The Bible gives justification to Nephi slaying Laban

Nephi about to slay wicked King Laban

 Those familiar with the Book of Mormon know very well that one of the most detailed events is that of Nephi slaying wicked King Laban who was a ruler of a military garrison of 50 if not more in Jerusalem.  Around 600 B.C. Nephi's father Lehi a prophet of God receives a vision prophesying the destruction of Jerusalem.  He warns the residents of Jerusalem that they need to repent of their ways but instead finds himself with a bounty on his head. He follows the Lords advice and takes his family and departs into the wilderness.  It was during their escape from Jerusalem that Lehi receives further instruction to send his son's Laman, Lemuel, Sam, and Nephi to return to Jerusalem and obtain the brass plates that contain the records of their forefathers or writings of the prophets.  This record would be something similar to portions of our modern day Old Testament but probably larger.


  The first attempt was unsuccessful as Laman attempted to ask King Laban for the plates. In the second attempt the brothers went back to their previous residence and obtained all their precious items of silver and gold and tried their hand at bartering for the plates but wicked King Laban had his guards chase them and attempted to have them killed and in the process he was able to obtain their silver and gold.  It was at this point that the two older brothers Laban and Lemuel started to hit Nephi and Sam with their staffs and threatened to take their lives.  It took the appearance of an angel who rebuked Laman and Lemuel to stop the assault on Nephi and Sam.  Nephi took courage after they had been visited by the angel and in the third attempt he was lead by the spirit.  It was this third attempt that has drawn much debate among the scholarly community.  Nephi in following the spirit was lead into Jerusalem city limits and went towards the house of King Laban where he found a drunken King Laban who had been out with councilors and had apparently passed out.  It was at this point that the spirit told Nephi that he was to slay King Laban.  This was the only time that I know of that Nephi actually questioned the motives and the direction of the Lord.  Now Nephi admits that "Never at any time have I shed the blood of man and would that I might not slay him" but the spirit told him again to slay him "for the Lord hath delivered him into thy hands."  It is this phrase that helps us gain the added insight.

Nephi was later told that "the Lord slayeth the wicked to bring forth his righteous purposes". He was also told that "It is better that one man should perish than that a nation should dwindle and perish in unbelief." Nephi did have ample reason to slay King Laban when you realize that King Laban had attempted to kill Nephi and his brethren and he had taken their property.  You can't help but to feel that Nephi would be completely justified in taking this one life. Nephi also realized that he could not fulfill the commandments of the Lord without obtaining the brass plates, thus he must also kill King Laban.  Many scholars have pointed out that in 600 B.C. this would be commonly looked upon as justified but additional justification can be found when you look in the book of Exodus in the Old Testament.  As pointed out by Steven L. Olsen in his Neal A. Maxwell Institute article entitled, "The Death of Laban" Nephi not only shrunk away from killing King Laban because he had never killed before but also because intentional murder was punishable by death of the guilty under the Law of Moses.  However as Steven Olsen points out "a subsequent provision of the law qualifies this absolute prohibition""He that smiteth a man, so that he die, shall surely be put to death.  And if a man lie not in wait, but God deliver him into his hand; then I will appoint thee a place whither he shall flee" (Exodus 21:12-13).  The specific wording of Nephi's decision to follow the spirit and slay King Laban places him securely under the justification given in the Law of Moses.  This not only shows Nephi's innocents but also his amazing ability at using literary devices such as this to portray his life story and help those of us who were not extremely familiar with the Law of Moses come to a complete understanding of his reasoning.  Well done Nephi, well done!

Was Nephi's sermon in Helaman 7-8 an allegorical funeral sermon?

Nephi son of Helaman II

I have a routine of different websites that I search and read on a regular basis when I'm not buried in a book. If you've read anything off of my blog you will have noticed that quite possibly the main website that I research for scriptural insights is the website of the Neal A. Maxwell Institute. One of the recent articles that I came across was written by John Welch in regards to the sermon given by Nephi the son of Helaman II in Helaman chapters 7 and 8. If you’re familiar at all with the story Nephi had just returned from proselytizing and doing missionary work in the land northward and had little success. To make matters worse when he returned home to Zerahemla he found the city had become quite apostate. At this point Nephi goes to the top of a tower in his garden near the main highway and prays in such a way that it attracts the attention of passersby. In doing this he seems to have gathered quite a crowd and then proceeds to call the people of Zerahemla to repentance and then tops it all off by prophesying the death of the Chief Judge of Zerahemla and even prophecies who the murder of the Chief Judge is.

