Scriptures/The Book of Mormon/1 Nephi/4

Scriptures/The Book of Mormon/1 Nephi.
1 Nephi 4 at churchofjesuschrist.org

1 And it came to pass that I spake unto my brethren, saying: 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?

2 Therefore let us go up; let us be strong like unto Moses; for he truly spake unto the waters of the Red Sea and they divided hither and thither, and our fathers came through, out of captivity, on dry ground, and the armies of Pharaoh did follow and were drowned in the waters of the Red Sea.

let us be strong like unto Moses: The only source we are aware of that Nephi could have been referring to for this idea was Moses 1:25, which similarly asserts that Moses will be made stronger than many waters.^[1]

3 Now behold ye know that this is true; and ye also know that an angel hath spoken unto you; wherefore can ye doubt? Let us go up; the Lord is able to deliver us, even as our fathers, and to destroy Laban, even as the Egyptians.

destroy Laban, even as the Egyptians: It is worth pointing out that Nephi, thematically, compares the flight of his father from Jerusalem to the flight of the children of Israel from Egypt. Here, Nephi sets up Laban as thematically equivalent to the forces of the Egyptians that were destroyed when they chased after the fleeing Israelites, thus also setting himself up as a figure like Moses. Moses and Pharaoh, in particular, mirrored each other in that Moses was a representative of the God of Israel, while Pharaoh was a representative of the idolatrous gods of Egypt, and their conflict was the manifestation of a war between their gods. Similarly, Nephi also represents the God of Israel, or the God which Israel had largely rejected, while Laban represents the wicked traditions of the Jews. It is interesting to note in this regard that the names, Nephi, and Laban are the same name. That is, they both have the shared meaning of white, pale, or fair. There is some irony in that Nephi's name is the one of Egyptian origin, and Laban's is the one of Hebrew origin.

It would be interesting to know whether "Egyptians" was written in Egyptian or in Hebrew, because in Egyptian, the root of the word for their own land is "black", which would have a special irony having Laban ("white") compared to the Egyptians in that way.

4 Now when I had spoken these words, they were yet wroth, and did still continue to murmur; nevertheless they did follow me up until we came without the walls of Jerusalem.

5 And it was by night; and I caused that they should hide themselves without the walls. And after they had hid themselves, I, Nephi, crept into the city and went forth towards the house of Laban.

6 And I was led by the Spirit, not knowing beforehand the things which I should do.

7 Nevertheless I went forth, and as I came near unto the house of Laban I beheld a man, and he had fallen to the earth before me, for he was drunken with wine.

I beheld a man, and he had fallen to the earth: Hebrew, earth might be rendered as either "eretz" or "adamah". Similarly, "man" might be rendered as "adam" or "ish". It would likely be more natural, as a matter of straightforward narrative, to use "eretz" and "ish". However, considering my notes below on The Tree of the Knowledge of Good and Evil, it seems likely to me that Nephi is using keywords "adam" and possibly also "adamah", to signal to his Hebrew speaking readers that he is telling a story about the fall of Adam. This would create a small chiasm here with adam, fall, adam. Perhaps more interesting is that "I beheld a man, and he had fallen" could just as easily be read as "I beheld Adam, and he had fallen". It may not be possible to know exactly what Nephi did here, but the thematic and poetic context, I believe, suggests that he made a more explicit allusion to the fall of Adam.

he was drunken with wine: In Don Bradley's "The Lost 116 Pages", he argues that this event is taking place on the passover, which would add some context to these circumstances.^[2]

8 And when I came to him I found that it was Laban.

9 And I beheld his sword, and I drew it forth from the sheath thereof; and the hilt thereof was of pure gold, and the workmanship thereof was exceedingly fine, and I saw that the blade thereof was of the most precious steel.

his sword:After David slays Goliath with Goliath's own sword, it is kept in the temple as a relic. Similarly, Laban's sword is kept by Nephi and appears to have been esteemed similarly to Goliath's as the rusted out sword was included among the artifacts the Joseph Smith found with the Gold Plates in a stone box on the Hill Cumorah. Some evidence suggests that this is the very same sword as the Sword of Joshua, and was originally forged by Joseph, son of Jacob in Egypt.^[3]

10 And it came to pass that I was constrained by the Spirit that I should kill Laban; but I said in my heart: Never at any time have I shed the blood of man. And I shrunk and would that I might not slay him.

