Book of Mormon: Brass Plates in Three Episodes

Nephi's recounting in the Book of Mormon of getting the brass plates is very interesting to me. Many say that the lesson to be learned is the degrees of relying on the Spirit and needing the Lord’s help: that we should just rely on him. I aim to show there's more to it; in fact, without the first two episodes, the third would never have happened. Also, some say that he was writing to be like Moses; others, that he was writing to be like David. I disagree with both; though what happened was similar to both of them, it was also very unique. (Great writers don't copy stories; they just copy parts of great stories, then rework them to be better and unique.)


The first episode:

**Nephi has just received direct revelation from the Lord, yet there was nothing about going back to Jerusalem to get the brass plates. Still, when the commandment came through his father, he knew it was from God. This shows a wonderful example of both personal revelation and receving revelation through others, even at the same time.

**I wonder why they "cast lots" (1 Nephi 3:11) for one person to go get the brass plates from Laban, instead of going all together. Lehi had said, "...the Lord hath commanded me that thou and thy brothers should go unto the house of Laban, and seek the records, and bring them down hither into the wilderness" (1 Nephi 3:4). And Nephi had said, "I will go and do the things which the Lord hath commanded..." (1 Nephi 3:7).

**Laman, the oldest son and the one who should be leading the quest, has the chance, using all his worldly learning and pride, to get the brass plates. He uses the excuse of wanting to get the family genealogy to get the plates--which was ok; just didn't cut it. His abilities got him nowhere except almost dead. Was there anything he could have done to get the Spirit and get the plates? Maybe not. If successful, was Laman going to use this opportunity to help his family, or for his own glory? This attempt of his stands out as a foil to Nephi and his turn, which should have been much harder/ impossible.

**we learn that Laban is a bloodthirsty man who is quick to anger.

**it is seen that this will probably not be an easy task.


The second episode:

**we see that Nephi swears an oath to not return without the brass plates; so, either they get the plates, or Nephi has to die first.

**we understand first that Nephi didn't make them lose their riches, as they were already counted lost by Nephi. However, they were not counted lost by Laman and Lemuel before Laban took them, but only “temporarily not ours”. We must credit them with the willingness to exchange them for the plates. (This could be the origin of Laman and Lemuel’s “Nephi took our inheritance” story: saying that since Nephi had lost Laman and Lemuel’s inheritance in exchange for the plates, they should have had the plates.) Unfortunately for this reasoning, their father was still alive, and the riches were still his, and he no doubt approved of Nephi’s act, so… sorry, guys, this doesn’t count as your inheritance. No doubt this is why they were really ticked off with Nephi and Sam in the cave and beat them—they lost all their treasures and almost their lives; not really that they didn’t get the brass plates, except that then they could have gone home sooner. So why did Laman and Lemuel beat Nephi and Sam, when this attempt had the same results as when Laman tried all by himself, except that Nephi and Sam had also been in danger of dying? On the other hand, we must acknowledge that Laman had guts to go back the second time after he had been threatened with his life the first time, while the others only went once.

**we see the difference in motives between Nephi and Sam and Laman and Lemuel.

**Nephi learns:
-what Laban looks like, how he acts, his mannerisms, how he speaks;
-about Laban’s house and its layout and maybe where the treasury is and which servant is in charge of it, Laban's servants, perhaps particularly Zoram--all in preparation for the third episode.
-more about Laban's heart and how wicked a man he is.

*Nephi gets the law on his side, in preparation for the third episode.

*Laman and Lemuel got another witness from an angel about Nephi’s calling, and the reason for it. This angel also comfirms Sam’s belief in Nephi about his father’s words, and the need to leave Jerusalem in order to live.


The third episode:

**we see that Laman and Lemuel were not willing to challenge Nephi’s calling, as given moments ago by the angel. What smarted later was that the angel had told them all to go back, perhaps especially Laman and Lemuel, yet Laman and Lemuel didn’t want in. It would have actually been an easy thing for any of them to accomplish--the way was very prepared--but only Nephi had the faith to be willing to go. I don't doubt Laman and Lemuel's hearing Nephi’s recounting of the easiness of the task of getting the brass plates burned them. And then, to have this story retold to their parents and family, Ishmael's family, etc.

