{"id":331,"date":"2014-03-21T23:27:14","date_gmt":"2014-03-21T23:27:14","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/bookofmormontranslation.org\/?page_id=331"},"modified":"2014-03-21T23:27:14","modified_gmt":"2014-03-21T23:27:14","slug":"directors-or-interpreters","status":"publish","type":"page","link":"https:\/\/bookofmormon.tech\/translation\/directors-or-interpreters\/","title":{"rendered":"The Directors-Interpreters Mystery"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>\t\t\t\tThis <a href=\"https:\/\/www.mormoninterpreter.com\/reflections-of-urim-hebrew-poetry-sheds-light-on-the-directors-interpreters-mystery\/\">article <\/a>sheds some light on one of the most interesting supposed &#8220;errors&#8221; in the Book of Mormon.<\/p>\n<p><!--\nJoseph Smith and his associates frequently used the term Urim and Thummim for the interpreters he received with the gold plates as well as for the chocolate-colored seer stone he found while digging a well. Both are called Urim and Thummim in the Doctrine and Covenants: the intepreters in Section 17 and the seer stone (most likely) in the headings of sections .....\n\nOne of the most substantial changes in the Book of Mormon since it's publication was the replacement of the word <em>directors<\/em> in Alma 37:21 and Alma 37:24 by the word <em>interpreters<\/em> in later editions of the Book of Mormon. These words are commonly believed to refer to two different things, with interpreters being the stones used for translating ancient records, and directors being the stones contained in the brass ball that guided Lehi's family to the promised land. It's apparent from the context that Alma was speaking of the stones used in translating (i.e., the interpreters).\n\nThat there was an \"error\" of this magnitude in the Book of Mormon tries the faith of some. It needn't. The original use of <em>directors<\/em> in these verses was most likely correct.\n\nThe interpreters were two stones used by Nephite prophets for revealing the translations of ancient records. They were obtained by Joseph Smith for use in translating the Book of Mormon. According to witnesses, the interpreters were kept in a pocket on the front of a breastplate. This description is also consistent with the Biblical description of the Urim and Thummim.\n\n<em>And thou shalt put in the breastplate of judgment the Urim and the Thummim; and they shall be upon Aaron\u2019s heart, when he goeth in before the LORD: and Aaron shall bear the judgment of the children of Israel upon his heart before the LORD continually.<\/em> (Exodus 28:30)\n\n<em>And he put the breastplate upon him: also he put in the breastplate the Urim and the Thummim. <\/em>(Leviticus 8:8)\n\nThe Urim and Thummim (Urim for short) were used as a means of receiving divine instruction\/direction.\n\n<em>And when Saul inquired of the LORD, the LORD answered him not, neither by dreams nor by Urim, nor by prophets.<\/em> (1 Samuel 28:6)\n\nThe interpreters have often been called the urim and thummim by Mormons, but this didn't start until 1833, about 3 years after the Book of Mormon was published. Joseph Smith also referred to his seer stone as urim and thummim because it was functionally equivalent to the interpreters.\n\nAccording to witness accounts, Joseph Smith would place the urim and thummim (interpreters or seer stone) in the relative darkness of his hat and read words that would appear with the stones in letters of light. Although the precise method of use of the Biblical Urim and Thummim is a matter of contention, it may have been <a href=\"http:\/\/bookofmormontranslation.org\/stones-of-revelation\/\" title=\"Stones of Revelation\">similar<\/a>.\n\n<em>The method of consultation...[in] the most approved tradition is this...the person who desired to consult (and none but public persons, and on great public occasions, were admitted to that privelege), told the high priest his question, which the high priest repeated before the Lord, and on looking downwards upon the Urim in the breastplate, the answer of God was seen in characters of reflected light, which the high priest then read to the inquirer.<\/em> (<em>Sacred Biography, Or the History of the Patriarchs\u2026<\/em>)\n\nEven though the connection of the interpreters to the Biblical Urim and Thummim may not have been obvious to the earliest Mormons, it more likely was to the Nephites, who were closer to the Biblical Urim and Thummim in time and culture. If they did make the connection, they may have called their instrument by the same term, i.e. <em>urim<\/em> and <em>thummim<\/em>, or <em>urim<\/em>. Neither of these words, however, appears in the Book of Mormon. Could it be that the Hebrew name was originally there but was translated into English as <em>directors<\/em>?