What’s the point of Moroni 9?

Moroni 9 is such an unpleasant chapter, giving a peek from Mormon at the horrible things the Nephites were doing, that it is hard to see why Moroni chose to include it in the Book of Mormon. I have usually pointed to the horrible stuff as an index of how bad things can get, and yet I don’t know if that was Moroni’s intent for including it. Did he really mean it to be a bellwether of society’s depravity or decadence? 

            I think the key to its inclusion lies between the awful stuff.

            In between the reports of cannibalism, rape, torture, starvation, disorder, and disobedience, we see that Mormon is still hard at work.

--He’s preaching to the people, trying different approaches—sharpness or gentleness—and noting whether it works or not.

--He’s determined to keep trying to preach, for his own spiritual benefit, even if his listeners don’t accept it.

--He’s determined to conquer Satan in his own life, even if others are not.

--He maintains his faith in God’s justice and anticipates God will judge his people.

--He seems to have wanted to relieve those starving in Sherrizah, even if circumstance and his people were against him doing that.

--He prays for Moroni (actually this was in Moroni 8)

--He trusts in Christ that Moroni will be saved to either witness Nephite repentance or their complete destruction.

--He trusts he will be spared long enough to pass sacred records to Moroni.

--He is still engaged in the work of record-making and record-keeping.

--He exhorts his son to be faithful in Christ and remember the resurrection and Christ’s mercy and long-suffering forever.

--He anticipates the day when all things will be subject to Christ (even if few seem subject at that time)

--He recognizes that the things he’s written could weigh Moroni down, but he exhorts him to be lifted by Christ.

In all of this, we see a righteous man doing his best to use his good influence on those around him, anxiously engaged in good causes, attempting to show charity, expressing faith in Christ, expressing hope for a glorious future (though stuck in a dismal and decadent present), exhibiting long-suffering among the evil around him, keeping a perspective of justice in noting that his people are worse than the Lamanites, and so forth.

He’s a great example of a good person who maintains his integrity in awfully wicked conditions. This is probably what Moroni wanted us to see. His example shows us it is possible.

Personal News Item: I've been working like crazy on a commentary on the Book of Revelation, so that is my next big project to come down the pipe.  This will take some of the blog posts I've done and add to them. My thinking has evolved a lot, so not all the posts I've put up here will be included.  I'm very excited about the things I'm learning and can't wait to share them with you!

Why did Job curse his day?

Job 3 is a pretty startling chapter coming on the heels of Job 2 in which we read of Job refusing to curse God. In Job 2 Job notes that we can receive both good and evil from God.  He shows great patience there. But then Job 3 is jarring because Job curses roundly the day he was born and the day he was conceived.

Let the day perish wherein I was born, and the night in which it was said, There is a man child conceived. (v3)

9 Let the stars of the twilight thereof be dark; let it look for light, but have none; neither let it see the dawning of the day:

10 Because it shut not up the doors of my mother’s womb, nor hid sorrow from mine eyes.

11 Why died I not from the womb? why did I not give up the ghost when I came out of the belly?

12 Why did the knees prevent me? or why the breasts that I should suck?

13 For now should I have lain still and been quiet, I should have slept: then had I been at rest, (Job 3:9-13)

This utter spite for his own life is so startling that it makes us think that Job wasn’t as faithful as he seemed at first. We wonder why he could not continue as he began.

However, I somehow realized that this lament and cursing his birthday and conception was actually not an indication of crumbling integrity, but instead was his coming to the conclusion that he really had done the best he possibly could by repenting carefully.

I think he thought through his life and wondered how he could have done anything better in order to avoid what he was going through, and he realized he could not have improved on what he’d done. His sins were repented of, his good works were of the best quality. The only way he could have avoided the pain and loss he’d gone through was if he had died at birth. He continued as spiritually clean as he had been at birth, so to his mind it would have been better and saved more trouble if he had died at birth.

I hope that if I ever come to that same point of suffering that Job was at that I can have the same confidence, realizing I wouldn’t change a thing.   In the meantime, I can try to live each day such that I don’t regret anything, by sticking with my highest priorities, showing kindness, and by repenting of any sins I may have committed.

More on Jepthah

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As I’ve studied Jepthah’s life in Judges 11, I’ve started to see that his character is really amazingly good, considering he is the son of a harlot.  He exhibits excellent qualities that, if he had any other parentage, would make us think he had really good parents who taught him well.

--Even though his half brothers kick him out and won’t allow him to inherit, he doesn’t seek revenge.  He goes elsewhere to live.

--When the elders of Gilead appeal to him for help, rather than refuse, he forgives them and helps them.

--He agrees to rule over the people who previously cast him out, and he protects them.

--He parleys with the enemy king about why the king is invading and uses not just good judgment, but good religious reasoning. 

--He is anxious enough about securing victory for his people that he makes a vow—the one we generally refer to as “rash”— which actually gives the Lord the freedom to determine the cost of the victory.  This shows a ton of faith. 

--When the cost proves to be sacrificing his only daughter, he says he can’t break his vow.  His integrity is amazing.

--He is also sensitive to his daughter’s request for some extra time.

--He has evidently raised his daughter to be obedient and to keep promises too because she is united with him in the determination that he can’t break his vow.

The little bit about Jepthah’s daughter’s request for two months to bewail her virginity may not make much sense unless we consider that Jepthah, as an illegitimate child, had to be aware of the Law of Moses rule that “A bastard shall not enter into the congregation of the Lord; even to his tenth generation..” (Deut. 23:2).  With such good character, Jepthah would have brought up his daughter to this knowledge that it was absolutely imperative that she stay chaste until marriage so that future generations of their family would be able to enter the congregation of the Lord.  This would have been reinforced over and over, so her sacrifice meant that she had to give up that prospect of being married and having future posterity who could enjoy the full blessings of the house of Israel (which may have been church membership or may have been temple worship).  

Thus, the tradition to mourn the daughter of Jepthah yearly was actually an attempt to reward Jepthah’s daughter posthumously for giving up the chance for posterity who would continue her name; remembering her yearly and in the scriptures ensures she isn’t forgotten for her noble unselfishness.

Jepthah’s story is very similar to Abraham’s test to sacrifice Isaac, but the text makes us think that Jepthah seems to have had to go through with it.  

 If it makes anyone feel any better at all, supposing that he did offer her as a burnt offering, I doubt that he burned her alive.  Probably he did what would be done to any sacrificial animal—cut a vein and let the blood out, and once she was dead, then burn the body.   I’m not saying that would be any easier on Jepthah, I just suspect that it wasn’t the cruel burning her alive that everyone envisions..

On the other hand, the Law of Moses was pretty clear that there was to be no human sacrifice, and Jepthah could have dedicated his daughter to lifelong service at the Tabernacle, which would have fulfilled the vow, much like Samson and Samuel were dedicated to the Lord.

As I wrote in a comment on my previous post, it is fascinating that the text doesn't say exactly what Jepthah did to keep his vow; it just says that he kept it, and now everyone is left to wonder how he kept his vow.   I had a bit of a brainwave about it--maybe that was meant intentionally by the writer to cause people to think that he DID sacrifice her, in order to make it more like a type of Christ.