**this is also a testimony to the others (hearing the story) of the differences between the brothers.

**we see that Nephi is honest and guileless. He could have made up a story much greater and stupendous than that of David and Goliath, and no one would have known any better. The fact that he told it likeso, is something that many men vying as Nephi did against his brothers, would have a hard time doing.

**Laman and Lemuel had two main choices: accept that it happened as Nephi said, or not. If they accept Nephi's story, then they have to accept that God helped him. If they don't, they must accept that Nephi overpowered/ overcame Laban, when they had cowered in fear over Laban, who could "slay fifty".

**ironically, the reason Laban was drunk was probably from celebrating his "good fortune" of having increased his assets massively in one day, and with almost no effort at all. Not only does it give Nephi the perfect scenario, but it also gives Nephi a great excuse for anything he might do wrong at Laban's house--"I'm drunk". Voice a little off? forget which direction the treasury is, or where the plates are? has to tell Zoram to open the lock? --all would be apt to blame his mistakes on drunkeness. Etc.

**we get to where Nephi deliberates the killing. Had the first and second episode not happened, I believe it would have been much harder personally for Nephi to kill Laban. However, since Nephi knew, by real experience, that Laban was a(n attempted) murderer (against none other than him and his brothers--twice!), and having seen Laban’s love for the vain things of the world, and probably knowing that he had rejected what they had told him about what the Lord had told them and he had refused--all made it much easier.

**Laban had told Laman, "Thou art a robber, and I will slay thee". Laban ate his words.

**Nephi was not planning to kill Laban at all. In fact, he was shocked when the Spirit told him to do it--even when no one was around, Laban was drunk, and he was holding the bare sword. Why? Nephi was thinking the Lord would take care of Laban for them, just as he had killed the Egyptians: "Therefore let us go up; let us be strong like unto 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" (1 Nephi 4:2). "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" (1 Nephi 4:3). So, when the plan was different, he had to first overcome his thoughts about what he thought the Lord would do. Some people say he took a lot of time to do it--there's a reason. He just wanted the brass plates, he didn't want to kill anyone. I imagine he was thinking, "Surely there could be another way...?" Besides, I see a very peaceful, loving, forgiving man, in whom there was no desire or thought of murder nor retaliation in his mind or heart. There was never any talk about doing anything bad to Laban, even though Laban was a man of violence, both by profession and in their personal experiences, and had used his power unjustly. Nevertheless, he goes one up on Moses and slays Laban personally.

**Notice that "kill" and "murder" are not used in this. It's "shed...blood" and "slay".

**Nephi does not give a detailed law-based defense for his actions, which suggests that he saw no need for it for those reading his words, who would be able to understand it enough with what he had given.

**In addition, there is no mention of Laman, Lemuel, Zoram, or anyone else ever accusing Nephi of being a murderer--something Laman and Lemuel would surely have used against him. Thus, he exceeds Moses, who slew the enemy, but was chided by his own for it: "And he looked this way and that way, and when he saw that there was no man, he slew the Egyptian, and hid him in the sand" (Exodus 2:12). "And when he went out the second day, behold, two men of the Hebrews strove together: and he said to him that did the wrong, Wherefore smitest thou thy fellow?" (Exodus 2:13). "And he said, Who made thee a prince and a judge over us? intendest thou to kill me, as thou killedst the Egyptian? And Moses feared, and said, Surely this thing is known" (Exodus 2:14).

**Some say that Zoram would have known something was wrong because of all the blood on Laban's clothes (the neck is the worst place for gushing blood). Though it sounds like it, the text does not say that Nephi killed Laban first, then took his garments off: "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" (1 Nephi 4:18). "And after I had smitten off his head with his own sword, I took the garments OF (not OFF) Laban and put them upon mine own body; yea, even every whit; and I did gird on his armor about my loins" (1 Nephi 4:19).

