Would Joseph Smith have taken the time to create a wordplay on the name “Heshlon”?

Some wordplays in the Book of Mormon form the central point in a chiasmus, such as the wordplay on the name “Heshlon”.

Matthew L. Bowen and Pedro Olavarria explain:

The name Heshlon, attested once (in Ether 13:28), as a toponym in the Book of Mormon most plausibly denotes “place of crushing.” The meaning of Heshlon thus becomes very significant in the context of Ether 13:25–31, which describes the crushing or enfeebling of Coriantumr’s armies and royal power. This meaning is also significant in the wider context of Moroni’s narrative of the Jaredites’ destruction. Fittingly, the name Heshlon itself serves as a literary turning point in a chiastic structure which describes the fateful reversal of Coriantumr’s individual fortunes and the worsening of the Jaredites’ collective fortunes. Perhaps Moroni, who witnessed the gradual crushing and destruction of the Nephites, mentioned this name in his abridgement of the Book of Ether on account of the high irony of its meaning in view of the Jaredite war of attrition which served as precursor to the destruction of the Nephites.

– Matthew L. Bowen and Pedro Olavarria – Place of Crushing: The Literary Function of Heshlon in Ether 13:25-31

If it would be difficult enough for Joseph Smith to create wordplays, how more difficult would it be to dictate them as part of a chiasmus?

See:

• Matthew L. Bowen and Pedro Olavarria – Place of Crushing: The Literary Function of Heshlon in Ether 13:25-31

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