Evidence Sixty-Nine: Joseph Smith’s Snowflake in a Blizzard–D&C 35:14

101 Reasons Why I Believe Joseph Smith was a Prophet of God

Evidence Sixty-Nine:

Joseph Smith’s Snowflake in a Blizzard–D&C 35:14.© 

Updated: 27 January 2023

Some readers may not find today’s “evidence” overly compelling, but for me it fits into a larger pattern in the life and work of Joseph Smith that taken collectively is huge. This is like a snowflake in a blizzard–and the blizzard is the important issue. It is one we should attend to.  It is one that will continue to grow.  The blizzard is ongoing.

This has to do with an almost obscure passage–Doctrine and Covenants 35:14–and a specific phrase in the verse. For context and to make the point more clearly I quote a bit more of the passage beginning with verse 12 running through verse 14. I have italicized the phrase in the verse which is the subject of the discussion to follow.

12) And there are none that doeth good except those who are ready to receive the fulness of my gospel, which I have sent forth unto this generation. 13) Wherefore, I call upon the weak things of the world, those who are unlearned and despised, to thrash the nations by the power of my Spirit; 14) And their arm shall be my arm, and I will be their shield and their buckler; and I will gird up their loins, and they shall fight manfully for me; and their enemies shall be under their feet; and I will let fall the sword in their behalf, and by the fire of mine indignation will I preserve them.

According to this passage (and others in the Doctrine and Covenants) the spiritual condition of the world at the time of this revelation (December 1830) is poor.  So, in the Restoration the Lord calls upon the weak, unlearned, and despised, to “thrash the nations by the power of my Spirit.” These agents of the Lord, though not recognized as anything special have a special power by which they do their work–”the power of my Spirit.” Chief among these weak, unlearned, and despised, is Joseph Smith, God’s prophet.

Joseph Smith and others will have the arm of the Lord to be their arm. This is a metaphor teaching us that the strength of these servants will be the strength of the Lord. In addition, “I will be their shield and buckler.” The word buckler appears twelve times in the standard works; eleven of them are in the Old Testament and one is in D&C 35:14. That of itself is interesting and leads to the question why is it in the D&C.

There are three Hebrew words in the Old Testament from which we get the word buckler as a translation. A “buckler” is a small round shield. Among the dozen usages in the scriptures, half of them refer to the Lord as a buckler: 2 Sam. 22:31; Ps. 18:2, 30; 91:4; Prov. 2:7 and D&C 35:14.  The remainder, except one, refer to human beings wielding a buckler.  (1 Chr. 5:18; 12:8; Prov. 2:7; Jer. 46:3; Ezek. 23:24; and 26:8.) The exception is Ps. 35:2 which is a prayer for the Lord to take up shield and buckler.  

One other fact should be noted. Nearly half (5) of these references refer to both shield and buckler. One may wonder if this is not redundant. Probably not. It is likely this phrase is speaking of two different kinds of shields–large and small, and sometimes the buckler may refer, because of its association with the concept round, to something that surrounds one as a protection, such as a wall. In any case some from of this phrase is used four times in the Old Testament: Ps. 35:2; 91:4; Jer. 46:3; and Ezek. 23:24. And it is also in D&C 35:14.  

With this background lets explore D&C 35:14 by asking some questions about it.  My first thought was, “Did Joseph Smith know what a buckler was?” And my first answer was probably no, but upon further reflection I suspect it was likely a much more common term in his day than it is in ours. So it may not be unlikely that he would use such a term. 

A more serious issue is how is the phrase used conceptually when compared to the Old Testament.  In D&C 35:14 the metaphor regards strength and protection given to the Lord’s servants as they inaugurate the Restoration of the Gospel.  “And their arm shall be my arm and I will be their shield and their buckler....” This is totally consistent with its usage in the Old Testament.  Ps. 18:30 says, “As for God, his way is perfect: the word of the Lord is tried: he is a buckler to all those that trust in him.”  And Ps. 91:4: “He shall cover thee with his feathers, and under his wings shalt thou trust: his truth shall be thy shield and buckler.”

Here I confess a personal weakness–serious ignorance–compared to the Prophet Joseph.  I did not know what a buckler was until this week when I studied the issue with some friends. Or, if I once knew it, I long since forgot it. Yet Joseph Smith was only twenty-five years old when he penned D&C 35. Now it may be as I said earlier, that this terminology was more prevalent in his day than ours, and perhaps more familiar to him. But, I find it fascinating that this meaningful metaphor that is relatively obscure in the Old Testament, surfaces in the Doctrine Covenants in the correct context and with a meaning consistent with those few times it appears in relationship to God in the Old Testament. I suppose that one could say that either the concept was so prevalent that it was natural for him to use it, or he was expert in plagiarizing the Bible. Many critics are satisfied with either option. But it seems to me there is a third option and that is that the revelation was written under the influence of the power of the Spirit as the Lord promised in D&C 35.

