Amulon and the literacy of the Lamanites

 This passage stood out to me:

3 And now the name of the king of the Lamanites was Laman, being called after the name of his father; and therefore he was called king Laman. And he was king over a numerous people.

4 And he appointed teachers of the brethren of Amulon in every land which was possessed by his people; and thus the language of Nephi began to be taught among all the people of the Lamanites.

5 And they were a people friendly one with another; nevertheless they knew not God; neither did the brethren of Amulon teach them anything concerning the Lord their God, neither the law of Moses; nor did they teach them the words of Abinadi;

6 But they taught them that they should keep their record, and that they might write one to another.

7 And thus the Lamanites began to increase in riches, and began to trade one with another and wax great, and began to be a cunning and a wise people, as to the wisdom of the world, yea, a very cunning people, delighting in all manner of wickedness and plunder, except it were among their own brethren. (Mosiah 24)

This is interesting to me for a few reasons:

1. The fact that "the language of Nephi" was not already had among the Lamanites is a really strong indicator that other languages were spoken among these peoples. 
2. It seems one way Amulon "gain[ed] favor" in the eyes of the Lamanite king was by convincing him that literacy would lead to trade and wealth.  This is perhaps more obvious to us than it might have been to Joseph Smith.
3. This is one of several passages in the Book of Mormon that predicts extensive trade networks. This prediction holds up very well over time, among many others.

Mormon breaks the fourth wall, part 2

This is part 2 of a series of posts breaking down what we learn from Mormon's long aside found in 3 Nephi 5.  Part 1 can be found here.

13 Behold, I am a disciple of Jesus Christ, the Son of God. I have been called of him to declare his word among his people, that they might have everlasting life.

Here is a succinct summary of the role of a prophet if I ever saw one.

14 And it hath become expedient that I, according to the will of God, that the prayers of those who have gone hence, who were the holy ones, should be fulfilled according to their faith, should make a record of these things which have been done—
15 Yea, a small record of that which hath taken place from the time that Lehi left Jerusalem, even down until the present time.

Here is Mormon's second chief assignment--to make a "small record" documenting the history of the Nephites up to the "present time." Also note that Mormon understands an important part this purpose is to fulfill the words of the prophets.  This explains why Mormon goes out of his way to point out the fulfillment of prophecies.  (For example, see 3 Nephi 1:4, 13, 18, 20, 21, 26; or 3 Nephi 10:11, 14, 16, 17.)

16 Therefore I do make my record from the accounts which have been given by those who were before me, until the commencement of my day;
17 And then I do make a record of the things which I have seen with mine own eyes.

In verse 17, we find an editorial promise--Mormon will proceed to give us a record of what he has seen with his own eyes after he finishes the abridgment of those previous record-keepers.  He does precisely this in Mormon 1:1.

18 And I know the record which I make to be a just and a true record; nevertheless there are many things which, according to our language, we are not able to write.
19 And now I make an end of my saying, which is of myself, and proceed to give my account of the things which have been before me.

Verse 18 speaks to the accuracy of the record, and Mormon makes an interesting comment--"there are many things which, according to our language, we are not able to write." I wonder what these things are and why they can't write them. Notice that in verse 19 he attempts to end his aside, but ends up adding 7 more verses.

20 I am Mormon, and a pure descendant of Lehi. I have reason to bless my God and my Savior Jesus Christ, that he brought our fathers out of the land of Jerusalem, (and no one knew it save it were himself and those whom he brought out of that land) and that he hath given me and my people so much knowledge unto the salvation of our souls.

I consider this verse to be "outsider evidence." If the only people in the new world were descendants of Lehi, why does Mormon feels the need to state this?  I take this to represent indirect evidence that the Nephites and Lamanites mixed with existing peoples.

As we get to the end of this long aside, Mormon gives us a summary of what I consider to be the overarching themes of the Book of Mormon. We get a reminder of what the Lord has done (verses 21-22) and what He will yet do for the House of Israel (verses 23-26).

21 Surely he hath blessed the house of Jacob, and hath been merciful unto the seed of Joseph.
22 And insomuch as the children of Lehi have kept his commandments he hath blessed them and prospered them according to his word.
23 Yea, and surely shall he again bring a remnant of the seed of Joseph to the knowledge of the Lord their God.
24 And as surely as the Lord liveth, will he gather in from the four quarters of the earth all the remnant of the seed of Jacob, who are scattered abroad upon all the face of the earth.
25 And as he hath covenanted with all the house of Jacob, even so shall the covenant wherewith he hath covenanted with the house of Jacob be fulfilled in his own due time, unto the restoring all the house of Jacob unto the knowledge of the covenant that he hath covenanted with them.
26 And then shall they know their Redeemer, who is Jesus Christ, the Son of God; and then shall they be gathered in from the four quarters of the earth unto their own lands, from whence they have been dispersed; yea, as the Lord liveth so shall it be. Amen.

Compare these verses to this passage from the Title Page: "Which is to show unto the remnant of the house of Israel what great things the Lord hath done for their fathers; and that they may know the covenants of the Lord, that they are not cast off forever—And also to the convincing of the Jew and Gentile that Jesus is the Christ, the Eternal God, manifesting himself unto all nations."

All of this, especially the final verses, indicate to me that Mormon is working from notes.  He is intentionally abridging the record to conform to the commandments of God.  This is an insider's glimpse into why he presents the narrative in a way that focuses on the House of Israel, the seed of Joseph, the latter-day restoration of the covenant, and the gathering of scattered Israel throughout the earth.

As we know, the Isaiah chapters in 1 and 2 Nephi serve to underscore this point, but these chapters haven't been dictated by this point, and won't be for another 80 chapters, which means if the critics' theories are right and Joseph Smith was simply planning to use Isaiah-KJV to make the Book of Mormon seem longer, he must have had a detailed plan long in advance, because he just so happened to pick chapters that discuss these concepts in detail. He also managed to give Nephi and Jacob a lot of detailed insight into these prophecies and how they relate to the larger Nephite narrative.  It is a pretty amazing accomplishment, and one that could not have been done without extensive notes and planning.

Joseph, of course, did all of this in one dictated draft. I have read many criticisms of the presence of Isaiah in the Book of Mormon, but I have yet to see a critic address how Joseph Smith managed to use Isaiah in such a complex, thematically-relevant way, without notes!

Outsider evidence: Amulek declares himself a Nephite

In Alma 8:20, when Alma first meets Amulek in Ammonihah, he asks him for bread.  Amulek responds with this words: "I am a Nephite." This is a very bizarre response if Nephites lived in isolation, but makes a lot more sense if they lived among other peoples with other religions/cultures.

In other words, this supports the idea that the Nephites were a small group of people living in a bigger culture, not a monothilic culture dominating the area at the time.

For other examples of "Outsider evidence", see this (growing) list.

Outsider evidence: Sherem has a "perfect knowledge of the language of the people"

In Jacob 7:4, we learn that Sherem (who contends with Jacob in this chapter) has "a perfect knowledge of the language of the people.  This makes no sense in the context of Nephites living in isolation from all other people, but makes a lot of sense if they live among native people who came along with them.  Jacob's first spoken language would certainly have been Hebrew. If Sherem has a language advantage over Jacob as it relates to the people, it makes sense his first language is a New World tongue.

For other examples of "Outsider evidence", see this (growing) list.