Comments on 1 Nephi 4 See the article in the next section below for an in-depth discussion of Nephi's execution of Laban. For a brief discussion on the character of Zoram, see my comments above on 3:2. v1-2 Nephi responds in kind to Laman and Lemuel's argument. Nephi uses a kal v'khomer argument of his own, reminding them that the Lord will in fact take care of the situation. Nephi's argument implicitly addresses their lack of faith, cp. Isa. 43:16-17. Nephi's admonition in v. 2 sounds like he is expecting the Lord to do something rather impressive to dispose of Laban, perhaps hoping for something akin to Deut. 9:1-6. And note the way Nephi parallels Laban with Egypt in describing their destruction in v. 3. Nephi is anticipating the Lord doing something miraculous and quite detached from himself. Instead, he finds out he is much more intimately involved in Laban's demise than he wants to be. v9 "steel", the KJV on Jer. 15:12 refers to steel, but most modern translations call it "bronze", and it is the same with 2 Sam. 22:35. Thus, Laban's sword blade is possibly bronze. v13 Pop views of God as some all-beneficent, all-benevolent being who would never do anything harmful or violent are shattered by statements such as the one in this verse. The fact of the matter is the Lord does not conform to our self-serving views of ethics and morality, and does not have to. He creates, He destroys, He grants forgiveness, He condemns. Christians, and others as well, like to dismiss the God of the OT, who is entirely capable of issuing commands to kill, with sanitized views selectively drawn from the NT, as though the end of the Law of Moses meant an end to the Lord's anger at wickedness and intolerance of sin. Why? I think it is because they do not want God to punish people. The see God as good and the devil as evil. Anything "bad" must from the devil. But, the problem comes in our subjectivity in labeling things as "bad". If anything we don't like is "bad", then it cannot be from God, because God is good, not bad. So, it ends up a very self-serving means of ascribing causes and effects to either God or the devil. But, this verse informs us things don't work that way. The Lord reserves the right to interfere in human history when it suits His needs. And, He does so quite justly. v19 Nephi doesn't say when he took the armor and garments off of Laban, only that he put them on after the execution. As the beheading was surely a bloody ordeal, it is safe to assume Nephi stripped the armor and garments he later donned prior to beheading. v20 Nephi acts deceptively in order to dupe Zoram. Notice there is no longer any mention of the Spirit actively guiding or talking to Nephi. He is now taking matters into his own hands. Do the ends justify the means? Do they ever? v21 It was dark since it was night, perhaps Zoram was groggy from sleep, perhaps no torches or candles were lit, or perhaps he was nearsighted. v36 If Zoram was not taken along then he would have known the people who took the plates, and therefore those guilty of his death, were not inside Jerusalem. As it was, those who would have investigated Laban's execution probably assumed the culprit was within the city, or at the very least wouldn't have known whether they were inside or out, and so little or no search would have been outside Jerusalem. Copyright © 2001 by S. Kurt Neumiller . All rights reserved. No part of this text may be reproduced in any form or by any means for commercial gain without the express written consent of the author. Digital or printed copies may be freely made and distributed for personal and public non-commercial use.