Laman and Lemuel as faithful Deuteronomists

In my last post, I introduced the concept of a mantic worldview (one which embraces a heavenly order and revelation from God through spiritual communication and prophets) and a sophic worldview (an intellectual, materialist worldview that denies the existence of heavenly things).

This contrast shows up throughout human history, including in the Book of Mormon. This post will be the first in a cluster of posts on this topic and how it shows up in many ways throughout the history of the Nephites.

Today we'll look at Laman and Lemuel.  The modern reader might be tempted to envision Nephi's older brothers as lazy, heathen, fickle, or just plain wicked. Why did they choose to follow their father yet criticize him every step of the way?  Why did they constantly try to kill their younger brother Nephi?

A new paper by Val Larsen suggests a different motivation for Laman and Lemuel's actions. He suggests they were faithful adherents to the reformed religion of Josiah which dominated Jerusalem at the time of Lehi. He suggests that viewing the brothers through this lens best explains their seemingly inconsistent and often aggressive actions towards Nephi and Lehi.

An overview of Josiah's reforms

To get a better sense of the impact Josiah's reforms had on the culture of the day, Larsen offers some details about the step Josiah took to consolidate religious practice (and consequently political power):

1. Eliminating the concept of a council of Gods ("Elohim ... Asherah ... [and] seventy sons who ruled the nations of the earth, the son Yahweh being the God of Israel" who resided both in the temple and in heaven) in favor of monotheistic worship of Yahweh.
2. Removing symbols of Asherah (including the tree/menorah) from the temple and the Mount of Olives.
3. Denying the corporeal nature of God in favor of an imperceptible, intangible God.
4. Emphasizing  strict adherence to the Law of Moses.
5. Declaring the written law to be complete and unchangeable.
6. Outlawing all forms of prophecy. ("Prophecy could be accepted as prophecy only after it was no longer prophecy, i.e., only after unfolding events had proved it to be true (Deuteronomy 13:1–3; 18:21–22).
7. Requiring the people to kill anyone who came to them as a prophet.
8. Banning all forms of sacrifice and ritual worship outside of the Jerusalem temple.

History repeats itself

As I look at this list, I see similar trends occurring after the time of Christ.  It's as if each period of restoration is inevitable followed by a drift from the mantic to the sophic. We can even see evidence of it in the church today, despite the urgings from our leaders to seek personal revelation and come to know God directly, worship Him more diligently in our homes, etc.

Lehi as a mantic restorer

What I also see is a good explanation for Lehi's concern for his people at the very beginning of the Book of Mormon (see 1 Nephi 1:5). Lehi would have descended from the Northern Kingdom tradition, which (according to this paper) embraced prophetic dreams, the ministry of angels, imagery of the Tree of Life, and the Bronze Serpent tradition. Each of Josiah's reforms would have struck at the heart of this Northern Kingdom tradition.

Of course what follows in 1 Nephi 1 is a heavy endorsement of the mantic worldview: Lehi is blessed with a vision of "he saw God sitting upon his throne, surrounded with numberless concourses of angels in the attitude of singing and praising their God" (1 Nephi 1:8).  Later, he sees Jesus Christ descending and given a prophetic charge to minister to the people and cry repentance.  When that fails (the people try to kill him), he is commanded to flee the city with his family.

Laman and Lemuel

This leads us to Laman and Lemuel, who as Deuteronomist sophists would have simultaneously been required to obey him (Deuteronomy 5:16) and kill him (Deuteronomy 13:1-10;18:20)!

Here are a few additional points of evidence cited by Larsen in favor of his view of Laman and Lemuel as Deuteronomists:

• They first rebel after their father builds an alter outside of Jerusalem.
• They complain their father is a visionary man.
• Nephi describes his brothers as "like the Jews at Jerusalem, who sought to take away the life of my father” (1 Nephi 2:13).
• They ignore the sign of the angel after beating their younger brothers.
• They later rebel as they leave Jerusalem the final time, after Nephi rebukes them sharply, in accordance with Deuteronomy 13:5.
• They refuse to come to the Tree of Life in Lehi's dream.
• Nephi persuades them to help build the ship by invoking the example of Moses.

Conclusion

This is a fascinating idea, and I find it pretty compelling. It is very interesting to me how neatly this story found in the opening of the Book of Mormon fits a historical context only recently pieced together by scholars.

Sadly, the battle between these two ideologies does not end when the family crosses the ocean.  We see evidence of these same struggles happening repeatedly through Nephite history, as we'll discuss in future posts.