“Unto the Taking Away of Their Stumbling Blocks”: The Taking Away of Plain and Precious Things & Their Restoration in 1 Nephi 13

Abstract: In the latter part of his vision of the tree of life, Nephi is shown the unauthorized human diminution of scripture by the Gentile “great and abominable church” — that plain and precious things/words, teachings, and covenants were “taken away” or otherwise “kept back” from the texts that became the Bible. He also saw how the Lord would act to restore those lost things among the Gentiles “unto the taking away of their stumbling blocks”. The iterative language of 1 Nephi 13 describing the “taking away” and “keeping back” of scripture bears a strong resemblance to the prohibitions of the Deuteronomic canon-formula texts. It also echoes the etiological meanings attached to the name Joseph in terms of “taking away” and “adding.” Nephi’s prophecies of scripture and gospel restoration depend on the language of Isaiah and echo the name of the prophet through whom lost scripture and gospel covenants would be restored — i.e., through a “Joseph.”