I’ve read a lot of stories from the scriptures in my day, and I’m pretty familiar with most of them. I imagine there are a bunch in the Old Testament that I am not as well-acquainted with as the ones that we hear seemingly every week at Church. (Stripling Warriors, anyone?)
Sometimes as I am reading, my mind wanders and I wonder about the stories behind the stories that we don’t know about. I’m not referring to the sealed portion of the Book of Mormon (as far as I know), more like wondering about the backstory, or on-going story of some of the people that are briefly mentioned.
For example: (And may I point out that none of this really matters – it is just how my mind works.)
The daughter of Jairus, who was brought back to life by the Savior. (Mark 5:22, 35-43) What does a twelve-year-old girl do after she is brought back from the dead? I wonder how it impacted her life from that point forward. That is really young, and her teenage years might have been kinda weird because teenage girls can be kind of catty. I wonder if she experienced anything while she was dead that wasn’t recorded. I imagine that she was pretty spoiled by her parents after that, but that is just mindless speculation.
Remember the Liahona that mysteriously showed up outside of Lehi’s tent? (1 Nephi 16:10) Somebody had to have made it. It’s not like God makes a habit of creating things in the other realm and dropping them off in front of people’s houses. I imagine that some person was called by God to build it, and I imagine that was no easy task, given the technology available at the time. I can picture some highly skilled craftsman creating the device based on a dream or vision, then hiding behind a tree and watching as his creation is found outside Lehi’s tent. We do know that the Three Witnesses to the Book of Mormon were promised a chance to see it, (D&C 17:1) but I don’t think we know if they ever had the chance.
I’ve mentioned this one before, and we refer to the story as “The Rich Young Man.” ( (Mark 10:17, 19-22) He was the one who had lived a good life and came to Jesus to ask what else he should do to inherit eternal life. Jesus gave him a quick interview, which the young man passed, then told him to go and sell everything he owned and follow Him. All we know is that “he was sad at that saying, and went away grieved: for he had great possessions.” He was sad? Duh! Wouldn’t you be? What do know that the young man went away grieved – what we don’t know is what he did after. Did he fall away? Did he actually come to terms with the Savior’s request and sell it all? We don’t really know, but we always assume the worst of that guy.
Naaman was the Syrian military commander who was cured of leprosy through the prophet Elisha. (2 Kings 5) After he was healed, he declared, “Behold, now I know that there is no God in all the earth, but in Israel.” I wonder what he did with that knowledge. Did he stop attacking Israel? Did he just go back to terrorizing them? He did have some pretty faithful servants, and I hope they all got raises and/or promotions.
We read the story of the two men possessed by devils in Mark 8. The devils immediately recognized Jesus and requested that if He were to cast them out, that they would appreciate it if He would send them into a herd of swine. Jesus accepted their request and the herd of swine immediately ran off a cliff and drowned in the sea. Of course one thought is to wonder what happened to the two guys who were possessed. I mean, do you return and say, “Honey, I’m home!” How hard would it be in that era to put one’s life back together? But, sad to say, my first thought is to wonder if they had Swine Insurance back then. I mean – those pigs belonged to somebody – and that was probably a disastrous financial loss for the owners – maybe that’s one reason the townsfolk asked Jesus to leave. (v.34)
When Jesus began His ministry, he was “walking by the sea of Galilee, saw two brethren, Simon called Peter, and Andrew his brother, casting a net into the sea: for they were fishers. And he saith unto them, Follow me, and I will make you fishers of men, and they straightway left their nets, and followed him.” (Matthew 4:18-21) We always talk as if this came as some sort of a surprise to Peter and Andrew, but frankly, we have no idea. Estimates are that, at the time of Jesus, the area around Galilee had maybe a population of 2,000, with most of the villages around 400 people. What are the odds that in thirty years Jesus and Peter had never met? Small town people know each other. We don’t even know if Peter and Andrew had been anxiously waiting for years for Jesus to officially begin his ministry so they could stop fishing- all we know is that Jesus called and they dropped what they were doing and came. We have no backstory.
Anyway, you get the idea. I try to keep my gospel speculation to a minimum, and I have absolutely none of the answers to the questions I pose. But, I do know that if I personalize the scriptures stories, and try and see what people might be experiencing in the stories, I get more out of them. It is also helpful to try and figure out what we really know, versus the traditional stories that we mistakenly assume are based on scripture.
One last point – curiosity does not need to conflict with faith.
Happy reading!
Here
This thread just keeps getting more and more interesting!
What about the story being the story of the creation? There were world without number that were created. Did Jehovah create other worlds before our after this earth? Did he have to practice? Did some of them not quite work? Too big, too small, too far away from a star, too close, not round enough? Did he create more than just the earth within our solar system? We know he set all things in motion.
