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JAMIE - Question about 3rd Nephi
In 3 Nephi 23:8-13 Christ called Nephi asking him why Samuel the Lamanite prophecy was not written regarding verse 11 “that many saints did raise and appear into many “ and Christ told Nephi to record it. But if you look at Helaman 14:25 its already recorded. My question why Nephi record does not have this information? Does Nephi in 3rd Nephi has different record then Book of Mormon?
JOEL - There are two ways to look at this.
1. When Jesus visited the Nephites after His resurrection He said to Nephi:
6 Behold, other scriptures I would that ye should write, that ye have not.
7 And it came to pass that he said unto Nephi: Bring forth the record which ye have kept.
8 And when Nephi had brought forth the records, and laid them before him, he cast his eyes upon them and said:
9. Verily I say unto you, I commanded my servant Samuel, the Lamanite, that he should testify unto this people, that at the day that the Father should glorify his name in me that there were many saints who should arise from the dead, and should appear unto many, and should minister unto them. And he said unto them: Was it not so?
10 And his disciples answered him and said: Yea, Lord, Samuel did prophesy according to thy words, and they were all fulfilled.
11 And Jesus said unto them: How be it that ye have not written this thing, that many saints did arise and appear unto many and did minister unto them?
12 And it came to pass that Nephi remembered that this thing had not been written.
13 And it came to pass that Jesus commanded that it should be written; therefore it was written according as he commanded. (3 Nephi: 6-13)
It is possible that at the time Jesus said that to the disciples the words of Samuel's prophecy 40 years earlier had not been written yet and so they followed the command of Jesus and the prophecy was included in the book of Helaman that we have now.
"And many graves shall be opened, and shall yield up many of their dead; and many saints shall appear unto many." (Helaman 14:25)
Scriptures don't always follow in a chronological order and of course the Book of Mormon as we have it now did not exist yet until Mormon compiled all the records.
2. The second, and perhaps more logical way to look at this, is that in the Helaman scripture, Samuel is talking of a future event when he said the graves "shall" be opened and saints "shall" appear.
In 3 Nephi 23, to the Nephites, Jesus is talking about recording the "fulfilment" of the prophecy when He said that many saints "did arise and appear unto many" (verse 11).
Perhaps Samuel's prophecy was already recorded, but Jesus wanted them to record the fulfillment of the prophecy which they had not done yet. They may have somehow been given this information earlier but had not recorded it.
Both of the above explanations are supported by various Book of Mormon scholars:
Sidney B. Sperry, Book of Mormon Compendium (Salt Lake City: Bookcraft, 1968), 417.
Joseph Fielding McConkie, Robert L. Millet, and Brent L. Top, Doctrinal Commentary on the Book of Mormon, 4 vols. (Salt Lake City: Bookcraft, 1992), 4:159.
Daniel H. Ludlow, A Companion to Your Study of the Book of Mormon (Salt Lake City: Deseret Book, 1977), 283.
Book of Mormon Study Manual: Religion 121—122 (Salt Lake City: The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, 1979), 376.
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