8/10I forewarn that this is going to be a long one.
I read this book about 7 years ago. It was, apparently, originally designed for a Book of Mormon course that Nibley taught. It is pretty solid scholarly stuff. There are those silly people out there who love to fight against the LDS church and the Book of Mormon. These people always think that Mormons don't know any of their doctrine or anything about their church (why else would they belong to it? We are just brainwashed to believe what our parents forced upon us, etc.) and that the "evidence" against the Book of Mormon far outweighs its support. What they don't realize is that we do know our doctrine and we think that anyone who sincerely reads the Book of Mormon (not, as Neal A. Maxwell puts it, "scanning while doubting" which leads only to "flippant conclusions") will also come to know the truth of the book and that there is no way that a young boy could have written such an inspired record.
Anyway, much of Nibley's works (not just this) are for the purpose of showing that there are some physical "proofs" to Mormon doctrine and that we don't just sit around on our hands and blindly believe. Or, as Nibley puts it in the book's Forward: "False arguments which in the past have prospered against [the Book of Mormon] are shattered by the material of this course." Unfortunately, I bet about .00000001% of those silly people who fight against the church that were referenced in the above paragraph have actually read this book or anything similar. They just stick to their own slanted anti books and, ironically, blindly accept those as fact. The person trying to disprove something has "the burden of proof" as it were, and, therefore, should be the person disproving "proofs" from books such as Nibley's.
Nibley talks about many things, some of my favorites are:
(1) A breakdown of the names of Lehi's 6 boys. The first two are Arabic names given during a time of Lehi's involvement in the Arabian caravan trade, the next two were given Egyptian names during a time of his prosperity, and the last two are given the humble names of Jacob and Joseph during the tribulations in which they were born. "[I]t was certainly the custom of Lehi's people to name their children with a purpose";
(2) Quoting some random (non-Mormon) scholar who wrote that way back in the day (which also happens to be Lehi's era) the Bedouin people would follow this rule: "any water you may discover, either in your own or in the territory of another tribe, is named after you." This evidence is seen taking place in the Book of Mormon;
(3) Bringing up the old and over-used argument where the Book of Mormon prophesies that Christ will be born in "the land of Jerusalem" when he was born in Bethlehem and pointing out that even Socrates, Sophocles, and Euripides were all Athenian citizens and described themselves as men of Athens even though they were born miles from the actual city. The "land of Jerusalem" is different from the "city of Jerusalem." In fact, "the Book of Mormon refers to the city of Jerusalem plainly and unmistakably over sixty times, it refers over forty times to another and entirely different geographical entity which is always designated as 'the land of Jerusalem.'...The land of Jerusalem is not the city of Jerusalem.";
(4) Pointing out that "the slaying of Laban is no more reprehensible than the beheading of the unconscious Goliath" from the Bible;
(5) Citing this (non-Mormon) archeologist guy who wrote back in 1916 that "in the Babylonian army a platoon contained fifty men" and that it was called a "fifty." This correlates with the incident in the Book of Mormon where Nephi references "Laban and his fifty.";
(6) Showing that the Dead Sea Scrolls are full of Christian terminology and saying that "the one effective argument against the Book of Mormon (i.e., that it introduces New Testament ideas and terminology into a pre-Christian setting) collapses."
(7) Citing another old historian's finding that the early Hebrews "never used the classic hunting weapons of their neighbors, the sword, lance, javelin, and club." This correlates with Nephi's statement that the hunting weapons he used were "bows...arrows...stones, and...slings." That same historian "found that those were indeed the hunting weapons of the early Hebrews."
(8) Further, he points out that according to ancient Arab writers, the only bow-wood obtainable in all Arabia was the nab wood that grew only at Mount Jasum and Mount Azd, which are situated in the very region where the broken bow incident in the Book of Mormon likely occurred.
(9) Pointing out that it is crucial that the language of the Book of Mormon indicates that Lehi's party traveled down the eastern shore of the red sea because, as was discovered only in 1930 (before Joseph Smith's time) this led to "the one place where [they] could find...the materials necessary to prepare for [the] long sea voyage." I like his concluding statement on the matter: "In Nephi's picture of the desert everything checks perfectly. There is not one single slip amid a wealth of detail, the more significant because it is so casually conveyed."
