Book of Mormon Stories: Nephi Gets the Brass Plates

Le'ts start off this post with a video! Book of Mormon Stories that my teacher tells to me, Bum Bum Bum..... sing along! Recall some of the great Book of Mormon stories! Bum bum bum....

Chapter 4 gives us an awesome story. Nephi keeps God's commandment to retrieve the brass plates. There is a TON we can learn from this chapter.

1. Be faithful; God is mightier than all the earth. (1 Nephi 4:1). Nephi reminds his brothers to be faithful in keeping the commandants because God is mightier than their foe, Laban.

2. Be strong, and look to the greats. (1 Nephi 4:2) Nephi is giving another pep talk and he reminds his brother of Moses. We to can remember the greatest and strive to be like them.

3. "Wherefore can ye doubt?" Nephi asks his brothers. They have the scriptures, their father is a prophet, they've seen an angel. They know that God can and will provide a way if they keep the commandments, so wherefore can we doubt?

4. OK, now we are really getting into the story. Nephi takes off on his own. He convinced his brothers to stay right outside the wall of Jerusalem. Nephi went into the city and was "led by the Spirit, not knowing beforehand the things which I should do." (1 Nephi 4:6) Sometimes we are like Nephi, the spirit prompts us to do something, and we don't quite know what it is, but we go with it. The spirit knows, if we follow, everything will work out how it's suppose to.

Now, Nephi is led to the house of Laban. as he approaches, he sees Laban on the ground, drunk. Nephi takes a moment to admire his beautiful sword. "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". Next, he is prompted to kill Laban!

Nephi, in his heart, desires not to kill him. He had never killed a man before. "I shrunk and would that I might not slay him." (1 Nephi 4:10). Twice more the spirit tells him to slay Laban. The spirit whispered to Nephi " Slay him, for the Lord hath delivered him into thy hands; 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." (1 Nephi 4: 12-13) That's pretty intense.

I think it's interesting that in vs 14-17, Nephi is reasoning it out in his heart. He remembers the commandments God has given him. He needs the brass plates so Nephi's posterity could keep a record of their language and have the gospel. He thought in his heart that his posterity can't keep the commandments if they didn't have them. He knew the commandments were on the brass plates. In Vs 18, he obeyed the spirit of the Lord and kills Laban.

Some people are unsettled about Nephi kills Laban. Please go and read this article. It's an excellent article that explains why Nephi's execution of Laban was honorable and just before the eyes of God. Yes, God have the commandment that "Thou shalt not kill." But her reasoning is interesting, and I agree. It'll only take you a moment and it'll change your whole view on the slaying of Laban.

5. The Law is engraven in our scriptures. (1 Nephi 4:16) Just as Nephi needed the brass plates, we need the scriptures in our day. The law and gospel is contained in it. For Nephi's time, it's better than a man die, (Laban), than an entire nation dwindle in unbelief (Nephi's posterity).

The story doesn't end there. After Laban's death, Nephi dresses in Labans clothes and heads to Laban's treasury to get the plates. He meets Zoram there. Zoram thinks that Nephi is Laban. Nephi's voice was disguised to sound like Laban, and remember that Nephi is large in stature. Zoram gives him the plates and follows him to the outer wall of Jerusalem.

Nephi meets his brothers there, who think he's Laban and begin to run, but Nephi calls out to them. Then, Zoram realizes his mistake and begins to flee, but Nephi "having received much strength of the Lord" was able to stop Zoram from leaving. Nephi promised to spare his life and that he would be a free man if he went with them. Zoram agreed and that was that. An oath back then was solid. No one dared to brake an oath. After Nephi and Zoram exchanged oaths, they went back to Lehi and Sariah in the wilderness.

The great stories don't end there! Read the Book of Mormon slow and thoughtfully to catch all the important good stuff! :)

- SamiMae