Concerning the Brass Plates (21 July 1921)

CONCERNING THE BRASS PLATES.

By Thomas W. Brookbank.

(Continued from page 436).

Attention is now particularly requested to the circumstance that the mirror, or brass plate, upon which Isaiah was com­manded to make the record of his prophecy is not spoken of as something with which he was not already familiar, since no instructions were given him as to how the plate should be fashioned, nor of what material it should be made, etc. There is a strong inference sanctioned thereby that that particular plate was not the first one by any means that had been used in a similar manner. From this standpoint it appears that the idea of greatness which is associated with the roll, or mirror, or plate of brass, does not have reference to the dimensions—length and breadth—of that one particular plate; but rather to a number of similar plates which together formed a great roll, or book.

While freely acknowledging the learning of the reverend author of the foregoing quotation, we think he made a manifest oversight of conditions when he was penning one of his state­ments, and so the liberty is taken of challenging the correctness of his position. The Doctor says that the reason Isaiah had witnesses present when he did the recording of his prophecy was that it might be made sure that the prophecy was uttered and written before the events occurred. But is it not very evident that the writing of the prophecy, even in seclusion and without a single witness, and its prompt publication among the people would be all that would be necessary in order to show beyond the reach of successful denial that it had been published before the events to which it related took place? By writing it before­hand and then simply handing the copy over to the Priesthood for perusal and care, Isaiah could have got all the witnesses having the knowledge in mind that the case required. The  writer is of the opinion that the prophet had a far different object in mind for taking those two men with him when about to do the work of recording the word which the Lord had just given to him.

And now, what was his object? Having shown quite clearly from entirely disinterested sources that the ancient Israelites did record Scripture on brass plates, indirect confirmation is thereby given to the Book of Mormon statement that Lehi and his people did get possession of some sacred brass plates upon which the prophecies of Isaiah, together with other Scriptures, were written. Now, since neither Jew nor Gentile of the Old World is able to tell us what has become of a single one of those brass plates, what is more reasonable than to think that they actually were carried away by Lehi? There is certainly good ground for taking this position, since the sudden disappearance of the plates from among the Palestinian Jews is fully accounted for in this way, and in no other way so rationally, and it follows, too, that the plates were engraved in Egyptian hieroglyphics, just as the Book of Mormon claims; for whatever the probability (aside from what the Nephite records say in the matter) that Lehi did get Isaiah’s sacred plates, there goes along with it the same probability that the plates were engraved in Egyptian char­acters. We can not think that a people who would give their all and risk their lives to obtain possession of the word of God, would make a false statement respecting the system of writing employed when that word was engraved on certain brass plates. From this point of view a very plausible reason why Isaiah took witnesses with him when he made a record of his prophecy on them is quite apparent. The translation of the Hebrew into Egyptian hieroglyphics was not an easy matter by any means, and if we allow that the prophet took with him men who were skilled in such work of translation in order that the greatest accuracy posssible might be attained through a critical selection of the proper character to be used as the work progressed, there will be no question in the mind of any reasonable person as to the wisdom or necessity of having witnesses or assistants present when the recording of Isaiah’s prophecy was done. The parties directly concerned in the prophetic utterances, besides every Jewish priest, together with the rest of the Israelitish people, and more than all, God himself, had a right to be assured that the work of translation had been faithfully done and could not be bettered by merely human agencies; and so we think it was done by an agreement of the three men of God respecting the proper character to be used.

On another occasion Isaiah refers to the material or the materi­als upon which his prophecies were to be written, as the follow­ing text manifests: “Now go, write it in a table before them, and note it in a book, that it may be for a time to come for ever and forever” (Isa. 30:8).

