588-Page Book of Mormon in Alphabetics

READ: Section 7

Page 588 in Thayer's NT Lexicon

Another New Testament lexicon I like to check from time to time is Thayer's.

Three of the words on this page, 4739 - 4741, have the meaning, "to stand firm, set fast."

This ties to what was saw of word 531 in the NT lexicon -- 531 being the number of pages in the current LDS editions of the Book of Mormon.

531 aparabatos  
   Unchangeable.  Only in Heb. 7:24, speaking of the unchangeable, eternal priesthood of Christ.  Contrasted to the Jewish high priesthood which was passed from father to son and successor and was liable to be violated and transgressed (Heb. 7:11), Christ's priesthood cannot be transferred to another; it is final.
   Syn. (1476) and (277), immovable; (276), unchangeable; (4731), solid, stable, steadfast; (949), firm.
   Ant. (2000), insecure.

These definitions overlaps a quintessential word in Hebrew, spelled with the first, middle, and last words of the Hebrew alphabet: aleph, mem, tet (calling to mind the idea of Alpha and Omega, the beginning and end).

571 emeth (1) Firmness, stability, perpetuity. (2) faithfulness, fidelity, in which any one is consistent and performs promises. (3) probity, uprightness, integrity of mind... also sincerity. (4) truth.  Applied to the word of God.
[quoting from Gesenius.]

Another link from page 588 of Thayer's to a previous study is found in word 4742, which means "a mark pricked in or branded upon the body."  This word is used in Rev. 14:9 talking about the mark of the beast.

In our study on John D. Lee, the first thing we looked up was the number of the year of his birth.

1812 hexakosioi  Six hundred (Rev. 13:18; 14:20)

I mentioned that I relate to this because my address is 666 S. 60 E., Ephraim, UT.  "Ephraim" is on page 666 of the LDS Bible Dictionary.  I did a write-up on how I came to have this address, which is so ironic considering that the most visited page of my website has been the index on 666, lamenting how the LDS Church is virtually silent on the subject -- which is one of the most relevant issues of our day.  There is an opposite for everything.

This was one of the proofs set forth that I was John D. Lee in a previous life.

Well, it turns out that word 4742, stigma (on p. 588 of Thayer's) immediately follows the insertions point of the spelling of Sterling in Greek letters.

copy of Zodhiates, word 4742

Word 4740, sterigmos, two words prior to the insertion point of my first name, means "A setting firmly, stability, for instance of the stars."  The name Sterling actually derives etymologically from starling because of the star imprinted on British silver coins.

Word 4743, stigme, means "A point of time, figuratively referring to the briefest moment."  It gives "atom" as a synonym.

I see this as a link to my Dad, from whom I get my surname, Allan.  He has done Nobel prize quality work in the area of time and frequency metrology.  The "Allan Variance," is an algorithm that is still used today in time measurement, which is the most precise measurement known to man.  They can measure time to the accuracy of the time it takes light to travel about 10 cm.  I was born in Boulder, CO where he worked with the U.S. Bureau of Standards' atomic clock.  I also happen to have inherited my enthusiasm for the scriptures from him.

As one can see from the greaterthings.com website, and in particular the extensive listing of unique studies on the Book of Mormon, I've had a lot to do with the Book of Mormon in my present life, commencing with a book I wrote in 1988 called: "The Vision of All: Our Past, Present, and Future as Foretold in Book of Mormon History."  This correlation of my name landing on the page that is the number of pages in the first Book of Mormon is gratifying to me.

John D. Lee was close to the prophet Joseph Smith in his lifetime, serving as a body guard for him in Nauvoo.

Also on this page are the words "brand" and "branch" which are references to the yin/yang, male/female relationship that is to be had by the latter-day servants of God.  The first definition on the page is word 4738, "the breast."

p. 588 Thayer's, beginning with word 4738

It also mentions the word "mourners."  I see this as another allusion to the man-woman relationship, of which polygamy is a perversion, causing tremendous heartbreak to women, even when they try with all their heart to put the best face they can on it.

The very last phrase on page 588 comes from word definition 4747 stoicheion: "1. the letters of the alphabet as" . . . in other words . . . Alphabetics! -- a latter-day method by which truths may be uncovered encoded within the language of scripture.  It is a phenomenon that I discovered back in 1996, and which I am at this moment utilizing to both prove the veracity of the Book of Mormon as well as provide commentary to move us forward in our progression as a people -- toward greater things, as we receive that which we have been given.

Even the very number of this word is fascinating: 4747.  It brings to mind the "days of '47" celebrated in Utah on July 24 in remembrance of the arrival of the saints into the Utah valley.  Today is July 24, 2003 [1:30 am MST], the day I am discovering this correlation for the first time.

p. 588 Thayer's, heading: 4747 (last word on page)

p. 588 Thayer's; last def. on page: 4747
'the letters of the alphabet'

It is also the anniversary of the day Ron and Don Lafferty chose to kill their sister-in-law and her baby -- the story which forms the primary thread of Jon Krakauer's book Under the Banner of Heaven: A Story of Violent Faith.  Today, Jon speaks in Boulder Colorado about his book. (ref)

The next word, which comes on the next page, 4748, stoicheo means "to proceed in a row, go in order," which supports the idea of alphabetics, which lists words in their alphabetic sequence and then considers the numbers associated therewith.

