Skip to main content

Without the Mormon Lens: 15 - The Tent of My Father

Image
By Mason

    This is going to be a quick post. I haven't been able to find any major parallels in the first two paragraphs that I share below regarding Sarah's interactions with Lehi. I know I found something before but can't for the life of me remember what it was. 

    But, for the integrity of this project and my desire to not exclude even a single line of text from the Book of Mormon, I'll just include the text here and come back with any updates as I figure it out. 


~~~~~The Book of Mormon~~~~~ 

   "And it came to pass after we had came down into the wilderness unto our father, behold he was filled with joy, and also my mother, Sariah, was exceeding glad, for she truly had mourned because of us; for she had supposed that we had perished in the wilderness; and she also had complained against my father, telling him that he was a visionary man; saying, behold thou hast led us forth from the land of our inheritance, and my sons are no more, and we perish in the wilderness. And after this manner of language had my mother complained against my father."

    " And it came to pass that my father spake unto her saying: I know that I am a visionary man; for if I had not seen the things of God in a vision, I should not have known the goodness of God, but had tarried at Jerusalem and had perished with my children. But behold, I have obtained a land of promise, in the which thing I do rejoice; yea, and I know that the Lord will deliver my sons out of the hands of Laban, and bring them down again unto us in the wilderness. And after this manner of language did my father Lehi comfort my mother Sariah, concerning us, while we journied in the wilderness up to the land of Jerusalem, to obtain the record of the Jews."

    "And when we had returned to the tent of my father, behold their joy was full, and my mother was comforted; and she spake, saying: Now I know of a surety that the Lord hath commanded my husband to flee into the wilderness; yea, and I also know of a surety that the Lord hath protected my sons and delivered them out of the hands of Laban, and gave them power whereby they could accomplish the thing which the Lord hath commanded them. And after this language did she speak. (Pgs 14-15)

~~~~~~

    The language of which sounds an awful lot like Luke's words in the book of Acts. It's a small detail and I'm not going to go back to it. But it worth pointing out.

~~~~~ The New Testament ~~~~~

    11 And when Peter was come to himself, he said, Now I know of a surety, that the Lord hath sent his angel, and hath delivered me out of the hand of Herod, and from all the expectation of the people of the Jews. (Acts 12:11)

~~~~~~

    Now that Lehi has the plates, Joseph Smith begins shifts temporarily to pull inspiration from Moses again rather than Joshua. In this case, the parallels are found in Deuteronomy.

~~~~~ The Old Testament~~~~~

    1 And Moses with the elders of Israel commanded the people, saying, Keep all the commandments which I command you this day. 

    2 And it shall be on the day when ye shall pass over Jordan unto the land which the Lord thy God giveth thee, that thou shalt set thee up great stones, and plaster them with plaster:

    3 And thou shalt write upon them all the words of this law, when thou art passed over, that thou mayest go in unto the land which the Lord thy God giveth thee, a land that floweth with milk and honey; as the Lord God of thy fathers hath promised thee. (Deuteronomy 27:1-3)

    6 Thou shalt build the altar of the Lord thy God of whole stones: and thou shalt offer burnt offerings thereon unto the Lord thy God:

    7 And thou shalt offer peace offerings, and shalt eat there, and rejoice before the Lord thy God.  (Deuteronomy 27:6-7)

~~~~~

    Okay, so lets make quick note in these verses, Moses is giving the Israelites direction on what there are supposed to do once they cross the river Jordan. Nephi and his brothers returning from Jerusalem can be seen as being as impossible of a task and seems to carry a similar level of importance. Remember that Nephi is a parallel to Joshua and Joshua is who brings the Israelites across the river Jordan. That's fun isn't it?

    So what was the direction that Moses gave to the Israelites? 

    The first was to build an altar and make sacrifices, which is what Lehi did.



~~~~~The Book of Mormon~~~~~

    "And it came to pass that they did rejoice exceedingly, and did offer sacrifice and burnt offerings unto the Lord; and they gave thanks unto the God of Israel." (Pg 15)

~~~~~

    Second, they were to write the words of the law upon the stone and become people of God

~~~~~ The Old Testament~~~~~

    8 And thou shalt write upon the stones all the words of this law very plainly.

    9 And Moses and the priests the Levites spake unto all Israel, saying, Take heed, and hearken, O Israel; this day thou art become the people of the Lord thy God.   (Deuteronomy 21:8-9)

    10 Thou shalt therefore obey the voice of the Lord thy God, and do his commandments and his statutes, which I command thee this day.   (Deuteronomy 27:10)

