Comments on: Brooding Upon the Waters

By: Martin

Martin — Tue, 26 Apr 2011 15:56:41 +0000

“But if the waters of the lake are hell, then what the story means is that devils’ compulsion to evil destroys any gifts that they might be given”

Hmm… Never thought of it like that. I was with Nathan — I figured the devils didn’t know how to overcome pig-panic, but your interpretation is more useful. Nice post.

By: Bruce Nielson

Bruce Nielson — Thu, 21 Apr 2011 14:57:32 +0000

Nice thoughts AG. Thanks for sharing.

By: Adam Greenwood

Adam Greenwood — Thu, 21 Apr 2011 14:06:30 +0000

KW,
take it up with J. Smith and all the hordes of modern scholars. Let ‘em know symbols can’t be multivocal.

By: Kaimi

Kaimi — Thu, 21 Apr 2011 03:55:22 +0000

Water as evil or chaos? Hmm, Adam G. I think you might just be all wet.

John 3:5 comes to mind as a potential counter balance, no? As does Exodus 17. Genesis 1:2. The 23rd Psalm.

And especially, John 4.

By: Zen

Zen — Wed, 20 Apr 2011 17:08:57 +0000

For a desert person like Lehi, rivers that always ran were rare and life giving. Further, Nibley points out that they would have thought of valleys as being firm and steadfast instead of mountains. Just weird little cultural differences.

By: Adam G.

Adam G. — Wed, 20 Apr 2011 14:17:15 +0000

Johnna,
the bread represents the flesh or the body, which can be immortal (‘body of flesh and bone’), while the water represents blood, which is mortal. I’ll amend the post to make that clearer.

By: Johnna

Johnna — Wed, 20 Apr 2011 07:56:09 +0000

I would have gone with bread representing the mortal aspect of Christ’s nature, and water representing his divine. I’m looking at your archived post and still not following why you’re linking them the other way–the 2005 post connects bread with mortality.

Just feeling like I’m stupid and missing something here.

It always cracks me up when Lehi wishes his son Laman to be like the river, and Lemuel to be like the valley. Inept. Poor semiotics. Lehi’s stated reasons aren’t convincing: rivers are notoriously tricky, and valleys are low points.

By: Zen

Zen — Wed, 20 Apr 2011 00:42:44 +0000

Or is this just what happens when you desecrate bacon?

By: Bookslinger

Bookslinger — Tue, 19 Apr 2011 22:33:39 +0000

I assumed that the pigs would rather die than be posessed by devils.

By: The Only True and Living Nathan

The Only True and Living Nathan — Tue, 19 Apr 2011 16:58:33 +0000

I’ve always just assumed that the evil spirits didn’t know how to drive pigs.