Enallage in the Book of Mormon

Writing styles in the Book of Mormon can be traced to the Old Testament Hebrew styles in many ways. One of these styles is called enallage and is commonly used in the Psalms and Isaiah since they are written in poetic form.

Enallage is a Greek word meaning interchange. In Hebrew enallage is used as the second and third persons are interchanged within the text. The second person is the person being addressed, so it would be words like you, your, thee, thou, or thine. The third person would include words like he, she, they, or a proper name like the Lord.

When Nephi pours out his heart in prayer the words become a song of praise, or a psalm. Within Second Nephi chapter 4 is such a text, sometimes referred to as Nephi's psalm. We can look to the Old Testament for examples of enallage.

Consider the 23rd Psalm.

"The Lord is my shepherd; I shall not want.

 He maketh me to lie down in green pastures: he leadeth me beside the still waters.

 He restoreth my soul: he leadeth me in the paths of righteousness for his name’s sake."


So far the Lord is spoken of in the third person. But look at the shift in the next verses.


"Yea, though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil: for thou art with me; thy rod and thy staff they comfort me.

Thou preparest a table before me in the presence of mine enemies: thou anointest my head with oil; my cup runneth over."


In these verses the Lord is spoken of in the second person. Then the final verse returns to the third person.

"Surely goodness and mercy shall follow me all the days of my life: and I will dwell in the house of the Lord for ever."


Now kids, don't try this with your homework assignments. Your English teacher won't be amused. This is terrible English but it's great Hebrew.


Now let's examine the enallage in Nephi's psalm.

"My God hath been my support; he hath led me through mine afflictions in the wilderness; and he hath preserved me upon the waters of the great deep.

He hath filled me with his love, even unto the consuming of my flesh.

 He hath confounded mine enemies, unto the causing of them to quake before me.

Behold, he hath heard my cry by day, and he hath given me knowledge by visions in the night-time.

And by day have I waxed bold in mighty prayer before him; yea, my voice have I sent up on high; and angels came down and ministered unto me" (2 Nephi 4: 20-24).


Just a few verses later, the Lord is addressed in the second person.


"Rejoice, O my heart, and cry unto the Lord, and say: O Lord, I will praise thee forever; yea, my soul will rejoice in thee, my God, and the rock of my salvation.

O Lord, wilt thou redeem my soul? Wilt thou deliver me out of the hands of mine enemies? Wilt thou make me that I may shake at the appearance of sin?

May the gates of hell be shut continually before me, because that my heart is broken and my spirit is contrite! O Lord, wilt thou not shut the gates of thy righteousness before me, that I may walk in the path of the low valley, that I may be strict in the plain road!

O Lord, wilt thou encircle me around in the robe of thy righteousness! O Lord, wilt thou make a way for mine escape before mine enemies! Wilt thou make my path straight before me! Wilt thou not place a stumbling block in my way—but that thou wouldst clear my way before me, and hedge not up my way, but the ways of mine enemy.

O Lord, I have trusted in thee, and I will trust in thee forever. I will not put my trust in the arm of flesh; for I know that cursed is he that putteth his trust in the arm of flesh. Yea, cursed is he that putteth his trust in man or maketh flesh his arm" (2 Nephi 4: 30-34).


I will do my next post on more of the spiritual content of Nephi's psalm and how it parallels Old Testament psalms.

For those readers skeptical about the Book of Mormon, I ask, could Joseph Smith have composed such a beautiful psalm on his own with his limited third-grade education? If you think he could have, I would invite you to go online and look at the Joseph Smith papers and read some of his journal entries. His wife Emma once said she knew the Book of Mormon was true. She said Joseph couldn't even write a coherent letter.

On the Wings of His Spirit

Nephi goes to great length to emphasize the idea that he has not taught his children after the "manner of the Jews," (see 2 Nephi 25: 6), but when he wants to pour out his soul in thanksgiving to God, he does it after the manner of the Jews in poetic Hebrew fashion. I am referring to his psalm in 2 Nephi chapter 4.

He writes, "And upon the wings of his Spirit hath my body been carried away upon exceedingly high mountains" (2 Nephi 4: 25). Wings are a representation of God's power, grace, and His tender mercies.

Nephi has what seems like an out-of-body experience, as he is spiritually transported and transcends to a temple-like experience, high upon the mountain of God. His eyes behold "great things . . . even too great for man."  The sacred nature of this temple-like experience prohibits him from writing more.

In non-Biblical texts such as the pseudepigraphal account of the Apocalypse of Abraham, it states, "And the angel took me with his right hand and set me on the right wing of the pigeon and he himself sat on the left wing of the turtledove, both of which were as if neither slaughtered nor divided"  (Apocalypse of Abraham 15: 2-3). I know this is not scripture of the Standard Works, but the Doctrine and Covenants tells us that similar to the Apocrypha, "there are many things contained therein that are true, and it is mostly translated correctly" (D&C 91: 1). The birds here representing heavenly messengers could correlate with Abraham's account of a token of the covenant as he takes "an heifer of three years old, and a she goat of three years old, and a ram of three years old, and a turtledove, and a young pigeon.  And he took unto him all these, and divided them in the midst, and laid each piece one against another: but the birds divided he not" (Genesis 15: 9-10). 

