David Hocking – The Book of Mormon & The Book of Jasher

Rabbinical Midrash and its use by Book of Mormon Prophets:
Formatting the Annotated Edition of the Book of Mormon by incorporating red and blue text revealed various literary elements not obvious when printed in black text. Nephi, Jacob, Abinadi and Jesus Christ and Moroni all use a form of rabbinical midrash after they have quoted specific passages from the prophet Isaiah. They all use sophisticated blending of specific phrases within their commentaries and prophecies and is an internal witness to the ancient sacredness of the text and not a product of 19th century rural America. The use of color and italicized texts depict how each incorporated a rabbinical approach in scriptural recitations. After a review of the importance of the prophet Isaiah in depicting the history and future of the House of Israel, the presentation will highlight the importance of their referencing specific Isaiah passages, how their commentaries and prophecies enlighten them and why several passages differ from the King James Version Bible.
The Book of Jasher as Another Witness to the Prophet Joseph Smith, Jr.:
The Book of Mormon states that “And after it [the Bible] had come forth unto them, I beheld other books which came forth by the power of the Lamb, from the Gentiles unto them, unto the convincing of the Gentiles and the remnant of the seed of my brethren, and also the Jews who were scattered upon all the face of the earth, that the records of the prophets and of the Twelve Apostles of the Lamb are true.” (1 Nephi 13:39) Several ancient Hebrew books have been discovered and published since 1830 that support the revelations of the prophet Joseph Smith. The Hebrew Book of Jasher or Sefer haJashar (Book of the Upright) is one such book of the Hebrew prophets (Patriarchs) that provides several “bulls-eyes” in validating Joseph Smith as a prophet. Presented will be several examples comparing revelations given to Joseph Smith that have similar “facts” that are found in the Pearl of Great Price, the Book of Mormon and the Doctrine and Covenants prior to the 1840 English publication of the Book of Jasher.
David and his wife Teresa are parents to 3 children and “Grammy and Grampy” to 9 grandchildren. Born in Hyannis, Massachusetts, he has a rich New England heritage. As a young Deacon, he helped clear the Joseph Smith Memorial in Sharon, VT for camp grounds. Now living in Raleigh, NC, he enjoys being close to the “land of Lehi.” He loves gardening and is an accomplished guitarist, a talent he was able to use in the England South Mission in 1971-1973 as a member of the Family Portrait Singers, at BYU in the Young Ambassadors (1969-1970) and in several dance bands.
David received an A.S. degree in Electronics Engineering in 1971 and a B.S. in Microbiology in 1975 from BYU. He has worked for 43 years in Sales and Marketing in the Biotechnology industry. He has authored a book on hemoglobin disorders as part of the newborn screening programs utilized in State Health Laboratories. He has invented a 5-minute test to detect the various forms of Sickle Cell Disease in newborns, children and adults. The test requires no equipment and is being used in over 30 low-resource countries to help save lives.
BeaconLight Books, LLC, was formed to illuminate sacred texts. He has been reformatting scripture to help readers better understand them with increased comprehension. He is the Managing Editor of The Annotated Book of Mormon which has been created to help readers understand the everlasting gospel as explained in the text, together with what the modern prophets and apostles have taught about it. The text has been formatted so readers can identify natural conversations, poetic speech patterns, prophecies, and the words of God. The annotations include prophetic commentaries on quoted scripture and the use of colored text. These elements bear witness to the divinity of this ancient text by drawing upon Hebrew tradition—much different from the nineteenth century rural America known to Joseph Smith.