Editing First Nephi (section)

===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}}