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<\/a>(Wikimedia commons public domain photograph)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n
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***<\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n \u00a0<\/p>\n An article by David J. Larsen<\/a> has just appeared in Interpreter: A Journal of Latter-day Saint Faith and Scholarship<\/em>:<\/p>\n \u00a0<\/p>\n \u201cFrom Dust to Exalted Crown:Royal and Temple Themes Common to the Psalms and the Dead Sea Scrolls\u201d<\/a><\/span><\/p>\n Abstract:\u00a0<\/strong>David J. Larsen, after showing how many of the Qumran texts rely on the \u201cRoyal Psalms\u201d in the Bible\u2014which have a vital connection to the temple drama\u2014then goes on to exaltation in the views of the Qumran community. He indicates how Adam and Eve are archetypal for Israelite temple ritual, which makes humans kings and priests, bringing the participant into the presence of God by a journey accompanied with covenants, making him part of the Divine Council. Bestowed with knowledge of the divine mysteries, one then becomes a teacher helping others on the way through divine mysteries, who then, as a group are raised to the same end. It is, Larsen shows, a journey where one is dressed in royal and priestly robes and receives a crown of righteousness, in a ritual setting.<\/em><\/span><\/p>\n [Editor\u2019s Note:\u00a0<\/strong>Part of our book chapter reprint series, this article is reprinted here as a service to the LDS community. Original pagination and page numbers have necessarily changed, otherwise the reprint has the same content as the original.<\/span><\/p>\n \u00a0<\/p>\n ***<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n \u00a0<\/p>\n Interpreter Radio Show \u2014 May 16, 2021<\/a><\/p>\n The discussants for the 16 May 2021 broadcast of the Interpreter Radio Show were Kris Frederickson and Martin Tanner.\u00a0 In this episode of the show, they first discussed finding answers to gospel questions and difficult items through prayer and revelation. The second portion of the show was devoted to a roundtable discussing the upcoming Come Follow Me lesson #26 (D&C 67-70). The Interpreter Radio Show can be heard Sunday evenings from 7 to 9 PM (MDT), on K-TALK, AM 1640, or you can listen live on the Internet at\u00a0ktalkmedia.com<\/a>.<\/p>\n \u00a0<\/p>\n ***<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n \u00a0<\/p>\n And now, as is my habit these days, I provide some links to previously published Interpreter<\/em> articles:<\/p>\n \u00a0<\/p>\n John S. Robertson, \u201cExploring Semitic and Egyptian in Uto-Aztecan Languages\u201d<\/a><\/span><\/p>\n Review of Brian D. Stubbs,\u00a0Exploring the Explanatory Power of Semitic and Egyptian in Uto-Aztecan,<\/em>\u00a0Provo, UT: Grover Publications, 2015. 436 pp. $30.<\/span><\/p>\n [For my own brief take on the book by Brian Stubbs, as well as on this review of it and one other, see my column \u201cNear Eastern languages in ancient America?\u201d<\/a> which was published in the Deseret News<\/em> four years ago tomorrow]<\/p>\n \u00a0<\/p>\n Brian C. Hales, \u201cJoseph\u00a0Smith: Monogamist or Polygamist?\u201d<\/a><\/span><\/p>\n Abstract:\u00a0In the past decades much of the debate regarding Joseph\u00a0Smith and plural marriage has focused on his motivation \u2014 whether libido or divine inspiration drove the process. Throughout these debates, a small group of observers and participants have maintained that Joseph did not practice polygamy at any time or that his polygamous sealings were nonsexual spiritual marriages. Rather than simply provide supportive evidence for Joseph\u00a0Smith\u2019s active involvement with plural marriage, this article examines the primary arguments advanced by monogamist proponents to show that important weaknesses exist in each line of reasoning.