Anyone who has studied the Book of Mormon remembers the story of Nephi obtaining the Plates of Brass. The Lord had commanded Lehi to send his sons back to Jerusalem to get the plates from a distant cousin. (You may choose to review the story in 1 Nephi, chapters 3 and 4.) I don't think anyone fully understood why God would send them back into a danger they had just escaped. But Lehi believed the Lord and Nephi believed his father.
After Lehi examined the plates, he learned why they were so important. In addition to his own genealogy (which he hadn't known up until then), that he was not a Jew (of the tribe of Judah), but rather was a descendant of Joseph, of the Coat of Many Colors fame, through his eldest son, Manasseh. Additionally, it contain the Law and the Prophets, down to the reign of King Zedekiah of Judah. This means they had the five books written by Moses, from Genesis to Deuteronomy. They also had the writings of many of the ancient prophets in the Old Testament (or Torah), as well as the writing of a few prophets who have been lost to the Biblical canon.
Why am I going backwards? In order to make more sense of things going forward. This answers the question asked in the title: yes, the Nephites knew and observed Jewish laws and customs. As scholars dig deeper into their study of the Book of Mormon, they find many events that reflect that understanding and practice. One of these events is in the Book of Mosiah: King Benjamin's address to his people.
Benjamin asked his son, Mosiah, to send out a proclamation to all of the people to attend a sacred meeting at the temple. There the people were to pitch their tents round about, with the door of the tent facing the temple. King Benjamin then climbed a high tower that he had commissioned to be built, so that more people could hear him. He had scribes present to write down his words so that they could be distributed among the people who could not hear him.
We read in Mosiah 1: 10: My son, I would that ye should make a proclamation throughout all this land among all this people . . . for on the morrow I shall proclaim unto this, my people out of mine own mouth that thou are a king and a ruler over this people, whom the Lord our God hath given us.
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While I was on my mission to Salt Lake City, Church Headquarters, I had the privilege of attending a sample Jewish Seder (Passover Feast) with Brother Daniel Rona. Daniel was born in Palestine and is a Jew by birth. His family emigrated to the United States where he and his father's family joined the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. Daniel now holds dual citizenship in both the USA and Israel.
One of the things that had a huge impact on him and his family was the Jewishness of Book of Mormon. In it, they recognized a plethora of Jewish practices that a non-Jew would likely miss. One of those was the link between Sukkot (the Feast of the Tabernacles) and King Benjamin's speech.
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The Camp of Ancient Israel
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Ancient Israelites were commanded to build a Tabernacle in the wilderness. The camp of Israel were grouped by tribes and the pitched their tents around it, with the door of the tent facing the Tabernacle. Later, in Israel, King Solomon was commended to build a permanent Temple to the Lord. In remembrance of their camping around the Tabernacle in their forty years of wandering, they met once a year at harvest time to celebrate their blessings. This became known as the Feast of the Tabernacles or Sukkot. Jews would make temporary shelters - booths or tents - leaving one side open to face the Temple.
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| A homemade family Sukkot tent |
This celebration of thanksgiving lasted a week from Shabbat (Sabbath) to Shabbat. Many Jews continue to celebrate Sukkot with their tent facing east toward Israel. (Brother Rona and his family celebrate Sukkot with their shelter facing the Salt Lake Temple!)
King Benjamin had access to the brass plates. He and his people observed the Law of Moses. In this instance, he called his people together. They lived in tents or temporary shelters facing the temple. He used this occasion to give his final blessing and words of wisdom to his people and to anoint his son, Mosiah, to rule in his stead. Both of those things happened in Ancient Judah with regards to a king passing on his authority to his successor and to share his final message for them as king.
Since hearing Brother Rona speak in 2010, I cannot read about King Benjamin's speech without thinking of Sukkot. I invite you to join me all this week as I compare ancient Israel with ancient America!
© Dr. Kathleen Rawlings Buntin Danielson April 2020
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