Welch points out that it has been a normal practice of many prophets of old to use some sort of an allegorical example to help the people to whom he is preaching better understand the message. Below are a few examples pointed out by John Welch,

"It was not uncommon for early Israelite prophets to use example. When Jeremiah wanted to impress the people of Jerusalem with his prophecy that they would be yoked into bondage by the Babylonians, he

draped himself with thongs and a yoke and thus went forth proclaiming his message of doom (see Jeremiah 27:2-11). Other similar symbolic or parabolic acts performed as prophetic oracles are found in Jeremiah 13:1-11 (hiding a waistcloth), Jeremiah 19:1-13 (smashing a bottle), 1 Kings 11:29-39 (tearing a garment into twelve pieces), 2 Kings 13:15-19 (shooting an arrow), and Isaiah 20:2-6 (walking naked)."

With these examples in mind Welch then proceeds to point out a number of clues that give the impression that Nephi may have been presenting an allegorical funeral for his sermon. The clues include the following.

1. Nephi was "mourning" and "lamenting" and as pointed out by Welch Nephi was from an aristocratic household so this alone would have caused the passersby to wonder who of the household had passed.

2. Nephi's mourning or mock funeral seemed to last quite a long time. It lasted long enough for passersby to leave to get others to come witness this lamentation and return. This would make sense in the setting of a mock funeral mourning.

3. The lamenting of Nephi seemed to have been quite the spectacle because Welch points out that Nephi advised that the people indeed had "great need to marvel".

4. If Nephi was performing an allegorical funeral he also included the word "murder" a few times and this alone would have drawn a crowd. He then proceeded to include the iniquities of people of Zerahemla which would have worked up the crowd even more. Thus completing his purpose of performing the allegory.

5. The tower Nephi was praying and preaching from more than likely would have been some sort of Mesoamerican pyramid. These pyramids were used for numerous things in Mesoamerica during the times of the great Mayan civilization. One of the main purposes for the pyramid towers was to bury their dead, thus his allegory would have been performed at an actual funeral site.

6. The words and phrases used by Nephi in his sermon were used to predict the eventual death of those at Zerahemla. These phrases include such wording as, "why will ye die" and "everlasting misery" and God will turn them into “meat for dogs and wild beasts".

There are more examples but Welch points out that Nephi finishes by prophesying the death of Chief Judge of Zerahemla thus providing a specific corpse for all his woes. This Chief Judge's death represents the people of Zerahemla for whom the prophecies were given. It was also used to validate Nephi's prophetic words. As John Welch points out there is no way for us to be certain that Nephi was indeed performing an allegorical funeral sermon but this does add a rich, plausible and interesting symbolic meaning to the sermon given by Nephi.

I will also inlcude the link to the actual article by John Welch.  See below.

http://maxwellinstitute.byu.edu/publications/books/?bookid=71&chapid=835

Voices from the dust continued...

In January of 2011 I put together a blog post that I entitled "Voices from the Dust". The purpose of this post is to keep adding other voices from the dust that in some way or another add some sort of relevant insight to the Book of Mormon. This post will focus on two more "voices" that shed light on our understanding of the Book of Mormon. The "voices" I will be covering are the Amarna Letters and the Darius Plates.

The Amarna Letters

The Amarna Letters are a group of letters that were written on clay tablets between Egyptian political officials and those of Canaan and Amurru. They are written in Akkadian cuneiform a writing style from Mesopotamia an area that included Babylon an opposing force to that of Egypt. The tablets were found in El Amarna in Egypt and date back to the 14th century BC during the reign of pharaoh Akhenaten (1350s – 1330s BC). The Book of Mormon states that Jesus was "born of Mary, at Jerusalem" which has been a point of much ridicule towards the Book of Mormon since even the most elementary student of the Bible knows that Jesus was born in Bethlehem and not Jerusalem. LDS scholars have advised that the term "land" refers not only to Jerusalem but the surrounding cities or what we would call suburbs in our own day. Nowhere in the Bible does it refer to the "land of Jerusalem" and this was used quite often to criticize the Book of Mormon as well. The Amarna Letters were found around 1887 and date to much earlier than the birth of Jesus as noted above and prove that the term "land of Jerusalem" was a commonly used phrase used to describe the city of Jerusalem as well as the surrounding areas which would include Bethlehem which is only six miles south of Jerusalem. In the Amarna Letters they refer to the "land" of other Canaanite sites as well proving the use of the term "land of" was common in many settings.

