Smooth Words and Slippery Things: Samuel the Lamanite's Prophetic Use of Hebrew lq

by Matthew L. Bowen

Overview

Abstract: Samuel the Lamanite expressly drew on the words of Isaiah (Isaiah 30:10) and possibly Jeremiah (Jeremiah 23:12) with a clever, powerful wordplay on forms of the Hebrew verbal root ḥlq: ḥălāqôt ("flattering words," literally "smooth things") and ḥălaqlaqqôt ("slippery [things]") in Helaman 13:28–36. This wordplay established a genetic relationship between yielding oneself to those who "speak flattering words unto [us]" (Helaman 13:28) and material riches and treasures becoming "slippery that [we] cannot hold them" (Helaman 13:31, 36). This use of smooth/slippery, closely tied to the discussion in the Hebrew Bible of giving heed to false prophets over true prophets, is thus an apt marker of Samuel's meaning, and perhaps also of his training. Samuel's pronouncement of this unique curse, linguistically correlated with rejecting prophetic words, described a loss of worldly wealth and vividly depicted the accompanying spiritual desolation of slippery ways and dark places. Mormon and Moroni offered their latter-day readers a way out of the cycle of "slippery" possessions and destruction that befell the Jaredites and the Nephites: Jesus Christ, who showed us how to lay up treasures in heaven. Mormon's preservation of Samuel's prophetic wordplay stands as a significant, additional confirmation of the ancient provenance of the text.

Product Details

BN ID:	2940184704524
Publisher:	Interpreter Foundation
Publication date:	07/10/2025
Series:	Interpreter: A Journal of Latter-day Saint Faith and Scholarship , #66
Sold by:	Barnes & Noble
Format:	eBook
File size:	394 KB

About the Author

Matthew L. Bowen was raised in Orem, Utah, and graduated from Brigham Young University. He holds a PhD in Biblical Studies from the Catholic University of America in Washington, DC, and is currently a professor in religious education at Brigham Young University-Hawaii. He is also the author of Name as Key-Word: Collected Essays on Onomastic Wordplay and the Temple in Mormon Scripture (Salt Lake City: Interpreter Foundation and Eborn Books, 2018) and Ancient Names in the Book of Mormon: Toward a Deeper Understanding of a Witness of Christ (Salt Lake City: Interpreter Foundation and Eborn Books, 2023). With Aaron P. Schade, he is the coauthor of The Book of Moses: From the Ancient of Days to the Latter Days (Provo, UT; Salt Lake City: Religious Studies Center and Deseret Book, 2021). He and his wife (the former Suzanne Blattberg) are the parents of three children: Zachariah, Nathan, and Adele.