11 And the Spirit said unto me again: Behold the Lord hath delivered him into thy hands. Yea, and I also knew that he had sought to take away mine own life; yea, and he would not hearken unto the commandments of the Lord; and he also had taken away our property.

12 And it came to pass that the Spirit said unto me again: Slay him, for the Lord hath delivered him into thy hands;

13 Behold the Lord slayeth the wicked to bring forth his righteous purposes. It is better that one man should perish than that a nation should dwindle and perish in unbelief.

It is better that one man should perish than that a nation should dwindle and perish in unbelief.:Nephi did not likely know how this statement would foreshadow the theme for us, but these are significantly similar to the words of Caiaphas about the death of Jesus during the Passover (John 11:50), just like Laban is here being killed during the Passover, such that Laban is being killed in similitude of both the Passover sacrifice, and Jesus Christ.^[4]

14 And now, when I, Nephi, had heard these words, I remembered the words of the Lord which he spake unto me in the wilderness, saying that: Inasmuch as thy seed shall keep my commandments, they shall prosper in the land of promise.

15 Yea, and I also thought that they could not keep the commandments of the Lord according to the law of Moses, save they should have the law.

16 And I also knew that the law was engraven upon the plates of brass.

17 And again, I knew that the Lord had delivered Laban into my hands for this cause—that I might obtain the records according to his commandments.

18 Therefore I did obey the voice of the Spirit, and took Laban by the hair of the head, and I smote off his head with his own sword.

I smote off his head with his own sword: There is a similarity between this story here, and the story of David and Goliath. See 1 Samuel 17:51. Nephi may be intentionally, poetically, emphasizing narrative parallels with the story of David and Goliath in order to highlight how the Lord has selected him for kingship.

19 And after I had smitten off his head with his own sword, I took the garments of Laban and put them upon mine own body; yea, even every whit; and I did gird on his armor about my loins.

20 And after I had done this, I went forth unto the treasury of Laban. And as I went forth towards the treasury of Laban, behold, I saw the servant of Laban who had the keys of the treasury. And I commanded him in the voice of Laban, that he should go with me into the treasury.

21 And he supposed me to be his master, Laban, for he beheld the garments and also the sword girded about my loins.

And he supposed me to be his master, Laban: Considering that Nephi is Egyptian for Laban, it is kind of humorous to think that he is walking around wearing Laban's clothes and pretending to be Laban, when, he kind of is a Laban by his own right. (You can imagine that Bianca killed Mrs. White with a lead pipe in the conservatory, then put on Mrs. White's clothes and pretended to be Mrs. White. That scene would involves a little bit of silly wordplay.) However, it is also likely that Nephi is emphasizing how, like the scapegoat is identical to the goat sacrificed for the Lord, he is identical to Laban (to a significant enough degree that he passes for him).

22 And he spake unto me concerning the elders of the Jews, he knowing that his master, Laban, had been out by night among them.

23 And I spake unto him as if it had been Laban.

24 And I also spake unto him that I should carry the engravings, which were upon the plates of brass, to my elder brethren, who were without the walls.

the plates of brass: By taking Laban's sword, and the Brass Plates, Nephi takes possession of the inheritance of Joseph in Egypt and signifies that he is Joseph's successor.

25 And I also bade him that he should follow me.

26 And he, supposing that I spake of the brethren of the church, and that I was truly that Laban whom I had slain, wherefore he did follow me.

27 And he spake unto me many times concerning the elders of the Jews, as I went forth unto my brethren, who were without the walls.

28 And it came to pass that when Laman saw me he was exceedingly frightened, and also Lemuel and Sam. And they fled from before my presence; for they supposed it was Laban, and that he had slain me and had sought to take away their lives also.

29 And it came to pass that I called after them, and they did hear me; wherefore they did cease to flee from my presence.

30 And it came to pass that when the servant of Laban beheld my brethren he began to tremble, and was about to flee from before me and return to the city of Jerusalem.

31 And now I, Nephi, being a man large in stature, and also having received much strength of the Lord, therefore I did seize upon the servant of Laban, and held him, that he should not flee.

32 And it came to pass that I spake with him, that if he would hearken unto my words, as the Lord liveth, and as I live, even so that if he would hearken unto our words, we would spare his life.

