The Book of Mormon Issues

A Note on the Slaying of Laban
by John A. Tvedtnes

Critics point to Nephi's slaying of Laban in 1 Nephi 4 as evidence that the Book of Mormon is false, for, they contend, God would never have approved such an act.  God's commandment to expel and destroy the wicked inhabitants of the land of Canaan (Deuteronomy 7:1-2) puts the lie to this kind of reasoning.  More important are the legal issues behind Nephi's actions, discussed at length by John W. Welch.¹ Among the evidences for justifying Nephi's actions, Welch refers to the precedent of Moses' slaying of the Egyptian in Exodus 2.

An ancient rabbinic source sheds further light on Moses' actions.  According to Abot de Rabbi Nathan 20, Moses summoned a court of ministering angels and asked them if he should kill the Egyptian, to which the angels responded "Kill him."²  The same story is told in Midrash Shemot Rabbah 1:29, which adds that, before calling on the angels for counsel, Moses perceived that no righteous persons would descend from the Egyptian man.³  This idea may be reflected in the words of the Spirit to Nephi: "Behold the Lord slayeth the wicked to bring forth his righteous purposes.  It is better that one man should perish than that a nation should dwindle and perish in unbelief" (1 Nephi 4:13).

The fact that the rabbis attributed Moses' actions to a heavenly commandment, just as Nephi attributed his actions to the voice of the Spirit (1 Nephi 4:10-13), lends further support to Welch's study.

Notes:

1.  John W. Welch, "Legal Perspectives on the Slaying of Laban," Journal of Book of Mormon Studies 1/1 (Fall 1992), 119-141.

2.  The text goes on to specify that it was not with a sword that Moses slew the Egyptian, but with "the word." This was intended to explain why the Hebrew text of Exodus 2:14 adds 'ômer (here understood to mean "word") before "as thou killedst the Egyptian." The extra word may be a dittograph from the preceding line, but the interpretation in Abot de Rabbi Nathan is interesting in light of other passages that compare the word of God to a rod or sword. See John A. Tvedtnes, "Rod and Sword as the Word of God," Journal of Book of Mormon Studies 5/2 (1996), 148-155.

3.  Targum Pseudo-Jonathan to Exodus 2:12 notes that Moses knew that no proselyte would come from the Egyptian's posterity.   Zohar Exodus 12b records the story as follows: "He looked ‘here' to see whether there were any good works wrought by the man, and ‘there' to see whether a good son would issue from him. ‘And he saw that there was no man'; he saw through the holy spirit that no such good son would ever descend from him, for he was aware, as R. Abba has said, that there are many wicked parents who beget more good sons than righteous parents, and that a good son born of wicked parents is of special excellence, being pure out of impure, light out of darkness, wisdom out of folly.   The word ‘saw' here indicates discernment through the holy spirit, and therefore he did not shrink from killing the Egyptian." Harry Sperling, Maurice Simon, and Paul P. Levertoff, The Zohar (New York: The Rebecca Bennet Publications, 1958), 3:39.