The Book of Mormon

First published: 1830

Edition(s) used:The Book of Mormon: Another Testament of Jesus Christ. Salt Lake City, Utah: Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, 1981

Genre(s): Holy writings

Subgenre(s): History; sermons; theology

Core issue(s): Atonement; Baptism; faith; Jesus Christ; Mormons and Mormonism; obedience and disobedience; redemption; repentance

Overview

The Book of Mormon: Another Testament of Jesus Christ presents itself as a translated record of ancient American peoples detailing their dealings with each other and with God. The book as a whole received its name from its primary editor, identified as Mormon, who is said to have delivered the record to the concluding author, his son Moroni, around 400 c.e. Mormon’s record, compiled from four sets of metal plates, resulted in a book of direct historical narrative, expansive summary, and theological editorial observations. The Book of Mormon stands with the Bible as scripture for the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. Interpreted as God-inspired, its text offers an account of the history and culture of two separate founding groups who leave the Old World to begin a new life in a promised land. The earlier community, the Jaredites, came to the Americas around the time of the biblical Tower of Babel. The other group left from Jerusalem around 600 b.c.e. and eventually divided into opposing factions: the Nephites and the Lamanites.

The Book of Mormon comprises fifteen books, each named after its principal writer. Mormon included in his compilation the first six books as they were written. Nephi starts the record (1 Nephi) by recounting his father Lehi’s vision warning the family to leave Jerusalem to escape pending destruction. Against complaints of the two oldest sons, the family struggles its way across the wilderness. Following two return trips to retrieve religious records and to invite another family for marriage prospects, the expanded family treks until it reaches the sea. Nephi builds a ship under God’s direction, and the family sails to the Americas—the “promised land.” While traveling through the wilderness, Lehi has another vision, in which he sees a path leading to the Tree of Life, which contains fruit “desirable above all other fruit” (1 Nephi 8.12). Nephi petitions God and is shown the same vision, learning of God’s love and condescension.

Some time after they arrive in the Americas (2 Nephi), the tension between Nephi and his brothers becomes so intense that they split into two groups: the Nephites and the Lamanites, named for the eldest brother. Nephi keeps the record until his death, when his younger brother Jacob becomes the new religious leader.

Jacob records the society’s progress (Jacob) and his own preaching regarding purity and Christ’s atonement. Jacob’s son Enos briefly shares his own powerful conversion (Enos), and his fervent prayer secures God’s promises for his own salvation as well as that of fellow Nephites and even enemy Lamanites. Enos’s son Jarom (in the Book of Jarom) succinctly summarizes the continuing battles between the two warring civilizations and describes the saving spirituality of his own Nephite people.

Passing of the plates to sons or to brothers results in desultory entries from Omni, Amaron, Chemish, Abinadom, and Amaleki (Omni), who describe vacillations of violence and peace among the Nephite people. Amaleki mentions how one Nephite man, Mosiah, was inspired to take followers to the land of Zarahemla, where they discover a group of people who migrated from Jerusalem at the same time that Lehi and his family left. The joyful reunion results in the unification of the Nephite band and the people of Zarahemla, with Mosiah as spiritual and temporal leader. The people of Zarahemla possess the record of the ancient Jaredites, which is passed down with the other sacred records until Moroni later abridges it. Mosiah’s son Benjamin succeeds as king and gains advantage in the continuing battle against the Lamanites. A small group of King Benjamin’s subjects journey back to repossess the land of Nephi. Amaleki closes his record with a testimony of Christ’s saving power.

Having no family, Amaleki gives the record to King Benjamin. The plates are handed down until they come into Mormon’s hands. In a brief editorial interjection (“The Words of Mormon”), Mormon explains that the next part of the record will be his own abridgment of the other metal plates.

Mormon reviews the difficulties of King Benjamin’s reign as he struggled to promote righteousness through moral reprimands and peace through military struggle (Mosiah). After selecting his son, also named Mosiah, to be the next ruler, the weakening King Benjamin offers a moving sermon to his beloved people. His discourse recounts his just reign, reminding his followers of their obligation to serve God and others. His powerful witness of God’s mercy moves his people to sincere repentance.

Under Mosiah’s reign the people beg their king to discover the whereabouts of the group that left to find the land of Nephi during Benjamin’s reign. A search party discovers these lost Nephites in bondage to the Lamanites. Recounting their history, the oppressed people explain that their first leader, Zeniff, made a treaty with the Lamanites to repossess the land of Nephi, an agreement broken when the flourishing of the Nephite people triggered Lamanite jealousy.

