'Throne vision' motif points to Book of Mormon authenticity

Modern scholarship has identified a motif called a "throne vision" or "throne theophany" — the word "theophany" simply means a "manifestation of God" — that repeatedly occurs in ancient stories of prophetic calls.

Such visions, which are recorded in Isaiah 6, the apocryphal "Ascension of Isaiah," 4 Ezra, Ezekiel 1, Revelation 4, the Ethiopic and Slavonic books of Enoch, and many other texts, take their name from their description of God sitting upon his throne (sometimes, technically, in a "throne chariot").

As one careful student of the topic summarized it, the motif features "a righteous individual who, concerned for the wickedness of his people, prays and weeps on their behalf until physically overcome by the spirit of revelation" and who is thereupon "carried away in a vision." There, he sees "God on his throne attended by the heavenly council." He also "receives a heavenly book which explains the secrets of the universe and the impending disaster of his people. The vision is completed with a call or commission extended from the heavenly council to warn his people about their inevitable destruction; however, he is also forewarned that his people will reject him."

Many years ago, I presented a paper to an academic conference in Boston in which I argued that the earliest version of Muhammad's prophetic call represented another such story, and, in support of my claim, I circulated a comparative chart of several ancient throne theophany accounts. Without comment, I included 1 Nephi 1 in my list — because it provides an unusually good example of the phenomenon:

Lehi "was carried away in a vision, even that he thought he saw God sitting upon his throne surrounded with numberless concourses of angels in the attitude of singing and praising their God" (1 Nephi 1:8).

In these accounts, a "historical prologue" typically provides the background for the theophany, and place, time and surrounding events play a significant role.

"Despite the overwhelming glory of the sacred locale," one scholar writes about Isaiah 6, "the historical moment is just as important to the prophet's proclamation. The year was a year of transition, crisis and import; it was the year of the king's death."

Nephi describes the religious turmoil in Jerusalem that preceded Lehi's throne theophany: "For it came to pass in the commencement of the first year of the reign of Zedekiah, king of Judah, … and in that same year there came many prophets, prophesying unto the people that they must repent, or the great city Jerusalem must be destroyed" (1 Nephi 1:4).