2 Nephi 5:14-18

Having established a settlement, Nephi turns to the defence of the settlement.  He took to sword of Laban and made swords “after the manner” (2 Nephi 5:14) of Laban’s sword.  What does this mean?

John Sorensen examines verse 14.

Laban's weapon was replicated in function and general pattern, but different material could have been used for the new weapons (Matheny offers helpful citations on the use of hard wooden "swords" in Mesoamerica). The copies might have been of metal, but need not have been. The text fails to settle that question. Note also that the statement about weapons (2 Nephi 5:14) is made before that about working metals (2 Nephi 5:15) and no attempt is made by the writer, Nephi, to connect the two; had a connection been intended, one would have thought the statement about metalworking would have come first, then the mention of weapons preparation. It seems a sound rule to pay as much attention to what the text does not say as to what (we think) it does say.[1]

As we will read in the record, the sword of Laban is seldom used in war.  Brett L. Holbrook explains:

The sword is also only mentioned by the Nephites three times after that, which "suggests that the weapon was not only well known, but also unique, wielded by kings, with no comparable weapon being used by others."[58] In this sense, the sword was strictly part of the regalia and was not used or handled by any individuals beside the king.[59] [2]

The Book of Mormon records:

The people having loved Nephi exceedingly, he having been a great protector for them, having wielded the sword of Laban in their defence, and having labored in all his days for their welfare—

Jacob 1:10

And it came to pass also that the armies of the Lamanites came down out of the land of Nephi, to battle against his people.  But behold, king Benjamin gathered together his armies, and he did stand against them; and he did fight with the strength of his own arm, with the sword of Laban.

Words of Mormon 1:13

It is here that we learn the two names that we will use for the two groups throughout the Book of Mormon, Nephite and Lamanite.  Hugh Nibley explains how, over time, the identification becomes political rather than family.

The Lamanite and Nephite division was tribal rather than racial, each of the main groups representing an amalgamation of tribes that retained their identity (Alma 43:13; 4 Nephi 1:36—37). Our text frequently goes out of its way to specify that such and such a group is only called Nephite or Lamanite (2 Nephi 5:14; Jacob 1:2; Mosiah 25:12; Alma 3:10; 30:59; Helaman 3:16; 3 Nephi 3:24; 10:18; 4 Nephi 1:36—38, 43; Mormon 1:9). For the situation was often very mobile, with large numbers of Nephites going over to the Lamanites (Words of Mormon 1:16; 4 Nephi 1:20; Mormon 6:15; Alma 47:35-36), or Lamanites to the Nephites (Alma 27:27; Mosiah 25:12; Alma 55:4), or members of the mixed Mulekite people, such as their Zoramite offshoot, going over either to the Lamanites (Alma 43:4) or to the Nephites (Alma 35:9—not really to the Nephites, but to the Ammonites who were Lamanites who had earlier become Nephites!); or at times the Lamanites and Nephites would freely intermingle (Helaman 6:7—8), while at other times the Nephite society would be heavily infiltrated by Lamanites and by robbers of dubious background (Mormon 2:8).[3]

The Nephites began to build a city with wood, copper, iron, brass, steel, gold, silver, and other precious ores.  Nephi, having a background working with metals, taught the people how to do this.

Among the buildings built was a temple.  It followed the design of Solomon’s Temple.  Because a lack of precious things, it was not exactly like Solomon’s temple. 

The fact that Nephi kept the law of Moses says something important about Nephi's temple. It is hard to imagine him keeping every whit of the law of Moses without a temple patterned after the tabernacle constructed by Moses in the wilderness or the Temple of Solomon of Jerusalem. That ancient temple had been used by the first Nephi, six centuries before the birth of Christ, as the model in building his temple shortly after his arrival in the promised land (2 Nephi 5:16).[4] 

The people wanted Nephi to become their king.  Among Book of Mormon scholars, there is disagreement about whether Nephi became the king or simply acted as if he were a king.  The ambiguity comes from verse 18.  After being asked to be the king, Nephi wrote he “, was desirous that they should have no king; nevertheless, I did for them according to that which was in my power.”  So, depending on your interpretation of verse 18, Nephi either became the first Nephite king or refused to be their king.

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[1] Viva Zapato! Hurray for the Shoe! John L. Sorenson, Provo, Utah: Maxwell Institute, accessed August 8, 2013.

[2] The Sword of Laban as a Symbol of Divine Authority and Kingship, Brett L. Holbrook, Provo, Utah: Maxwell Institute, accessed August 8, 2013.

[3] "Forever Tentative …", Hugh Nibley, Provo, Utah: Maxwell Institute, accessed August 8, 2013.

[4] Seeing Third Nephi as the Holy of Holies of the Book of Mormon, John W. Welch, Provo, Utah: Maxwell Institute, accessed August 8, 2013.