As Abraham makes this heavenly ascent on the wings of a bird (or angel), he says, "I am weakened and my spirit is departing from me." He then hears a voice, "like a voice of many waters," similar to the Prophet Joseph Smith's account in the Kirtland Temple of the voice of Jehovah (see D&C 110: 3). Abraham is then taught a song of praise (or a psalm) to God (see Apocalypse of Abraham 16-17).

Nephi also experiences a kind of separation of body and spirit. He speaks of his flesh wasting away and his strength slackened. He proclaims, "He hath filled me with his love, even unto the consuming of my flesh" (see 2 Nephi 4: 21, 26).

In the New Testament the woman with the issue of blood touched the Savior's garment on the tassel of the tallith or the wing of the garment and was healed as virtue or power healed her (see Luke 8: 44; Bible Dictionary, "Hem of Garment").

The idea of wings representing power, and in the above case, being a token of the covenant as Israelites were required to make fringes in the borders (or wings) of their garments as a reminder of their covenants with Jehovah, adds meaning to the plea of the Savior as He says, "How oft will I gather you as a hen gathereth her chickens under her wings, if ye will repent and return unto me with full purpose of heart" (Numbers 15: 38-39; 3 Nephi 10: 6).

Wings are a symbol of the Savior's love, tender mercies, and divine protection. They are also a symbol of His grace. In the Old Testament, the Lord is compared to a maternal eagle as it states, "As an eagle stirreth up her nest, fluttereth over her young, spreadeth abroad her wings, taketh them, beareth them on her wings" (Deuteronomy 32: 11). Also, as part of God's covenant with Israel, He reminds them, "Ye have seen what I did unto the Egyptians, and how I bare you on eagles’ wings, and brought you unto myself" (Exodus 19: 4). 

We can be borne by Him when we are weak and struggling.

Wings are a source of enduring strength. Isaiah poetically writes, 

"But they that wait upon the Lord shall renew their strength; they shall mount up with wings as eagles; they shall run, and not be weary; and they shall walk, and not faint" (Isaiah 40: 31).

The wings of the Spirit can take us to holy places, like the temple, where we can see new vistas and feel of His divine nature and love. The wings of the Spirit will increase our spiritual strength and endurance. As Nephi prophesied, "He shall rise from the dead, with healing in his wings; and all those who shall believe on his name shall be saved in the kingdom of God" (2 Nephi 25: 13).  

Redeemed Through His Righteousness

The entire Book of Mormon can be viewed as a grace sandwich. The missionary discussions in that day consisted of three lessons--Creation, Fall, and Atonement, what Elder Bruce R. McConkie would term the three pillars of eternity.

The first prophet to write, setting aside the Jaredite record, was Lehi, and the last prophet to write was Moroni. Moroni writes,

"Behold, he created Adam, and by Adam came the fall of man. And because of the fall of man came Jesus Christ, even the Father and the Son; and because of Jesus Christ came the redemption of man" (Mormon 9: 12).

The three pillars, Creation, Fall, and Atonement, are well summarized in this passage. You may notice Hebrew parallelism in the style, emphasizing the eternal progression of these elements. The words and phrases are doubled up and repeated, so you have Adam, fall of man, and Jesus Christ repeated twice in succession. 

Lehi introduces this theme in beautiful, elaborate form. So the Book of Mormon begins and ends with this message of eternal salvation. Sandwiched in the middle are numerous teachings by Ammon, Aaron, and others emphasizing Creation, Fall, and Atonement (see Alma 18 and 22 for example).

And central to this doctrine is the Atonement of Jesus Christ with the absolute reality of our fallen state and need for a Savior to redeem us. Aaron said, "And since man had fallen he could not merit anything of himself; but the sufferings and death of Christ atone for their sins, through faith and repentance, and so forth; and that he breaketh the bands of death, that the grave shall have no victory, and that the sting of death should be swallowed up in the hopes of glory; and Aaron did expound all these things unto the king" (Alma 22: 14).  

Notice how Lehi teaches these three pillars in order in 2 Nephi chapter 2 with the following phrases:

Creation

"Wherefore, it must needs have been created for a thing of naught; wherefore there would have been no purpose in the end of its creation" (v. 12).

"And if there is no God we are not, neither the earth; for there could have been no creation of things, neither to act nor to be acted upon" (v. 13).

"For there is a God, and he hath created all things, both the heavens and the earth, and all things that in them are, both things to act and things to be acted upon" (v. 14).

Fall

"And I, Lehi, according to the things which I have read, must needs suppose that an angel of God, according to that which is written, had fallen from heaven; wherefore, he became a devil, having sought that which was evil before God" (v. 17).

"And because he had fallen from heaven, and had become miserable forever, he sought also the misery of all mankind" (v. 18).

