Editing First Nephi (section)

==Interpretation and themes==
===Exodus===
Multiple scholars have noticed parallels between Nephi's journey in first Nephi and the Exodus story in the Bible. Nephi consciously encourages Laman and Lemuel to compare their situation to Moses's. He compares their situation to that of Moses after failing to get the plates from Laban in 1 Nephi 4:2–3. When a miracle provides them with food, Nephi writes that it was like when the Israelites were fed with manna (1 Nephi 17:28). He compares their being led by God to when the Israelites were led by a light at night (1 Nephi 17:13, 30). In one of the first examinations of the Exodus type in the Book of Mormon, George S. Tate, a professor of comparative literature at Brigham Young University, argues that Nephi uses parallels to Moses' Exodus as a rhetorical technique to encourage and unify his people. Nephi's use of the Exodus type sets up other Exodus patterns in the Book of Mormon, which is also a pattern of personal conversion.<ref>{{cite book |last1=Tate |first1=George S. |editor1-last=Lambert |editor1-first=Neal E. |title=Literature of Belief |date=1981 |publisher=Religious Studies Center, Brigham Young University |isbn=0884944093 |chapter=The Typology of the Exodus Pattern in the Book of Mormon|url=https://rsc.byu.edu/literature-belief/typology-exodus-pattern-book-mormon}}; {{cite web |title=George S. Tate |url=https://rsc.byu.edu/author/tate-george-s |website=Religious Studies Center |access-date=9 January 2024}}; {{harvnb|Austin|2024|p=80}}</ref> S. Kent Brown, a professor of ancient scripture at Brigham Young University, states that Nephi uses the Exodus type to prove God's power, and by extension, his own prophetic power. Nephi writes that God gave power to Moses to part the Red Sea, so he could give Nephi a similar power to know "the judgements that shall come" (1 Nephi 8:12).<ref>{{cite book |last1=Brown |first1=S. Kent |title=From Jerusalem to Zarahemla: Literary and Historical Studies of the Book of Mormon |date=1998 |publisher=Religious Studies Center, Brigham Young University|url=https://rsc.byu.edu/jerusalem-zarahemla/exodus-pattern-book-mormon}}; {{cite web |title=Brown, S. Kent |url=https://rsc.byu.edu/author/brown-s-kent |publisher=Religious Studies Center |access-date=9 January 2024}}</ref> Brant Gardner, an LDS scholar of Mesoamerican ethnohistory with previous publications in FARMS, wrote in his commentary on the Book of Mormon that Nephi likely wrote first Nephi to fit the pattern of Exodus in the Old Testament, as a way to create a foundational narrative for his people.<ref>{{harvnb|Gardner|2007|p=47}}; {{cite web | author=Gardner, Brant | title=Too Good to be True: Questionable Archaeology and the Book of Mormon | date=September 2002 | work=FAIR Papers | publisher=[[Foundation for Apologetic Information & Research]] | location=Mesa, Arizona | url=http://www.fairlds.org/pubs/QArch.pdf | accessdate=2009-01-14}}</ref> In his book ''The Testimony of Two Nations'' published with the University of Illinois Press, [[Michael Austin (writer)|Michael Austin]] examines 1 Nephi 17:33–35 passage. Nephi refutes the logic of the Deuteronomists and Laman and Lemuel, who believe that the Exodus story proves God loves His chosen people more than other people. Nephi says that the Exodus story proves that God "esteemeth all flesh in one" and favors those who keep his commandments.{{sfn|Austin|2024|p=80}}

===The Great and Abominable Church===
{{main|Great and abominable church}}
Nephi sees the persecution of the apostles and their followers by the "house of Israel",<ref>{{lds|1 Nephi|11|35}}</ref> then later sees a "great church" that is, according to the description of the angel, "...most abominable above all other churches, which slayeth the saints of God, yea, and tortureth them and bindeth them down, and yoketh them with a yoke of iron...".<ref>{{lds|1 Nephi|13|5}}</ref>

