Four main prophet-authors of the Book of Mormon
It’s time to start reading the actual text of the Book of Mormon as written by ancient prophets and as translated by a modern prophet, Joseph Smith. (Actually, the Title Page, which we have already considered, was written by Moroni and appended at the end of his record. Joseph Smith translated it last but put it first in the Book of Mormon when he organized the Book for printing.)
The first writer we encounter in the Book of Mormon is Nephi, son of Lehi. He is one of four major prophets who wrote what we have in the Book of Mormon. They are Nephi, his brother Jacob, Mormon and his son, Moroni. The Book also contains some short books by other prophets and Mormon quotes some prophets (such as King Benjamin, Alma the Younger, Amulek, Samuel the Lamanite, etc.) in his record. He also directly quotes words of the Savior given to the Nephites as recorded by a later Nephi, the prophet of that time. And Moroni abridges the record of the prophet Ether, the last prophet of the Jaredite people. So there are actually many contributors to the Book of Mormon, but only four main prophet-authors.
Structure of the Book of Mormon
The structure of the Book of Mormon is quite complex and can be confusing to people as they read the Book, especially if they aren’t very familiar with it. Actually, the complexity of the structure of the Book of Mormon is one of the internal evidences of the truth of the Book. As you read this year, ask yourself, “Is there any way Joseph Smith with the little education he had (His wife, Emma, said he couldn’t even write a coherent or well-worded letter.) working without notes, files, books, computer, word processor, or research assistant could produce a book of this complexity and length in about 65 working days?” I think you’ll agree, there is no way!
Included in last week’s reading for Come, Follow Me, is “A Brief Explanation About the Book of Mormon.” If you didn’t take time to read that last week, I suggest you do so now. It will help you understand how the Book of Mormon is organized. Let me briefly summarize and see if I can confuse you even more.
The portion of the Book of Mormon plates which Joseph Smith translated (Remember that Joseph only translated 1/3 of the plates he received. The other 2/3 were sealed and not translated.) contained the following sections or plates:
The Plates of Mormon contained Mormon’s abridgment of the many records in his possession of the Nephite civilization from Lehi and his family beginning in 600 BC until the destruction of the Nephites in about 386 AD, a time period of nearly 1000 years. The first book in the Plates of Mormon was the Book of Lehi followed by other books named for their principle prophets, i.e. Mosiah, Alma, Helaman, etc. Joseph Smith translated the Book of Lehi (and possibly other books which followed) in 1828 with his wife Emma and Martin Harris serving as scribes. When he had translated enough of the record to fill 116 pages of manuscript, Martin prevailed on Joseph to let him take the pages to Palmyra to show his wife. You know the story – the manuscript was lost and never recovered. What a tragedy! Joseph was devastated! Moroni took the plates and the interpreters from Joseph and he thought all was lost. But eventually the Lord forgave Joseph and allowed Moroni to return the plates and interpreters to him.
It appears that Joseph continued on from where he left off in the translation to translate the record abridged by Mormon until he got to what is now Mormon chapter 7. At that point, Mormon tells us that he “searched among the records which had been delivered into my hands” and found some other plates known as the Small Plates of Nephi written by Nephi, son of Lehi, and subsequent prophets until the time of the reign of King Benjamin. Mormon was impressed by the Lord “for a wise purpose” to include these plates without abridging them at the end of his record before giving the plates to his son Moroni, which he did. (See Words of Mormon)
It also appears that Joseph didn’t know about the Small Plates of Nephi until he got to that point, the end of Mormon’s abridgment, while translating. Imagine Joseph’s relief when he realized that the treasures he had read in the Book of Lehi were not lost because the Lord, knowing the end from the beginning, had made provision for the loss of the manuscript pages over 2300 years before it occurred!
That’s why, when we start reading the Book of Mormon, we are reading the words of Nephi, not the words of Mormon. As we will see, the Book of Mormon begins “I Nephi . . .” not “I Mormon . . .” We don’t “hear” from Mormon in the Book that bears his name until we get to a little insert called “The Words of Mormon” between the Books of Omni and Mosiah in which Mormon explains why he is inserting the Small Plates to actually tell the first part of the story a second time. Gratefully, in His wisdom, the Lord made provision that this story and these precious truths were not lost.
