Book of Mormon Commentary

Commentary Index

1 Nephi: Intro | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | 10 | 11 | 12 | 13

1 Nephi 13 - Nephi's vision of Gentile religion

1 Ne. 13:4-6 - the great and abominable church

And ... I saw among the nations of the Gentiles the formation of a great church.
And the angel said unto me: Behold the formation of a church which is most abominable above all other churches, which slayeth the saints of God, yea, and tortureth them and bindeth them down, and yoketh them with a yoke of iron, and bringeth them down into captivity.
And ... I beheld this great and abominable church; and I saw the devil that he was the founder of it.

It is easy to read this as a description and condemnation of the Roman Catholic Church, the sort of attack that was common among 19th-century Protestants. It doesn't help that Elder Bruce R. McConkie explicitly identified the great and abominable church with the Catholic Church in the first edition of Mormon Doctrine in 1958, although that language was removed from later editions. However, it is very clear from 1 Nephi 14:10 that the great and abominable church referred to in chapter 13 cannot be identified with any particular Christian church or denomination:

Behold there are save two churches only; the one is the church of the Lamb of God, and the other is the church of the devil; wherefore, whoso belongeth not to the church of the Lamb of God belongeth to that great church, which is the mother of abominations; and she is the whore of all the earth.

Clearly, the text is not singling out the Catholic Church or any other denomination as "the great and abominable church." It's not even clear the "great and abominable church" is a church: the FAIR wiki asserts that modern LDS leaders identify the great and abominable church as "any organization the leads people away from the Church of Jesus Christ." Robert L. Millet explains, "The great and abominable church, or church of the devil, is any organization — religious, philosophical, social, economic, or political — that persecutes the Saints of God, revels in riches and immorality, tampers with holy scripture and its meaning, and in general fights against Zion and the establishment of the kingdom of God." The Encyclopedia of Mormonism article "Great and Abominable Church" is also helpful for clarifying the present LDS view.

1 Ne. 13:12-13 - Columbus and the New World

And I looked and beheld a man among the Gentiles, who was separated from the seed of my brethren by the many waters; and I beheld the Spirit of God, that it came down and wrought upon the man; and he went forth upon the many waters, even unto the seed of my brethren, who were in the promised land.
And ... I beheld the Spirit of God, that it wrought upon other Gentiles; and they went forth out of captivity, upon the many waters.

From the perspective of Nephi writing in the 6th century BC, this is apocalyptic prophecy. From the perspective of the first readers of the Book of Mormon, this is historical commentary. The text suggests New World settlers escaped "captivity," which is a little confusing as England offered more political and religious liberty than just about any other country in the world at that time. The contrast is even more glaring for Africans who were forcibly resettled to the New World: they left freedom behind and entered permanent captivity in America.

1 Ne. 13:20-29 - plain and precious things removed from the Bible

At verse 20, the chapter abruptly shifts focus from historical events to the formation, transmission, and presumed corruption of the Bible (although the term "Bible" is not used in these verses). Formation: "[W]hen it proceeded forth from the mouth of a Jew it contained the fulness of the gospel of the Lord." Transmission and corruption:

[The Gentiles] have taken away from the gospel of the Lamb many parts which are plain and most precious; and also many covenants of the Lord have they taken away.
And all this have they done that they might pervert the right ways of the Lord, that they might blind the eyes and harden the hearts of the children of men.
Wherefore, thou seest that after the book hath gone forth through the hands of the great and abominable church, that there are many plain and precious things taken away from the book, which is the book of the Lamb of God.

1 Ne. 13:35 - plain and precious things restored by the Book of Mormon

For, behold, saith the Lamb: I will manifest myself unto thy seed, that they shall write many things which I shall minister unto them, which shall be plain and precious; and after thy seed shall be destroyed, and dwindle in unbelief, and also the seed of thy brethren, behold, these things shall be hid up, to come forth unto the Gentiles, by the gift and power of the Lamb.

This verse brings the apocalyptic prophecy (or historical commentary) right up to the summer of 1829, when Oliver Cowdery was transcribing the text of the Book of Mormon (the "things" written and "hid up" by Nephi's seed) as it fell from the lips of Joseph Smith (who was divining the translation of the ancient record by "the gift and power" of God).

The phrase "by the gift and power of God" is often used to describe the manner in which Joseph Smith composed and dictated the text of the Book of Mormon by interpreting or translating the characters he encountered on the gold plates, as in this excerpt from the Title Page to the Book of Mormon (which also echoes other language used in the second half of chapter 13):

Written and sealed up, and hid up unto the Lord, that they might not be destroyed — To come forth by the gift and power of God unto the interpretation thereof — Sealed by the hand of Moroni, and hid up unto the Lord, to come forth in due time by way of the Gentile — The interpretation thereof by the gift of God.

