Book of Mormon Evidence: Gradation Parallelism

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Scripture Central

Abstract

The Book of Mormon’s use of a parallelism known as “gradation” appears to be intentional, rhetorically appropriate, and consistent with the text’s own claimed ancient Near Eastern literary background.

Gradation in the Bible

A parallel structure known as “gradation”¹ can be found in both the Old and New Testaments. As described by Donald W. Parry, this parallelism “occurs when the same word or words are found in successive clauses or sentences.”² As demonstrated in the following examples, “This duplication of words creates a continuation of thought from one sentence to the next, which adds power through repetition to the discourse, while at the same time connecting the lines into an inseparable body”:³

Hosea 2:19–23:

And it shall come to pass in that day,

I will hear, saith the Lord,

I will hear the

heavens, and

they shall hear the

Earth and the

earth shall hear the

corn, and the wine, and the oil; and

they shall hear Jezreel.

Joel 1:3–4:

Tell ye

your children of it, and let

your children tell

their children, and

their children another generation. That which the palmerworm hath left hath the

locust eaten; and that which the

locust hath left hath the

cankerworm eaten; and that which the

cankerworm hath left hath the

caterpiller eaten.

Romans 5:3–5:

And not only so, but we glory in

tribulations also: knowing that

tribulation worketh

patience; And

patience,

experience; and

experience,

hope: And

hope maketh not ashamed …

2 Peter 1:5–7:

And beside this, giving all diligence, add to your faith

virtue; and to

virtue

knowledge; And to

knowledge

temperance; and to

temperance

patience; and to

patience

godliness; And to

godliness

brotherly kindness; and to

brotherly kindness charity.

Papyrus Bodmer VII contains 2 Peter 1:1-5. Image via wikipedia.org.

Gradation in the Book of Mormon

In his reformatted edition of the Book of Mormon, Parry identified numerous examples of gradation (see Appendix). While it can never be demonstrated that any parallelism was intentionally implemented, it is hard to imagine that some of Parry’s proposed examples of gradation occurred by pure coincidence. For instance, notice how the following samples from Alma are very compact. Each repeated concept is important to the message, each repetition closely follows the previous one, and there are few instances of random repetition of content-rich words:

Alma 42:17–20:

Now, how could a man repent except he should

sin? How could he

sin if there was no

law? How could there be a

law save there was a

punishment? Now, there was a

punishment affixed, and a just

law given, which brought remorse of conscience unto man. Now, if there was no

law given—if a man murdered he should

die—would he be afraid he would

die if he should murder? And also, if there was no law given against

sin men would not be afraid to

sin.

Alma 42:22–23:

… if not so, the works of justice would be destroyed, and God would

cease to be God. But God

ceaseth not to be God, and

mercy claimeth the penitent, and

mercy cometh because of the

atonement; and the

atonement bringeth to pass the

resurrection of the dead; and the

resurrection of the dead bringeth back men into the

presence of God; and thus they are restored into his

presence, to be judged according to their works …

Some consistencies are also noteworthy. All of the proposed instances of gradation in the Book of Mormon appear to be derived from first-hand statements usually found in embedded or underlying documents, rather than in editorial commentary from Mormon or Moroni. Most examples can be found in sermons, letters, and prophecies.⁴ The single proposed instance that appears in historical narrative (1 Nephi 7:20–22) seems somewhat less convincing in regard to its intentionality.⁵

"Ye Shall Have My Words" by Judy Mehr. Nephi repeatedly used gradation in his apocalyptic visions and prophecies contained in 1 Nephi 12-15.

Also of interest is that several proposed examples cluster together in a single author’s prophecy or teachings. Nephi used gradation in four successive chapters that detail his expansive visions and prophecies about the Messiah and his people (see 1 Nephi 12:19–13:5; 13:23–24; 14:1–3; 15:13–20). Alma used three instances of gradation when instructing his son Corianton (see Alma 41:13; 42:17–20; 42:22–23). And Moroni used the structure twice in the very last chapter of the Book of Mormon (see Moroni 10:20–22, 32–34).

These clusters seem indicative of authors who made a conscious choice to repeatedly utilize this parallel structure for certain reasons on certain occasions. The way that the structure builds upon successive ideas, for example, was likely ideal for Alma’s delineation of the nature of law and punishment (Alma 42:17–20) or for Moroni’s doctrinal explanation of faith, hope, and charity (Moroni 10:20–22).

Conclusion

Although not as elusive or as difficult to implement as some other parallel structures, such as chiasmus, gradation is still a noteworthy parallelism. Its attestations in the Book of Mormon are rhetorically meaningful and consistent with the text’s claimed ancient Near Eastern literary background.

Evidence #28 | September 19, 2020

Book of Mormon Evidence: Gradation Parallelism