You all just make my day! It almost feels like we’re sitting in the living room together telling stories. For me, I try to put myself in the story, like being an extra on a movie set and then I imagine what it was like to be there as events unfolded. Would I be a Mary or a Martha?? Would I be like Daniel or cave in to peer pressure? Would I have been courageous enough to run from the Egyptians or would I have stood there frozen in awe at the spectacle of the Red Sea parting?? It’s a fun exercise! Thanks again MMM for a great post!
Rusty, I too have wondered about Sam. He was loyal to Nephi, but we don’t hear about his life or what ever happened to him and his family. Thoughts???
One of our stake presidency commented that “We are all Sams.” Basically that we labor quietly and effectively and we don’t get into the Ensign of even mentioned by others until we die and then everyone comments about how faithful we were.
I’ll take it!
My question is about Sam – he was one of the obedient brothers but we know almost nothing of him. Did he labor in anonymity or was he a great priest like Jacob? Did he remain faithful and follow when Nephi fled from his rebellious brothers after Lehi’s death? No one in the Book of Mormon ever talks about being a descendant of Sam.
Remember, while the technology for the Lihona may not have existed on this world. There were others. Most likely we were not the first.
When I read D&C 19 and learn that Jesus is telling Joseph Smith that he doesn’t understand ‘endless’ and ‘eternal’ – and proceeds to tell him what those words mean from him, for him. So, if Joseph misunderstood two common words in English, I wonder how many many other words I don’t understand correctly. So, I think that there are maybe 4 or 5 things I know for certain – Jesus is the Christ and He performed the Atonement, His father and our father is Eloheim, the Book of Mormon is translated by priesthood, heavenly power. . . The rest I am prepared to be surprised at what Christ and his prophets meant when they said what they said.
The baptism of Helam…What if Alma slipped?
As a background to the episode at the Waters of Mormon, lets look at a few things. First, Alma had the authority to baptize. Where did he get this authority? Possibly Abinadi. If Abinadi baptized Alma, that would have been the only experience that Alma had previously had with baptism. He would not necessarily know how to set his feet properly to support the weight of the person being baptized. Secondly, Helam was among the first that listened to Alma’s message. Alma’s firstborn son was Helaman. You don’t name your first son after a stranger. I believe that Alma and Helam were best friends.
Now, on to what the scriptures say. (Mosiah 4: 14-15)
“14 And after Alma had said these words, both Alma and Helam were buried in the water; and they arose and came forth out of the water rejoicing, being filled with the Spirit.
15 And again, Alma took another, and went forth a second time into the water, and baptized him according to the first, only he did not bury himself again in the water.”
So Alma and his best friend, Helam, went into the Waters of Mormon for baptism. They were both buried in the water. What if Alma in his enthusiasm lost his footing and slipped?
They would both go down under the water, but not on purpose. They came up rejoicing (laughing). From the outside, no one would know what really happened. Alma got his footing right for the next baptism, and “he did not bury himself again in the water.”
For me, this is the story behind the story. It puts a very human face on a joyous situation. Even with the best of intentions, sometimes accidents happen. For those involved, sometimes only they know the whole story.
As a writer, I always look for character motivations. Why does an event occur? It is always because of the person behind it. Then I ask why did this person perform this way, and what might have led them to do this? It gives me a greater appreciation for the stories of the all-to-human heroes in the scriptures.
There’s a bunch more we don’t know about Abinadi as well. Was he a priest under King Zeniff? How was he called to preach? Did he have a family? How old was he (we have paintings depicting him as old with white hair, but nothing in the Book of Mormon seems to indicate that)? What else, besides his life, did he give up? Was bringing Alma to understanding and repentance the main or only purpose?
As for Alma, was he legitimately ordained as a priest in spite of Noah’s wickedness, or did he receive his authority later? We can surmise he lost a lot of power and riches when he left Noah’s court, but did he have a wife, or wives, or concubines? Did he already have children? If so, what happened to them when he fled? Did he lose all his family and have to start over after his conversion, leading to the sons we have record of?
I don’t know any of your answers. But I’m reading Jesus the Christ (NT in Seminary next year) and it seems to. (At least some of them like your questions about Peter and Andrew?) I don’t know if it’s specifically about those two men who had the devils (and no back story about pigs, sorry! although excellent questions that Elder Talmage obviously missed. 😉 ) but there was somebody healed (of something) that Elder Talmage said went on a mission later. So I thought that was interesting. I’m also not saying that Jesus the Christ is easy reading (and often wonder how much shorter it would’ve been if he’d written it in a chapel rather than the temple – does that count as a non-conflicting curious question? ha!) and I’m sure you’ve read it before, but maybe that would answer (or inspire more??? maybe I’m opening pandora’s box?? 😉 ) some of your questions. I’m glad others wonder too! I wonder what happened to the rocks that offered light in the barges. Did they stop working? Did they get passed down as heirlooms? Did they start to leak? Were they stolen by the conquistadors? Where are they now? (Seems like they would be hard to lose, but that’s just me.)
