Modern revelations compiled in the Doctrine and Covenants contain similarities to the language used in ancient revelations in the Bible, said D. Kelly Ogden at the Sidney B. Sperry Symposium Oct. 19.
"Although the one record is distanced from the other in time and space - thousands of years and thousands of miles apart - there are remarkable parallels in language style and expression," said Brother Ogden of the BYU Department of Ancient Scripture.One reason for the similarities, Brother Ogden said, is that Joseph Smith, the receiver of most of the latter-day revelations, grew up in the revivalist culture of western New York and was known to be a student of the Bible. So, he concluded, certainly Bible language could appear in both writings.
"But, in addition to that," Brother Ogden continued, "if the author of the revelations in both cases is the same Person, shouldn't some similarities be apparent? Would an author, even God, use similar kinds of expressions addressing such different peoples in such separate settings?"
Reading 2 Ne. 29:8, 11, Brother Ogden said, "Know ye not that the testimony of two nations is a witness unto you that I am God, that I remember one nation like unto another? Wherefore, I speak the same words unto one nation like unto another. And when the two nations shall run together the testimony of the two nations shall run together also. . . . For I command all men, both in the east and in the west . . . that they shall write the words which I speak unto them."
Therefore, Brother Ogden said, one would expect to see similarities in phraseology and figures of speech used in the two scriptural records. He noted that there are many familiar-sounding words and expressions.
"Not only are actual Hebrew terms such as amen, Satan, sabaoth, seraph, and hosanna employed in modern scripture, but many standard idiomatic phrases are represented, such as `children of men,' `children of Israel,' `house of Israel,' `house of David,' and `house of Judah.' "
In his presentation, Brother Ogden listed hundreds of other similar phrases used in both the Bible and the Doctrine and Covenants.