Lehi and his family is in hiding in the wilderness. Their people want to kill them. They have given up all of their possessions. The Lord, through Lehi, commanded his sons to return to Jerusalem to retrieve the Brass Plates. After several attempts they were not successful in convincing Laban to give them the plates. Laman and Lemuel are upset with Nephi and Sam (since Sam is following Nephi's lead) and start to beat Nephi and Sam. An angel appears to them and tells them to stop and to try again and the Lord would prepare the way.
When they return to Jerusalem (it looks like they retreated outside the city walls after their last attempt since the scriptures talk about them waiting outside the city gates). Nephi goes in by himself while his brothers hide themselves and wait. In a short period of time Nephi is presented with a delimea. He finds Laban sprawled in the stread drunk. Nephi is prompted to kill Laban which is something that against everything that he knew was right.
Joseph Smith taught:
"God said, 'Thou shalt not kill;' at another time He said, 'Thou shalt utterly destry.' This is the principle on which the government of heaven is conducted-by revelation adapted to the circumstances in which the children of the kingdom of heaven are placed. Whatever God required is right, no matter what it is, although we may not see the reason thereof till long after the events transpire" (Teachings of the Prophet Joseph Smith, sol, Joseph Fielding Smith [1976], 256)After Nephi wrestled with the request to take someone's life he chose to follow the command. He took the sword of Laban and ended his life with it and then put on Laban's clothing in order to impersonate him and try to obtain the plates.
What would have been the impact if Nephi did not obtain the Brass Plates?
One of the elements that helped Nephi to chose the action that he took is that he came to understand the impact that would happen if they did not obtain the Brass Plates. His family in the wilderness did not have all the words of the prophets or wherewith to teach their children the words of the prophets. The plates of brass also contained the their geneology and the law of Moses. Without these plates or something like them it would have been near impossible to teach these to their descendants. Studies in sociology show that the impact of a person who witnessed an event only have an impact upon the their descendants up to the third generation. What this means is that what would happen to the Nephites if they did not get the Brass Plates would be similar to what happened to the Mulekites (a group of Isrealites that they meet later in the Book of Mormon). Eventually they would have lost all of their culture, language, prophetic writings, the Law of Moses and so forth.
What chance did Nephi have of getting the Brass Plates any other way?
Nephi and his brothers had attempted to get the Brass Plates through asking and through giving of treasure and that did not work. Laban was a scribe which was an important political faction in their culture. If Laban gave up the Brass Plates he would lose his standing in their society. Knowing the little tha we know about Laban we know that he is very prideful and has a strong love of money. Because of which he would never willingly give up the Brass Plates. It is very possible that other similar plates existed in the possession of others in their community though these plates may have been of particular importance because it held Lehi's geneology. There is no way to know if any of the other similar sets of plates, if there were any, also had the same geneology. I am guessing that Laban and Lehi had similar relations and as such Lehi's geneology was in his set of plates.
In the book Stand ye in Holy Places the author wrote:
"Some people have incorrectly felt the Spirit of the Lord has prompted them to do something contrary to what the Lord has already commanded, such as was the case with Nephi. Today we need not worry that the Lord might prompt us to do something that runs contrary to current commandments. President Harold B Lee (1899-1973) has taught us who the Lord will give such promptings to: "When there is to be anything different from that which the Lord has told us already different from that which the Lord has told us already, He will reveal it to his prophet and no one else."How do we know when we are being asked to do something that is against or in-line with the will of the Lord?
There is a three part test that we can use to know if something is the will of the Lord:
- What do the scriptures have to say about it?
- What do the prophets have to say about it?
- Pray and find out what the Spirit directs you to do.
Nephi disguised himself as Laban and went to where the records were kept. He then talked to the servant of Laban, Zoram, and convinced him that he was Laban and commanded him to bring the plates with him. I am assuming that someone of laban's status did not carry the plates himself and in order to keep up appearances Nephi had Zoram carry them as they walked to the city gates. Once they oassed through the gates Nephi's brothers began to worry since they assumed that Nephi was Laban and began to run. Nephi wanted to assure them that he was OK and called out to them. It worked though at the same time caused Zoram to realize that he was not with Laban. Nephi and his brothers were now in a very difficult position. If Zoram were to get away from them and let the people know what happened they they would come to find them. They needed Zoram to peacfully go with them.
How did Nephi calm Zoram?
First Nephi gave him his oath or promise that they did not want to harm him . He next promised that if he were to come with them that we would be free. He would no longer be a servant and could live how ever he wished.
Hugh Nibley wrote about the importance of oath making in the Jewish community.
"The reaction of both parties makes sense when one realizes that the oath is the one thing that is most sacred and iniolable among the desert people and their descendants: 'Hardly will an Arab break his oath, even if his life be in jeopardy,' for 'there is nothing stronger, and nothing more sacred than the oath among nomads,' and even the city Arabs, if it be exacted under special conditions. 'The taking of an oath is a holy thing with the Bedouins,' says one authority. 'Wo to him who swears falsly; his social standing will be damaged and his reputation ruined. No one will receive his testimony, and he must also pay a money fine.'
"But not every oath will do. To be most binding and colemn an oath should be by the life of something, even if it be but a blade of grass. The only oath more awful than that 'by my life' or (less commonly) 'by the life of my head' is the wa hayat allah 'by the life of God,' or 'as the Lord Liveth,' the exact Arabic equivalent of the ancient Hebrew hai Elohim. Today it is glibly employed by the city riff raff, but anciently it was an awful thing, as it still is among the desert people. 'I confirmed my answer in the Bedouin wise,' says [Charles M.] Doughty. 'By his life...he said,..."Well, swear by the life of Ullah" (God)!...I answered and ths even the nomads use, in a greater occasion, but they say by the life of thee in a little matter.' Amoing both Arabs and Jews, says [Samuel] Rosenblatt, 'an oath without God's name is no oath,' while 'both in Jewish and Mohammedan societies oaths by "the life of God" are frequent.'
"So we see that the only way that Nephi could possibly have pacified the struggling Zoram in an instant was to utter the one oath that no man would dream of breaking, the most solemn of all oaths to the Semite: 'As the Lord liveth, and as I live!' (1 Ne 4:32)" (Hugh Nibley, An Approach to the Book of Mormon, 2nd ed. [1964], 104-5).
Elder Richard G. Scott spoke of the importance of personal integrity.
"The bedrock of character is integrity. Worthy character will strengthen your capacity to respond obediently to the direction of the Spirit. Righteous character is what you are becoming. It is more important than what you own, what you have learned, or what goals you have accomplished. It allows you to be trusted. Righteous character provides the foundation of spiritual strength. It enables you in times of trial and testing to make difficult, extremely important decisions correctly even when they seem overpowering" (in Conference Report, Apr. 2003, 80 or Ensign, May 2003, 77).How important is personal integrity?
Elder Scott had said that it is the "bedrock of [our] character." If we have no integrity then no one will have cause to trust us or believe anything we say. We would never be taken seriously. A man with no integrity is not a man at all. he is something less.
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