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<\/a>(LDS.org)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n
This new article went up today in Interpreter: A Journal of Latter-day Saint Faith and Scholarship<\/em>: \u201cIrregular Kings and Precious Things: Viewing Nephi and Joseph Smith through the Lens of Ancient Near Eastern Kingship,\u201d<\/a> written by Noel Hudson<\/a>:<\/p>\n Abstract:<\/strong> Political legitimacy is a key concept related to the exercise of political power. Legitimacy was especially critical for \u201cirregular kings,\u201d so named because they were not automatically legitimated by the existing political structure. There are many examples of apologetics from the literature of the Ancient Near East that sought to bolster the legitimacy of irregular kings. The Book of Mormon uses similar apologetics to legitimate its own irregular rulers. The most striking example is seen in the case of Nephi (son of Lehi). Nephi provides dozens of arguments that strengthen his status as a divinely sanctioned king within an Ancient Near Eastern framework. Startlingly, Nephi and other Book of Mormon prophets also seem to have viewed Joseph Smith, the future seer who would bring their words to light, in similar terms. Joseph appears to have been presented as the legitimate heir of the Nephite royal line. The prophecies of the Book of Mormon and Joseph\u2019s receipt of the royal artifacts serve to bolster this claim.<\/em><\/p><\/blockquote>\n And this one went up on the website, as well: \u00a0Interpreting Interpreter: \u201cA Legitimate Nephi (and Joseph),\u201d<\/a> written by Kyler Rasmussen<\/a>:<\/p>\n This post is a summary of the article \u201cIrregular Kings and Precious Things: Viewing Nephi and Joseph Smith through the Lens of Ancient Near Eastern Kingship<\/a>\u201d by Noel Hudson in Volume 67 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\/P7CXJXViRpc<\/a>.<\/p>\n The Takeaway:\u00a0<\/strong>Hudson expands on the idea that Nephi wrote in part to strengthen his own legitimacy as ruler of the Nephites, based on common legitimization strategies in the Ancient Near East. He also theorizes that Joseph Smith was set up to inherit this kingly legitimacy through connections to Joseph of Egypt and his obtaining of royal artifacts.<\/p>\n From the Facebook page of Christopher Blythe<\/a>:<\/p>\n You\u2019ve never heard this beautiful Latter-day Saint ode to Mother Mary before this moment. It was written over a century ago, a dressmaker named Samantha Brimhall Foley wrote \u201cMary,\u201d a poem that up to this point has never been put to music. Foley was herself a powerful songwriter, who is remembered for compiling the first Spanish hymnbook \u2013 a book that never received wide use. But, she was a visionary who on occasion would hear music performed by an invisible choir. We don\u2019t know much about this song, but it is a moving representation of the Annunciation with an eye to Mary\u2019s role in the pre-mortal realms. Why do we not have more of a discussion of Mary in Latter-day Saint thought, look forward to our Christmas episode of Angels and Seerstones.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n If I\u2019ve done this right, you should be able to listen to the song via this link<\/a>. \u00a0It\u2019s really quite an amazing find. \u00a0I had never heard of it before.<\/p>\n I share Professor Blythe\u2019s feeling that we Latter-day Saints could and should profitably say more about Mary. \u00a0Perhaps we\u2019ve overcompensated because of the exaggerated veneration that some Christians bestow upon her. \u00a0(Analogously, I also think that we\u2019ve tended to overcorrect on the question of faith vs. works because of the extreme overcorrection of some Protestant Reformers against the previous extremes of pre-Reformation Catholicism.)<\/p>\n I\u2019ll illustrate my sense of overreaction with a story from my mission in Switzerland. \u00a0My first assignment was to a largish town in the lowlands of Canton Bern called Burgdorf. \u00a0My first senior companion \u2014 who died a number of years ago, much too young \u2014 was from Chicago, and (I think this relevant to the experience that I\u2019ll relate) was a still relatively recent and still quite-Jewish convert from Judaism. \u00a0One day, we \u201ctracted out\u201d a couple who were immigrants from somewhere in Eastern Europe. \u00a0(I don\u2019t recall which country they had come from. \u00a0Maybe Poland.)<\/p>\n It was immediately obvious from the decor of their apartment that they were devoutly Catholic and, in particular, that they were exceptionally devoted to the Virgin Mary. \u00a0Objects of Marian devotion were everywhere<\/em>.<\/p>\n This plainly began to offend my companion, and eventually, to my astonishment, he commenced (not altogether subtly) to denigrate Mary. \u00a0Whereupon, in their turn, they<\/em> began to take offense, and, shortly thereafter, they asked us to leave. \u00a0Quite understandably, I thought.<\/p>\n As soon as we were outside, I asked him what on earth he had been thinking. \u00a0\u201cWell,\u201d he explained, still somewhat agitated, \u201cthey practically worship<\/em> her!\u201d<\/p>\n I remember saying to him that their excessive<\/em> devotion in no way justified our cutting her down<\/em>. \u00a0After all, of the hundreds of millions of women who have ever lived, she was the one who was chosen to bear and to raise the atoning Son of God, to prepare him for his all-important mission. \u00a0That makes her exceedingly special and, yes, worthy of our veneration.<\/p>\n With Mary in mind, I offer today\u2019s piece of Christmas music: \u00a0I never heard the song \u201cMary, Did You Know?\u201d while growing up. \u00a0And for good reason: The lyrics, by Mark Lowry, were only written in 1984 and they were only set to music seven years later, in 1991, by Buddy Greene \u2014 while my age, nowadays, is best measured in geological epochs. \u00a0But the song has come to be one of my favorites, and here it is in a beautiful performance by the a cappella<\/em> vocal group Pentatonix: \u00a0\u201cMary, Did You Know?\u201d<\/a><\/p>\n<\/a>
(Wikimedia Commons public domain image) \u00a0I suspect that veneration of the Virgin Mary reflects a dimly perceived ancient theological truth.<\/figcaption><\/figure><\/blockquote>\n<\/a><\/a>