I like to consider Job’s wife who lost as much as he did (and because he lost all his wealth probably had to start doing all the cooking and housework for Job and his mean friends) and then raise a whole bunch of kids again–I figure she had some really great visiting teachers to keep her from complaining.
We do know that she struggled – she told her Job to “curse God, and die.”
Yes, but that was her part-time Job. (ouch!)
Glad that I’m not the only one who thinks (or leaves room for the possibility) that the rich young man just needed to think about it for a while before he decided to follow Christ.
Another one is King Lamoni’s wife, who said that “to me he doth not stink.” Maybe King Lamoni smelled bad enough to convince people he might be dead, but his wife knew that he just always smelled like that.
Hah!
I really enjoy thinking about the people we know so little about. Or even about the ones we do know a fair amount about: I recently read Orson Scott Card’s “Stone Tables,” a novel about Moses. I thoroughly enjoyed it both because it gives a very plausible fictional backstory and because it incorporates a very LDS-informed theology, but in a way that the average non-LDS reader wouldn’t say “whoa- waaaay too Mormon” but rather “that’s a really interesting way to look at it…”
I have wondered about the choice of the pigs…. and swine being an unclean animal, why were they nearby? I also would like to hear the backstory of several people about their experience.
My comments are about the Liahona. While I agree with all the wonderings about the stories in all the scriptures we have, this one does not make me wonder at all. We are talking about a Heavenly Father who can do anything. They were completely alone in the wilderness. Another human being delivering the Liahona outside their tent? Probably not. An angel, entirely possible. Some things have to be just considered a miracle from Heavenly Father and I believe this one was.
I’m not aware of any tangible objects that have ever been generated in heaven as you suggest… I’m all ears! I do know that “we are God’s hands.”
Thanks for withholding judgment of the rich young man. I have always said the fact that he left sorrowing did NOT mean he ultimately did not do what is right. How often is our first reaction to grumble and sorrow when asked to work at the Bishop’s storehouse, add another person or family to our home or visiting teaching route, help someone move etc. etc. Yes there are many things we would rather do but more often than not we set aside our disappointment and step up and serve. I like to think the rich young man did just that.
It seems I heard someone speculate once if the rich young man turned out to be John Mark in whose home the Last Supper was held and who became a later apostle. I have no evidence, but I like to ponder it sometimes. 🙂
I was told this in a class at BYU. They speculate that Mark paints himself into his gospel in two different places. The first time as the rich young ruler, and the second as the random man in the garden of Gethsemane wearing nothing but a sheet. If it is true, then perhaps he really did sell all that he had to follow Jesus. It’s just speculation, but I find it really meaningful to think of it that way.
I always wondered why they had so many pigs when they were forbidden to eat pork???
Oh-oh. The non-member neighbors pigs?
To feed the piggies to the kosher animals. Naturally.
I always wondered about the brother of the Prodigal Son. He was the faithful brother who had always done what his father had asked. He merely questioned “Why the big fuss?” His father’s answer to him was, “All that I have is yours.” meaning, according to Brother McConkie, that his calling and election was made sure. The story is cut before hearing the answer and actions of the older brother.
Also a good one, as you express, is your closing statement that “curiosity does not need to conflict with faith.” This is the first church I ever found which didn’t discourage questions. In fact, my first bishop encouraged me to actively question everything, and I was just as surprised to learn that the Restoration began with a teenager’s questions.
Now I’m curious about YOUR backstory! Do you have a lot of experience with other churches? And do they really discourage questions? Just wondering–from someone who has always been LDS and has almost no experience with other churches!
Mom is Southern Baptist and Dad was Pentecostal. From 1956, attended amost every Protestant church, though only a Very Little of Catholicism. Up until 1988, when I gave up on Christianity (as I’d experienced it) while on Honor Guard duty. And I don’t know how many times I was told to not “question; have faith.”
Did you ever notice that the woman had an issue of blood 13 years and Jarius’ daughter was 12 and they lived near each other? I’ve often wondered if the woman was the mother…..
BBC is doing a Dickens mish-mash pulling the characters together in one neighborhood. It would be interesting to learn how intertwined the people were in Jesus’s neighborhood too.
Enjoyed your post. The back story I’ve always wanted to learn is that of Omni, son of Jarom. We name an entire book after him, although he only contributes three verses before passing the torch to his son Amaron. In those verses, he proclaims himself to be a wicked man who did not keep the commandments as he should. Yet there was still enough faith inside him to recognize how he should have lived his life, and he followed through with keeping the record as commanded. Did he repent and get right with the Lord in his final days? We can only hope!
Good one!
For a great book that provides back stories on U.S. historical figures and events we don’t generally learn much about in the history textbooks, read “Brave Companions” by David McCullough.
McCullough is a great author. Thanks for the tip!