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Continuing my reread of the Book of Mormon. Words of Mormon. The bridge between the two parts of the BOM: the first-person accounts from Nephi to Amaleki; and the third-person Mormon-edited history that starts in Mosiah.
Words of Mormon is a tiny book, but it makes my head spin. Records, plate, abridgements – it all makes my head spin. The necessity for this is the lost manuscript.
For a narrative encounter with the BOM, it’s an abrupt intrusion of the end-of-the-story into its middle. Prophecies have already made it clear that the Nephites will be destroyed. Now we have Mormon as a witness to “almost all the destruction of my people the Nephites.”
Once Mormon has written his history down to King Benjamin, he stumbles upon “this small account of the prophets.” This is odd. I agree with Dan Vogel that given the sacred import of records to the Nephites, you’d think Mormon would know what has been preserved.
The timetable of composition from here seems a bit fuzzy. Mormon proceeds to “finish out” his abridgement, then appends or copies the “small account” to it. That information raises a lot of questions and points to the internal complexity of the BOM.
Presume Mormon copied the sm plates. Can we presume that he copied them in their entirety without any alterations? The BOM repeatedly reminds us that we’re getting a small part of the story. “I cannot write a 100th part of the things of my people.” Our knowledge is fragmentary.
I have to roll up my sleeves for Mosiah and Alma next week.
