Is the Torah “Done Away”?

 

Is the Torah “Done Away”?

In my last article I demonstrated that the Book of Mormon was originally written in a Hebrew dialect using a reformed Egyptian system of writing.  Joesph Smith translated the Book of Mormon through the “gift and power of God”.  This appears to have been a manifestation of the gift of the interpretation of tongues (1Cor. 12:10; Moroni 10:16 (10:11 RLDS)).  This gift was a supernatural knowledge of the interpretation of “languages and diverse kinds of tongues” (Moroni 10:16).  Smith saw a word on the plates and had revealed to him the range of meaning of that word.  What was not revealed to him in this process was the intended meaning of the original author.  It was the gift of translation of languages, not the gift of reading of minds of original authors.  If an original author of a portion of the Book of Mormon used an ambiguous word or phrase, Smith would have had a knowledge of the range of meaning of that word or phrase, but not a knowledge of what the original author intended it to mean.  This manner of translation means that it was possible at times for Smith to translate a word of phrase with a meaning that was a “correct” in the sense that it was a legitimate interpretation of the word or phrase before him, but was not the meaning intended by the original author.

For this reason John Tvetness writes:

Some passages of the Book of Mormon can be better understood in Hebrew than in English because the Hebrew reflects word-play or a range of meaning which gives more sense to the passage.
(The Ensign; Oct. 1986 p.64)

In my last article we looked at several examples. Now let us look at another verse:

And after the law is fulfilled in Christ, that they need not harden their hearts against him when the law ought to be done away.
(2Nephi 25:27b (11:51 RLDS))

This was translated into Hebrew in Selections from the Book of Mormon in Hebrew, published by the Corporation of the President of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints in 1981 as follows:

כי אחרי המלא דבר התורה במשיח
אל להם להקשות את לבם נגדו
בעת אשר התורה צריכה לחלף

The word used for “done away” in the Hebrew here is חלף CHALAF (Strong’s 2498) which can mean “done away” but can also mean “changed, renewed or revived.”  I believe that this translation has recaptured the original Hebrew word, which Nephi used here. 

This is the same word translated in the KJV as “renewed” in Isaiah 40:31 and 41:1:

But they that wait upon the LORD shall renew their strength; they shall mount up with wings as eagles; they shall run, and not be weary; and they shall walk, and not faint.
(Isaiah 40:31 KJV)

Keep silence before me, O islands; and let the people renew their strength: let them come near; then let them speak: let us come near together to judgment.
(Isaiah 41:1 KJV)

Certainly in these verses of Isaiah strength was by no means “done away” with, but it was revived and renewed.

Likewise the Torah is not “done away” with in the 2Nephi 25:27b.  Nephi’s intended meaning was:

And after the Torah is fulfilled in Messiah, that they need not harden their hearts against him when the Torah ought to be RENEWED.

We can clearly this is the intended meaning when Yeshua later testifies to the Nephites:

46 Therefore those things which were of old time,
which were under the law, in me are all fulfilled.
47 Old things are done away,
and all things have become new.
(3Nephi 12:46-47 (5:91-92 RLDS))

Notice here the synonymous poetic parallelism where “done away” and “become new” should be synonymous terms.  This passage should read:

Old things are renewed,
and all things have become new.

Likewise in Moroni 8:8 (8:9 RLDS) circumcision is “renewed” rather than “done away” because we are told that circumcision is for all of our generations forever (Gen. 17:9-14).

And in 3Nephi 9:19 (4:49 RLDS) “sacrifices and burnt offerings” shall be “renewed” rather than “done away”.  As Joseph Smith said:

“These sacrifices, as well as every ordinance belonging to the Priesthood, will, when the Temple of the Lord shall be built, and the sons of Levi be purified, be fully restored and attended to in all their powers, ramifications, and blessings.”
(Teachings of the Prophet Joseph Smith, pp. 172–73 also Documented History of the Church 4:207-212 Oct. 5th, 1840)

Michael Jones