An idiom is an expression of thought that is peculiar to a given culture. . . . According to Dr. Sami Hanna, who was assigned by the Church in the mid 1970's to translate the Book of Mormon from English back into its native Semitic tongue, the term "judgment-seat" (Alma 1:2) is a peculiar Semitic term. It is odd that Joseph Smith, if he truly composed the Book of Mormon himself, used the Semitic phrase "judgment-seat" rather than using the terms "senate," "president," or "ruler." In the Arabic custom, the place of power rests in the judgment-seat, and whoever occupies that seat is the authority. The authority goes with the seat, not with the office or the person. Thus, a perfect Semitic phrase! [Brenton Yorgason, Little Known Evidences of the Book of Mormon, p. 38]