Hebraic Origin of Indian

A major theory and belief of the American frontier was the Hebraic origin of the American Indian. Books were published in the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries by the parish padres and later writers espousing this theory. In 1823 Ethan Smith, a Vermont pastor, wrote View of the Hebrews. It is now being claimed that Joseph Smith obtained the necessary information for concocting the Book of Mormon from Ethan Smith's book.

The Department of History in the Auditorium, Independence, Missouri, has the 1925 edition of Ethan Smith's View of the Hebrews on microfilm. I very carefully went over its contents and arrived at the following conclusions.

View of the Hebrews was evidently in circulation in New York at the time the Book of Mormon was written, but I am firmly convinced that Joseph Smith did not read it for three reasons:

A. No external or historical evidence has ever been offered that he read the book.

B. The internal evidence is overwhelmingly against Joseph Smith's having been influenced by either Ethan Smith's book or Baron Von Humboldt's Researches in America published in 1814 and extensively quoted by Ethan Smith.

C. The New York State Library lists sixty-eight libraries established in New York prior to 1829. The list contains no mention of a library either in Palmyra or Manchester. It therefore appears Joseph Smith would have had no opportunity to see the book before he brought forth the Book of Mormon.

Here are some reasons why I believe Joseph Smith was not influenced by either of these two books:

1. On page two, View of the Hebrews, Ethan Smith said the Indians were descendants of the Ten Lost Tribes. The Book of Mormon shows them to be descendants of the tribe of Manasseh and definitely states that the Ten Lost Tribes were in another region of the earth (III Nephi 7:13-26).

2. Ethan Smith says "the stick of Ephraim" mentioned in Ezekiel 37 applies to the Ten Lost Tribes (page 53). The Book of Mormon applies it to the tribe of Manasseh.

3. Ethan Smith says the Indians were to be restored to Palestine (page 64). The Book of Mormon designates their Zion to be in America, which Joseph Smith identified to be centered at Independence, Missouri (Doctrine and Covenants 57:1).

4. Ethan Smith says that according to their traditions the Indians migrated to America "through a region where it was always winter, now and frozen" (page 78). The Book of Mormon indicates they came to America in a hip across the Pacific with no mention of winter, now, or ice.

5. Ethan Smith says the Indians practiced "circumcision" (page 85). The Book of Mormon mention circumcision only once (Moroni 8:9), saying that it had been done away.

6. Ethan Smith repeatedly says the Indians crossed the Bering Strait and offers proof.

Relative to their tradition of coming where there was an abundance of copper; it is a fact that at or near Bering Strait there i a place called copper Island from the vast quantities of this metal there found.-Page 115.

If Joseph Smith read Ethan Smith's book and was influenced by it why didn't he have the Nephites cross Asia and enter America via the Bering Strait?

7. Ethan Smith lists numerous alleged Indian rites which are Mosiac in character such as

A. Eating blood of animals-forbidden

B. Surviving brother marries sister-in-law

C. Eternal fire preserved in temple

D. Daily sacrifice

E. Punishment for adultery

F. Cities of refuge

G. Burying of the dead

H. Clean and unclean animal food (pages 119-152).

Not one of these is mentioned in the Book of Mormon.

8. Ethan Smith makes several references to imitations of the Urim and Thummim (pages 150, 166, 167). The words "Urim and Thummim" are not found in the Book of Mormon.

9. Ethan Smith says, "Some have felt a difficulty arising against the Indians being the Ten Tribes, from the ignorance of the mechanic arts, of writing and of navigation" (page 17). The Book of Mormon has the Ancient Americans using "machinery," great numbers of books, and ships capable of transporting two and three hundred people.

10. Ethan Smith cites the avenger-of-blood in the Mosaic law (page 176). The Book of Mormon does not mention this.

11. Ethan Smith quotes Humboldt on the immense pyramids including the size of the pyramid of Cholula and notes that the people of Israel knew the pyramids of Egypt (page 179). If Joseph Smith was using Ethan Smith's A View of the Hebrews for his pattern and plot, how did he pass over this one? There is no mention of pyramids in the Book of Mormon.

12. Ethan Smith quotes Humboldt on dikes and canals in South America (page 179). The Book of Mormon mentions neither.

13. Ethan Smith tells the Quetzalcoatl story and says that Quetzacoatl was Moses (page 206). The Book of Mormon says Jesus Christ visited Ancient America.

14. Ethan Smith says, "He dwelt twenty years among them" (page 205). The Book of Mormon say Jesus was with the Nephites only a few days.

15. Ethan Smith quotes Isaiah 18: "...the land shadowing with wings" as applying to America (page 237). The Book of Mormon is estimated to quote half of the Book of Isaiah but does not quote Isaiah 18 about "the land shadowing with wings beyond the rivers of Ethiopia." If Joseph Smith was influenced by this book why would he have omitted this?

16. Ethan Smith says, "We are to expect no new revelations from heaven and the days of miracles are thought to be past" (page 168). This, of course, is diametrically opposed to the message of the Book of Mormon.

17. Ethan Smith quotes tables of words from Indian languages allegedly showing Hebrew affinity-from Boudinot, Adair, etc. (page 90). The Book of Mormon makes no such attempts.

Finally, I would ask, if Joseph Smith drew on Ethan Smith's View of the Hebrews or Humboldt's Researches, why did he not use at least one of the Indian names and words used by these writers? Humboldt alone lists no less than 330 Indian names and words, no one of which is found in the Book of Mormon although the book literally introduced hundreds of new names and words into the English language.

For those interested in a scholarly treatment of the Book of Mormon and View of the Hebrews, involving points not discussed here, I recommend the article by Church Historian Charles A. Davies in the Saints' Herald for August 1, 1962. I go along with his conclusion:

The only significant similarity between Ethan Smith's work and the Book of Mormon i the assertion that American Indian are descended from the Hebrew people.

I have had the same experiences in researching the case against the Nephite record as I have had in searching for evidences in its favor. As I have again and again come to the end of a long road of research, I not only have found clear, strong, invalidation of attacks upon this sacred book but have found the Lord waiting to witness to me by his Spirit that the Book of Mormon is true and Joseph Smith was a prophet of God.

For me the transparency and answerability of criticisms against the Book of Mormon are second only to the amount and in answerability of evidences in its favor.