler. Yet, in Arabic custom, the place of power rests in the judgment seat and whoever occupies that seat, is the authority and power. The authority goes with the seat and not with the office or the person. So, this, in the Semitic languages, connotes the meaning exactly.That's in Romans 14:10.7. Helaman 3:14: In this verse, there are a total of eighteen “ands.” Reviewers of the Book of Mormon have, on occasion, been critical of the grammar in such a passage where the use of the word “and” seems so repetitious. Yet Brother Hanna explains that each of the “ands” in this verse is absolutely essential to the meaning when this verse is expressed in Arabic, for the omission of any “and” would nullify the meaning of the words.
Sorry, there are too many ands in the Bible for me to track this one. I don't have a KJV dictionary that lists the places the word “and” is listed (must be thousands), but this is really really reaching to justify Joseph Smith's clumsy dictation. 8. Helaman 3: 18-19.: Have you wondered why the Book of Mormon cites a numbering system such as this. Do we say, “forty and six, forty and seven, forty and eight?” No! Joseph Smith's natural interpretation would more appropriately have been forty-six, forty-seven, forty-eight without the “ands.” Brother Hanna excitedly observes that he use of “and” in “forty and six” is precisely correct Arabic. Remember they number, as well as read, from right to left and recite their numbers with the “and” to separate the columns.Again, this is all over the KJV. Here's an example from Revelation 19:4:And the four and twenty elders and the four beasts fell down and worshipped God that sat on the throne, saying, Amen; Alleluia.