The rest of the Book of Mormon after Mormon chapter 7 was written by Moroni, Mormon’s son. He finished writing about his father including his father’s death, said goodbye to his readers and then appended to the book an abridgment of the record of Ether, the last prophet of a group of people known as the Jaredites who lived from the time of the Tower of Babel (2200 BC) until sometime after the time of Lehi. Having said goodbye, Moroni then buried the plates where they would be safe from the Lamanites because he was the last remaining survivor of the Nephite civilization. However, after wandering for twenty years (Maybe that is when he dedicated the site for the future Manti Utah Temple.), Moroni returned to the plates and added 10 more chapters which he called the Book of Moroni. He said goodbye (again) to his readers and buried the plates for safe keeping until he was sent to Joseph Smith in 1823. You know the rest of the story.
One other set of plates that you need to be aware of is the Brass Plates which Nephi obtained from Laban. They don’t tell any of the Book of Mormon story, but they figure into it. The Brass Plates tell the story which is now contained in our Bible from Genesis to Jeremiah, including the writings of Isaiah and other prophets. The Lehi colony took the Brass Plates with them across the ocean to the Promised Land. Nephi, Jacob, and Mormon (quoting Abinadi) quote extensively from the Brass Plates, especially some of the writings of Isaiah and those quotes are contained in the Book of Mormon.
Are you sufficiently confused? Probably so. At this point in reading the Book of Mormon with our kids or with new members, I would like to go to the white board and draw out a schematic diagram of all the different plates and how they fit in. I haven’t figured out how to do that in this blog, but there are several good examples you could look at to help you. For instance, there is a helpful diagram at Book of Mormon Central. The link is https://archive.bookofmormoncentral.org/content/book-mormon-plates-and-records-0.
Here is another good chart from BYU Studies:
Many plates
In actual fact, it appears that Mormon had many sets of plates to work from. There are several references from early Church leaders to what appears to be a visionary experience that Joseph Smith and Oliver Cowdery had when they entered a cave filled with stacks of plates. There is no first-person account from either Joseph or Oliver, but a number of contemporaries refer to this experience. One of those who tell of this experience is Brigham Young. Here is what he said:
I believe I will take the liberty to tell you of another circumstance that will be as marvelous as anything can be. This is an incident in the life of Oliver Cowdery, but he did not take the liberty of telling such things in meeting as I take. I tell these things to you, and I have a motive for doing so. I want to carry them to the ears of my brethren and sisters, and to the children also, that they may grow to an understanding of some things that seem to be entirely hidden from the human family. Oliver Cowdery went with the Prophet Joseph when he deposited these plates. Joseph did not translate all of the plates; there was a portion of them sealed, which you can learn from the Book of Doctrine and Covenants. When Joseph got the plates, the angel instructed him to carry them back to the hill Cumorah, which he did. Oliver says that when Joseph and Oliver went there, the hill opened, and they walked into a cave, in which there was a large and spacious room. He says he did not think, at the time, whether they had the light of the sun or artificial light; but that it was just as light as day. They laid the plates on a table; it was a large table that stood in the room. Under this table there was a pile of plates as much as two feet high, and there were altogether in this room more plates than probably many wagon loads; they were piled up in the corners and along the walls. The first time they went there the sword of Laban hung upon the wall; but when they went again it had been taken down and laid upon the table across the gold plates; it was unsheathed, and on it was written these words: "This sword will never be sheathed again until the kingdoms of this world become the kingdom of our God and his Christ. (Journal of Discourses 19:38)
If you’d like to know more, here are two links to trustworthy sites that you may find interesting:
1 Nephi, Chapter 1
The paragraph that precedes Chapter 1 was written by Nephi. It is a summary of what is contained in the Book of First Nephi. Similar summaries are also found at the beginning of the Books of Second Nephi, Jacob, Alma, Helaman, Third Nephi, and Fourth Nephi. These appear to have been written by the prophet-authors Nephi, Jacob and Mormon.
