The Great & Marvelous Change by Clifford P. Jones: Good Example of Digging Deeply into the Book of Mormon
by Jeff Lindsay
If
the Book of Mormon is an authentic ancient text, as I believe it is,
then we are continually faced with the interesting challenge of
figuring out what its authors actually meant and what the experiences
and events described therein were actually like. Many times the
casual assumptions we make in reading the text are coupled with
unrecognized problems or errors that demand a more careful approach
to resolve. One of the great things about the Book of Mormon is how
many treasures there are in the text that yield themselves to the
careful and persistent hunter. Like modern miners mapping out veins
of gold ore beneath the surface of the earth, those who dig deep into
the Book of Mormon can reveal many treasures including scattered
nuggets and interconnected veins of scriptural insight that reveal
the Book of Mormon to be far more sophisticated and interesting than
the casual observer or casual critic would ever know. Such finds
contribute to the growing body of evidence
for the plausibility of the Book of Mormon
as an authentic ancient text.
A
recent example of deep exploration in the text comes from Clifford P.
Jones’ new book, The
Great & Marvelous Change (Herald
Books, 2012, available
through Amazon),
a 230-page work that builds upon his original publication, “The
Great and Marvelous Change: An Alternate Interpretation”
in the Journal
of the Book of Mormon and Other Restoration Scripture
(vol. 19, no. 2, 2010, pp. 50-63). One might wonder if an
entire book is needed to strengthen the argument already made so
persuasively in his ground-breaking article, but the book adds many
new insights that go beyond merely strengthening his main thesis by
also showing how to explore the Book of Mormon and mine treasures
from the text. Though his work is focused on what may seem like a
minor question, it has far-reaching implications and brings together
many aspects of the Book of Mormon text to help us understand some
key issues relating to the climax of the Book of Mormon, the visit of
the Lord to Book of Mormon peoples on this continent after His
Resurrection. It’s a worthy topic and Jones’ work is a
worthy example of approaching the text seriously and with both a
scholarly and a faithful eye.
The
book begins with examples of mistaken identify, both in decoding text
and in criminal law, reminding us of how easy it is to come to wrong
conclusions in solving puzzles. The key verse is then introduced and
examined in depth. 3 Nephi 11:1-2:
And
now it came to pass that there were a great multitude gathered
together, of the people of Nephi, round about the temple which was in
the land Bountiful; and they were marveling and wondering one with
another, and were showing one to another the great and marvelous
change
which
had taken place. And they were also conversing about this Jesus
Christ, of whom the sign had been given concerning his death. (3
Nephi 11:1-2, emphasis added)
Previously,
most readers have assumed that the great and marvelous change refers
to the destruction that changed the face of the land. Multiple lines
of reasoning, though, now challenge that assumption and point instead
to a change that was and is much more important and far more
marvelous: the Atonement of Jesus Christ. After hearing the voice of
Christ speak to them during the three days of darkness following his
Crucifixion, the Nephites and Lamanites now had evidence that the
Atonement had been completed. They no longer needed to wonder if all
the prophecies of the Messiah were real. He had come to earth and
completed His mission. The Atonement was done. Animal sacrifice was
no longer needed. Everything had changed. Dramatically, marvelously.
Clifford Jones astutely argues that this must have been the great and
marvelous change that the Nephites were discussing when they gathered
at the Temple months later for what appears to have been a major
religious event.
According to Jones’ thesis, this event would have been several months after the destruction in 3rd Nephi 9 and would have been a planned religious gathering at the temple in Bountiful. Future artists might do well to make the setting look a little tidier.
Jones
illustrates a sound approach to analyzing scriptural text as he
explores context and language in detail. Here is an example that
leads to many pages of thoughtful analysis and exploration (pp.
35-36):
Four
words with similar meanings may be the most significant context clues
for identifying this important change. Together, they tend to confirm
the reverent nature of the gathering at the temple and the spiritual
nature of the change that was being considered there.
The
first of these four words is the word marvelous,
which, of course, Mormon uses to describe the great change. The
second of these words is the word marveling,
which is one of the two words Mormon uses to describe the impassioned
nature of the multitude at the temple. Like the word marvelous,
the word marveling is
derived from the verb to
marvel.
The third and fourth related words are wondering
and astonishment.
The word wondering
is the other word Mormon uses to describe the multitude’s
fervor. Mormon uses the fourth related word, astonishment,
just one chapter earlier to describe similarly fervent feelings that
were present on a previous occasion (see 3 Nephi 10:2). These final
two words, wondering
and astonishment,
are so closely related to the first two, marveling and
marvelous,
that the dictionary definition of the verb to
marvel
is, “to be filled with wonder or astonishment.”
