1 Enoch
This is believed to be the oldest extant example of a writing attributed to the antideluvian patriarch, Enoch, based on the mysterious line from Genesis 5:24. The work clearly pre-dates some of the New Testament writings, as it is quoted explicitly in Jude and has influenced other canonical texts and pseudepigraphic as well as apocryphal works. Luminaries such as Justin Martyr, Origen and Irenaeus held it in high regard.
It was preserved by the Ethiopic Christian community, in Ge’ez, and portions have also been found in the writings of the Essene community at Qumran.
The original language was either Hebrew or Aramaic or a combination of both, like the canonical Book of Daniel.
It appears to be the work of several authors in different time periods in Judea. The book reflects the historical events immediately preceding and following the Maccabean revolt.
It should be of interest to Latter-day Saints that only in the fourth century A.D. did it fall out of favor, disparaged by the likes of Jerome and Augustine. Men of “medieval minds,” to quote translator E. Isaac, p. 8.
What might we make of E. Isaac’s assertion that 1 Enoch influenced the canonical Gospels, Acts, most of the Pauline Epistles and the Revelation of John, in molding New Testament doctrines? While such a hypothesis might deeply distress a believer in the closed canon, it does not bother me. I might suggest as a Latter-day Saint, that the authors of this work had access to some now-lost genuine record or tradition from Enoch’s day, and that treasure of truth shining amongst the debris of this pseudepigrapha, by no mere coincidence, matches what the Lord revealed to the Prophet Joseph Smith in the account of Enoch found in our Pearl of Great Price.
The three oldest extant Ge’ez manuscripts of 1 Enoch date to the fifteenth century. Not until 1821 did the first English translation appear, by one Lawrence. It will be a discussion for another time as to whether the Prophet could have had access to that translation.
Themes of the book include a theology of the Watchers – fallen angels; a heavenly Messiah; condemnation of economic exploitation; and an eschatological Last Judgment.
Extensively utilizes the paradigm of apocalyptic dualism – sharp distinctions between the cosmic powers of good and evil.
Although, being a long-lost book to the Western world, it had no direct influence on our culture, it certainly has directly influenced Ethiopia, most notably the Kebra Nagast (Ethiopic Royal Saga), as well as Ethiopic poetic literature. “What distinguishes Ethiopian Christian theology from either Western or Eastern Christendom may well be the Ethiopian emphases on Enochic thought.” (p. 10). Thus, the role of Satan and fallen angels in the origin and continuance of sin; as well as orders of protective angels. Festivals are specifically observed in honor of those angels.
Book One: Chapters 1-5:
Enoch offers an apostolic blessing upon the future righteous, a day seen “while his eyes were open.” He envisions the end days and the events therein. The Holy One, the very God of Heaven, will come forth from His dwelling in mighty power and march upon Mt. Sinai. He will render judgment upon all. He will be accompanied by his saints (cf Jude).
The planets in their order witness to God and all His creation obeys Him. I love the way this is written!
Chapters 6-11:
Certain angels lust after mortal women, and bind themselves with an oath and a curse to have them. Their giant progeny indulge in the most loathsome of sins and launch an era of bloodshed upon the earth. They reveal secrets which are performed in heaven. The earth cries out against them.
Michael, Surafel and Gabriel observe from heaven. Bruce R. McConkie suggested that Raphael may be Enoch. Alt. reading for Surafel is Rufa’el. So our narrator, Enoch, may have had a post-mortal role in dealing with these “Watchers.” (But see 22:3)
One of the Watchers is Azazel, which is the Hebrew for “Goat of Departure,” i.e., the scapegoat of Leviticus. He teaches both the dark arts of weaponry and seduction. Upon him is to be written all sin. The angels are to bind the Watchers and the Deluge will cleanse the earth.
The Holy One cries over the sins of mankind. (9:10, cf. Moses 7:29)
In the great season of the Lord’s rule over the earth, the storerooms of blessings in the heavens will be opened and shared with humankind, with peace and truth as partners. (ch. 11)
Chapters 12-13: Enoch reprimands the fallen Watchers. Fear and trembling seize them (cf. Moses 6:47) and they beg him to write a prayer for their forgiveness.
14: Theophany of the Great Glory in heaven upon His throne, with tens of millions around Him. So similar to Rev. 4 that I wonder who is dependent upon who. Or do they both borrow from Isaiah and Ezekiel. Elohim with the Word? (14:25).
15-16: Curse upon the watchers.
17-19: The cosmic treasures -- and at the extremity of the universe, the hell of the Watchers.
20-22: Separation in the spirit world until the day of judgment.
23-25: Enoch sees the fragrant Tree of Life.
26-36: He journeys through the universe, seeing many cosmic wonders.
Book 2: The Book of the Similitudes
37-47
A second vision of Enoch, to those who dwell on earth. Judgment is coming, led by the Righteous One. The saints will descend to earth with Him, joining with the righteous already here. The earth to be transformed and made a blessing (45:4).
Millions stand in the presence of the Lord of Spirits (40:1). They praise Him for filling the world with spirits.
48-52
A vision of the Ancient of Days, with his prototype the Son of Man scattering the oppressors – the wealthy who cling to their false piety. That Son of Man, Messiah, was chosen (!) prior to the creation of the world and He will be the light of the Gentiles.
(If this is not a late Christian interpolation – and the editors do not suggest that it is – then this document reveals that before the Common Era, notions of a Messiah were developing that expanded beyond the idea of some mortal conquering hero. He was the very prototype of God, chosen in heaven for his mighty mission of salvation {48:7}, and sitting on the very throne of God [51:3]).
53-57
Enoch writes of the judgment by fire and by water (the Flood – possibly a fragment of a lost Book of Noah.)
58
In eternal, timeless light, the righteous will dwell.
59-61
Enoch again sees in vision the cosmic treasures: frost, wind, dew and rain. And praise of God.
62-63
More on judgment, when the concealed Son of Man is revealed. The high and mighty to be punished, with no more chance to become believers. The righteous to wear garments of glory (62:16).
64-
The fallen angels revealed evil that was hidden unto the children of men. (64:1) Secret combinations. See also 69: one of the fallen angels reveals the bitter and the sweet; another a heavenly oath which he ought not.
65-67
The narration shifts to Noah, who in his sorrow at the upcoming Deluge, utters the thrice-repeated prayer to his grandfather, Enoch. (Cf. Moses 7:41). The angels make the Ark (!)
70:
Enoch translated, in a wind chariot.
Book III
Enoch again becomes our narrator, and is given a detailed almanac of the course of the sun, moon and winds, in their cycle and seasons. A 364-day year. (82:6). He then reads the tablets of heaven and weeps on account of the people of earth. (81:4)
Book IV: The Dream Visions (83-90)
As a small child, Enoch has a terrifying first vision of the coming deluge. He awakes, and blesses God. As a young man, he has a vision in which the whole history of the chosen people is laid before him, all the events of the “Old” Testament, in the metaphors of sheep and cows, with the Day of the Lord and the Last Judgment taking place sometime after the era of the Maccabees.
Book V (91-107) The Two Ways and the Apocalypse of Weeks
Again Enoch returns to the theme of judgment upon the unrighteous, especially those who oppress – and of ultimate salvation for the righteous, though they suffer mightily in this life.
Ironically, in an aside, he wonders who can see all the activities of heaven and live – the very thing that he has done. (93:11).
“To the righteous and wise shall be given the Scriptures of joy, for truth and great wisdom.” (104:12-13).
The infant Noah is described in a most peculiar way, both as “whiter than snow” and “redder than a rose” – but with beautiful curling hair in a glorious “demdema” – an untranslatable Ethiopian word for which the closest English is “afro.” He appears like the children of the angels of heaven. (106).
***
This book is like a beautiful statue found amongst ruins somewhere and taken away to be cherished and preserved. We can guess from certain internal clues as to its origin and its originator, but no more than guess. It is an artifact irreparably separated from its context.
We can see that its writer was a deeply pious soul, steeped in the Hebrew faith. It mattered greatly to him that there be justice, if not now, in the Last Day, for the righteous and against the sinners – the wealthy and the godless. He was fascinated by celestial phenomena and believed strongly in cosmic order – that the sun, moon, rain, wind and stars were all carefully controlled by divine fiat, obeying the commands of God in their daily actions and following a prescribed pattern.
I have also gained in this, my third and most likely final journey through this book, a great appreciation for one of the most ancient and perhaps least-known of Christian communities – that of the African nation of Ethiopia. How this book reached these people long ago, we may never know precisely, but they have cherished and safeguarded it ever since, and to them it is fully scripture as part of their Christian Bible. It informs their ritual and theology and it suffuses their poetry.
