In Alma 37:23 it says, “I will prepare unto my servant Gazelem, a stone, which shall shine forth in darkness unto light.” According to Hugh Nibley that’s a person he is talking about; Gazelem is not the stone. His servant Gazelem has the stone; he is preparing it for him. Incidentally, that word Gazelem is a very interesting one. It’s an Aramaic word, and it has definitely to do with the shining stone. [Hugh W. Nibley, Teachings of the Book of Mormon, Semester 2, p. 462]
“My Servant Gazelem”
Orson Pratt said “Gazelem” meant a person who has been given the Urim and Thummim (see Journal of Discourses, Vol. 16, p. 156). According to Cleon Skousen, after Joseph Smith received the Urim and Thummim he was sometimes referred to as “Gazelem” (see D&C 82:11). We should also observe that the first Jaredite to receive the Urim and Thummim was Jared’s brother (D&C 17:1) and therefore he would appear to be the original Gazelem or Seer to whom the Lord was referring to here in Alma 37:23. God prepared this sacred instrument in anticipation of the secret combinations which He knew would eventually need to be exposed among the Jaredites. [W. Cleon Skousen, Treasures from the Book of Mormon, Vol. 3, p. 3044]
“Gazelem”
In his translation of the Book of Mormon, Joseph Smith used the strange name Gazelem to describe a servant of the Lord who would use “a stone, which shall shine forth in darkness unto light… . And now, my son these interpreters were prepared that the word of God might be fulfilled” (Alma 37:23-24) Here the word Gazelem is used as a metaphor for the prophet who made use of the sacred stone as well as a synonym for the Urim and Thummim (Exodus 28:30; Leviticus 8:8; Deuteronomy 33:8; Ezra 2:63; Nehemiah 7:65).
Richardson, Richardson and Bentley write that while the name Gazelem is not found in dictionaries of ancient hebrew, the name is actually a compound Hebrew word. It is apparently a combination of the Hebrew words Geh and Zelem. The prefix geh is simply a demonstrative pronoun meaning “this,” and the suffix zelem means “illusion, resemblance, representative figure, or image” as one might see by means of the seer stone or Urim and Thummim. (See James Strong, “Hebrew and Chaldee Dictionary,” in Exhaustive Concordance of the Bible, pp. 26, 99) [Allen H. Richardson, David E. Richardson and Anthony E. Bentley, 1000 Evidences for the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints: Part Two-A Voice from the Dust: 500 Evidences in Support of the Book of Mormon, p. 226]
“Gazelem - Liahona”
Two interesting words which appear for the first time in the Book of Alma are “Gazelem” (Alma 37:23) and “Liahona” (Alma 37:38). Possible meanings of these two words are given by Reynolds and Sjodahl as follows:
Gazelem is a name given to a servant of God. The word appears to have its roots in Gaz--a stone, and Aleim, a name of God as a revelator, or the interposer in the affairs of men. If this suggestion is correct, its roots admirably agree with its apparent meaning--a seer… .
Liahona. This interesting word is Hebrew with an Egyptian ending. It is the name which Lehi gave to the ball or director he found outside his tent the very day he began his long journey through the “wilderness” after his little company had rested for some time in the valley of Lemuel (1 Nephi 16:10; Alma 37:38). L is a Hebrew Preposition meaning “to,” and sometimes used to express the possessive case. Iah is a Hebrew abbreviated form of “Jehovah,” common in Hebrew names. On is the Hebrew name of the Egyptian “City of the Sun”…L-iah-on means, therefore, literally, “To God is Light”; or, “of God is Light.” That is to say, God gives light, as does the Sun. The final a reminds us that the Egyptian form of the Hebrew name On is Annu, and that seems to be the form Lehi used. (Reynolds and Sjodahl, Commentary on the Book of Mormon IV:162-178)
[Daniel H. Ludlow, A Companion to Your Study of the Book of Mormon, pp. 217-218]