Slippery Treasures In The Bom Revisted

[bjw]

I remember back when I was an investigator, before joining the church, one of the things that would make me doubt the Book of Mormon from time-to-time was the thing about slippery treasures in the Book of Mormon and the critics charge that Joseph stole the concept from the Captain Kidd pirate legend. Now, of course we all know that this was an ancient concept and that FARMS has shown that the concept appears in both Proverbs in the Old Testament and the Egyptian scripture Instructions of Amenemope. (See this if you are unfamiliar with the issue: http://maxwellinstitute.byu.edu/display.ph...ghts&id=140)

I bought the Hugh Nibley video set "Lectures on the Pearl of Great Price" that includes 29 hours of lecture from Nibley on the Pearl of Great Price. In the lecture called "Destruction" on disc 3 he reads one of the "slippery treasures" passages from the Book of Mormon and says that Samuel the Lamanite is quoting a prophecy from the Book of Enoch. I had never heard this before. Is anyone on here familiar with the Book of Enoch or what the Book of Enoch says about a warning that if riches are gained by robbery God will curse the land causing them to become slippery and sink into the ground?

Actually, what I think of when I hear the slippery treasures concept is the story of Korah in Numbers 16:31-33. It looks like this may have been one of the earliest concepts of slippery treasures since it appears in the fourth book of the Old Testament. I'm surprise FARMS didn't put this or the Enoch reference in their article. Any thoughts?

[SeattleTruthSeeker]

I remember back when I was an investigator, before joining the church, one of the things that would make me doubt the Book of Mormon from time-to-time was the thing about slippery treasures in the Book of Mormon and the critics charge that Joseph stole the concept from the Captain Kidd pirate legend. Now, of course we all know that this was an ancient concept and that FARMS has shown that the concept appears in both Proverbs in the Old Testament and the Egyptian scripture Instructions of Amenemope. (See this if you are unfamiliar with the issue: http://maxwellinstitute.byu.edu/display.ph...ghts&id=140)

I bought the Hugh Nibley video set "Lectures on the Pearl of Great Price" that includes 29 hours of lecture from Nibley on the Pearl of Great Price. In the lecture called "Destruction" on disc 3 he reads one of the "slippery treasures" passages from the Book of Mormon and says that Samuel the Lamanite is quoting a prophecy from the Book of Enoch. I had never heard this before. Is anyone on here familiar with the Book of Enoch or what the Book of Enoch says about a warning that if riches are gained by robbery God will curse the land causing them to become slippery and sink into the ground?

Actually, what I think of when I hear the slippery treasures concept is the story of Korah in Numbers 16:31-33. It looks like this may have been one of the earliest concepts of slippery treasures since it appears in the fourth book of the Old Testament. I'm surprise FARMS didn't put this or the Enoch reference in their article. Any thoughts?

I don't think there is ever a mention of such a concept in the Coptic Version of Enoch or the Syrac Version of Enoch.

[bjw]

I don't think there is ever a mention of such a concept in the Coptic Version of Enoch or the Syrac Version of Enoch.

I'm gonna go back and watch the video again. I wish he would have gave some kind of reference to Enoch. I think I might buy the Book of Mormon DVD set to see if he mentions this when he treats the Samuel the Lamanite passage. Anyone have any other ideas as to what Nibley might have been talking about?

[snipe123]

I'm gonna go back and watch the video again. I wish he would have gave some kind of reference to Enoch. I think I might buy the Book of Mormon DVD set to see if he mentions this when he treats the Samuel the Lamanite passage. Anyone have any other ideas as to what Nibley might have been talking about?

If it was Hugh Nibley, then chances are this little snipit of information will be the subject of a paper written by a lesser scholar some time down the road, since he is usually the first person to find or come up with an idea...Sometimes he expounds on the topic, and sometimes his small mention of a subject will inspire someone else to study the subject...That is the magic of Hugh Nibley...I have his BofM class on my CHristmas list... :) He was an amazing scholar and man...

[Sheelah]

I have the first two books of his BoM class. Wow, takes him like 10 classes to get past first chapter of Nephi. All I see is "I, Nephi, being born of goodly parents..." and he sees tons of confirmation of the times. What an amazing man. I didn't realize they were on DVD, I may have to add them to my Christmas list too :)

[snipe123]

I have the first two books of his BoM class. Wow, takes him like 10 classes to get past first chapter of Nephi. All I see is "I, Nephi, being born of goodly parents..." and he sees tons of confirmation of the times. What an amazing man. I didn't realize they were on DVD, I may have to add them to my Christmas list too :)

I have his collected works...they are amazing books...The best one is "The World and the Prophets" which is about the apostasy...absolutely great! It is a series of radio lectures that he gave in the 50's...can also be purchased and listened to on cd...

[bjw]

If it was Hugh Nibley, then chances are this little snipit of information will be the subject of a paper written by a lesser scholar some time down the road, since he is usually the first person to find or come up with an idea...Sometimes he expounds on the topic, and sometimes his small mention of a subject will inspire someone else to study the subject...That is the magic of Hugh Nibley...I have his BofM class on my CHristmas list... :) He was an amazing scholar and man...

On MADB Fox Goku and Cold Steel thought that the closest reference Nibley could have been referring to is

1 Enoch 94:8

But woe unto the rich, for ye have trusted in your riches, and from you your riches shall depart.

It looks like Nibley may have been onto something afterall. I too am going to get the BoM lectures next. The PoGP lectures were excellent, something I wish every doubter of the PoGP could read. Does he also have lectures on the D&C and the Bible? I'd like to buy more lectures by him. I just hate it he is dead because I would have loved to have met him.

[snipe123]

On MADB Fox Goku and Cold Steel thought that the closest reference Nibley could have been referring to is

1 Enoch 94:8

But woe unto the rich, for ye have trusted in your riches, and from you your riches shall depart.

It looks like Nibley may have been onto something afterall. I too am going to get the BoM lectures next. The PoGP lectures were excellent, something I wish every doubter of the PoGP could read. Does he also have lectures on the D&C and the Bible? I'd like to buy more lectures by him. I just hate it he is dead because I would have loved to have met him.

He has an incredible lecture on the atonement, one about Anti-Mormon literature called: How to Write an Anti-Mormon book (awesome) and his Radio lecture series called The World and the Prophets is also out on cd...all his lectures are amazing...His books are as well...

[Doctor Steuss]

On MADB Fox Goku and Cold Steel thought that the closest reference Nibley could have been referring to is

1 Enoch 94:8

But woe unto the rich, for ye have trusted in your riches, and from you your riches shall depart.

It looks like Nibley may have been onto something afterall. I too am going to get the BoM lectures next. The PoGP lectures were excellent, something I wish every doubter of the PoGP could read. Does he also have lectures on the D&C and the Bible? I'd like to buy more lectures by him. I just hate it he is dead because I would have loved to have met him.

I believe there's something within the Masonic Enoch legend that might fit. IIRC, there was a treasure that Enoch buried that was to only be regained by an Israelite, and it would be unatainable (perhaps "slippery"[?]) to all others. Perhaps someone more knowledgable with Masonic Enoch lore might have a reference (it was a long, long time ago when I read it).