Ancient Components of The Book of Mormon

Below is a simple list of components of The Book of Mormon that seem better explained as ancient influences rather than modern ones. A theory that does not take the following into account as ancient influences is an incorrect theory.

Forms

• Covenant Renewal Festivals (and Coronation): Hittite, Assyrian, and Akkadian vassal treaties and coronation documents (which weren't discovered until the 1900s) were written in a systematic legal format that wasn't identified until Viktor Korošec formalized it in 1931¹. It wasn't until the 1950s that George Mendenhall pointed out that the book of Deuteronomy uses the same six general covenant renewal rites in common with Hittite treaties.² In The Book of Mormon, King Benjamin (Mosiah 1-6) and the resurrected Jesus Christ (3 Nephi 11-27) use all six elements of the form while Limhi (Mosiah 7-8), King Mosiah (Mosiah 25) employ some elements of the form³. Joseph Smith appears to have perceived Mosiah's coronation by his father King Benjamin as a camp meeting, which adds to the fact that he was unaware of the form at that time (and for the rest of his life for that matter).

• Prophetic Lawsuit: This form, usually called the rîb in Hebrew, was first identified by Hermann Gunkel in 1930 upon closely examining pre-exilic prophetic literature, and its formulation and implications were later refined by Kirsten Nielsen among others⁴. The prophets Jacob, Abinadi, and Samuel the Lamanite employ the prophetic lawsuit form against their audience using the same elements⁵.

• Throne Theophany and Prophetic Commission: Certain prophetic literature such as Isaiah, Ezekiel, and others begin their works with a prophetic commission form which was first identified by Walther Zimmerli in the Book of Ezekiel in 1979 ⁶. 1 Nephi also begins with Lehi praying on behalf of Jerusalem and subsequently receiving a vision of Adonai sitting on his throne following a commission to preach against the city. It includes elements that are found in ancient pseudoepigraphic works translated long after Joseph Smith's lifetime, such as an ascension scene, bed motif, and intercessory prayer. It also methodically leaves out post-exilic motifs such as chariots and exclusively portrays Hebrew heavenly symbolism which rule out dependence on Ezekiel. The form is not used in Joseph Smith's accounts of his first vision and it isn't explained well as a slavish copy of Isaiah, Micah, or Jeremiah ⁷.

• Military Epistolary Form: Hittite-Syrian, Neo-Assyrian, Amarna, Ugaritic, Hebrew, and Aramaic letters (all of which were discovered after Joseph Smith's time) written with the superior correspondant listed first regardless of the sender ⁸. A casual read of the Bible will not reveal the uniform sender-recipient order found in extra-biblical sources so it couldn't have been the basis of the order of the military epistles⁹. Certain letters written between military and political leaders in The Book of Mormon bare striking resemblance to the ones written between garrisons in the ancient Near East¹⁰.

• Oath Formulas: The Book of Mormon occasionally uses oath forms to ratify covenants. Oaths, covenants, and curses as concepts are used interchangeably in the text and they were all connected in the Semitic context during the OT times. They follow similar oath formulas Hittite and ancient Hebrew forms that are not obviously identifiable in the biblical texts. Most generally include (1) a statement of "as X liveth", (2) God seen as the guarantor of the oath, and (3) each party respected the power and seriousness of the oath.

Literary

• Multiple Embedded Narrations: There are many, many embedded narratives and flashbacks in the text of The Book of Mormon. Managing to perfectly cohere these storylines on the fly without any identifiable source material is a cumbersome task.
• Epanalepsis: Occasionally the text includes brief contextual insertions which follow semi-chiastic form. For example, 1 Nephi 1:4 employs one as Nephi attributes a setting to Lehi's story. The use of this literary device is largely absent in Joseph Smith's dictations and writings but it is used dozens of times in The Book of Mormon.
• Internal Prophecies: Over 100 prophecies appear in the Book of Mormon that are fulfilled within the same volume. None of them have loose ends, indicating its complexity and mastery of composition.
• Naming Puns: When figures are named in the text, they are occasionally given a description that plays a pun on their name. For example, Enos's story is a pun on the narrative of Jacob wrestling the angel of the Lord.
• Use of Hebrew Idioms: 1 Nephi 17:47 and Alma 46:19 use awkward phrasing that at first appear to be grammatical errors but they transpose really well on to Heberw.

Internal Landscape

• Consistent Geography: The descriptions of travel, distance, and place locations are incredibly consistent throughout the text. They are so much so that even the elevations and distance of travel are consistently taken into account across the entire narrative.

Onomastics

• Name Spelling: Interestingly enough, there are no names in The Book of Mormon that contain the letters q, w, or x. Hebrew, the base language the authors would have spoken, lacks these letter sounds.
• Proper Names
  • Korihor, Pahoran, Paanchi, and Pacumeni: None of these names appear in the Bible, yet they are authentic names from antiquity that are almost transliterated exactly as they sound in Egyptian.
  • Aha, Ammoniah, Chemish, Himni, Luram: Inscription evidence from the Levant shows that these names, as well as many others in the Book of Mormon, are authentic variations names in Hebrew.
  • Alma as a Male Name: This name is attested for males in both the Bar Kohkba letters and the Ebla tablets.
  • Sariah as a Female Name: Attested as a female name on a 6th-century pottery fragment.
  • Lehi as a Proper Name: Found as the name of a father on an Elephantine papyrus.

Conceptual Nuances

• Geographical Cardinality: The text frequency equates places on the south as being sacred and places in the north as profane. The names of places like the Land of Desolation being in the north and Bountiful in the south reflect a recognition of this paradigm.
• Past as Forward and Future as Behind: Alma 13:1 invites the reader to think "forward" to a past time just like the ancient Hebrews. This conception of time was not noted in Hebrew grammars in Joseph Smith's day. Further, Joseph didn't embark on a serious study of Hebrew until years after The Book of Mormon was published.
• Fifth Commandment of the Decalogue: In Jacob's giving of the commandments to his people, he accurately understands the legal nuance of the Sinaitic command as a statute to not kill unlawfully.
• Distinction Between Thieves and Robbers: Robbers and thieves are routinely differentiated and addressed differently, even though contemporary sources of Joseph Smith (including the KJV) viewed them as being synonymous. The text accurately understands that a robber is a foreign plunderer who is to be killed without due process; a thief is a domestic one who was subject to adjudication from the community according to the law.

Miscellaneous

• Sacrifice Distance outside of Jerusalem: Lehi and his family offer sacrifices to the God of Israel at a three-day's journey away, seemingly in violation of Deuteronomy 12. Intriguingly, this distance is the exact distance that the Temple Scroll prescribes as an acceptable one in 11QT 52:13–16.

Note that this article is a work in progress. Sources forthcoming.