The Lord's Plan Plays Out Over Time - Book of Omni

You can read the entire chapter at the following link: https://www.lds.org/scriptures/bofm/omni/1?lang=eng.

The Book of Omni is unique in the Book of Mormon as a compendium of records from several different record-keepers down the generations—from Omni to Amaleki. It helps us trace the passage of time (more than 200 years elapse from start to finish), and makes us wonder about what else we might learn about these interesting chapters in the Nephites’ history at some future point. The lack of detail in Omni should not discourage us, however. As we prayerfully acquaint ourselves with the entire Book of Mormon, we can come to realize that what the Lord includes (and doesn’t include) in the book is suited for our needs in this generation. It’s helpful to remember that even though there is great drama and historical curiosity in the Book of Mormon—as with the Bible—it is first and foremost a source of sacred knowledge setting forth principles that can lead us to salvation and eternal life.

The book is named after the first record-keeper it mentions: Omni, the son of Jarom. Here is a rough timeline of all the record-keepers of the small plates of Nephi:

Nephi (son of Lehi): 599 B.C. (in Jerusalem) to 544 B.C. (in the land of Nephi on the American continent)

Jacob (son of Lehi, younger brother of Nephi): 544 B.C. to sometime presumably in the 500-420 B.C. range (in the land of Nephi)

Enos (son of Jacob): About 420 to 399 B.C. (in the land of Nephi)

Jarom (son of Enos): About 399 to 361 B.C. (in the land of Nephi)

Omni (son of Jarom): About 323 to 317 B.C. (in the land of Nephi)

Amaron (son of Omni): About 317 B.C. to 279 B.C. (in the land of Nephi)

Chemish (son of Omni, brother of Amaron): About 279 B.C. to ?? (in the land of Nephi)

Abinadom (son of Chemish): ?? (in the land of Nephi)

Amaleki (son of Abinadom): ?? (in the land of Nephi) to about 130 B.C. (in the land of Zarahemla)

Amaleki delivers the completed small plates into the hands of the Nephite king Benjamin (verse 25).

So the first two record-keepers cover a total of 135 modern printed pages spanning maybe 100-180 years, and the last seven (of those, the last five are covered in the Book of Omni) cover a total of eight pages spanning maybe 290-370 years. But again, we learn that the plates themselves were nearly full after Jacob completed his record. What we don’t know, at least not yet, is what these record-keepers or the Nephite kings might have recorded on the other (the larger) plates Nephi created to keep the people’s history. Also, we don’t know whether the Lord provided any instruction to the record-keepers about whether they should create additional plates if they had more to say. We know that Mormon, the principal compiler of the plates and the abridger of the large plates of Nephi, created a new set of plates during his time in the 4^th century A.D. My assumption is that if Nephi could make plates in the 6^th century B.C. after arriving on the American continent, and Mormon could make plates nearly a thousand years afterward, the raw materials and technology probably existed for the other record-keepers to make plates in the time in between, if they had chosen to.

From the different accounts of the record-keepers, we are able to feel the sense of duty that these men inherited and, in turn, passed on. After all, assuming each of them read the records of Nephi, Jacob and Enos, it would have been pretty clear to them that the fate of future generations of Nephites and Lamanites depended on their ability to safeguard and preserve the records for future use. We should also recognize the possibility that the Nephites’ language changed over time, and that these record-keepers’ understanding of the “reformed Egyptian” used by Nephi had become specialized knowledge that was not common among all Nephites in these later generations. In Mosiah 1:2, for example, Mormon hints that King Benjamin had to make sure his sons were taught in the language of his fathers to ensure they could know earlier prophecies.

So hopefully we can appreciate the magnitude of the task these men carried out. Presumably it was not only their responsibility to safeguard and preserve the records, but also to share the records’ content and meaning with the Nephites as they taught rising generations and faced various challenges.

Omni’s brief record is unlike those of his predecessors in that he openly confesses to be a “wicked man” who has not followed the Lord’s teachings as he ought to have. This makes us wonder whether Omni truly was someone who substantially strayed from the path of righteousness, or whether he was just holding himself to particularly high standards of conduct because of his leadership role among the people. Omni writes of fighting “much with the sword to preserve my people,” as well as of “many seasons of serious war and bloodshed” (verses 2-3).

Amaron writes that by 279 B.C., the “more wicked part of the Nephites were destroyed” as a consequence of their disobedience to God’s commandments, while also writing that the Lord delivered the righteous part of the people out of the hands of their enemies (verses 5-7).

Abinadom, like Omni, writes of seasons of war and of his own personal part in those struggles.

Despite being named after its first author, the Book of Omni is principally written by its last author, Amaleki (verses 12-30). Amaleki tells us a number of significant things. First, that a Nephite king named Mosiah was warned by the Lord to flee with his people (presumably because of threats from the Lamanites) from the land of Nephi. Next, that the Lord’s word and power led Mosiah and his people until they came to a land where they discovered another branch of Israel who had come separately—by the Lord’s hand—from Jerusalem at the time of its capture by the Babylonians. These people—known as the people of Zarahemla after their leader—join with the Nephites and give their name to the land where both peoples now settle. They are also known as the Mulekites because their first leader was a son of Zedekiah (who was King of Judah at the time of the Babylonian invasion) named Mulek, as is later revealed (in Helaman 6 and 8).

Interestingly, in a section of the Book of Mormon that emphasizes the importance of record-keepers through the generations, we are introduced to the people of Zarahemla, who had gone adrift into contention, unbelief, and general confusion largely because they had no written records. This shows us that even with the problems the Nephites are facing, things could have been much worse without the record Nephi and his brothers obtained some 450 years previously. And the Nephites’ ability to preserve their beliefs, language and culture become the means of saving the people of Zarahemla from drifting further into darkness.

Also, we learn of the existence of yet another civilization. The people of Zarahemla provide King Mosiah a stone with engravings that Mosiah is able to translate with help from the Lord beyond his own linguistic abilities. The engravings tell the account of a man named Coriantumr, who had stumbled into their midst some time ago. We later learn that Coriantumr was one of the last surviving members of a group of people who came to the Americas from the Middle East centuries before. These people are known as the Jaredites, and the Nephites later (we find out a few more chapters along, in Mosiah 8 and 21-22) discover a fuller record of their civilization, and through the inspired translation efforts of Mosiah’s grandson (also named King Mosiah) and the diligent abridging of the final Book of Mormon prophet Moroni, this fuller record becomes the Book of Ether (the penultimate, or second-to-last book within the Book of Mormon).

So the Book of Omni serves as this unique section of the Book of Mormon where time passes quickly, and we discover the intersection of narratives and timelines from each of the three main groups whom we know were led by the Lord from the Holy Land (the Middle East) to the new Promised Land (the Americas): the Nephites/Lamanites, the Mulekites (people of Zarahemla) and the Jaredites.

Finally, Amaleki relates the story of a group among the Nephites who appear zealous—and in many ways overzealous—to recover the land they lost the generation before. How often do we see these disputes materialize today among warring nations and peoples? Human nature changes little, unless proactively and persistently turned in the direction of the divine.

And, poof, we have been transported to a time only a few generations (130 years) before Christ’s birth, and about 160 years before Christ’s appearance to the Nephites. This allows us to dig in to the detailed drama that is to come in the rest of the book, maybe foreshadowing the cycles of obedience and disobedience and the moral challenges to society that we have faced in the 190 or so years since Joseph Smith restored the Gospel, as we anticipate the decisive return of Christ to the earth.