Asking for the Lord's Help

"Where do I find the ore?"

That’s Nephi’s question after he is given the commandment to build a boat. He needed ore to make tools. He knew what to do with the ore to make them, but he didn’t know where to find the ore, so the Lord showed him. It’s a great example of working with the Lord. He expects us to do what we can do, while He provides the missing elements (knowledge or whatever) which we can’t do.

Then he had to build the boat, but he first needed the tools to both cut and work the wood.

That’s such a great lesson!

Nephi and Laban, a David and Goliath Story

Nephi’s actions to get the Brass Plates is meaningful for our day. In particular, I’m mindful of what he told Laman and Lemuel after they’d lost their family fortune to Laban.

Laman said: 

“How is it possible that the Lord will deliver Laban into our hands? Behold, he is a mighty man and he can command fifty. Yea, even he can slay fifty, then why not us?”

Nephi’s answer: 

“Let us go up again unto Jerusalem, and let us be faithful in keeping the commandments of the Lord. For behold, he is mightier than all the earth. Then why not mightier than Laban and his fifty? Yea, or even than his tens of thousands? Therefore let us go up.”

Then Nephi does and he recounts, “I was led by the Spirit, not knowing beforehand the things which I should do.”

He took action. In doing so, I think the Lord led him to where Laban had passed out in a drunken stupor. (Because he was celebrating his newly acquired wealth?) Whereupon Nephi is obedient to the Spirit and kills Laban so he can get the plates. This is a great link that goes deeper into explaining the “legality” of Nephi murdering Laban:

https://knowhy.bookofmormoncentral.org/knowhy/was-nephis-slaying-of-laban-legal

It’s interesting, in light of what is happening today, that what Nephi was told to get was a history of his people. The Lord intended it to preserve the Nephite's history, language, and culture. The Lamanites and Mulekites didn’t have it and they forgot who they were. With the crackdown and censoring going on by Twitter, FaceBook and YouTube, this is also what’s also at stake for us to remember who we are in the face of deliberate "cancelling" of the truth from our society.

It’s also instructive, that despite Laban’s overwhelming political power compared to what Nephi and his brothers had at that time. When it really mattered, it didn't matter at all: the Lord’s will was still accomplished.

Lehi's Flight into the Desert

It's been said, "context is everything." What this means is when the context of an event is understood, you better comprehend what has happened. Which in turn gives you additional insights that can completely alter your perception of the event.

As an example, if a headline says "16 year old shoots and kills an older man" Your first read of that will likely lead you to think the 16-year old has committed a felony. But when the context comes to light that the "older" man is 22, and had already fatally stabbed the 16-year old's friend with a knife and was now attacking her with the same knife, you see it as a justifiable act of self-defense. The headline was true as far as it went, but the context changes your understanding of what happened: it's no longer a felony but a justified act of self-defense. 

Along similar lines, a lot of archeological research and field work that has been done in recent decades give a lot more context to us about Lehi's flight into the desert. This gives corresponding new appreciation for the faith of this great prophet.

This is what the Book of Mormon, teaches us about Lehi:

1. He lived in Jerusalem.

2. He is a member of the tribe of Manasseh.

3. He had access to his lands of inheritance.

4. His son, Nephi, was a highly skilled metalsmith and scribe.

5. He faithfully warned the people of Jerusalem as God had commanded him to do. For that, his life was threatened to the point the Lord commanded him to flee from Jerusalem.

This blog entry will touch the highlights of the additional context which is now available to us.  They include:

1. Lehi’s (great?) grandparents were refugees who fled to Jerusalem when the capital city of the Northern Kingdom, Samaria, was conquered in ~723 BC.

2. Their lands of inheritance were to the west of the Jordan River and they had a written title to their land. That title to the land had been handed down from generation to generation before it came into his possession. It would have been of no value until the reign of King Josiah when the Assyrians withdrew from the land. Once they were gone, it restored his claim to the land. The Samaritans who actually lived on the land would’ve owed him rent to farm it and to stay there.

3. In Lehi’s time, trades were passed from father to son.

4. As the descendant of refugees, with no tribal lands to farm, Lehi, like his fathers before him, learned a trade to earn a living. That trade was likely metal-smithing, which we have now learned was a highly regarded skill.