Note that the summaries written in italics after the chapter headings are written in our time to assist the reader in understanding what will follow. Some changes have been made in these from time to time and they are not considered scripture, though helpful.
1:1 “I Nephi”
As mentioned above, the voice that begins the Book of Mormon is Nephi, son of Lehi, the prophet-author of The First Book of Nephi. He is writing on the Small Plates, which he made himself from ore by commandment of the Lord about 30 years after the events at the beginning of his record. This is not an abridgement by Mormon. This portion of the Book of Mormon is a direct translation of the record written by Nephi himself.
1:1 “having been born of goodly parents, I was taught”
Good parents teach their children! Parents do many things for their children, but teaching them, both by precept and by example, may be, next to giving them life itself, the most important. Teaching their children is more important than giving them nice things or providing fun recreational opportunities, as important and enjoyable as those can be.
From the Proclamation on the Family, “By divine design, fathers are to preside over their families in love and righteousness and are responsible to provide the necessities of life and protection for their families. Mothers are primarily responsible for the nurture of the children.” So there is some division of responsibilities between parents, but “in these sacred responsibilities, fathers and mothers are obligated to help one another as equal partners.” Both fathers and mothers should teach their children. It isn’t enough for a father to go to work and provide or even to go to church and serve but leave the teaching of his children to his wife. Fathers need to be integrally involved in the teaching of their children.
1:1 “all the learning of my father”
Not only did Lehi teach his son Nephi, but he taught him language and taught him to write. It appears that Lehi taught Nephi the Egyptian language, including Egyptian hieroglyphic characters because in the next verse, Nephi says he makes his record “in the language of my father, which consists of the learning of the Jews [Hebrew] and the language of the Egyptians.”
We have to wonder, did Lehi teach his other sons? Were they as receptive as Nephi? Does being receptive to the teaching of our parents make a difference in our later being receptive to the voice of the Lord and His prophets? I think so. We need to start young to teach our children so they will recognize truth when they hear it and learn to distinguish truth from error.
1:2 “learning of the Jews and the language of the Egyptians”
It appears that Nephi wrote his record in Hebrew, but to save space on the plates, he used Egyptian hieroglyphic characters to do so. This is later referred to as “Reformed Egyptian” (Mormon 9:32). Why would he do that? That’s like writing English with Chinese characters. Sounds crazy! The reason is because the characters were much more efficient in communicating his message than if he had written in the much longer Hebrew script. It has been estimated that it would have occupied 10 times the space on the plates, if he had written in Hebrew. In Mormon chapter 9, Moroni goes to say that, “if our plates had been sufficiently large we should have written in Hebrew . . . and if we could have written in Hebrew, behold, ye would have no imperfection in our record.” (Mormon 9:33)
But since the Book of Mormon was written in a form of “short hand” hieroglyphic characters, it required much more effort on Joseph’s part to translate. He couldn’t simple “read” the Hebrew but had to study it out in his mind and then ask the Lord if he was correct (See D&C 9:7-9).
What a blessing it is to read the Book of Mormon in English! Think how many different translations and iterations there have been of the English Bible from the Hebrew, the Aramaic and the Greek to produce the Bible we know today. By contrast, there is only one step from the record on the golden plates written in Reformed Egyptian to the Book of Mormon as we read it in English, and that is the inspired translation by Joseph Smith “by the gift and power of God.” No wonder the Book of Mormon is the “most correct of any book of earth” (see Introduction). I presume that all of the translations of the Book of Mormon into other languages in our day are from the English version. It is truly a blessing to read the Book of Mormon in English!
For those who are new to Book of Mormon language or young readers, reading the Book of Mormon can be a challenge, but stay with it. You will come to love the language of the Book. It will speak to you with a “familiar spirit” like an old friend.
1:3 “I know that the record I make is true.”