~~~~~~~

    While Lehi doesn't necessarily write words on stone, he does present to his family the five Books of Moses immediately after they perform a sacrifice. Which, for all intents and purposes, has the same effect and occurs in the same order as Mose's direction.

~~~~~The Book of Mormon~~~~~

    "And after that they had given thanks unto the God of Israel, my father Lehi took the records which were engraven upon the plates of brass, and he did search them from the beginning. And he beheld that they did contain the five books of Moses, which gave an account of the creation of the world, and also of Adam and Eve, which was our first parents; and also a record of Jews from the beginning, even down to the commencement of the reign of Zedekiah, King of Judah; and also the prophecies of the Holy prophets, from the beginning, even down to the commencement of the reign of Zedekiah; and also many prophecies which have been spoken by the mouth of Jeremiah." (Pg 15)

~~~~~

    Smith then establishes Lehi's family as being 'people of God' by declaring their lineage to ancient prophets. Which, again seems to align with the direction given to the Israelites.

~~~~~The Book of Mormon~~~~~

    "And it came to pass that my father Lehi also found upon the plates of brass, a genealogy of his fathers; wherefore he knew that he was a descendant of Joseph; yea, even that Joseph which was the son of Jacob, which was sold into Egypt, and which was preserved by the hand of the Lord, that he might preserve his father Jacob and all his household from perishing with famine. And they were also led out of captivity and out of the land of Egypt, by the same God who had preserved them. And thus my father Lehi did discover the genealogy of his fathers. And Laban also was a descendant of Joseph, wherefore he and his fathers had kept the records." (Pg 15)

~~~~~

    After giving these instructions, Moses then prophecies concerning the Isrealites.

~~~~~ The Old Testament~~~~~

    1 And it shall come to pass, if thou shalt hearken diligently unto the voice of the Lord thy God, to observe and to do all his commandments which I command thee this day, that the Lord thy God will set thee on high above all nations of the earth: 

    2 And all these blessings shall come on thee, and overtake thee, if thou shalt hearken unto the voice of the Lord thy God... (Deuteronomy 28:10)

~~~~~The Book of Mormon~~~~~

    "And now when my father saw all these things, he was filled with the spirit, and began to prophesy concerning his seed; that these plates of brass should go forth unto all nations, kindreds, tongues, and people which were of his seed. Wherefore he said that these plates of brass should never perish; neither should they be dimmed any more by time. And he prophesied many times concerning his seed." (Pg 15)

~~~~

    The children of Israel are then commanded to remain obedient to the Lord and are reminded of their genealogy.

~~~~~ The Old Testament~~~~~

    9 Keep therefore the words of this covenant, and do them, that ye may prosper in all that ye do.  

    10  Ye stand this day all of you before the Lord your God; your captains of your tribes, your elders, and your officers, with all the men of Israel,

    11 Your little ones, your wives, and thy stranger that is in thy camp, from the hewer of thy wood unto the drawer of thy water:

    12 That thou shouldest enter into covenant with the Lord thy God, and into his oath, which the Lord thy God maketh with thee this day:

    13 That he may establish thee to day for a people unto himself, and that he may be unto thee a God, as he hath said unto thee, and as he hath sworn unto thy fathers, to Abraham, to Isaac, and to Jacob. (Deuteronomy 29:9-13)



~~~~~The Book of Mormon~~~~~

    "And it came to pass that thus far I and my father had kept the commandments wherewith the Lord had commanded us. And we had obtained the record which the Lord had commanded us, and searched them and found that they were desirable yea, even of great worth unto us, insomuch that we could preserve the commandments of the Lord unto our children. Wherefore it was wisdom in the Lord that we should carry them with us, as we journied in the wilderness towards the land of promise." (Pgs 15 - 16)