Eras of uneasy peace and fierce fighting alternated until Zeniff’s son Noah became king. Wicked Noah’s slothful and extravagant reign stirred up a prophet named Abinadi to bear testimony so compelling that he was burned at the stake. Unprepared for a Lamanite invasion, Noah was killed and the people enslaved under the burden of a 50 percent tax. When the search party discovered them, they got the Lamanite guards drunk, allowing escape back to the land of Zarahemla. Meanwhile one of Noah’s priests, Alma, who believed the prophet’s words and secretly organized a church, escaped with his newly organized church to the safety of Mosiah’s reign.

Alma’s son and King Mosiah’s four sons persecute believers, seriously frustrating the church’s growth until the miraculous appearance of an angel turns them to repentance. In a stunning transformation, these men become a powerful influence for good. In the Book of Alma, it is related that Alma the Younger is chosen first chief judge under the new government system until iniquity and dissensions make his spiritual responsibilities so demanding that he appoints a new chief judge. Alma the Younger and his companion Amulek work unceasingly to regain righteousness among the Nephite people.

Meanwhile, the four sons of Mosiah take the Gospel to the Lamanites. Ammon begins his ministry by offering himself as a servant to Lamanite King Lamoni. He heroically defends the king’s flocks against an enemy band, hacking off the sword arms of multiple opponents. Lamoni wants to know more about the source of Ammon’s power. After Lamoni’s dramatic conversion while in a coma, Ammon’s brother Aaron teaches Lamoni’s father, king over all the land. Seven cities in the lands of the Lamanites become converted to the church and call themselves the Anti-Nephi-Lehis.

Making a covenant never to shed blood again and burying their weapons deep in the earth, these steadfast converts allow themselves to be killed rather than break their covenant to fight. Their martyrdom results in the conversion of more Lamanites. Continued threat from hardened Lamanite bands, however, encourages Ammon to take the people to Zarahemla, where they can be protected by the Nephites.

In the heat of battle, Alma continues to preach doctrinally packed sermons. Along with Alma’s sermons to the crowded masses, Mormon includes the tender teachings of this loving father to his three sons. Molded to the spiritual maturity of each son, Alma’s instruction includes profound theological insights into immorality, repentance, atonement, and the resurrection.

Warfare escalates, complicated by much internal dissension from Antichrists and more Nephite dissensions to the Lamanites. Moroni, a mighty war captain, becomes the Nephite leader, rallying his people by tearing off his shirt and inscribing on it causes worth fighting for: God, religion, freedom, peace, wives, and children (Alma 46.12). Dissenting Nephite Amalickiah becomes the fierce leader of the Lamanites, luring away many apostate Nephites. Moroni’s power as a leader results from his vigilant strategy, defensive focus, and unwavering dependence on God.

Upset at the burden they are placing on the weakening Nephites, the Anti-Nephi-Lehis contemplate breaking their covenant of peace. In this crisis, their young sons offer to fight under the command of Helaman, Alma the Younger’s son. These courageous warriors, true to their mothers’ faith, prove to be a crucial asset in the war. Miraculously, though almost all are wounded, none is killed.

The advantage alternating between Nephites and Lamanites, the two great societies become increasingly blended as Nephite dissenters migrate northward and converted Lamanites ally themselves with the Nephites (Book of Helaman). Eventually most of the Nephite peoples abandon the church and the Lamanites become more righteous. Samuel, a Lamanite prophet, warns the Nephites regarding their wickedness and prophesies the signs of Christ’s birth. Many believing Nephites are baptized, while wicked Nephites persecute those who trust Samuel. Heavenly portents of Christ’s birth arrive barely in time to save believers from threatened destruction.

Despite the fervent efforts of Nephi, Helaman’s son, the Nephites become progressively more wicked, their wickedness compounded by the arising of a lawless secret band, the Gadianton Robbers (3 Nephi). At the height of their Mafia-like wickedness come the vivid signs of Christ’s crucifixion: Earthquakes, fires, storms, and floods leave the landscape dramatically destroyed. Silence and uncanny darkness fill the land.

A light in this intense darkness ushers in the culminating event of the Book of Mormon: God the Father introduces his son Jesus Christ as the resurrected Savior descends to minister to the people of ancient America. The Savior personalizes his atoning sacrifice by allowing every individual to touch the wounds in his hands and side. He then preaches fundamental Gospel truths: faith, repentance, baptism, and the gift of the Holy Ghost. He administers the ordinances of the sacrament, teaches the people to pray, heals the infirm, and touchingly blesses the little children. He organizes his church on the earth, authorizing men with his priesthood authority.