5. Lehi may have been the one who taught Nephi to write. But Nephi’s use of a classic Egyptian colophon to introduce his writing implies formal scribal training. Lehi was wealthy enough to afford sending his sons to school.

6. Lehi lived in a house with his family in Jerusalem in an upscale area known as the Mishneh. He probably did not live on the land of his inheritance, but rather rented it to Samaritan farmers. 

7. Given his craft as a metalsmith, he probably traveled to Timna for ores which he needed for his business. (Timna is mining town south of Jerusalem on the road to modern day Aqaba, Lehi’s jumping off point into the wilderness.) Because of his trips there, he was acquainted with the route and experienced at living in tents.

8. Lehi was a contemporary of Jeremiah and Urijah the prophets. He was probably aware of Urijah’s fate of being extradited from Egypt back to Jerusalem and his eventual execution.

9. At the time he fled from Jerusalem, no route but south was safe: to the north was Assyria, to the East was Ammon and Moab who were hostile to Judah at the time, to the West was the ocean. As explained above, Egypt was no refuge. That left the Frankincense trail into Arabia as the only safe route out of town. It was a daunting and dangerous trail even for experienced caravaners, let alone women and children accustomed to life in a city.

10. He probably had time to plan his departure from Jerusalem. He had time to take his riches and hide them in his land of inheritance. He had time to buy supplies and arrange for camels with which to ride into the Arabian wilderness.

There are more things which could be brought up, but this is enough for now. I’ll elaborate on some of these in future entries. I need to give credit to people like Jeff Chadwick, Margaret Barker, John Tvedtnes, John Welch, Arnie Greene, Daniel Peterson and many others who are the real scholars behind what I've written here. What I have written is my opinion, but it draws on their research. I’ll cite their works when I go into greater detail on these points.

Helaman 6 - The Rise of the Secret Combinations

At the end of chapter five, a miraculous event occurs: the converted Lamanites give back to the Nephites all the lands they’d taken from them. It ushers in a period of unprecedented prosperity for both peoples. They have free run of both nations. Then an interesting role reversal occurs: the Lamanites become more righteous than the Nephites. They are the ones who send missionaries to reclaim the other.

While this happens, Nephi and Lehi leave for the northern lands as missionaries. We’re given no geographic markers for where this land is. For me, it’s a quandary since lately I’ve been in the Heartland camp when it comes to where the Lamanite and Nephite nations existed. For those who are wondering, that means I think there’s a compelling case for the Book of Mormon events transpiring here in the North American continent, particularly in the Ohio River valley and adjoining areas of the Upper Mississippi river basin. Yet this undefined "northern lands" could be that area too, which is an argument for the Nephites and Lamanites being in Mesoamerica. Anyway, it’s fun to contemplate.

While they are gone: they leave in the 63rd year and return in the 69th, things go from bad to worse for the Nephites. Like a cancer, the Gadiantons spread from the more wicked parts of the Nephites, my guess is the big cities, until all are seduced into the band. This is a huge warning to us. We must be engaged in protecting ourselves and families as the Lamanites were from the seductive voices of the adversary. The siren voices of the world are compelling if we let them steal the stage.

That it happened to the Nephites is a warning that it can happen to us too. We should be grateful Mormon shows us how to make a positive difference in this fight.

Mosiah 5-8 - From Benjamin to Zeniff

Mosiah Chapters 5-8 is a transition piece that moves the narrative from King Benjamin’s eloquent address to the story of King Zeniff. I think, Mormon wrote about Zeniff because of the dynasty of religious leaders who arose from his people. I’m speaking of Alma and the five generations of prophet-leaders who are his descendants. But I’m getting ahead of myself.

For this entry, several things struck me. One is the Nephites considered life as slaves to Nephites a better  arrangement than what they had under the Lamanites. Under the Lamanites they had a 50% tax rate and they couldn’t leave. Tax day is coming. When you pay your taxes this year, keep in mind, the Nephites thought a 50 percent tax rate was worse than slavery.

Another is Ammon, the leader of the expedition to the land of Lehi-Nephi. He was not a descendant of Lehi but a Mulekite. I’m curious why he would be so interested about the Nephites? It begs the question and dovetails into my last observation on this section.

