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Do the legal concepts in the Book of Mormon better match Joseph Smith's day, or the ancient world?
A number of ancient legal concepts quite foreign to Joseph Smith's Jacksonian America are found in the Book of Mormon. Some examples follow.
See:Book of Mormon and warefare: apostate cities
Nephi's experience in which he is commanded to slay Laban (1 Nephi 4꞉1-19) closely parallels two other cases in which Jewish scripture permitted one person to be slain for the good of a group of people, and seems to approve of the decision.[1]
In 2 Samuel 20꞉1-, we read of Sheba, an Israelite who rebelled against David, and led all the tribes away from him (except for Judah). He is eventually beheaded so that Joab, David's general, won't destroy the entire city in which he is hiding.
In 2 Kings 24꞉1- and 2 Chronicles 36꞉5-8, we hear of Jehoiakim, the king of Judah who burned Jeremiah's prophecies.[2] Jehoiakim started out as a puppet king of Egypt, and ruled from about 609–598 BC, when the Babylonians finally got frustrated with him.
The following table compares Nephi's experience to these Biblical examples:[3]
Element | Laban | Sheba | Jehoiakim |
---|---|---|---|
Ruler of Israel issues judgment | the Lord | King David | Nebuchadnezzar of Babylon (remember that Jeremiah was always telling the kings to submit to Babylon to avoid the city's destruction). |
Person already guilty of crime against the leader | Refusal to give plates, attempted murder of Lehi's family | Rebellion against the king | Disobey the king of Babylon; See 2 Kings 24꞉1. "filled Jerusalem with innocent blood" (2 Kings 24꞉4). |
Person named specifically | Nephi finds Laban, and spirit says the Lord has delivered him | Sheba named (2 Samuel 20꞉21).] | Jehoikim named in scriptures |
Those who "deliver up" the person are innocent of the crime | Nephi is innocent | City (Abel) is innocent (2 Samuel 20꞉16-19). | Shed innocent blood |
People will be utterly destroyed if they do not surrender the guilty person | Entire Nephite nation (and Mulekites, as we see later) | City of Abel about to be destroyed | Babylon comes to "destroy" the city of Jerusalem |
It is clear that the choice to behead Laban was a difficult one for Nephi. He writes this account many years later, and we can still see how much it troubled him:
Nephi wants to make very clear that his killing of Laban was sanctioned by the Lord, and was not murder. He arguably provides several aspects of this perspective in his account.[4]
What is the potential legal "charge" against Nephi? Murder. The Law of Moses (which Nephi is killing to take possession of, ironically) says:
Like many modern laws, Biblical law recognized that there were different types of killing. The same chapter goes on:
This ties into the "cities of refuge" principle. Someone who did not intend to kill, but committed what we might call "manslaughter"—killing someone without premeditation—was allowed to flee to a "city of refuge" in Israel, where they could not be killed by family bent on revenge.[5]
A key aspect in all this was pre-planning. Did you "lie in wait" for them? Did you try to "slay him with guile", i.e. did you plot and plan it out?
So, Nephi is quite clear about this: he went into Jerusalem, "And I was led by the Spirit, not knowing beforehand the things which I should do."[6]
He also repeatedly emphasizes that the Spirit told him that the Lord "hath delivered him into thy hands."[7] So, Nephi is clearly placing himself into this Jewish legal framework—he did not plot the death of Laban, did not go into the city with the intent to kill him, and the Lord merely "delivered him into his hand.”
Since the Lord is the Lawgiver and Ruler in Israel, He can command that His people kill. Such commands had certainly been given to Joshua in the days of the conquest of Canaan,[8] and Saul got into trouble for not executing a king that Samuel had ordered to be put to death.[9]
So, Nephi ties into this same idea when he mentions the Spirit "constraining" him to kill Laban (verse 10). It's an interesting word: "constrained." In Webster's English dictionary, published in the United States about a year prior to the Book of Mormon's translation, this word is defined as:
We are to conclude that the Spirit's command was both overwhelming, and totally out of Nephi's personal inclination and character, and only done because the Lord commanded it "irresistibly."
Is Laban's death one that we can imagine the Lord sanctioning? We saw above some examples of other wicked men who were killed for the "salvation" of their community. Furthermore, Nephi calls Laban's behaviour as a "witness" that under Jewish law, Laban should already have been condemned to death:
1) Laban "had sought to take away mine own life.” He sent servants after them to kill them.[11]
2) Laban "would not hearken unto the commandments of the Lord.” He won't give them the plates, and he likely wouldn't heed the warnings and commandments which Lehi had given before he fled.
This is a fundamental violation of the covenant under which the Jews may live in the land of Jerusalem:
3) Laban bore false witness against Laman and Lehi, at least.
As an important man in the military, Laban may have been the one charged with carrying out the sentence of death on Lehi for his "treason" by prophecying Jerusalem's destruction. (Jerimiah was to learn how much this would endear someone to the political rulers!) No wonder Laman and Lemuel murmured when told they needed to get the plates from this man.
Denying that someone was a true prophet was the equivalent of saying they deserved death:
This isn't an idle charge—if Laban was involved in saying Lehi (and Nephi) were false prophets (which he must be, since he will not give up the records which they say the Lord has told them to get), then he is "bearing false witness.” What's the penalty for that in Israel?
So, if your false testimony could have caused a punishment to come on someone, you are to receive the punishment they might have received. Laban's refusal to accept true prophets opened them up for execution; under the Law, that was the penalty which he deserved.
Laban also accused Laman of being a robber,[12] which was a serious charge:
4) Laban "also had taken away our property.”
Not only did Laban falsely accuse Laman of being a robber, with the risks to Laman's life that this involved, but Laban actually was a robber: he took their goods by force and threat of death.
A thief killed in the course of a theft was not murder:[13] one could even argue that Laban was participating in the on-going "theft" of either Lehi's goods or the plates which the brothers had tried to "buy." One of these items must belong to Lehi's family; Laban's seizure of their treasure without providing the plates they wanted in exchange, coupled with threats to kill them, makes him a robber and worthy of death under Jewish law.
The Book of Mormon is often very careful to make the distinction between being a "thief" and a "robber", and this reflects ancient biases.[14] A "thief" takes property by stealth or guile; a "robber" is little more than an out-law, someone who seizes goods by murder, plunder, or the threat of such.[15]
Thieves were simply fined under the law of Moses, unless they sold an Israelite into slavery (in which case they were put to death—not unreasonable, since they'd "stolen" someone's life).[16] Indeed, a thief was even understood to be someone who might steal because they were hungry or otherwise in need, thus mercy was encouraged (though the penalty of repayment still applied).[17]
Thieves in the Book of Mormon are likewise caused to repay their debts, only being considered "a robber" if they will not give just compensation.[18]
By contrast, all readers remember Gaddianton "robbers," and the fact that conversion to the gospel or extermination were the only options—these were armed bands, seizing goods by force or threat of it.
See: Book of Mormon and warefare: ritual aspects
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