As a more-or-less
modem work of revealed scripture, the Book of Mormon contrasts with the
Bible, which has come to us through a long process
of redaction, during which it has not remained untouched by human hands.
Revealed scripture has the obvious advantage that it does not require the
kind of interpretive textual or linguistic analysis that is part of the
enormous body of Biblical scholarship. Because that body of textual analysis
is especially well-developed in the Jewish study of what we call the Old
Testament, I have chosen to refer to an item of textual analysis as a "midrash"1
The need for midrashim arose partly because Hebrew, the original language
of the Old Testament, has been a foreign language to most readers of the
Bible, so there is much room for misunderstanding based simply on language
differences (including changes through time). This is as opposed to other
types of interpretation, such as didactic commentary. One would think that
because the "original" language of the Book of Mormon is, if not strictly
speaking modern idiomatic English, at least readily understandable English,
the need for midrashim would arise only rarely.
And this is true, but I believe there is at least once verse in the Book
of Mormon which could benefit by some rather basic linguistic analysis
in the best midrash tradition. That verse
is, in fact, the very first verse of the Book of Mormon:
"I,
Nephi, having been born of goodly parents, therefore I was taught somewhat
in all the learning of my father; and having seen . . ." [I Nephi 1:1]
Some years ago, while a university student,
I was attending a Sacrament meeting at a university ward on Mother's Day.A
young lady-was giving a talk which was meant to eulogize her parents, and
she started her talk with the words, "Like Nephi, I, too, was born of goodly
parents." She went on to list some of the good character traits her parents
had. This interpretation of the word "goodly" seems well-nigh universal
in the Church, in my experience. There is, however, another possible interpretation
- not one which necessarily contradicts the usual meaning, but which enhances
the usual meaning (this is in keeping with the spirit of midrash,
by the way, which is not to dispute semantics, but to explore the breadth
of meaning possible in the words of a scripture).
According to the OED,2
"goodly" does not mean "good" at all, but rather "notable or considerable
in respect of size, quantity, or number" (this is the 2nd meaning given;
the first is "of good appearance; well-favoured or proportioned; comely,
fair or handsome." It lists a number of references, at least one of which
would have been readily available to Joseph Smith - namely, Coleridge's
"The Ancient Mariner": "To walk together to the kirk
/ With a goodly company." That this meaning
was well-known throughout the 19th century is shown by the reference to
Dickens (The Mystery of Edwin Drood):
"One of the two men locks the door with a goodly key."
The sentence, "I, Nephi, having been born
of goodly parents, therefore I was taught somewhat in all the learning
of my father; . . ." consists of two clauses, connected with the adverb,
"therefore" (emphasized above), which means, "for that reason, consequently,
accordingly."In other words, because
of precondition A (having been born of goodly parents), consequence
B followed (being taught in the learning of his father). The consequence
is directly dependent upon the precondition. While a good character on
the part of one's parents might well have been a necessary condition for
the son to receive a good education, it would not have been a sufficient
condition, especially not in ancient times when being instructed in "all
the learning of my father" could well have required some outlay of material
resources (much like today, come to think of it!)
I have managed to find one reference which
comes very close to this interpretation, although itcould
be more explicit. In
An Approach to the Book
of Mormon, Nibley says,
The
opening verse of the Book of Mormon explains the expression 'goodly parents'
not so much in a moral sense as in a social one: Nephi tells us he came
of a good family and 'therefore' received a good traditional education…3
This is in a section where Nibley is laying
out the role of Lehi as a wealthy merchant, a person of position and importance.
However, as close as Nibley comes to making the connection with the meaning
I have given, he still uses the word "goodly" as a synonym of "good", not
as a completely different word with a different meaning. Perhaps this was
a didactic simplification, but that is only speculation.
Thus both the semantical structure of the sentence as well as the actual original (early 19th century) meaning of the word "goodly" - a meaning which has come to be archaic, if not obsolete, today - lead us to conclude that Nephi was not so much eulogizing the character of his parents, like the young lady of my acquaintance, but was introducing his socio-economic background to the reader. The theological ramifications of this I will leave to others to ponder upon, but I would like to emphasize again that, in the spirit of midrash, this interpretation, which I believe personally to be the correct one, does not necessarily contradict or preclude the widely- accepted interpretation. Good scriptures are goodly enough in their scope to contain multiple meanings, which do not contradict each other, but enhance each other.
1. Specifically,
paraphrase
Midrash. As stated in Neusner, Jacob. What
is Midrash? Fortress Press, Philadelphia, 1986: "In paraphrase
[Midrash] the exegete of the Hebrew Scriptures will state in other words
the self-evident and ordinary sense of the Hebrew. .
• . the line between the simple sense and
interpretation is not infrequently crossed." (p.1)
2.
3. Nibley,
Hugh. An Approach to the Book of Mormon
(The Collected Works of Hugh Nibley: Volume
6).3rd ed., Deseret/FARMS, Salt Lake City &
Provo, 1988.P. 47.