Gazelem, Hidden Manna, and a White Stone

Book of Mormon Notes - Saturday, October 7, 2023, Alma 37 (continued)

Gazelem? What is the deal with him?

Do you remember the Saturday Night Live episode when Jerry Seinfield hosted the game show “Stand Up and Win?” It may be one of the funniest Saturday Night Live skits of all time, and the final question - like the final Jeopardy question - for the comedians was “Oprah - What is with her?”

So, that’s what I’m asking: Gazelem - what is with him?

There are so many possible answers to this questions besides the answer that Adam Sandler gave to every question: “Who are the ad wizards who came up with this one?” This is how I currently read the Gazelem verse:

Alma the Younger is instructing his son Helaman specifically about the Jaredite record that is engraved on the 24 plates of gold or ore. (“Oro” in Italian means “gold,” so I wonder if they are basically two different words in reformed Egyptian that basically describe the same thing - although “ore” I believe is mentioned elsewhere in the Book of Mormon - remember the metallurgist Nephi). Because Alma speaks and writes specifically of the Jaredite record at this point when he introduces the Lord’s prophesy about Gazelem, and because Alma was speaking and writing specifically about the Jaredite civilization, it seems to me that the Lord may have been speaking specifically about a prophet among the Jaredites, most likely Ether:

And the Lord said: I will prepare unto my servant Gazelem, a ^astone, which shall shine forth in darkness unto light, that I may ^bdiscover unto my people who serve me, that I may discover unto them the works of their brethren, yea, their secret works, their works of darkness, and their wickedness and abominations. (Alma 37:23)

Where did the Lord say this? Remember that Alma the Younger and Helaman not only had access to the full record of Ether, or the 24 gold plates of the Jaredites in their entirety, they also had access to King Mosiah’s full translation. The record from which Alma the Younger most likely drew his teachings to his son Helaman was King Mosiah’s translation of the same Jaredite records in question. But Alma the Younger also had custody of the interpreters and may have been able to read directly from the gold plates, as King Mosiah had done, and just as Ether - and whichever other prophets wrote - had written them in the original Jaredite language - which, if I’m not mistaken, must have been something much closer to the Adamic tongue since the Brother of Jared prayed so earnestly that their language - unlike the language of everyone else at the Tower of Babel - would not be confounded. Talk about a pure language, written on pure gold! But the language probably transformed to some extent between the time of the Brother of Jared and the time of Ether…

But to get back to my main point here, since Alma the Younger was quoting the Lord in connection to an explanation of the account of the Jaredites, it makes sense to me that when the Lord promised to prepare unto his “servant Gazelem, a ^astone, which shall shine forth in darkness unto light,” the Lord may have been speaking about a prophet among the Jaredites, most likely Ether. But of course the Lord may have been speaking about a future servant, such as King Mosiah. Actually, now that I write this, the King Mosiah option makes a lot of sense to me because the Lord prepared interpreters for King Mosiah so that he could translate the Jaredite record. That future servant may have been Ether, or King Mosiah, or Alma the Younger, or Helaman, or even Joseph Smith. A lot of ink has already been spilt on the topic of the identity of Gazelem, and some of that ink confirms that I am not the first to think of him as perhaps a Jaredite seer.

Another reading is that the word “Gazelem” itself refers to the stone, and that the original translation meant that the Lord would prepare unto his servant (whether a Jaredite seer, Ether, Mosiah, Alma, Helaman, Joseph Smith, or another or each one of them) “Gazelem” - or in other words - a stone… or stones. The “em” ending makes the word look like the plural of something, and I’m sure that Hugh Nibley and many others - like the authors of this Book of Mormon Central article - have speculated concerning the meaning of “Gazelem” - whether as the name of the servant or as the name of the sacred, revelatory object or objects:

While Gazelem is perhaps the name of the individual using the stone prepared by God, the issue is far from settled. Royal Skousen has traced Mormon interpretations of this passage to the lifetime of Joseph Smith himself, where both the Prophet Joseph Smith and the stone were variously identified as Gazelem.3

Joseph Smith would easily fit the identity of Gazelem. As several historians and scholars have discussed, Joseph used both the Nephite Interpreters (later called the “Urim and Thummim”) that were discovered with the plates and his individual seer stone in the translation of the Book of Mormon.4 Even some General Authorities have written on this topic,5 and future work that is sure to illuminate this subject is forthcoming.6

But like Isaiah’s prophesies, when the Lord prophesies of something it can also easily contain multiple meanings and fulfillments.

And since we know that the Book of Mormon was prepared intentionally and specifically for the latter-days and as the instrument of the latter-day gathering of Israel, we can read these verses with our own present situation in mind:

For behold, the Lord saw that his people began to work in darkness, yea, work secret murders and abominations; therefore the Lord said, if they did not repent they should be destroyed from off the face of the earth.

And the Lord said: I will prepare unto my servant Gazelem, a ^astone, which shall shine forth in darkness unto light, that I may ^bdiscover unto my people who serve me, that I may discover unto them the works of their brethren, yea, their secret works, their works of darkness, and their wickedness and abominations. (Alma 37:22-23)

The Lord sees that His people have begun to work in darkness, including secret murders and abominations, and the same warning that the Lord gave to the Jaredites applies to us now, namely that if we do not repent we will be destroyed from off the face of the earth. The Lord prepared unto His servant Joseph Smith a stone that shone forth in darkness unto light, and that Lord discovered unto His people who serve Him - through the Book of Mormon that Joseph Smith translated by the gift and power of God - the works of our brethren the Jaredites and the Nephites (and the Lamanites), including their works of darkness, and their wickedness and abominations. And certainly the Lord discovers to His latter-day prophets, seers, and revelators - whether by a stone or the interpreters or other means - the works of our brethren today.

