JOEL - Jesus wanted to give the Nephites the exact same
teachings He gave His followers in Jerusalem, and
therefore repeated the exact same sermon He gave on
the mount to the Nephites in the Temple.
"Raca" is both Aramaic and Greek, meaning contempt or
derision. There are other Greek words in the Book of
Mormon that Joseph Smith chose to use during
translation(e.g. Christ, epistle, synagogue, Timothy,
Alpha, Omega), the reason being so that they would be
more recognizable to a modern English Bible reading
public. So rathar than using an unrecognizable
reformed Egyptian word for Raca, he just left the same
word in there that we see in the Bible.
We assume that the Nephites knew nothing of the Greek
language. However, it has been determined that the
Greeks could have had some influence on the culture in
Jeruselem at the time of Lehi. H.V. Hilprect noted
that Greek mercenaries entered Egyptian service in
large numbers about 600 B.C (H. V. Hilprect,
"Explorations in Bible Lands," AJ Holman & Co., 1903,
p. 647).
W.H. Hale noted that by the 7th century BC the Greeks
were establishing colonies and trading posts as far
away as Syria, Thrace, Asia Minor, and to Egypt (W.H
Hale, "Ancient Greece," 1965, p. 27, 117).
The "council" that Jesus is refering to when He spoke to the Nephites is of course not the Jewish Sanhedrin. To the Nephites "the council" would refer to the elders in charge of administering the kingdom of God where they live(3 Ne.12:1).
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