The Book of Mormon just keeps getting better. The deeper you dive, the more that you realize that this book is unfathomably deep. Like Nephi, my soul delights in the words of Isaiah, but my soul also delights in the words of the entire Book of Mormon. And in this small chapter we meet again, for the first time since the title page of the Book of Mormon, the man, the myth, the legend, the prophet-historian who compiled this unfathomably deep record of truth and testament of Jesus Christ, namely Mormon, the father of Moroni, who was the last of the Nephite prophet-historians.
In a way, however, Mormon has been with us all along because he is the one who retrieved the small plates, searched them, and decided to include them with his own abridgment of the large plates of Nephi. Mormon has also been with us since the beginning because of his introduction to the Book of Mormon on the title page of the Book of Mormon. The Book of Mormon is Mormon's book. At the twilight of the Nephite civilization, Mormon was the man whom the Lord had prepared to gather and abridge the Nephite record in order to prepare it for future generations.
In this small book that Mormon inserts at the end of the small plates of Nephi, we are suddenly brought forward more than 500 years in Nephite history. Mormon was a real person. He really lived and inscribed these words upon metal plates that were later translated by the Prophet Joseph Smith. I know that this is true.
Mormon interjects with his commentary at this point to inform the reader that he is about to deliver up the record which he had been making to his son Moroni. I suppose that Mormon had finished abridging the large plates of Nephi and that he had also finished writing his own record, the Book of Mormon within the Book of Mormon, before he composed these words. Whatever the case, Mormon had witnessed almost all the destruction of his people, the Nephites, and he was ready to confer the records upon his son Moroni. We learn later that soon after he conferred the plate upon his son Moroni, Mormon was slaughtered by the Lamanites.
Mormon was an incredible man who had been prepared from his youth for a great mission. He was a sober young man, quick to observe, and even from the age of 10 he knew that he would be in charge of the records of the Nephites. Can you imagine how things might change if we considered the potential in the 10 year old children that we know?
We learn so much more about this great prophet-historian along the way, but suffice it to say for now that Mormon's commentary here in the Words of Mormon was not just a random editorial addition to help the reader make the transition from the small plates of Nephi to Mormon's abridgment of the large plates of Nephi and the rest of the records. The Words of Mormon is an inspired insert that testifies of Jesus Christ and helps us to better understand the purpose of the entire Book of Mormon.
This sudden leap forward in Nephite history, to the twilight of Nephite history, causes the reader who was looking forward to the coming of Christ among the Nephites and the fulfillment of all of the prophecies now to look backward to the coming of Christ and the fulfillment of all of the prophecies. Of course, for us moderns, we are looking back on all of it. But Mormon's insert causes us to look back on Mormon's looking back, or his retrospective and melancholy observation.
Think of it: Mormon had witnessed almost the entire destruction of his people. It was many hundred years after the coming of Christ, and Mormon supposed that his son Moroni would witness the entire destruction of his people, the Nephites. For this reason, Mormon earnestly prayed that his son would survive and be enabled to write concerning his people and concerning Christ, in order to profit future generations of the Lamanites, as well as other readers in the last days.
The main purpose for preserving and transmitting the records was and is to spread the good news of the Gospel of Jesus Christ and the knowledge of our Savior Jesus Christ. The main purpose of the Book of Mormon is to save the seed of Lehi along with all those who will repent and join in the same covenants. In a revelation to the Prophet Joseph Smith, the Lord Himself put it this way:
"Nevertheless, my work shall go forth, for inasmuch as the knowledge of a Savior has come unto the world, through the testimony of the Jews, even so shall the knowledge of a Savior come unto my people—
And to the Nephites, and the Jacobites, and the Josephites, and the Zoramites, through the testimony of their fathers—
And this testimony shall come to the knowledge of the Lamanites, and the Lemuelites, and the Ishmaelites, who dwindled in unbelief because of the iniquity of their fathers, whom the Lord has suffered to destroy their brethren the Nephites, because of their iniquities and their abominations.
And for this very purpose are these plates preserved, which contain these records—that the promises of the Lord might be fulfilled, which he made to his people;
And that the Lamanites might come to the knowledge of their fathers, and that they might know the promises of the Lord, and that they may believe the gospel and rely upon the merits of Jesus Christ, and be glorified through faith in his name, and that through their repentance they might be saved. Amen." (D&C 3:16-20)
Mormon proceeds to instruct us on the particulars of the process of creating the Nephite records that we are now reading. After he made an abridgment from the large plates of Nephi (the more secular record) down to the reign of King Benjamin of whom Amaleki spoke, Mormon searched among the records that had been delivered into his hands, and he discovered the small plates of Nephi, or the plates that contained a small account of the prophets from Jacob to the reign of King Benjamin, and also many of the words of Nephi.
