| Topic: |
Religions > Bible |
| User: |
"Christian" |
| Date: |
27 Jan 2008 08:45:47 AM |
| Object: |
COMBINING BIBLICAL HISTORY WITH BOM FICTION. |
Book of Mormon Sunday School Lessons - Teacher Helps
1 Nephi to Enos:
Beehive Standard Weekly
January 2008
Many teachers struggle to adequately connect the early books of the
Book of Mormon to the history of the Old Testament. Understanding the
history of the people and the times of that day and age will help your
class trust the authenticity of the Book of Mormon as well as giving
them important insights into some of the promises and visions
contained in this important work of scripture.
Volumes of information could be written on the history of the Kingdom
of Judah at this time, but here is a brief look at why the history is
important to the study of the Book of Mormon.
First, if we look back immediately before the Prophet Lehi comes onto
the stage, we see a region that is in significant transition.
The Assyrians have ruled the known world for many generations. Between
700 BC and 600 BC, Babylon begins to assert itself and rebels against
the rule of the Assyrians. First, the Babylonians are beaten back, but
they keep pushing and are eventually successful in winning
independence. Shortly thereafter, they begin to dictate and rule over
other nations.
There are four important regions that are in transition during this
time. Babylon (modern-day Iraq) is the new power and must find
alliances with other nations to keep momentum going. Assyria is the
old power in the region and seeks assistance from its allies in order
to maintain its power. Israel is perceived as a political threat to
Assyria's stability, so most of Israel is plundered and the tribes
scattered -- all but the Kingdom of Judah which aligns itself with
Assyria against the other tribes and survives the pillage. Lastly, we
have Egypt, which has essentially lost its glory, but is still strong
enough to be in an important alliance with Assyria.
The problem with Israel is that it is in the middle of the path
between Assyria and Egypt, one of Assyria's most important allies. The
Kingdom of Judah is just far enough inland that it does not impede the
traffic to and from Assyria and as such can keep out of the most
immediate path.
In 721 BC, Assyria decides that it has had enough and conquers all of
Israel, save the Kingdom of Judah. By doing so, it keeps the pathway
open between Egypt and Ninevah, Assyria's capital. By scattering the
people from the various sub-kingdoms of Israel, Assyria stops them
from returning and reforming their nation.
In the map section of the Bible, one can find a map of Israel at the
time of the scattering. It is important to note that the descendant
tribes of Joseph are located very close to the Kingdom of Judah. This
is important for Book of Mormon scholarship because those living in
those areas likely escaped into Judah immediately before the Assyrian
invasion in order to protect themselves and their families.
Historians note that the city of Jerusalem increased in size by 500
percent at this time. This indicates that there was a huge influx of
refugees who left the other kingdoms of Israel to find protection in
the Kingdom of Judah.
Though speculation, it is a reasonable conclusion to assume that
Lehi's family (before Lehi was born) as well as the family of Laban
were part of those seeking refuge from the Assyrian invasion.
We know that both of these families were descended from Joseph, which
puts them immediately next to the Kingdom of Judah in terms of
location before the invasion. Some may also speculate that they
brought with them their important writings of prophets and this is
also likely. It is more probable, however, that they brought their
genealogy.
As with many refugees, those with wealth are more likely to find an
invitation to settle into another kingdom than those who are poor. We
can assume that both the family of Lehi and Laban were financially
stable. In the case of both families, they were likely workers in
metal as the theme of metal and metal working is strong in the
histories given us by Nephi, e.g, Laban's sword observation, brass
plates, etc.
This brings us forward in history. We now have the Assyrians who have
cleared the path between Egypt and Assyria and the Kingdom of Judah,
all fairly stable. The families of Lehi and Laban are now found in the
Kingdom of Judah, though they were technically refugees from
neighboring Kingdoms.
In 701 BC, Assyria needs more tax revenue as it is having to sustain a
costly war with the Babylonians. The only way to do this, and keep its
alliance with Egypt strong, is to tax the Kingdom of Judah, while
keeping trade up with Egypt. Raising taxes on the Egyptians would have
been a disaster.
Between 687 and 642, the Kingdom of Judah is ruled by Mannasah who
tries to renew kinship with the Assyrians by introducing their
religion in the Kingdom of Judah. Of course, as one might guess, this
does not work out well for Mannasah. He tries to enforce the new pagan
religion by killing the High Priests and religious leaders and things
start getting even worse. Babylon now enters the scene for the first
time.
