TThhee UUnniivveerrssiittyy ooff NNoottrree DDaammee AAuussttrraalliiaa RReesseeaarrcchhOOnnlliinnee@@NNDD Law Papers and Journal Articles School of Law 2017 AAppoossttaattee rreelliiggiioonn iinn tthhee BBooookk ooff MMoorrmmoonn A Keith Thompson The University of Notre Dame Australia, [email protected] Follow this and additional works at: https://researchonline.nd.edu.au/law_article Part of the Law Commons This article was originally published as: Thompson, A. K. (2017). Apostate religion in the Book of Mormon. Interpreter: A Journal of Mormon Scripture, 25, 191-226. Original article available here: http://www.mormoninterpreter.com/apostate-religion-in-the-book-of-mormon/ This article is posted on ResearchOnline@ND at https://researchonline.nd.edu.au/law_article/76. For more information, please contact [email protected]. This is an Open Access article distributed in accordance with the Creative Commons Attribution-Non Commercial-No Derivatives 4.0 International license (CC BY-NC-ND 4.0), which permits others to copy and redistribute the material in any medium or format. You must give appropriate credit, provide a link to the license, and indicate if changes were made. You may not use the material for commercial purposes. If you remix, transform, or build upon the material, you many not distribute the modified material. See: https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/ This article originally published in Interpreter: A Journal of Mormon Scripture available at: http://www.mormoninterpreter.com/apostate-religion-in-the-book-of-mormon/ No changes have been made to this article. Thompson, A.K. (2017) Apostate religion in the Book of Mormon. Interpreter: A Journal of Mormon Scripture, 25, 191-226. Retrieved from http://www.mormoninterpreter.com/apostate-religion-in- the-book-of-mormon/ INTERPRETER § A Journal of Mormon Scripture Volume 25 · 2017 · Pages 191-226 Apostate Religion in the Book of Mormon A. Keith Thompson Offprint Series © 2017 The Interpreter Foundation. A 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization. This work is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivs 4.0 International License. To view a copy of this license, visit http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/ or send a letter to Creative Commons, 444 Castro Street, Suite 900, Mountain View, California, 94041, USA. ISSN 2372-1227 (print) ISSN 2372-126X (online) The goal of The Interpreter Foundation is to increase understanding of scripture through careful scholarly investigation and analysis of the insights provided by a wide range of ancillary disciplines, including language, history, archaeology, literature, culture, ethnohistory, art, geography, law, politics, philosophy, etc. Interpreter will also publish articles advocating the authenticity and historicity of LDS scripture and the Restoration, along with scholarly responses to critics of the LDS faith. We hope to illuminate, by study and faith, the eternal spiritual message of the scriptures—that Jesus is the Christ. Although the Board fully supports the goals and teachings of the Church, The Interpreter Foundation is an independent entity and is neither owned, controlled by nor affiliated with The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, or with Brigham Young University. All research and opinions provided are the sole responsibility of their respective authors, and should not be interpreted as the opinions of the Board, nor as official statements of LDS doctrine, belief or practice. This journal is a weekly publication. Visit us at MormonInterpreter.com You may subscribe to this journal at MormonInterpreter.com/annual-print-subscription Apostate Religion in the Book of Mormon A. Keith Thompson Abstract: Nephite missionaries in the first century BC had significant difficulty preaching the gospel among Nephites and Lamanites who followed Zoramite and Nehorite teaching. Both of these groups built synagogues and other places of worship suggesting that some of their beliefs originated in Israelite practice, but both denied the coming or the necessity of a Messiah. This article explores the nature of Zoramite and Nehorite beliefs, identifies how their beliefs and practices differed from orthodox Nephite teaching, and suggests that some of these religious differences are attributable to cultural and political differences that resonate in the present. There is a longstanding inference that the Amlicites and the Amalekites of the Book of Mormon are the same people.1 This inference was developed by