The story of cutting off the head of Laban is gory and unnecessary to an American.
Here are a couple of perspectives on this story.
1) Laban’s mortal experience was over according to God. God gave Laban his life. Nephi was commanded by God to take the life of Laban.
- The boys tried to get the plates three times.
- Laban had three opportunities to give Lehi’s boys the plates.
- The Spirit constrained Nephi to kill Laban three times.
- Laban mortal probation was over which is a shadow of Samuel the Lamanite’s prophecy just prior to the birth of the Savior in Helaman 13:38 where he says…
“But behold, your days of probation are past; ye have procrastinated the day of your salvation until it is everlastingly too late and your destruction is made sure;”
2) The culture of the Jews is based upon blood sacrifices and blood revenge. They had only been told of a redeemer, but most were apostate and didn’t comprehend the concept of the atonement. We view this story strictly from an American perspective and render a judgment upon it through myopic lenses.
3) The Lord invites all into His fold (church) but He forces no one. Perhaps the Laban story is placed at the beginning of the Book of Mormon to provide a challenge (stumbling block) to all who wish to be counted with the Lord’s chosen. He proves you herewith to see if you will exercise your faith in God and move out of your cultural comfort zone and act upon the Spirit that speaks to you from God and ignore the politically correct cultural spirit who feigns abhorrence at such an act. If the Book of Mormon were a work of fiction, it would have been more convenient for Laban to have been killed in a drunken brawl when Nephi found him.
What is the difference between Nephi slaying Laban while unconscious and David slaying Goliath who was unconscious. “Therefore David ran, and stood upon the Philistine, and took his sword (Goliath’s), and drew it out of the sheath thereof, and slew him, and cut off his head...” (1 Samuel 17:51)
4) From a legal standpoint here is the law:
- The penalty for attempted murder was death in the days of Lehi. (1 Nephi 3:25-26; Exodus 21:14) Laban attempted to slay the boys in 1 Nephi 3:-
- The penalty for stealing could be death in the days of Lehi. (1 Nephi 3:13; Exodus 22:2; Deuteronomy 24:7) Laban stole Lehi’s property.
- The Law of Retaliation (D&C 98:23:32) teaches that if a man offend against you four times, you are justified in your actions against him.
- Laban tries to slay Laman (1 Nephi 3:13).
- He sought to kill Nephi (1 Nephi 4:11).
- He did not hearken unto the Lord.
- He stole Lehi’s property.
This account shows, that the Book of Mormon was written by Prophets from a Hebrew culture, considering the point brought forward in the article. It is not a book “made up” by an American farm boy, but the word of God translated by Joseph Smith, a Prophet.
Excellent point. Would that every Gospel Doctrine teacher taught this in class. Well cited!
I was actually thinking about this the other day and it dawned on me that the reason murder is such a sin is because that person is playing God who is the only one authorized to determine when someones mortal life is over. That and having a prophet being lead by the Spirit take Labans life isn’t much different than when God uses a natural disaster to destroy a wicked people (doesn’t mean all natural disasters are to destroy wicked people).
When your dad is angry at you and says “I brought you into this world and I can take you out of it” he is quoting God except without the power or the authority, and he only facilitated bringing you in. God actually did and can.