Evidence Seventy-Six: The Book of Mormon and the Israelite Tradition of Blessing God After a Meal©

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

Evidence Seventy-Six:  

The Book of Mormon and the Israelite Tradition of Blessing God After a Meal© 

There is an interesting Israelite and Jewish tradition of blessing the Lord and others after eating a meal.  Deuteronomy 8:10 instructs the Children of Israel, “When thou hast eaten and art full, then thou shall bless the Lord thy God for the good land which he hath given thee.” The issue is the Lord does not want Israel to forget the source of their blessings as is stated in Deuteronomy 6:10-12. In verses 10 and 11 the Lord says he is going to give the Israelites a land full of good things which they did not produce and concludes with the injunction “when thou shalt have eaten and be full; then beware lest thou forget the Lord, which brought thee” from Egyptian bondage. A similar sentiment, phrased in the negative is found in Deuteronomy 31:20 where Israel is describe as having eaten, were filled, and “waxen fat,” but then “turn to other gods, and serve them.”  

David Bokovoy and John Tvedenes tell us that all of this later became a Jewish practice of reciting a series of blessings after a meal is known as the birkat ha-mazon, four blessings after eating bread or other blessings on other foods.(1)The same kind of observance is found in a poem in the Dead Sea Scroll collection of poems in a Qumran hymnal designated by Theodore Gaster as an “Invitation to Grace After Meals.”(2) It is also noted in several passages of the mystical tradition of the Zohar.(3)  Bokovoy and Tvedtness tell us all of this tradition of blessing after meals relates to the account in the Old Testament when Esau sells his birthright. Isaac prepares to bless Esau but it can only be offered after Esau fills Isaac’s request for him to prepare his favorite savory dish. “[M]ake me savoury meat, such as I love, and bring it to me, that I may eat; that my soul may bless thee before I die.” (Gen. 27:4: compare the same sequence in Rebekah’s instructions to Esau in Gen. 27:7.) Jack Welch tells us even the early Christian document Didache, stipulated prayer “after being filled” during communion.(4)

So, it is extremely interesting against this Jewish/early Christian background, to learn that at least two passages in the Book of Mormon contain the same ancient idea! This Israelite tradition of offering a blessing or giving a blessing after meals is found in Alma 8:22, which reads:

And it came to pass that Alma ate bread and was filled; and he blessed Amulek and his house, and he gave thanks unto God. (Emphasis mine.)

Tough it is not an exact match with the provision of Deuteronomy 8:10 to bless the Lord for the good of the land; as Bokovoy and Tvedtness note, “the context of Deuteronomy 8:10 is gratitude to God....”(5) I would add that it is an argument of silence to say Alma did not bless God for the good of the land. We do not know what he said in that prayer of thanks, but obviously Alma, in a spirit of gratitude, remembers the source of his blessings as he blesses Amulek and expresses “thanks unto God.” Subtle though this passage is, so subtle, in fact, it is easy to pass over the sequential implications of it, one must ask how Joseph Smith continues to come up with these “zingers” which reflect ancient customs, of which he was likely unaware, as often as he does?

Another account is as equally likely to be passed by without notice. 3 Nephi 18:8-18 recounts Jesus giving the sacrament of bread and wine to the Nephites “and they were filled” (3 Ne. 18:9.) In 3 Nephi 20:9 a similar thing happens again with a twist.  

Now, when the multitude had all eaten and drunk, behold, they were filled with the Spirit; and they did cry out with one voice, and gave glory to Jesus, whom they both saw and heard.

It really wouldn’t be right, if Hugh Nibley didn’t weigh in on this subject. In an essay, “Christ Among the Ruins,” he shows parallels between the Coptic document the Gospel of the Twelve Apostles and the Book of Mormon. Parallel to 3 Nephi 20:9, he finds the following in the Gospel of the Twelve Apostles:

And straightway his word came to pass in exousia [authority, as requested].  His blessing fell upon [shope] the bread in the apostle’s hands.

And all the people ate and were filled.  They gave praise to God.(6)

It is important to note that the Deuteronomy provision in 8:10 is that the blessing follows having eaten and “art full” as in the Didache and Gospel of the Twelve Apostles. In each of the Book of Mormon cases, this same language attends the prayer. Alma ate bread and “was filled”; and when the Nephites first partook of the sacrament they “were filled,” and the second time “they were filled with the Spirit.” It seems more intentional than chance that this important phrase, stipulated in Deuteronomy, is explicitly mentioned in the relevant Book of Mormon passages.(7)

How did the New York farm boy do this?  Was he among the luckiest of farm hands when he decided to write a book to deceive the world, or is his statement that it was translated by the gift and power of God, the best explanation?

Thank God for Joseph Smith and the little “zingers” that fairly surfeit the Book of Mormon text as evidences that it came from God.

Lets think together again, soon.

Notes:

1.  David E. Bokovoy and John A. Tvedtnes, Testaments: Links between the Book of Mormon and the Hebrew Bible, Tooele UT: Heritage Distribution, 2003, 161.

2.  Theodore H. Gaster, The Dead Sea Scriptures, 3rd ed., Garden City N.Y.: Doubleday, 1976, 219-21, see especially stanzas 13-14, title emphasis mine.

3.  John W. Welch, “From Presence to Practice: Jesus, the Sacrament Prayers, the Priesthood, and Church Discipline in 3 Nephi 18 and Moroni 2-6,” Journal of Book of Mormon Studies 5, n. 1 (1996):134.

4.  Harry Sperling, Maurice Simon, and Paul P. Levertoff, The Zohar, New York: Bennet, 1958, 2:364.

5.  Bokovy and Tvedtness, Testaments, 163.

6.  Hugh W. Nibley, The Prophetic Book of Mormon, John W. Welch, ed., Salt Lake City: Deseret Book and FARMS, 1989, 421, bold emphasis mine.  I believe this is Nibley's translation of the Gospel of the Twelve Apostles.

7.  As is so often the case, there was a rabbinical debate over what it took to “be filled.”  See Bokovoy and Tvedtness, Testaments, 162 and accompanying notes.