**Nephi doesn't just cut off Laban's head with the sword. He goes one up on David--he then puts on Laban's garments, and becomes Laban, even so much that he is mistaken by Laban's servant. In essense, all that is Laban's, is symbolically his--including, as his brothers put it, able to slay fifty, or even "tens of thousands" (1 Nephi 4:1). Compare this to 1 Samuel 18:7: "And the women answered one another as they played, and said, Saul hath slain his thousands, and David his ten thousands." Compare this donning of the garments with David and Jonathan, in 1 Samuel 18:4: "And Jonathan stripped himself of the robe that was upon him, and gave it to David, and his garments, even to his sword, and to his bow, and to his girdle."

**As David picked up a friend from the household of his enemy after slaying Goliath who helped him stay alive, Nephi, after slaying Laban, picks up a loyal friend, Zoram, who also covenants with him, and by so doing saves his life. Zoram, like Johathon, chose the Lord's choice. Remember, had Lehi's group been found, Nephi would have been the first to go. When Jonathan makes the covenant, he gives his garments and sword to David; Zoram comes to make the covenant with Nephi because Nephi donned Laban's garments and sword.

**Some wonder why Zoram didn't know that Nephi was an imposter. Was Zoram a new guy, or just a lowly servant who didn't know Laban well, or was Nephi changed by the power of God, like Brigham Young seeming to be Joseph Smith? I don't believe any of these are the case. Zoram had the keys to the treasury, and knew where the brass plates were--we can conclude he was hardly a lowly servant. This was also in Laban's house--not a military installation, for example. Also, Zoram carried the conversation--something a lowly servant or new person would never dare do, especially with a mighty warrior like Laban. I think the previous episode had helped enough that Nephi could do it, and he clearly says that he imitated Laban; anything "out of normal" could be blamed on drunkeness.

**Laban's sword--like Goliath's sword--is kept as a token. In fact, it is the sword the Nephite king wields in battle. It is the symbol of the turning point in leadership, where the mantle was called by the Lord to be given to Nephi, and unchallenged by Laman and Lemuel--those who were in the position to do so.
Knowing about Zoram, and that he was a free man and not a servant or bonded to them, also gives us a nice insight to the text about whether there could have been others in the group not mentioned.

**When the brothers came home victorious with the brass plates, particular mention is made of Sariah rejoicing, in 1 Nephi 5:7-8: "And when we had returned to the tent of my father, behold their joy was full, and my mother was comforted." "And she spake, saying: Now I know of a surety that the Lord hath commanded my husband to flee into the wilderness; yea, and I also know of a surety that the Lord hath protected my sons, and delivered them out of the hands of Laban, and given them power whereby they could accomplish the thing which the Lord hath commanded them. And after this manner of language did she speak." (The next project, after the sacrifice and rejoicing, was the getting of women for wives.) Compare this to Exodus 15:20-21: "And Miriam the prophetess, the sister of Aaron, took a timbrel in her hand; and all the women went out after her with timbrels and with dances." "And Miriam answered them, Sing ye to the LORD, for he hath triumphed gloriously; the horse and his rider hath he thrown into the sea." And also what's recorded in 1 Samuel 18:6-7: "And it came to pass as they came, when David was returned from the slaughter of the Philistine, that the women came out of all cities of Israel, singing and dancing, to meet king Saul, with tabrets, with joy, and with instruments of musick." "And the women answered one another as they played, and said, Saul hath slain his thousands, and David his ten thousands."

All in all, Nephi does sound like Moses and David, but is it because he purposefully and forcefully wanted to, or because circumstances brought it into being? While I admit the crafting of the story, and the realization of an exodus likely similar to the earlier one led by Moses, Nephi is not Moses, and is not David; he is Nephi, and perhaps he writes his story to stand above them.