In hopes of finding a new ally in its mounting campaign against
Assyrian domination, Babylon takes Mannasah prisoner only to return
him to the Kingdom of Judah after he has agreed to change his ways (or
his alliances). After his return, he begins to make adjustments to his
policies, including returning the worship of Jehovah to the people. He
dies before he can make full reforms.
In 664 BC, Assyria decides it cannot take the threat of Babylon
lightly and decides that it will make Egypt a subordinate state. That
will mean more tax revenues for Assyria as it builds its military
machine against the strengthening Babylonians.
Around 640-650 BC we have the births of two important individuals. The
first is the ruler Josiah and the second is the Prophet Lehi (though
this date is only approximate as calculated by the age of Lehi's sons
at the time of his departure from Jerusalem)
The rule of Josiah's father, Anon, ends abruptly when members of his
court conspire to kill the ruler as he appears to have desired to
return to polytheism, which was so costly to the kingdom before.
His son, Josiah sees the error of the ways of his ruling ancestors and
decides to continue in the restoration of the worship of Jehovah to
the Kingdom of Judah. Of course, the fact that he is only eight years
old indicates that it may be his guardians who want the restoration,
but Josiah does not appear to be troubled by it all and continues the
restoration throughout his entire life.
In 640 BC, the Kingdom of Judah aligns itself with Assyria under a new
pact. In short, Judah has shown that it is an important pawn in the
power game and gets some self-determination. This provides some peace
with the waring factions for a time as Josiah grows to adulthood.
In 624 BC, Josiah orders the remodeling of Solomon's Temple in the
Kingdom of Judah. During the remodel, the workers find a copy of the
"law" that has been placed into the temple walls. According to
historians, the Kingdom of Judah had either lost the law or it had
been fragmented to such an extent that it was no longer part of the
national identity.
The book of law, in this case, was likely the books of Moses which
contained the Mosaic Law. It is probable that the Jewish people had
the books of the more recent prophets, but lacked the underlying books
of the law.
When Josiah had the books read to him, he tore his cloak and realized
how out-of-step the nation had been and immediately began reforms to
comply with the law. It was at this time that Josiah brought together
all of the books existing up until that point and created what we know
now as the Old Testament or at least a great portion of the Old
Testament. Josiah could be considered the Mormon of his day as he
brought the important religious works together.
Here is some speculation, but it appears to be a very strong
probability, that Josiah never wanted to lose the law again and
ordered that it be preserved in the best fashion possible. At the
time, the best medium for keeping records permanently would have been
on metal plates. Brass was the most common metal, so it is logical
that many copies of the law would have then been placed on brass to
preserve the law for many generations. Given the difficulty of writing
on metal plates -- and the cost, Josiah would have wanted to use the
most brief language for purposes of preserving the law and making as
many copies as possible. Again, this is speculation, but at the time
reformed Egyptian may have been more descriptive and less copious for
purposes of transcribing the law.
In 612 BC, Babylon decides that it has had enough of Assyrian and
battles to take Ninevah. Assyria calls upon its sub-state Egypt to
come to shore up its armies. What happened next is as important as any
development in a thousand years in Israel.
First, the Kingdom of Judah, recognizing an opportunity to gain more
independence, aligns itself with Babylon. In 607 BC, Egypt sends
troops to help Assyrian in its battle against Babylon. In order to
join the battle, however, the Egyptians must pass through the narrow
strip of land bordering the Kingdom of Judah -- just west of
Jerusalem, which is still in Assyrian control.
With the change of alliances, Josiah and the Kingdom of Judah wage war
with the Egyptians to support their Babylonian alliance. In the
battle, Judah loses tens of thousands of its great leaders, including
Josiah, who is killed by an arrow.
Here is the speculation again. It is possible that the father of Laban
is also killed in this great battle. Laban's family was clearly pious
and important as he had charge of the brass plates, but it seems
unlikely that Laban would have been the one to earn such an honor.
Yet, Laban has the brass plates. It is more than likely that Laban's
father was the important ruler along with Josiah, but lost their lives
in the battle against the Egyptians. Laban inherited the wealth of his
father, his positions and most importantly the brass plates.
Lehi's family appears to be in the metal trade, but he does not have
the religious position of Laban (or perhaps more importantly, Laban's
father). Despite that fact, he is wealthy and educated and his wealth
appears to be counted in terms of precious metal. It is even possible
that Lehi or his family had something to do with the very formation of
the brass used in the plates held by Laban. Remember, the formation of
the book of law, along with the more recent prophecies, which were
then joined with the genealogy of the tribes descended from Joseph,
could only have been created since 624 BC. As such, Lehi and his
family, if they were in the metal trade, had to have been right in the
middle of the creation of such items.
