Sign up for Meridian’s Free Newsletter, please CLICK HERE
View the article on Book of Mormon Central.
“And they did sing praises unto the Lord; yea, the brother of Jared did sing praises unto the Lord, and he did thank
Sign up for Meridian’s Free Newsletter, please CLICK HERE
View the article on Book of Mormon Central.
“And they did sing praises unto the Lord; yea, the brother of Jared did sing praises unto the Lord, and he did thank and praise the Lord all the day long; and when the night came, they did not cease to praise the Lord.”
For better or for worse, the Book of Mormon Musical catapulted the Book of Mormon into the limelight of discussion in 2011. Despite the Broadway musical generating a lot of attention, its storyline has little to do with the Book of Mormon’s contents, plots, origins, or the principles it teaches. One thing the play happens to get right, however, is that the Book of Mormon has something important to say about music and performance. The Book of Mormon is a very musical book in its own right and refers to music dozens of times, in contexts of worshipping, fighting, celebrating, and praising.
Singing in the Book of Mormon
The Book of Mormon refers frequently to singing. The people in the Book of Mormon sang praises to God after victorious battles, they sang during celebrations, and they sang during worship services. During the years of righteousness during the Nephite golden age, “their meetings were conducted by the church after the manner of the workings of the Spirit, and by the power of the Holy Ghost; for as the power of the Holy Ghost led them whether to preach, or to exhort, or to pray, or to supplicate, or to sing, even so it was done” (Moroni 6:9, emphasis added).
Twenty of the Book of Mormon’s twenty-four references to singing deal specifically with singing praises unto the Lord. Its peoples sang to praise the Lord’s victory after battle (3 Nephi 4:31–33); they sang to praise His power and atoning grace (Alma 5:9, 26); and they sang to emulate the angels in heaven. Lehi (1 Nephi 1:8) and Alma the younger (Alma 36:22) both saw visions of the heavenly choirs singing praises to God. King Benjamin (Mosiah 2:28) and Mormon (Mormon 7:7) both expressed a longing to one day join these angelic choirs above.
Instruments in the Book of Mormon
In addition, five times the Book of Mormon mentions either a “trump” or a “trumpet,”—three times referring to trumpets of God or of angels, once calling people to attention for worship, and once summoning soldiers to battle. In ancient Israel, trumpets called shofars were made from the horns of animals, such as rams, and were used to signal battle, national celebrations, and ritual holidays like the Day of Atonement. Other trumpets, such as those played by the Levitical priests during sacrifices and ritual holidays, were made of metal. And in Mesoamerica, trumpets made of conch shells were often used for ritual purposes.
In a military context, Coriantumr sounded a trump to commence the battle against the armies of Shiz. In worship, Alma’s desire to “speak with the trump of God” may be a reference to ancient Israelite holiday cycles. We know that royal coronations in the Bible were accompanied by the blaring of trumpets (2 Samuel 15:10; 1 Kings 1:39), so it may even be possible that the coronation of King Mosiah and other Nephite kings were accompanied by musical celebrations as well.
Musical Lyrics and Poetry
The texts of the Book of Mormon are filled with snippets of ancient psalms or songs, but it can sometimes be difficult for modern readers to recognize and hear the music because ancient poetry looked and sounded very different than our poetry or musical lyrics today. Ancient poetic lines didn’t necessarily rhyme or follow a strict meter like the poetry that most modern readers are familiar with. Instead, the poetry we find in the Bible and Book of Mormon used what is called parallelism to create beautiful literary pairings.
For example, 2 Nephi 4 is often referred to as “Nephi’s Psalm” and is indeed a piece of Book of Mormon poetry or hymnody:
28 Awake, my soul! No longer droop in sin. Rejoice, O my heart, and give place no more for the enemy of my soul.
29 Do not anger again because of mine enemies. Do not slacken my strength because of mine afflictions.
(2 Nephi 4:28–29)
Now see these 2 verses laid out differently to reveal a more poetic structure:
Likewise, many instances of poetry in the Bible are known to have been used as songs in ancient rituals and celebrations. Many of the 150 biblical psalms were often used as hymns for temple ceremonies and covenants. In fact, the word “psalm” itself is even associated with “song” or “hymn” in Greek. One famous example of a Biblical song can be found in the book of Exodus, where the authors in