To see the context for this and other questions in this series, please
see the introduction, parts 1, 2, 3, and 4.
Could someone like Nephi, Wunderkind, really exist?
I’m not shy about
admitting that I have never been able to relate at all with Nephi. He’s just
too good to be true. Even though Grant Hardy points out some of Nephi’s more
hidden flaws that are visible if you read between the lines, what’s in the
lines is enough to make me wonder if someone like Nephi ever existed. Let’s
look at a few characteristics of this boy prophet.
First, he’s quite
young. Most Book of Mormon scholars peg him as a teenager; some have him as
young as 13 or 14, which I find a bit hard to swallow. He describes himself at
the time of Lehi’s escape from Jerusalem as “exceedingly young, nevertheless .
. . large in stature” (1 Ne. 2:16). I can’t imagine any 13-year-old being able
to pass himself off as Laban, a full-grown man, likely a soldier (at least a
commander of soldiers). Nephi also marries a daughter of Ishmael not long after
his departure from Jerusalem. Can’t imagine even a big 13-year-old doing that. So
I would guess that he was at least 17, at most 20, which would mean Laban, his
oldest brother, was likely in his mid-20s or even pushing 30—and was still unmarried.
I mention Nephi’s age only because it is the context for the points that
follow.
Second, he’s very
well-schooled. Not only does he read and write Hebrew, but he also reads and
writes in some specialized form of Egyptian, skillfully. It’s possible that when
they first obtain the brass plates, Nephi can’t read them. The record says only
that Lehi searched them thoroughly (1 Ne. 5:10). But by the time they arrive in
the promised land, Nephi is reading from the plates to his brothers (1 Ne. 19:22).
Perhaps they had a lot of time in the wilderness to hold school, but I doubt
it, and anyway, at the outset, Nephi says he has been “taught somewhat in all
the learning of [his] father” (1 Ne. 1:1). Whenever exactly this teaching
happened, it put Nephi in a very select group. Professor Israel Finkelstein of
Tel Aviv University and a team of researchers studying sixteen separate
inscriptions found at the remote fort of Arad in the northern Negev that date
to before the destruction of the First Temple (586 BC) have determined that
these inscriptions were written by six different authors, all military
personnel. This has led them to believe that literacy in the First Temple
period was more widespread than scholars generally have assumed.
“‘We found
indirect evidence of the existence of an educational infrastructure, which
could have enabled the composition of biblical texts,’ said Prof. Piasetzky.
“‘Literacy
existed at all levels of the administrative, military and priestly systems of
Judah. Reading and writing were not limited to a tiny elite.’
“‘Now our job is
to extrapolate from Arad to a broader area,’ said Prof. Finkelstein. ‘Adding
what we know about Arad to other forts and administrative localities across
ancient Judah, we can estimate that many people could read and write during the
last phase of the First Temple period. We assume that in a kingdom of some
100,000 people, at least several hundred were literate.’”1
Hold on a minute.
Several hundred out of 100,000. That is considered widespread literacy in
ancient Israel. And most of those were probably minimally or functionally
literate—enough to read and write military directives. But to be highly literate
in not just Hebrew but also Egyptian would definitely have put Nephi and Lehi
in a “tiny elite.” Because reading the reformed Egyptian on the brass plates
was no problem for Lehi, we must assume that he was part of a very exclusive
element in Jerusalem to be able to read and write in both his native Hebrew and
a foreign language. And remember, according to LDS scholars, Nephi was also sufficiently
schooled in Hebrew literary composition to pass on such intricate literary
devices as chiasmus to his posterity, who would continue to employ them for
hundreds of years.
Third, Nephi is a
whiz at metallurgy (and woodworking). My good friend Jeff Chadwick, a BYU
professor and archaeologist who specializes in ancient Jewish matters,
speculates that Lehi was a skilled craftsman who may have not just known about the brass plates, but he may
have actually helped make them. In
fact, that’s probably how he knew about them. But of course, all the text tells
us is that Nephi was adept at refining and working “in all manner of wood, and
of iron, and of copper, and of brass, and of steel, and of gold, and of silver,
and of precious ores” (2 Ne. 5:15). Nephi likely learned these skills from his
father. We know he crafted gold plates on which to keep his record, but he also
made tools with which to build a ship. Take note, too, that Nephi had to be
instructed by the Lord on how to build a ship, but he claims no such divine assistance
in learning how to make tools, presumably of iron. I’ve looked into ancient
iron production. It was rather complicated, to say the least. But Nephi was
skilled enough to make effective tools and, later, weapons of war, presumably
out of steel, which is much more exacting to produce than iron.
Fourth, Nephi was
a skilled hunter. I find it curious that Nephi, the youngest son, was the one
who owned the steel bow. His older brothers had to settle for wooden bows. And
Nephi was no slouch. He was quite capable of shooting wild game om the wilderness.
Is this level of archery something a city boy who spent most of his time
learning to read Hebrew and Egyptian and becoming skilled in metallurgy would
have had much chance to practice? And when Nephi’s steel bow broke, he
fashioned a new bow out of a piece of wood. (As a side note, I’ve also wondered
where in the desert he found a suitable piece of wood with enough flexibility
to serve as a bow. And why did he have to make a new arrow? Were his other
arrows all used up, broken, lost?) At any rate, when he had made a new bow and
arrow, he then had no trouble using them to slay wild animals and feed the
family. Quite a feat for a youngster.
Fifth, in
addition to growing up in a scribal/metallurgist/hunting family, he also knew
enough about farming and livestock that he was able to teach his people how to
raise crops and flocks of every kind (2 Ne. 5:11).
Sixth, he knew
how to build buildings and even a temple after the pattern of Solomon’s (2 Ne.
5:15–16). So, he was also a skilled stone mason.
And of course he
was a prophet who had visions and wrote scripture, which, frankly, I find the
most believable part of the whole story.
The one less than
superhuman part of Nephi’s profile is that he was rather poor at interpersonal
relationships with his two oldest brothers. That doesn’t surprise me.
Of course, most
of the foregoing would also apply to Lehi. He was highly educated, was apparently
knowledgeable in metallurgy, presumably taught his sons how to hunt wild beasts
and to farm, and he apparently was also knowledgeable about and possessed the animals
and gear necessary for desert travel and survival. The tents that were used by
desert dwellers were very heavy and sturdy, which would have necessitated beasts
of burden, likely camels, to carry both gear and people, although nothing is
said in Nephi’s account about any animals. Whatever the case, it is unlikely
that Lehi went down to the corner Desert Living store and purchased the
wherewithal for a jaunt into the wilderness without having any knowledge of how
to use it or how to survive in the harsh territory they were about to traverse.
We also know that Lehi was fabulously rich. When his sons tried to buy the
brass plates from Laban, Lehi’s “gold . . . and silver . . . and precious
things” (1 Ne. 3:24) were enough to make this presumably well-connected and
powerful man’s mouth water. In short, Lehi wasn’t just some country bumpkin who
could disappear into the wilderness with no one noticing. He was, according to
the evidence Nephi gives in his account, a uniquely multitalented, highly educated,
desert-savvy, and impressively wealthy man. Lehi, the Übermensch, and his
youngest son, the Wunderkind.
The question is,
could such a person as Lehi or Nephi have actually existed? Perhaps, but . . .
______________
1. Arutz Sheva
Staff, “600 BCE Inscriptions Prove Widespread Literacy in Ancient Israel,” Isreal
National News, April 11, 2016, http://www.israelnationalnews.com/News/News.aspx/210694.
