Words of Mormon

This will be a short entry in this blog, as the book itself - Words of Mormon - is only 18 verses long, or about a page and a half of writing.  (I'm writing this longhand while on the bus home; thank goodness people won't see my handwriting.)

Words of Mormon was written primarily, in my estimation, to explain the books we have just completed:  1 Nephi through Omni.  Mormon says that he had just finished abridging the record from Nephi's days to King Benjamin...  He tells is that he "...searched among the records which had been delivered into my hands, and I found these plates, which contained this small account of the prophets, from Jacob down to the reign of this king Benjamin, and also many of the words of Nephi." (Words of Mormon, v.3).  Mormon plainly saw the worth of the records he had found:  "And the things which are upon these plates pleasing me, because of the prophecies of the coming of Christ...Wherefore, I chose these things, to finish my record..." (Words of Mormon, v.4, 5).

It's interesting that Mormon inserted the complete small plates of Nephi into the record he was working on, instead of abridging them.  I think that shows what value he placed on the content...  He didn't want to leave any of it out.  Certainly by this time he was good at distilling what was written down; he had abridged the King's records from over 400 years of recordings.  He could easily have abridged these plates too, but he was moved not to.

There was another reason Mormon inserted the small plates of Nephi into his abridged record... one that the didn't know. "And I do this for a wise purpose; for thus it whispereth me, according to the workings of the Spirit of the Lord which is in me. And now, I do not know all things; but the Lord knoweth all things which are to come; wherefore, he worketh in me to do according to his will" (Words of Mormon, v.7).  Mormon didn't know why, but certainly God knew.  God also knew why when he inspired Nephi to begin this record: "...I, Nephi, received a commandment that the ministry and the prophecies, the more plain and precious parts of them, should be written upon these plates ... for the instruction of my people...and also for other wise purposes, which purposes are known unto the Lord." (1 Ne. 19:3).

As it turns out, the manuscript that Joseph Smith allowed Martin Harris to take was lost.  I believe that the lost manuscript was Mormon's abridgment of the Nephite history from Lehi and Nephi down to King Benjamin.  How convenient it was to have a backup to use in the lost manuscript's place.  Except it wasn't just a coincidence, happenstance or convenience; it was because a knowing, all-seeing God had provided for the calamity.  God knows what can and will happen.  He inspired Nephi to start the record on the small plates and to commit his descendants to carry it on.  He inspired Mormon to make his search, finding Nephi's small plates.  God knew they were there and He knew they would be needed.  (On a side note, I'm sure that Mormon had no idea they were there in all the records he was abridging.  Probably within a generation or two after Amelaki gave them to King Benjamin, the small plates became just a part of the entire records library and perhaps even forgotten).

Last thought:  Mormon mentions that "I chose these things, to finish my record upon them, which remainder of my record I shall take from the plates of Nephi" (Words of Mormon, v.5).  I wonder...  did he write the book Words of Mormon on the last space available on the small plates of Nephi?

This small book, like the rest of the Book of Mormon, assures me that God knows His children.  That He loves them.  That He watches over them and provides for their sustenance, both temporal and spiritual.  The Book of Mormon has always convinced me that this is true.

Don