Joseph Smith's translation of the Bible

[gazelam]

In 1961, the prophet Joseph Fielding Smith said:

“We will never get a man into space. This earth is man’s sphere and it was never intended that he should get away from it. The moon is a superior planet to the earth and it was never intended that man should go there. You can write it down in your books that this will never happen.”

I wonder what the Mormon will say to that? Rambam said the same, but he never said it revelation of sorts, just his opinion, so it had no halachic basis to begin with, it was hashkafa.

See this explanation for more information. Joseph Field Smith later acknowledged he was wrong and even met the astronauts.

 

[njlisa]

With all due respect, I’m bowing out of this conversation. May God bless you in all things,

 

[Rabbi]

Thank you for your response. What you say is true about Moses and we still follow him.

As far as who is a Jew, it goes two ways: you are either born a Jew (by your mother), or convert into it. I haven’t read up on Mormons and will do so regarding Israel and right of return. Did you know that there are tribes if Africa was the Cohen chromosome? Is there proof of this in Native American tribes? A Mormon once told me this wasn’t so, but I’d like to know your perspective. Thank you

 

[Buddyroe]

Smith uses a phrase not other wise acknowledged in English translations of scripture.

“Suffer us not to be led” employs the little used English word “suffer” which implies “permit us not” or “prevent us” which actually does not alter the meaning of the verse.

The main problem with his translation is that it is unnecessary or redundant, also it is slightly off target. The Greek texts (all of them) read “καὶ μὴ εἰσενέγκῃς ἡμᾶς εἰς” transliterated “and not lead us into”. The “suffer” embellishment smacks of a writer caught up in his self appointed importance.

This would be a ho hum issue except he has played around with the very words of our Lord in one of His keystone instructions.

 

[NeuroTypical]

Did you know that there are tribes if Africa was the Cohen chromosome?

I watched a show on that fascinating thing. No, I know of no similar thing with Book of Mormon peoples. The two things are not really the same - the Africans knew something of their ancestry, but we know very little of the ancestry of the Lehi and his house. Let me quote a bit from an article that I have lost the title/link/author:

In order to understand what Israel meant anciently in terms of kinship relations, it is necessary to review the history and development of that people as described in the biblical account. Abraham is the first person to be called a “Hebrew” in the Bible (Genesis 14:13), though his grandson Jacob, who lived in Syria for a time, is termed a “Syrian” (Deuteronomy 26:5). The Bible gives us the names of Abraham’s patrilineal male ancestors, but we know nothing about the origin of his mother or his wife Sarah. This poses a problem for a researcher hoping to trace the Abrahamic genetic heritage using mtDNA.

In addition to Sarah’s son, Isaac, Abraham had sons by two other wives: an Egyptian named Hagar, who bore Ishmael (Genesis 16:1, 3; 21:9; 25:12); and a woman of unknown origin named Keturah, who bore six sons (Genesis 25:1–4). Besides his own children and immediate family, Abraham’s house included men and women servants and people he had converted to his faith (Genesis 12:5; Abraham 2:15). Among these were his chief steward, Eliezer (Genesis 15:2), and 318 “trained servants, born in his own house,” who could be mustered for battle (Genesis 14:14). All of these, according to the custom of the time, would have been considered “Hebrews,” though they may have had no biological relationship to Abraham. This presents a second problem for those who hope to use the Bible as documentation of genetic connections.

Abraham’s son Ishmael married an Egyptian woman (Genesis 21:21), while Isaac married his cousin Rebekah. Isaac’s son Esau had two Hittite wives (Genesis 26:34) and another who was a daughter of Ishmael (Genesis 28:8-9). Esau’s brother, Jacob, who came to be known as Israel, fathered twelve sons and one daughter by four wives (Genesis 29:28–35; 30:1–24; 35:15–19). Each of Jacob’s children would have carried the mtDNA of his or her mother. While two of these wives, Leah and Rachel, were Jacob’s cousins, the Bible tells us nothing of the origins and background of the other two, Zilpah and Bilhah.

 

[NeuroTypical]

Continuing:

Likewise, little is known of the women who married the sons of Jacob, though we know that Joseph married an Egyptian, Asenath, who bore him Manasseh and Ephraim (Genesis 41:45, 50–52).8 Joseph’s half-brother Judah had three sons by a Canaanite wife named Shuah and twin sons by Tamar, whose ancestry is unknown (Genesis 38:2–30). Of the half-Canaanite sons, only one (Shelah) lived long enough to have posterity, but his mtDNA would be unlike that of his half-brothers, Pharez and Zarah, unless their mothers were sisters (Genesis 46:12; Numbers 26:19–21). From Pharez descended Salmon, who married the Canaanite woman Rahab, who had been spared with her father’s household during the Israelite destruction of the city of Jericho in Joshua’s day. Their son was Boaz, who married the Moabitess Ruth, who became the great-grandmother of King David and, consequently, of all the kings of Judah and of Jesus Christ himself (Ruth 4:18–22; Matthew 1:2–16). While most of the kings of Judah from whom Christ is descended married women of the same tribe or of other Israelite tribes, this is not true of all of them. For example, Rehoboam, son of Solomon, was born of a woman named Naamah, who was an Ammonitess (1�Kings 14:21, 31; 2 �Chronicles 12:13). Genesis 40:10 informs us that Simeon had a Canaanite wife, but nothing is said of the other wives of Jacob’s sons or their origins, although it seems likely that they also married outside Abraham’s kin group. The children and grandchildren of Jacob who are mentioned in the biblical account number seventy, but this does not include daughters and granddaughters. Although nothing is specifically said on the matter, it is not unreasonable to assume that Jacob’s people included servants and their families as well.9 One thing, however, seems certain: all of Jacob’s grandchildren inherited their mtDNA from their mothers, who were likely non-Israelite.

We know very little about Israelite marriage practices in Egypt during the four-hundred-year sojourn there; however, there is some indication that intermarriage with non-Israelite peoples was not uncommon (see, for example, Leviticus 24:10). Moses married a Midianitess (Exodus 2:21). When the Israelites left Egypt, it is said that a “mixed multitude” went with them (Exodus 12:38; Numbers 11:4).10 Whatever its size, the exodus group included many who were not descended from Jacob’s original family.11 We have no details about the ancestry of these other people, but we know from Leviticus 24:10 that at least one of the men who fled into the wilderness with Moses had an Israelite mother and an Egyptian father.

 

[Pattylt]

That’s very interesting, however the Kohen genetic markers are from the Y chromosome thus a male marker. If any American natives carried that marker…any at all…you’d have an argument. If none do then it pretty much rules out Jewish ancestry.

I have no idea if any American natives, north central or south have ever tested positive for the Kohen Y markers. Anyone know?

 

[gazelam]

Did you know that there are tribes if Africa was the Cohen chromosome? Is there proof of this in Native American tribes? A Mormon once told me this wasn’t so, but I’d like to know your perspective. Thank you

I am not trained in genetics and DNA and would only know what I’ve read in the internet.

Question: Where you aware that Joseph Smith sent a representative (Orson Hyde) to Palestine in 1841 to dedicate the land for the return of the Jewish people? The dedicatory prayer can be found here (see the second section). Take care and G-d bless you.

 

[gazelam]

With all due respect, I’m bowing out of this conversation. May God bless you in all things,

No problem. God bless you too.