User:BenBeckstromBYU/sandboxLaban

=Laban=

Narrative
Laban first appears in First Nephi as a wealthy and politically influential military commander who appears to be a distant kinsman of Lehi. Laban was in possession of the brass plates and rebuffed both Laman and Nephi in their initial approaches. In both cases, Laban attempted to kill the sons of Lehi, and in the latter case took the entirety of Lehi's family fortune from his sons. After Nephi and his brothers had an opportunity to recuperate, Nephi snuck inside Jerusalem. He discovered Laban drunkenly lying in the road. After a conversation with the Spirit of the Lord, Nephi decapitates Laban. He then dons his clothing and armor and retrieves the plates. During Nephi's escape from Jerusalem, he persuades Zoram depart Jerusalem with the sons of Lehi.

Death
Nephi's killing of Laban has been the subject of significant debate in the Mormon Studies community. Common arguments include that the killing was legally justified as self defense, that it was a political act, and that it functioned similarly to the Akedah as a test of Nephi's faith. Other interpretations from a secular standpoint include that it is a response by Joseph Smith to repressed trauma or a severing of the narrative from the established biblical canon. Generally agreed upon is that there is some significance to the Spirit of the Lord ordering Laban's death.

Brass Plates
Brant Gardner identified severalways that the plates of Laban were "extremely important", both in the immediate context of their retrieval by the sons of Lehi and in later Nephite, Lamanite, and Mulekite society. For Gardner, the plates function as a symbol of political authority, as a "social anchor" for the Nephites, a doctrinal source text, a prototype for Nephite recordkee[ing, and as a "sacred object." }} The last point, indicating that the brass plates function as royal insignia, is also discussed in depth by Stephen D. Ricks, a Latter-day Saint Hebraist and apologist. Ricks associated it with the "protocol" that was used as a prop in Josiah's coronation, citing Rashi's interpretation of the Hebrew word "edût" as the Torah in 2 Kings 11:12.

James Strang's translation of the Book of the Law of the Lord contains a brief assertion that it contains the contents of the brass plates of Laban.

Sword
The sword of Laban has also generated academic discussion. Steven L. Peck, a Latter-day Saint writer and scientist, wrote a Deleuzean treatment of the sword of Laban as emblematic of climate change and of power structures, referring to it as symptomatic of the "Jerusalem-machine." Stephen D. Ricks also discusses the sword of Laban as a part of the royal coronation ceremony captured in Mosiah, counting the sword as a sacred emblem of kingship. /ref> Psychobiographers of Joseph Smith, such as Robert D. Anderson and William D. Morain, have interpreted the sword of Laban, and particularly its use in beheading Laban, as an attempt to reckon with childhood trauma.

Sources!!!!
https://shipsofhagoth.com/2022/08/the-sword-of-laban-deleuze-and-climate-change-slouching-toward-apocalypse-in-the-book-of-mormon-part-1/

https://scholarsarchive.byu.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=1323&context=jbms

https://scholarsarchive.byu.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=2465&context=byusq

https://scholarsarchive.byu.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=1636&context=jbms

https://www.dialoguejournal.com/articles/why-nephi-killed-laban-reflections-on-the-truth-of-the-book-of-mormon/

https://rsc.byu.edu/literature-belief/dark-way-tree

https://speeches.byu.edu/talks/jeffrey-r-holland/will-father/