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<\/a>This article, newly published in Interpreter: A Journal of Latter-day Saint Faith and Scholarship<\/em> 66 (2025)<\/a>: 437-486, is available at no cost online:\u00a0\u201c\u201cHis Secret is with the Righteous\u201d: Instructional Wisdom in the Book of Mormon,\u201d<\/a> written by Alyson Skabelund Von Feldt<\/a><\/span><\/span><\/p>\n Abstract:<\/strong> This study argues that the Book of Mormon both adopts and develops the instructional wisdom tradition found in Proverbs 1\u20139 and other pre-exilic Near-Eastern texts. After outlining the structure, rhetoric, and themes of Hebrew instructional wisdom, it tracks those features through major Book of Mormon discourses. Particular attention is given to the personification of Wisdom, the tree-of-life and great-whore polarity, temple motifs, and the democratic invitation to pursue the \u201cmysteries of God\u201d through personal revelation. The analysis suggests that Book of Mormon authors preserve a strand of Israelite temple wisdom largely suppressed in the post-exilic biblical record. By reading restored scripture back into its ancient literary context, the paper offers fresh insight into both corpora: Proverbs\u2019 \u201cenigmas\u201d become transparently eschatological, while the Book of Mormon\u2019s doctrinal core takes on new depth as a deliberate wisdom inheritance. The study concludes that recognizing this shared sapiential framework clarifies the Book of Mormon\u2019s purpose as a covenant guide and underscores its claim to recover \u201cplain and most precious\u201d truths lost from the biblical canon.<\/em><\/p>\n [Editor\u2019s Note:<\/strong> This article originally appeared as Alyson Skabelund Von Feldt, \u201c\u2018His Secret Is with the Righteous\u2019: Instructional Wisdom in the Book of Mormon,\u201d FARMS Occasional Papers 5 (2007): 49\u201383. As this important paper is not currently available online, it is reprinted here for the benefit of our readers. It has been updated and edited by the author.<\/em>]<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n \u201cInterpreting Interpreter<\/em>: Restoring the Wisdom of Proverbs,\u201d<\/a> written by Kyler Rasmussen<\/a><\/p>\n This post is a summary of the article \u201c\u201cHis Secret is with the Righteous\u201d: Instructional Wisdom in the Book of Mormon<\/a>\u201d by Alyson Skabelund Von Feldt in Volume 66 of Interpreter: A Journal of Latter-day Saint Faith and Scholarship<\/em>. All of the Interpreting Interpreter<\/em> articles may be seen at https:\/\/interpreterfoundation.org\/category\/summaries\/<\/a>. An introduction to the Interpreting Interpreter<\/em> series is available at https:\/interpreterfoundation.org\/interpreting-interpreter-on-abstracting-thought\/<\/a>.<\/p>\n A video introduction to this Interpreter article is now available on all of our social media channels, including on YouTube at https:\/\/youtube.com\/shorts\/NrO00U5OQmU<\/a>.<\/p>\n The Takeaway:<\/strong> Von Feldt documents how the Book of Mormon preserves themes, structures, and elements from pre-exilic Wisdom literature, arguing that these themes, outlined in plainness in the Book of Mormon, allow us to read back in greater theological depth to Proverbs 1-9, which presents on the surface as a more mundane and secular view of Wisdom.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n I was very pleased to receive a new book in the mail today. \u00a0It\u2019s Stephen O. Smoot, ed., The Pearl of Great Price: A Study Edition for Latter-day Saints<\/em>, revised edition (Lehi and Orem, UT: Scripture Central and The Interpreter Foundation, 2025)<\/a>.\u00a0 Apparently, there may still be some small traces of life remaining in the virtually moribund Interpreter Foundation. \u00a0Who would have guessed it?<\/p>\n And, speaking of the scriptures, this is important: \u201cMinor Adjustments Made to Select Study Helps in Doctrine and Covenants, Book of Mormon: \u00a0Most changes reflect recent research from the Joseph Smith Papers Project\u201d<\/a><\/p>\n<\/div>\n In case you\u2019re in the Greater Phoenix area or will be in the area on the evening in question, here\u2019s something that should be worthwhile: \u00a0\u201cMuslims, Latter-day Saints and Our Democratic Faith.\u201d<\/a>\u00a0 It will run from 5:30 PM until 7:00 PM on the evening of Thursday, 13 November 2025, at the Latter-day Saint Institute of Religion that is connected with Arizona State University in Tempe. \u00a0I wish that I could attend it. \u00a0The two speakers for the event will be<\/p>\n My wife and I participated in a session at the Orem Utah Temple this morning. \u00a0I performed an endowment on behalf of a collateral relative of mine, Fred Rosen, who was born in Wisconsin in 1884.<\/p>\n It\u2019s a wonderful thing to have a temple within the boundaries of our geographically small Orem, Utah, stake. \u00a0The temple is within (long) walking distance of our home, and only a very short drive away.<\/p>\n Back around the time that I returned from my mission to Switzerland, I dreamed of attending every temple in the Church. \u00a0(There were, I think, fifteen of them around that time.) \u00a0As a matter of fact, I now have<\/em> attended almost every one of those temples. \u00a0(Although I\u2019ve been on its grounds two or three times, I still haven\u2019t managed to attend the London England Temple.) \u00a0Now, though, there are 210<\/em> dedicated temples, to say nothing of the 61 that are under construction and the further 111 that have been announced but on which construction has not yet commenced. \u00a0That yields a grand total of 382.<\/p>\n I haven\u2019t even attended all of the temples now in Utah<\/em>. \u00a0Heck, I haven\u2019t yet managed to attend all of the temples in Utah County<\/em>. \u00a0And the Lindon Utah Temple<\/a> is nearing completion and another has been announced for Lehi, a bit further to the north. \u00a0There\u2019s no denying it: My youthful dream of attending all of the temples in the Church has been decisively and irrefutably crushed. \u00a0I\u2019m happy to report, though, that there were almost no empty seats in our session this morning, and that the temple\u2019s parking lot was full. \u00a0Our local community is making good use of its still-new temple.<\/p>\n From boredpanda<\/em>: \u201c\u201cMormon Backflip Theory\u201d Goes Viral After Fans Notice Hilarious Trend Among Celebrities and Everyday Men\u201d<\/a> \u00a0Huh? \u00a0Perhaps somebody can explain this one to me?<\/p>\n<\/a><\/a>\n
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