Q: What is the history of the position of "governor" in the Book of Mormon?
A: It appears suddenly in Alma 2, rather late in the history of the Nephite nation, persists for less than a century, then vanishes for good. The circumstances appear to be the threat of a civil war, led by the Amlicite faction.
No mention of such a position is made in the great governmental reform that replaces a monarchy with judgeships.
The Bible helps us to learn that it is certainly not some 19th century anachronism -- and provides a clue that may solve the mystery of its origin. One of the Old Testament words translated "governor" is "sar," which Strong's concordance also translates as "chief captains."
Go back to Alma 2, verse 13. Facing the Amlicite threat, the Nephites appointed "captains, and chief captains, according to their numbers."
It seems to me that the Nephite governors were not so much politicians as are our modern governors, as they were chief-chief captains, sarim. More akin to the old Roman Republic emergency dictators.
Showing posts with label anachronisms. Show all posts
Showing posts with label anachronisms. Show all posts
Monday, June 28, 2010
Sunday, March 14, 2010
Right
Alma 2:4: "[Amlici] being a wicked man, would deprive them of their rights ..."
The last word in this phrase caught my attention. This is not its first appearance in the Book of Mormon. But it appears nowhere in the Bible, not even in the form of any possible synonyms such as claims or privileges.
I am no student of political science. It would be interesting to learn from such a person whether the concept of "rights" appears in the writings of philosophers pre-Declaration of Independence or even pre-Enlightenment. Under monarchies of the ancient world, did people speak of their rights?
In other words, can we defend this odd word purporting to derive from a first century B.C. expatriate Hebrew culture, or is it simply an anachronism deriving from the milieu of Joseph Smith's 19th century American environment?
Some scholars today give the Native Americans, such as the Iroquoi Confederation, significant credit for inspiring the democratic ideas that led to the American independence movement. By the first century B.C., the Lehites of the Book of Mormon had been in the New World around 500 years, completely cut off from the various kingships, tyrannies and empires of the Old World. Is it plausible that they, like the later English settlers, could have derived primitive democratic ideas from their New World neighbors?
The noun-sense of the English word "rights" as claims or privileges goes back at least as far as Old English, according to the Online Etymology Dictionary.
The last word in this phrase caught my attention. This is not its first appearance in the Book of Mormon. But it appears nowhere in the Bible, not even in the form of any possible synonyms such as claims or privileges.
I am no student of political science. It would be interesting to learn from such a person whether the concept of "rights" appears in the writings of philosophers pre-Declaration of Independence or even pre-Enlightenment. Under monarchies of the ancient world, did people speak of their rights?
In other words, can we defend this odd word purporting to derive from a first century B.C. expatriate Hebrew culture, or is it simply an anachronism deriving from the milieu of Joseph Smith's 19th century American environment?
Some scholars today give the Native Americans, such as the Iroquoi Confederation, significant credit for inspiring the democratic ideas that led to the American independence movement. By the first century B.C., the Lehites of the Book of Mormon had been in the New World around 500 years, completely cut off from the various kingships, tyrannies and empires of the Old World. Is it plausible that they, like the later English settlers, could have derived primitive democratic ideas from their New World neighbors?
The noun-sense of the English word "rights" as claims or privileges goes back at least as far as Old English, according to the Online Etymology Dictionary.
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