“What Will Ye That I Should Do That Ye May Have Light in Your Vessels?”

Brant Gardner

The second rejected possibility was fire, although the reason does not seem to have been the inherent problem of an open fire in a flammable boat. Yahweh tells the brother of Jared that they cannot have fire because “ye shall go as a whale in the midst of the sea,” an image that means they would be underwater at least part of the time. Fire would be dangerous at such a time because it consumes precious oxygen at the very time when it was most needed.

Text: There is no chapter break at this point in the 1830 edition.

Second Witness: Analytical & Contextual Commentary on the Book of Mormon, Vol. 6

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