The Darius Plates and stone box (Tehran, Iran)

The Darius Plates were discovered in 1933 at the Persian capital of Persepolis (which is Iran) and date between the years 518 to 515 B.C. The plates are made up of one gold and one silver plate also written in cuneiform and were contained in a stone box crafted to fit the plates. The plates are written in three languages (Babylonian, Elamite, and an older form of Persian) and contain Darius l rule over the Persian Empire. Since the coming forth of the Book of Mormon in 1830 critics have declared that the book is a fraud because Joseph Smith stated that he translated from plates of gold. The critics have declared the book a fallacy because it was well known that no ancients kept records on metal plates. In this matter the Darius plates stand as a testimony that indeed the ancients did use metal plates to keep records and they also stored them in a stone box as did Moroni when he stored the gold plates that contain what we know of today as the Book of Mormon.

The Amarna Letters and the Darius Plates along with those from my previous post (the Lachish Letters, the Nag Hammadi Text, The Dead Sea Scrolls, and the Elephantine Papyrus) all in some way or another add their voices from the dust to testify of the validity of the Book of Mormon.

Authorities and Priesthoods among the Maya and Hopi and the Book of Mormon

Hopi Two Horned Priests at Oraibi in
early 1900's

So if you have in any manner familiarized yourself with my blog you will have noticed many different correlations between the Hopi and those Nephites and Lamanites in the Book of Mormon.  In this blog post I am going to show that there was not only a priesthood that existed among the Nephites and Lamanites but there were also a type of priesthood or a remnant that is had among the Hopi and even the Mayans as well.  In the Book of Mormon a prophet named Alma who at one point of his life he resigned his position as chief judge and devotes himself totally to his position as high priest and the spreading of the gospel among the Nephites (Alma 4).  Alma chapter 4 shows that there was a priesthood that was had among the Nephite and Lamanite populations. It was the authority to act in the name of God. 

The Hopi have similar priestly societies known as the One Horns and the Two Horns.  The One Horns are according to Tom Cryer in his book Visual Testament, "like the Freemasonic Entered Apprentice, has yet to receive the greater light.  Their minds have yet to open to the mysteries known by the more mature Two Horns.  Thus their headdresses are either large, unsplit unicorns or diminutive two horns."  Their function is aimed more towards outward ordinances much like the ancient order of the Aaronic priesthood. 

The Two Horn function is celestial or eternal in nature much like that of the Melchizedek priesthood.  They have knowledge of the higher order of heaven, and the previous worlds.  Their responsibility is mainly focused on looking after the dead.  They install chiefs of all the ceremonies and dance with high steps and
sing "a song that is so secret that although they render it in low, almost inaudible voices, they accompany it with a great uproar in order to make sure that not a syllable is overheard by any, save members of their own order ."(Titiev 1944:132)

The Mitre worn by Catholic superiors

The Hebrew word qaran or keren is a denominative verb from a noun meaning "horn" or "power" which is exactly what the horns represent.  The armies of Joshua used the horn to knock down the walls of Jericho.  Cryers points out that  in Psalm 29:7 " The voice of the Lord divideth the flames of fire"  and it is this division
representing the word of the Lord that is represented directly on the horned headdress of the split gourd  having pairs of parallel lines that represent "the word" (as pointed out on my other post regarding the Hopi Snake Ceremony) painted on the inside.  The horns symbol has been depicted in many places from the Hopi's to the Mayans and even the Egyptians all as symbols of power and authority.  There are also many depictions of Moses with horns for this very reason.  Cryers also points out that the divided headdress was traditional in the Old World until it was "turned aside" and became the mitre worn by Catholic superiors.