Nephi follows an ancient tradition known as colophon in the first three verses of 1st Nephi Chapter 1. Colophon is defined as “In publishing, a colophon is a brief statement containing information about the publication of a book such as the place of publication, the publisher, and the date of publication. A colophon may also be emblematic or pictorial in nature.” (Wikipedia)
As he begins the record, Nephi identifies himself (“I, Nephi”). He identifies his origin (“having been born of goodly parents”) and he affirms the truth of his record (“I know that the record which I make is true”). There are other examples of colophon in the Book of Mormon, but this is the most classic. Was Joseph Smith aware of this ancient writing convention when he translated the Book of Mormon? Not likely. This is one of many internal evidences of the truth of the Book of Mormon. If you’d like to know more, here are two good sources:
1:4 “My father having dwelt at Jerusalem”
Notice that Nephi didn’t say that his father lived in Jerusalem, but at Jerusalem. It sounds like he lived somewhere in the region of Jerusalem. Nephi was writing thirty years later to people most of whom had never been to Jerusalem. It’s like when Lori and I were in England and Wales on our mission. If people asked where we were from, we’d answer that we are from Salt Lake City, Utah. Most people we met knew where that was. But if we had said what is more accurately true that we are from Holladay, Utah, they wouldn’t have had a clue. This helps to explain why Alma, speaking hundreds of years later about the birth of the Savior, says that “he shall be born of Mary, at Jerusalem. . .” (Alma 7:10). Critics have pointed to this as an error in the Book of Mormon. Everyone knows that Christ was born in Bethlehem. But Bethlehem is only 5 miles from Jerusalem. And to people living thousands of miles away, 5 miles is not a big deal. It’s not surprising that the Spirit speaking to Alma would say that Christ was born at not in Jerusalem.
1:5-15 “he saw and heard much”
A major theme of the Book of Mormon is introduced early in the first chapter – prophets receive revelation so they can speak for God and warn the people. This theme runs through the whole Book from Lehi and Nephi to Mormon and Moroni. Watch for it!
It appears that Lehi had two visions referred to in these verses. (It is similar to the experience of Moses, who had two visions in Moses chapter 1.) In the first of these visions, Lehi saw a pillar of fire and he saw and heard much. Then he went back to his home exhausted by the experience of his first vision (Just as Joseph Smith was exhausted by the First Vision and again by the visits from Moroni and Moses was exhausted by his first vision in Moses chapter 1.)
Lehi lay down to rest and had a second vision, a marvelous vision in which he saw God, the Savior, angels, twelve apostles and read from a book about the destructions that would come upon the inhabitants of Jerusalem if they did not repent. He was led to exclaim, “Great and marvelous are thy works, O Lord God Almighty!”
Unfortunately, we don’t have a more full account of this vision of Lehi. Undoubtedly, a more complete account of this vision was recorded in the Book of Lehi, but was lost with the 116 pages of manuscript. Someday we will have it.
The Book of Mormon, then, like the Bible, rests on the testimony that the heavens have been opened, that God speaks, and that he calls prophets, endowing them with power from on high. Such was Lehi’s testimony, for which his neighbors sought his life. As it was with Lehi, so it was with Joseph Smith. He too testified of the contents of a book of revelation, which caused great anger among the ungodly, who in turn sought his life. Unlike the book that Lehi read, the book given to Joseph Smith is available for all to read and prayerfully ponder. Within its covers is found that knowledge which will bring men closer to God than any other book ever published. Such is the adventure that the student of the Book of Mormon begins every time he or she opens the pages of this marvelous work and seeks the Spirit of the Lord to aid in understanding it.
1:17 Upon plates which I have made with mine own hands
About 30 years after his father was commanded to leave Jerusalem, Nephi, now the prophet and protector of his people in the new world, was inspired to make another account of the Lord’s dealings with him and his people. This record became known as the Small Plates of Nephi. (See the footnotes for this verse.)