Similar phrasing appears in the following:

• "by the gift and power of the Lamb" (1 Nephi 13:35)
• "the gift and power of the Holy Ghost" (1 Nephi 13:37)
• Mosiah "did interpret the engravings by the gift and power of God" (Omni 1:20)
• "And we also know that they have been translated by the gift and power of God ..." (Testimony of the Three Witnesses)

Note that the Book of Mormon quotations describe the process as interpretation, whereas the Three Witnesses statement uses the term translation, the term now generally used in LDS discourse.

1 Ne. 13:40 - the purpose of the Book of Mormon

And the angel spake unto me, saying: These last records, which thou hast seen among the Gentiles, shall establish the truth of the first, which are of the twelve apostles of the Lamb, and shall make known the plain and precious things which have been taken away from them; and shall make known to all kindreds, tongues, and people, that the Lamb of God is the Son of the Eternal Father, and the Savior of the world; and that all men must come unto him, or they cannot be saved.

This verse is a good summary of the text's own statement of purpose for the Book of Mormon:

1. To support the Bible.
2. To restore plain and precious truths that have been removed from the Bible since its texts were originally delivered.
3. To testify that all people that they must come unto Jesus Christ or they cannot be saved.

While every reader understands the various titles used to refer to Jesus Christ in these early chapters (such as "the Lamb of God," "the Son of the Eternal Father," and "the Savior of the world," all used in 1 Nephi 13:40), the name "Jesus Christ" is not encountered until later chapters: "Christ" is not used until 2 Nephi 10:3 and "Jesus" is not used until 2 Nephi 25:19. In both cases, the term is explained as having been supplied by an angel. Similarly, at Mosiah 3:8 King Benjamin identified "Jesus Christ, the Son of God, the Father of heaven and earth, the Creator of all things from the beginning," but explained that these things were "made known unto me by an angel from God" (Mosiah 3:2).

Sources Cited:

"Great and abominable church," FAIR Wiki, http://fairmormon.org/Book_of_Mormon/Great_and_abominable_church, accessed January 4, 2012.

Robert L. Millet, "Great and Abominable Church," in LDS Beliefs: A Doctrinal Reference, Deseret Book, 2011.

Dennis A. Wright, "Great and Abominable Church," in Encyclopedia of Mormonism, Macmillan Pub. Co.: 1992.

1 Nephi 12 - Nephi's vision of his descendants

1 Ne. 12:1-2 - Israel in the New World

[T]he angel said unto me: Look, and behold thy seed, and also the seed of thy brethren. And I looked and beheld the land of promise; and I beheld multitudes of people, yea, even as it were in number as many as the sand of the sea.
And ... I beheld multitudes gathered together to battle, one against the other; and I beheld wars, and rumors of wars, and great slaughters with the sword among my people.

Some promised land. Nibley [p. 190] sees chapters 10, 12, and 13 as together giving an expanding view of the history of the Jews: "[C]hapter ten of 1 Nephi deals with the Jews. ... Chapter twelve deals with the New World version — Israel in the New World, the Book of Mormon people. Chapter thirteen deals with the Gentiles and the whole world; it takes the world view."

1 Ne. 12:6-7 - Nephi sees the visit of Christ to the Americas

And I saw the heavens open, and the Lamb of God descending out of heaven; and he came down and showed himself unto them.
And I also saw and bear record that the Holy Ghost fell upon twelve others; and they were ordained of God, and chosen.

This is a brief preview of Christ's visit to the Americas, the account of which covers several chapters in the book of Third Nephi. The twelve ordained Nephites are never referred to as apostles; instead, they are called "twelve disciples" (v. 8) and "twelve ministers" (v. 9,10).

1 Ne. 12:19 - pride goeth before the fall

I beheld and saw that the seed of my brethren did contend against my seed, according to the word of the angel; and because of the pride of my seed, and the temptations of the devil, I beheld that the seed of my brethren did overpower the people of my seed.

Verse 19 states a theme that will reappear over and over throughout the Book of Mormon narrative: that pride hardens the hearts of the people, whose society then becomes vulnerable to military assault from without and social collapse from within. A critic might respond that in any age or period there will be some individuals who are proud and some who are humble, plus many who are an odd mixture of both pride and humility. Yet we don't hesitate to talk about the spirit of an age (such as the Renaissance or the Enlightenment) or characterize recent decades by simple themes: the Roaring Twenties, the Countercultural Sixties, the Greed of the Eighties.