Atonement

"And the Messiah cometh in the fulness of time, that he may redeem the children of men from the fall. And because that they are redeemed from the fall they have become free forever, knowing good from evil; to act for themselves and not to be acted upon, save it be by the punishment of the law at the great and last day, according to the commandments which God hath given" (v. 26).

His Merits

According to these passages, the Fall began with Lucifer, not with Adam and Eve. And even our agency is a gift of the Atonement.

The gravity of our fallen state is made crystal clear in these verses, as Lehi teaches his son, Jacob, "Wherefore, how great the importance to make these things known unto the inhabitants of the earth, that they may know that there is no flesh that can dwell in the presence of God, save it be through the merits, and mercy, and grace of the Holy Messiah, who layeth down his life according to the flesh, and taketh it again by the power of the Spirit, that he may bring to pass the resurrection of the dead, being the first that should rise (2 Nephi 2: 8).

There is no flesh that can dwell in God's presence based on our own merits. I happen to know as a recovering alcoholic and addict just where my own merits landed me. I'm certain I would not be alive today without His grace.

Even a righteous prophet like Jacob is not exempt. Lehi begins these teachings with a statement about Jacob's redemption by saying, "Wherefore, I know that thou art redeemed, because of the righteousness of thy Redeemer" (2 Nephi 2: 3).

For many years I was one of those beings who was "acted upon." Captivity, death, and misery were not mere choices; they became my way of life. But today, by His grace, I am privileged to choose.

Graven Upon the Palms of His Hands

The more I study the Book of Mormon the more I'm impressed with Nephi's selection of the Isaiah chapters. Indeed some of Isaiah's finest writings are taught in the Book of Mormon, always followed with some fine prophetic commentary. Nephi's intent is to "more fully persuade them (his brethren) to believe in the Lord their Redeemer" (1 Nephi 19: 23). The two chapters that follow are indeed extraordinary.

Isaiah unfolds the relationship between Jehovah and the house of Israel, a people who sometimes feel "forsaken" and "forgotten" (1 Nephi 21: 14), but who in reality are tightly bound to the Lord by covenants. The Lord will show that the forgetting and forsaking are one-sided.

Isaiah then compares the Godlike love of a mother to divine Christlike love:

"For can a woman forget her sucking child, that she should not have compassion on the son of her womb? Yea, they may forget, yet will I not forget thee, O house of Israel" (1 Nephi 21: 15).

The New Testament Greek word for compassion means "to be moved as to one's bowels," or as my friend Eric Huntsman would say, "torn in the gut."

The Lord begins to speak in the first person, addressing you and me, as the covenant family of the house of Israel. He said,

"Behold, I have graven thee upon the palms of my hands; thy walls are continually before me" (1 Nephi 21: 16).

This is definitely covenant language. The entire phrase "palms of my hands" is capsulized by the Hebrew word kaph. It can mean the palm of the hand, the sole of the foot, or the hollow of the thigh. Click here for a link to read more about this Hebrew word. It is translated as the word spoon 24 times in the Old Testament. You will notice this on the link. The spoons referenced here would be more like ladles. It also means bent objects, curved objects, and the curved shape of palm branches which were strewn in the path of Jesus at His triumphal entry, symbolizing victory over sin and death (see John 12: 13). They would be hollow-shaped objects that could hold something. 

Let's look at some examples.

Consider the experience of Jacob when he wrestles (Hugh Nibley would say "embraces") a messenger. The messenger touches him in the hollow of the thigh (but this could be palm of the hand, sole of the foot, or joint of the thigh), Jacob receives a new name (Israel, meaning to prevail with God), and Jacob says he has seen God face to face (see Genesis 32: 24-32). This sounds like a real good covenant day to me. The Hebrew word for "hollow of the thigh" is kaph.

Or consider the account of Noah in his ark--I mean floating temple. Noah sent forth a dove. Then it reads, "But the dove found no rest for the sole of her foot, and she returned unto him into the ark, for the waters were on the face of the whole earth: then he put forth his hand, and took her, and pulled her in unto him into the ark" (Genesis 8: 9).  The sole of the foot is the kaph. And he "put forth his hand" and "pulled her in unto him."

As priests were consecrated (meaning "filled the hand") they took the elements of the sacrifice from the "ram of consecration" and "put all upon Aaron’s hands, and upon his sons’ hands" (Leviticus 8: 22, 27). The hands were the kaph.

But Jesus speaks of His hands in the Creation process by asking,

"Who hath measured the waters in the hollow of his hand, and meted out heaven with the span, and comprehended the dust of the earth in a measure, and weighed the mountains in scales, and the hills in a balance?" (Isaiah 40: 12).

Parenthetically, there would have been a compass used to mete out heaven, and the span would make a circle creating an eternal round (see 1 Nephi 10: 19). 

But always remember your Savior and His hands, that however full they become, your eternal redemption is front and center, in the palm of His hands, eternally graven, and always present before His eyes (see D&C 38: 2).