Chris Conkling from John L. Sorensen’s2 1992 entry in the Encyclopedia of Mormonism and is strengthened by the more recent textual studies done by Royal Skousen.3 The two peoples are not recognized as the same, Conkling claims, because of inconsistencies in Oliver Cowdery’s spelling as scribe, despite Joseph Smith’s having spelled out some of the names during the translation process.4 My purpose in revisiting this analysis is to search for a better understanding of the religions the Nephites considered apostate in the Book of Mormon. I have previously suggested that Sherem’s version of worship according to the Law of Moses may have originated in Josiah’s reforms before the departure of Lehi and his group from Jerusalem around 600 bc.5 Brant Gardner and Mark Wright suggest that the apostate religion discussed in the Book of Mormon narrative may be partly explained by syncretization with pre-existing religion in ancient Mesoamerica.6 In this article, I suggest that the Nehorite religion likely had patriotic Mulekite antecedents which relied upon Davidic genealogy. 192 • Interpreter: A Journal of Mormon Scripture 25 (2017) The evidence available is limited, which makes this discussion speculative. However, in my previous research I have suggested that the earliest Jewish synagogues likely originated soon after the children of Israel entered their Promised Land under Joshua, during the second millennium BCE. This would predate their Babylonian captivity, during which the Jews were separated from their principal Temple at Jerusalem, despite conventional Jewish scholarship to that effect.7 The Book of Mormon says the Nephites, the Zoramites and the Nehorites all worshipped in synagogues, among other places of worship. The presence of altars within some of these New World places of worship8 during the first millennium BCE, along with the way guests were generally welcomed and allowed to speak and pray within them, also suggests that these synagogues had Hebrew antecedents, since Christ and Paul did some of their missionary work by invitation in Jewish synagogues. Zoramite and Nehorite rejection of the Nephite teaching that the Law of Moses necessarily included the redemptive mission of the Son of God as a Messiah is presented in the Book of Mormon as the principal cause of conflict between those two sects and Nephite religion. I seek to define more clearly the origin of that theological difference. I also believe that identifying the Nehorite religion’s origins within the Mulekite society may enable a closer understanding of the political and possibly racial tensions in Zarahemla at the time the judicial republic was inaugurated. I approach this task in four parts. In Part I, I survey the current scholarship that surrounds the Mulekite identity of both the Amlicites and the Amalekites. That survey will include discussion of John Tvedtnes’s work on the Jaredite origin of many Nephite place and personal names. I also suggest that Tvedtnes’s hypothesis is supported by the parallel work of Skousen on Oliver Cowdery’s variable spelling as Joseph Smith’s scribe for most of the Book of Mormon translation and Sorenson’s suggestions of Jaredite and Mulekite influence on Nephite and Lamanite culture. In Part II, I will discuss the references to the Amlicites and the Amalekites in the Book of Mormon and inferences other researchers have drawn about their influence on Nephite and Lamanite politics. Though Mulekite/Amlicilite/Amalekite politics are not central to Alma ’s mission to Ammonihah, I will suggest that the close connection 2 between the Nehorite religion and the Mulekite people evident during that mission helps explain the civil conflicts and wars of the Nephites in Zarahemla throughout the book of Alma. Thompson, Apostate Religion in the Book of Mormon • 193 In Part III, I seek to identify the components of the Nehorite religion and to distinguish those from what was Nephite and Zoramite. Again, my purpose is to suggest that the Book of Mormon text we have provides more evidence than we realize about the nature of the politics and religious difficulties the Kings and Judges had to manage at Zarahemla and in its tributary geography. In Part IV, I endeavor to draw all the evidence together and suggest that while the Mulekites at Zarahemla appear to have welcomed the literate Nephites to Zarahemla when they acceded to the appointment of Mosiah as their King, by the time the third generation had passed, 1 the more numerous indigenous Mulekites had grown tired of the patrician Nephite