The Inquisitive Christian

1 Nephi Chapter 3

Lehi’s sons return to Jerusalem to obtain the plates of brass– Laban refuses to give the plates up– Nephi exhorts and encourages his brethren– Laban steals their property and attempts to slay them– Laman and Lemuel smite Nephi and Sam and are reproved by an angel. About 600-592 B.C. 

3: “For behold, Laban hath the record of the Jews and also a genealogy of my forefathers, and they are engraven upon plates of brass.”

This has several problems. 1) The “record of the Jews” already existed in the form of the Pentateuch (the 5 books Moses wrote) and the writings of Old Testament prophets. There would be no reason to urgently seek this record out when it was already available. 2) Brass did not exist during the Old Testament. The Hebrew word “nechoshet” was translated as “brass” in early English translations of the Bible, such as the King James Version because the word “bronze” didn’t exist in the English language until the 18^th century. We know brass to be an alloy of copper and zinc or copper, zinc, and tin. This alloy was not known in ancient times, but they did use the alloy copper and tin, which is bronze. (For more reading on this subject, see https://bible-history.com/backdrops/bronze 3) No civilization kept detailed records on metal plates of any kind. There are instances of small, engraved plaques, such as two small silver scrolls worn about the neck with a priestly blessing, dating to around 600 B.C. Writing materials during Biblical times consisted of stone, ink on plaster, clay, wood with wax inlays, ostraca (broken pottery), papyrus, leather, and parchment. The most common writing material was initially leather. Most of the Dead Sea Scrolls are recorded on leather. Papyrus became more common with the New Testament. However, parchment became more popular due to its durability. (For more information, see “How We Got the Bible” by Neil Lightfoot, Chapter 1: The Making of Ancient Books.) Due to the availability of much less cumbersome writing materials, it’s incredibly strange and unlikely that anyone would choose metal as their medium.

19: “And behold, it is wisdom in God that we should obtain these records, that we may preserve unto our children the language of our fathers.”

What language? Hebrew? Why would these plates be necessary to preserve their language when there were already written records available? 

20: “And also that we may preserve unto them the words which have been spoken by the mouth of all the holy prophets, which have been delivered unto them by the Spirit and power of God, since the world began, even down unto this present time.”

Again, these things had already been recorded. The Hebrew people kept very detailed records of genealogies, histories, and words of prophets. The reason these records can be trusted is due to the meticulous nature of copying these records. (See “How We Got the Bible” by Neil Lightfoot, chapter 12: The Text of the Old Testament.) This set of plates would not have contained anything new.

At this point in the writing, Nephi and his brothers try to offer Laban “our gold, and our silver, and all our precious things” (v. 24). 

25: And it came to pass that when Laban saw our property, and that it was exceedingly great, he did lust after it, insomuch that he thrust us out, and sent his servants to slay us, that he might obtain our property. 

No one who wants to steal a group’s property is going to throw them out then send servants after them to take it. He would simply kill them right out and take what he wanted. As it turns out, they had to run and leave it behind, so he got their stuff anyway (v. 26).  

Now comes the part where his older brothers get mad at him and his younger brother and start beating them with a rod:

28: And it came to pass (that phrase yet again. It occurs in this writing at least 2,000 times) as they smote us with a rod, behold, an angel of the Lord came and stood before them, and he spake unto them, saying: Why do ye smite your younger brother with a rod? Know ye not that the Lord hath chosen him to be a ruler over you, and this because of your iniquities? Behold ye shall go up to Jerusalem again, and the Lord will deliver Laban into your hands. 

Does this remind anyone else of Numbers 22:26-39 or is it just me? In that passage, Balaam’s donkey sees an angel standing in the narrow path he is on with a sword drawn, so he sits down and won’t go forward. Balaam proceeds to beat the donkey. God allows the donkey to speak, who asks Balaam why he’s beating him. Balaam airs his frustrations but is then able to see the angel standing in the road with a sword, who says, “Why have you beaten your donkey these three times? I have come here to oppose you because your path is a reckless one…” Maybe I’m just being nitpicky, but that’s what I immediately thought of when I read verse 28 above.

31: And after the angel had departed, Laman and Lemuel again began to murmur, saying: 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?

This is reminiscent of the Israelite spies in Numbers 13:25-33 giving a report of the land and insisting they could never overthrow its inhabitants due to their size and number. At this point, it appears to me that Joseph Smith has taken bits of the Old Testament and repackaged them as new information. I encourage everyone reading this to dig into the Bible verses I have quoted in these posts and see if you also see the similarities.