Tangent: Fox Slows to a Trot

[composed on Aug. 1, 2003]

On July 24, which was when I first announced this study, I was driving with my wife and children to go join my wife's father for a celebration of "Pioneer Day."  As we approached Woodland from Kamas, a fox ran in front of us.  Usually foxes dart so quickly across the road you can hardly tell what animal is.  This time, though, as I applied my brakes, this fox slowed to a trot, looked at us, and continued looking at us while it trotted up the embankment on the other side of the road.  It's look seemed to say, "Do I know you?"

I'm curious what this might symbolize.  I'm sure it is significant.

My wife has seen scores of foxes in her life, and never has she seen one do this.  They usually make themselves as scarce as possible.

Tangent: Pioneer Day Parade

[composed on Aug. 2, 2003]

Another thing that happened on July 24 is that I rode with my son and Father-in-law in Kamas, Utah's Pioneer Day Parade..  My wife's father, Gary Moon, is a highly regarded bronze sculptor, and was displaying a near life-size deer he just completed.  We threw candy out the right passenger window of his Jeep Cherokee that was towing a trailer with the deer on it.

After publishing the majority of this 588-Page Book of Mormon in Alphabetics study that morning, in which I presented the possibility that I could have been John D. Lee in a former life, I laughed within myself at the paradox of my being in a parade that day, of all days -- the first time I've been in a parade.  Nary a soul watching the parade that day would have the slightest inkling that such a notorious soul was inadvertently on display before them.

Tangent: Far Side Cartoon and 666 Address

[August 3, 2003]

Yesterday I finally got around to turning my Gary Larson Far Side calendar on the wall over to August.  It features a man standing in front of a door to hell, talking to the Devil who is looking at him with his hands on his hips in disgust.  The man is a painter and has painted 666 up-side down.  The caption reads, "Well, I'll be. ... I must've been holding the dang work order like this!"

As I been preparing this study for completion and final announcement today, I've been struck by the humorous coincidence, seeing as my house address is 666, and I mention that fact in this study as a point of relevance.

Word 588 in the OT Lexicon

[composed July 27, 2003]

The 588th word in the Old Testament Hebrew lexicon is the proper name, Anaharath.  Strong gives its definition as "a gorge or narrow pass."  I think of the scripture

    "Strait is the gate, and narrow is the way, which leadeth unto life" (Matthew 7:14)

That fits the concept of scripture or the word of God, which is compared in the Book of Mormon to a rod of iron that guides one to the tree of life.

The word Anaharath occurs in just one place: Joshua 19:19.

Curious, I thought I would look up that verse to see its context.

There on the same page of scripture just one column over, I saw that I had highlighted in yellow the word Allon, because it is the closest word to my last name, Allan.

The word Allon is used in just two places in the Bible.

I suppose this is of little interest to others, but I found it gratifying to see my name so closely connected with a word that is numbered 588, which is the number of pages of the original Book of Mormon -- another token from heaven in support of the work I've done with so little appreciation on earth.

Allon is word number 440 in the OT lexicon.  That is the street number of the first house I bought, in Provo, UT:  814 N. 440 W.  A few years later, I rented a room just down the street less than a block away.

Don't ask me how the angels orchestrate all this, but I've seen too many such correlations to think they are pure coincidence without any divine oversight.

The word before word 588 in the OT lexicon is anakhnoo meaning "we: -- ourselves, us."  The word after 588 is anee meaning "I."

This again ties into the idea posited above that we were all involved in creating the scriptures before we were born and in revealing them to man for our instruction in mortality (word 582 enoshe means "mortal"); and that the scriptures have a way of awaking the divine [or the demon, in the case of fanaticism devoid of conscience] within us.

Gesenius renders word 589 "I (am)."

Gesenius' comment on word 589 says, "it is joined to the first person of the verb, especially in the books of the silver age.."

Two things come to mind with that little hint.  First, the idea of a precious metal, in the context of the Book of Mormon:  gold plates.  Second, the connection between my name, Sterling, and silver.

In pointing out these apparent witnesses of myself in relation to the Book of Mormon, I do not purport to set myself above another, for I believe that we are all of divine heritage, and that each of us have within us the divine seed.  I do not consider myself among the greatest, but I see all of us being a part of a complete whole.

We might not all be of the same spiritual age or maturity, but we each share the same spiritual genetics of God.

Another thing I notice in the vicinity of word 588 in my OT lexicon (from word 575 to 602) is several occurrences of notations I made in the margin of names of girls I was interested in prior to settling down and marrying Cheri.  A protagonist might say either that this argues for polygamy, or it argues that one can make anything they want fit.

I mention this in order to be objective in my reporting.  Above, I mentioned something that came up in relation to my wife, and I used it as an opportunity to put in a plug for my views regarding polygamy being a perversion. 

I suppose if one looked hard enough, one could find a correlation for just about everyone on the planet in relation to this study about 588 and the Book of Mormon.

The beauty of this multi-interpretation ability is that the code can never be taken as an absolute.  It is only a guide, to spur the thought juices and nurture inspiration, to help get in touch with the soul.

As for marriage, my observation is that the notion that there is just one person on the earth who is an ideal partner to find tends to get overblown at times.  I can't help but think that there are a good number of people in a given lifetime (believing we have many lifetimes as human beings) who could serve as a great partner in one's life, and that the important thing is to seek to make that relationship the ideal relationship.  Sometimes it may be more important in a given lifetime to be with one person in particular, and the angels are set overtime to help ensure that it happens.  All in all, we are all children of God, and can all benefit one another through our associations.  But when it comes to marriage, one man and one woman is the ideal situation (unless, the purpose of a given lifetime is to learn lessons that come from a less than ideal situation).

Go to: Section 8