aristocracy, and they sought a restoration of their own monarchy, despite the best efforts of Mosiah and Alma to manage them. 2 2 I also suggest that if the Nephites were always an elite minority among the Mulekites, as seems likely, the Mulekite sense of grievance is easy to understand. Indeed, it probably resonated with the Lamanite tradition that the Nephites were usurpers and robbers and the Zoramite teaching that the Nephites had corrupted the true nature of Israelite religion. This is, of course, not the story the Book of Mormon editors tell, but it can help explain the enduring nature of the Nephite difficulties and why their episodes of hypocritical unrighteousness had such devastating political consequences. I conclude that even if the Nephites had been as true to their faith as the faithful King Benjamin, it still seems unlikely they would have lived out their existence free of political and religious commotion. Understanding the political and religious turmoil that plagued their civilization provides greater context for the words and actions of their prophets, leaders, and missionaries; indeed, it provides relevance and greater understanding of our own days. Part I: The Mulekite Identity of the Amlicites and the Amalekites Back in 1973 when he was an MA student, John Tvedtnes wrote a technical paper in which he assumed that the principal tongue of the Nephite/ Mulekite peoples was Hebrew, while the Jaredites spoke Akkadian/Sumerian.9 He used this analysis to identify the origin of Jaredite names and traced them into Nephite/Mulekite usage.10 Though readers of the Book of Mormon may infer that — save for Coriantumr11 — there was no physical interaction between the Jaredites and the Mulekites before the latter merged with the Nephites/Lamanites, 194 • Interpreter: A Journal of Mormon Scripture 25 (2017) Tvedtnes, following Hugh Nibley, believed otherwise. Tvedtnes said simply: It is obvious that Jaredites of whom we have no record must have inter married with the Mulekites (probably before the latter merged with the Nephites), preserving both Jaredite names and Jaredite customs.12 Nibley justified his belief that Jaredite and Nephite people interacted by noting Mosiah ’s statement that remnants of the Jaredites had survived 2 the great battle catalogued by Ether.13 Nibley also believed the Mulekite and Jaredite cultures had likely overlapped “over many years”14 and that the overlap enabled the Jaredite civilization to make “a permanent cultural impression on the Nephites through Mulek.”15 That permanent cultural impression is also apparent in the fact that Alma gave at least 2 two of his three sons names with Jaredite roots.16 It is well attested that no vowels were used in ancient Hebrew,17 meaning the names Mulek, Amlici, and Amalek are likely derived from the same root, possibly referring, as does the first part of the name Melchizedek, to the royal birth of the person named.18 Tvedtnes, John Gee, and Matthew Roper develop this point in their discussion of the Hebrew origin and derivation of the name of the Book of Mormon missionary Muloki. They have written: MULOKI was one of the men who accompanied the sons of Mosiah on their mission to the Lamanites (see Alma 20:2, 21:11). His name suggests that he may have been a Mulekite. Also from the same root are names such as Mulek and Melek, which is the Hebrew word meaning “king”. Mulek is hypocoristic for Hebrew Mlkyh(w) (KJV Melchiah and Malchiah), which is attested both in the Bible (see 1 Chronicles 6:40; Ezra 10:25, 31; Nehemiah 3:14, 31; 8:4; 11:12; Jeremiah 21:1, 38:1, 6) and in numerous ancient inscriptions, most of them from the time of Lehi. Indeed, it has been suggested that one of the men bearing this name is the Mulek of the Book of Mormon. He is called “Malchiah the son of Hammelech,” which means “Malchiah, the son of the king” (see Jeremiah 38:6). Thompson, Apostate Religion in the Book of Mormon • 195 Muloki corresponds to the name Mlky on a bulla found in the City of David (Jerusalem) and dating from the time of Lehi (footnotes omitted).19 In his article in the same journal five years later, Conkling uses what he calls “hints in the traditional text that many readers have not noticed”20 and “spelling variations in the original manuscripts of Oliver Cowdery”21 to theorize that the Amalekites and the Amlicites are the same people. The “hints in the traditional text” that he finds are the complete disappearance of the Amlicites from the Nephite record after Alma 3:20 — after 43 mentions inside two chapters — and their