Verse 18 notes the great and spacious building from Lehi's dream, explaining that it "is vain imaginations and the pride of the children of men." This is a good example of how Nephi's visions related in chapters 11 through 14 weave the symbols of Lehi's dream in with Nephi's own visions. The reference to pride in verse 18 introduces Nephi's observation in verse 19 that his people were overpowered by their enemies in part because of pride.

1 Ne. 12:22-23 - a dark and filthy people

And I saw them gathered together in multitudes; and I saw wars and rumors of wars among them; and in wars and rumors of wars I saw many generations pass away.
And the angel said unto me: Behold these shall dwindle in unbelief.
And ... I beheld, after they had dwindled in unbelief they became a dark, and loathsome, and a filthy people, full of idleness and all manner of abominations.

This is the dark side of the Book of Mormon view of the Indians of North and South America, some or all of which are held to be the degenerate descendants of a mixture of the Nephites and Lamanites: they are "a dark, and loathsome, and a filthy people, full of idleness and all manner of abominations."

The description of this transformation seems to conflate racial, environmental, and cultural categories. With the benefit of 21st-century science, we now understand that racial traits emerge in human populations that are reproductively isolated from other populations over tens of thousands of years, not the short timeframe of just hundreds of years described in 1 Nephi 12:22-23. So any real-world changes in a population corresponding to changes described by the text would be environmental (literal filthiness comes from the environment) and cultural (idleness and unspecified abominations), not racial.

There is also a causal assertion being made in these verses: the changes happened because of unbelief. This connection is expressed more clearly in 2 Nephi 5:21-24, where the physical change is described as a "skin of blackness" and is the result of a divine "curse." In the 19th century and early 20th century, race was held to be a defensible concept that explained many of the differences in various cultures. Both these views (that race is a defensible concept and that it explains cultural traits) are now rejected by most scientists.

There is also a contrasting bright side to the Book of Mormon view of these same descendants in which they will someday become a regenerate, delightsome people, as described at 2 Ne. 30:4-6:

And then shall the remnant of our seed know concerning us, how that we came out from Jerusalem, and that they are descendants of the Jews.
And the gospel of Jesus Christ shall be declared among them; wherefore, they shall be restored unto the knowledge of their fathers, and also to the knowledge of Jesus Christ, which was had among their fathers.
And then shall they rejoice; for they shall know that it is a blessing unto them from the hand of God; and their scales of darkness shall begin to fall from their eyes; and many generations shall not pass away among them, save they shall be a pure and a delightsome people.

See also D&C 49:24: "But before the great day of the Lord shall come, Jacob shall flourish in the wilderness, and the Lamanites shall blossom as the rose."

Sources Cited:

Hugh W. Nibley, Teachings of the Book of Mormon, Part 1 (FARMS, 1993).

1 Nephi 11 - Nephi's vision of the ministry of Jesus

1 Ne. 11:1 - Nephi has a vision

1 Nephi 8 does not clearly state whether Lehi experienced a dream or a vision, but 1 Nephi 11:1 makes it clear that Nephi experienced a waking vision: "[A]s I sat pondering in mine heart I was caught away in the Spirit of the Lord, yea, into an exceedingly high mountain, which I never had before seen, and upon which I never had before set my foot." The contents of the vision presented in this chapter are a prophetic view of the birth, ministry, and death of Jesus Christ.

1 Ne. 11:11 - the Spirit of the Lord

I spake unto him as a man speaketh; for I beheld that he was in the form of a man; yet nevertheless, I knew that it was the Spirit of the Lord; and he spake unto me as a man speaketh with another.

This passage supports the LDS doctrine that the Holy Ghost is not some undefined Force but rather is a personnage of spirit with a localized and defined "spirit body" whose influence can nevertheless be felt universally.

1 Ne. 11:13-21 - the Virgin Birth

I beheld a virgin, and she was exceedingly fair and white.
... [A]nd an angel came down and stood before me; and he said unto me: Nephi, what beholdest thou?
And I said unto him: A virgin, most beautiful and fair above all other virgins.
* * *
And he said unto me: Behold, the virgin whom thou seest is the mother of the Son of God, after the manner of the flesh.
And it came to pass that I beheld that she was carried away in the Spirit; and after she had been carried away in the Spirit for the space of a time the angel spake unto me, saying: Look!
And I looked and beheld the virgin again, bearing a child in her arms.

