BOOK OF MORMON NAMES FOUND ON MIDDLE EAST RECORDS
THE AKKADIAN DICTIONARY
NAHOM to NEPHI
INTRODUCTION
Archaeologists have fully demonstrated that ancient people, especially the Israelites, had not the slightest aversion to giving their children names, and not necessarily names of their own culture, and most often prophetic names. Even names of a pagan background. In the case of Lehi, his children may reveal something of his personal history. His first two sons have Arabic names. Do they recall his early days in the caravan trade? The second two sons have Egyptain names. They were born in the days of his prosperity. He seemed to have traded overland and by sea. His last two sons were born during the days of his tribulation in the wilderness. But also notice they are clearly representative of a triple heritage in cultural contacts. It was certainly the custom of Lehi’s people to name their children with a purpose. (Nibley Vol. 6, p. 77) Such ancient traditions is what makes this research interesting and informing.
NAHOM
The place NAHOM in Lehi’s journey through the Arabian peninsula where Ishmael was buried was a low point in the journey through the wilderness. The death of Ishmael caused his daughters to “mourn exceedingly” and to murmur against Lehi, and the sons of Ishmael rebelled against Lehi because of their many afflictions (1 Ne. 16:14-36; Largey p. 380). Only a chastening from the Lord brought them to repentance. (1 Ne. 16:39)
The name elements NHM, in any of its variant spellings, NEHEMI/NIHM/ NAHM /NEHUM, et.al., are not found anywhere else in Arabia as a place name, It appears in only one case in southern Arabic as a personal name, and in the Old Testament as NAHAM, meaning “comforter.” (1 Chronicles 4:19) NAHAM was the name of the father oF Keilah, the Garmite, and Eshtemoah the Maachathite. His sister married a man named Hodijah. (Mandel p. 394) And as NAHUM in (Nehamiah 7:7), where it means “God has consoled.” (Mandel p. 403) NEHUM was one of those whose names head the list of exiles who returned from Babylon. (Butterrick p. 534)
With no O in Akkadian, we would look for the use of a different vowel, so in Akkadian we find NAHUM and NAHU(M) with the meaning “calm, peaceful” and “peaceful dwelling.” (Black p. 249)
It is also the name of the prophet NAHUM, which uses the old Akkadian form of the name, whose brief book about the fall of Nineveh, provides some of the Bible’s most vivid imagery. He was from Galilee, probably Capernaum, which may have been called Town of Nahum, for a while, and he was a contemporary of Lehi, delivering his prophecies between 600 and 606 BC. NAHUM is a common West Semitic variant of the name. NAHUM was an ancestor of Jesus. (luke 3:25; Buttrick p. 498)
The root, NHM, is found in PHOENCIAN inscriptions and means “to have compassion, to console.” (Benz p. 259) Benz also lists its occurrence in Palestinian names from Nimrud, at Lachkish, Ugarit, and Elephantine in Egypt. In the Akkadian dictionary it appears in the word NAHIUT(M) with ancient mimation with the meaning “stream, wadi, gorge” in keeping with the one of its uses in the Book of Mormon as a place name for a “wadi with water.” (Black p. 231) Nephi uses the word WADE to describe their journey when they left Nahom. They no doubt were wading in sand or water or both.
Nephi informs us that they tarried at a place that “was called NAHOM” (1 Ne. 16:34) Also there are a number of places in Yeman which bear the name “NIHM.” Dr. Ross T. Christensen, at BYU, published a brief articles in 1978 on a community eighteen to twenty five miles northeast of the modern capital SENA’A called NAHOM, it is one of one hundred and eighty administrative districts that make up the republic of Yeman. (Potter p. 115) This little publication had profound effect on two different researching groups who visited all of those regions later as noted below.
