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Book of Mormon/Legal issues/The slaying of Laban by Nephi
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The legality of the slaying of Laban by Nephi
Evidence
You do not get very far into 1 Nephi before confronting a jarring ethical dilemma that has disturbed modern readers almost from the very beginning. Hugh Nibley pointed out, “If the Book of Mormon were a work of fiction, nothing would have been easier than to have Laban already dead when Nephi found him (killed perhaps in a drunken brawl) or simply to omit altogether an episode which obviously distressed the writer quite as much as it does the reader.” [1] Yet, the text of the narrative appears to reflect an intimate understanding of Israelite law, making a case for the legality of the act. [2]
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