I can only imagine the beauty of hearing it read or chanted in their Ge’ez tongue, which I am informed is a Semitic language and therefore a cousin of its putative original Hebrew or Aramaic.
Saturday, August 2, 2014
Monday, March 31, 2014
I visited a website the other day in which a former Latter-day Saint kept insisting that in order for him to accept the Book of Mormon as a genuine document, he needed to see the stone box that the Golden Plates were kept in. Such a withered little stick of dried-up faith!
Twenty years ago, I began a project to take notes on all the literature I planned to read in my lifetime. My first book of choice was "An Approach to the Book of Mormon." I thought I would share the notes with you. I apologize in advance; they are choppy and not always easy to understand. I was just beginning my project.
But if nothing else, they tell me this: Who needs the "stone box" when the strongest evidence for the authenticity of the Book of Mormon can be accessed by anyone who is to any degree literate? It is right within the pages of the book!
I plan to share my other book-notes with you as I transcribe them from my notebooks. Certainly not all of them are "Mormon" books.
***
Review of “An Approach to the Book of Mormon,” by Hugh Nibley, pub. 1957.
Notes from Part One, Chapter One: Introduction to an Unknown Book.
1) You cannot prove that any document is genuine, to someone who has already decided not to accept it. Example: The Bible still remains unproven to many, after thousands of years.
2) Ancient documents are the diary of the human race – vital to our study of the world. Yet they have been almost completely ignored in research.
3) Purported ancient documents are often denounced, because:
a) They deal with subjects of concern to the contemporary world, therefore “obviously were written today.”
b) They do not deal with subjects familiar to the contemporary world, therefore were obviously made up.
4) It is wrong to examine the authenticity of a purported ancient document only in the light of, or framework of, one’s own culture. Instead, these p.a.d.s must be examined in regard to, in the background of, the culture that is claimed for it.
5) “Christian” clergy once led the attack on the Book of Mormon, because it:
a) claimed God’s inspiration
b) set forth prophecy and supernatural visions (crazy Mormons see visions in the Age of Railways) as well as miracles.
Now their successors are leading attacks on the Bible for the same reasons.
6) The Modern Predicament: Man is faced with an “unbridgeable gulf” between “knowledge” and “faith.” Traditional Christianity cannot bridge this gap. We believe that the Book of Mormon can.
7) Some say, the Mormon has “a heavy burden of proof on him.” Yet, they violate the tradition, standard, followed in science, law, that he who calls false a document, theory or proposition, has rather on himself to prove that, not vice versa.
Part One, Chapter Two:
The Book of Mormon can and should be tested. By application of the promise in Moroni 10. And by comparison with Mideastern culture, artifacts, documents, etc. This is the background from which it purports to emanate.
Mideastern study, especially of documents, is constantly turning up new information; knowledge and theories change overnight. But this is recent – this flood of documents supporting Biblical (and Book of Mormon) history began in the 1880s.
Before that, not a single such historical document was available for study.
Gold plates are an ancient method of record-keeping, now substantiated by archaeology.
1) Darius’ plates, circa 520 B.C. Discovered 1938.
2) Sumerian Umma. Discovered 1937.
But even were we to have Joseph Smith’s gold plates today, that would not prove his story – just that he found or acquired gold plates.
Silver, lead, copper and bronze plates have also been found. The ancients carried them (also leather and papyrus scrolls) on their journeys (having inscribed them with scriptures or charms).
Part Two, Chapter 3:
The Book of Mormon implies a culturally unified, universalized world. This is not what has customarily been taught. That custom is now changing.
Lehi, 600 B.C., lived not at the beginning of ancient times, but at the end, in a very special century. It was a cosmopolitan, exciting century. Population exploded, initiating colonization projects like Lehi’s. Greek Marseilles and Oblia. As the “best” spots became taken, exploration became more daring.
Chapter Four: Lehi, A Representative Man
Lehi was a goodly parent, morally and socially. He was a prosperous merchant. Old-time merchants had to be brave, and nomadic.
His time (600 B.C.) was one of great wise men: Buddha, Solon (the founder of democracy), Thales (father of Western philosophy and science), Confucius, Lao-Tze, Mahavira (Jainism), Zarathustra and Pythagorus. But of the great philosophers, only Lehi had hope, found joy.
It was a prosperous, busy age, but everything was about to change.
Chapter Five: Jews and the Caravan Trade
The Jews were not a primitive agricultural society. They were active traders. The era of 600 B.C. was one of great private fortunes.
Commerce followed rules and customs, i.e., the chuwa. You shelter me, I’ll shelter you.
The discovery of the monsoon winds led to the decline of southern Arabia. Accordingly, the Arabs pushed north and began to challenge the Jews. The Nabateans were an Arab kingdom existing between 600 B.C. and the time of the Romans.
Desert chiefs like Lehi, often owned “city homes.”
Jewish merchants were always missionaries, and built altars wherever they settled. (Cf. Bernhard Stafe, Geschicte des Volkes Israel). They were also colonizers.
--adab, a name ending, as in Jonadab ben Rechab, was peculiar to 600 B.C.
Chapter Six: Lehi and the Arabs
The tribe of Manasseh, Lehi’s tribe, lived furthest into the desert and had the most contact with Arabs and with Egypt. They were also a semi-nomadic tribe.
Ammon comes from either their nearest neighbor or Amon of Egypt.
Ishmael was probably an Arab, probably a relative of Lehi. The Native American can in many respects be compared to the Bedouin. (Cf. Harmer). The central shrine of Ishmael was at Beer Lehai-roi.
Sam is Arabic for Shem. Lehi is a name of the desert, as well as Lemuel – a young man’s name. Leimun is a corruption of Lemuel. Alma is a popular Arab name.
Wilderness – howling wilderness – was a mere half-hour journey from even the biggest cities [in the Holy Land].
-on is an archaic place-name ending.
Arbitrary, “on-the-spot” naming of places, was a custom of the desert people. Rivers and valleys (wadis) often had different names and camps were named for valleys (permanent), not rivers (seasonal).
Chapter Seven: Dealings with Egypt
Lehi and Jeremiah were enemies of the pro-Egyptian faction – yet Lehi was not unappreciative of Egyptian culture. The ties between Palestine and Egypt were strong.
To do business with Egypt required ships, and the Hebrews, never a ship-building people, went through Phoenicia to ship their goods.
Sidon was the “old conservative center” [of Phoenicia], rivaled by Tyre. Lehi supported Sidon and the Book of Mormon bears this out.
Chapter Eight: Politics in 5th Century B.C. Jerusalem
Politics were in conflict in Lehi’s day, with power held by the Sarim, the pro-Egyptian , upstart new aristocracy that made a puppet of Zedekiah; and who opposed Lehi and the old, conservative, land-holding aristocracy. “Lands of inheritance” were [the latter’s] source of wealth.
Judges would have been a familiar concept to the Nephites (and Mulekites). In the Old World, the office was corrupted, linked with corrupt priests and prophets.
Chapter Nine: The Laban Story
(Compared to the Labanic episode, the tale of Ishmael was very uneventful, perhaps revealing his [Ishmael’s] rural roots ((he lived far outside of disturbed Jerusalem)).
Record-keeping distinguished the civilized nomad from the wild “riff-raff.”
Laban was a high military official. His (i.e., the disguised Nephi’s) orders, however strange, were not likely to be questioned.
Chapter 10: More on Laban
Laban resembled the “rabu” or pasha of the East, whose main function was to hear petitions. Typically, the fellow robbed his petitioners. (Cf. The Eloquent Peasant, Tales of the Quadis, Wenemon and Zakar Baal).
Bribing him was typical, as was the accusation of theft. (Think of the [story of] Joseph [and his brothers in Egypt.)
A garrison of 50 formed the typical protection of an Eastern city.
Zoram was a servant, i.e. an official representative. His abandonment of Jerusalem reveals his awareness of its terminal condition.
Chapter 11: Wilderness
In the Biblical and Book of Mormon sense, refers to desert. Was a place of teaching and testing.
God typically “quarantines” the wicked and leads away the righteous into other lands. Even in the New World, the Nephites continued [this wandering away pattern].
Chapter 12: Wilderness, Continued
The Exodus is considered by the Jews to be their ideal time – the desert was their teacher. It was a refuge, yet also a trial. A redemption – the Redeemer freeing them from bondage. How interesting, that [the early LDS] pioneers would partake of that tradition.
Furthest from the cities and left to themselves, the desert people are the most honest and humble of people. Their plundering lifestyle is in reaction to their treatment in the cities.