The people don’t weary Mosiah about the Nephites who left so many years ago until after Benjamin dies. I doubt their interest just flipped on at that time. So, why didn’t they do anything before he died? I don’t know, but there’s a lot going on here which we don’t know about.

2 Nephi - The End

Nephi knows he is coming to the end of his life. His writings at the end of 2 Nephi show that by not only what he says, but by its doctrinal density. This is rich, weighty material. Again, books could be and have been written on the teachings here. I’m just touching on the highlights.

Baptism: Christ set the example of showing obedience to the Father by being baptized Himself. Nephi pointedly asks, “if He, being perfect, has need of it? How much more do we?”

Enduring to the end: He gives this beautiful promise. “Ye must press forward with steadfastness in Christ… If ye shall, feasting upon the words of Christ and endure to the end… Ye shall have eternal life.” Doesn’t get much better. I read this and I think of the powerful promise in Helaman 5:12.

The role of scripture and the Holy Ghost in enduring: “Wherefore, feast upon the words of Christ, for behold [they] shall tell you all the things which ye should do.” Studying the scriptures teaches us what to do. Be honest. Be forgiving. Repent. The list goes on. You know it as well as I. Reading it and pondering gives the Holy Ghost an opening to teach us and bring to our mind all these things. Which leads to an even better promise, “If ye will enter in by the way and receive the Holy Ghost, it will show you all things what ye should do.”

There is a subtle, wonderful, and powerful difference in these two phrases. As a writer, the mantra in writing is to “show not tell.” When we “tell” something we use words like “it was hot”. When we show something, we immerse the reader in the situation: “sweat ran in rivulets down his face, burning his eyes and soaking his thin cotton shirt. Holding his hand to his head to shield his eyes from the blinding white sun, he searched in vain for shade.” Do you see the difference?

This is what is promised to us. The scriptures give us the goals and objectives. If we let Him, the Holy Ghost is in the trenches with us dealing with each moment so we can achieve those goals. How cool is that?

All this and more awaits in the end of 2 Nephi.

2 Nephi 2 - Opposition and Agency

For many, the highlight of 2 Nephi Chapter 2 is Lehi’s discourse on opposition. It is an important concept to understand, but for me, the heart of the chapter is verse 27 which talks about agency.

Lehi teaches because of the two polar forces in the universe, with God and Jesus on one side and Satan on the other, man is left in a position to chose for himself who he’ll choose to be like. God set it up that way.

I’ve often wondered why there is opposition and what need there is for Satan and his temptations. It’s not until I realized we learn more about who we are from our failures than we do from our successes, that it all made sense to me. This life is a test of our character. But it’s not God who needs to know, it’s us. Since we learn more from our failures, God in His wisdom placed us in an environment where that would happen a lot.

That’s how a loving God can subject His beloved children to misery, pain, and failure. He knows we will learn more about ourselves this way. He knows we are more malleable in the heat of affliction than we are when things are going well. And as imperfect beings, we need the refining.

In other words, it’s an act of faith and love on His part in our behalf. Some might say tough love, and perhaps it is. He did stand close by the Savior in the darkest hours of Gethsemane and Golgotha, doing what He knew was best for all of His children, including His perfect Son. Having seen my children go through pain and difficulties, I’m certain Heavenly Father felt vicariously the pain His Son endured. As well as He feels ours. He was close to Him and He is close to us. In all the trials I’ve been in, I’ve found Him quick to answer prayers and all His answers while not what I’ve wanted, have always been, on reflection, what I needed.

I think of Laman when he complained about building a boat and Nephi’s answer that if God had wanted, He could have caused them to walk to the Promised Land. If He’d granted Laman’s request, that’s what they would have done. Can you imagine walking from Bountiful to America? A boat was the best way to get there. God knew that. Laman didn’t. Because of God’s love for him He insisted on building a boat.

The moral of the story is it’s in our best interest to build the boat when we think we’d rather walk.

1 Nephi 99-22 - A Primer on Isaiah

This finishes out First Nephi. It’s an interesting segue in that we are introduced to Isaiah. First, Nephi explains how the two sets of records came to be, then he launches into the future-history of the Jews and Gentiles and he uses Isaiah to tell it.

