The How and Why of the Brass plates

[Olavarria]

So we have a metal codex that contains the "5 books of Moses"+the geneology of Lehi's fathers+stuff from Jeremiah,Neum,Zenock,Zenos and Joseph+Isaiah and guess what? It's all written in Egyptian, the language of Lehi's fathers.

WHY? How?

In the Talmud(found a quote, lack a source) we read an account of what happended in 300BC:

'King Ptolemy once gathered 72 Elders. He placed them in 72 chambers, each of them in a separate one, without revealing to them why they were summoned. He entered each one's room and said: 'Write for me the Torah of Moshe, your teacher.' God put it in the heart of each one to translate identically as all the others did'

So, in this case, the idea to translate the scrioptures into Greek originally came at the request of a king. More likely, its because so many Jews living in the Greek world retained a belief in the scirptures but couldn't speak or read Hebrew.

Also, we know that Egypt had atleast one Jewish community, the community who had a temple to Jehovah on Elephantine.These people had intermarried with Egyptians but ,as far as I know, their records were written in Aramaic.

We also know, that at the time of Lehi, Jerusalem had an alliance with Egypt.

According to to DH, N. Israelite and Judahite traditions and versions of history were being merged sometime between the the fall of the northern kingdom and the return of the Jews from Babylon(someone please correct me).

So i return to my original questian, why the Brass plates?

Was it for the Pharoah?

Was it for the Jews in Egypt?

Was it the Josephite refugee communities answer to the Jewish version of things?

Was Lehi's family from Egypt, parents, grandparents?

[cdowis]

It was not all written in Egyptian. Part of it was also in Hebrew (1 Ne 3:19).

The best explanation I have heard is that this was the record kept by the house of Joseph. The original Pentateuch was written in the Egyptian language by Moses, and the rest was in Hebrew.

The Bible we have today is based on the record of Judah (the record of Joseph having been taken by Nephi). Thus, it contains less information on Joseph and his blessing than the brass plates. One reason they are so important to us today is that it contains those missing books, and the full transcript of blessing of Joseph. This blessing contain information regarding the restoration of the Gospel by another descendant of Joseph.

So there were two records, Joseph and Judah, and our Bible is based on the latter. The record of Joseph was, of course, taken away by Nephi.

[Kevin Christensen]

So we have a metal codex that contains the "5 books of Moses"+the geneology of Lehi's fathers+stuff from Jeremiah,Neum,Zenock,Zenos and Joseph+Isaiah and guess what? It's all written in Egyptian, the language of Lehi's fathers.

WHY? How?

In the Talmud(found a quote, lack a source) we read an account of what happended in 300BC:

So, in this case, the idea to translate the scrioptures into Greek originally came at the request of a king. More likely, its because so many Jews living in the Greek world retained a belief in the scirptures but couldn't speak or read Hebrew.

Also, we know that Egypt had atleast one Jewish community, the community who had a temple to Jehovah on Elephantine.These people had intermarried with Egyptians but ,as far as I know, their records were written in Aramaic.

We also know, that at the time of Lehi, Jerusalem had an alliance with Egypt.

According to to DH, N. Israelite and Judahite traditions and versions of history were being merged sometime between the the fall of the northern kingdom and the return of the Jews from Babylon(someone please correct me).

So i return to my original questian, why the Brass plates?

Was it for the Pharoah?

Was it for the Jews in Egypt?

Was it the Josephite refugee communities answer to the Jewish version of things?

Was Lehi's family from Egypt, parents, grandparents?

I personally think it was done after the defeat of Josiah by the Egyptians, and their installation of Jehoiakim as a puppet king. And I think the reason was the same as for the the Septuagint. Prestige for the Egyptian library, a resource for training diplomats and/or scholars. Those working on the record would perhaps have emphasized Joseph tradition sources due to the Egyptian connection. Nephi mentions that it included the some prophecies of Jeremiah, which I think, points to it being done late, rather than early. Under this scenario, the defeat of the Egyptians by Nebadchadnezzar would have interrupted plans for giving the plates to the Pharoh. So the plates wait in the treasury, and Lehi who had Egyptian connections, who may very well have been a metalsmith (see Tvedtnes), would have been well situated to know about the project.

Kevin Christensen

Pittsburgh, PA