In the small plates, he wrote the “plain and precious things”, things that pertained to the coming of the Messiah and prophecies about Him. The more detailed historical record was in the Large Plates. We presume Mormon abridged at least a portion of the the Large Plates and included them in his record and it was that which was translated by Joseph Smith but lost by Martin Harris. It is such a blessing that Nephi was inspired to prepare the Small Plates so that these things would not be lost!
Apparently the Small Plates were appended to the record prepared by Mormon at the end of his writings, maybe even at the end of Moroni’s writings. If that is true, it would mean that Joseph Smith completed the whole translation of the Book of Mormon thinking that the stories and prophecies in the Book of Lehi were lost because he was not properly diligent. Imagine his anguish and regret! But imagine his relief and delight when he discovered the Small Plates at the end of the record and was able to translate them and recover much, if not all, of what had been lost!
It is a good thing that the Lord knows the end from the beginning and that His works cannot be frustrated!
1:19 Manifested plainly of the coming of a Messiah, and also the redemption of the world.
The most important theme running through the entire Book of Mormon is that the Messiah will come and redeem the world. Even though the Book of Mormon people are separated from those in the House of Israel living in the Holy Land, they still have the promise that the Messiah, after His mortal ministry in the Old World, will visit them in the Promised Land. This promise was literally fulfilled. The highlight of the Book of Mormon is the personal visit of the Savior to the Nephites on three consecutive days at the temple in Bountiful followed by other visits in subsequent days, months and years. Truly, the Book of Mormon is “another witness of Jesus Christ!” The Book of Mormon is remarkably “Christocentric”! There are over 100 names for Jesus Christ in the Book of Mormon and references to Him are found on virtually every page. (See Black, Ensign July, 1978)
https://www.churchofjesuschrist.org/study/ensign/1978/07/discovery/names-of-christ-in-the-book-of-mormon)
https://www.churchofjesuschrist.org/study/ensign/1978/07/discovery/names-of-christ-in-the-book-of-mormon)
1:20 The tender mercies of the Lord
I read the Book of Mormon many times before focusing on this phrase “The tender mercies of the Lord.” It wasn’t until Elder Bednar gave his first regular General Conference talk (April 2005) six months after being sustained as an apostle (https://www.churchofjesuschrist.org/study/ensign/2005/05/the-tender-mercies-of-the-lord) and talked about this phrase that I became aware of it. It is a wonderful phrase and says so much about the loving goodness of our Heavenly Father - the Giver of all good gifts!
In July 2011, I began a journal devoted to “Tender Mercies.” I introduced it with these words.
I have decided to keep a separate record of tender mercies, i.e. experiences with the Spirit and those from the other side, answers to prayers, special insights, etc. Many of these will be things that I can’t share with others, or at least not generally, but want to save. There have been many that I will not recall and some that are in earlier journal entries. I’ll try to go back and retrieve those. But at least I can write about and save them going forward from here. This will be private for now but later made available to my family. I’ll edit, if necessary.
The idea of this “Tender Mercies Journal” is similar to that expressed by Pres. Henry B. Eyring in General Conference in October 2007. He spoke of keeping a gratitude journal. He said:
I wrote down a few lines every day for years. I never missed a day no matter how tired I was or how early I would have to start the next day. Before I would write, I would ponder this question: “Have I seen the hand of God reaching out to touch us or our children or our family today?” As I kept at it, something began to happen. As I would cast my mind over the day, I would see evidence of what God had done for one of us that I had not recognized in the busy moments of the day. As that happened, and it happened often, I realized that trying to remember had allowed God to show me what He had done.
https://www.churchofjesuschrist.org/study/ensign/2007/11/o-remember-remember
https://www.churchofjesuschrist.org/study/ensign/2007/11/o-remember-remember
Thank you.
ReplyDeleteWow! I’ve learned so much already. Thank you for your efforts and sharing your knowledge and testimony with us.
ReplyDeleteI'm not sure if you remember, Dad, (and it's okay if you don't!) but I dedicated my Master's Thesis to "Richard and Lori Boyer, my 'goodly parents.'" I've always felt blessed like Nephi in this area!
ReplyDeleteThanks, darling!
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