First and Second Books of Nephi

What exactly is The Book of Mormon? It is a volume of ancient scripture that was translated by Joseph Smith in the early Nineteenth century. It was not translated through scholarship or knowledge is ancient languages, but its translation was in fact a miracle! Joseph Smith knew nothing of ancient languages or interpretation of them, but he somehow, through the gift and power of God, was able to do it. 

The writer, as Joseph Smith discovered, in the first part of the the Book of Mormon was named Nephi. He had been telling his narrative of how his father was called to be a prophet in 600 BC. His father was trying to warn the Jews at Jerusalem that unless they relented speedily, the Babylonian Empire would fall in and crush them. 

The Jews had shortly before revolted from Babylon and had signed a treaty with Egypt. They thought they were secure form threat. And so they thought Nephi's father to be a mad-man or some kind of rebel. They sought to take away his life, so Nephi's father took Nephi and his family out of Jerusalem. The Lord had instructed them to leave and find a new place to live. The mind of God thought to take them to a new and sparsely populated land, where he knew the family would prosper. But as the family was leaving the Lord talked to Nephi's father and told him that the place where they would go would have no scripture there, and that his children and their posterity would be ignorant of God if they did not go back and get the scriptures.

In those days, books were very rare due to the extreme difficulty it was to write and maintain them. Some scriptures and other important books were kept on metal sheets. These sheets, often called plates, were good to write on because the materiel was relatively incorruptible. Where papyrus would crumble and mold after a while, plates would hold their integrity for thousands of years. 

However, these plates were made of Gold and would have been considered a symbol of not only wealth, but also of power and prestige. Because of the rarity of these books, only select men, who had the money, power, or hereditary right could posses them. Often times, the status symbols associated with the plates would dwarf the righteous writings contained there in the eyes of the wicked.

Lehi (Nephi's father) was three days outside of Jerusalem when the word of the Lord had come to him. He instructed Nephi and three of his brothers to return to the walled city to talk to his' cousin about a copy of the scriptures he possessed. The young men went back and followed the request of their father. 

Eventually they were able to obtain a set of Plates. As they discovered, the plates were made out of brass and were a record comparable to the modern Old Testament up to the Prophet Jeremiah. It also contained extensive genealogy, which is helpful in understanding linage and understanding associated blessings. 

Ultimately, these plates would be added to and preserved throughout the genealogical line of Nephi's posterity. The brass plates that he took with them would one day become the model for other plates to be made by. The rest of the Book of Mormon beyond the first two books of Nephi were those other plates made in the similitude of the original 600 BC brass additions.

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