It is hard to imagine a clearer affirmation of the Virgin Birth. Yet, for some reason Evangelicals are convinced that Mormons hold a different view. Here's from the Encyclopdia of Mormonism entry under "Virgin Birth": "Mary, mother of Jesus Christ, was a virgin at the time of Jesus' birth. Of Old Testament prophets, Isaiah alone foretold this circumstance (Isaiah 7:14), but Book of Mormon prophets also foresaw the virgin birth. ... Alma declared that Christ 'shall be born of Mary … a virgin … who shall … conceive by the power of the Holy Ghost and bring forth a son, yea, even the Son of God' (Alma 7:10)." Yes, scholars view this as a misreading of Isaiah 7:14, but that is a different question.

1 Ne. 11:33 - lifted up upon the cross | Christian symbols

And I, Nephi, saw that he was lifted up upon the cross and slain for the sins of the world.

Chapter 11 makes reference to several traditional Christian symbols and terms that function as symbols: the Virgin Birth (v. 20), the Lamb of God (v. 21), the Tree of Life (v. 25), the Holy Ghost in the form of a dove (v. 27), and now in verse 33 the Cross. Mormons avoid the traditional, symbolic use of the cross.

Here's an explanation from the Encyclopedia of Mormonism again, item "Cross": "Latter-day Saints do not use the symbol of the cross in their architecture or in their chapels. They, like the earliest Christians, are reluctant to display the cross because they view the "good news" of the gospel as Christ's resurrection more than his crucifixion. ... Moreover, the cross, with its focus on the death of Christ, does not symbolize the message of a living, risen, exalted Lord who changes the lives of his followers. ... While the symbol of the cross is not visually displayed among the Latter-day Saints, the centrality of the Atonement is ever present in their observance of baptism, the Sacrament of the Lord's Supper, and the temple ordinances, and in their hymns and testimonies."

Sources Cited:

Eleanor Colton, "Virgin Birth," in Encyclopedia of Mormonism, Macmillan Pub. Co.: 1992.

Roger R. Keller, "Cross, in Encyclopedia of Mormonism, Macmillan Pub. Co.: 1992.

1 Nephi 10 - quoting Bible texts

1 Ne. 10 - structure and content of 1 Nephi 10-22

The structure of the remaining chapters of First Nephi gets rather complex at this point, with the narrative thread of events quickly giving way to long blocks of extended quotation and commentary that have little connection to the narrative of events. Chapters 10, 15, 19, and 22 are composed of Nephi's commentary on several themes relating the history and fate of "the Jews": the scattering and gathering of the Jews and the place of the Nephites and Lamanites in that process. 1 Nephi 10 and 15 bracket Nephi's extended vision reported in chapters 11 through 14. 1 Nephi 19 and 22 bracket Nephi's quotation in chapters 20 and 21 of Isaiah 48 and 49, and present additional commentary on the latter-day gathering of the Jews. Only chapters 16 through 18 continue the narration of events begun in the first seven chapter.

The traditional Mormon view is that Nephi quoted Isaiah 48 and 49 from the brass plates (see 1 Nephi 5:11-13 for the narrative's summary of the contents of the brass plates), with various explanations for why the wording of the quoted material follows the King James Version text so closely. Second Nephi quotes even larger blocks of Isaiah text: 2 Nephi 7 and 8 quote Isaiah 50 and 51, while 2 Nephi 12 through 24 quote eleven full chapters of Isaiah 2 through 14.

1 Ne. 10:3 - the Babylonian captivity

That after they [the Jews] should be destroyed, even that great city Jerusalem, and many be carried away captive into Babylon, according to the own due time of the Lord, they should return again, yea, even be brought back out of captivity; and after they should be brought back out of captivity they should possess again the land of their inheritance.

This single verse summarizes the deportation of many Jews from Judea to Babylon in 597 and again in 587, the two generations that they remained in Babylon, and the return of some of these Jews to Palestine under the sponsorship of Cyrus of Persia starting in 538 BC. Several key prophetic books — Jeremiah, Ezekiel, Second and Third Isaiah — as well as the Ezra-Nehemiah narrative are rooted in the traumatic exile and subsequent triumphant return of the Jews of Judea.

1 Ne. 10:7-8 - quoting the New Testament

And he spake also concerning a prophet who should come before the Messiah, to prepare the way of the Lord —
Yea, even he should go forth and cry in the wilderness: Prepare ye the way of the Lord, and make his paths straight; for there standeth one among you whom ye know not; and he is mightier than I, whose shoe’s latchet I am not worthy to unloose.