Back to History. The war campaign against Egypt was successful,
though costly. Ninevah and Assyria soon fell and Babylon became the
great power of the day.
Angered by Judah's interference, Egypt asserts its greater strength
against Judah and takes the son of Josiah prisoner back to Egypt,
leaving a weak head-of-state for the Kingdom of Judah.
With nearly all of her main leaders killed in the great battle with
Egypt, and another ruler taken captive, the Kingdom of Judah is left
with little backbone and quickly turns away from the reforms of
Josiah.
In 604 BC, the Egyptian leader, Necho II, tries to regain a foothold
on power and trade. He believes if he can build a canal between the
Mediterranean Sea and the Red Sea, that Egypt can become a great
nation again. He dedicates the next ten years towards building the
Suez Canal, which is ultimately unsuccessful. He loses 120,000 men in
the process, which greatly weakens his military strength.
Egypt tries to stay out of the picture for a great while, hoping that
the battle with Babylon will come later, rather than sooner. The
Kingdom of Judah is safe for a season. It has chosen the right side of
the battle and is given time to heal under Babylon's protection and
under an oath of allegiance that Judah's ruler takes.
Babylon tries to force the oath upon Egypt, but is beaten back by
Necho II in 601 BC. The writing is on the wall that Babylon will one
day capture Egypt, but not for a season.
Foolishly, Judah mistakes its new found peace for power and seeks
independence from Babylon in 597 BC. It is crushed in the process and
soon finds itself being punished by taxes and a greater influence from
Babylon. The pride of the Kingdom of Judah would be its ultimate
downfall.
Thinking that Babylon would go around the Kingdom of Judah rather than
bother overtaking Judah was a huge miscalculation.
The pride of Judah and its return from the reforms of Josiah and the
rejection of Jehovah doomed it to failure. Babylon needed a staging
area for its soon-to-come war with Egypt and Judah was in the way --
or more accurately, Judah was not cooperating and did not see the big
picture.
Soon prophets began to fill the streets of Jerusalem to preach the
destruction of Judah, but none would listen. There was peace in the
land and the belief that Judah would be spared the wrath of Babylon.
Then a man named Lehi prayed and received a vision and the story of
the Book of Mormon begins.
As we read the first books of the Book of Mormon, we have a much
greater understanding of why Lehi and the prophets obtained promises
to preserve the law for the people and for those in the last days.
This was not a promise out of the blue, but rather a promise obtained
because as a people they had lost the law and then found it again in
the temple walls. It had been hidden-up to the Lord.
Lehi's dream of the Iron Rod, which represented the Word of God,
wasn't by accident. The word of God or the "law" was vital towards
bringing men to the Tree of Life and finding joy. When Enos prayed for
his enemies, he understood that eventually, if his descendants had the
"law" they too would find the joy that he was experiencing because of
his journey with the law.
The concept of the book of law and the protection of the word of God,
and the importance of handing that law down through generations was
built into the culture at the time. Even Laban understood the value of
the book, though he clearly did not see the value in following the
words within the book. But Laban refused to give the book up at any
cost.
Likewise, we see several unrighteous descendants understanding that
their role in protecting the book of law was important, despite the
fact that they individually were not living by the words of the book.
The book of law is then joined with the plates and later abridged by
Mormon to become our Book of Mormon.
In the end, the last prophets obtain a promise from God that the law
will come forth again in a restoration in the last days. Moroni
(Sidney Rigdon) then buries the plates. If a temple had existed,
perhaps Moroni (Sidney Rigdon) would have placed the book into the
temple walls, but that wasn't possible under the circumstances.
The book is, however, sealed up and then delivered in the last days as
the Lord promised.
We see in the history a type and a pattern that is followed and
explains a great deal about the culture of the prophets of the Book of
Mormon and their motivations.
In summary, Joseph Smith was not a bible scholar and much of the
information about this history was not available to him. When we talk
about authenticity of ancient documents, we must look at what was
known and when certain things were known. If Joseph Smith did not have
knowledge of this history, and did not have access to the greatest
libraries of history, he would not have known about the great number
of historically accurate details found in the Book of Mormon.
A fair reading of the history leads to no other conclusion that the
translation was indeed of an ancient record, as it matches on all four
corners of the history as it is now known for that area of the world
at that time.
http://www.truthandgrace.com/BOM.htm
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