Jeremiah (49:8) advocated a return to the wilderness.
Chapter 13: Churches in the Wilderness
The Nephites were always a religious minority.
Chapter 14: The Dead Sea Scrolls
Were written before the time of Christ. Until recently, the primitive church was a mystery. The DSS and other recent finds have changed that.
The DSS were deliberately sealed, to endure apostasy and come forth later.
Genizah: a walled-off bin for worn-out scripture rolls.
The scrolls contain “Christian terminology, yet are not Christian; Jewish ideas, yet are not Jewish.
Chapter 15: Qumran and the Church of Anticipation
A people “always waiting.” (Cf. 2 Nephi 6:7, Mosiah 15:11, Alma 2:5.) They practiced baptism, the United Order and taught of the apostasy and the Messiah and the apocalypse – they considered themselves latter day saints. They kept the Sabbath and the first day of the week holy. They had 12 leaders and a presiding council. Their sect dates to 800 B.C.
Ch. 16: Book of Mormon and Apocrypha
Common element in all apocrypha and scripture: the eschatological (apocalyptic) theme.
Apocryphal means it was once accepted by someone as scripture.
Unless a church believes in revelation, it must believe that its scriptures are perfect – otherwise interpretation is confusion and debate.
The Jews never had a canon.
Apocalyptic themes:
1) The Great Tradition. The righteous are a single, timeless community.
2) The Secret Teaching. Knowledge of the gospel is not possessed by the general public, it is kept hidden away.
3) The Holy Book. A written tradition, directed to people of a later age, with instructions to be hidden away.
4) The Plan. God’s plan for the world.
5) Revelation. They always claim present revelation; prophecy it not so much divination of the future as it is awareness of a pattern. When did it “cease?” Depends on who you talk to.
6) Time and timelessness. A repeating cycle of events; the future is as the present and is one with the past.
7) The Messiah: Central to the plan.
8) Doctrine of Probation. Earth is a place of testing, and of moral freedom: the two ways.
9) Doctrine of Apostasy. A continual occurrence and God withdraws His presence.
10) Apocalypse of Woe. There will be an end to the world, as has happened before.
There is only source for the full and consistent picture of the old eschatology: The Book of Mormon.
Ch. 17: A Strange Order of Battle.
For the ancients, warfare followed a ritual pattern (cf. Milhamah ((Battle)) scroll with Alma 46 – the Title of Liberty.
Common Elements:
1) Slogans and war cries of the righteous.
2) Volunteers, blameless and pure (cf. 53: 17-19).
3) The sacred name of Israel (Jacob) on banners.
4) Cf. Kawe’s Banner, Persian founders of the Magi.
5) Garment as a banner.
6) Liberation from a wicked oppressor.
7) Sermons on the banners.
8) Proclamation of allegiance.
9) Formal condemnation to death of all opponents.
10) Attribution of banner’s invention to founder of the race.
Cf. Muhammed ibn Ibrahim ath Thalabi (Marks in the Garment).
Joseph and Judah reconciled – a tale lost to the western world.
Ch. 18: Man vs. Nature
Desert travel was always perilous. Accomplished in slow steps: camp and move, camp and move.
More fertile parts: the wadis.
Nephi and company were skilled hunters, showing their ties to the desert. But skilled hunters are not [necessarily] skilled bow hunters. Arabs only use “nab” wood, from Mt. Jasum and Azd, for bows.
Wild beasts were a real danger, according to inscriptions of the time.
Lehi took wild honey, not bees.
In the deserts of Arabia, the best game is found in the mountain tops – oryx and wild goats.
Ch. 19:
Firemaking was done only as they journeyed, to avoid raiders, a common threat.
Leaving in secret was typical of the desert, for enemies will take advantage of you.
The Hebrews were a brooding, melancholy people , and the Arabs a nation of robbers. Haramy (robber) was a title of honor, and robbery was a complete and regular system.
The tent was the center of desert authority and administration – a site for talk.
Typical groups were more than a family, less than a clan – proper designation, a tent.
Dhabiyeh-l-kasab: sacrifice to celebrate a successful return, honored an ancestor.
Mother often takes up for sons, causing great family disputes.
Why didn’t Laman and Lemuel just leave? Fear, of losing family; and greed for the promised land.
Ch. 20: Lehi’s Dreams
Lehi’s most famous dream, found in 1st Nephi 8, reflects, not the imagery Joseph Smith could have conjured up, but that of the desert traveler, detail for detail.
1) A lone traveler in a wasteland: most common Arabic poetic element.
2) Large and spacious field: the world (maidan) symbol of release from fear and oppression.
3) The Tree of Life: found poetically in the gardens of kings.
4) Search and longing for family.
5) A desert oasis: a spring and a tree.
6) Mist of darkness: common and terrifying in the desert night.
7) Great and spacious building: a tower built Babylonian-style. No ground windows, thus appearing at night to stand in the air.
8) A party of fine people, doomed, like Belshazzar in the Book of Daniel, to destruction.
9) Mockery of the city-folk against “bedraggled travelers” was common, reflecting the ancient enmity between town and nomad.
10) A hasty retreat. Not unheard of in such a situation.
11) Being lost in the desert. Worst fear of the Arab.
12) A great gulf. Like a desert canyon.
13) Fountain of filthy water. A flash-flood, sayl, coming without warning. A “house” built in such a place, a wadi, would surely fall in such a torrent.
Joseph Smith Sr. once had a similar dream. But his had the key difference that makes the Book of Mormon account all the more authentic ... he dreamed of fallen timber. Not wadis, flash floods, canyons and desert mists.
Ch. 21: Lehi the Poet
Desert people: wonderfully poetic in words and speech. Eloquence is the sheikh’s greatest weapon. Poetry and inspiration are one and the same.
Their poetry, however, must not be assumed to resemble ours in the least.
Quellenlieder: Songs composed to fresh water. Earliest desert poetry.
A fountain: any body of water that does not dry up.
Steadfast, firm valleys. An idiom peculiar to the desert.
Quasidah rules: 1) Accompany work or play. 2) Instruct or inform. 3) Reflect on life. 4) A song of travel.
Sajc: A short injunction spoken with solemnity and fervor. Considered binding on the hearer. Best come in pairs, as the exhortation to Laman and Lemuel.
Lehi and Shakespeare. (Cf. 2 Nephi 1:14). Lehi’s phrase far antedated that of Shakespeare; similar phrases can be found in Sumerian, Akkadian, Egyptian and other texts.
Ch. 22: Proper Names in the Book of Mormon
Ten test cases
1) Pa. As in Pahoran, Pacumeni, Paanchi
Paanchi. Famous Egyptian king, contemporary of Isaiah. “He (Ammon) is my life.” Son of Kherihor.
Pahoran. Man of Horan. (Syria or Palestine).
Pacumen. Pakamen.
2) Elephantine Egypt. A refuge for Israelites fleeing ruined Jerusalem. Names from there match the Book of Mormon.
3) Other Semitic/near-Eastern names show up in the Book of Mormon. As we’ve already explained, Lehi’s world was a cosmopolitan one. We have Philistine names (Minon and Pathros); Egyptian, as in Aha (Warrior, first hero-king of Egypt, Himni, Korihor, Sam, Zeezrom, Manti, Nephi and Zenoch.
4) Zeniff, a desert name. Zoram: Hebrew and Arabic.
Rules for names: theophoric. Compound names containing that of a deity.
Amon/Ammon: Aminidab, Amnor, Aminadi, Helaman. (Heramon)
Mor: Beloved of ...
Gidianhi: Thoth is my life.
Gidgiddoni and Gidgiddonah: Same elements combined in different order. “I shall live, we shall live.”
Mimation (m-endings) and nunation (n-endings).
Mimation: Characteristic of Jaredite names. Fits in historically; mimation ceased around 2000 B.C.
Nunation: Characteristic of Lehi’s caste. Conservative –iah ending as well.
Non-Semitic endings: Manti = Manda, Hittite, Egyptianized. Kumen=Kumani; Seantum=Sandon, Akish and Kish=Egyptian-Hittite for Cyprus.
Timothy and Lacheonus=Greek. Timothy, Ionian (Palestine) Greek name, Lacheonus: a Laconian, oldest Greek traders.
Lehi: Confirmed repeatedly in our day.
Alma, Nfy and Mormon. Possibly Egyptian, Greek or Arabic. Laman and Lemuel: Pendant names.
No Baal names. Fits with history.
Twenty years ago, I began a project to take notes on all the literature I planned to read in my lifetime. My first book of choice was "An Approach to the Book of Mormon." I thought I would share the notes with you. I apologize in advance; they are choppy and not always easy to understand. I was just beginning my project.
