…Moses; for he truly spake unto the waters of the Red Sea and they divided hither and thither, and our fathers came through, out of captivity, on dry ground, and the armies of Pharaoh did follow and were drowned in the waters of the Red Sea….
… God gave power unto one man, even Moses, to smite upon the waters of the Red Sea, and they parted hither and thither, insomuch that the Israelites, who were our fathers, came through upon dry ground, and the waters closed upon the armies of the Egyptians and swallowed them up?
And it came to pass that there arose a division among the people, insomuch that they divided hither and thither and went their ways, leaving Nephi alone, as he was standing in the midst of them.
For behold, the dust of the earth moveth hither and thither, to the dividing asunder, at the command of our great and everlasting God.
Now ye know that Moses was commanded of the Lord to do that great work; and ye know that by his word the waters of the Red Sea were divided hither and thither, and they passed through on dry ground.
But ye know that the Egyptians were drowned in the Red Sea, who were the armies of Pharaoh.
5 instances in the BoM of “hither and thither”, 3 of which describe how Moses divided/parted the Red Sea waters.
Hither and thither means: in many different directions or places, and in a disorganized way. In another source it’s defined:
Two of the examples from the BoM above very much fit that definition describing how a group of people disperse, each man going his own way, and how dust moves around. Very much in a disorganized way and most importantly, in all directions. But with Moses’ great deed at the Red Sea, the phrase doesn’t fit well.
The common mental image/perception:
Hmm…that water doesn’t look like it’s going in “various directions, especially in a disorganized way” to me. It’s going in just two directions, really. Maybe these writers just meant “here” and “there” like a wall of water “here” and a wall of water “there”. But that’s not exactly what “hither and thither” means. Bad translation?
Or maybe the translation is spot on and they meant something more like these images:
In all of these images you have some substance moving “hither and thither” more or less in every direction and therefore “disorganized” to create some kind of opening. So not two walls of water (exposing what would be pretty thick mud to walk over, by the way!).
Of all the options above, this is my favorite. It allows for “hither and thither” to not conflict with “divided” or “parted”. The water remains “disorganized” while also “divided”:
Now that we know what it actually looks like to part the Red Sea, all we need is a staff and the right location and we too can be on our way.
William James Tychonievich
In the King James Bible, “hither and thither” is used only in the story of Elijah and Elisha parting the Jordan. The Helaman account of the parting of the Red Sea, which has Moses “smite upon the waters” like Elijah and Elisha (something Moses is not elsewhere described as doing) seems to be influenced by this story.
And Elijah took his mantle, and wrapped it together, and smote the waters, and they were divided hither and thither, so that they two went over on dry ground (2 Kings 2:8).
And he took the mantle of Elijah that fell from him, and smote the waters, and said, Where is the Lord God of Elijah? and when he also had smitten the waters, they parted hither and thither: and Elisha went over (2 Kings 2:14).
Behold, my brethren, have ye not read that God gave power unto one man, even Moses, to smite upon the waters of the Red Sea, and they parted hither and thither, insomuch that the Israelites, who were our fathers, came through upon dry ground, and the waters closed upon the armies of the Egyptians and swallowed them up? (Hel. 8:11).
https://notesonthebom.blogspot.com/2023/10/moses-and-exodus-where-book-of-mormon.html
WW
That is an interesting thought about hither-ing and thither-ing.
I think you said you like the movie Interstellar, so sharing this with you as you might find it interesting and relatable to what you are envisioning in your head.
Kip Thorne from CalTech was the physicist-advisor who helped on the science aspects of Black Holes and space-time in that movie. An artist ended up collaborating with him in producing a series of paintings, artwork, and poems that depicts the strangeness of space-time. In many of the images, you get this aspect of chaotic movement, or a rift in space-time being accompanies by forces going in all sorts of directions – sometimes like a tornado, and sometimes like other things. Kind of all over the place.
Interestingly, the art is done in blue paint, giving space-time the appearance and symbolism of water.
The book the art is in (along with Thorne’s writings – apparently poems?) is called “The Warped Side of Our Universe”. I haven’t read it, and don’t plan to, and only stumbled onto it a few weeks ago, but thought some of the images were kind of interesting. Here is the link to the art:
https://liahalloran.com/the-warped-side-of-our-universe-book
WJT
Ha! Just last week I happened upon and bought a used copy of Black Holes and Time Warps by none other than Kip Thorne (who was raised Mormon, it turns out).
WW
See, I think I would read that book – or at least attempt to.
Back when the Black Holes and other strange space stuff started coming up on my blog, including the Interstellar movie, I also ran across another Kip Thorne book called “The Science of Interstellar”. I almost pulled the trigger on ordering that one, but haven’t gotten around to it.
WJT
It’s next on my to-read list after the Silmarillion.