<\/em><\/span><\/p>\n \u00a0<\/p>\n Matthew L. Bowen, \u201c\u201cIf Ye Will Hearken\u201d: Lehi\u2019s Rhetorical Wordplay on Ishmael in 2 Nephi 1:28\u201329 and Its Implications\u201d<\/a><\/span><\/p>\n Abstract:\u00a0Nephi\u2019s preservation of the conditional \u201cfirst blessing\u201d that Lehi bestowed upon his elder sons (Laman, Lemuel, and Sam) and the sons of Ishmael, contains a dramatic wordplay on the name\u00a0<\/em>Ishmael\u00a0in 2 Nephi\u00a01:28\u201329. The name\u00a0<\/em>Ishmael\u00a0\u2014 \u201cMay El hear [him],\u201d \u201cMay El hearken,\u201d or \u201cEl Has Hearkened\u201d \u2014 derives from the Semitic (and later Hebrew) verb\u00a0<\/em>\u0161\u0101<\/span>ma\u02bf<\/span>\u00a0(to \u201chear,\u201d \u201chearken,\u201d or \u201cobey\u201d). Lehi\u2019s rhetorical wordplay juxtaposes the name\u00a0<\/em>Ishmael\u00a0with a clustering of the verbs \u201cobey\u201d and \u201chearken,\u201d both usually represented in Hebrew by the verb\u00a0<\/em>\u0161\u0101<\/span>ma\u02bf<\/span>. Lehi\u2019s blessing is predicated on his sons\u2019 and the sons of Ishmael\u2019s \u201chearkening\u201d to Nephi (\u201cif ye will hearken\u201d). Conversely, failure to \u201chearken\u201d (\u201cbut if ye will not hearken\u201d) would precipitate withdrawal of the \u201cfirst blessing.\u201d Accordingly, when Nephi was forced to flee from Laman, Lemuel, and the sons of Ishmael, Lehi\u2019s \u201cfirst blessing\u201d was activated for Nephi and all those who \u201chearkened\u201d to his spiritual leadership, including members of Ishmael\u2019s family (2 Nephi 5:6), while it was withdrawn from Laman, Lemuel, the sons of Ishmael, and those who sympathized with them, \u201cinasmuch as they [would] not hearken\u201d unto Nephi (2 Nephi 5:20). Centuries later, when Ammon and his brothers convert many Lamanites to the truth, Mormon revisits Lehi\u2019s conditional blessing and the issue of \u201chearkening\u201d in terms of Ishmael and the receptivity of the Ishmaelites. Many Ishmaelite-Lamanites \u201chear\u201d or \u201chearken\u201d to Ammon\u00a0<\/em>et al., activating Lehi\u2019s \u201cfirst blessing,\u201d while many others \u2014 including the ex-Nephite Amalekites\/Amlicites \u2014 do not, thus activating (or reactivating) Lehi\u2019s curse.<\/em><\/span><\/p>\n \u00a0<\/p>\n A. Keith Thompson, \u201cApostate Religion in the Book of Mormon\u201d<\/a><\/span><\/p>\n Abstract:\u00a0Nephite missionaries in the first century BC had significant difficulty preaching the gospel among Nephites and Lamanites who followed Zoramite and Nehorite teaching. Both of these groups built synagogues and other places of worship suggesting that some of their beliefs originated in Israelite practice, but both denied the coming or the necessity of a Messiah. This article explores the nature of Zoramite and Nehorite beliefs, identifies how their beliefs and practices differed from orthodox Nephite teaching, and suggests that some of these religious differences are attributable to cultural and political differences that resonate in the present.<\/em><\/span><\/p>\n \u00a0<\/p>\n ***<\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n \u00a0<\/p>\n I\u2019ve made it clear enough here, I think, that, in the case of the Colorado cake decorator who declined to celebrate a same-sex wedding, I\u2019m firmly on the side of the cake decorator.\u00a0 Well, here he is, speaking in his own voice:<\/p>\n \u00a0<\/p>\n Jack Phillips, \u201cWhy I Didn\u2019t \u2018Just Bake the Cake.'\u201d<\/a><\/p>\n \u00a0<\/p>\n And, to clarify further:\u00a0 My stance on the matter isn\u2019t a result of my opinions on homosexuality and gay marriage.\u00a0 And, yes, I also believe that he has the right, should he ever choose to exercise it, to decline to celebrate a Latter-day Saint temple wedding \u2014 just as everybody else has the right, if they\u2019re so minded, to disapprove of his decision, to avoid patronizing his business, and so forth.\u00a0 I really do believe in free markets and voluntary exchanges.<\/p>\n \u00a0<\/p>\n Some of you will find this essay by Hanna Seariac of interest:<\/p>\n \u00a0<\/p>\n \u201cA Latter-day Saint Feminist Case Against Abortion:\u00a0Many feminists disagree strongly that the \u201cright to abort\u201d is crucial to women\u2019s well-being. It\u2019s time to listen more carefully to what we have to say.\u201d<\/a><\/p>\n \u00a0<\/p>\n Finally, and perhaps in connection with an article to which I called attention last week \u2014 see \u201cIs America on a \u2018one-way trip to secularism\u2019? Is Europe?\u201d<\/a> \u2014 some readers might enjoy the analysis provided here:<\/p>\n \u00a0<\/p>\n