FAIR is a non-profit organization dedicated to providing well-documented answers to criticisms of the doctrine, practice, and history of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.
Legal codes in the Book of Mormon
This article is a draft. FairMormon editors are currently editing it. We welcome your suggestions on improving the content.
This page is based on an answer to a question submitted to the FAIR web site, or a frequently asked question.
Contents
Question
Do the legal concepts in the Book of Mormon better match Joseph Smith's day, or the ancient world?
Answer
Apostate cities
"Better That One Man Should Perish"
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 |
Justified homicide: Nephi vs. Laban
Robbers vs. thieves
Endnotes
- [note] John W. Welch, and Heidi Harkness Parker, "Better That One Man Perish," Insights (June 1998), 2.
- [note] Jeremiah 36
- [note] Drawn heavily from
- REDIRECT Template:Book:Welch Welch:Charting the Book of Mormon
Further reading
FAIR wiki articles
Legal codes in the Book of Mormon
FAIR web site
- FAIR Topical Guide:
External links
- John W. Welch, "Legal Perspectives on the Slaying of Laban," Journal of Book of Mormon Studies 1/1 (1992). [119–141] link
Printed material
- John W. Welch, "The Destruction of Ammonihah and the Law of Apostate Cities," in Reexploring the Book of Mormon, edited by John W. Welch (Provo, Utah: FARMS, 1992), 176–178.
- John W. Welch, "Law and War in the Book of Mormon," in Ricks and Hamblin, eds., Warfare in the Book of Mormon (Salt Lake City: Deseret Book and FARMS, 1990), 46–102.
- John W. Welch, "Lehi's Last Will and Testament: A Legal Approach," in The Book of Mormon: Second Nephi, The Doctrinal Structure, ed. Monte S. Nyman and Charles D. Tate Jr. (Provo, UT: BYU Religious Studies Center, 1989), 61–82
- John W. Welch, "Law in the Book of Mormon: The Nephite Court Cases" (FARMS paper, 1996)
- John W. Welch, "'If a Man . . .': The Casuistic Law Form in the Book of Mormon" (FARMS paper, 1987).
- John W. Welch, "Series of Laws in the Book of Mormon" (FARMS paper, 1987)
- John W. Welch, "Judicial Process in the Trial of Abinadi" (FARMS paper, 1981).