As I wonder about Gazelem, a stone, the interpreters, the Liahona, and any marvelous work of the Lord or sacred object that the Lord prepared for His purposes I am reminded that eventually everyone who overcomes the world and enters into the Celestial Kingdom of God will receive a white stone, a sacred instrument for revelation and instruction in higher things:

He that hath an ear, let him hear what the Spirit saith unto the churches; To him that overcometh will I give to eat of the hidden manna, and will give him a white stone, and in the stone a new name written, which no man knoweth saving he that receiveth it. (Revelation 2:17)

And I am reminded that as wonderful and as mysterious and as amazing as such a white stone will be, and as carefully as we will use such a stone, we might consider even a great pile of such marvelous stones as a mere pile of gravel in comparison to the joy and the peace of dwelling in God’s presence with those whom we love:

When the Savior shall ^aappear we shall see him as he is. We shall see that he is a ^bman like ourselves.

And that same ^asociality which exists among us here will exist among us there, only it will be coupled with ^beternal glory, which glory we do not now enjoy.

John 14:23—The ^aappearing of the Father and the Son, in that verse, is a personal ^bappearance; and the idea that the Father and the Son ^cdwell in a man’s heart is an old sectarian notion, and is false.

In answer to the question—Is not the reckoning of God’s ^atime, angel’s time, prophet’s time, and man’s time, according to the planet on which they reside?

I answer, Yes. But there are no ^aangels who ^bminister to this earth but those who do belong or have belonged to it.

The angels do not reside on a planet like this earth;

But ^athey reside in the ^bpresence of God, on a globe ^clike a ^dsea of glass and ^efire, where all things for their glory are manifest, past, present, and future, and are continually before the Lord.

The place where God resides is a great ^aUrim and Thummim.

This ^aearth, in its ^bsanctified and ^cimmortal state, will be made like unto ^dcrystal and will be a Urim and Thummim to the inhabitants who dwell thereon, whereby all things pertaining to an inferior kingdom, or all kingdoms of a lower order, will be manifest to those who dwell on it; and this earth will be ^eChrist’s.

Then the white ^astone mentioned in Revelation 2:17, will become a Urim and Thummim to each individual who receives one, whereby things pertaining to a ^bhigher order of kingdoms will be made known;

And a ^awhite stone is given to each of those who come into the celestial kingdom, whereon is a new ^bname written, which no man knoweth save he that receiveth it. The new name is the key word. (D&C 130:1-11)

And yet, won’t it also be great to learn of things that pertain to a higher order of kingdoms? And yet again, isn’t that exactly what we do when we study the scriptures - many of which scriptures have been revealed unto us through the means of Urim and Thummim or a stone that the Lord prepared - and whenever we think celestial?

It seems that Alma the Younger interprets the Lord’s prophesy concerning Gazelem and the stone as pertaining to the interpreters, which were a fulfillment of the words of the Lord that Alma the Younger also recorded and taught to his son:

And now, my son, these ^ainterpreters were prepared that the word of God might be fulfilled, which he spake, saying:

I will ^abring forth out of darkness unto light all their secret works and their abominations; and except they repent I will ^bdestroy them from off the face of the earth; and I will bring to light all their secrets and abominations, unto every nation that shall hereafter possess the land. (Alma 37:24-25)

Ah… perhaps Gazelem is the Brother of Jared. After all, the Lord prepared interpreters for the Brother of Jared, and as we will soon read, the Brother of Jared knew all about stones that shine in darkness and give light.

Whatever the case, one of the main lessons is that in spite of the Lord’s warnings, the Jaredites did not repent, and they were destroyed:

And now, my son, we see that they did not repent; therefore they have been destroyed, and thus far the word of God has been fulfilled; yea, their ^asecret abominations have been brought out of darkness and made known unto us. (Alma 37:26)

Alma the Younger and his son Helaman had direct knowledge of all of the secret and evil works of the Jaredites, and their earnest desire was to prevent the Nephites from the same kind of destruction that came upon the Jaredites. But Mormon didn’t include all of these direct quotations, from Alma the Younger and the Lord, just for his son Moroni’s benefit. Mormon’s earnest desire was to warn to prevent us, the modern inhabitants of the same Promised Land - and all other countries and peoples who are directly influenced by the works in the Promised Land - from the same kind of destruction that came first upon the Jaredites, and then upon the Nephites. The witness of two nations testifies of Christ and warns about the consequences of pride and succumbing to secret combinations.

Thus, instead of Alma the Younger urging his son to reveal everything about the secret combinations of the Jaredites or even of the Nephites, he urged his son to do that which would most help their people and preserve them from destruction, that is, to teach them the Gospel of Jesus Christ:

^aPreach unto them repentance, and faith on the Lord Jesus Christ; teach them to humble themselves and to be ^bmeek and lowly in heart; teach them to ^cwithstand every ^dtemptation of the devil, with their faith on the Lord Jesus Christ.

Teach them to never be weary of good works, but to be meek and lowly in heart; for such shall find ^arest to their souls. (Alma 37:33-34)

And I haven’t even arrived at the rest of Alma the Younger’s teachings to his son Helaman about another fascinating and sacred object… the Liahona. There is just so much in every verse and every chapter of the Book of Mormon. We are barely scratching the surface.