Sorry, I cannot resist: another Bokovoy nugget

[_Sethbag]

He's at Brandeis now, but he was at BYU previously.

And yes, with the picture of Moses standing on a rock in "The Ten Commandments" holding his arms out and the waters of the Red Sea parted, stuck in everyone's mind old enough to have seen that movie (it used to come on every year and I watched it many times), how the idea of Moses commanding the waters, and the waters obeying him, comes across to David as a novel and non-obvious thought that Joseph Smith could only have had through inspiration or revelation from God, I simply cannot fathom. It's only probably the the first miracle attributed to Moses that would come to most peoples' minds if you asked them.

[_Chap]

He's at Brandeis now, but he was at BYU previously.

And yes, with the picture of Moses standing on a rock in "The Ten Commandments" holding his arms out and the waters of the Red Sea parted, stuck in everyone's mind old enough to have seen that movie (it used to come on every year and I watched it many times), how the idea of Moses commanding the waters, and the waters obeying him, comes across to David as a novel and non-obvious thought that Joseph Smith could only have had through inspiration or revelation from God, I simply cannot fathom. It's only probably the the first miracle attributed to Moses that would come to most peoples' minds if you asked them.

Well, I wouldn't want to come right out and admit publicly that Joseph Smith was thinking of Charlton Heston when he made that bit up ... but perhaps he was given a prophetic preview in the multiplex under the hill Cumorah.

[_Sethbag]

Well, it's also in Exodus. :-)

[_dartagnan]

The connection presented in the JST between Moses and his commission to control the waters formed an important part of the development of the biblical account.

What connection? Obvious and expected similarities are now “connections” that are “important” in the Bible’s development! Good grief this guy has an imagination, surpassed only by his eagerness to prove Smith’s texts retain “evidences” of divine origin.

Of course as we’ve discussed previously here on the board, Moses’ name is given an additional significance in the JST, which works well with ancient Near Eastern traditions.

What additional significance? It works well with ANE traditions? This has Nibleyism written all over it. One could drudge up all sorts of things from just about any book that wouldn’t necessarily contradict ANE traditions, but that doesn’t mean they represent valid parallels and that the author is being fed divine revelation.

According to Joseph Smith's inspired revision of Genesis, God revealed to Joseph of Egypt that he would raise up a seer named Moses to deliver Israel from Egyptian bondage:

“For a seer will I raise up to deliver my people out of the land of Egypt; and he shall be called Moses. And by this name he shall know that he is of thy house; for he shall be nursed by the king’s daughter, and shall be called her son” (JST Genesis 50:29).

Bokovoy asserts:

At first reading, the statement "by this name [Moses] shall know that he is of thy house [i.e. Israel]," might seem problematic. In reality, however, I believe that given the evidence, the idea presented in the JST makes perfect sense.

Ok, so what evidence? Why is it problematic? Because it doesn’t necessarily “connect” with what Bokovoy pulls from ANE scholarship? He doesn’t say exactly. Once a second of doubt is manifest, he derails onto an irrelevant 250 word discourse about how some scholars suspect Moses actually derives from an old verb that means “to be born.” This doesn’t demonstrate a parallel with the JST verse. Even the loosest of interpretations wouldn’t make this leap.

Ultimately, Bokovoy is doing what he always does. He overwhelms his readers with meaningless commentary and citations while hinting at subtle “hits” with allusive, roundabout guesswork, as he aims to portray it all as scholarship when in fact it is apologetic sophistry.

The fact is the “know you by your name” lingo is quite common in Joseph Smith’s “revelations.” Were all of these instances hitting on some ANE tradition, which, to be honest, Bokovoy never demonstrates exists to begin with?

Check out Moses 5:9,12, 14 for a more striking “parallel.”

And it shall come to pass that whosoever doeth this shall be found at the right hand of God, for he shall know the name by which he is called; for he shall be called by the name of Christ…. I say unto you, I would that ye should remember to aretain the name written always in your hearts, that ye are not found on the left hand of God, but that ye hear and know the voice by which ye shall be called, and also, the name by which he shall call you…And again, doth a man take an ass which belongeth to his neighbor, and keep him? I say unto you, Nay; he will not even suffer that he shall feed among his flocks, but will drive him away, and cast him out. I say unto you, that even so shall it be among you if ye know not the name by which ye are called.