~~~~~ The Old Testament~~~~~

    5 And the Lord thy God will bring thee into the land which thy fathers possessed, and thou shalt possess it; and he will do thee good, and multiply thee above thy fathers. (Deuteronomy 30:5)

~~~~~

    By the way, this post is a bit of a milestone as it concludes the first chapter of the Book of Mormon.  I didn't realize it would take me so long to breakdown an entire chapter but you know what? I'm glad I've been so granular. I've learned a lot and I hope you have too, the similarities so far between the Israelite Exodus and the journey of Lehi and his family have been absolutely fascinating for me to compare and I just want to thank you for spending the time to sit down and reading through what I have had to share so far. 

- Mason

Check Your Understanding:

Test how well you remember the themes and parallels in this post.

1. Why was Sariah mourning before Nephi and his brothers returned?




2. What phrase does Sariah use when complaining to Lehi about leaving Jerusalem?




3. Which New Testament verse contains wording similar to Sariah’s “now I know of a surety”?




4. After retrieving the plates, the article argues Joseph Smith shifts his biblical inspiration primarily to which book?




5. What was the first instruction Moses gave Israel after crossing into the promised land?




6. What does Lehi discover first when searching the brass plates?




7. What key genealogical detail does Lehi learn from the plates?




8. What does Lehi prophesy about the brass plates?




9. Which Old Testament section most closely parallels the sequence of sacrifice, scripture, genealogy, and covenant?




10. What milestone does the author note at the end of this post?







New here? Consider starting at the first post.

---

Have you learned a lot from what I've had to share?

Consider buying me a coffee!

Category:

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

The "Mormon" Trademark is About to Expire

By Mason
 The request for Mormon Stories to rebrand has spread quickly through Mormon spaces. Followers learned that om November 14th 2025, the LDS Church had reached out with claims that the podcast was infringing on the “Mormon” trademark. The demand leaned on the legal idea that the Church owns the word.  The request was shared on social media by @mormstories, but those posts seem to have been removed. Fortunately, copies of the email were  shared on reddit. But there is a significant detail sitting behind this entire dispute. The Church will have to renew the "Mormon" trademark in the 2026 to 2027 window.  Source: USPTO database When that time comes, they must prove that they still use the word “Mormon” in active commerce. USPTO rules are clear on this point. A trademark only survives if the owner can show that it is still printed on actual goods or services that are still being sold or distributed. The official guidelines spell it out at uspto.gov under “ Keeping your r...
3 comments
Read

Are You Temple Worthy?

By Mason
Temple worthiness isn’t just about "good behavior" in Mormon teaching. It’s a gate that determines who qualifies for the highest blessings the religion offers. The church teaches that only people judged worthy can enter the temple, make covenants, and receive the ordinances that lead to exaltation, which is the belief that humans can become like God and live forever with their families in the celestial kingdom.  This makes worthiness interviews a spiritual checkpoint that can shape someone’s identity, their standing in the community, and even their hope for eternity.    Are You Worthy to Enter a Mormon Temple? Are You Worthy of the Mormon Temple? Yes No Restart Enter the Temple
6 comments
Read

Early Mormon Criticisms - 2: The Book of Pukei

By Mason
This series looks back at how early critics of the church reacted to the rise of Mormonism. Some mocked it, others warned against it, and a few tried to make sense of it. Each post features a historical excerpt and some quick context to show how critics viewed the new faith as it was unfolding. Part 1 can be read here In 1830 a man by the name of Abner Cole published a criticism of Joseph Smith called the Book of Pukei in the Palmyra Reflector, published under the name "Obadiah Dogberry Esquire".   Cole had access to Grandin’s print shop and saw early pages of the Book of Mormon before the public did. His reaction took the form of a mock scripture that rewrote Joseph Smith’s story into a  joke. That choice wasn’t random. He was simply recounting the events surrounding Joseph smith in a pseudobiblical style, Cole shows us that he likely recognized the Book of Mormon as part of that same genre. Events Parodied in The Book of Pukei     1. Angel Moroni – Cole rewr...
Post a Comment
Read

Code Names and Church Finances

By Mason
Members of the Mormon church are expected to give ten percent of their income as tithing. It’s treated as a basic requirement of faithful membership. But even though members contribute a significant portion of their earnings, they aren’t given a clear accounting of how that money is used.  The Utah church does not release detailed budgets, financial reports, or yearly accounting. Members of the church donate fully on trust, without the kind of transparency they would expect from almost any other major charitable organization. Ensign Peak This lack of transparency became harder to overlook during the Ensign Peak investigation. For years the church separated its investment funds into thirteen shell companies and failed to fulfill federal reporting requirements.  The SEC found that this structure used by the church was designed to conceal the true size and unity of Ensign Peak’s holdings.   Per the SEC's 2023 report: " The Securities and Exchange Commission today announced c...
Post a Comment
Read

Early Mormon Criticisms - 3: Delusions

By Mason