More than one kind of material of which ancient books were generally made are referred to directly or indirectly in this passage of Scripture. Some of them are of substances of a quite perishable nature, such as papyrus, parchment, linen cloth, etc., and another, in a class by itself, it is a metal prepared in tablet form for graving upon. The latter part of the text can have no reference to a book which was made of the former kind of materials, and which was to be used on this occasion, since no book of that kind could endure “for ever and for ever." But if we take the words “and note it in a book” to be parenthetical, in which case they may very properly have a place at the close of the verse, the rest of the passage in logical connection will read thus: “Now go, write it in a table” (or tablet) “before them that it may be for ever.” It is apparent that two copies of the prophet’s words on this occasion were to be written—one record to be set down on the ordinary material used in making books, and which very likely was to be used in public services, and which, when worn out by use and age, could have its place supplied by a new copy taken from an uncorrupted standard while a second copy was to be written or engraved on a table, or tablet, unquestion­ably of metal since it was to endure “for ever and forever.” A metal tablet would be indestructible with proper care, and at the same time the record on it could not easily be corrupted. The word of God engraved on metal such as brass, for instance, would serve as a standard of purity till the end of time. This inter­pretation of the text seems to be fully warranted by it phrase­ology. There are so-called Doctors of Divinity who hold that the table, or tablet, in mind was nothing more than a board covered with some kind of wax in which the words were imprinted; but these interpreters of the meaning of the word table, or tablet, in this case evidently must lose sight of the circumstance that the tablet was to endure forever, which a board covered with wax certainly would not do, and it is not consistent with the Lord’s way of doing things for one to think that He would direct His servant Isaiah to write a divine message to His people in any kind of wax spread on a board or other material if He in­tended to have his words endure in purity for ages. A writing in wax could be corrupted with comparative ease by designing, wicked men, while engraving them on brass plates would make corruptions of the text quite difficult, and when the characters used in the writing were Egyptian hieroglyphics alterations in the text were impossible save as a few Israelites who understood the Egyptian were concerned, and any one of them who tampered with the record could be readily detected. The guilty one could not hide himself among a large number of Jewish Egyptologists, for no large number of them existed, as one may think.

It is to be remarked, too, that Isaiah was directed to make the record of the prophecy in hand “before them,” that is, before witnesses as the evident sense of the words signify. This is precisely the same formality which the prophet was required to observe on another occasion when, as we have already seen, he wrote one of his prophecies on the brass plate, or mirror, and which in our common Protestant Bibles is called a “great roll.” Save that there is in this instance a command to note a copy of the prophecy in a book, the text in hand practically contains nothing more or less than is found in Isaiah 8:1, 2, and therefore the respective passages point with about equal force to the conclusion: (1) that the Israelites did write Scripture on brass plates, (2) that the writing was done by the use of Egyptian characters, though the second conclusion is not so manifest as is the first one.

Another text where the use is mentioned of tables, or tablets, for writing upon is found in Habakkuk 2:2, and reads thus: “Write the vision in a book and make it plain upon tables.” Interpreting this passage in the light of the quotation from Isaiah 30:8, the meaning apparently is that the vision should be written upon tables, or tablets, that should “be for a time to come for ever and for ever.” Since the evident purpose in writing Isaiah’s prophecies on tablets was to ensure their uncorrupted preservation for ages, why should we not conclude that the vision given to Habakkuk was written on tablets with a like object also in view, and, consequently, was to be engraved on metal, which, it goes without saying, would be of a kind identical with that used by Isaiah, namely, brass, in order that the whole book or collection of sacred plates might be of uniform material. It is to be noticed, too, that it is only when the order is given to write the vision on tablets that the command to “make it plain” is expressed. It is not illogical, therefore, to conclude that the injunction concerning the plainness with which the writing on tablets was to be executed, were but another way of telling Habakkuk to take witnesses or assistants along with him when lie did the recording, just as we have seen that Isaiah did in order that his prophecies might be made plain when written on metal plates. Habakkuk was not directed to make the vision plain when he wrote it in the book which, doubtless being intended for public service, would be written in the common language of the people, of which the prophet very probably had a very ready knowledge, and so could himself do the work acceptably to the Lord; but there evidently was some special reason why Habakkuk was commanded to make the vision plain when writing upon tablets, and the explanation of the matter as just given seems quite plausible in view of what Isaiah was commanded to do when he wrote certain of his prophecies on metal plates.

There is enough said in the text from Habakkuk and elsewhere in the Biblical Scriptures, by the Chaldee paraphrasts, by the Jewish rabbins and by Dr. Clarke to show unmistakeably that the Israelites made use anciently not only of papyrus, parchment and other perishable materials upon which to write the word of God, but that they also wrote it upon metal tablets made of brass. We find, too, that plates which were certainly made use of by Isaiah and Habakkuk respectively on three different occasions, when three different prophecies were recorded, were quite numerous enough, when of a convenient size, to make a respectable and remarkable collection—enough to make a note­worthy book or roll, to speak in ancient Jewish terms, and capable of withstanding the ravages of time, being made of brass’.

(To be continued.)