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TitleLehi as Moses
Publication TypeJournal Article
Year of Publication2000
AuthorsReynolds, Noel B.
JournalJournal of Book of Mormon Studies
Volume9
Issue2
Pagination26-35, 81-82
KeywordsExodus Motif; Lehi (Prophet); Moses (Prophet); Parallel; Promised Land; Rhetoric; Shadows; Types
Abstract

Lehi and his people understood their own times in terms of types and shadows from the past. God’s leading the family out of Jerusalem and reinstituting his covenant with Lehi in a new promised land can be understood only by comparison with the exodus and the roles of Lehi and Nephi in terms of Moses. This article identifies fourteen Mosiac themes and circumstances that Lehi invoked in his sermon recorded in 2 Nephi 1 and illustrates close parallels with these themes in Deuteronomy. Lehi may have compared himself to Moses as a rhetorical device to help his children see the divine direction behind his actions. In his final words to his children, Lehi invokes Moses’ farewell address to the Israelites. In so doing, Lehi casts himself in a role similar to that of Moses. Nephi portrays himself in similar terms on the small plates, apparently following the pattern set by his father.

URLhttps://scholarsarchive.byu.edu/jbms/vol9/iss2/5

Scripture Reference

2 Nephi 1:1-31