(10) Citing a 1924 historian's finding that Egyptians always referred to bodies of water that don't dry up as "fountains." The Book of Mormon has this language: "the fountain of the Red Sea." If a person were making this book up, they certainly wouldn't call the Red Sea a fountain, but this finding shows another incident that only goes to further verify the Book of Mormon's validity.
(11) Pointing out the formation of Book of Mormon names and the correlation of names from those times and places. E.g. Mor-, Mr- as combinations that are also found in Egyptian names; that "mimation" (names ending with -m) predominated in Jaredite names and that "nunation" (names ending with -n) predominated in Nephite and Lamanite names and showing that mimation was prevalent around 2000 B.C. (the time of the Jaredites) and that nunation succeeded mimation by the time of the Nephites; showing that -iah and -ihah names were very prevalent in Palestinian names of Lehi's time but not so in other times; showing that ancient Semites of the desert would give "pendant names," to their children, i.e. Laman and Lemuel. Coincidence? I think not.
(12) Showing that "men who knew far more about the Hebrew language, customs, and symbols than any modern seminarist ever can, insisted that Ezekiel's 'woods' were writing-tablets or books."
(13) Quoting an early Christian named Origen: "The Ocean is not to be crossed by men, but those worlds which lie on the other side of it are governed by the same ordinances of a guiding and directing God as these." True. Don't see why that is so hard to believe and accept.
(14) Showing that "In Ether the reign and exploits of King Lib exactly parallel the doings of the first kings of Egypt (entirely unknown, of course, in the time of Joseph Smith) even in the oddest particulars."
(15) Citing historian's findings that old Indian and Chinese traditions speak of a wonderful stone that shines in the dark and that "the most celebrated of all its many miraculous powers being a strange capacity for enabling its possessor to pass unharmed through the depths of the waters." Striking correlation with the Jaredite history.
(16) Lots of quotes from Justin Martyr and stating that "[h]is most serious charge against the doctors is, indeed, that they no longer have prophets among them." Strange how inconceivable it is for everyone else to understand the need for prophets, since that is how God always works.
(17) Pointing out that "[p]eople underestimate the capacity of things to disappear, and do not realize that the ancients almost never built of stone. Many a great civilization which has left a notable mark in history and literature has left behind not a single recognizable trace of itself. We must stop looking for the wrong things." Then stating: "An official list of Roman castles from the time of Justinian enumerates 500 imperial strongholds and gives their locations; yet while the stone temples and amphi-theatres built at the same time and places still stand, not a scrap of any of those castles is to be found." Later: "Like the Nephites, the ancients in general built of wood whenever they could."
(18) Quoting an old scholars finding that all apocalyptic writers have revelation in common: 'Christ, who was always from the beginning, has visited the righteous of every generation.'
And now for a few select quotes:
Pointing out the significant timing of the Book of Mormon, "for none knew at the time of its appearance that the saints of the new dispensation would soon be continuing that great tradition of tribulation and triumph in the wilderness. The Book of Mormon was the best preparation and training manual for what was to come."
"In every age the inspired prophets have put down their knowledge in books."
"To produce the Book of Mormon would have required far more than luck and learning of any man."
"Ether was as wholly out of their world as it was removed from the whole world of contemporary science and scholarship, both biblical and profane. So let us have no more nonsense about a perfectly ordinary book that any reasonably clever Yankee could have written."
Citing the brother of Jared story: "Instead of giving him a light on the spot, or at least telling him how to make one, the Lord left it all up to the Jaredites: 'What will ye that I should do that ye may have light in your vessels?' If Joseph Smith had written the Book of Mormon, this would have been a stroke of pure genius."
"Hasty pronouncements are typical of much Book of Mormon criticism, building impetuous conclusions on first impressions and never bothering to find out what the Book of Mormon says actually happened."
"The retention of tribal identity throughout the Book of Mormon is a typically desert trait and a remarkably authentic touch."
That's a wrap! Thanks to those who had the stamina and courage to stick with this post to the end.