33 And I spake unto him, even with an oath, that he need not fear; that he should be a free man like unto us if he would go down in the wilderness with us.

34 And I also spake unto him, saying: Surely the Lord hath commanded us to do this thing; and shall we not be diligent in keeping the commandments of the Lord? Therefore, if thou wilt go down into the wilderness to my father thou shalt have place with us.

35 And it came to pass that Zoram did take courage at the words which I spake. Now Zoram was the name of the servant; and he promised that he would go down into the wilderness unto our father. Yea, and he also made an oath unto us that he would tarry with us from that time forth.

Zoram: I always thought it was strange that Nephi refers to Zoram repeatedly as "the servant of Laban" and then only here, near the end of the story, does he name him. However, viewing Zoram as "rock of the people" it is easy to see that the name, Zoram, was being withheld in order to fit into something like a chiastic structure. (Its opposite point in the structure would be 1 Nephi 3:27.) I haven't yet sat down to analyze this fully, looking for the chiasm, but I see really promising signs right around these verses that this is, in fact, what is going on.

36 Now we were desirous that he should tarry with us for this cause, that the Jews might not know concerning our flight into the wilderness, lest they should pursue us and destroy us.

lest they should pursue us and destroy us: There are a few interesting connections here to this. First, although, generally speaking the events here are expected to have taken place on the passover, there are distinct scapegoat elements in this story, which is more relevant to Yom Kippur. First, we have two figures who are equated with each other and also set up as opposites. (ie. Laban, and Nephi; both named "white", and notably, Nephi is easily able to pose as Laban and be mistaken for him.) Second, the Lord selects that one of them will be killed and the other goes free. (In the scapegoat ritual, lots are cast to determine which one the lot of the Lord will fall on and be sacrificed. Casting lots was an ancient ritual way of determining the Lord's will.) Third, the concern with being pursued and destroyed is brought up. Mishnah Yoma 6 details that the goat on which the lot of Azazel fell, was to be chased out by a pursuer who would ensure that the goat dies by being pushed off a steep precipice. The meaning of Azazel is interpreted to mean either "mighty"/"strong", or "removal". Interestingly, the word mighty is brought up in 1 Nephi 3:31, and the concept is iterated upon in 1 Nephi 4:1, and then further on 1 Nephi 4:2. Laman and Lemuel say Laban is mighty, and Nephi retorts that the Lord is mightier, and concludes the theme with his statement "let us be strong like unto Moses". There is also, of course, the idea coming from Numbers 35 that a murderer could flee to a city of refuge, and if the killing was accidental, they would be safe there. However, presumably, leaving enabled the appointed avenger to kill the refugee. I am not entirely clear on this area of the law and it seems that the version of it we have now may not have been the original. Perhaps there was originally something spelled out more like the idea of the scapegoat ritual. Connections with this law are very tempting to make considering that Nephi just killed Laban. As is, parallels with the scapegoat ritual seem stronger than the parallels with laws relating to cities of refuge.

37 And it came to pass that when Zoram had made an oath unto us, our fears did cease concerning him.

38 And it came to pass that we took the plates of brass and the servant of Laban, and departed into the wilderness, and journeyed unto the tent of our father.

Chapter 4 is the central element of a structure that spans chapters 3-5.

A theme woven into this chapter that's not easily centralized in a single verse, are the Garden of Eden themes surrounding the Tree of the Knowledge of Good and Evil. Here, Nephi portrays himself like Eve or Adam. Eve was asked by a serpent (a representation of a heavenly being), and Adam was asked by Eve, to partake of the forbidden fruit, which had the consequence of bringing mortality upon them, but also of obtaining the knowledge of good and evil. Nephi, for his part, was asked by the spirit to transgress the law forbidding murder, for which the punishment is death, in order to obtain the law. All figures wrestled with the question and ultimately went forward with the transgression. Adam and Nephi, both reasoned that the transgression was necessary for the sake of their posterity. Adam and Eve were driven out of the Garden of Eden, while Nephi fled Jerusalem. (Notably, the scapegoat theme he is drawing on also involves the scapegoat being driven out of Jerusalem.)