But if nothing else, they tell me this: Who needs the "stone box" when the strongest evidence for the authenticity of the Book of Mormon can be accessed by anyone who is to any degree literate? It is right within the pages of the book!
I plan to share my other book-notes with you as I transcribe them from my notebooks. Certainly not all of them are "Mormon" books.
***
Review of “An Approach to the Book of Mormon,” by Hugh Nibley, pub. 1957.
Notes from Part One, Chapter One: Introduction to an Unknown Book.
1) You cannot prove that any document is genuine, to someone who has already decided not to accept it. Example: The Bible still remains unproven to many, after thousands of years.
2) Ancient documents are the diary of the human race – vital to our study of the world. Yet they have been almost completely ignored in research.
3) Purported ancient documents are often denounced, because:
a) They deal with subjects of concern to the contemporary world, therefore “obviously were written today.”
b) They do not deal with subjects familiar to the contemporary world, therefore were obviously made up.
4) It is wrong to examine the authenticity of a purported ancient document only in the light of, or framework of, one’s own culture. Instead, these p.a.d.s must be examined in regard to, in the background of, the culture that is claimed for it.
5) “Christian” clergy once led the attack on the Book of Mormon, because it:
a) claimed God’s inspiration
b) set forth prophecy and supernatural visions (crazy Mormons see visions in the Age of Railways) as well as miracles.
Now their successors are leading attacks on the Bible for the same reasons.
6) The Modern Predicament: Man is faced with an “unbridgeable gulf” between “knowledge” and “faith.” Traditional Christianity cannot bridge this gap. We believe that the Book of Mormon can.
7) Some say, the Mormon has “a heavy burden of proof on him.” Yet, they violate the tradition, standard, followed in science, law, that he who calls false a document, theory or proposition, has rather on himself to prove that, not vice versa.
Part One, Chapter Two:
The Book of Mormon can and should be tested. By application of the promise in Moroni 10. And by comparison with Mideastern culture, artifacts, documents, etc. This is the background from which it purports to emanate.
Mideastern study, especially of documents, is constantly turning up new information; knowledge and theories change overnight. But this is recent – this flood of documents supporting Biblical (and Book of Mormon) history began in the 1880s.
Before that, not a single such historical document was available for study.
Gold plates are an ancient method of record-keeping, now substantiated by archaeology.
1) Darius’ plates, circa 520 B.C. Discovered 1938.
2) Sumerian Umma. Discovered 1937.
But even were we to have Joseph Smith’s gold plates today, that would not prove his story – just that he found or acquired gold plates.
Silver, lead, copper and bronze plates have also been found. The ancients carried them (also leather and papyrus scrolls) on their journeys (having inscribed them with scriptures or charms).
Part Two, Chapter 3:
The Book of Mormon implies a culturally unified, universalized world. This is not what has customarily been taught. That custom is now changing.
Lehi, 600 B.C., lived not at the beginning of ancient times, but at the end, in a very special century. It was a cosmopolitan, exciting century. Population exploded, initiating colonization projects like Lehi’s. Greek Marseilles and Oblia. As the “best” spots became taken, exploration became more daring.
Chapter Four: Lehi, A Representative Man
Lehi was a goodly parent, morally and socially. He was a prosperous merchant. Old-time merchants had to be brave, and nomadic.
His time (600 B.C.) was one of great wise men: Buddha, Solon (the founder of democracy), Thales (father of Western philosophy and science), Confucius, Lao-Tze, Mahavira (Jainism), Zarathustra and Pythagorus. But of the great philosophers, only Lehi had hope, found joy.
It was a prosperous, busy age, but everything was about to change.
Chapter Five: Jews and the Caravan Trade
The Jews were not a primitive agricultural society. They were active traders. The era of 600 B.C. was one of great private fortunes.
Commerce followed rules and customs, i.e., the chuwa. You shelter me, I’ll shelter you.
The discovery of the monsoon winds led to the decline of southern Arabia. Accordingly, the Arabs pushed north and began to challenge the Jews. The Nabateans were an Arab kingdom existing between 600 B.C. and the time of the Romans.
Desert chiefs like Lehi, often owned “city homes.”
Jewish merchants were always missionaries, and built altars wherever they settled. (Cf. Bernhard Stafe, Geschicte des Volkes Israel). They were also colonizers.
--adab, a name ending, as in Jonadab ben Rechab, was peculiar to 600 B.C.
Chapter Six: Lehi and the Arabs
The tribe of Manasseh, Lehi’s tribe, lived furthest into the desert and had the most contact with Arabs and with Egypt. They were also a semi-nomadic tribe.
Ammon comes from either their nearest neighbor or Amon of Egypt.
Ishmael was probably an Arab, probably a relative of Lehi. The Native American can in many respects be compared to the Bedouin. (Cf. Harmer). The central shrine of Ishmael was at Beer Lehai-roi.
Sam is Arabic for Shem. Lehi is a name of the desert, as well as Lemuel – a young man’s name. Leimun is a corruption of Lemuel. Alma is a popular Arab name.
Wilderness – howling wilderness – was a mere half-hour journey from even the biggest cities [in the Holy Land].
-on is an archaic place-name ending.
Arbitrary, “on-the-spot” naming of places, was a custom of the desert people. Rivers and valleys (wadis) often had different names and camps were named for valleys (permanent), not rivers (seasonal).
Chapter Seven: Dealings with Egypt
Lehi and Jeremiah were enemies of the pro-Egyptian faction – yet Lehi was not unappreciative of Egyptian culture. The ties between Palestine and Egypt were strong.
To do business with Egypt required ships, and the Hebrews, never a ship-building people, went through Phoenicia to ship their goods.
Sidon was the “old conservative center” [of Phoenicia], rivaled by Tyre. Lehi supported Sidon and the Book of Mormon bears this out.
Chapter Eight: Politics in 5th Century B.C. Jerusalem
Politics were in conflict in Lehi’s day, with power held by the Sarim, the pro-Egyptian , upstart new aristocracy that made a puppet of Zedekiah; and who opposed Lehi and the old, conservative, land-holding aristocracy. “Lands of inheritance” were [the latter’s] source of wealth.
Judges would have been a familiar concept to the Nephites (and Mulekites). In the Old World, the office was corrupted, linked with corrupt priests and prophets.
Chapter Nine: The Laban Story
(Compared to the Labanic episode, the tale of Ishmael was very uneventful, perhaps revealing his [Ishmael’s] rural roots ((he lived far outside of disturbed Jerusalem)).
Record-keeping distinguished the civilized nomad from the wild “riff-raff.”
Laban was a high military official. His (i.e., the disguised Nephi’s) orders, however strange, were not likely to be questioned.
Chapter 10: More on Laban
Laban resembled the “rabu” or pasha of the East, whose main function was to hear petitions. Typically, the fellow robbed his petitioners. (Cf. The Eloquent Peasant, Tales of the Quadis, Wenemon and Zakar Baal).
Bribing him was typical, as was the accusation of theft. (Think of the [story of] Joseph [and his brothers in Egypt.)
A garrison of 50 formed the typical protection of an Eastern city.
Zoram was a servant, i.e. an official representative. His abandonment of Jerusalem reveals his awareness of its terminal condition.
Chapter 11: Wilderness
In the Biblical and Book of Mormon sense, refers to desert. Was a place of teaching and testing.
God typically “quarantines” the wicked and leads away the righteous into other lands. Even in the New World, the Nephites continued [this wandering away pattern].
Chapter 12: Wilderness, Continued
The Exodus is considered by the Jews to be their ideal time – the desert was their teacher. It was a refuge, yet also a trial. A redemption – the Redeemer freeing them from bondage. How interesting, that [the early LDS] pioneers would partake of that tradition.
Furthest from the cities and left to themselves, the desert people are the most honest and humble of people. Their plundering lifestyle is in reaction to their treatment in the cities.
Jeremiah (49:8) advocated a return to the wilderness.
Chapter 13: Churches in the Wilderness
The Nephites were always a religious minority.
Chapter 14: The Dead Sea Scrolls
Were written before the time of Christ. Until recently, the primitive church was a mystery. The DSS and other recent finds have changed that.
The DSS were deliberately sealed, to endure apostasy and come forth later.
Genizah: a walled-off bin for worn-out scripture rolls.
The scrolls contain “Christian terminology, yet are not Christian; Jewish ideas, yet are not Jewish.
