Lehi's Riches--Laban Covets Them--Sent his Servants to Kill Laman and
his Brothers--They flee for their Lives--Nephi Whipped by Laman and
Lemuel--Visited by an Angel--Laman and Lemuel still Murmur--Nephi
Leads Them to the City Walls--Laban Lying Drunk--His Sword--Most
Famous Weapon in the World--Those who have Seen it--Nephi Constrained
to Kill Laban--Personates Him and Obtains Plates--His Brothers
Frightened--Laban's Servant, Zoram--Promises to go With Nephi into the
Wilderness.
The record does not inform us in what position Lehi had left his
riches. We may reasonably conclude that he had left them in a place of
security; for his sons found gold and silver and other valuable
things, and carried them to Laban's house, and proposed to him to give
him these in exchange for the records. Laban would not consent to give
up the plates; but the property the young men offered for them was so
very valuable that, as the record says, he lusted after it and was
determined to have it. He therefore thrust them out, and sent his
servants to kill them, so that he might obtain their property. To save
their lives they had to leave their valuables and make the best of
their way out of the city. They fled into the wilderness and thus
escaped and hid in the cavity of a rock. Laman by this time got angry.
We are not told that he got angry at Laban; but at his father and
Nephi; and he made Lemuel angry also. They said a good many hard
things and then they whipped Nephi with a rod, and we should infer
that Sam got a share of the beating. It is very probable that he stood
up for Nephi and defended him, and in that way incurred their anger.
While they were beating Nephi, an angel of the Lord came and stood
before them, and he said to them:
"Why do ye smite your younger brother with a rod? Know ye not that the
Lord hath chosen him to be a ruler over you, and this because of your
iniquities? Behold ye shall go up to Jerusalem again, and the Lord
will deliver Laban into your hands."
After speaking to them the angel departed. We have heard of a good
many people who have thought if they could only see an angel, and he
should tell them anything, they would believe it, and never afterwards
doubt it. Yet here were these two young men who had seen and been
spoken to by an angel, and he had scarcely gone when they began to
murmur. They did not believe that which the angel had told them; for
they said:
"How is it possible that the Lord will deliver Laban into our hands?
Behold, he is a mighty man, and he can command fifty, yea even he can
slay fifty; then why not us?"
We can judge from this language how little they knew about God, or His
power. Nephi again had to become their teacher. He encouraged them to
go up again to Jerusalem, and to be faithful in keeping the
commandments of the Lord; for, said he, He is mightier than all the
earth, and of course mightier than Laban and his fifty, or even his
tens of thousands. He quoted to them what Moses had done, and asked
them how they could doubt when an angel had spoken to them. After all
that he said they were still angry and still murmured, yet they
followed him until they came to the outside of the walls of the city.
Nephi got them to hide themselves outside the walls. Then he, by
himself, crept into the city. He had no plan arranged beforehand as to
what he would do. He trusted entirely to the Lord and was led by the
Spirit. He went in the direction of Laban's house. As he drew near
there he saw a man lying on the ground, who proved to be Laban, full
of wine, and drunk. He had on a sword, which Nephi drew from the
sheath and examined. He has given us a description of this weapon, the
most famous of any that we have any account of. It served afterwards
as his model when he found himself under the necessity of
manufacturing swords with which to arm his people to defend themselves
against the attacks of his brothers and their children: he also
wielded it on more than one occasion in battle; and it was handed down
among his descendants from generation to generation, being kept with
their sacred records. It is still in existence, and besides being seen
by the Prophet Joseph, it was shown to the three witnesses of the Book
of Mormon--Oliver Cowdery, David Whitmer and Martin Harris--with the
plates, the breastplate, the Urim and Thummim and the miraculous
directors which were given to Lehi, and of which we shall say more as
we proceed. The hilt of this sword was of pure gold and the
workmanship was exceedingly fine; the blade was of the most precious
steel.
After drawing the sword, Nephi was constrained by the Spirit to kill
Laban. But he said in his heart: "Never at any time have I shed the
blood of man," and he shrunk from the thought, and desired that he
might not kill him. The Spirit said unto him again: "Behold the Lord
hath delivered him into thy hands." Nephi knew that Laban had sought
to take his and his brothers' lives; that he was a murderer at heart;
he knew that he would not hearken to the commandments of the Lord, and
that he also had robbed them of their property. All these thoughts
would pass through his mind at such a time. The Spirit said unto him
again: "Slay him, for the Lord hath delivered him into thy hands.
Behold, the Lord slayeth the wicked to bring forth his righteous
purposes. It is better that one man should perish, than that a nation
should dwindle and perish in unbelief." These words brought to his
mind the words of the Lord to him in the wilderness, to the effect
that inasmuch as his seed should keep His commandments, they should
prosper in the land of promise. He also thought that they could not
keep the commandments of the Lord according to the law of Moses,
unless they should have the law. Nephi knew that that law was engraved
upon the plates of brass. He also knew that the Lord had delivered
Laban into his hands that he might obtain the records as He had
commanded. His reluctance to shed blood was strong; but the voice of
the Spirit was stronger, and he obeyed it. He took Laban by the hair
of the head, and he cut off his head with his own sword. He then took
his garments and put them upon himself and girded his armor about his
loins. Then going forth to the treasury of Laban he saw Laban's
servant who had the keys of the treasury. Him he commanded in the
voice of Laban to go with him. The servant, seeing the dress and the
sword, supposed it was Laban, and addressed him accordingly. He spoke
to him about the elders of the Jews, for he knew that Laban had been
out by night among them. Nephi replied to him as though he was Laban,
and he also spoke to him about carrying the plates of brass to his
brethren who were outside the walls, and ordered him to follow him.
The servant thought he spoke of the brethren of the church, and still
thinking it was Laban, followed him. While they were going to where
Nephi's brothers were outside the walls, the servant kept up his
conversation concerning the elders of the Jews, and it was not until
they came in sight of Laman, Lemuel and Sam that he found out his
mistake. When these latter saw two men coming towards them, and one of
them Laban, as they supposed, they were frightened and ran. They
imagined that Laban, having killed Nephi, had now come to kill them.
It was only when Nephi called to them and made himself known to them,
that they stopped. In the meantime, Laban's servant began to tremble,
and he would have run back into the city, had not Nephi prevented him.
Nephi was a large man and he had received much strength from the Lord,
and when he saw the man's inclination to run away, he seized him and
held him fast. Nephi gave him his oath that he need not be afraid,
that if he would listen unto them, they would spare his life, and that
if he would go down with them into the wilderness, he should be a free
man such as they were. He told him that the Lord had commanded them to
do what they had done; and should they not be diligent in keeping the
commandments of the Lord? He said to him again, that if he would go
with them into the wilderness to his father he should have a place
among them. Zoram was this servant's name. Nephi's words gave him
courage; he promised he would go with them, and he gave them his oath
that he would remain with them from that time forward. Faithfully was
that oath kept. At no time do we hear anything respecting Zoram
faltering in his devotion to Nephi. He was ever his true friend, and
his descendants were numbered with the descendants of Nephi.