This is a fascinating description of the small plates of Nephi, in part because it gives us a sense of how many records that Mormon must have had in his possession, and how much reading and writing Mormon had already done before he chose to include the small plates of Nephi at the beginning of his own abridgment of the large plates of Nephi.
Why did Mormon choose to include the small plates of Nephi at the beginning of his record that we now know as the Book of Mormon? First of all, Mormon was pleased with Nephi's record because it contained prophecies of the coming of Christ, and Mormon's fathers knew that many of these prophecies had been fulfilled, and that the rest of the prophecies concerning the Nephites would also be fulfilled. Recall that Nephi taught us that those who are pleased with the things of the Lord will be pleased with his record because Nephi wrote those things that are pleasing to the Lord and not the things that are pleasing to the world. Obviously Mormon, like Nephi, was pleased with the things of the Lord, and Mormon was pleased with Nephi's writings. Nephi and Mormon may be considered as two book ends to the Book of Mormon or a kind of mirror image of each other in the chiasmus of the entire Book of Mormon. That is something to ponder along the way, especially as we consider what is in the middle of the Book of Mormon, the core of the Book of Mormon in the visit and ministry of Christ among the Nephites.
It sounds like there may have been just a little more space on the small plates of Nephi where Mormon wrote this conclusion to the small plates of Nephi and an introduction to his abridgment of the large plates of Nephi. Whatever the case, Mormon informs us, like many of the other Nephite prophet-historians, that he could not write even the hundredth part of the things of his people. There were many more records than the record that we now read as the Book of Mormon, but even those many records could not possibly contain a full account of all of the Nephite history and proceedings.
Mormon combined the small plates of Nephi with his abridgment of the large plates of Nephi because he loved these small plates and because he knew that many of us would love them too. The English translation of the word that describes Mormon's love for the small plates is "choice". Just as America was and is a "choice" land of Promise, the small plates of Nephi are "choice". Who could have come up with such a word or such a way of describing the Nephite records?
Mormon did all of these things for a wise purpose. He was a lot like Nephi in this way. Consider how the workings of the Spirit upon Mormon, the penultimate Nephite prophet-historian were similar to the workings of the Spirit upon Nephi, the second Nephite prophet-historian (after Lehi):
- Mormon: "And I do this for a wise purpose; for thus it whispereth me, according to the workings of the Spirit of the Lord which is in me. And now, I do not know all things; but the Lord knoweth all things which are to come; wherefore, he worketh in me to do according to his will." (Words of Mormon 1:7)
- "And I, Nephi, have written these things unto my people, that perhaps I might persuade them that they would remember the Lord their Redeemer.
Wherefore, I speak unto all the house of Israel, if it so be that they should obtain these things.
For behold, I have workings in the spirit, which doth weary me even that all my joints are weak, for those who are at Jerusalem; for had not the Lord been merciful, to show unto me concerning them, even as he had prophets of old, I should have perished also." (1 Nephi 19:18-20)
The Spirit of the Lord worked in Mormon and Nephi (and all of the Nephite prophet-historians) to inspire their writing and their editorial choices for the Lord's purposes and for wise purposes that were known only to the Lord.
Mormon must have been immersed in the small plates of Nephi when he wrote the Words of Mormon, or at least there are a lot of similarities in the way that Mormon writes and the way that Nephi writes. For example, like Nephi, Mormon mentions that he does not know all things, but the Lord knows all things which are to come. This reminds me very much of Nephi's reply to the Spirit of the Lord during his vision of the Tree of Life.
Mormon's prayer to God was like the prayers of his forefathers, on behalf of the future Lamanites who would read his record, and also on our behalf. Mormon also prayed, like his forefathers had prayed, that the records would be preserved, and he, like his forefathers, knew that the records would be preserved. Now we, like them, know that these records have been preserved and translated by the gift and power of God because we have them before our very eyes and we can read them.
Mormon reminds us that there are great things written in this record and that the things that are written will be the standard for judgment of his people, the Nephites as well as the Lamanites, and also one of the Standard Works for us.
Mormon transitions back to the story of King Benjamin, deftly weaving the narrative back to prepare the way for understanding his abridgment of the large plates of Nephi. This introduction to King Benjamin by Amaleki and by Mormon is important because King Benjamin is a pivotal figure in the Book of Mormon. He was much like Melchizedek in the way that he labored and established peace among his people.
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