Chapter 15: Qumran and the Church of Anticipation
A people “always waiting.” (Cf. 2 Nephi 6:7, Mosiah 15:11, Alma 2:5.) They practiced baptism, the United Order and taught of the apostasy and the Messiah and the apocalypse – they considered themselves latter day saints. They kept the Sabbath and the first day of the week holy. They had 12 leaders and a presiding council. Their sect dates to 800 B.C.
Ch. 16: Book of Mormon and Apocrypha
Common element in all apocrypha and scripture: the eschatological (apocalyptic) theme.
Apocryphal means it was once accepted by someone as scripture.
Unless a church believes in revelation, it must believe that its scriptures are perfect – otherwise interpretation is confusion and debate.
The Jews never had a canon.
Apocalyptic themes:
1) The Great Tradition. The righteous are a single, timeless community.
2) The Secret Teaching. Knowledge of the gospel is not possessed by the general public, it is kept hidden away.
3) The Holy Book. A written tradition, directed to people of a later age, with instructions to be hidden away.
4) The Plan. God’s plan for the world.
5) Revelation. They always claim present revelation; prophecy it not so much divination of the future as it is awareness of a pattern. When did it “cease?” Depends on who you talk to.
6) Time and timelessness. A repeating cycle of events; the future is as the present and is one with the past.
7) The Messiah: Central to the plan.
8) Doctrine of Probation. Earth is a place of testing, and of moral freedom: the two ways.
9) Doctrine of Apostasy. A continual occurrence and God withdraws His presence.
10) Apocalypse of Woe. There will be an end to the world, as has happened before.
There is only source for the full and consistent picture of the old eschatology: The Book of Mormon.
Ch. 17: A Strange Order of Battle.
For the ancients, warfare followed a ritual pattern (cf. Milhamah ((Battle)) scroll with Alma 46 – the Title of Liberty.
Common Elements:
1) Slogans and war cries of the righteous.
2) Volunteers, blameless and pure (cf. 53: 17-19).
3) The sacred name of Israel (Jacob) on banners.
4) Cf. Kawe’s Banner, Persian founders of the Magi.
5) Garment as a banner.
6) Liberation from a wicked oppressor.
7) Sermons on the banners.
8) Proclamation of allegiance.
9) Formal condemnation to death of all opponents.
10) Attribution of banner’s invention to founder of the race.
Cf. Muhammed ibn Ibrahim ath Thalabi (Marks in the Garment).
Joseph and Judah reconciled – a tale lost to the western world.
Ch. 18: Man vs. Nature
Desert travel was always perilous. Accomplished in slow steps: camp and move, camp and move.
More fertile parts: the wadis.
Nephi and company were skilled hunters, showing their ties to the desert. But skilled hunters are not [necessarily] skilled bow hunters. Arabs only use “nab” wood, from Mt. Jasum and Azd, for bows.
Wild beasts were a real danger, according to inscriptions of the time.
Lehi took wild honey, not bees.
In the deserts of Arabia, the best game is found in the mountain tops – oryx and wild goats.
Ch. 19:
Firemaking was done only as they journeyed, to avoid raiders, a common threat.
Leaving in secret was typical of the desert, for enemies will take advantage of you.
The Hebrews were a brooding, melancholy people , and the Arabs a nation of robbers. Haramy (robber) was a title of honor, and robbery was a complete and regular system.
The tent was the center of desert authority and administration – a site for talk.
Typical groups were more than a family, less than a clan – proper designation, a tent.
Dhabiyeh-l-kasab: sacrifice to celebrate a successful return, honored an ancestor.
Mother often takes up for sons, causing great family disputes.
Why didn’t Laman and Lemuel just leave? Fear, of losing family; and greed for the promised land.
Ch. 20: Lehi’s Dreams
Lehi’s most famous dream, found in 1st Nephi 8, reflects, not the imagery Joseph Smith could have conjured up, but that of the desert traveler, detail for detail.
1) A lone traveler in a wasteland: most common Arabic poetic element.
2) Large and spacious field: the world (maidan) symbol of release from fear and oppression.
3) The Tree of Life: found poetically in the gardens of kings.
4) Search and longing for family.
5) A desert oasis: a spring and a tree.
6) Mist of darkness: common and terrifying in the desert night.
7) Great and spacious building: a tower built Babylonian-style. No ground windows, thus appearing at night to stand in the air.
8) A party of fine people, doomed, like Belshazzar in the Book of Daniel, to destruction.
9) Mockery of the city-folk against “bedraggled travelers” was common, reflecting the ancient enmity between town and nomad.
10) A hasty retreat. Not unheard of in such a situation.
11) Being lost in the desert. Worst fear of the Arab.
12) A great gulf. Like a desert canyon.
13) Fountain of filthy water. A flash-flood, sayl, coming without warning. A “house” built in such a place, a wadi, would surely fall in such a torrent.
Joseph Smith Sr. once had a similar dream. But his had the key difference that makes the Book of Mormon account all the more authentic ... he dreamed of fallen timber. Not wadis, flash floods, canyons and desert mists.
Ch. 21: Lehi the Poet
Desert people: wonderfully poetic in words and speech. Eloquence is the sheikh’s greatest weapon. Poetry and inspiration are one and the same.
Their poetry, however, must not be assumed to resemble ours in the least.
Quellenlieder: Songs composed to fresh water. Earliest desert poetry.
A fountain: any body of water that does not dry up.
Steadfast, firm valleys. An idiom peculiar to the desert.
Quasidah rules: 1) Accompany work or play. 2) Instruct or inform. 3) Reflect on life. 4) A song of travel.
Sajc: A short injunction spoken with solemnity and fervor. Considered binding on the hearer. Best come in pairs, as the exhortation to Laman and Lemuel.
Lehi and Shakespeare. (Cf. 2 Nephi 1:14). Lehi’s phrase far antedated that of Shakespeare; similar phrases can be found in Sumerian, Akkadian, Egyptian and other texts.
Ch. 22: Proper Names in the Book of Mormon
Ten test cases
1) Pa. As in Pahoran, Pacumeni, Paanchi
Paanchi. Famous Egyptian king, contemporary of Isaiah. “He (Ammon) is my life.” Son of Kherihor.
Pahoran. Man of Horan. (Syria or Palestine).
Pacumen. Pakamen.
2) Elephantine Egypt. A refuge for Israelites fleeing ruined Jerusalem. Names from there match the Book of Mormon.
3) Other Semitic/near-Eastern names show up in the Book of Mormon. As we’ve already explained, Lehi’s world was a cosmopolitan one. We have Philistine names (Minon and Pathros); Egyptian, as in Aha (Warrior, first hero-king of Egypt, Himni, Korihor, Sam, Zeezrom, Manti, Nephi and Zenoch.
4) Zeniff, a desert name. Zoram: Hebrew and Arabic.
Rules for names: theophoric. Compound names containing that of a deity.
Amon/Ammon: Aminidab, Amnor, Aminadi, Helaman. (Heramon)
Mor: Beloved of ...
Gidianhi: Thoth is my life.
Gidgiddoni and Gidgiddonah: Same elements combined in different order. “I shall live, we shall live.”
Mimation (m-endings) and nunation (n-endings).
Mimation: Characteristic of Jaredite names. Fits in historically; mimation ceased around 2000 B.C.
Nunation: Characteristic of Lehi’s caste. Conservative –iah ending as well.
Non-Semitic endings: Manti = Manda, Hittite, Egyptianized. Kumen=Kumani; Seantum=Sandon, Akish and Kish=Egyptian-Hittite for Cyprus.
Timothy and Lacheonus=Greek. Timothy, Ionian (Palestine) Greek name, Lacheonus: a Laconian, oldest Greek traders.
Lehi: Confirmed repeatedly in our day.
Alma, Nfy and Mormon. Possibly Egyptian, Greek or Arabic. Laman and Lemuel: Pendant names.
No Baal names. Fits with history.
Tuesday, July 23, 2013
"Regulating" the Church
The Nephites were a "church of anticipation," looking forward to the coming of the Messiah. As such, they could be expected to share a common scriptural language with Old World churches of anticipation, such as the sectaries of Qumran, of whom John the Baptist may be the most famous member. In the Book of Mormon, few chapters exemplify this so profoundly as Alma 5.
The English word "regulation" appears nowhere in the Bible. It derives from Latin roots meaning to make straight. It does, however, appear four times in the Book of Mormon, including Alma 6. Three of those appearances are specifically in reference to Alma the Elder, his son Alma the Younger and Helaman, son of the latter. Specifically, it is in the context of "regulating" the Nephite church.
So here we have father, son and grandson each tasked with regulating, making straight, the church of anticipation preparatory to the coming of Christ. Who else spoke of "making straight?" John the Baptist, of course, quoting Isaiah.