Lachoneus and Gidgiddoni

Mayan forms of authority were held in the eagle and jaguar warriors that were later held used as types of Aztec warriors as well. Many of these type of warriors can be seen on Mayan and Aztec murals. To some a priestly class also being a warrior or  highly trained military personnel may seem a bit odd but when we return to the Book of Mormon we can see that this was a very common practice in times righteousness. During the days of Lachoneus who was the governor and a just man with the spirit of prophecy  he appointed Gidgiddoni as a chief captain among his armies and when we read 3 Nephi 3:18-19 we see that this was indeed a common practice.

18.  Now the chiefest among all the chief captains and the great commander of all the armies of the Nephites was appointed, and his name was Gidgiddoni.
19. Now it was the custom among all the Nephites to appoint for their cheif captains, (save it wer in their times of wickedness) some one that had the spirit of revelation and also prophecy; therefore, this Gidgiddoni was a great prophet among them, as also was the chief judge.

Thus we can see that a line of authority even priestly authority has its roots in ancient tradition.  Through Joseph Smith this can be traced back to the prophets of old. In the Pearl of Great Price and Book of Mormon we see that the want for this priesthood authority lead to "copy cat" authorities trying to mimmick the priesthood authority. That combined with the loss of authority due to wickedness and apostacy lead to the total loss of the priesthood.  As I have pointed out traces can be seen in ancient cultures almost everywhere.  It's when we take a closer look at these ancient traditons that we may get a better understanding of the Book of Mormon.  I once again close with Brant Gardners saying that it's not about looking for the Book of Mormon in Mesoamerica it's about looking for Mesoamerica (and its surrounding cultures) in the Book of Mormon that will bring further cultural insights.

The 1897 Audio Record of Wilford Woodruff's Testimony

This video was recorded in 1897 on the 3 wax cylinders and in this recording President Wilford Woodruff is 90 years old and of all the things that he can bear his testimony about he chose to bear it about the Prophet Joseph Smith jr. There is an accompanying spirit that is found in this recording especially when you realize that he is bearing his testimony about the being the last person still alive who was at that famous "Last Charge" meeting in which Joseph Smith rolled the priesthood and church responsabilities off onto the quorum of the twelve and then celebrated joyfully that through the help of the Lord he was able to do something that Solomon and Hyrum of Tyre were not able to do, namely establishing the fulness of the gospel including the building of the temple here on earth never to be removed from earth again....enjoy!

Khirbet Beit Lei (The Lehi Cave) or not?





subterranean columbarium



 In 1961 Israeli Military Engineers while building a road exposed an ancient Judean tomb containing eight human skeletons in two burial cavaties. There were multiple drawings and etchings and inscriptions on the walls including the name Yahuweh (Jehovah) and the city name Yerushalem (Jerusalem).  The Israeli archeologists named it the Jerusalem Cave but a while later it became known as the Lehi Cave to the LDS community. A couple hundred meters from the Jerusalam Cave  was an abandoned village of ruins in an Arab village called Khirbet Beit Lei (pronounced "bait lay").  In Arabic the term lei means "twisting".  In the 1970's many of the LDS community attempted to connect Lehi to this village of ruins and it became known as Beit Lehi and the Lehi Cave.

It appears that the driving force behind the name change began with Joseph Ginat who is an Israeli anthropologist who studied for his doctorate at the University of Utah and also taught anthropology as a professor at the University of Haifa.  It seems as though it was Joseph Ginat who introduced Glenn Kimber and W. Cleon Skousen to the idea that this area may be the same area of Lehi in the Bible that was connected to Sampson. (Judges 15:8-19). 

According to beitlehi.org,

"Joseph Ginat's interest concerning the cave caused him to go back to Israel and investigate the site.  While doing so he was surprised to meet a Bedouin who told him that just above this cave, about 1\4 of a mile away, were the remains of an ancient oak tree. This was the place where , according to the traditions and the legends of the Bedouins, a Prophet named Lehi sat while he blessed and judged the people of Ishmael as well as the people of Judah.  The Bedouin said that Lehi lived many years before Muhammad.  The Arab people built a wall of large rocks around the remains of the tree to protect it as a sacred spot.  Upon return

ing to Salt Lake City, Joseph exitedly shared this information with W. Cleaon Skousen as well as others in the area."

