[Editor’s Note: We are pleased to present the seventh installment from a book entitled Labor Diligently to Write: The Ancient Making of a Modern Scripture. It is being presented in serialized form as an aid to help readers prepare for the 2020 Come Follow Me course of study. This is a new approach for Interpreter, and we hope you find it helpful.]

 

 

 

Chapter 16: Book of 3 Nephi

3 Nephi I (1–2)

The book of Nephi, son of Nephi, who was the son of Helaman, son of Helaman, who was the son of Alma, son of Alma, and named for Nephi the son of Lehi350 is the culmination of Mormon’s structural art. In this chapter he pulls his various threads together to highlight his essential message. The first structural way in which he indicates this is his message is that this particular book of Nephi was probably never a book on the large plates.351 Where Mormon has allowed the organization of the large plates to dictate the structure of his own work up to this point, he departs from the model and creates a different type of entry.

The next way in which Mormon indicates this is something new and important comes in the first verse: “Now it came to pass that the ninety and first year had passed away and it was six hundred years from the time that Lehi left Jerusalem; and it was in the year that Lachoneus was the chief judge and the governor over the land” (3 Nephi 1:1). We learn [Page 330]several things in this verse. First, the record is still coming from outside the political line. Neither Nephi2 or Nephi3 were part of the government. Telling his readers that Lachoneus is the chief judge not only places the story in its correct political timeline, it emphasizes that it is a story that comes from outside of the political line.

Next, Mormon makes certain the story takes place in the correct Nephite year for prophecy but ties it to the older method of counting. Mormon is telling us this is something that fulfills prophecy, and while it occurs within the dating of the current calendar, it transcends its own time. Mormon foreshadows the coming of the Messiah by noting that it was 600 years from the time Lehi left Jerusalem. He does not tell his readers what this means, apparently assuming they will understand the reference (reinforcing the probability that the prophecy was in and emphasized in the lost book of Lehi). The meticulous counting of years will culminate in fulfilled prophecy in this book.

Finally, Mormon has been pursuing multiple themes as he created his story. The essential religious message has been the redeeming mission of Christ, which will be displayed in dramatic fashion. He has also been telling a tale of Nephite fluctuation between righteousness and apostasy. The themes of excessive pride and the destructiveness of those who apostatize are also emphasized before the signs of Christ’s birth, and then after a brief righteous respite, there is a return to full apostasy prior to the signs of Christ’s death and his subsequent appearance — a visible atonement after the physical devastation of the land. Of course, Nephites are not destroyed unless the Gadiantons are involved, and Mormon makes certain we know they are the entity responsible for the demise of the Nephite government.

Following the lead of Hollywood movies, we may suggest that 3 Nephi is “based on actual events.” Mormon, however, is not content to have the events speak for themselves.