It is anticipatory language, somewhat hidden by the English translation and a nice test of authenticity.
The English word "regulation" appears nowhere in the Bible. It derives from Latin roots meaning to make straight. It does, however, appear four times in the Book of Mormon, including Alma 6. Three of those appearances are specifically in reference to Alma the Elder, his son Alma the Younger and Helaman, son of the latter. Specifically, it is in the context of "regulating" the Nephite church.
So here we have father, son and grandson each tasked with regulating, making straight, the church of anticipation preparatory to the coming of Christ. Who else spoke of "making straight?" John the Baptist, of course, quoting Isaiah.
It is anticipatory language, somewhat hidden by the English translation and a nice test of authenticity.
Wednesday, July 3, 2013
Summer Vacation, conclusion
Part II:
One has to admire the hardy souls who staff historic sites and repeat, hour after hour, day after day, week after week, the same spiel about whatever famous soul once lived or set foot in the place. I myself might sorely be tempted, after the millionth recitation, to throw up my hands and tell the tourists, “Look, you already know some Very Important Dude/Dudette once dwelt here or you wouldn’t have come here. Google it on your Ipad ‘cause I’m gonna lose my religion if I have to repeat the story one more time.
I am riding the rails through Connecticut now, which is a beautiful state, as aforementioned, but apparently a lot of people want to leave it, because they are packing like pups to mama’s milk into this train right now. Some young woman politely gave up her seat and moved elsewhere to allow an older woman to sit with said older woman’s family, to which one of them said to her:
“When someone your age does something like that, it speaks for your generation.”
So much for taciturn, unfriendly New England stereotypes.
Returning to my contemplation of docents and volunteers and such. I admire you guys but do you HAVE to go on for SO long? Nobody is going to remember more than a few words you say. We sit there squirming in this place we have come so far to see, feeling that it would be terribly rude to just get up and leave you in mid-sentence.
So we endured the dedicated loquacity of our guide at Peacefield, ancestral home of the Adams family. No, not the creepy ones from that old t.v. show. The ones who produced two presidents of the United States. We opted for the hour long tour, as opposed to two hours. I deeply respect Mr. Adams but two hours?
The home stands just outside of Boston. It is beautiful, as one might expect, surrounded by trees and flowers. What impressed me is the testament this place quietly provides of the American Dream: that the son of a shoemaker could grow up to go to Harvard and become the second president of the United States.
Yours truly loved the great library, packed with great books in six languages. In fact, when a few days later I toured the massive castle of the Vanderbilts, all their gaudy glories failed to hide from my eyes the paltriness of their library compared to this, much humbler place.
N.,J. and I departed Peacefield, all of us fighting the exhaustion of an overstuffed day but determined to press on. We had Boston to see. I am a lover of field and forest far from the haunts of man but inexplicably, I also enjoy big cities, brimming with people and culture.
So, Boston was cool. Love their idea of burying the central freeway through the city and returning the land above it to green space. Loved Little Italy in all its boisterous bravado and the serene shelter of a Catholic churchyard. In addition to guys and gals who fitted my ideas of what Italians look like, I saw a couple that intrigued me. How to describe it? Almost sandy, reddish hair, thick eyebrows, big eyes. Not unattractive, I hasten to add. I wonder what region of Italy brought forth those genes.
As we walked along the streets and I savored the sights and sounds – heard some guy in a heavy accent growling about how he punched dis guy in da face – we saw a line forming outside Giacomo’s Ristorante. That was our cue, so we joined it. Had to be good, right? Oh, it was. We ordered a massive cauldron of gustatory bliss – lobsters, clams, mussels and shrimp over a bed of pasta. The very Italian waitress who served us, got impatient with Joseph for not understanding what she was trying to say to him, then with me for not paying attention to their conversation. She then turned to Nicole, who figured things out.
We tackled our massive meal and made it through, barely, then added insult to injury buying cannoli pastries at Mike’s down the street, that not one of us had the stomach to eat. No matter ... they’d be good for breakfast.
Monday dawned with downpours. We sat under a pavilion by the bay and finally gave up on our plans to go to Rose Island for the day. Perhaps we needed the rest anyway. By evening, the rain calmed enough to go out for sushi. Brother and I dared each other to sample the wasabi paste and lived to tell the tale.
Tuesday the skies cleared and we met a ruddy sea dog named Chris and his real dog, Casey, and motorboated out to a lovely hunk of sand in the middle of Narangasette (sp) Bay, where an old lighthouse stands sentinel. N,J and I spent most of the morning there hunting for shells like three little kids. Tis the perk of being a grownup that one can get away with that every now and then.
In the p.m., we toured the Touro Synagogue. It is, as noted, the oldest surviving Jewish synagogue in the United States of America. Here in 1790, Pres. George Washington addressed a letter championing religious freedom and even daring to move beyond mere “tolerance” to the point where we in all our diversity work together as one. That historic letter is cherished and preserved to this day. I even picked up a copy in Hebrew.
After visiting that sacred place, we toured a more worldly demesne, a monument to ridiculous excess, the Breakwater Mansion of the railroad magnates, the Vanderbilts. We truly had gone from Jerusalem to Babylon – the place was a dragon’s hoard of gold, platinum, marble and such. Hard to believe the Vanderbilt patriarch also doubled as a Sunday School teacher. Must have choked on, or perhaps just skipped over, all the passages damning the souls with their hearts set on riches.
We did agree that at least their greed created a lot of employment.
From that palace of pomposity we traveled to the simple beauty of a few minutes on the beach, shell-hunting again and enjoying the cool breeze that not even in their massive mansion the Vanderbilts could duplicate.
Came Wednesday and time to say goodbye – a pain that stings the same whether you are eight or 80.
I will not see Newport again – I must cherish that place in my memory. Joseph and Nicole will be traveling to Italy in a while, then, come fall, they will move back to Bremerton, Wash. They really went all out to show me a great time and I enjoyed it all. Didn't even mention that on that first day, they also took me to see the Aquarium, where we fed sting rays and observed jellyfish -- another great memory.
I think we may have crossed the border into New York by now. There won’t be much more to write. I have missed my sweet Wife and I will thrill to see Her again. I have not missed Virginia’s hellish summer heat nor the daily grind of work and chores from which a vacation is ever an all-too-brief respite.
One has to admire the hardy souls who staff historic sites and repeat, hour after hour, day after day, week after week, the same spiel about whatever famous soul once lived or set foot in the place. I myself might sorely be tempted, after the millionth recitation, to throw up my hands and tell the tourists, “Look, you already know some Very Important Dude/Dudette once dwelt here or you wouldn’t have come here. Google it on your Ipad ‘cause I’m gonna lose my religion if I have to repeat the story one more time.
I am riding the rails through Connecticut now, which is a beautiful state, as aforementioned, but apparently a lot of people want to leave it, because they are packing like pups to mama’s milk into this train right now. Some young woman politely gave up her seat and moved elsewhere to allow an older woman to sit with said older woman’s family, to which one of them said to her:
“When someone your age does something like that, it speaks for your generation.”
So much for taciturn, unfriendly New England stereotypes.
Returning to my contemplation of docents and volunteers and such. I admire you guys but do you HAVE to go on for SO long? Nobody is going to remember more than a few words you say. We sit there squirming in this place we have come so far to see, feeling that it would be terribly rude to just get up and leave you in mid-sentence.
So we endured the dedicated loquacity of our guide at Peacefield, ancestral home of the Adams family. No, not the creepy ones from that old t.v. show. The ones who produced two presidents of the United States. We opted for the hour long tour, as opposed to two hours. I deeply respect Mr. Adams but two hours?
The home stands just outside of Boston. It is beautiful, as one might expect, surrounded by trees and flowers. What impressed me is the testament this place quietly provides of the American Dream: that the son of a shoemaker could grow up to go to Harvard and become the second president of the United States.
Yours truly loved the great library, packed with great books in six languages. In fact, when a few days later I toured the massive castle of the Vanderbilts, all their gaudy glories failed to hide from my eyes the paltriness of their library compared to this, much humbler place.
N.,J. and I departed Peacefield, all of us fighting the exhaustion of an overstuffed day but determined to press on. We had Boston to see. I am a lover of field and forest far from the haunts of man but inexplicably, I also enjoy big cities, brimming with people and culture.
So, Boston was cool. Love their idea of burying the central freeway through the city and returning the land above it to green space. Loved Little Italy in all its boisterous bravado and the serene shelter of a Catholic churchyard. In addition to guys and gals who fitted my ideas of what Italians look like, I saw a couple that intrigued me. How to describe it? Almost sandy, reddish hair, thick eyebrows, big eyes. Not unattractive, I hasten to add. I wonder what region of Italy brought forth those genes.