In Arabic vowels are not written down, and while NHM (NIHM) does not have the same emphasis on the second syllable as NHM (NAHOM) does, the word was no doubt pronounced a little differently. (Potter p. 112)
NAHOM is certainly related to the Hebrew word NAHAM, to “groan,” or NAHAM to “be sorry , console oneself.” It has been suggested that Nahom may be identified with NIHM in Yeman. (Potter p. 112; Largey p. 580) Some thoughts of Nephi on the subject include: “There exits in southern Arabia a place name Nahom (1 Ne. 16:34). To reach Nahom one could travel through wilderness country (1 Ne. 16:35), where death from hunger is an ever-present danger. (1 Ne. 16:35). NAHOM is a place with water. In Chapter Seven of his book, Potter discusses NAHOM AND NEPHI’S TRAIL EAST, with maps and geography. (Potter p, 107) Welch also provides a map and a short discussion on Nehem. (Welch p. 51)
In HEBREW the first root NHM, with a dot or mark under the H. (Nahom) has the basic meaning of “to comfort. Console, to be sorry,” used extensively in connection with excessive mourning at death. In Arabic the root (NAHAMA) refers to a “soft grown, sigh, moan.” The second root, without the marker, found in Biblical Hebrew means to “roar,” “complain,” or ” be hungry.” In ancient Egyptian it refers to “roar, thunder, shout,” which are similar to the Arabic meanings of “growl, groan, roar, suffer from hunger, complain.” The two Semitic roots are also discussed by Welch. (Welch p. 48) All appropriate in view of what Nephi tells us happened there and the complaining and rebellion of members of Ishmael’s family. (1 Nephi 16:35-37; Aston pp. 112-13) In his book Aston details, in PART ONE, “The Place which Was Called Nahom,” also with maps and geography. (Aston pp. 3-26)
As mentioned, in ancient Akkadian we find the same root, NHM in NEHUM meaning “calm, peaceful.” (Black p. 249) There are even three variants of the name found on tablets from EBLA: NAHALLU “wadi”, NA’IM “pleasant,” and NAHRUM “river.” have similar overtones. (Pagan p.353) From nearly 2500 years BC to the time Lehi first entered the name into his record while in the wilderness, through all its variants in various west Semitic languages, the name and its meanings have changed remarkably little, that was until Brown and others during their field research in the Peninsula learned that the meaning of NAHOM in the old south Arabian language refers to “pecked and dressed stone,” (Brown p. 9). The book by Brown, et. al. is very enjoyable, informative, and highly recommended. There is also a variant in the EBLA texts. The variants of the name are firmly embedded in the Book of Mormon and in the ancient Arabian Peninsula, and in restored ancient records.
NAPHTALI
The Hebrew name NAPHTALI has the meaning of “wrestler.” Or “my wrestling.” (Mandel p. 198; Gen. 30:5-8) When Jacob gave him his final blessing he called him “a hind let loose,” alluding to either his agility or his impetuosity. He was the sixth son of Jacob and the second son of Bilhah, Rachel’s maidservant. In most of the administrative lists of the twelve sons of Jacob, Naphtali comes out last. (Douglas p. 1053) His allotted territory was however very large, extending north beyond Ijon, southwest to Hukkok, southeast to the border town of Jabneel, most of the east side of the Sea of Galilee and north beyond Lake Huleh and to the northeast, near KEDESH, a Levite city of refuge. (Jos. 19:32-39; 20:7; 21:32) Jesus spent the greatest part of his public life in this area! (Douglas p. 1054, with map). The tribe traded along the Mediterranean coast with the Phoenicians. There were times of glory when Barak, a member of the tribe, partnered with Deborah to deliver Israel from domination by the Canaanites. The tribe lived in among the Canaanites (Jdg. 1:33) who had a dozen fortresses in the land, a great one was Hazor, captured by Joshua, (Jos. 11:10). I was in that great ruin just a few years ago.
HIRAM , the principle architect of Solomon’s Temple, was the son of ‘a widow of the tribe of NAPHTALI,’ (1 Kings 7:14; Douglas p. 1954) on whose life and priesthood (Aaronic) the Masonic orders of today base their ceremonies. Most, 98%, of the Mormon ceremony is based on the Melchizedek Authority and Ordinances that have no parallels to the Masonic order of things.