It may also be significant that the word for "brass" is based on the same root as the word for "serpent". (This connection is the root of word play extant in the Bronze Serpent that Moses lifted up to heal Israelites in the wilderness.)

The fact that the Tree of the Knowledge of Good and Evil is soon followed by a dream about the Tree of Life is probably no coincidence. We might imagine that Jerusalem has the Tree of Life because Jerusalem has the Temple. (The Menorah, in the Temple, is intended to be a representation of the Tree of Life.) So, we have, symbolically, Nephi partaking of the Tree of the Knowledge of Good and Evil, being driven out of the Garden of Eden, and then a dream in which he is shown that he will get to partake of the Tree of Life.

The existence of this theme would appear to be signalled to Hebrew speaking readers in verse 7 "I beheld a man, and he had fallen to the earth before me". See my notes on that verse for more details.

I expect that there is more to this theme than I have identified so far. It seems to be larger than the chiasm that this particular Tree of the Knowledge of Good and Evil event occurs in. (Though, partaking of the Tree of the Knowledge of Good and Evil is pretty central to the chiasm.)

In D. John Butler's "In the Language of Adam", he argues the existence of temple themes in Isaiah 51 and 52. In particular, he cited two references to "strength" (Hebrew "oz" or "az", in this case) in a 3-part structure, as being potential references to the pillar, Boaz, (meaning "strength", "in him is strength", "it is strength", or "by strength") from the porch of Solomon's temple. Considering that Nephi uses a very similar 3-part structure, referencing strength and might, and considering the already identified Tree of Knowledge of Good and Evil theme, and the setting of Jerusalem, it makes sense to consider the possibility that more temple imagery might exist. In my further study of the issue of temple symbolism, I think that D. John Butler may be missing an even more fundamental point that the Ulam (the porch of the temple) itself, is linguistically connected to the concept of strength. (Linguistically, "el", more often rendered "might", rather than "az".)

The first thing to point out is that when Nephi makes reference to strength he says "let us be strong like unto Moses". It is worth pointing out here that D. John Butler has described that each of the 3 sections of the temple appears to have its own guiding figure. In the case of the porch, Butler asserts that this guiding figure for the first section would have been Moses.

Reading through, the second point to make relates to Nephi's assertion that "I was led by the Spirit, not knowing beforehand the things which I should do." This is, in fact, how we all approach the temple. Some people find the experience natural. Others find it jarring. However, we go in not knowing exactly what we are going to do, and we require a guide to help us know how to proceed.

After this, Nephi starts into the part of the narrative described above which relates to the Tree of the Knowledge of Good and Evil.

Once Laban has been slain, Nephi says "I took the garments of Laban and put them upon mine own body". This is an interesting reference to garments. In Hebrew this would be expected to be written as "bigdei lavan" or "בגדילבן". "A white garment" by comparison, would be "בגדלבן", so that, if Nephi is intending a temple theme, this phrase is very suggestive. After that, he goes and finds a servant who has keys, to have the servant give him the commandments, or a book of knowledge. This servant then calls him by a new name, Laban, and delivers the commandments to him on tablets. The Hebrew for "plates" here, lamed-vav-chet, would be the same word as they would have used for "tablets", like those stone tablets upon which the Lord wrote when delivering the law to Moses.

I'm inclined to think that the treasury itself relates to the second room of the temple, and that this is where the law is delivered to Nephi. I don't understand this aspect of things very well though. I know that treasure plays a role in the temple, along with the idea of money, but I need to learn more about the pre-Christian ideas surrounding how these connect to really firm up what is being suggested here.

Nephi then walks with the servant to meet his brothers outside the walls of Jerusalem, which appears to be a somewhat ironic allusion to passing through the veil of the temple. There, he wrestles with the unnamed servant of Laban which is connected to the themes of Jacob's life present in this story. Like Jacob received a new name as a result of his wrestle, Nephi appears to have gotten his new name from the servant already. At this point, we find out that the servant's name is Zoram, which means "rock of the people", which connects this part of this story more firmly to the Holy of Holies, as the central feature of the Holy of Holies is a rock. Often, this is what is referred to as a "standing stone", and it is said to represent the presence of the Lord. In Solomon's Temple, the central feature was the rock which we now call the Foundations Stone. Today, it is the central feature of the Dome of the Rock. (Such stones are also said to be where God appears.) Regardless, a rock would have been present in the Holy of Holies

D. John Butler has also argued that inasmuch as a sort of physical trial, similar to Jacob's wrestle with an angelic figure, commonly shows up in contexts that bring up temple themes, that an actual physical ordeal of some kind may have been included in these pre-Christian temple ceremonies as part of the role they played as a right of passage to adulthood.