In Chapter Nineteen, Nephi tells us how the Lord first instructed him to make the plates and keep a record on them. Once he did that, the Lord then instructs him to make another set. It’s an insight into how the Lord operates with us. He gives us what we need in the moment then, once we’ve finished that, He gives us the next step. Always He has the end goal, our salvation in mind. I recommend it as an approach we should take too. Keep the eternal perspective, but focus on the now to do the steps which lead to that long range goal.

In Chapters Twenty to the end, we are introduced to Isaiah. Nephi doesn’t actually introduce him other than to say he used Isaiah to more fully persuade them (us) to believe in the Lord. He records Isaiah 48 in Chapter Twenty-One, then he explains it.

This is a personal chapter for Nephi because the prophecies Isaiah wrote are what Lehi and Nephi experienced. Read 1 Nephi 21:1. It's a summary of 1 Nephi 1-2. It's worth pondering.

If you want to understand Isaiah, the last two chapters are a primer on how to do it. In one chapter you have “Isaiah-speak” and in the other you have “Nephi-speak” saying the same thing. Nephi also explains you need the Spirit to understand Isaiah. With all these tools in place and once you master it, all the Isaiah chapters in Second Nephi will be much easier to understand.

1 Nephi 15-16 - The Incense Trail

If you’ve ever wondered how Lehi obtained his wealth, these chapters give a powerful clue. He was likely a Frankincense trader. In the first millennium BC two routes were used transporting spices to the Mediterranean nations. The later was by boat sailing from India along the southern coasts of the Arabian peninsula then up the Red Sea and the Nile river. The other earlier one was via camel caravan following the same route down to Yemen and then to a region in Oman which produced Frankincense.

One of the interesting aspects of the trail is it passed through Marib, Yemen, which two and a half thousand years ago was known as Nahom or Nihim. There it turned East across the barren quarter of Arabia until it hit Wadi Al Sayq which Nephi and Lehi named, “Bountiful.”

Critics of the Book of Mormon's authenticity resort to calling these alignments of archeology with the book, random, lucky guesses. Yet, fifty years ago they scoffed at the preposterous idea of the narrative’s course and way points. Today, the preponderance solid archeological evidence can't be swept away.

While Lehi had the Liahona, he also had the knowledge of how to survive in the desert from years of experience. It still must have been a daunting task to lead a caravan of women and children into some of the most desolate stretches of land on this planet. But that’s what he did.

The other thought I have about this is Nephi’s explanation to his brothers not of the vision but of how to get the information for themselves. By the time he wrote this, his brothers were long gone… left behind when he fled from them. Written for us, it explains how we can learn and experience for ourselves the things he saw and learned.

Included in 1 Nephi 14:27 is Nephi’s observation that his father didn’t notice all the things he did because he was distracted by other things. It’s telling to us because it shows while God may give us great things in visions, it’s still up to us to observe, think and analyze what we see. Lehi missed things Nephi didn’t. I suspect Lehi saw some things Nephi didn’t see, but we don’t have his account. It’s a valuable insight into how revelation works.

1 Nephi 12 - A little something in between

In chapter twelve, we get the condensed history of the Nephites and Lamanites. The main event is the appearance of the Savior to the Nephites. This account of the visit is the chiastic counterpart to chapter 10 which tells of the Savior’s visit to the Jews.

We also get the interpretation of the river, the spacious building and the mists of darkness. It’s interesting to me to see these definitions given in the context of the history he saw. I’m sure there’s a lesson there but what it is evades me at the moment. It’s something I get to ponder upon. I do think however, it’s an example of how Heavenly Father teaches us about Him and His works using images we understand and our experiences. Again, the concept of taking us from where we are to higher states of awareness.

I just have to add this… it has nothing to do with the Book of Mormon, but with the temple. I go weekly on Wednesdays. What struck me today is how alike men and women are treated in the temple rituals. Many ordinances are performed by women upon women. The ritual clothing with all their symbolic meanings are virtually the same for all. It’s something to think about.

That’s all for today. Stay tuned, Nephi gets apocalyptic next when we read through Chapters Thirteen and Fourteen.

