Daniel Rolph notes that in Nephi’s record, the prophet and his successors fail to mention or reveal the provenance or pre-Laban origin of the sword of Laban. Moreover, up until now, most scholarly attention regarding the sword of Laban has been focused on it’s “steel” blade. According to Rolph, the true significance of what was to become a Nephite heirloom may have been hitherto completely overlooked. In this respect it is noteworthy that Nephi records that “Laban also was also a descendant of Joseph, wherefore he and his fathers had kept the records” (1 Nephi 5:16, emphasis added). Could the sword of Laban also have been “kept” and handed down as part of these records? Could ancestry play an important role in relation to the sword of Laban prior to Laban’s ownership?
By Joseph Smith’s day the sword of Laban was at least twenty-five hundred years of age, and evidently in excellent condition. Joseph Smith, Jr., was the first individual permitted to view the ancient sword and its accoutrements long after their interment at Cumorah by Moroni; though he was a Latter-day prophet of God, Joseph Smith was also directly descended from the biblical patriarch, Joseph of Egypt. [Note* Some of these sacred objects of veneration had not only been transmitted through the lineage of the Nephite prophets, who also stemmed from Joseph, but had been passed down from earlier times (D&C 17:1) through a special lineage (see Ether 1:6-34, 3:23-28; 4:4-5).]
The birthright, or rights of inheritance connected with the firstborn, generally included land acquisition, along with the authority to preside (see, for example, Abraham 2:9-11; Genesis 48 and 49; Deuteronomy 33:13-17; D&C 86:8-10). Since Jacob and Leah’s eldest son Reuben had “defiled his father’s bed” (1 Chronicles 5:1), thus losing his right to succession, his birthright and inheritance were given “unto the sons of Joseph” (1 Chronicles 5:1). Though out of Judah would come the Christ or the “chief ruler,” the “birthright was Joseph’s” (1 Chronicles 5:2). As a result of this event, a birthright sword and other sacred regalia of the patriarchs would naturally come into the possession of Joseph and his descendants, which included both Laban and Nephi.
Had the sword of Laban, like the brass plates, come down from the fathers, as a regal treasure of Joseph? Was it accidental, or an act of Providence, that Nephi brought the sword as well as the plates out of Jerusalem to the land of promise? According to Rolph, evidence suggests that the weapon may have been the birthright sword of biblical tradition, a sacred heirloom that may have been wielded by the patriarchs up until the time of Joseph of Egypt. Laban, being a descendant of Joseph, inherited the birthright sword and the plates of brass, both treasures eventually coming into the possession of Nephi, who was both a prophet and a descendant of Joseph, as was Joseph Smith, Jr. [Daniel N. Rolph, “Prophets, Kings, and Swords: The Sword of Laban and Its Possible Pre-Laban Origin,” in Journal of Book of Mormon Studies, Spring 1993, pp. 73, 75-76] [See the commentary on 1 Nephi 4:9]
“Laban Also Was a Descendant of Joseph”
According to Robert Millet, there is no specific reference in the Book of Mormon to the origin of the brass plates. After retrieving and reading the plates, Nephi explained that “Laban also was a descendant of Joseph, wherefore he and his fathers had kept the records (the brass plates]” (1 Nephi 5:16). Exactly how long before the time of Laban the brass records were begun is unknown. The record was probably kept in the tribe of Ephraim, and thus Laban may well have been of that tribe (see Genesis 48:5, 13-20; 1 Chronicles 5:1-2). In suggesting how it was that the families of Ephraim and Manasseh (from whom Lehi and Ishmael were descendants) came to settle in Jerusalem, Sidney B. Sperry has written:
The Northern Kingdom of Israel fell to the Assyrians when its capital of Samaria capitulated to Sargon II in 722 B.C. The forebearers of Laban may have fled to Jerusalem to prevent the sacred records from falling into alien hands. Lehi’s grandfather or great-grandfather may have left his northern home for Jerusalem in order to prevent his children from intermarrying and making religious compromises with the foreigners brought into the land by the Assyrians (Sidney B. Sperry, Answers to Book of Mormon Questions, pp. 43-44)