The LDS teaching of a [[Great Apostasy]] implies that the Catholic church is no longer true. Early Saints believed that the "great and abominable church" described the Catholic church.<ref name=Young>{{Cite book |last=Young |first=Neil J. |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=CgDWCgAAQBAJ&pg=PA87 |title=We Gather Together: The Religious Right and the Problem of Interfaith Politics |date=2016 |publisher=Oxford University Press |isbn=978-0-19-973898-4 |pages=87–88 |language=en}}</ref> LDS [[general authority]] [[Bruce R. McConkie]] famously identified the "great and abominable church" as the Catholic church in his book ''Mormon Doctrine'' (1958).{{sfn|Salleh and Hemming|2020|pp=24–25}} After its publication, church leaders at the time recognized McConkie’s problematic claims and pushed for discontinuation of the book. When a second edition came out, many of McConkie’s opinions of Catholicism were moderated.<ref>{{Cite journal |last=Adams |first=Stirling |year=2012 |title=The End of Bruce R. McConkie's Mormon Doctrine |url=https://www.jstor.org/stable/43201315 |journal=The John Whitmer Historical Association Journal |publisher=John Whitmer Historical Association (JWHA) |volume=32 |issue=2 |pages=60–65 |jstor=43201315 }}</ref> Official LDS publications discourage the identification of the great and abominable church with the Catholic Church, as well as with any other specific religion, denomination or organization. According to a 1988 article by [[Stephen E. Robinson]] in ''[[Ensign (LDS magazine)|Ensign]]'', an official magazine of LDS Church, "no single known historical church, denomination, or set of believers meets all the requirements for the great and abominable church... Rather, the role of Babylon has been played by many different agencies, ideologies, and churches in many different times."<ref>{{cite journal |last1=Robinson |first1=Stephen E. |title=Warring against the Saints of God |journal=The Ensign |date=January 1988 |url=https://www.churchofjesuschrist.org/study/ensign/1988/01/warring-against-the-saints-of-god |language=en}}</ref>

=== Killing Laban ===
{{main|Killing of Laban}}
Many scholars have commented on the theological implications of Nephi reporting that the Holy Ghost told him to slay Laban. Latter-day Saint critic [[Eugene England]] analyzed Laban as a scapegoat figure common in ancient times, but saw this as a flawed argument.<ref name=":4">{{Cite journal |last=England |first=Eugene |date=1989 |title=Why Nephi Killed Laban: Reflections on Truth in the Book of Mormon |journal=Dialogue: A Journal of Mormon Thought |volume=22 |issue=3 |page=43|doi=10.2307/45225787 |jstor=45225787 }}</ref> For BYU religion professor Charles Swift, Nephi acted out of necessity; but acknowledges that there were many other ways God could have provided the brass plates to Nephi. Jeffrey R. Holland and Swift argue that Nephi had to slay Laban in order to obey God, and that is the most important thing.<ref name=":0">{{Cite journal |last=Swift |first=Charles |date=2019 |title="The Lord slayeth the wicked": Coming to Terms with Nephi Killing Laban |url=https://scholarsarchive.byu.edu/jbms/vol28/iss1/6/ |journal=Journal of Book of Mormon Studies |volume=29 |issue=1 |page=138}}</ref><ref name=":3">{{Cite web |last=Holland |first=Jeffrey |date=September 1976 |title=How can I explain Nephi's killing Laban to my nonmember friends? |url=https://www.churchofjesuschrist.org/study/ensign/1976/09/i-have-a-question/how-can-i-explain-nephis-killing-laban-to-my-nonmember-friends?lang=eng |archive-date= |access-date=November 19, 2023 |website=The Ensign}}</ref>

===Women===
In First Nephi, the only named woman in the narrative is Nephi's mother, [[Sariah]]. Ishmael's wife and daughters are not given names. The existence of Nephi's sisters is not mentioned until 2 Nephi. Nephi refers to Ishmael's daughters as Ishmael's daughters or the wives/women of him and his brothers, showing that their social relation to other men is what gives them importance for Nephi. Similarly, Sariah is always referred to as a mother or wife, not as an individual. The two scenes of female resistance{{snd}}Sariah worrying that her sons have not returned because they have died and Ishmael's daughters wishing to return to Jerusalem after their father's death{{snd}}create a [[type scene]] with instructive differences between the two. For Spencer, the latter story illustrates how treatment of women has changed after the "Nephite-Lamanite" divide. In Sariah's story, she reconciles with Lehi after she sees that the Lord protected her sons. In contrast, no one attempts to comfort the daughters of Ishmael and instead, Laman and Lemuel conspire with the sons of Ishmael to kill Lehi and Nephi, silencing the women and using their discontent for their own designs.{{sfn|Spencer|2020|pp=100–115}}