Keywords

Book of Mormon, Priestly Blessings, Divine Acts

Document Type

Article

Abstract

A few years ago, Matthew J. Grey drew renewed attention to the language of 3 Nephi 19:25 as reflecting the language of Numbers 6:24–27,2 a text sometimes called the Priestly Blessing. As far as I am aware, no study has thus far examined the influence of the Priestly Blessing in the Book of Mormon beyond 3 Nephi 19. Nevertheless, it appears that such influence exists. In this brief study, I examine how the influence of the Priestly Blessing in the Book of Mormon extends beyond Mormon’s description of Jesus’s priestly ministration at the temple in Bountiful to at least three other short blessings in the Book of Mormon pronounced by high priests of the Nephite church—two by Alma the Younger and one by his son Helaman. (This thesis assumes that the text of Numbers 6:24–27 existed in some form upon the plates of brass, as on the silver scrolls of Ketef Hinnom, and that Hebrew continued as a major part of the spoken and written language resources of the Nephites.) It further appears that, along with Nephi’s statement in 1 Nephi 12:10–11, Alma’s blessing upon the people of Gideon may have influenced Mormon’s description of Jesus’s blessing and the “whiteness” of the disciples’ garments in 3 Nephi 19:25. Although the Melchizedek Priesthood appears to have been

comparatively widespread in Nephite society and the Aaronic Priesthood less so, this Aaronic Priesthood blessing appears to have exerted its power on Nephite writers as late as Mormon. Chronologically speaking, 3 Nephi 19:25 represents the last of the Priestly Blessing texts, and Mormon there demonstrates how thoroughly the Savior can fulfill all that earlier priestly types and scriptures express in terms of hopes for “good things to come” (Hebrews 9:11; 10:1). This study will focus more on how the Book of Mormon’s ancient prophets and authors used the Priestly Blessing of Numbers 6:24–27 in their writings, rather than on how the Nephites used Priestly Blessings as a matter of everyday religious praxis.