cultural identity with the Amalekites whose dissent caused such problems for the Nephites between Alma 21:2 and Alma 43:44.22 Though “there are two Amalekis in the record (see Omni 1:12–30; Mosiah 7:6), neither one has any connection with this [Amalekite] group”23 which is surprising since “we cannot find another instance in this abridged record where a group is introduced without explanation or introduction.”24 Conkling also mentions Sorenson’s speculation that the Amalekites “constituted the Amlicite remnant, … their new name possibly arising by ‘lamanitization’ of the former.”25 Conkling then discusses the “spelling variations in the original manuscripts of Oliver Cowdery” identified by Skousen in his “long-term Book of Mormon critical text project.”26 [T]he apostate groups in the book of Alma currently spelled Amlicites and Amalekites are most likely the same group of dissenters, founded by Amlici, and … the names should be spelled identically.27 [T]hese types of errors in the original and printer’s manuscripts were due to inconsistencies in Oliver Cowdery’s spelling style.28 Conkling’s article demonstrates these inconsistent spellings with photographs of fragments from the original and printer’s manuscripts of the Book of Mormon, showing “Amelicites,” “Amalakites,” “Amaleckites,” and “Amelekites” in the original and how these appear to have been standardized to “Amalekites” in the printer’s version.29 Conkling infers that is likely because the printer was told to standardize spelling but is not completely sure such instruction accounts for the variability of Oliver’s spelling since the names “Amlicites” and “Amalekites” are so different. Conkling concludes that “using the records we have (Cowdery’s handwritten manuscripts), there is little support that the Amlicites and the Amalekites were two separate groups.”30 196 • Interpreter: A Journal of Mormon Scripture 25 (2017) In his following analysis, Conkling suggests that “Alma structured his narrative record more tightly and carefully than we may previously have realized.”31 His introduction of Nehor and Amlici at the beginning of his book introduced “the major threat and problem that Alma had to deal with the rest of his life.”32 Conkling then asks, in effect, what is Alma ’s message for our day? Perhaps that “dissension, which was dealt 2 with by preaching the word, can lead to apostasy and then to treason, which was dealt with by legal action and war”33 and always ended with “the dead bodies of the enemy soldiers being thrown into the River Sidon” and carried out “to the depths of the sea.”34 Conkling also identifies several perplexing questions that have resulted from Book of Mormon readers’ not understanding that the Amlicites and the Amalekites were the same people. One of those questions is how the Amlicite/Amalekite people could have become so established among the Lamanites after their initial rebellion in the early years of Alma ’s reign as chief judge. Evidence of their establishment 2 in Lamanite society is seen, as they were partially responsible for the construction of the city named Jerusalem (Alma 21:1–4) before Aaron ran into trouble with them there at the beginning of his mission. Conkling suggests two possible answers for this issue. The first is that perhaps Aaron did not preach at this Lamanite/Amalekite city as early in his mission as we suppose. The second is that we misunderstand the Amlicite grievances and subsequent threat without the context of history in the year after the judicial republic was created. This answer appears more plausible and will be the focus of my discussion in this essay. The incidents with Nehor and Amlici did not happen instantly or in isolation. It is likely that there had been conflict in Zarahemla for a long time before the judicial republic was created..35 Like Conkling, I believe the conflicts at the beginning of Alma ’s reign as chief judge 2 had been building for some time36 and were part of the reason why the sons of Mosiah were not interested in assuming their father’s hereditary 2 throne. Part II: Amlicite Politics and Religion Having established the likelihood that the Amlicites and the Amalekites were the same people and that both are remnants of the Mulekites, I propose to simplify further discussion by referring to them solely as Amlicites, save for when there is some benefit in drawing attention to their Mulekite/Amalekite connections. Conkling says that Alma introduces the Amlicites in the Book 2 of Alma because they constituted a threat to Nephite religion and