As we walked along the streets and I savored the sights and sounds – heard some guy in a heavy accent growling about how he punched dis guy in da face – we saw a line forming outside Giacomo’s Ristorante. That was our cue, so we joined it. Had to be good, right? Oh, it was. We ordered a massive cauldron of gustatory bliss – lobsters, clams, mussels and shrimp over a bed of pasta. The very Italian waitress who served us, got impatient with Joseph for not understanding what she was trying to say to him, then with me for not paying attention to their conversation. She then turned to Nicole, who figured things out.
We tackled our massive meal and made it through, barely, then added insult to injury buying cannoli pastries at Mike’s down the street, that not one of us had the stomach to eat. No matter ... they’d be good for breakfast.
Monday dawned with downpours. We sat under a pavilion by the bay and finally gave up on our plans to go to Rose Island for the day. Perhaps we needed the rest anyway. By evening, the rain calmed enough to go out for sushi. Brother and I dared each other to sample the wasabi paste and lived to tell the tale.
Tuesday the skies cleared and we met a ruddy sea dog named Chris and his real dog, Casey, and motorboated out to a lovely hunk of sand in the middle of Narangasette (sp) Bay, where an old lighthouse stands sentinel. N,J and I spent most of the morning there hunting for shells like three little kids. Tis the perk of being a grownup that one can get away with that every now and then.
In the p.m., we toured the Touro Synagogue. It is, as noted, the oldest surviving Jewish synagogue in the United States of America. Here in 1790, Pres. George Washington addressed a letter championing religious freedom and even daring to move beyond mere “tolerance” to the point where we in all our diversity work together as one. That historic letter is cherished and preserved to this day. I even picked up a copy in Hebrew.
After visiting that sacred place, we toured a more worldly demesne, a monument to ridiculous excess, the Breakwater Mansion of the railroad magnates, the Vanderbilts. We truly had gone from Jerusalem to Babylon – the place was a dragon’s hoard of gold, platinum, marble and such. Hard to believe the Vanderbilt patriarch also doubled as a Sunday School teacher. Must have choked on, or perhaps just skipped over, all the passages damning the souls with their hearts set on riches.
We did agree that at least their greed created a lot of employment.
From that palace of pomposity we traveled to the simple beauty of a few minutes on the beach, shell-hunting again and enjoying the cool breeze that not even in their massive mansion the Vanderbilts could duplicate.
Came Wednesday and time to say goodbye – a pain that stings the same whether you are eight or 80.
I will not see Newport again – I must cherish that place in my memory. Joseph and Nicole will be traveling to Italy in a while, then, come fall, they will move back to Bremerton, Wash. They really went all out to show me a great time and I enjoyed it all. Didn't even mention that on that first day, they also took me to see the Aquarium, where we fed sting rays and observed jellyfish -- another great memory.
I think we may have crossed the border into New York by now. There won’t be much more to write. I have missed my sweet Wife and I will thrill to see Her again. I have not missed Virginia’s hellish summer heat nor the daily grind of work and chores from which a vacation is ever an all-too-brief respite.
What I did on my summer vacation
The children crowded around each other outside the train station, where the dull concrete platform met the green grass. They had no interest in the shining steel rails, the pylon pillars or any of the other man-made wonders to be seen. They were enthralled by the antics of a sparrow.
“He’s found himself a cozy place to sit,” said a boy, pointing to a wrought-iron loop in which the bird had taken a moment’s rest.
“Birdies don’t sit,” said another child with the sort of grave authority that only a child can muster. “They always have to stand up.”
I wandered around the platform wistfully contemplating the days when a sparrow’s antics might have been the only thing on my mind, too. Ahead of me stretched a few precious days of vacation with my brother and his wife in Rhode Island, a break in the busy life of an average American guy. But first I had to negotiate this train ride.
Eventually the steel sarcophagus of the Amtrak squealed into the station and I boarded. For the next 11 hours I would need to keep awake, through the night into the morning. To indulge in slumber might mean waking up in Canada instead of Rhode Island. Nothing against Canada but nobody knows me there.
“I wonder,” mused a friend of mine when I wrote about that, “if at some point you’d be thrown off a train if you stayed on beyond where you were supposed to go.”
I knew where I was, about as far as Ashland, a quaint Virginia town that humbly describes itself as the center of the universe. On up through D.C. I was still in territory I’ve trodden, or rather driven, before. Then as the night wore on, we chugged through Maryland and Delaware and into N.Y.
About 2 a.m. I woke from the sleep that I had fought in vain, as a station sign slid past me in the gloom. I made out a “P” and it spelled panic. Had to be Providence. I grabbed my stuff and rushed to the door of the train.
That angel who watches over fools such as I, held me back and bade me call out to the people on the platform:
“Are we in Providence? Providence, Rhode Island?”
Their sullen glares and/or bored expressions of absolute disinterest in my existence should have been clues enough. Being a persistent fool, though, I called out again and finally some guy on the platform overcome his natural inclination to ignore me, grumbling:
“Penn Station, New York.”
I might have taken some comfort in knowing I would not be spending my vacation amongst such sullen souls. For the moment I was simply grateful I hadn’t leaped off the train there and complicated my trip to a huge degree.
I returned to my row, where the pretty young thing who had sweetly requested permission to sit there some time before, had in my absence slid over to the window seat and made herself comfortable under her blanket.
The night passed. New York City flashed by, some famous bridge glittering in the gloom, maybe the Brooklyn, who knows.
Drowsy again, I opened my eyes to see signs for Connecticut and again panicked. Isn’t that state somewhere up near the border? There was no one to ask, all else were sleeping comfortably and no porter was to be seen. I fired up my laptop Internet and quickly googled a U.S. map. Appears I need to take a remedial class in U.S. geography. Connecticut borders New York these days and hasn’t shifted north of Rhode Island yet.
Day had dawned and I beheld the incredible beauty of said state. She is all greenery and lakes and little white houses. At least along the Amtrak line.
Circa 7 a.m. Saturday, the train pulled into Providence and spit me out. Joseph and Nicole arrived soon after. We stopped in at a Dunkin Donuts, which I would learn is Nicole’s favorite place in the universe. However, this one failed to offer the Vanilla Crème flavor she likes, which I might note is not a wise omission in regards to an Italian girl. She, however, restrained her righteous wrath and settled for a lesser pastry.
The happy couple dwells for the moment at 23 Division Street, Newport, R.I. Easiest for me to describe that beautiful town as the best of what I remember from Europe. Narrow streets winding past fascinating little shops, more folks out walking than driving, church bells ringing the hours and people casually living amidst an incredible excess of history. Here stands the oldest surviving Jewish synagogue in the U.S. – more on that later – and a block away, the first free Black church in the country. The oldest tavern in the country also is open for business not too far away, and at the edge of town, the mansions of America’s formerly most rich and famous, dripping with enough Gilded Age glitter to send a socialist into a foaming, terminal spasm.
Saturday night, N and J took me down to a place called Benjamin’s Raw Bar. In truth, they do cook some of the offerings there. For the very first time in my pathetic life, I beheld on a plate before me the tasty carapace of a whole lobster, mine to enjoy. Eating a lobster requires patience, dexterity, the use of a nutcracker and a willingness to endure injury to your questing fingers from various sharp and spiny portions of the unlucky boiled beast.
“Lobsters have no natural life span,” my other brother, Daniel, tartly told me later. “The only way they typically die is for someone like you to eat them.”
Well, after this vacation, there won’t be much danger of my committing much more crustacean-cide. It’s rather beyond my food budget but this one was a treat from N and J and I think the world population of lobsters will recover from my singular depredation.
We darted home in the pouring rain, taking shelter in doorways. Hard to believe that a place could be so cool and rainy on the very lip of July. Knowing that Richmond was steaming just slightly less than the pot in which my dinner perished, I hardly saw fit to complain.
Sunday morning off we rolled northbound to take in some major history. You can’t go much further back, outside a Native American setting or Virginia’s own Jamestown, than Cape Cod, first footstep of the Pilgrims’ stern impassioned stress.
As we neared our destination, I pondered on the peculiarity of the human condition – no matter where you go in the world, no matter how important the spot, somebody wakes up near there every day and goes about their ordinary business. Not ten miles from the immortal rock, we passed through subdivisions and strip malls and even stopped to buy lemonade from some kids at a garage sale.