One element that I might expect, or hope for, based on D. John Butler's typical examples, but is conspicuously missing, is a reference to eating, or an obvious tree of life allusion. There are some very promising elements though, and I have to imagine that, given the language barrier, there may be more that I am missing, so there may be more to be considered here.

Overall, I believe, the intent of this portion of the story, and especially, the themes relating to the Tree of the Knowledge of Good and Evil is primarily focused on the porch of the Temple; the Ulam. The garments of Laban (the white garments) are probably then, primarily an allusion to the coat of skins which God made for Adam, to cover his nakedness after his transgression. The reason why I place this firmly in the porch area, is that, the overall arch of Nephi's story matches the overall arch of the story of Alma; beginning in the land of their first inheritance (Jerusalem) with an Eden-like story, then proceeding out into the wilderness, characterized by difficulty, loneliness, toil, and sorrow, then arrival at a blessed place, (Bountiful) prepared by God. The story, I presume, shares some allusion to the Holy of Holies, mostly because he has packed in a theme regarding the life of Jacob, and Jacob's life also contains temple themes, resulting in a temple theme that is a bit fractal, being reflected at different scales. (Indeed, the more immediate story, of leaving the tent of his father, accomplishing a dangerous task in Jerusalem, and then returning to the tent of his father, is a structure that is relevant to the temple.)

Another allusion woven into the story of the retrieval of the Brass Plates that's not easily centralized in a single verse, is to the life of Jacob. Jacob and Nephi share many similarities, and Nephi here, appears to highlight those similarities. The most obvious connection, of course, is how Nephi supplants both his brothers and Laban as heirs. However, it struck me later on that Nephi's wrestle with Zoram was akin to Jacob's wrestle with the heavenly messenger which wins him the name Israel. Zoram's name has two meanings. If read as Zor-am, it is "rock of the people". If read as zo-ram, it is "exalted one". If we read it as "exalted one", then a connection to Jacob's wrestle becomes more apparent. Nephi wrestles with Zoram to extract an oath that he will remain with them, while Jacob wrestles with the unidentified heavenly messenger to obtain a blessing. This caused me to go back and reread the story of this wrestle, and it became obvious that I was seeing something intentional as it was part of this larger theme that was woven into the story. This makes perfect sense, as it fits perfectly with the apparent purpose of the story; to establish Nephi as the heir to Joseph and the one who inherited the right to rule from his father, despite being a younger brother.

In the story of Jacob's life, he supplanted his brother both by exchanging a mess of pottage for the birthright, but also but sneaking in to his father dressed as Esau in order to trick him into blessing him. This has obvious parallels with how Nephi obtained the Brass Plates from Laban. Esau was obviously angry with Jacob about this and so, Jacob fled on his own to avoid Esau's wrath, to the house of Laban. There, he works for Laban for 3 periods of time, obtaining much of Laban's wealth in the process. The parallels between this Jacob's Laban and Nephi's Laban are striking. Wheres Nephi sought the Brass Plates, Jacob's great desire was Rachel. Nephi and his brethren approached his Laban 3 times to obtain the Brass Plates. Jacob worked for his Laban for three terms. In the end, both left Laban to return to their brothers and had to wrestle an exalted one to extract a promise.

Nephi compares himself to the scapegoat of Yom Kipur. This theme is introduced in 1 Nephi 3:31-4:2 with Nephi's references to might and strength, which are the roots of the Hebrew word, "azazel", translated as "scapegoat" (though the word has nothing to do with goats; it's an odd translation). Just as the goats in the Yom Kippur scapegoat ceremony are identical so that those casting lots won't be able to tell them apart, Nephi and Laban are identical, such that Zoram cannot tell them apart. Lots are cast over the goats to determine the will of the Lord for the two offerings, whereas for Nephi, the will of the Lord is revealed by the voice of the spirit. Laban is selected to be slain and Nephi, like the scapegoat, must flee from pursuers intent on killing him.