In 754 BC the tribe of Naphtali was the first tribe west of the Jordan to be deported by Tiglath-pileser III, the Assyrian, to the north and oblivion. (Is. 9:1) When the first census was taken in the wilderness, the tribe numbered 53,400 adult males. Naphtali had four sons. He died in Egypt at age 130 years. (Gardner p. 316)
NAZARETH
Nazareth appears in the Book of Mormon in Ne. 11:13; “Behold the city of Nazareth…and in the city…the virgin [Mary…holding a baby.]” This in the beginning of the great explanation of Lehi’s comprehensive vision called the Vision of the Tree of Life, (1 Nephi Chapters 11 through 13) about which Nephi wanted to know a full interpretation, and he got it, in detail. The Holy Ghost himself appears to Nephi as a man, (A MALE SPIRIT) and they speak face to face, and the Holy Ghost becomes his personal guide though the constantly changing visions to explain visions, (1 Ne. 11) including the CONDENSCENSION OF GOD, (1 Ne., 11:16) in the Great Plan of Salvation which brought Christ to the mortal earth to suffer, bleed, and die, for man out of love indescribable and his mother, before and after the birth of CHRIST, (1 Ne. 11:18-21) and a vast array of events from Nephi’s time down to the Last Days. What do you think Oliver Cowdery was thinking as all that flowed seamlessly from the Great Joseph? It was in the very first days of their translation work and they got the whole cup to drink!
NAZARETH was a small town in the southern low hill country of south-central portion of the Lebanon Range in Galilee where the family of Joseph and Mary lived for 20 or so years until Jesus was rejected. (Lk. 2:39; 4:16; 28-31). From the Roman cities along the coast, the main road passed just a short distance above the town on its way to the ten great Roman cities of the interior. From the low hills on the northeast, the terrane slopes downward into the Valley of Miggido-Jazreel-Ezdraelon. Because of the location of the town on the heights the name of Nazareth seems derived from the Aramaic NAS’RAT. Meaning ‘watch tower.’ (Douglas p. 1063). In the centuries after Christ, Eusebius in his Onomasticon, and Jerome in his Epist. 46, tried to derive the name from Hebrew NESER, but history seems to have retained the “watch tower” meaning. (Douglas p. 1063)
The nearest city is Sepphoris, a large Roman city about five miles to the north. See any Biblical Atlas. The mild climate produced some of the best fruit of the region.
Archelaus, one of the sons of king Herod, the Herod who murdered the little babies and male children in Bethlehem, had been given the southern kingdom of Judea. It was his incompetent tyranny which led Joseph to avoid Judea when he came out of the Egyptian interlude and to settle again in Nazareth, the domain of Antipas. This was about 6 AD, the time Judea was placed under procuratorial rule, depending on which calendar you use, several years before Christ astonished the elders in the Temple. (Blaiklock pp. 289-290).
NAZARETH is not mentioned in either Old Testament, the Apocrypha, Josephus, or the Talmud. The earliest Jewish reference is in an inscription excavated at Caesarea in 1962, which mentions it was one of the places in Galilee in which members of the twenty-four Levitical priestly groups emigrated after the foundations of Aelia Capitolina in A.D. 135. (Douglas p. 1060) Among the priestly groups was one called ABIA, the one John the Baptist came from. The reference to JESUS OF NAZARETH is forever locked in the memories of those who inhabit this earth.
NEAS
In the 9th Chapter of MOSIAH is a personal account by Zeniff of his efforts to obtain from the Lamanites some of the lands of their first inheritance and the cities of Lehi-Nephi and Shilom. We have no detail of the deal that was made, but the Lamanite King had an ulterior motive when he had his people leave those lands and Zeniff and his people “went into the land to possess it,” rebuild the cities and their walls, and cultivate the region. In MOSIAH 9 verse 9 we read: “And we began to till the ground, even with all manner of seeds, with seeds of corn, and of wheat, and of barley, and with NEAS, and with SHEUM. And with seeds of all manner of fruits and did begin to multiply and prosper in the land.” NEAS and SHEUM could be grains, as they are listed with known grains. SHEUM is a Jaradite name of grain found in Mesopotamia and will be discussed when we get to the “S” names. When the Jaredites made their preparations by the sea shore, they collected “seeds of every kind.” (Ether 2:3-6; Sorenson pp. 304-305) Among the seeds listed where those of SHEUM and NEAS. However, Neas may refer to bean seeds.
