Hebrew and Egyptian

We only have two references in the Book of Mormon that tell us something about the language that the Nephite records were kept in.  In the very beginning of his account, Nephi wrote, “Yea, I make a record in the language of my father, which consists of the learning of the Jews and the language of the Egyptians” (1 Nephi 1:2).  I believe that this means that Nephi wrote in Egyptian but used the structure and features common to Hebrew (which was the language of the Jews).  The plates of brass were written in Egyptian according to King Benjamin, and so it makes sense that they would want to likewise write their story in Egyptian (see Mosiah 1:4). 

Nearly 1000 years after Nephi, Moroni likewise mentioned these two languages as he commented on his writings: “And now, behold, we have written this record according to our knowledge, in the characters which are called among us the reformed Egyptian, being handed down and altered by us, according to our manner of speech” (Mormon 9:32).  My guess is that the Nephites started writing in Egyptian using the brass plates as their example of Egyptian, and over time they altered the language and it evolved so much that it was eventually called by them “reformed Egyptian.”  They clearly still knew some version of Hebrew, though, by this time, for Moroni also wrote, “And if our plates had been sufficiently large we should have written in Hebrew; but the Hebrew hath been altered by us also; and if we could have written in Hebrew, behold, ye would have had no imperfection in our record” (Mormon 9:32-33).  They must have had some writings in Hebrew and in Egyptian that were passed down through the Nephites, but they felt it was necessary to actually record the Book of Mormon in Egyptian.  There is much about the text of the Book of Mormon that point to its Hebrew origins, such as the use of chiasmus throughout it, and even though it was technically written in Egyptian, it is really a Hebrew text and the translation we have points to the Hebrew, not the Egyptian. 

                Perhaps this fact that the Book of Mormon was written in Egyptian but really had the manner of Hebrew provides us with a lesson for our own lives.  At the time Egyptian was the language of those outside the covenant, whereas Hebrew was the language of the scriptures and the people of God.  In other words, Egyptian represented the world and Hebrew represented the things of God.  The Book of Mormon writers needed to use the language of the world (Egyptian) but at the core their writing really was based on Hebrew, the language that represented them as a covenant people.  We are taught in our day to live in the world but not to be of the world; in other words, we must adapt to the way the world works and be a part of it, but we must never forget who we really are and the divine heritage and mission that we have.  So we have to be like the Book of Mormon: we live in the world and on the surface our lives look like normal “Egyptian” just like everyone else, but really at the core our manner of life should be “Hebrew” or based on the things of God.    We are children of God forced to live in a fallen world and adapt to its culture, and despite the need to be in a wicked world we can still remain true to our real heritage as spirit sons and daughters of our Father in Heaven.  We must stay true to our Hebrew roots.