FARMS Update: Lehi's Sacrifices in the Wilderness

FARMS Update: Lehi's Sacrifices in the Wilderness
S. Kent Brown
Provo, Utah: Maxwell Institute, 2001. P. N/A

The views expressed in this article are the views of the author and do not represent the position of the Maxwell Institute, Brigham Young University, or The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.

Lehi's Sacrifices in the Wilderness

Religious life in ancient Israel derived much of its meaning from animal sacrifice. It was this way for Lehi and Sariah and their family members. How do we know? Because at critical moments during their first months away from their Jerusalem home they offered sacrifices. Their acts of devotion open a window onto the Mosaic law and its deep influence in the lives of believers.¹

Nephi's narrative highlights three occasions when Lehi offered sacrifices (to be distinguished from burnt offerings): when the family arrived at their first campsite (1 Nephi 2:7), when the sons of Lehi returned from Jerusalem with the plates of brass (1 Nephi 5:9), and when the sons returned with the family of Ishmael (1 Nephi 7:22). In each instance Nephi specifically ties these offerings to expressions of thanksgiving. Such details allow us to understand that these sacrifices were the so- called peace offerings that are mandated in the law of Moses (see Leviticus 3:1–17; 7:11–21; 22:29–30).² According to Psalm 107, a person was to “sacrifice the sacrifices of thanksgiving” for safety in journeying (v. 22; emphasis added), whether on water³ or through the desert (see vv. 4–6, 19–30). Jonah, for example, having been delivered from the fish that had swallowed him, prayed to the Lord, saying, “I will sacrifice unto thee with the voice of thanksgiving” (Jonah 2:9; compare Psalm 116:17; Hebrews 13:15).

The burnt offerings, on the other hand, present an entirely different matter. They are for atonement rather than thanksgiving (see Leviticus 1:2–4). This type of offering presumes that someone has sinned and that therefore the relationship between God and his people has been ruptured, requiring restoration.⁴ Priests offered this sort of sacrifice twice daily in the sanctuary of ancient Israel on the chance that someone in Israel had sinned. While the priests could not know that an Israelite had sinned, the Lord obliged them to make the offering anyway. In this sense it was a just-in-case sacrifice.⁵ In Lehi's case we read that he sacrificed burnt offerings on two occasions. Let us examine them in reverse order.

The second instance involved Lehi's sacrificing burnt offerings after the sons returned from Jerusalem with the family of Ishmael in tow (1 Nephi 7:22). Had there been sin? Yes. The older sons had sought to bind Nephi and leave him in the desert to die (1 Nephi 7:6–16). Even though they had repented and sought Nephi's forgiveness (1 Nephi 7:20–21), Lehi evidently still felt the need to offer burnt offerings for atonement.

On the earlier occasion, Lehi offered such sacrifices after the return of his sons from Jerusalem with the plates of brass in hand (1 Nephi 5:9). Had there been sin? Again, the answer is yes. Not only had the older two brothers beaten the younger two, drawing the attention of an angel (1 Nephi 3:28–30), but Nephi had killed a man named Laban who was a distant relative of Lehi (1 Nephi 4:5–18; 5:14, 16). Even though Nephi knew through the Holy Spirit that the Lord had commanded him to kill Laban and thus justified Laban's death (1 Nephi 4:11–13),⁶ Lehi was evidently unwilling to take any chances. So he offered burnt offerings, exactly the right sacrifice for the occasion.

Notes

1. The main study so far is that of the author, “What Were Those Sacrifices Offered by Lehi?” in his From Jerusalem to Zarahemla: Literary and Historical Studies of the Book of Mormon (Provo, Utah: BYU Religious Studies Center, 1998), 1–8.

2. See Jacob Milgrom, Leviticus 1–16, The Anchor Bible (New York: Double day, 1991), 3:218–19.

3. That sacrifices could be offered on ships at sea is affirmed in Jonah 1:16.

4. Consult Milgrom, Leviticus 1–16, 175–77, 267–68, 858.

5. As an example, Job 1:5 records that Job “offered burnt offerings” just in case his “sons have sinned.”

6. John W. Welch and John A. Tvedtnes have discussed ancient legal dimensions of Nephi's act. See Welch, “Legal Perspectives on the Slaying of Laban,” Journal of Book of Mormon Studies 1/1 (1992): 119–41; and Tvedtnes, The Most Correct Book: Insights from a Book of Mormon Scholar (Salt Lake City: Cornerstone, 1999), 110–12.

By S. Kent Brown