“They Were Prospered by the Hand of the Lord”

Alan C. Miner

In Ether 10:28 we find the phrase "prospered by the hand of the Lord." According to David Seely, the image of the hand of God in both the Old Testament and the Book of Mormon stands for the Lord's power to intervene in the affairs of men and the events of history. Comparison between the ways this image is used in the two scriptures supports what the Book of Mormon claims about its own origin.

The hand of God was what afflicted Job (see Job 19:21) and at the same time had the power to heal him (see Job 5:18). The hand of the Lord was what once made the Jaredites prosperous (see Ether 10:28) but later destroyed them (see Ether 1:1). [David Rolph Seely, "The Image of the Hand of God in the Book of Mormon And the Old Testament," in Rediscovering the Book of Mormon, pp. 140-141]

Step by Step Through the Book of Mormon: A Cultural Commentary

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