Verse 8 appears to depend on Matthew 3:3 and John 1:26-27. Likewise, the two succeeding verses, noting that this prophet in the wilderness "should baptize in Bethabara" and that he "baptized the Lamb of God, who should take away the sins of the world," appear to depend on John 1:28-29.

Similarly, verses 18 and 19 quote or paraphrase several New Testament verses: "For he is the same yesterday, today, and forever" is from Heb. 13:8; "prepared for all men from the foundation of the world" echoes Matt. 25:34; "he that diligently seeketh shall find" paraphrases Matt. 7:7 and Luke 11:9. This ability of Nephi to quote or paraphrase verses from the New Testament is rarely discussed by LDS scholars. The Encyclopedia of Mormonism, for example, provides the following abbreviated discussion:

Because the main Book of Mormon colony left Jerusalem approximately six hundred years before the beginning of the New Testament period, Book of Mormon writers did not have access to New Testament records. However, they had access to two important sources of doctrines paralleling some of the New Testament: the resurrected Christ and divine revelation. The resurrected Christ delivered to his hearers in the Americas a sermon essentially the same as the one he had delivered near the Sea of Galilee. ... Mormon's important teachings about baptism and about faith, hope, and charity parallel New Testament teachings, especially those of Paul in 1 Corinthians 13.

The most helpful and detailed discussion of the question is found in Blake Ostler's 1987 article "The Book of Mormon as a Modern Expansion of an Ancient Source."

Sources Cited:

Victor L. Ludlow, "Bible," in Encyclopedia of Mormonism, Macmillan Pub. Co.: 1992.

Blake Ostler, "The Book of Mormon as a Modern Expansion of an Ancient Source," Dialogue 20, No. 1 (Spring 1987):66-123.

1 Nephi 9 - the Small Plates of Nephi

1 Ne. 9:2 - the Small Plates of Nephi

And now, as I have spoken concerning these plates, behold they are not the plates upon which I make a full account of the history of my people; for the plates upon which I make a full account of my people I have given the name of Nephi; wherefore, they are called the plates of Nephi, after mine own name; and these plates also are called the plates of Nephi.

In chapter 6, Nephi distinguished between "these plates" upon which he is writing and "the record which has been kept by my father" (6:1). Here in chapter 9, Nephi for the first time distinguishes between two sets of plates he is keeping, both of which are confusingly termed "the plates of Nephi."

One set of plates he consistently refers to as "these plates" [generally referred to modernly as the Small Plates of Nephi]. The Small Plates are for "the more part of the ministry" (9:4). He fashioned the Small Plates because "the Lord hath commanded me to make these plates for a wise purpose in him, which purpose I know not" (9:5). The other set of plates [generally referred to modernly as the Large Plates of Nephi] contained "an account of the reign of the kings, and the wars and contentions of my people" (9:4). Nephi gives additional detail concerning the Small and Large Plates at 1 Nephi 19.

1 Nephi 8 - Lehi's dream

1 Ne. 8:2 - Dreams and visions

And it came to pass that while my father tarried in the wilderness he spake unto us, saying: Behold, I have dreamed a dream; or, in other words, I have seen a vision.

Was it a dream or a vision? Dreams occurs while sleeping. Almost all people experience dreams, many of which are entirely natural events but some few of which are presented in the scriptures as divine messages. Visions, on the other hand, occur while the recipient is awake and conscious, often able to relate in real-time the images or events seen by them (with their spiritual eyes) but apparently not seen by bystanders or observers. Later references are no help: 1 Nephi 10:2 refers to it as a dream ("after my father had made an end of speaking the words of his dream"); 1 Nephi 10:17 refers to it as a vision ("concerning the things which he saw in a vision").

1 Ne. 8:4-35 - Lehi's dream

Part vision and part parable, Lehi's dream in 1 Nephi 8 is one of the most striking passages in the Book of Mormon. Visual representations of the symbols portrayed in Lehi's dream abound. There are actually three separate scenes or tableaus described in Lehi's account of the dream: (1) first Lehi was in a "dark and dreary wilderness" (8:4); then (2) after following a man in a white robe, Lehi found himself in a "dark and dreary waste" (8:7); finally, after many hours and a sincere prayer to the Lord (3) Lehi beheld "a large and spacious field" (8:9, 20).

The remainder of the vision all takes place within an extended scene in which all of the symbols are related to the large and spacious field and to each other. "Numberless concourses of people" (8:21) are in that field, many searching for the path to the tree, others feeling their way to the great and spacious building, some drowned in the depths of the spring at the head of the river, and yet others "wandering in strange roads" (8:32) and lost to Lehi's view. Yes, there are many paths that you can go by, but there's still time to change the road you're on.