 This series looks back at how early critics of the church reacted to the rise of Mormonism. Some mocked it, others warned against it, and a few tried to make sense of it. Each post features a historical excerpt and some brief context to show how critics viewed the new faith as it was unfolding.  -The full series can be found here - In 1831 Alexander Campbell published An Analysis of the Book of Mormon , one of the earliest full-length critiques of Joseph Smith’s new scripture. The piece first appeared as a review in Campbell’s periodical The Millennial Harbinger and was republished the following year, in 1832, as a standalone pamphlet for wider circulation. Campbell was a prominent religious leader and editor, and he approached the Book of Mormon as a text that needed to be tested, line by line, against the Bible it claimed to supplement. Unlike satirical responses such as Abner Cole’s Book of Pukei , Campbell did not parody Mormonism. He treated it as a serious theologica...
1 comment
Read

What is the CES letter?

By Mason
In 2012, Jeremy Runnells was struggling with questions about LDS history that he couldn’t reconcile with what he had learned growing up. He had served a mission, gone to BYU, and lived his life inside of Mormonism, but the sources he was reading didn’t line up with the version he’d been taught. When he spoke with a Church Educational System director about it, he was asked to write his concerns in one place so they could review them together. He sat down and did exactly that. He pulled notes, checked references, and laid out the issues in a document that ended up more than eighty pages long. He sent it back expecting a follow-up. The follow-up never came. That unanswered list of questions eventually became known online as the CES Letter. In April 2013, he shared his document to reddit on r/exmormon under the title “Letter to a CES Director.” The file spread fast because it pulled together problems that members usually encounter one at a time. Runnells later said he wrote it to underst...
1 comment
Read

The 14 Fundamentals in Following the Prophet - A Response

By Mason
   In 1980, Ezra Taft Benson delivered a devotional at BYU that outlined what he called the “ 14 Fundamentals in Following the Prophet. ” The message spread widely within the church and shaped how Latter day Saints came to understand prophetic authority. Even if someone never read the original talk, the ideas appeared in lessons, leadership trainings, and casual conversation across generations. The fundamentals build a system that places the prophet above every competing source of guidance. When read together, they create a model of obedience and hierarchy that rests on the idea that one man speaks for God. 1. The prophet is the only person who speaks for God in everything  This first principle elevates one individual above all other voices. If only one man speaks for God, then any disagreement with him becomes a spiritual issue rather than a difference in interpretation. The structure relies on absolute trust in a single leader. 2. The living prophet is more important than script...
Post a Comment
Read

What the Maine Temple Announcement Signals

By Mason
 The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints announced on December 14, 2025 that a temple will be built in Portland, Maine . The announcement came during a regional Christmas devotional and was delivered by Elder Allen D. Haynie, a member of the Church’s Area Presidency, rather than during a General Conference session or directly by the Church president. What makes this announcement stand out is not the location, but the method. For years, temples were almost always announced during the April or October General Conference, usually by the Church president, at the close of a major session watched by a global audience. Under Russell M. Nelson, this practice became especially prominent, with long lists of new temples read out twice a year. These announcements have often been used rhetorically to imply numerical growth, even in regions with small or stagnant membership.  Announcing a temple outside of General Conference reduces the performative aspect of that claim.   T...
Post a Comment
Read

There Is No Curse, Part 4: Who I Am

By
I felt closer to God when I finally stopped believing in Him.  Let me explain. When I was a kid, I’d sit in church and listen to people talk about God as if he was real . I say “he” because God was also defined as a male, and that definition supposedly came from thousands of years of tradition. God was like me : he had feelings or grief and joy; he wanted me to be happy; he had ambition and plans for me, just like I did for myself. What a wonderful thought that a Supreme Being had me in mind! But God was also “He.” I say that because the title implied a king, nobility, and sovereignty. God was not like me : He was omnipotent; He knew better than me; He was always in control; He wasn’t flawed like me; He didn’t make mistakes; He knew the end from the beginning. I couldn’t ultimately know God, but He wanted me to draw close to Him.   According to the traditions I grew up in, the way we approached God was through “righteousness,” aka, doing good things and avoiding bad things....
Post a Comment
Read

Early Mormon Criticisms - 1: Caution Against the Golden Bible

By Mason
This series looks back at how early critics of the church reacted to the rise of Mormonism. Some mocked it, others warned against it, and a few tried to make sense of it. Each post features a real historical excerpt and some quick context to show how critics viewed the new faith as it was unfolding. For this first article, we are going to look at one of the first known in-depth public criticisms of the Book of Mormon, which appeared before the book itself was publicly available.  On February 20, 1830, Cornelius Camden Blatchley, a New York physician and writer known for his skeptical views on organized religion, published an article titled “Caution Against the Golden Bible” in the New-York Telescope . Written only weeks before the Book of Mormon’s official release in March of that year. Most of his arguments are still being used to this day. The Complaints Presented by Blatchley He specifies reading the Title page as well as   pages 353–368 of the original Book of Morm...
Post a Comment
Read
Link copied!