This
combination of four words with similar meanings plays a significant
role in two interesting connections between the term the
great and marvelous change
and the Lord’s earlier message about the Atonement. The first
connection suggests that Mormon intended to link the “astonishment”
of the people who heard the Lord’s “sayings” about
his redeeming sacrifice and the “marveling” of the
multitude at the temple about the “great and marvelous change.”
The second connection suggests that the words marveling
and wondering
may have been chosen specifically to describe reverent contemplation
of the Lord’s sacred sayings.
He
goes on to explore how words like “astonished” and
“marvel” are used in various passages of the Book of
Mormon.
Later
he explores that case of mistaken identity when the Book of Mormon
peoples thought they were seeing an angel as Christ appeared to them,
and then fall to the ground in reverence when they recognize who it
is. He explores some of the language used in these passages and
fishes out further insights that help us understand what was going on
and why some things are described with certain words. I was grateful,
for example, for his analysis of the word “remember” in 3
Nephi 11:12: “the whole multitude fell to the earth; for they
remembered that it had been prophesied among them that Christ would
show himself unto them after his ascension into heaven” (3
Nephi 11:12). Based on consistent usage in the Book of Mormon, this
may refer not to a sudden remembering of something forgotten, but of
lifelong remembering of teachings and covenants.
His
analysis of Mormon’s use of language versus other writers in
the Book of Mormon is also salient (see pp. 68-71):
As
we just noted, the term great
and marvelous is
used three times in the Book of Mormon specifically to describe the
destruction of the wicked. Perhaps, however, it is meaningful that
two of these passages were authored by Moroni (Mormon 8:7 and Ether
11:20) and one by Nephi (1 Nephi 14:7). None of them was written by
Mormon, who authored the term the
great and marvelous change. Mormon
uses the term great
and marvelous fourteen
times in the Book of Mormon, consistently referring to positive,
uplifting events, such as the merciful or blessed works of God, the
work of salvation, and the words of God and his prophets (see Alma
9:6, 26:15; Helaman 16:16, 20; 3 Nephi 3:16; 5:8; 17:16-17; 19:34;
26:14; 28:31-32; and 4 Nephi 1:5).36
More
specifically, Mormon never refers to the destruction at
the time of Christ’s death as
marvelous, wonderful or astonishing. Nor does Nephi, in his
prophecies (see 1 Nephi 12:4–5 and 2 Nephi 26:3–8), Zenos
in his prophecy (see 1 Nephi 19:11–12), Samuel the Lamanite in
his prophecy (Helaman 14:20–27), or the Savior in his account
of the destruction (see 3 Nephi 9:3– 12). Rather, that
particular destruction is consistently referred to across several
accounts as “great and terrible,” a term Mormon and all
other Book of Mormon authors reserve exclusively for storms, battles,
and other destructive events. (See 1 Nephi 12:5, 18:13; 2 Nephi 26:3;
3 Nephi 4:7, 4:11, 8:6, 8:11, 8:12, 8:19, and 8:24-25; Ether 6:6 and
Ether 15:17.)
Mormon
uses the term great
and terrible six
times to describe the various aspects of the destruction at the time
of Christ’s death (see 3 Nephi 8). He never uses the terms
great
and marvelous and
great
and terrible interchangeably.
His exclusive use of the term great
and terrible to
refer to the destruction and of the term great
and marvelous to
refer to positive, uplifting events would suggest that he used the
term the
great and marvelous change to
refer to a wonderful change rather than a destructive one. Had Mormon
intended to refer back to the destruction, he could have once again
used the term great
and terrible, the
term he had consistently used earlier to refer to the various aspects
of the change to the whole face of the land.
A
critical aspect pertaining to the gathering at Bountiful is the
timing of the event. If this is occurring just a few days after the
great destruction, then it would be natural for the people to still
be discussing the tragedy and the suffering they were facing. But if
this event were a year later, as a careful reading of the text may
indicate, the destruction and physical changes might be less
immediate and the bigger picture of the changes wrought by the
Atonement might more logically be the focus of their marveling. To
examine the issue of time, Jones delves at length into this critical
passage and related clues:
And
it came to pass that in
the ending of the thirty and fourth year, behold,
I will show unto you that the people . . . did have great favors
shown unto them, and great blessings poured out upon their heads,
insomuch that soon
after the ascension of Christ into heaven he
did truly manifest himself unto them— Showing his body unto
them, and ministering unto them. (3 Nephi 10:18–19, emphasis
added.)
His
analysis is definitely worth reading. In brief, though, the
destruction of 3 Nephi 9 occurs in the beginning of the 34th
year and the visit of Christ in the end or latter portion of the 34th
year. The gathering of the Nephites at the temple at least several
months after the destruction is likely to have involved deep
religious reflection and the change the Nephites are focused on is
more likely to be the Atonement, not the wrecked buildings and roads.
