Zenock

In the Book of Mormon, Zenock () is a prophet who predates the events of the book's main plot and whose prophecies and statements are recorded upon brass plates possessed by the Nephites. Nephite prophets quote or paraphrase Zenock several times in the course of the narrative.

In the earliest manuscripts of the Book of Mormon, the intended spelling of Zenock was ''Zenoch'', resembling the biblical ''Enoch''. Oliver Cowdery, who transcribed part of the Book of Mormon, misspelled the name when he copied the text to a printer's manuscript, and that spelling has carried over to almost all published editions of the Book of Mormon.

Background

Joseph Smith, founder of the Latter Day Saint movement, believed and taught that he translated an ancient record on metal plates via miraculous power given by God; Smith dictated to friends who wrote his words down in an intermittent process from 1829 to 1830. The resulting text was published in 1830 as the Book of Mormon, and it is the primary religious text of the Latter Day Saint movement.

In the book's narrative, God tells a man named Lehi, along with his family, to leave Jerusalem to avoid the Babylonian captivity. The family goes to the Americas where they establish a society and live as what Terryl Givens calls "pre-Christian Christians" which eventually splits into two peoples, Nephites and Lamanites. The majority of the book is framed as the retrospective work of its narrators, including Nephi and Mormon, who self-reflexively describe their own creation of the text as a record etched onto metal plates. The plates of the framing narrative are modeled on brass plates that Lehi's family bring with them from Jerusalem. The Book of Mormon describes the brass plates as containing "a record of the Jews", "the law", and scriptures.

Synopsis

Zenock is described as a prophet who lived in the Old World some time after the "days of Abraham". Nephi quotes Zenock, along with Zenos, while enscribing the small plates of Nephi.

The Book of Mormon narrates that Zenock taught that Jesus would be the Son of God, and would die as part of the Christian atonement. Zenock is described as having taught that God was merciful to people because of this. Zenock's prophecies are vaguer than the other Christological prophecies set during the Book of Mormon's main plot, such as those made by Lehi and Nephi. Because of Zenock's teachings, the people he taught persecuted him, banished him, and stoned him to death.

Textual history

The name ''Zenock'' does not appear in the Bible. In almost all published editions of the Book of Mormon, the name of this figure is spelled ''Zenock''. However, the earliest spelling of Zenock's name in Book of Mormon manuscripts was ''Zenoch'' rather than ''Zenock''.. When Joseph Smith dictated the original manuscript of the Book of Mormon for , Oliver Cowdery (who was scribing for Smith at the time) wrote down ''Zenock''. However, he immediately crossed out ''Zenock'' and replaced it with ''Zenoch'', likely prompted by Smith. Spelled ''Zenoch'', the name resembles the biblical name ''Enoch''. However, when Cowdery copied the text into the printer's manuscript, he replaced ''Zenoch'' with ''Zenock''. The name was spelled ''Zenock'' in the 1830 first edition of the Book of Mormon, and the spelling persisted across subsequent editions, including the current edition published by the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (LDS Church). Religious studies scholar Grant Hardy speculates that additional content about Zenock could have existed in "the lost 116 pages", a portion of the original manuscript of the Book of Mormon which Smith and his cohorts lost and never reproduced.

Interpretation

The Book of Mormon narrator Nephi quotes Zenock along with other nonbiblical and biblical prophets as part of a transition of topic and tone in the record he describes himself keeping. The first portion of Nephi's narration pertains to the history and experiences of his family (1 Nephi 1–18). Nephi introduces Zenock and others in 1 Nephi 19–2 Nephi 5 while writing more about spiritual topics. These citations produce what Frederick W. Axelgard calls an "intense prophetic aspect" of the writing, and after citing Zenock and others, Nephi narrates having a spiritual experience. Nephi citing biblical and nonbiblical prophets provides a bridge between the event- and narrative- focused beginning of his record and the more spiritual and prophetic latter part.

A Book of Mormon prophet named Alma cites Zenock during his ministry in the city of Zoram. While teaching a group of economically poor Zoramites, Alma brings up Zenock and how he was misunderstood and made an outcast. The account of Zenock being an oppressed prophet suggests sympathy with the poor Zoramites amid the injustices they face. By quoting Zenock, Alma sets up his companion Amulek's central message calling for the Zoramites to maintain faith in Christ despite their limited circumstances. Citing Zenock also serves a rhetorical purpose against the wealthy Zoramites opposed to Alma. Alma quotes Zenock saying, "Thou art angry, O Lord, with this people, because they will not understand thy mercies which thou hast bestowed upon them because of thy Son". Zenock's reference to people who refused to understand his own messianic prophecies serves as Alma's indirect reference to his audience's rejection of Jesus as described in Alma's message.

While narrating a divine cataclysm that affects the Nephites, Mormon refers to Zenock and affirms that the events confirmed Zenock's prophecies. As narrator, Mormon presents Zenock's prophecy and its fulfilment within the narrative as proof that religious faith is reasonable.

Reception

Most adherents of the Latter Day Saint movement believe that the Book of Mormon is an ancient text and describes actual historical people and events. Orson Pratt, a member of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles and contemporary of Smith, expressed his belief that more prophecies from Zenock were contained in additional ancient plates hidden in the hill Cumorah to someday be recovered and revealed by what he believed would be the will of God. Some Latter-day Saint apologists, such as Hugh Nibley, have argued an ancient setting for the Book of Mormon is plausible by speculating ancient identities of figures described in the Book of Mormon. Nibley associated Zenock with the Teacher of Righteousness mentioned in the Dead Sea Scrolls. A roundtable discussion about the Dead Sea Scrolls, held by BYU professors, noted that this notion circulated among Latter-day Saints, but called it a "false rumor" and stated that the scrolls do not mention Zenock.

Christopher Marc Nemelka said that in the late-1980s and early-to-mid-1990s, the deceased Joseph Smith appeared to him and gave him the gold plates of the Book of Mormon from which he said he translated what he called the Book of Lehi. In Nemelka's text, Lehi and Zenock are contemporaries. When Zenock confronts the religious establishment with an accusation of corruption, Lehi believes Zenock's message and rescues him from danger, after which Lehi becomes a target of the Book of Mormon figure Laban. Embaye Melekin, an Eritrean baptized into the LDS Church in 2006, considers Zenock evidence that the Book of Mormon was anciently set not in the Americas but in the Horn of Africa. In Eritrea, which is in the Horn of Africa, it is common to preface names with a ''z'', and Melekin believed that ''Zenock'' was the name ''Enoch'' prefaced with a ''z''. However, neither of these views has found acceptance among the denominations of the Latter Day Saint movement.

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* {{Refend

Book of Mormon prophets
Deaths by stoning
Christian messianism
Linguistic controversies
Legendary progenitors