Many of the scholars associated with the site speculated that the Arabic term "Lei" proundounced "lay" is the equivalent of the Hebrew term Lehi.  It was also assumed that the term had the same meaning as the Hebrew version meaning "cheek" or "jawbone" instead of "twisting" as noted above.  The term Khirbet Beit Lei means "ruin of Beit Lehi" according to their translation.  Jeffrey R. Chadwick in his Neal A. Maxwell Institute article entitled "Khirbet Beit Lei and the Book of Mormon: An Arcdhaeologist's Evaluation" has done a pretty thorough job of reviewing not only the archeological findings that have been found but also the names translation and the correlations of the ruin sites with possible locations in the story of Sampson in the Bible and later Lehi and his family in the Book of Mormon and states that the translations in Hebrew and Arabic are completely seperate and thus it would not be the "house of Lehi" but the "house of Lei".

Byzantine period ancient mosaic

At the ruin site there have been inscriptions exclaiming " Yahveh (is) the God of the whole earth; the mountains of Judah belong to him, to the God of Jerusalem" as well as what appears to be drawings of human like figures on the wall, ship etchings and a possible rough depiction of the layout of the city of Lachish.  Other findings were a Byzantine period church complex  featuring an amazing mosaic floor that included Greek inscriptions and an olive oil pressing and a subterranean columbarium (a man made dovecote or structure used to house pigeons) dating to the Hellenistic and Roman periods. In reviewing the dates of many of the findings Chadwick has also come to the conclusion that the burial tombs could not be the "cavity of a rock" in which Nephi and his brothers hid in.  This along with the fact that the site lays about 22 miles to the southwest of Jerusalem leads many LDSscholars to assume that it wouldn't lay within the best route leading out of Jerusalem which would have been used by Lehi and his group. Lehi and his family including Zoram along with Ishmael and his family would have used a nearly southern route which eventually lead to a southeast direction in fleeing Jerusalem and to assume that Khirbet Beit Lei was either the land of Lehi's inheritance or the cave in which Nephi and his brothers fled too would have required them to go out
of their way which was something that more than likely wouldn't have happened in the inital fleeing assuming Lehi's life was in trouble.

Excavation Site Map

Although Chadwick has come to the conclusion that Kirbet Bet Lei could not have been tied into the story of Lehi or the story of Sampson he admits that the site will "remain a site of interest to students of archaeology, historical geography, and the scriptures, since its inscriptions and drawings seem connected to the drama described in Isaiah 36-37, namely the Assyrian attack on Judah in 701 BC, and the subsequent salvation of Jerusalem."  I will leave it to the reader to do their own research and come to their own conclusions of the "Lehi Cave".

I really wanted to share this information since I found the original stories and videos that I had seen about the area to be amazing but then I didn't hear much more and it seemed as though progress on linking the site to Lehi had completely dropped off.  I still feel there is much historical information to be obtained form the site that can help us come to a better understanding of the scriptures.  I will include the link to Jeffrey R. Chadwicks above referenced article as well as links to beit lehi foundation for further research.  I will also include a link to the site panorama that was done by the Utah Valley University archaeology department.  This panorama view is litterally a vitrual tour of the every tomb and ruin and allows you to see these findings first hand.  I wish that every archaeology digging could inlcude a panorama view of their findings as well.  So enjoy.

Jeffrey Chadwicks "Khirbet Beit Lei and the Book of Mormon: An Archaeologist's Evaluation
https://ojs.lib.byu.edu/spc/index.php/RelEd/article/viewFile/2355/2192

Beit Lehi Foundation
http://beitlehifoundation.org/

Beit Lehi Panorama virtual tour
http://virtual.uvu.edu/beit-lehi2010/

http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=k9NtYJxh9oM#!