Symbols From Lehi's Dream

Symbol	Meaning	References
Large and spacious field	the world	8:9,20
Tree with white and desirable fruit	love of God; the Tree of Life	8:10-11; 11:21-22,25
River of water	the depths of hell	8:13; 12:16
Rod of iron	word of God	8:19; 11:25
Strait and narrow path	leads from the field to the tree	2 Nephi 31:17-20
Fountain (or spring, at the head of the river of water)	the depths of hell	8:14,20,32; 12:16
Mists of darkness	temptations of the devil	8:23; 12:17
Great and spacious building	vain imaginations and the pride of the children of men	8:26-27,31,33; 11:35-36; 12:18

Nibley offers some fascinating historical commentary on some of the elements of Lehi's dream: the river of water, from springs that emerge from nowhere in Arabian deserts (p. 173); mists of darkness, mixtures of dust and fog from the sea (p. 176); tall, towering houses build in desert towns with no windows for the first twenty to thirty feet for security, then higher windows from which light would flow at night (p. 177), thus rendering the illusion of a building that stands "as it were in the air, high above the earth" (1 Nephi 8:26).

Lehi's dream bears some resemblance to Joseph Smith Sr.'s dream of 1811, recounted by Lucy Mack Smith in 1845. The text of Lucy's account is available at an old post of mine, Three Visions of the Tree. Some suspect that Lucy's 1845 account of Joseph Smith Sr.'s dream was influenced by the text of 1 Nephi 8 rather than the other way around.

Sources Cited:

Hugh W. Nibley, Teachings of the Book of Mormon, Part 1 (FARMS, 1993).

1 Nephi 7 - Ishmael and his family

1 Ne. 7:1 - the daughters of Ishmael

[I]t was not meet for him, Lehi, that he should take his family into the wilderness alone; but that his sons should take daughters to wife, that they might raise up seed unto the Lord in the land of promise.

Thus did Ishmael and his unnamed wife and five daughters (7:6) become the joint progenitors of the early Book of Mormon peoples. The phrase "raise up seed unto the Lord" echoes the polygamy escape clause recorded at Jacob 2:31: "For if I will, saith the Lord of Hosts, raise up seed unto me, I will command my people; otherwise they shall hearken unto these things."

1 Nephi 6 - the Plates of Nephi

1 Ne. 6:1 - the Plates of Nephi

And now I, Nephi, do not give the genealogy of my fathers in this part of my record; neither at any time shall I give it after upon these plates which I am writing; for it is given in the record which has been kept by my father; wherefore, I do not write it in this work.

At several points in 1 Nephi, explicit discussion of plates upon which the written record is etched or engraved is presented. Here at 6:1, Nephi refers to "these plates," making no distinction between two different sets of plates that he was working with. This distinction (between what present-day Mormons call the Small Plates of Nephi and the Large Plates of Nephi) is made later in chapters 9 and 19. Back at 1:17, Nephi notes that these are "plates which I have made with mine own hands." Also at 1:17, Nephi announces that what he is first writing is "an abridgement of the record of my father," suggesting a third set of plates from which he is drawing some of his material. We might refer to this record kept by Nephi's father Lehi as "the Plates of Lehi" (although it is not explicitly stated that Lehi's record was kept on plates).

In the front matter to the published Book of Mormon there is a one-page outline titled "A brief explanation about the Book of Mormon." That outline identifies four sets of plates referred to in the narrative, not all of which are referred to in the text of the Book of Mormon by the titles given in that outline. Interestingly, what I have called the Plates of Lehi are not referenced in that outline, which names four other sets of plates:

• The Plates of Nephi, including the Small Plates and the Large Plates. The text of 1 Nephi through Omni is drawn from the Small Plates.
• The Plates of Mormon, the source of the text from Mosiah through Moroni, excluding Ether.
• The Plates of Ether, the source behind Moroni's abridgement of the history of Jared, his brother, and their descendants found in Ether.
• The Plates of Brass, containing some writings of the Jews. These are described at 1 Ne. 5:11-13 and are presumably the source for extensive quotations from the Book of Isaiah presented in 1 Nephi 20 and 21, and in 2 Nephi 12 through 24.

1 Ne. 6:5 - Nephi's intent

[T]he fulness of mine intent is that I may persuade men to come unto the God of Abraham, and the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob, and be saved.

This resembles the declaration made in the Title Page to the Book of Mormon (said to have been part of the ancient record, not a modern addition) that the book is to convince "the Jew and Gentile that JESUS is the CHRIST, the ETERNAL GOD, manifesting himself unto all nations."