Jones
makes an excellent point related to timing by also considering
implications of the Lord’s charge to Nephi to add the
information about the rising of some saints that Nephi had neglected
to add to the scriptural record. Jones argues that Nephi would have
required weeks or perhaps even months to obtain information about the
scope of destruction that had occurred across the face of the land to
record it as he does. By the time he was able to accurately record
those events, it could be plausible that he would overlook his
failure to record the reports of some saints rising from the dead,
and months later when the Lord came, enough time would have passed
for him to truly have forgotten that he had not recorded that
information. The account of Nephi’s forgetfulness doesn’t
make as much sense if the appearance of the Lord were just a few days
after the destruction.
Jones
also takes up the geographic scope of the destruction, which Samuel
prophesied “should come to pass upon all
the face of this land”
(Helaman 14:28, emphasis added). He examines many arguments and
concludes that this destruction was across both the land northward
and the land southward. The argument could have been made much more
succinctly, but it certainly is thoroughly considered.
Jones
then considers the nature of the gathering of the Nephites at the
temple in Bountiful, and brings out numerous clues pointing to a
planned event, not a random gathering. The presence of all 12 whom
the Lord would call as disciples, the presence of many children and
of the sick and the infirm at this event, the role of ritual
gatherings at the temple under Nephite religion, and other
factors point to a planned gathering, where the Nephites weren’t
just chatting, they were “conversing” about the marvelous
change. Jones shows that the Book of Mormon usage of “conversing”
is consistent with deeply spiritual and significant reflection, not
idle chat.
Jones
also draws some practical lessons from his exploration of these
topics. For example, those who gathered there, just 2,500 of the
Nephites, according to Jones, were exercising faith and diligently
obeying in a difficult time. They were greatly blessed for their
faith and diligence in coming to the temple as directed to
participate in a major religious gathering. Many others apparently
weren’t so diligent. There are lessons for us in that
experience.
Jones
also observes that Nephi’s mistake has been written into
scripture, reminding us that we should not lose faith in our day if
there are mistakes among our mortal leaders that later require
correction, even later intervention through revelation from the Lord
to repair. We also learn, of course, that there is much more waiting
to be revealed, and that we must patiently wait upon the Lord for
further knowledge in the future.
The
reader should realize that some passages of the book seem lengthier
than needed. Jones often pursues tangential issues and illustrates
some points with a multitude of examples after the reader should
already be convinced and ready to move on. Clear chapter headings may
help the reader to simply jump to the next section in those cases
where further discussion may seem unnecessary. However, the
tangential issues often bring out further insights into the Book of
Mormon and the Atonement, and should not be skimmed too quickly. But
I could readily imagine that tighter editorial constraints might have
made this book shorter, yet just as valuable.
Jones’
work is a significant contribution to our study of the Book of
Mormon, in spite of being focused on what some may see as a very
minor issue. But understanding the most important event in the Book
of Mormon, and one of the most important events in all of recorded
history, the visit of the Resurrected Lord to a people in the
Americas, is worth digging into details. As we dig and explore, we
come away not only with a much better appreciation of the reality of
that event, but also of the grittiness and hardiness of the Book of
Mormon text itself, where there are many rewards for those who take
it seriously and dig into the text.
One
of the most important lessons from this book is just how deep and
worthy of study the Book of Mormon is. It is not the shallow,
ridiculous text lampooned by critics who have rarely touched the
book, much less studied it. It is a rich and detailed text that bears
fruit from intricate study of its internal treasures. Digging into
the book helps illustrate that it is an ancient text, written by
multiple ancient writers with different styles, translated in our day
through the power of God. It is an imperfect book, having been
through human hands, but a divinely inspired one that will bless our
lives as we seek to learn its lessons for our day.
Author: Clifford P. Jones
Title: The Great & Marvelous Change
Publisher: Herald Books
Date of Publication: December 16, 2012
Softcover, 9” x 6”
Pages: 230
ISBN: 978-0-9887512-0-0
Price: $12.99
Available at Amazon.com
Jeff Lindsay has been defending the Church on the Internet since 1994, when he launched his
LDSFAQ website under JeffLindsay.com. He has also long been blogging about LDS matters on
the blog Mormanity (mormanity.blogspot.com). Jeff is a longtime resident of Appleton,
Wisconsin, who recently moved to Shanghai, China, with his wife, Kendra.
He works for an Asian corporation as head of intellectual property. Jeff and Kendra are the parents of 4 boys, 3 married and the the youngest on a mission.
He is a former innovation and IP consultant, a former professor, and former Corporate Patent
Strategist and Senior Research Fellow for a multinational corporation.
Jeff Lindsay, Cheryl Perkins and Mukund Karanjikar are authors of the book Conquering
Innovation Fatigue (John Wiley & Sons, 2009).
Jeff has a Ph.D. in Chemical Engineering from Brigham Young University and is a registered US
patent agent. He has more than 100 granted US patents and is author of numerous publications.
Jeff's hobbies include photography, amateur magic, writing, and Mandarin Chinese.