Following are some of the comments or questions we have received from readers:
Comment #1: First, the written language of the Nephites was what the Nephites referred to as "Reformed Egyptian." Second, the spoken language utilized by peoples in the Book of Moron probably had a Jaredite base. In fact, the actual words spoken were what they (the Nephites and Lamanites) learned from the people who were already in Mesoamerica (descendants of the Jaredites” Pauline D.
Response: First, the written language on the gold plates, was a sacred record, and written in Reformed Egyptian. there is no indication that anything else was written in Reformed Egyptian. in fact, when Moroni closed out his father's record, thinking he would not write more (Moroni 1:1), he was concerned how future readers of the record would think of the imperfections of his, his father's, and the other prophets' writings. With this concern in mind, he gives us an explanation why there were such imperfections. He says, And now, behold, we have written this record according to our knowledge, in the characters which are called among us the reformed Egyptian, being handed down and altered by us, according to our manner of speech (Mormon 9:32). Not leaving it at that, Moroni lets us know that another written language was known among them and they were far more proficient at it than the Reformed Egyptian. He says in the following verse, “And if our plates had been sufficiently large we should have written in Hebrew; but the Hebrew hath been altered by us also; and if we could have written in Hebrew, behold, ye would have had no imperfection in our record” (Mormon 9:33) This ought to suggest to anyone that after the Nephites had been in the Land of Promise for 1,000 years, they were still proficient in the written language of Hebrew, and would have preferred to write in Hebrew but space on the plates dictated a language that took far less space. This should also suggest to anyone that if Hebrew had survived as a written language for 1,000 years among the Nephites, then surely their spoken language of Hebrew would have survived. Thus, it cannot be said that the Nephite language during Book of Mormon times had a Jaredite base.
In addition, as recorded elsewhere, the Book of Ether, as Moroni translated it, tells us quite clearly, from an eye-witness account (the Prophet Ether), that all the Jaredites were gathered in and were part of the final, great battle that killed off the entire Jaredite nation except for Coriantumr and Ether. He tells us that the people began to flock together in armies, throughout all the face of the land (Ether 14:19), that so great and lasting had been the war, and so long had been the scene of bloodshed and carnage, that the whole face of the land was covered with the bodies of the dead (Ether 14:21), and that the bodies of men, women, and children were strewn upon the face of the land and the scent of their death was upon the face of the land, even upon all the face of the land (Ether 14:22-23). This eye-witness goes on to tell us that two million men, plus their wives and their children, were killed at one stage in this war (Ether 15:2), and that the two armies gathered together all the people upon all the face of the land, who had not been slain, save it was Ether (Ether 15:12). In fact, it took four years to gather together the people, that they might get all who were upon the face of the land (Ether 15:14). And finally, that when they were all gathered together, every one to the army which he would, with their wives and their children—both men, women, and children being armed with weapons of war...they went one against another to battle (Ether 15:15) until all were dead except for Coriantumr and Shiz (Ether 15:29), and then Coriantumr killed Shiz (Ether 15:30) and was the lone survivor except for Ether. As a result, it has to be accepted that the Jaredites were wiped out to a man and no Jaredite descendants existed in the Land of Promise to influence the Nephites and Lamanites. The funny thing is, even if there were Jaredites there, why would the Nephites adopt their language? The idea is ludicruous. They were the chosen people, they were the ones inheriting the land, they were the ones with prophets, they were the ones with 1500 years of Hebrew language behind them when they arrived. Why, indeed, would they adopt a foreign language as their own?
Comment #2: “Did Joseph Smith ever translate the brass plates taken from Laban?”
Response: First, the brass plates were prophesied by our fathers, that they should be kept and handed down from one generation to another, and be kept and preserved by the hand of the Lord until they should go forth unto every nation, kindred, tongue, and people, that they shall know of the mysteries contained thereon.
Second, when Nephi, who took the brass plates from Laban’s treasury (1 Nephi 4:24), he took them to the land of Promise. When he fled Laman and Lemuel in the New World, he took these brass plates with him (2 Nephi 5:12), and later we find that these same brass plates were given to Mosiah (Mosiah 1:16), and had by, or known to, king Benjamin who taught his sons from them (Mosiah 1:3). They were obviously given to Alma who gave them to his son, Alma the Younger (Mosiah 28:20) who, in turn, gave them to his son Helaman (Alma 37:3-4). They then went from this Helaman to his eldest son, Helaman II (Alma 37:1-3), who gave them to his eldest son Nephi (3 Nep 1:2,4).
These same brass plates were, in turn, handed down from Ammaron to Mormon (Mormon 1:2), who left them hidden while taking the plates of Nephi (Mormon 2:17) to abridge, and finally the brass plates were given to Mormon's son Moroni (Words Mormon 1:1), along with all the other records (Mormon 8:1), who hid them up for a future purpose (Mormon 8:14).
We have no record of a modern-day translation of the brass plates for the same information (though not as complete or accurate) can be found in Genesis and the Pearl of Great Price. We also have no information whether or not Joseph Smith ever saw the plates of brass.
Should you be interested, The Book of the Law of the Lord is a sacred book of scripture used by the Strangite Church, which is a sect or group that claims to be the legitimate continuation of the Latter-day Saint Church founded by Joseph Smith. The Book of the Law is alleged to be a translation by the Strangite prophet James Strang of the Brass Plates Nephite obtained from Laban. Strang claimed to have translated them using the Urim and Thummim, and his followers believe that while the Book of the Law was lost to the Old World during Israel's captivity in foreign lands, a copy was included in the plates that the ancient prophet Nephi took with him to the Land of Promise.
The Book of the Law of the Lord is not viewed as a sacred text by the LDS church, or any other sect or faction, including the Community of Christ Church or any other Mormon faction other than the Strangite church. Today, the Strangite headquarters is in Voree, Wisconsin (just outside Burlington and west of Racine), and accepts the claims of James Strang as successor to Joseph Smith. It had approximately 300 members in 1998. Currently, there are around 130 active members with satellite branches in Artesia, New Mexico and Castell, Texas. Their entire record is based upon the Brass Plates that Nephi obtained from Laban’s treasury.
Talking about James Strange I am reminded of the story of Balaam in the old testament who had a donkey that saw an angel and the donkey spoke to Balaam and said can't you see the angel. So the donkey or jackass was actually a prophet of God because the donkey saw the angel but James j strang in my opinion is not as much of a prophet as balaam's ass.
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