And I make an end. And after this manner we keep the a records , for it is according to the commandments of our fathers. Behold, it came to pass that I saw much war and contention between my people, the Nephites, and the Lamanites; and I, with my own sword, have taken the lives of many of the Lamanites in the defence of my brethren.
Behold, I will speak unto you somewhat concerning a Mosiah , who was made king over the b land of Zarahemla ; for behold, he being c warned of the Lord that he should d flee out of the e land of f Nephi , and as many as would hearken unto the voice of the Lord should also g depart out of the land with him, into the wilderness—. And they departed out of the land into the wilderness, as many as would hearken unto the voice of the Lord; and they were led by many preachings and prophesyings.
The next three writers in the book of Omni do not address a particular audience or state a purpose for their writing. The first four authors wrote in the land of Nephi.
Amaleki made his record in the land of Zarahemla. The book of Omni is the final book of the small plates of Nephi. Omni spans a longer period than any other book in the small plates. Since archeologists have reported ancient inscriptions in west European or North African writing systems from remote locations throughout much of the United States and Canada. These discoveries were initially received by the archaeological community with much skepticism, but in recent years their skepticism has begun to disintegrate.
In John L. Sorenson and Martin H. Nevertheless, they had had many wars and serious contentions, and had fallen by the sword from time to time; and their language had become corrupted; and they had brought no records with them; and they denied the being of their Creator; and Mosiah, nor the people of Mosiah, could understand them.
John L. Sorenson has seen this expression as evidence that the Mulekites combined with "others" on their arrival in the New World. Sorenson said, "It is likely that there would not have been women aboard for most or all of the crew. For those men to reproduce, as is implied in the expression 'exceedingly numerous,' they would have had to find and take 'native' or 'other' women" "When Lehi's Party Arrived in the Land, Did They Find Others There?
This may have been a factor in the corruption of their language. Another factor may well have been the Mulekites' intermarrying with and otherwise joining with the indigenous people that were here at the time of their coming ashore see the commentary for verse 21 which suggests there may have been Jaredite survivors among others.
Thus, their languages may have become blended. And it came to pass that after they were taught in the language of Mosiah, Zarahemla gave a genealogy of his fathers, according to his memory; and they are written, but not in these plates.
What was "the language of Mosiah"? In the first centuries after Lehi's landing, the Nephites and probably the Mulekites likely maintained their Hebrew speech.
However, when Mosiah's group of refugees left the land of Nephi and came upon the land of Zarahemla, some years had passed, and it was about BC. Sufficient time had passed that their languages had diverged, and the two groups spoke distinct languages. They were unable to understand each other.
It seems likely that "the language of Mosiah" was Hebrew or some derivation thereof. There are some intriguing questions for which we do not have the answers. For example, were all of the Mulekites taught Mosiah's form of Hebrew or only their leader Zarahemla? It does seem a bit unlikely that all of the Mulekites learned Hebrew. Perhaps there was sufficient intercourse among the more common peoples that some universal hybrid form of language-a so-called "lingua franca"-developed.
It is interesting that Benjamin, a generation later, was able to speak to all his people so that they understood. Once they were able to communicate, Zarahemla gave from memory a genealogy of his fathers to Mosiah. Zarahemla's genealogy was written down, but not on the small plates of Nephi. Where was it written down? Probably on the large plates of Nephi. We know that this group of Nephite migrants did have with them the large plates of Nephi as well as the small plates of Nephi since both sets were later delivered to Mosiah's son, King Benjamin.
We know that the prophet Amaleki took with him the small plates of Nephi, but how did they obtain the large plates of Nephi?
They were held in the possession of the Nephite king in the land of Nephi. Presumably Mosiah obtained them. But how did he obtain them? Was he the secular king of the Nephites before the group left the land of Nephi? The text is not clear on this point.
It does seem likely that Mosiah was senior descendant of Nephi and thus the king of the Nephites in the land of Nephi. This might explain how easily Zarahemla and the Mulekites acquiesced to Mosiah's leadership. It is certainly plausible that all of the people who descended from those who brought Mulek to the New World were not bonded together into a single ethnic group. They may have become quite scattered. Perhaps this is why there is no name such as "Mulekite" ever given to them in the Book of Mormon text.
The group led by Zarahemla and discovered by Mosiah may have been just one of several factions. The political amalgamation described in this verse did not actually result in a complete cultural integration of the two groups. We will find evidences in the remaining Book of Mormon text that the two groups were usually counted separately see, for example, Mosiah ; Helaman By 4 Nephi , however, when the total of all Book of Mormon peoples are divided into seven tribes, there is no mention of the Zarahemlaites.
