Book of Mormon Commentary CofC - Odessa, Missouri Community ...

Book of Mormon Commentary
1 Nephi Chapter 1
1:70 This has been questioned. Was engraving on soft metal plates used by the Israelites? Moses
once directed that an inscription be placed on a gold crown (Exod. 39: 30). In the Maccabean
period (168-63 B.C.) men were commanded to write "in tables of brass" and put “a copy thereof
...in the treasury” (1 Macc. 14:48, 49).
The Illustrated London (England) News (February 22, 1936) , and the fourth edition of the
Handbook of the Oriental Institute of the University of Chicago published accounts of the finding
of solid gold and silver records of Darius the Great, king of Persia. These had been buried in
beautifully cut limestone boxes 2,453 years before excavation, under the foundation of the
audience hall of the palace of Darius the Great at Persepolis. Photographs published at the time
show the metal shining as bright as the day it was incised. The plates were inscribed in three
languages- Old Persian, Elamite, and Babylonian.
1 Ne 1:72 Wherefore, he said unto him, Behold thou art a robber, and I will slay thee.
1:72 Laban was suspicious of a plot to steal the records. He became violent and threatening.
Laman fled in terror.
NEPHI PLEADS FOR A SECOND ATTEMPT, VER. 75-86
1 Ne 1:77 Therefore let us go down to the land of our father's inheritance, for behold he left gold and
silver, and all manner of riches.
1:77 Nephi proposed that they should use some of their abandoned wealth to bargain for the
records. Lehi's former dwelling place is referred to as "the land of his inheritance." It was more
than his house (1:29). It included the surrounding land.
1 Ne 1:82 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;
1:82 Intelligence and memory are possessed by the birds and beasts, but only man can preserve
and profit by the wisdom of each generation through a written language. People of the bush or
jungle lands remain primitive because of illiteracy.
1 Ne 1:83 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.
1:83 Doubtless the genealogy in the record was of secondary importance. It was the scriptures
which would prove of most value lest the people “dwindle and perish in un- belief" (1:115). The
prophets included most of the Old Testament. The eight volumes grouped as "Prophets" in the
Hebrew Bible are divided into "Former Prophets" (Joshua, Judges, I and II Samuel, and I and II
Kings) and "Latter Prophets" (Isaiah, Jeremiah, Ezekiel, and the twelve "Minor Prophets").
The Pentateuch was regarded as given by the greatest of their prophets, Moses, and was included
in the record on the brass plates.