\n\nThe hebrew word <em>urim<\/em> is commonly thought to refer to <em>light<\/em> (from the Hebrew <em>'or<\/em>), but it has also been connected by some scholars with  <em>instruction<\/em> (related to the Aramaic <a href=\"http:\/\/www.jewishvirtuallibrary.org\/jsource\/Judaism\/urimthummim.html\"><em>'oraita<\/em><\/a> ) or <em>command<\/em> or <em>decision<\/em> (related to the Babylonian <a href=\"http:\/\/books.google.com\/books?id=p7Y1AQAAMAAJ&#038;pg=PA219&#038;lpg=PA219&#038;dq=tamitu+Babylonian+meaning&#038;source=bl&#038;ots=uK_gR1Z5y-&#038;sig=TgiPSR9HWIv_Ssq_7K000Tte2fE&#038;hl=en&#038;sa=X&#038;ei=Z6YsU5KXM4v1oATS1oC4BA&#038;ved=0CG8Q6AEwCQ#v=onepage&#038;q=tamitu%20Babylonian%20meaning&#038;f=false\"><em>urtu<\/em><\/a>). It may have had more than one of these connotations to the ancient Hebrews. If so, <em>directors<\/em> would be one reasonable English translation.\n\nThe brass ball (or <em>Liahona<\/em>) is called a director in Alma 37, but is called directors in the Doctrine and Covenants (section 17). The brass ball, with its two stones, and the interpreters could all be considered <em>urim<\/em>, or <em>directors<\/em>, but could also be referenced by words describing their more specialized functions (<em>interpreters<\/em> for those used in translating, and <em>Liahona<\/em>, <em>compass<\/em>, or <em>pointers<\/em> for those used to give physical direction in travel). Both the interpreters and the Liahona were used to receive divine communications in the form of written words.\n\nAlma's use of the word <em>directors<\/em> (i.e. <em>urim<\/em>) instead of <em>interpreters<\/em> in Alma 37:21-24 might have been a sort of play on Hebrew words.\n\n<em>And now, I will speak unto you concerning those twentyfour plates, that ye keep them, that the mysteries and the works of darkness, and their secret works, or the secret works of those people, which have been destroyed, may be made manifest unto this people; yea, all their murders, and robbings, and their plunderings, and all their wickedness, and abominations, may be made manifest unto this people; yea, and that ye preserve these <strong>directors<\/strong>. For behold; the Lord saw that his people began to work in darkness, yea, work secret murders and abominations; therefore the Lord said, If they did not repent, they should be destroyed from off the face of the earth. And the Lord said, I will prepare unto my servant Gazelem, a <strong>stone<\/strong>, which shall <strong>shine forth in darkness unto light<\/strong>, that I may discover unto my people which serve me, that I may discover unto them the works of their brethren; yea, their secret works, their works of darkness, and their wickedness and abominations. And now my son, these <strong>directors<\/strong> were prepared, that the word of God might be fulfilled.<\/em> (Alma 37:21-24).\n\nAlma, who was likely writing in Hebrew or something similar, may have chosen to use the term <em>urim<\/em> (translated as <em>directors<\/em>), with its connotation of light, instead of the more limited equivalent of <em>interpreters<\/em> in order to tie in with the prophecy he quoted about a stone shining in darkness unto light.\n\n***Include link to \"How many coincidences can we take?\"\nlist all coincidences. If the BoM is a hoax and never existed as a Hebrew text, we must either acccept al these as mere coincidences or say that is was part of a scheme to make the BoM look like it was derived from a Hebrew text. If the latter, and JS (or the devil or Spaulding) created the scjheme, they did a pretty good job--maybe a little too good--since it didnt' bear fruit for almost 200 years.\n\n-->\t\t<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>This article sheds some light on one of the most interesting supposed &#8220;errors&#8221; in the Book of Mormon.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"parent":0,"menu_order":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","template":"","meta":{"om_disable_all_campaigns":false,"footnotes":""},"class_list":["post-331","page","type-page","status-publish","hentry"],"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/bookofmormon.tech\/translation\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/331","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/bookofmormon.tech\/translation\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/bookofmormon.tech\/translation\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/page"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/bookofmormon.tech\/translation\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/bookofmormon.tech\/translation\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=331"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/bookofmormon.tech\/translation\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/331\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/bookofmormon.tech\/translation\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=331"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}