Brother Sperry then asked the following question in regards to this matter: “What happened to the keeping of sacred records when the Israelites became sharply divided on political grounds--so much so that the two nations were enemies?” He then suggested an answer:
The prophets in both nations probably paid little attention to the political lines of division, but it is improbable that all of them had their words recorded in the scriptures of both nations. From the time of the division until the fall of the Northern Kingdom in 722 B.C., the brass plates may well have been the official scripture of the ten tribes. It is probable that some prophets wrote on these plates whose writings may not have been recorded on the records kept in Judah [meaning in the Southern Kingdom]. Were Zenos, Zenock, Neum, and Ezias (1 Nephi 19:10; Helaman 8:20) among them? They were all Hebrew prophets known to the Nephites, but their names do not appear in our current Old Testament. It is also possible that the writings of some prophets in Judah were not placed on the brass plates during the period under consideration, but of this we have no way of knowing. (Sidney B. Sperry, Answers to Book of Mormon Questions, pp. 43-44)
The fact that Lehi’s genealogy could be traced back to Joseph--specifically Manasseh (Alma 10:3)--also implies that the record had its origins in the Northern Kingdom rather than in Judah in the south (1 Nephi 3:3, 12; 5:14-16). In one of those prophecies of Zenos are founds these words: “And as for those who are at Jerusalem …” (1 Nephi 19:13; emphasis added), suggesting that Zenos was speaking form somewhere other than Jerusalem. Further, not Mormon’s words concerning the prophets Zenos and Zenock:
Behold, I say unto you, Yea, many have testified of these things ’signs of the death of Christ] at the coming of Christ, and were slain because they testified of these things.
Yea, the prophet Zenos did testify of these things, and also Zenock spake concerning these things, because they testified particularly concerning us, who are the remnant of their seed (3 Nephi 10:15-16; emphasis added).
This passage certainly suggests that Zenos and Zenock were both of the tribe of Joseph (Robert L. Millet, “The Brass Plates: An Inspired and Expanded Version of the Old Testament.” The Old Testament and the Latter-day Saints, pp. 421-423)
Robert Millet, “The Influence of the Brass Plates,” in Nyman and Tate eds. The Book of Mormon: Second Nephi, The Doctrinal Structure, pp. 208-209]
In a review of Robert Millet’s video entitled, “The Prophets of the Brass Plates” and his Book of Mormon Symposium paper (“The Influence of the Brass Plates”), Richard Grant writes that King Benjamin’s identification of the language of this record as Egyptian (Mosiah 1:4) introduces a further line of speculation. Could this record have originated as the family record of Joseph the son of Jacob? His wife was Egyptian. His sons, Ephraim and Manasseh, were Egyptian. That may have been the only language they knew. Of course, Joseph would have had a copy of the then extent scriptural record in Egyptian. Might not his family have continued to maintain that Egyptian (Maybe reformed Egyptian) language record? [Richard G. Grant, “The Brass Plates and Their Prophets,” [http://www.cometozarahemla.org/brassplates/brass-plates.html]] [See also Robert Millet, “The Prophets of the Brass Plates,” FARMS video; and Robert Millet, “The Influence of the Brass Plates,” in Nyman and Tate eds. The Book of Mormon: Second Nephi, The Doctrinal Structure
Note* Scholars now believe that a significant number of Israelites fled the Northern Kingdom, seeking refuge in Judah. Their evidence is consistent with Dr. Sperry’s speculation-they brought Scriptures with them and those Scriptures were different from the Scripture of Judah. [Alan C. Miner, Personal Notes] [See the commentary on 1 Nephi 1:7] [For further information on the brass plates, see the commentaries on 1 Nephi 5:11 13:23, 19:22; 2 Nephi 2:17, 3:18-19; Mosiah 1:3-4; Alma 37:4-5; 3 Nephi 10:16;]