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“A Book of Mormon Mystery”?

“A Book of Mormon Mystery”?

Last updated on: November 29, 2024 at 10:56 pm by Dan Peterson

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“A Book of Mormon Mystery”? 2024-11-29T22:56:00-07:00 Dan Peterson

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This ladder — a “ladder of divine ascent” — appears in an icon from the Monastery of St. Catherine, in the Sinai Peninsula.
(Wikimedia Common public domain image)

A new article appeared this afternoon in Interpreter: A Journal of Latter-day Saint Faith and Scholarship: “What Happened to Nephi at the Camp of the Broken Bow? A Book of Mormon Mystery,” written by Godfrey J. Ellis

Abstract: Nephi started as the youngest son of Lehi and Sariah and ended up as the king or king-like leader of the Nephite nation. While he, in some sense, obviously grew into the role over time, there was likely some key time or event when the transition from the leadership guidance of the prophet Lehi transferred to the restrained leadership guidance of his son, Nephi. A low-key leadership style was necessitated by the absolute imperative that the group be held together. This article briefly discusses four possible time frames for that transition but favors the idea that it happened in an area often called “the Camp of the Broken Bow.” This choice is based on (1) the symbolic meaning of Nephi breaking his bow, (2) the importance of Lehi murmuring “against his God,” (3) Nephi’s ascension to the “top of a mountain,” and (4) the subsequent near disappearance of Lehi from the narrative. These four critical events all occurred at the Camp of the Broken Bow. Evidence appears to suggest that it may have been at that time that there was a replacement of Lehi’s tenure, not as a prophet, but as the recognized leader of the expedition.

An accompanying article also went up today on the website of the Interpreter Foundation: “Interpreting Interpreter: Nephi’s Leadership,” written by Kyler Rasmussen

This post is a summary of the article “What Happened to Nephi at the Camp of the Broken Bow? A Book of Mormon Mystery” by Godfrey J. Ellis in Volume 63 of Interpreter: A Journal of Latter-day Saint Faith and Scholarship. All of the Interpreting Interpreter articles may be seen at https://interpreterfoundation.org/category/summaries/. An introduction to the Interpreting Interpreterseries is available at https://interpreterfoundation.org/interpreting-interpreter-on-abstracting-thought/.

A video introduction to this Interpreter article is now available on all of our social media channels, including on YouTube at https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=U7ZRQPO7QiY.

The Takeaway: Ellis argues that Nephi’s transition to the logistical leadership of Lehi’s band occurred at the Camp of the Broken Bow, based on the event’s symbolic and practical considerations and the subsequent changes in Lehi and Nephi’s roles.

The Temple: Symbols, Sermons, and Settings: “Group Ascension to Heaven in the Scriptures and in Early Judaism and Christianity,” written by David J. Larsen

Part of our book chapter reprint series, this article originally appeared in The Temple: Symbols, Sermons, and Settings, edited by Stephen D. Ricks and Jeffrey M. Bradshaw. For more information, go to https://interpreterfoundation.org/books/the-temple-symbols-sermons-and-settings/.

“There are many accounts in both ancient and modern scripture and other religious writings about individuals that ascend into heaven. We have stories of Enoch, Abraham, Jacob, Moses, Elijah, Isaiah, Jesus, Paul, and others ascending up through the various levels of heaven into the presence of God. . . . However, a major difference between the ancient stories of individuals journeying to heaven and the experience of modern temple-goers is that modern temple endowments generally involve group settings.”

Incidentally, it was his belated discovery of (I think) last week’s installment of our book chapter reprint series — a series that has been going each and every week for at least two or three years now — that led one vigilant observer over on the Peterson Obsession Board to report to his associates there with breathless enthusiasm that the obviously failing Interpreter Foundation, finally (as long prophesied) on its last legs, has now been reduced merely to recycling old materials.

What’s really happening, of course, is that, once our book publications have had a reasonably lengthy chance to find their market and more or less recoup their costs, we make their contents available online, at no charge. We’re not in this for the money, after all. As do those who write for us, we want these books and these articles to reach (and to benefit) as large an audience as they can. So it’s always been our intention to, eventually, put all or almost all of what we do online, for free. Doing so is not, alas, evidence of our approaching demise.

Wulf Barsch, “The Ascension of Isaiah”
(I have been unable to find copyright information regarding this image of a work by a prominent contemporary LDS artist whom I admire, so, if anybody who holds copyright on it wishes to contact me, that would please me and put my mind at ease.)

As I write, there remain only twenty-five shopping days, sixteen shopping hours, sixteen shopping minutes, and twenty-seven shopping seconds until Christmas, Utah time. Perhaps you’re already in crisis mode, bereft of ideas for the significant others in your life. Do not despair! Have you considered the books that the Interpreter Foundation has published? They would make excellent gifts for people that you care about. Including yourself. (They would probably also make excellent gifts for people about whom you don’t care. But that’s a topic for another day, perhaps.) Anyway, take a look at the surprisingly extensive list of our published books on the Interpreter Foundation website. Perhaps you can take care of your Christmas shopping needs with the gift of a book! After all, consider the words of the famous “Belle of Amherst,” Ms. Emily Dickinson (1830-1886):

There is no Frigate like a Book

To take us Lands away

Nor any Coursers like a Page

Of prancing Poetry –

This Traverse may the poorest take

Without oppress of Toll –

How frugal is the Chariot

That bears the Human Soul –

Which words, being interpreted, suggest that, as the various potential means of travel and transportation go, books are relatively cheap.

Jean Leon Gerome Ferris, “The First Thanksgiving” (ca. 1912-1915)
Wikimedia Commons public domain image

Thanksgiving 2024 is done and gone. But it hasn’t always been past. And Thanksgiving 2025 isn’t even a full year away. (There are only slightly more than 390 shopping days left until Christmas 2025.) Moreover, anyhow, gratitude and the giving of thanks are always appropriate, always in season — and, it seems, even healthy. See this article, which appeared in the Deseret News on 27 November 2024, the day before this year’s Thanksgiving holiday: “Writing down gratitude can transform well-being: Keeping a gratitude journal can reduce stress and anxiety and provide other lasting benefits”

Posted from Park City, Utah

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