Sunday Thoughts

The prophet historian Mormon

One of the speakers at church today spoke of the Book of Mormon and that got me to thinking of my favorite parts of the book.

For the most part, the Book of Mormon was written by a man who, among other things, was an historian.  He had at his disposal extensive records that covered nearly a thousand years of the history of his own people, as well as an additional record that covered thousands of years of history of the people that inhabited the area before his own people arrived.  The work he did in compiling all that history into a single record was nothing short of amazing.  In doing that compilation, he was guided by inspiration as to what to include and often what not to include to give us what we know today as the Book of Mormon.  One of the things he did, acting under inspired direction, was to include some plates written by one of the first prophets of his people, Nephi.  This probably seemed odd to him as he had already included that same period of time in the compilation he had done.  Adding the actual record of Nephi was a duplication that Mormon must have wondered about.  If the Lord ever told Mormon what would happen 1400 years later and why both were included, Mormon never wrote about it.

As Mormon neared the end of putting together that great work he gave all the records, as well as the compilation he had made, to his son, Moroni, with the charge that he finish the record.  It was actually Moroni that summarized the history of the people who lived there before his own people into a very brief history we know as the Book of Ether, which is part of the Book of Mormon.  When Moroni was done with his father's compilation and the Book of Ether, he hid the plates on which it was written and thought he was done.  But some twenty years later he came back and added a little bit more.  All that together is what we have today as the Book of Mormon. It is not the entire record compiled by Mormon but it is all that we have been given at this point.  So, with the exception of the record of Nephi and the small portion that Moroni added at the very end, the Book of Mormon as we have it today is the work of Mormon, this historian prophet.

As I listened to the speaker and thought of my own favorite parts of the Book of Mormon, it occurred to me that my favorite parts are not from the compilation done by Mormon, but from the portions originated byby Nep, Mormon, and Moroni, not intended as part of the compilation, at least on Nephi and Mormon's part.  That's not to lessen anything at all of the compilation Mormon wrote, but it made me wonder if it may have been a little closer to their hearts as they wrote their deepest feelings in their own writings.

Nephi, who brought his people to the Promised Land

The writings of Nephi that I have come to think of as being so rich in spirit and feeling are at the end of his writings, II Nephi, chapters 30, 31, 21, and 33.  Most of the history that Nephi wrote is in I Nephi.  In II Nephi he gives a little more of the events that happened after his family arrived in the promised land and eventually separated into two groups.  Then he included the testimony of his younger brother, Jacob. After Jacob's testimony, Nephi included some of the writings of the prophet Isaiah, who had lived about 80 years before Nephi's time.  Lastly, Nephi included his own testimony. Perhaps he was observing the Law of Witnesses, and giving the testimony of of Christ from three witnesses.  Unlike Mormon, who was writing to people far in the future, Nephi was writing to his own people, his own family.  He cared about them deeply, and had strong hopes that many would listen and follow Christ. He had seen their future in prophetic vision but still held hopes that many as would listen and follow Christ.  He wrote the things of his heart to a people he knew and loved a great deal.

Mormon, after witnessing the demise of his people

While most of the writings of Mormon that we have are his history of his people, we have some of his letters and teachings that he wrote to his son, Moroni, or that Moroni otherwise had record of.  These, however, are included because Moroni added them after Mormon had turned over all the records to him. In the Book of Moroni, the last book of the Book of Mormon, Moroni includes a sermon given by his father, Mormon.  We have that now as Chapter Seven of the Book of Moroni. In it, Mormon teaches his people, for whom he has loved and sacrificed so much, about the love of Christ.  Mormon left them with some very powerful teachings about becoming like Christ, and how to become like Him. How, at the very beginning, to move toward Christ and the great gift of Eternal Life that He offers. All in admonishment, not lose hope despite all the wickedness and resultant adversity that surrounded them in all their lives.  Times very much like our own in many ways. Like Nephi, Mormon was not speaking to people in the distant future but to his own people. He wrote the things of his heart to a people he knew and loved a great deal.

Moroni, the final keeper of the record

Included in the material that Moroni included at the end of the Book of Mormon, some twenty years after he thought he was done, are a little of his own writings.  As Moroni put it, "Now, I Moroni, after having made an account of the people of Jared, I had supposed not to have written more, but I have not as yet perished ... Wherefore I write a few more things, contrary to that which I had supposed; for I had supposed not to have written any more" (Moroni 1:1 & 4).  What a marvelous thing that he did that! He concluded the additional things he wrote, which included his father's sermon, with "a few words by way of exhortation" (Moroni 10: 2).  He then went on to give a powerful promise that has been used by missionaries the world over since the restoration of the Gospel almost 200 years ago, that one can know the truth of anything by the power of the Holy Ghost.  He taught ways to recognize the work of the Lord, and how closely the Lord attends his work.  He concluded with a powerful exhortation to come unto Christ.  In this instances, Moroni was writing to people in the distant future, but people who were the descendants of his own people and a people he had seen in vision. People he therefore knew. The events of his life had shown him there was no hope for his own people in his own time.  But he still held great hope for his descendants in the future.  He had full faith in the promises of the Lord to restore and gather his people, the House of Israel. He wrote the things of his heart to a people he knew and loved a great deal.

The prophets of the Book of Mormon, in many instances, endured great hardship to do their part in preserving the Book of Mormon, that great tool of the restoration.  That was in addition to their work among their own people, in trying to keep them in the way of the Lord.  Their love and dedication to the Lord and those they served is evident in their writings.  Mormon said it well, "be filled with this love, which he hath bestowed upon all who are true followers of his Son, Jesus Christ, ... that when he shall appear we shall be like him" (Mormon 7:48).  They were like him, filled with the love Mormon taught us motivates God in this great work that the earth was made for.  They wanted the same for us.  This is evident in their writings and that is what makes these some of my favorite parts of the Book of Mormon.