“The Book of Mormon mentions one other unidentified cultivated plant: NEAS, (Mosiah 9:9). No Mesoamerican identification can presently be suggested for it.” (Sorenson p. 306)
NEHOR
NEHOR was an apostate Nephite who first introduced PRIESTCRAAFT into Zarahemla about 91. BC. (Alma 1:12) He powerfully enticed others to do evil and established an order (a church). (Sperry p. 327) He was a large and strong man with natural appeal, but a pretender. He called himself a prophet. His doctrines for many became a desirable alternative to the strict teachings of the prophets of God. He taught that priests of their religion ought not to labor with their hands, but be supported by the people. They should be popular and be people-pleasers. (Alma 1:3) He taught GOD would surely redeem and give eternal life to all men. One should not fear or tremble but rejoice. (Alma 1:4; Largey p. 382) Just like many are teaching today! NEHOR said man should preach and set themselves up for a light to the world, taking praise and gain for their efforts. NEHOR taught that men should make it a business of selling religion, he even attempted to enforce it with the sword. (Alma 1:12) The teachings of NEHOR “are counterfeits or frauds of the priesthood or the sacred priestly order.” (Parry p. 200) Then he contended with Gideon, an elderly teacher of the Church of God and NEHOR became extremely angry because Gideon had the knowledge and ability to counter his teachings. In his anger NEHOR slew Gideon. (Alma 1:7, 9;1:5-9) For this murder NEHOR was put to death according to the laws of the land. (Alma 1:10, 14-15: Largey p. 383) They took him to the hill Manti where he acknowledged that what he had taught the people was contrary to the word of God. Then he was hung from a high tree. (Nibley Vol. 8, p. 250) This acknowledgement of one’s evil deeds between heaven and earth and then being hung is an ancient tradition preserved in the Book of Mormon as Nibley explains. A Chief Judge at the time the teachings of Nehor were being spread around, saw that if allowed by the people it “would prove their entire destruction.” (Alma 1:12) And it did. (Nibley pp. 102-103) Priestcraft in all its forms is rampant in the world today, the statement from Alma is as applicable to today as it was back then.
The main element of the name is NHR, found in NEHOR and, NAHOR. These two variants of the name have the meaning in Hebrew of “snorer.” But Hebrew was not a separate language 2100 BC. From the early Biblical and younger records the variant Nahor was used. NAHOR, son of Serug, was twenty-nine when his first born son TEREH, was born in the city of UR. TEREH was the father of three sons, NAHOR was the first. , named after his grandfather NAHOR. Then he had ABRAHAM and HARAN. (Mandel p. 395) All born in UR.
The relations of this NAHOR serve to link the Hebrew patriarchs both vertically and horizontally with other peoples of the ancient Near East. The genealogy of Shem, like that of Seth, (Genesis 5:6-32) to which it is related, comes to a climax with these three brothers and the ranks of the Human family. NAHOR was the progenitor of twelve kindred tribes. The Nehorite genealogy is given in Genesis 22:20-24. (Buttrick p. 497)
ABRAHAM and NAHOR moved to the far north in Mesopotamia to a place 50 miles east of the Quay a Carkemish, on the Euphrates River, a place they called HARAN, after their brother who had died in UR. . HARAN was northeast of the ancient city of EBLA. This NAHOR, (NEHOR) brother of ABRAHAM, married MILCAH, his niece, the daughter of his brother Haran. He also had a concubine called Reumah. MILCAH bore him eight sons, the eighth one, called BETHUEL had a daughter, REBEKAH, who married ISAAC, son of ABRAHAM. BETHUEL also had a son called LABAN who had two daughters, LEAH and RACHEL, who married JACOB, the son of ISAAC. In the scheme of things this was a very important lineage. Ours! So, the name was in place not long after the Jaredites had departed.
But the variant NEHOR first appears in the Book of Mormon as the name of The Land of Nehor in Ether7:4 and then as the name of a city, NEHOR in Ether 7:9, clearly a Jaredite name. Then we have a most curious reference in the Book of Abraham where he states: “I, Abraham, took Sarah to wife, and NEHOR, MY BROTHER, took Milkah to wife who was the daughter of Haran.“ Here, the Great Joseph calls Abraham’s brother by the oldest variant of the name, NEHOR, (Abraham 2:2), found in the Book of Ether maintaining a consistent chronology. Joseph was working on the translation of the Book of Abraham nearly ten years after he had finished the book of Mormon. Abraham corrects the Biblical record and ties into the variant of the name several hundred years before he left UR. Joseph was working on two different ancient records but maintained the variant of an ancient name correctly. He got it right the first time. A neat test of authenticity. This also challenges certain aspect of the history of the transmission of Biblical texts, as the Book of Abraham clearly shows. The Book of Abraham was not part of the Jewish Canon, it had to be restored because of the doctrines it contains.