1 Nephi 11 - The Lamb of God

If you recall my earlier post about 1 Nephi being a chiasmus, this chapter, eleven, is the apex. And what does it teach? Jesus Christ is the Lamb of God, who was sent to earth to die for the sins of all men. He is the personification of the love God has for us. Hence, He is also represented as the Tree of Life.

When  you think of 1 John 15, where the Savior uses the image of Him being the vine and we are the branches? This image of the tree becomes more complete. There are powerful and life changing concepts being portrayed here. As I ponder this and how He did this willingly for us, the impressions become deeply moving.

Jesus Christ is not only the Tree of Life, He is also the Fountain of Living Waters. His love, the Father’s love, is sweeter than anything the world has to offer. Having experienced and felt it when forgiven for past sins, I can attest to this. The fickleness of human nature being what it is, I have to be constantly reminded. Sigh. Fortunately, God’s patience is as deep as His love.

It’s not surprising this is the apex of the chiasmus or of 1 Nephi. This was new doctrine for him and he has done everything he can to emphasize its importance to whomever reads it. I can only wonder what Mormon included in the Book of Lehi. Had Joseph not lost the manuscript, this would likely have been a summary retelling of the entire Book of Mormon. As it is, it sets the stage for what follows.

It is a second witness of Jesus Christ, reaffirming and clarifying the scriptural testimony of God contained in the Bible.

1 Nephi 9-10 - It's all personal

What I find interesting here is how Nephi introduces his desire to see the things his father saw. After Lehi told them about the vision of the tree, he recounted coming events. It’s obvious he saw more than just the tree.

In particular, it’s how Lehi mentions the Savior that’s instructive. He speaks of the coming of a prophet and Messiah. My impression is this was new doctrine for him. As an observant Jew, he knew the Messiah would come, but he didn’t fully understand His role or His reason for coming. This vision opened his mind to that.

It’s an example of Heavenly Father approaching us at our level and raising us from there. It’s also why the doctrines taught by the Church today are the basics: faith, repentance, baptism and the Holy Ghost. Even the epitome of public worship in the church, the temple ceremonies, are rote and repetitive: everyone sees and hears the same things.

The beauty of the Gospel and doctrines is despite all this sameness, when it comes to living it, it’s all intensely personal. That’s the great lesson of the visions here. Lehi saw and experienced something amazing. Nephi wanted to learn for himself. Heavenly Father shows them the same information, but their experiences were different… they learned different things.

It’s the same for us. Through the teaching power of the Holy Ghost, study of the Book of Mormon will be a unique experience for each of us. We get what we’re willing to receive and can comprehend at that time. Even as I go through it again, I’m seeing different things. While there is a lot of repetition, there are many new insights too. When I go to the temple, and I go every week, I learn something new each time. Such is the power of the Gift of the Holy Ghost.

This personal experience, this personal relationship with God, is what He wants for us all. This is the Book of Mormon’s subtext.

1 Nephi 8 - Lehi's Vision of the Tree of Life

The Vision of the Tree of Life is unique in scripture. I can’t think of anywhere else where you get two people’s accounts of the same vision. First, Lehi experiences it and we have Nephi’s record of his account. We then get Nephi’s.

A comprehensive dissertation on this would take a book, so you won’t get that here. I’ll touch the differences when I review Nephi’s version later. Instead, I’ll write about what stood out to me. The first thing is, if you didn’t already know, the Tree of Life is a representation of Jesus Christ. He is The Love of God manifest to us. This is the same vine spoken of in John 15. There is more joy and meaningful living, beyond our capacity to comprehend even, if we remain “attached” or wholly committed to following Him.

The proximity of the river to the tree is deliberate. It represents the filthiness of Hell and a life in opposition to the Savior’s. It was placed there, not by God, although He allowed it, but by Satan. A life of sorrow, enmeshed in sin is no further than a single choice away. That’s how close it is to us, so we must be ever vigilant to always stay by the tree.

Today, especially with the Internet, we live enveloped in the mist of darkness or the deceptions of Satan. While the image of clinging to a rod in profound darkness is compelling. I was especially struck by the realization that it is by feeling the rod that we hold on to it. When we study the scriptures, it’s what we feel that gives us guidance and strength. The world, Satan, demands we be “rational” in our approach to the things of God. He insists we must see, touch, hear or taste things to believe in them. But the senses can be deceived.