The Book of Abraham

facsimilie 2 Book of Abraham

This link below is from the BYU.tv.  It is a group of BYU professors discussing the Book of Abraham which is found in the Pearl of Great Price and also discussing the facsimilies included in the book. I think that they do a great job covering some of the basics of the current topics that are being held in scholarly debait.  The roundtable discussion is about an hour long so please click the link and check it out. 


http://byutv.org/watch/cadcec25-f9d6-4451-b196-e2e32c8ea4d5#ooid=8xZGZyMjqGv1_ns9aHvw-ZhkMHlWGJnl


For a more indepth DVD fair.lds.org has put together a documentary on the Book of Abraham and the facsimilies.  For a quick preview of that video check out the following youtube link. 

A remnant of the garment of Joseph, Jasher, Captain Moroni and Pre-Islamic Prophet Stories

Joseph and his brothers at Pharoah's Court

The Bible presents us with an interesting view of the story of Joseph(son of Jacob) and his garment. From what we read in the Book of Genesis in the Bible chapter 37:3 we find: Now Israel loved Joseph more than all his children, because he was the son of his old age: and he made him a coat of many colours. And later in verse 23 is says, And it came to pass, when Joseph was come unto his brethren that they stript Joseph out of his coat, his coat of many colours that was on him. Later we read that after selling Joseph to the Ishmeelites for twenty pieces of silver that his brothers took Joseph’s coat and killed a goat and dipped it in the blood. They later sent the coat to their father Jacob who confirmed it was his sons coat and that he surely must have been killed by the beast (spelling incorrections all part of KJV of Bible).

In the Book of Mormon in Alma 46:24 we read, a part of the remnant of the coat of Joseph was preserved and had not decayed. And he said—Even as this remnant of garment of my son hath been preserved, so shall a remnant of the seed of my son be preserved by the hand of God, and be taken unto himself. This is an interesting insight because nowhere in the Bible to we read that there was a portion of the coat or garment that was preserved. This version or addition of the story is only found in a few places most of which would be considered Apocryphal writings. The first place we find anything even near to this insight is in the 13th century document known as the Book of Jasher that mentions that Joseph’s brothers tore his garment. John A. Tvedtnes points out that this document was not published until 1840 after the publishing of the Book of Mormon this would lead us to believe that both renditions must be influenced from an earlier account.

The second account was pointed out by Hugh Nibley in his book “An Approach to the Book of Mormon” as a group of stories written by a tenth century compiler of legends concerning biblical and non-biblical pre-Islamic prophets. The compilers name was Al- Tha’labi and the compilation of these Jewish stories were called the Qisas al-anbiya or “Stories of the Prophets”. This is the way that Hugh Nibley explained the text of that document,

And when Joseph had made himself known unto them [his brethren] he asked them about his father, saying, "What did my father after [I left]?" They answered, "He lost his eyesight [from weeping]." Then he gave them his garment [qamis, long outer shirt]. According to ad-Dahak that garment was of the weave [pattern, design] of Paradise, and the breath [spirit, odor] of Paradise was in it, so that it never decayed or in any way deteriorated [and that was] a sign [omen]. And Joseph gave them that garment, and it was the very one that had belonged to Abraham, having already had a long history. He said to them, "Go, take this garment of mine
and place it upon the face of my father so he may have sight again . . . and when he brought the garment he laid it upon his face, so that his sight returned to him.

Jacob and the Garment of Joseph

The insights added by the “Stories of the Prophets” are also influenced by an earlier account. Jacob was able to feel by the weave and by the signs in the garment that it was the very garment that would have been passed down from Abraham and already had a long history and was surely that of his son Joseph. This would explain the jealousy of his brothers. The garment worn by Joseph was that of the priesthood.

The final example of the remnant of Joseph’s garment is found in the Book of Mormon as stated above in Alma 46:23,24 where we read,

23 Moroni said unto them: Behold, we are a remnant of the seed of Jacob; yea, we are a remnant of the
seed of Joseph, whose coat was rent by his brethren into many pieces; yea, and now behold, let us remember to keep the commandments of God, or our garments shall be rent by our brethren, and we be cast into prison, or be sold, or be slain.
24 Yea, let us preserve our liberty as a remnant of Joseph; yea, let us remember the words of Jacob, before his death, for behold, he saw that a part of the remnant of the coat of Joseph was preserved and had not decayed. And he said—Even as this remnant of garment of my son hath been preserved, so shall a remnant of the seed of my son be preserved by the hand of God, and be taken unto himself, while the remainder of the seed of Joseph shall perish, even as the remnant of his garment.