There is also a variant from the tablets of EBLA: NEHAR, but a meaning is not given. (Pagan p. 355)
THE LAND OF AND THE CITY OF NEHOR
The name NEHOR first appears in the Jaredite record, where the Land and City of Nehor was in Jaredite territory. In the fights between Jaredite kings and leaders, Corihor rebelled against his brother, KIB, and “went over and dwelt in the Land of NEHOR.” (Ether 7:4, 15; Largey pp. 430-431) It was in the city of NEHOR, that Shule defeated and killed his brother Corihor and restored the Kingdom to his father. (Ether 7:9, 19-21)
THE WILDERNESS OF NEHOR
NEHOR is the name given to the wilderness into which the Jaredite rebel withdrew as well as to a city built in that region, but was borne by NEHOR, the notorious Nephite apostate. (Nibley p.244)
The variant name NAHUR occurs frequently in the MARI texts, a city farther south than EBLA but contemporary with that ancient city and the conquests of the Akkadians. They did not use an O, so names that would have an O usually use a U.
ORDER OF NEHOR
The religious order or church set up by NEHOR, became very popular, especially after Nehor was executed for murder, and it spread to other territories, swept up prominent people, administrators and judges. All those identified with this persuasion were wicked. There was Amlici, the Nephite dissenter who wanted to be king, (Alma 2:1) and the Judge in Ammonihah who slapped and threatened Alma and Amulek with death, (Alma 14:16), and many of Amulonites and Amalekites, hard- hearted Nephite dissenters, who lived among the Lamanites, were after the Order of Nehor and built synagogues serving this evil order. (Alma 21:4) The Amalekites spread the teachings into the Land of Nephi. The most wicked city practicing this order was Ammonihah where Alma and Amulek were in prison. (Largey p. 583)
At his trial, NEHOR was charged by Alma for Priestrcraft. NEHOR was the great LIBERAL. It is significant that the most violent and inhuman mass persecutions in history, were initiated and carried out by idealists and intellectuals, liberals, such as the Mutazilites in Islam, now ISIS, the older church with its Inquisitions, and the priestcraft at Jerusalem that drove men to want to kill Lehi, and eventually Christ. (1 Nephi 1:19-20; Nibley pp. 365-366) It is even so today, they have lost the belief in God, the Resurrection of Christ, his second coming, the Atonement, organized religion, restrictive faith. In mocking God they will suffer the same misery as those who have gone before. The Book of Mormon tells it as it is and will be.
DESOLATION OF NEHORS
The extremely wicked city of AMMONIHAH was possessed by those “who were of the profession of NEHOR. (Alma 14:18; 16:11) The wicked city of AMMONIHAH was over-ran by the Lamanites about 81 BC and utterly destroyed and all of its inhabitants were killed. The dead apostates of the profession of NEHOR” were “covered with a shallow covering” and “the scent thereof” was so offensive that people avoided the area “for many years.” (Alma 16:3, 9-11; Largey p. 232)
NEPHI
NEPHI, the most prominent figure in the Book of Mormon, has been written about extensively. Every LDS child knows NEPHI. He was the fourth son of LEHI, and founder of the NEPHITE NATION, and author of 1st and 2nd NEPHI, THE FIRST 117 PAGES OF THE Book of Mormon.
