Read This, I Pray Thee

I listed to a podcast yesterday with Dr. Joseph Spencer who spoke about the famous prophecy found in 2 Nephi 27 from Nephi and Isaiah about the sealed book. The text reads this way: “But behold, it shall come to pass that the Lord God shall say unto him to whom he shall deliver the book: Take these words which are not sealed and deliver them to another, that he may show them unto the learned, saying: Read this, I pray thee. And the learned shall say: Bring hither the book, and I will read them. And now, because of the glory of the world and to get gain will they say this, and not for the glory of God. And the man shall say: I cannot bring the book, for it is sealed. Then shall the learned say: I cannot read it. Wherefore it shall come to pass, that the Lord God will deliver again the book and the words thereof to him that is not learned; and the man that is not learned shall say: I am not learned” (v15-19). We have historically, and for good reason, interpreted this as a specific prophecy about Martin Harris’s visit to Charles Anthon recounted here. Anthon at first confirmed the veracity of the translation in an example Harris gave him, but eventually he ripped it up when he found out the book have been given by an angel. When he was told that the book was sealed and he couldn’t see it, he responded, “I cannot read a sealed book.” Martin saw this as a fulfillment of Isaiah’s prophecy and was more convinced than ever of the truthfulness of the work. Dr. Spencer suggested, though, that there is an additional way that we can interpret this prophecy that applies to us still today and has played out countless times since the publication of the Book of Mormon.

                Here is how he explained his more general interpretation: “So again, to Joseph Smith, ‘Take these words which are not sealed, and deliver them to another.’ That could be Martin Harris, but it could be a missionary. It could be whatever way these words are getting circulated, ‘That he may show them unto the learned.’ So now, the words come before the learned saying, ‘Read this, I pray thee.’ There's the plea. The plea to the learned of any form, ‘Read. Read the words. Read the words of the book.’ So, read the Book of Mormon, and the learned shall say, ‘Bring hither the book, and I will read them.’ The response of the learned is, ‘Give me the plates. I want proof. I want evidence. Show me that there's a material artifact. You give me actual intellectual evidence, then I'll read your words.’” He continued, “I think Nephi has pegged the Latter-days here to a tee. This is the reception of the Book of Mormon for the last 200 years. Give me proof, and even believing members of the church. If you go on social media, and say, ‘I really liked this verse of the Book of Mormon,’ you get two or three likes. But if you go on and post some sort of evidence for the Book of Mormon, it gets retweeted or reposted or whatever. People are excited about evidence in a way. We're not about just the words of the book.” I love that new way of looking at these verses because it indeed shows what the world has for the most part focused on as it relates to the Book of Mormon. We invite the world to read it, and most of the learned demand first the plates or some other physical evidence to prove that it is true before they will accept it. We say with Isaiah, “Read this, I pray thee.” But the world says, “Science hasn’t proved there were horses in the New World at that time.” And we respond, “Read this, I pray thee.” And the world says, “The DNA of American Indians is not similar enough to that of races of the Middle East.” And we respond, “Read this, I pray this.” And the world says, “Where did the plates go? Show me the plates and I’ll believe it.” And ultimately we have to accept that science will never prove the Book of Mormon to be true (though certainly there are evidences). The Lord doesn’t work that way, and our focus must be on reading the words of the book, not proving to the world in the world’s way that the book is true. We testify that it is true by a way far more sure, but it’s evidence only comes one at a time to the honest seeker of truth: “And when ye shall receive these things, I would exhort you that ye would ask God, the Eternal Father, in the name of Christ, if these things are not true; and if ye shall ask with a sincere heart, with real intent, having faith in Christ, he will manifest the truth of it unto you, by the power of the Holy Ghost” (Moroni 10:4). And so, to all who doubt the story of the Book of Mormon, who think they need physical proof before they can open it, we extend this simple invitation with Isaiah, “Read this, I pray thee.”