1 Nephi 5 - what's on the brass plates

1 Ne. 5:2 - Sariah's complaint

Behold thou hast led us forth from the land of our inheritance, and my sons are no more, and we perish in the wilderness.

This is presented as direct dialogue from Sariah. Sounds an awful lot like the complaints of Laman and Lemuel (see 2:11). But Sariah came around in 2:8 ("Now I know of a surety that the Lord hath commanded my husband to flee into the wilderness," etc.), whereas Laman and Lemuel never did.

1 Ne. 5:4-5 - Lehi's defense

An artistic rendering of Lehi's vision at 1 Nephi 1:6

I know that I am a visionary man; for if I had not seen the things of God in a vision I should not have known the goodness of God, but had tarried at Jerusalem, and had perished with my brethren.
But behold, I have obtained a land of promise ...

As with Sariah's complaint, this response by Lehi, the visionary man, is presented as direct dialogue. There's something wrong with the tense here. The reference to perishing with his brethren (which I take to be a reference to his fellow Jews at Jerusalem) can't be to the first capture of Jerusalem in 597 BC, as Lehi's vision, also referred to in verse 4, came after that event. But if the reference is to Israelite brethren who might perish in the more destructive second capture of Jerusalem in 587 BC, then the sense of the verse as written, which makes it sound like those brethren had already perished, doesn't make sense either.

1 Ne. 5:9 - sacrifice and burnt offerings

And it came to pass that they did rejoice exceedingly, and did offer sacrifice and burnt offerings unto the Lord; and they gave thanks unto the God of Israel.

This would seem to mark Lehi as a religious rebel and heretic -- burnt offerings and the offering of sacrifices were centralized at the Jerusalem temple and prohibited anywhere else, especially after the reforms of Josiah in the last third of the seventh century.

1 Ne. 5:11-13 - Lehi peruses the brass plates

And he beheld that they did contain the five books of Moses, which gave an account of the creation of the world, and also of Adam and Eve, who were our first parents;
And also a record of the Jews from the beginning, even down to the commencement of the reign of Zedekiah, king of Judah;
And also the prophecies of the holy prophets, from the beginning, even down to the commencement of the reign of Zedekiah; and also many prophecies which have been spoken by the mouth of Jeremiah.

This passage raises some very interesting issues. First, the term "the five books of Moses" is an anachronism. A Jew like Lehi would call it "torah," not "the five books of Moses." [But see 1 Nephi 4:16: "And I also knew that the law was engraven upon the plates of brass."] And these writings, to the extent they existed at this time, were on scrolls, not books (which didn't come into general use until the first century). Second, modern scholarship has esablished that torah as a collection of five authoritative scrolls didn't really take shape until it was assembled as a post-exilic body of writings. Ezra is traditionally viewed as the prophet/scribe who was instrumental in that effort, and Ezra worked a hundred years after Zedekiah reigned in Jerusalem.

The reference to Jeremiah in verse 13 emphasizes the truncated nature of the contents of the brass plates: "many prophecies which have been spoken by the mouth of Jeremiah." Necessarily, only some of what we now have as the Book of Jeremiah would have been on the brass plates since some of its contents were penned after 597. But Jeremiah underwent considerable revision for centuries afterwards -- the text of Jeremiah in the Septuagint, the Greek translation of the Hebrew Bible which dates to the second century BC, omits approximately 12% of the material in our present-day Jeremiah (based on the Masoretic text).

The bottom line is that it is a mistake to think of our present text of the Old Testament as what would have been written on the brass plates. Whatever was written there would have been a much earlier and much shorter version of what Christians now know as the Old Testament.

1 Ne. 5:19 - the plates to be preserved

Wherefore, he said that these plates of brass should never perish; neither should they be dimmed any more by time.

This is a remarkable passage. It implies that up until this time the brass plates were just natural metal objects with writing, albeit holy writing, apparently subject to change and decay, but that henceforth they would be supernatural objects and would "never perish." There is no hint of what ordinance, event, or process might have produced this change. There's a strange similarity here with the Evangelical view of the Bible as inerrant, which attributes a supernatural status to the words themselves. Here, the supernatural status is attributed to the medium on which the words were written.

1 Ne. 5:21 - a shout out for the Old Testament

And we had obtained the records which the Lord had commanded us, and searched them and found that they were desirable; yea, even of great worth unto us, insomuch that we could preserve the commandments of the Lord unto our children.