Like I said earlier, this argument may be about a snowflake in a blizzard, but there is literally a blizzard of such examples. As one example, within the last decade a scholar at BYU has discovered that, not counting the “Sermon on the Mount” in 3 Nephi 12-14, there are as many as 600 other quotations of New Testament usage, large and small, interwoven in the text of the Book of Mormon.(1) That may trouble some, but there are good and sufficient reasons why this may be the case. Defending that issue, however, is not my purpose here. Taking a more positive approach, I maintain that this large number constitutes metaphorically a blizzard of examples of the exact thing we see in D&C 35:14, and in my mind can only be explained in one of two ways. Either Joseph Smith was a genius with the capacity and skills to remember such Biblical phrases and weave them into the narratives he produced, or he was translating by inspiration and receiving revelations in the same way.  I further confess that I find the genius hypothesis inadequate given Joseph Smith's age, the brief length of time it took to produce the Book of Mormon, and in a single draft.  I am making one more argument to add to many others of like kind, to the amazing complexity of the Book of Mormon. 

The blizzard is even more intense inside the Doctrine and Covenants itself, than in the Book of Mormon. Ongoing studies show that allusions to the KJV Bible in the Doctrine and Covenants are very high. In 1951 Ellis Rasmussen studied the subject relative to the revelations in the original Book of Commandments, just over 60. He found a median of 1.3 KJV parallels per verse in the Book of Commandments.(2)  In 1971 a follow-up study of sections 65 to 133 produced similar results with a median of 1.33 parallels and allusions per verse!(3) Erick Hunstman, commenting on these findings said, 

"In other words, for every two verses of the revelations, there are almost three phrases that closely parallel King James phrases. These parallels and echoes would not be apparent if they were not rendered in King James idiom, supporting one major argument for continuing to use the King James Bible in the Church today.  ... Indeed, ... a somewhat uniform idiom woven throughout the standard works helps realize the Savior's injunction that we should expound, and hence see, all the scriptures in one (3 Nephi 23:14)."(4) 

Moreover, Rasmussen found that these allusions and echoes were predominantly from the New Testament, but the Old Testament was not neglected. There are frequent allusions to Psalms, Genesis, Numbers, Exodus, and Jeremiah. "Disproportionate to their length are the number of references to Ezekiel, Daniel, Joel, Zechariah, and Malachi."(5) In addition to the extent of the quotations, allusions, and echoes, we add the fact that Rasmussen notes that only three passages were repeated with any frequency in the Book of Commandments!(6)

My prediction is that given time, ongoing study of the three books of scripture Joseph Smith produced, we will continue to uncover similar things and find them to be equally complex productions, thus the blizzard willl grow.

My personal opinion is that Joseph Smith was a religious and spiritual genius, but that does not account for the power that accompanies the scriptures he produced. The power which is “sharper than a two edged sword.” The power expressed in the metaphor, “the arm of the Lord.” The power of truth. The power of conversion and motivation to right living. That cannot be manufactured on call. It cannot be summoned up out of man’s brain alone. It comes, as D&C 35:14 says, through the Spirit.

Thank God for the Prophet Joseph and the power of a snowflake.

Lets think together again, soon.

Notes:  

1.  Nicholas J. Frederick, “The Book of Mormon and Its Redaction of the King James New Testament: A Further Evaluation of the Interaction between the New Testament and the Book of Mormon,” Journal of Book of Mormon Studies, 27 (2018): 44–87. See also a video of an earlier presentation on the same issue,  Nick Frederick, “‘Full of grace, mercy, and truth’: Exploring the Complexities of the Presence of the New Testament within the Book of Mormon,” The Interpreter Foundation/BYU Studies, 2015, at:https://archive.bookofmormoncentral.org/content/%E2%80%9Cfull-grace-mercy-and-truth%E2%80%9D-exploring-complexities-presence-new-testament-within-book

2.  Ellis T. Rasmussen, "Textual Parallels to the Doctrine and Covenants and Book of Commandments as Found in the Bible," master's thesis, Brigham Young University, 1951, 5.

3.  Lois Jean Smutz, "Textual Parallels to the Doctrine and Covenants (Sections 65-133) as Found in the Bible," master's thesis, Brigham Young University, 1971, 194.

4.  Erick D. Huntsman, "The King James Bible and the Doctrine and Covenants," in The King James Bible and the Restoration, edited by Kent. P. Jackson, 187.  Religious Studies Center, Brigham Young University, 2011.  See also these important studies on the same subject: D. Kelly Ogden, “Biblical Language and Imagery in the Doctrine and Covenants,” in Doctrine and Covenants: A Book of Answers, edited by Leon R. Hartshorn, Dennis A. Wright, and Craig J. Ostler, 169-87.  The 25th Sidney B. Sperry Symposium.  Salt Lake City: Deseret Book, 1996; and Lisa Olsen Tait, “Gathering the Lord’s Words into One: Biblical Intertextuality in the Doctrine and Covenants,” in You Shall Have My Word: Exploring the Text of the Doctrine and Covenants, edited by Scott C. Esplin, Richard D. Cowan, and Rachel Cope, 92-107. The 41st Sidney B. Sperry Symposium. Salt Lake City: Deseret Book, 2012.

5.  Huntsman, "The King James Bible...," 187-88.

6.  Huntsman, "The King James Bible...," 188.