So here we have brought together three accounts of the remnant of the garment of Joseph all of which have added additional insights. Because these accounts were not available to Joseph Smith during his time of translating the Book of Mormon each of these stands as an additional witness to its authenticity.  This is personally one of my favorite bits of evidence in favor of the Book of Mormon.

Josiah's Reform

Josiah reading the "Book of the Law"

Josiah was the King of Judah from 641-609 B.C.  It was during the 18th year of his rule that he used the collected taxes to renovate the Temple and ordered the High Priest Hilkiah to do so.  During this renovation process Hilkiah was clearing the room of treasures and discovered the Book of the Law or what was also called, "the Book of the Law of Yahweh by the hand of Moses".  Many scholars believe that this was either a copy of the Book of Deuteronomy or part of the text that later became the Book of Deuteronomy.  According to 2 Kings 23:2 which states,

"And the king went up into the house of the LORD, and all the men of Judah and all the inhabitants of Jerusalem with him, and the priests, and the prophets, and all the people, both small and great: and he read in their hearing all the words of the book of the covenant which was found in the house of the LORD."

Nephi and his brothers see an angel while
in the cavity of a rock

King Josiah ordered it to be read to all who were at Jerusalem and this became the basis for his reform.  It was during this time that Josiah ordered the destruction of all the pagan objects of Baal and Asherah and had passover re-instituted.  If we are to take the above scripture 2 Kings 23:2 at face value than this would have been during the days of Lehi in Jerusalem.  We know that Lehi dwelt in Jerusalem all of his days.  Lehi would have likely been present during the reading of the Book of the Law.  As pointed out in Terrence L. Szink's FARMS review entitled, "Jerusalem in Lehi's Day" Lehi would have been a young father and husband at this time and very well could have taken those reforms to heart and applied them to his daily life and taught them to his children.  This was considered a bright spot in the history of Judah.  This would explain a few things, for one this would explain Nephi's love for the teachings of Moses.  Nephi used these teachings in 1 Nephi 4:2 when Nephi beckons his brothers "to be strong like unto Moses" before slaying Laban and acquiring the brass plates.  This would also explain the use of alternate cursings and blessings based on faith.  The cursings and blessings are very common throughout the Book of Mormon and can also be found in Deuteronomy as well.

Although I usually post evidences on this blog I feel that the need for great insight is extremely important especially when trying to understand the political and religious situation that existed during the time of Nephi and Lehi in the beginning of the Book of Mormon.

Nephi's Bow and Arrows a direct hit for the Book of Mormon

Nephi Hunting

This is a subject that I recently did a smaller post on in my other blog peculiar people illustrations but the whole idea behind it originated due to an article posted on the Neal A. Maxwell Institute by William J. Hamblin entitled, "Nephi's Bow's and Arrow's".  In this article William Hamblin points out that wording used by Nephi in 1Nephi 16:23, when he said, "I, Nephi, did make out of wood a bow, and out of a straight stick, an arrow." gives added authenticity to the Book of Mormon.  The reason this works so well as evidence for authenticity is because we know that Nephi had a steel bow or at least a steel ribbed bow that would have required heavier and stiffer arrows.  Nephi mentions that his bow broke and that his brothers bows lost their spring but he never mentions anything in regards to breaking his arrows.  But in the above quoted scripture he makes a direct reference to the fact that he not only made a bow out of wood but an arrow out of a straight stick.  This is important because his heavier and stiffer arrows would not have worked well with his newly made wooden bow and would have either caused it to loose power just due to the weight or stray of course because of the stiffness.

The idea that a farmboy in the early 1800's would have had any idea about the weight and stiffness of bows and arrows and would have been keen enough to mention the need for new arrows without mentioning that the old one had ever been broke would seem to be unrealistic because archery as a sport as pointed out by Hamblin did not appear until the later half of the 19th century .  One more bullseye for the Book of Mormon.  Below I have included a direct link to the Neal A. Maxwell Institute article by William Hamblin.

http://maxwellinstitute.byu.edu/publications/books/?bookid=71&chapid=777