The evidence of the Gospel on which we make life choices, is not seen nor touched. Rather it is felt within the confines of our hearts and minds. It may evoke powerful emotions, but the evidence of the Spirit is not emotion. For that reason, we will be considered duped, mindless minions of a cult, disconnected from reality and not altogether with it. Oh well.

1 Nephi 7 - Split families

Tucked between the end of the prologue and the first act of 1 Nephi, the visions of the Tree of Life, is a kind of an out-of-the-way chapter where Lehi’s party is fleshed out. For those who live in families split along lines of religious dogma or politics, this chapter will be worth reading and pondering.

The headline event of this chapter is Lehi sending his sons back to Jerusalem to persuade Ishmael and his family to join them in their trek to the promised land. Ishmael has two sons and five daughters. They are the yin to Lehi’s yang in that he has four sons and Zoram in his group. I can’t help but wonder if the wives of Ishmael’s sons were Lehi’s daughters. Else why would they come? But that’s just a curious question.

In this group we see these fault lines: Laman as Lehi’s first born son is the leader of the group which thinks Lehi is a “visionary” man. In case you are wondering, in the 1828 Webster’s dictionary, “visionary” has a less than flattering connotation. It is, one given to daydreaming and somewhat disconnected from reality.

In Laman’s group you find him, Lemuel and Ishmael’s two sons. Everyone else, consisting of Lehi, Ishmael, Nephi, Sam and Zoram follow Lehi. You’ll note, in the Book of Mormon culture women barely appear. If you add them, two daughters of Ishmael and maybe the wives of Ishmael’s sons are also in Laman’s camp. The rest are in Lehi’s. From this split grow two nations: the Lamanites and the Nephites.

The chapter, even all of First and Second Nephi, show you must love and reach across this divide without surrendering your values. They show you must pray... a lot and go the second and third miles as the need arises. They show you never quit... you always follow God. They don't promise ease... only that the rewards will be worth the effort. While they show ultimately we are accountable only for our own actions, part of our required actions is reaching across that divide.

1 Nephi 5-6 - The Preamble to the Story

Up through the end of 1 Nephi chapter six, Nephi is just laying the ground for what follows. He introduces us to himself, his father, his family, and the various roles his older brothers will play in the context of his story. Then in chapter six, he states why he’s writing: he’s persuading people to come unto God. This is a missionary tract written to not only his posterity, but to the world.

You need to keep in mind, this is not a journal written in “real time,” it’s a narrative written many years after the actual events occur. It’s carefully edited and composed to weave a story and argue for a particular view of events. What is that view? That God lives. That He blesses the faithful and that being faithful requires sacrifice, commitment, determination and a lot of sweat and tears. It’s rarely easy, usually painful and difficult but always worth the effort.

We all have our promised lands to which God would have us travel and enjoy. Nephi promises us getting there will take everything we have. For Lehi, it was a real land. For Nephi is was knowing God and safety for his people. Yours is different, but no less real as is mine, yet the commitment to get there is the same. Nephi’s promise is the God who helped him is unchanging and that He’s there to help us too. The message in 1 Nephi chapter’s one through six is a preamble to the journey which starts in earnest in chapter seven.

Are you ready?

1 Nephi 1 - Who is Nephi?

I rarely spend more than one entry on one chapter, but this is The Nephi we’re talking about. Without him and his commitment to do whatever the Lord commanded, we’d not have the Book of Mormon. So, he gets special attention with another entry.

There are several interesting traits about him in this chapter. One is, at that time and place in the world, almost all people were illiterate. Only those with means could afford to learn and take the time to write. It’s more evidence Lehi was a wealthy man, since it was a luxury to have the time to write and teach it to his sons. The small plates show the ability to write was handed down, father to son for many generations thereafter.

Nephi was also a metal smith. He made his own plates on which he wrote, his own tools to build the boat and weapons for his people. This is one of those “proofs” critics used to use to debunk the Book of Mormon but don't mention now because it shows its authentic. Until lately, metal smiths from this time were considered bottom-dwellers of the social order like common laborers. Yet, recent archeological discoveries in the Middle-East show they were regarded much like we do doctors and lawyers today. Imagine that! A perceived "flaw" is actually evidence of the narrative's internal consistency.