Subject to the caveat discussed above under verses 11-13 that the brass plates were an early and much truncated form of the Hebrew Bible compared with out present text, this verse is a ringing affirmation of the Old Testament as "desirable" and "of great worth." So stop complaining about how long Isaiah is (66 chapters) and how obscure some parts of the Pentateuch are. It is desirable and of great worth. Just buy a good reference or two to help you through the tough stuff. And while you are book shopping, buy a version of the Old Testament that puts prose passages in paragraphs and poetry in verse!

1 Nephi 4 - Nephi in Jerusalem

1 Ne. 4:1-3 - a motivational speech

These three verses are a short motivational speech by Nephi citing events in Israelite history, trying to get his brothers to agree to give it one more try with Laban in Jerusalem. Similar speeches recapitulating the salvation history of Israel, some much longer, appear periodically throughout 1 Nephi.

1 Ne. 4:3 - wherefore can ye doubt?

Now behold ye know that this is true; and ye also know that an angel hath spoken unto you; wherefore can ye doubt? Let us go up; the Lord is able to deliver us, even as our fathers, and to destroy Laban, even as the Egyptians.

Nephi gives two reasons his brethren should not doubt that the Lord can deliver the desired record into their hands despite Laban's opposition: (1) They just know it; and (2) an angel told them so. The first reason reflects in an odd way the prevalent Mormon view that people just know that the Church is true. The second reason reflects the unusual status of Laman and Lemuel in the narrative, doubtful and rebellious men who nevertheless have conversed with angels.

On the general topic of doubt, compare Alma 56:47-48 (the stripling warriors "had been taught by their mothers, that if they did not doubt, God would deliver them"); 3 Nephi 8:4 ("And there began to be great doubtings and disputations among the people, notwithstanding so many signs had been given"); Mormon 9:21("Behold, I say unto you that whoso believeth in Christ, doubting nothing, whatsoever he shall ask the Father in the name of Christ it shall be granted him"); and Ether 3:19 ("and he had faith no longer, for he knew, nothing doubting").

1 Ne. 4:6 - led by the Spirit

I was led by the Spirit, not knowing beforehand the things which I should do.

He didn't have a plan, just faith and courage. This was Nephi's defining moment, when, alone, he "crept into the city and went forth towards the house of Laban" (4:5).

1 Ne. 4:9-17 - Nephi's interior dialogue

This block of verses reports Nephi's interior dialogue between himself and the Spirit. The Spirit tells Nephi to "kill Laban" (4:10), then, more poetically, "Slay him, for the Lord hath delivered him into thy hands" (4:12). Nephi reports that he was initially loathe to take such action, but on further reflection (v. 14-17) decided that dispatching Laban and obtaining the plates of brass would in fact further God's purposes.

1 Ne. 4:18 - the death of Laban

Therefore I did obey the voice of the Spirit, and took Laban by the hair of the head, and I smote off his head with his own sword.

With his own sword, no less. This graphic event, which looks like the murder of a supine and defenseless man, troubles many readers of the Book of Mormon, but this sort of thing is very much in the spirit of the Old Testament. Consider the David and Goliath encounter: "David ran, and stood upon the Philistine, and took his sword, and drew it out of the sheath thereof, and slew him, and cut off his head therewith" (1 Sam. 17:51). That's not some thuggish Israelite soldier or the pitiless Joab at work; that's David, who became the hero king of Israel.

Even more graphic is Samuel's execution of Agag, a foreign king captured in battle but spared by Saul, against Samuel's explicit directive otherwise: "Then said Samuel, Bring ye hither to me Agag the king of the Amalekites. And Agag came unto him delicately. And Agag said, Surely the bitterness of death is past. And Samuel said, As thy sword hath made women childless, so shall thy mother be childless among women. And Samuel hewed Agag in pieces before the LORD in Gilgal" (1 Sam. 15:32-33). That's Samuel, one of the greatest of Israel's prophets. Prophets were made of pretty stern stuff back then. So was Nephi, it seems.

1 Ne. 4:30-37 - a lighter moment: the prudent Zoram joins the expedition

In an extreme dramatic shift, we move from Laban's execution directly to Zoram's almost comic dilemma. The text highlights the desire of the brothers that Zoram not return and report their shady deed to the Jerusalem authorities. Given earlier events (chapter 3) that story might have seemed credible, but having unwittingly assisted Nephi in obtaining the plates of brass and getting out of town, Zoram was in a very delicate position. If he was not believed, he would be the primary suspect and would likely lose his own life. And perhaps Laban wasn't a really great guy to work for. So after a little reflection, Zoram prudently decided that maybe departing into the wilderness wasn't such a bad idea. Sometimes your whole life can change in one cosmic moment. Carpe diem. Zoram seized his moment.