I’ve started a daily study routine that I’ll post about on Mormon Life Hacker soon. Part of my system is to share 1 or 2 of the things I’ve learned or pondered, every Fri or Sat. So here’s from this weeks notes:
Mosiah 2:32–33 states:
32. But, O my people, beware lest there shall arise contentions among you, and ye list to obey the evil spirit, which was spoken of by my father Mosiah.
33. For behold, there is a wo pronounced upon him who listeth to obey that spirit; for if he listeth to obey him, and remaineth and dieth in his sins, the same drinketh damnation to his own soul; for he receiveth for his wages an everlasting punishment, having transgressed the law of God contrary to his own knowledge.
This word “list” or “listeth” confuses me. I think I’d always assumed it was related to “listen” as in listen-eth. But a quick search only says it’s the “Third-person singular simple present indicative form of list.” So what the heck does “list” mean in this context? Making a list makes no sense to me. http://www.wordsense.eu/list/ was the best source I could find. It suggests the meaning of “list” is words like hem, edge, strip, or border. This still doesn’t seem to fit. However further down there’s several additional definitions or usages. One is related to cunning. Another (verb) is “to listen” and Shakespeare used it that way. He also used it to mean “wish, like or desire.” Another possible meaning is the nautical sense: a ship that’s leaning hard to one side.
So what does all this mean? It could simply be “listens to obey that spirit.” That seems kinda redundant. You have to listen first, in order to obey. But it could also mean bordering on obeying that spirit, or leaning toward it. My favorite is probably the archaic “wish, like, or desire” which goes along with bordering or leaning. It would give deep meaning here: not just those who actually obey the evil spirit of contention, but even those who desire or wish to do so. Those are punished the same as those who act on it. That would make this much more “New Testament” theology. Christ teaching that lusting after a woman, for example, is committing adultery in our hearts. So maybe this is a powerful reminder that we need to purify our hearts and not wish for the things of the world and wickedness, but cultivate the desires of goodness, and Godliness.
After reading your research on the possible meanings of the word, in this case I really like to think of it as an equivalent to “desire.” Thanks for encouraging me to think this through. It really changes the meaning.
A ship lists – leans – one way or another. We lean one way or another as we choose from moment to moment which spirit we list to obey.
I did the same research and came to the same conclusion. Listeth in this scripture means desireth.
I was thinking about this scripture this morning. The correct interpretation is the nautical term, which is to tilt or lean to one side or the other. We chose to lean in the direction of Christ and his Holy Spirit or we go in the direction of Satan, the Deceiver.
I’m a student at BYU-I and I wanted to share a fantastic resource with you! It’s called Strong’s Concordance, and it was recommended to me by my Writing’s of Isaiah professor (he did warn us about the little anti-mormon blurb, but we’re here to learn about the Hebrew language, so we just kind of ignore that part).
Anyway, so I took the liberty of looking up listeth, and it means to choose, or to please. https://www.blueletterbible.org/search/Dictionary/viewTopic.cfm?topic=KT0000468
It’s got some really great stuff! Thanks for all of the great tips on studying.
That’s correct. It means “to choose”
Another archaic definition of “List” is “Enlist.” A possible meaning of the scripture is to enlist or sign up to obey the evil spirit.
Oooh! I like that a lot Mark. Thanks for sharing that possible meaning.
The true meaning of “list” or “listeth” is to desire or to want. In Norwegian (whose roots are in old German), they still use the word “lyst”, which means desire or want. Old English (which is what the Book of Mormon and King James Bible were translated to) and old Germanic languages have many similar words.
Here’s another one for you. Have you ever heard someone who got hurt say “That smarts!” In Norwegian you’d say “Det smerter!” I suspect that smerte and smart have their root in the old German word for hurt or pain.
There are lots of other very cool things I’ve learned in D&C and the BoM that you can only really understand when you understand the nuances of definitions. Maybe I can make a separate post to describe them.
Awesome. Thanks for the insight Oren. I’d love a post about that with specific examples from the scriptures.
Thank you for this, really helps a lot. I am reading D&C 29 and read verse. 45 where the Lord also use the same phrase.