Christ’s appearance results in peace and harmony for two hundred years (4 Nephi), when some minor societal divisions occur. Three hundred years after Christ’s birth, both the Lamanites and the Nephites are again wicked (Mormon). The book’s editor, Mormon, is leader of the Nephite armies. With anguish he describes the wickedness and mass destruction of thousands upon thousands of his people. The Nephite nation is utterly destroyed: Only Mormon’s son Moroni survives. Mormon’s concluding words are a testimony of Jesus Christ, a plea that the descendants of these great civilizations will repent and come to Christ.

Mormon hides the records in the Hill Cummorah, where the final combat took place. He delivers a few records to his son Moroni, who makes an abridgment of the Jaredite record and adds his own testimony.

Leaving the Old World at the time of the Tower of Babel (Ether), the Jaredite prophet, referred to as “the brother of Jared,” prays so that he and his family and friends will be spared the language upheaval of the time. They are directed to build barges. The brother of Jared, concerned for light in the barges during their submerged oceanic journey, requests that the Lord touch stones to illuminate them. The brother of Jared’s great faith enables him to see the outstretched finger of Christ’s spirit body, a body “like unto man” (Ether 3.6).

Upon reaching the Americas, the group establishes a productive society. To Jared’s sorrow, the people request a king and Jared’s son is made ruler. Generations later, Jared’s premonition comes to sad fruition when battling clans squabble for the throne. Prophets, including Ether, preach repentance, and peace is intermittently restored—translator Moroni inserts at this point extensive editorial comments on the saving power of faith. The struggle between wickedness and righteousness, between the blood lust of warlords and the fervor of prophets, accelerates until in a terrible last stand Shiz, headless, finally succumbs. The consuming blood lust leaves only one survivor of that great Jaredite nation: Coriantumr, the man who lived with the people of Zarahemla.

Moroni’s prolonged life allows him to write a few more words (Book of Moroni). He gives clear instruction on the sacrament of the Lord’s Supper and includes his father’s eloquent and insightful sermon regarding faith, hope, and charity. The book’s culminating chapter contains a testable promise that Moroni makes to all readers: If they will sincerely ask of God, He will reveal the book’s truth through the power of the Holy Ghost (Moroni 10.4).

Christian Themes

The Book of Mormon purports to recount a history of the early peoples of the American continents, raising intriguing possibilities about the background of cultural phenomena ranging from the widespread democratic tendencies of indigenous peoples to such specifically quirky practices as “burying the hatchet.” The book speaks hauntingly to the American experience, since promises and warnings made to the early inhabitants apply forcefully to modern society, as when the Nephites are repeatedly enjoined to keep the land a land of liberty or face disaster. Through its reiterative cycle of righteousness leading to success, followed by pride triggering wickedness and disaster, each contributor to the Book of Mormon urges readers to repent or suffer the drastic consequences.

The function of the book, however, extends beyond its complex narrative of cultural descriptions, epic journeys, stirring battles, harrowing threats, thrilling escapes, and dramatic conversions. The Book of Mormon itself declares (on its title page) its primary purpose to be “the convincing of the Jew and Gentile that Jesus is the Christ.” The book is clearly, as its subtitle insists, intended as “Another Testament of Jesus Christ.” Christ is central to the book.

Though its characters are of Jewish provenance (Isaiah is quoted extensively), the book’s concerns reach beyond the Old Testament to focus on Christian insights. The climax of the book is 3 Nephi, the coming of Jesus himself to these “other sheep” of his fold (3 Nephi 15.17, 21). His personal appearance on the American continent, particularly when he allows his scars to be touched or when he blesses the Nephite children, is reminiscent of the moving moments of the New Testament.

The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, popularly known as the Mormons, use the Book of Mormon as a companion to the Holy Bible, adhering to the church structure and doctrinal principles described in the book. They find in its journey motifs, struggles between good and evil, and direct theological doctrine on spiritual principles pertinent to modern lives. Mormons believe the Book of Mormon, like the Bible, its own best witness: Any reader can gain confirmation of the book’s truth by asking God about the record.

Sources for Further Study

Duke, James T. The Literary Masterpiece Called the Book of Mormon. Springville, Utah: CFI, 2003. Duke provides detailed illumination of Richard Dilworth Rust’s overview.

Nibley, Hugh. An Approach to the Book of Mormon. 2d ed. Salt Lake City: Deseret Book, 1964. This classic study by the foremost academic proponent of the book is particularly good on cultural background and theological insight.

Rust, Richard Dilworth. Feasting on the Word: The Literary Testimony of the Book of Mormon. Salt Lake City: Deseret Book, 1997. Rust examines the literary dimensions of the book: its narrative, poetry, sermons, letters, imagery, typology, and epic elements.