His teachings include the interpretation given to him by the HOLY GHOST, personally, of the vision his father LEHI had of the Tree of Life. (1Ne. 11-14) In the first 4,000 years of the history of man on earth, his encounter with the holy Ghost is the only account of mortal man having such an intimate experience, one on one, face to face, as Nephi gives in his account. Maybe a record will show up someday and we will know who else may have. His prophecies and knowledge of the Messiah and the Last Days were vast. (1 Ne. 22; 2 Ne. 22:25-30) His major teachings include those of The Doctrine of CHRIST. There are at least 10 major teachings outlined by Largey. (2 Ne. 31-32; Largey pp. 583-584) Excellent outlines of the various Books of Nephi and others with that name, are provided by Largey. (Largey pp.583-601) There is an extensive library of writings about NEPHI, from every angle, and the proliferation will continue because the content of his contribution to the Book of Mormon is inexhaustible
The name, and many variants are Egyptain, NEHI and NEPHRI were Egyptain noblemen. NFY (NPH) seems to be a nick name, the Book of Mormon insists on the use of “ph,” a mark of authenticity, because there is no F in the ancient languages, such as Akkadian, even the Adamic. NEPHI is close to NIHPI, the original name of the god PA—NEPI. (Nibley Vol. 5, p. 27) NEPHTHYS was the name of the goddess and sister of Osiris in the early listings of the Egyptian divinities. (SHORTER p. 136) NEPHI was the name of a military leader on the Ethiopian Frontier about the fourteenth Century BC. Moses ultimately resolved the problem and married an Ethiopian Princess.
NEPHI is the “King James Version of Naphtha.” (Buttrick p. 536) The name also appears as NEPHISH, the KJV of NAPHISH. (I Chr. 5:19; Buttrick p. 536) The name is found in NEPHILIM referring to inhabitants of the land that were “very large;” in the KJV version they were called “Giants.” The exact meaning of the name is uncertain so generally goes untranslated, but it generally means “large” and Nephi was that, spiritually and physically. (Gen. 6:4; Num. 13:33) People consider Gen. 6:1-4 as myths.
Nephi is found in the names in the KJV, NEPHISHESIMI or NEPHUSIM, and In the APOCRAPHA as NEPHISI, and in the KJV found in 1 Chr. 5:19. And in NEPHISIM, the eponym of a family of servants working in the temple, listed among the exiles returned from Babylon. A form of the name is found in Neh. 7:52. (Buttrick p. 536)
The name NAPHISH is that of a grandson of Abraham, the name of the eleventh son of the twelve sons of Ishmael. (Gen. 25:15; 1 Chr. 1:31; 1 Chr. 5:19; Ezr. 2:50; Neh. 7:52; Douglas p. 1052) Jacob wasn’t the only descendant of Abraham that had twelve sons. In the variant form NEPHTUHIM, of unknown origin and meaning, we have the son of Mizraim, the son of HAM. (Mendel p. 399)
When the king of Persia allowed more than 50,000 Jews to return to Jerusalem and rebuild Solomon’s Temple, Nehemiah called the miraculous “kindling of the great fire” for the sacrificial fire for the Altar, from heaven and the consuming of the sacrifice “Naphthar, which is as much as to say, a ‘cleansing;’ but many men call it NEPHI.” (Hilton p, 88) Among the 123 families as part of that return were “the sons of NEPHIS, along with another 156 men, and sons of NEPHISI”, no number given. (Hilton pp. 88-89; 1 Esdras 5:21, 321)
A young Arab student, a PhD candidate in Colorado, driving up 1-15, stopped at NEPHI to ask “What is the connection between NEPHI in Utah and my home in Saudi Arabia, “NAFEE,” since both are the same word?” He never got an answer. The personal name of NEPHI with its consonants NFY, carved in stone, was found by the Hiltons following the trail of Lehi’s family on their journey in the wilderness, Arabs usually insert an A and an I to read NAFI but would not criticize one for reading it NEPHI. (Hilton p. 87) NEPHI does not appear in TAYMANITE, JAWFIAN, DEDANITE, NAJDI, HIJAZI or TABUKI, languages of the desert, but as a personal name it does appear in SAFAITIC, MINAEAN and LIHYANITE, also desert languages. (Hilton p. 87)
Missionaries today are told to thrust in their sickles, preach faith, repentance and baptism and reception of the Holy Ghost and “open your mouths and they shall be filled , and you shall become like Nephi of old, who journeyed from Jerusalem in the wilderness. Yea open your mouths spare not, and you shall be laden with sheaves upon your backs.” (D&C 33:8) They would as make many coverts as Nephi did in the Arabian wilderness. (Hilton p. 73) For the Lord to cite Nephi he must have been a superior and successful missionary, most likely among the DEDANITES, (Hilton p. 77) who had occupied the wilderness where they traveled for more than 400 years, and continued to do so for the next 600 years.