I have some bonus material I came across just this morning. In 2000, archeologists found a stone tablet, written about 100 BC, in Jordan containing writings about a messiah who would come, suffer, die and then rise again. It's non-canonical evidence a belief among Jews in a suffering messiah existed before He came. It's known as the “Gabriel Stone” because it also references an angel named “Gabriel.”

This find corroborates the Book of Mormon's pre-exilic belief in a Messiah. In the past, critics have said this notion is one of the proofs it’s a fraud, that it was just made up. I wonder, will they say the  same about the Gabriel Stone?

1 Nephi 1 - A perfect beginning!

Any of you know what a colophon is? A few. How many of you who do know what it is, know how many there are in the Bible? Crickets… I’ll help: there’s maybe one, Leviticus 26:46. Don’t spas… I didn’t know either but thanks to Mr. Google, I came up with that answer.

Now, go back to 1827. Do you think Oliver Cowdery knew what one was? How about Sidney Rigdon? Solomon Spaulding? Again… crickets. It goes without explaining there’s no way Joseph Smith knew. Remember, he’s the guy who asked, “Hey, Emma. Did you know there’s a wall around Jerusalem?” while translating the Book of Mormon.

Then, given his utter ignorance of such things, how did he write a perfect, classically Egyptian colophon and put it in the correct place for one to start the Book of Mormon? A lucky guess? Dumb luck? I think not. Archeological proof of the authenticity of the Book of Mormon’s antiquity starts with a bang in 1 Nephi 1:1… a perfect colophon. And what do we hear from critics in rebuttal to this? Crickets.

So for those who don’t know, a colophon is used to prove the author’s authority to say what he’s written. It was de rigueur for anyone trained as an Egyptian scribe. Oh, and as an aside, “goodly” in 1828 didn’t mean righteous as we often think today, it meant wealthy. Lehi was loaded and he spent it well teaching his sons, as we will see in Nephi’s superb craftsmanship as an author.

3 Nephi 27-30 - The Three Disciples

We call them today, the “Three Nephites” but in the Book of Mormon they are never referred to by that appellation. Instead they are referred to as the “three disciples” or the “three who should tarry.” When you realize by the time the Savior visits, the people are actually starting to be homogenized having had several decades where Nephites and Lamanites travelled freely among each other.

Starting with the great siege, they even lived together. Yet, tribes being what they are, I’m certain the majority still lived in insular communities, but the church by then was certainly not a Nephite-only organization. It’s safe to speculate, based upon the wide spread wickedness of the Nephites before the Savior’s coming, the majority of the leaders could have been Lamanite.

While there’s nothing doctrinally significant in this, the thought still occurred to me as I read this, this morning that this could be the case. Yet the account of these three disciples is intriguing. From the record, it’s safe to assume, their existence will never be “proof” of its truthfulness. You’ll never see them paraded on the rostrum in General Conference where they are exhibited as evidence of the Book of Mormon. That’s the job of the Holy Ghost to bare that witness.

Rather they are to minister almost unseen for we read in 3 Nephi 28:30 they must pray to the father to reveal themselves to other men. They will go about their work and only when they think it necessary will they show themselves to someone. I wouldn’t mind having such a visit… I have so many questions to ask.

I digress. I’m closing in on sixty and it wasn’t until this summer that I remembered a particular Primary class back when I was a Webelo almost fifty years ago. A member, my next door neighbor actually, came and talked to our class and shared his experiences with them. He’d been promised in his patriarchal blessing that he’d get to see all three. By the time he spoke to us, he’d visited with two. He was forbidden to tell their names, although they told him who they were. Both visits were in public places: once in a store and another on a sidewalk in downtown Mesa. Yet, during the visits, there was no other person or even traffic on the street so it was as if they met in private.

So do they exist? You’ll have to decide for yourself. But for me… they most certainly do and who knows, maybe I’ll be fortunate enough to get a visit with one of them. It won't affect my testimony if I don't, but as I said, I have a lot of questions they are well qualified to answer.