“Bind Up the Testimony, Seal the Law Among My Disciples”

Brant Gardner

Blenkinsopp comments: “The message and the instruction indicate a text written on papyrus, wrapped in cloth, and put for safekeeping in a jar or other container. They cannot be identical with the large, notarized tablet of Isaiah 8:1-4, though they would presumably have contained a prediction against the Syrian-Samarian coalition. The Hebrew term translated ‘message’ te’uda, signifies a text validated by witnesses.”

Such binding and sealing have implications for the Book of Mormon’s preservation and “sealing.” This act of preservation and especially sealing corresponds with the sealed book in Isaiah 29:11–12, and with Isaiah 30:8–11 where tablet and book both serve as witnesses. From the Isaian context, the sealed book is witnessed and preserved. The Book of Mormon is certainly preserved in that sense of “seal.” Moroni refers to the entire text (the plates) being “sealed up, and hid up unto the Lord, that they might not be destroyed” (Title Page). This sense of preservation replicates at least part of the intent of the Isaiah passage.

Second Witness: Analytical & Contextual Commentary on the Book of Mormon, Vol. 2

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