Explorations of 1 Nephi 10:7-16: Continued discussion of Lehi’s prophecies of the Messiah: John the Baptist; four levels of Nephite Christology; the scattering and gathering of Israel; the Olive Tree and “grafting in”
1- Detailed notes: 1 Nephi 10:7-16
2- Link to Video on Youtube.
3- Audio podcast on TalkShoe. MP3 Audio for download for iTunes or iPods. (Look in the most recent (top) file in the “Past Episodes” section at the bottom.)
Some critics of the Book of Mormon claim that the reference to Bethabara in 1 Nephi 10:9 is inaccurate since the oldest manuscripts of John 1:28 read Bethany rather than Bethabara. Can you shed any light on this question? And where do you think this baptismal location would have actually been?
I don’t know, but I suspect these were two different names for the same area. Beth-abara means “house/place of the ford/crossing” and is the name for a fording place on the Jordan. Bethany is probably the name of the village, Beth-araba the name of the ford by the village. I suspect the later editors changed the name in John to distinguish it from the Bethany of Lazarus. In any event, JS would have translated it into the geographical toponym known to his early 19th century readers, not unknown early manuscript variants which would have been meaningless to them.