Presumably by then they had become so fused with Nephite society, that they were not identifiable as a separate group. The willingness of those Zarahemlaites in the land of Zarahemla to accept Mosiah as their king suggests that this was more than a political alliance.
Their accepting Mosiah's rule suggests that they accept the religion of the Nephites as well. It would have been engraved by those Mulekites who discovered Coriantumr. It was probably engraved in the city of Mulek. This is the only mention of this stone. One wonders what happened to it. Coriantumr, as we will learn later, was the leader of one of two great armies of Jaredites that had fought for years resulting in the annihilation of the warriors in both the Jaredite armies.
He had eventually killed the leader of the other army, Shim. Though he was wounded in the process, he became the sole survivor of the Jaredite armies. It has been suggested that the use of the word genealogy in this charge implies a disappointing change in course. The series of such messages was indeed a genealogy. Even though Jarom had prophesied and received revelations for his people, he shares only the fact that revelations continue in his day.
For what could I write more than my fathers have written, for have not they revealed the plan of salvation? As mentioned earlier, Nephi uses the same word with similar intent see 1 Nephi —2.
This word also applies when records are limited for other good reasons see 1 Nephi and Ether This reference to the other plates of Nephi may suggest that Jarom was aware of their contents. The righteous kings of his day invited others to write on those plates. The writings of these kings or those who wrote for them likely clarified how faith led to success in battle. Indeed, the righteousness of Nephite kings during the small-plate period provides helpful context for the efforts of the small-plate authors.
We no longer have the large-plate record of the Nephite kings during this period, but we can piece together some information about them from the limited small-plate record. His use of the plural word kings identifies at least two righteous kings, perhaps more. Two more righteous kings, the first King Mosiah and King Benjamin, are mentioned by Amaleki, the final writer on the small plates.
Thus, while the record is silent about some kings, we know that at least four were righteous. The one consistent fact we have about all these kings is that the other record commissioned by Nephi, the large-plate record, was preserved across all their reigns. It appears that as a group, these five writers of the book of Omni kept the sacred plates for roughly years.
Each of the first four of these men Omni, Amaron, Chemish, and Abinadom adds a brief entry without knowing how many additional writers would need space on the plates.
Their four combined records on these plates occupy just over one page of English text. We can assume the Lord was aware of and planned for the severe space restrictions on this particular set of plates, for which he had a specific long-term plan. Their main role was to preserve the record and pass it on, accounting for their links in a sacred chain of custody.
We have already reviewed the words of Omni and Abinadom, two of the writers in the book of Omni. Amaron states that this destruction and deliverance confirms prophecies made by his fathers. He records nothing about his own ministry to his people.
Wicked Nephites were destroyed during the ministries of several great prophets, including Alma the son of Alma see Alma chapter 16 , Nephi the son of Helaman [Page ] see Helaman chapter 4 , Nephi the son of Nephi see 3 Nephi chapter 8 , and Mormon see Mormon chapter 6.
This apparent brotherly assist is all Chemish inscribes onto the sacred plates. Of course, our curiosity begs for more information about all the decades during which these men kept these plates.
It appears, however, that each of these writers felt compelled, perhaps inspired, to write less than his predecessor on this set of plates to save space for future writers. Because the size of the small plates was fixed, more words from earlier writers would mean fewer words from Amaleki, whose brief but longer record provides us with essential information. Because Mormon has already identified Amaleki as a prophet, it seems likely that Amaleki was among those who participated in this effort.
The Small Plates Contained a Brief, Selectively Written, Carefully Safeguarded Record The greater context of the Book of Mormon harmonizes better with an understanding that Omni, Abinadom, and the other writers of the book of Omni were prophets than with the assumption that they were not devout disciples of Jesus Christ.
Nephi says: And after that I made these plates by way of commandment, I Nephi received a commandment that the ministry and the prophecies — the more plain and precious parts of them — should be written upon these plates, and that the things which were written should be kept for the instruction of my people, which should possess the land, and also for other wise purposes, which purposes are known unto the Lord.
However, near the end of his record, he acknowledges a need to limit his own record: And now I Nephi make an end of my prophesying unto you, my beloved brethren. See Joseph F. McConkie and Robert L. Rediscovering the Book of Mormon. All Book of Mormon quotations are from Royal Skousen, ed. This edition, while sometimes harder to read than the current Latter-Day Saint edition, corresponds more closely with the actual text revealed by the Lord to the Prophet Joseph Smith.
See George Reynolds and Janne M. Sjodahl, Commentary on the Book of Mormon , 4th ed. He was unhappy about being cursed but showed no desire to change course. Without a recognition of wrongdoing, there is no true repentance.
See Gardner, Second Witness ,
0コメント