In his dealings with Laban, NEPHI was led by the spirit. Nibley discusses this in some detail. (Nibley Vol. 5, pp. 96-105)
Members of his family laughed contemptuously when he proposes to build an ocean going ship. (1 Ne. 17:17-20) But they never mocked their brother’s skill as a hunter. Or treat him as a dude in the desert. The fact that he brought a fine steel bow with him from home and he knew well how to use that difficult weapon shows that Nephi had hunted much in his short life. (Nibley Vol.6, p. 78)
NEPHI NO. 2
This NEPHI was the name of the diligent and dutiful elder son of Helaman whose magnificent service lasted more than 40 years ending just before Christ’s birth. He was the grandson of ALMA. He and his younger brother LEHI committed themselves to gospel service and missionary labor. Because he served unwearyingly he was granted the promise of heavenly fulfillment of whatever he might ask, (Hel, 10:5) and sealing powers transcending earthly boundaries. (Hel.10:5) He knew Samuel the Lamanite Prophet, and those who Samuel converted were baptized by NEPHI because he was the recognized authority. (about 6 BC) He and his brother LEHI converted more than 8000 Lamanites in the vicinity of ZARAHEMLA, and the more part of Lamanites they visited and traveled to thereafter. (Hel. 16:4) He rose in stature with his miraculous identification of the murder of the Chief Judge, Seezoram, by his own brother Seantum, about 1 AD. Having completed his ministry he turned the records over to his son NEPHI No, 3, then he disappeared, “he departed out of the land, and whither he went, no man knowth.” (3 Ne. 1:3; Pinegar pp 141-142).
NEPHI NO. 3
This was the eldest son of NEPHI NO. 2 and grandson of Helaman. He was called by Christ himself to be the first member of the Nephite Twelve. He is most likely one of the translated Three Nephites, along with his brother and son. He is the author of 3 Nephi that Mormon abridged. He was the mortal leader, under CHRIST of the true church before, during, and after the birth and ministry of CHRIST. He was especially valiant during the highs and lows, during the terrible wickedness before the Savior’s birth and death. He was a man of extraordinary personal courage and spiritual power. It was he who prayed ceaselessly for an entire day under the threat of death if the sign of the Savior’s birth was not given It was he who received from CHRIST himself “that on that very night shall the sign be given, and on the morrow come I into the world.” (3 Ne. 1:13) He survived the vast destruction and darkness at the crucifixion of CHRIST, served at the side of the Savior to establish the fullness of the gospel and lead the people from the Law of Moses to the higher Law. But we have no record of his sermons or discourses. Mormon says: ”all of them cannot be written and a part of them would not suffice.” (3 Ne. 7:17) His ministrations were many and powerful, he cast out devils, angels did minister to him daily, he raised his own brother, Timothy, from the dead after he had been stoned to death. (3 Ne 7:19) He healed the sick, and saw, did, and endured so much, and on and on. He was one of the greatest of prophets, and his record, 3 Nephi, is one of the most important books of the Book of Mormon. (Largey pp. 588-589) His witness of the dealings of CHRIST with the peoples here in the Americas as a divine and resurrected being, even though an abridgment by Mormon, is one of the most comprehensive witnesses of the resurrected CHRIST ever recorded.
NEPHI NO. 4
This NEPHI was the son of Nephi 3, and great, great grandson of ALMA. Nephi No, 3, was the President of the Nephite Quorum of the Twelve. NEPHI No. 4 was also a member of that special group. (4 Ne. 1:14) He was also the author of the 4th Book of Nephi, (4 Ne. 1:19) about 34 AD. He lived during the era of righteousness. Following his death, his son AMOS kept the record. There is little more on this NEPHI.” (Pinegar pp. 144-145)
Papynymy is very evident in this family. Four descendants of ALMA were called NEPHI, two produced vital records included in the Book of Mormon.
BIBLIOGRAPHY
ASTON, Warren P. & Michaela K. Aston, In The Foot Steps of Lehi, Deseret Book Co., Salt Lake City, Utah, 1994
BENZ, Frank, Personal Names in the Phoenician and Punic Inscriptions, Biblical Institute Press, Rome, 1972
BLACK, Jeremy, Andrew George, Nicholas Postgate, EDs., A Concise Dictionary 0f Akkadian, Harrassowitz Verlag, Wiesbaden, 2000
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