Plymouth Rock is no Gibraltar. It, or at least what remains of it today, is maybe the size of a Volkswagen Beetle, maybe a little smaller. In truth, in the grand American tradition, bits and pieces have long been spirited away. A distinctive crack down the middle bears witness to a Revolutionary War-era moment of patriotic excess, when some locals decided to haul it off the beach up a hill. They managed only to split it in two and carry off the top portion. Years later, somebody put the pieces back together at the original location. I know not what sort of adhesive one uses to glue a boulder back together but it seems to be working.
I took a moment to stand upon the sand and stare out to sea. Whilst I have lived in Virginia long enough to know Jamestown came FIRST, and the Pilgrims only beached their boat on blustery Cape Cod because they had run out of beer, still, Plymouth is part of the American story, a major part. I scooped up a pinch of sand and a sprig of purple beach pea flower and then we departed, after the requisite picture taking.
To be continued
“He’s found himself a cozy place to sit,” said a boy, pointing to a wrought-iron loop in which the bird had taken a moment’s rest.
“Birdies don’t sit,” said another child with the sort of grave authority that only a child can muster. “They always have to stand up.”
I wandered around the platform wistfully contemplating the days when a sparrow’s antics might have been the only thing on my mind, too. Ahead of me stretched a few precious days of vacation with my brother and his wife in Rhode Island, a break in the busy life of an average American guy. But first I had to negotiate this train ride.
Eventually the steel sarcophagus of the Amtrak squealed into the station and I boarded. For the next 11 hours I would need to keep awake, through the night into the morning. To indulge in slumber might mean waking up in Canada instead of Rhode Island. Nothing against Canada but nobody knows me there.
“I wonder,” mused a friend of mine when I wrote about that, “if at some point you’d be thrown off a train if you stayed on beyond where you were supposed to go.”
I knew where I was, about as far as Ashland, a quaint Virginia town that humbly describes itself as the center of the universe. On up through D.C. I was still in territory I’ve trodden, or rather driven, before. Then as the night wore on, we chugged through Maryland and Delaware and into N.Y.
About 2 a.m. I woke from the sleep that I had fought in vain, as a station sign slid past me in the gloom. I made out a “P” and it spelled panic. Had to be Providence. I grabbed my stuff and rushed to the door of the train.
That angel who watches over fools such as I, held me back and bade me call out to the people on the platform:
“Are we in Providence? Providence, Rhode Island?”
Their sullen glares and/or bored expressions of absolute disinterest in my existence should have been clues enough. Being a persistent fool, though, I called out again and finally some guy on the platform overcome his natural inclination to ignore me, grumbling:
“Penn Station, New York.”
I might have taken some comfort in knowing I would not be spending my vacation amongst such sullen souls. For the moment I was simply grateful I hadn’t leaped off the train there and complicated my trip to a huge degree.
I returned to my row, where the pretty young thing who had sweetly requested permission to sit there some time before, had in my absence slid over to the window seat and made herself comfortable under her blanket.
The night passed. New York City flashed by, some famous bridge glittering in the gloom, maybe the Brooklyn, who knows.
Drowsy again, I opened my eyes to see signs for Connecticut and again panicked. Isn’t that state somewhere up near the border? There was no one to ask, all else were sleeping comfortably and no porter was to be seen. I fired up my laptop Internet and quickly googled a U.S. map. Appears I need to take a remedial class in U.S. geography. Connecticut borders New York these days and hasn’t shifted north of Rhode Island yet.
Day had dawned and I beheld the incredible beauty of said state. She is all greenery and lakes and little white houses. At least along the Amtrak line.
Circa 7 a.m. Saturday, the train pulled into Providence and spit me out. Joseph and Nicole arrived soon after. We stopped in at a Dunkin Donuts, which I would learn is Nicole’s favorite place in the universe. However, this one failed to offer the Vanilla Crème flavor she likes, which I might note is not a wise omission in regards to an Italian girl. She, however, restrained her righteous wrath and settled for a lesser pastry.
The happy couple dwells for the moment at 23 Division Street, Newport, R.I. Easiest for me to describe that beautiful town as the best of what I remember from Europe. Narrow streets winding past fascinating little shops, more folks out walking than driving, church bells ringing the hours and people casually living amidst an incredible excess of history. Here stands the oldest surviving Jewish synagogue in the U.S. – more on that later – and a block away, the first free Black church in the country. The oldest tavern in the country also is open for business not too far away, and at the edge of town, the mansions of America’s formerly most rich and famous, dripping with enough Gilded Age glitter to send a socialist into a foaming, terminal spasm.
Saturday night, N and J took me down to a place called Benjamin’s Raw Bar. In truth, they do cook some of the offerings there. For the very first time in my pathetic life, I beheld on a plate before me the tasty carapace of a whole lobster, mine to enjoy. Eating a lobster requires patience, dexterity, the use of a nutcracker and a willingness to endure injury to your questing fingers from various sharp and spiny portions of the unlucky boiled beast.
“Lobsters have no natural life span,” my other brother, Daniel, tartly told me later. “The only way they typically die is for someone like you to eat them.”
Well, after this vacation, there won’t be much danger of my committing much more crustacean-cide. It’s rather beyond my food budget but this one was a treat from N and J and I think the world population of lobsters will recover from my singular depredation.
We darted home in the pouring rain, taking shelter in doorways. Hard to believe that a place could be so cool and rainy on the very lip of July. Knowing that Richmond was steaming just slightly less than the pot in which my dinner perished, I hardly saw fit to complain.
Sunday morning off we rolled northbound to take in some major history. You can’t go much further back, outside a Native American setting or Virginia’s own Jamestown, than Cape Cod, first footstep of the Pilgrims’ stern impassioned stress.
As we neared our destination, I pondered on the peculiarity of the human condition – no matter where you go in the world, no matter how important the spot, somebody wakes up near there every day and goes about their ordinary business. Not ten miles from the immortal rock, we passed through subdivisions and strip malls and even stopped to buy lemonade from some kids at a garage sale.
Plymouth Rock is no Gibraltar. It, or at least what remains of it today, is maybe the size of a Volkswagen Beetle, maybe a little smaller. In truth, in the grand American tradition, bits and pieces have long been spirited away. A distinctive crack down the middle bears witness to a Revolutionary War-era moment of patriotic excess, when some locals decided to haul it off the beach up a hill. They managed only to split it in two and carry off the top portion. Years later, somebody put the pieces back together at the original location. I know not what sort of adhesive one uses to glue a boulder back together but it seems to be working.
I took a moment to stand upon the sand and stare out to sea. Whilst I have lived in Virginia long enough to know Jamestown came FIRST, and the Pilgrims only beached their boat on blustery Cape Cod because they had run out of beer, still, Plymouth is part of the American story, a major part. I scooped up a pinch of sand and a sprig of purple beach pea flower and then we departed, after the requisite picture taking.
To be continued
Sunday, March 17, 2013
Poppy Contemplations
Poppy contemplations:
Where once one grew, its milk-white bud glowing in the gloom of the forest, now five cluster. Frail beauties they seem to be, their petals soon to be torn away by the winds of spring, but few other plants outside of the evergreen tribe dare to be awake this time of the year.
My book tells me that this precocious plant with the unlovely name of bloodroot (Sanguinaria canadensis) resides in the Poppy family, Papaveracea. Poppies are a potent clan, rivaling perhaps only Solanaceae (think tobacco) and Apiaceae (think poison hemlock) in their possession of potent alkaloids.
My book also tells me that Papaveraceae haunts mainly the Northern hemisphere -- which I find interesting ...
... It means that the prototype of the family diverged from its closest ancestor after Gondwanaland (the jigsaw puzzle of Earth's continents) broke up, with the infamous opium poppies colonizing Eurasia while lesser known bloodroot spread through Eastern North America.
Nature inspires so many questions but she keeps her secrets well. Where do you fit into the story of evolution, little bloodroot flower? Why was it advantageous for you here in Eastern America to bloom in palest white whilst your West Coast sisters dress in gold and your Old World kin wear deepest crimson?
You are plants adapted to the harsh continental winters, unfazed by chilly springs but retiring before the blistering heat of summer. You are no lovers of tropical lands. Were your days of greatest glory our Ice Age -- did our first human ancestors look out of their caves to gaze in awe upon fields of your blooms?
Wednesday, July 4, 2012
The story that iguanas tell
http://siteslab.byu.edu/Portals/25/docs/Publications/Noonan-SitesAmNat%2710.pdf
So most of us know that the islands of the Pacific are either volcanoes that emerged from the ocean floor or atolls of ancient coral. I did not know until today that two of them, however, formed in a completely different way. Tonga and Fiji were actually part of an ancient supercontinent, which is now submerged except for them. And lizards help provide the evidence!
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