After spending time studying Enos, I have come to love and respect him and I can relate to his wrestling with God and himself. I was also pleased that he reached out in prayer on behalf of his brethren and even his enemies. He shared his testimony and became a prophet in his own right. When he was old and knew he would soon die, he gave the Nephite records to his son, Jarom, with the admonition that he and his descendants should keep the records safe.
I have noted that he did not say, "And write on the plates prolifically." Jarom kept his promise to his father, as did Omni, Amaron, Chemish, Abinadom, and Ameliki. They kept the records safe. The recorded that they were of the genealogical line of Lehi, and said a few things they felt were important. That they were following Lehi, Nephi, Jacob, and even Enos, meant that they read the scriptures and the prophets just mentioned and didn't feel that there was anything of great spiritual worth that needed to be added. Remember, others were keeping the historical records and Mormon gives us what was important at the time in his subscriptio* to the Small Plates
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| Small book prophets of the Book of Mormon from Enos to Words of Mormon |
- keeping his genealogy (like a Book of Remembrance)
- reminding his readers the promise of the Book of Mormon: inasmuch as ye will keep my commandments ye shall prosper in the land. (Jarom 1: 9). Jarom teaches us that in the beginning, the Nephites did keep the commandments and did prosper. The Lamanites did not and did not overrun the Nephites, even though they outnumbered them.
- discussing warfare which began to arise as the Lamanites attacked, but the Nephites prevailed as long as they were righteous. He mentioned that more complete records of the warfare were to be had on the large plates.
- giving a calendar: it had been 238 years since Lehi left Jerusalem.
Omni
- Obeyed his father in keeping the genealogy
- Reported the escalation of warfare and how he had personally fought with the sword
- Confessed that he had not been faithful in keeping God's commandments
- 282 years** had passed with seasons of peace followed by seasons of war (Omni 1: 3)
Amaron
- Received the records of his father
- 320 years had passed
- Warfare had wiped away many of the more wicked Nephite
- Righteous Nephites were spared
Chemish
- Amaron's brother Wrote on the plates the day he received them then didn't write more.
- Kept the plates safe
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| What you might find in the authors of the small books |
Abinidom
- Chemish's son
- Warfare increased
- Abinidom admits to slaying many Lamanites in defense of the Nephites. Realized that he could add nothing to what was already on the plates.
Amaleki
- Abinidom's son
- Introduces us to King Mosiah the first
It really helped me to spend some time with these recordkeepers. Even though they wrote very little, they did preserve the plates and keep the genealogy and calendar. Tomorrow, I want to spend some time looking more closely at the writings of Amaleki because he tells us, in a few short verses, some important facts: King Mosiah; the move to Zarahemla; the Mulekites; King Benjamin; a small group returns to the Land of Nephi.
I can't wait to dig in!
© March 2020 Dr. Kathleen Rawlings
Buntin Danielson
* A Hebrew literary practice of given an introduction to a section of writing at the end of the writing rather than the beginning. Words of Mormon is a subsciptio, as if the introductory page to the Book of Mormon, which Joseph Smith found on the last page of the plates and which he placed on the first page, which is a more common English writing tradition.
** Just FYI, it has been only 244 years since the signing of our Declaration of Independence. Keeping things in perspective!
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