Post by Lemuel –
Zoram said that only he and Sam remain from the original group that lived in Jerusalem. Obviously that is wrong because though I am older than both Nephi and Sam, I still remain. I would like to make a few things clear. All of those who call themselves the people of Nephi have been led by a man who from his youth desired only to take the rightful leadership of the family from Laman who was the oldest. It was only when Nephi realized there was no way Laman and I would never submit to his foolish ambition of ruling over us that he fooled many of you and ran away. You have called him King – that must have made him happy at last, because that is all he ever wanted.
You do have to give Nephi credit for learning a few things from Laman and I. He was a strong man both physically and mentally. He was consistant – from his very youth his delusions about God have never wavered. It sounds like to his very death he claimed that God loves His children and he was probably still praying for our souls – a waste of time might I add, because our souls are just fine.
Despite the story about the tree and our not wanting to partake of that white fruit, we doubt anything of the sort. God never made that kind of thing known unto us, afterall if God were to actually reveal anything it would have been to Laman or myself – us being the eldest.
I still remember when we were traveling near the Red Sea we spent some time in a valley which my father Lehi named the Valley of Lemuel after me. In my father’s visionary way, he said that he named the valley after me because of my so-called “stiffneckedness.” He said “O you might be like this valley, firm and steadfast, and immovable in keeping the commandments of the Lord.”
Nephi loved that because he thought it made him look spiritually superior to me.
It was in my valley where we were camped when my father kept sending us back to Jerusalem, first to steal the plates from Laban and then to get our women One interesting thing did happen in my valley and that was when our father found what he called the Liahona. I never did figure out how it worked. Nephi of course claimed that it was miraculously provided by the Lord – Nephi probably stole it from Laban. But it was of such curious workmanship, with two spindles, one of which showed us how to get through the wilderness – it seemed to work though, but I never did figure it out. As I said, God never made stuff like that known to Laman and me.
I think what Nephi liked so much about it was that he could say it worked based on obedience to commandments and because it also had writings on it, he said it was plain to be read. Maybe it was plain for him to read but it never made sense to me. Nephi loved that obedience stuff, he never could let go and enjoy life.
With Nephi finally dead, the best thing you all could do is to follow me the rightful ruler of the people here in this so called “promised land.” But I am sure you won’t, we will just keep on defending our rights of leadership and teaching our children how you have wronged us – eventually we will conquer.
Book of Mormon – 1 Nephi 8 – 1 Nephi 16 – 1 Nephi 2:10
