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Half Way Between Second Nephi and
Moroni |
When I was living in my parents' home in Fountain Green, Utah, I used to
jokingly give directions to our place by saying it is "half way between
Second Nephi and Moroni," referring to Interstate 15 exit 225 in Nephi
Utah, which is the second of three exits coming from either the North or the
South on I-15 and the town Moroni just beyond Fountain Green. My
parent's home is about a twelve minute drive to either town.
Having said this so many times, one day (May 4, 1997 to be exact), I got
curious as to what might be found "half way between Second Nephi and
Moroni" in the scriptures. I pulled out my Book or Mormon and noted
the page number where the book of Second Nephi ends. It is half way down
page 117 (117 ½). Then I looked up where the book of Moroni
begins. It is half way down page 518 (518 ½). I then calculated
that the midpoint between these two locations in the Book of Mormon would be
the very first verse on page 318, whatever that was.
I then opened to that page and started reading. The first complete
phrase is:
"...they were gathered together in one body in the valley..."
(Alma 43:15.)
That struck me because I had been talking just in the past 24 hours with a
couple of my dearest friends about moving here to Fountain Green with
us. In fact one of my friends from Pocatello was paying us a visit at
the time, and ended up looking very seriously at buying some property and
building next to us. There are many like-minded patriot Saints moving to
the valley, recognizing it as a place of refuge for when the tribulations are
poured out upon the backsliding people of this nation in the days to come.
What comes before and after that phrase is astonishingly fitting of the
idea of "half way between Second Nephi and Moroni," speaking of the
directions of how to drive here. Nephi is mentioned prior to the verse,
and Moroni is mentioned following the verse. Even the word
"driven" is included. I will quote the verses with my
comments indicated in [brackets].
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Half Way Between
II Nephi and Moroni
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50 And they began to stand against the Lamanites
with power; and in that selfsame hour that they cried unto the
Lord for their freedom [many patriots gathering in Sanpete
Valley, including in Fountain Green], the Lamanites began to flee
before them; and they fled even to the waters of Sidon.
51 Now, the Lamanites were more numerous, yea, by more than double [II/Second] the number
of the Nephites [Nephi];
nevertheless, they were driven
[driving] inso-
[<<p.318>>]
much that they were gathered together in one body in the valley [Sanpete
Valley], upon the bank by the river Sidon.
52 Therefore the armies of Moroni
[name of town just South of F.G.] encircled
them about [half way between Nephi and Moroni], yea,
even on both sides of the river, for behold, on the east were the men
of Lehi.
53 Therefore when Zerahemnah saw the men of Lehi [Nephi] on the east [North of F.G.] of
the river Sidon, and the armies of Moroni
[Moroni] on the west
[South of F.G.] of the river Sidon, that they were encircled about by
the Nephites, they were struck with terror.
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Note about Pages 318:
On March 22, 1998, I discovered that the location of the insertion point of the word
"middle" in the LDS Topical guide, with surrounding words
mentioned above, is page 318 -- the very same page number as this
midway point between Second Nephi and Moroni.
Word 318 (0*9(!) in the OT lexicon
means "at the last."
Word 318 in the NT lexicon means "necessity." See
write-up on "Jesus Christ:
Necessary and Sufficient." One of the synonyms that Zodhiates
gives for word 318 is word 5532, chreia, which is the etymological
root of word 888, achreios. 888 is the sum of the numeric
values of the letters that spell Jesus in Greek. See write-up on "888 and 'Without Hands'."
Another synonym Zodhiates gives (actually
twice) for word 318 is 1163, dei "it is necessary."
I find this personally relevant inasmuch as 11 is the month I was born, '63
was the year, and the Greek word for 1163 is dei, which
transliterated sounds like "day." [More birthday links below.]
On page 318 of Gesenius' OT lexicon is found word 2891
(9%)), which is the
one-third-of-the-way-through point. The total number of words in the
OT lexicon, 8674 x 1/3 = 2891.3
It means "(1) to shine, to be bright; noon; (2) to be or become
clean, or pure (a) in a physical
sense; (b) in a Levitical sense; (c) in a moral
sense." The word Gesenius lists immediately before it likewise
means "pure, clear, unmixed, unalloyed, e.g. as of gold." [match word 1505 "purity"
below]
The "moral" purification has to do with the first Messianic
advent. The "physical" has to do with the Second.
Page 318 of Zodhiates' NT lexicon
is the ninth of a twelve-page definition for baptizo. The
first string of words on the page is "physically introduces a person
into the kingdom of God." This is a perfect yin/yang contrast
between the first and second Messianic advents. The first advent
brought about spiritual salvation, to which salvation Baptism is part of the
gate into the walk as a disciple. The second advent is more about a
physical introduction of the kingdom or government of God.
Note about "Valley" and
"River" and Aleph
The address of my parent's home is 650
West Big Springs Road. They are about a mile down from the spring
that provides culinary and irrigation water for that end of the
valley. My parents built their home right on the wash where a small
trickle of waters still flows on occasion. They build a diversion
canal to go around their home. With this in mind, consider now the
definition of word 650 in the Old Testament Hebrew lexicon (Gesenius):
650 8*5! (1) a
channel, tube, so called from the idea of containing. (a) a channel, bed
of a stream; (b) a brook, a stream; (c) a valley itself, especially as
watered by a stream. (2) strong, robust
"Strong" is also the definition of the Hebrew word "allon"
(440 0&-!) which is the closest word
in the Bible to our last name, Allan. The word just after that is aleph (441 4&-!) which is the name of the first
letter of the Hebrew alphabet.
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