The Portrayal of King David in the Book of Mormon vs. The Bible

Recently an academic paper from an Evangelical Christian was brought to my attention. It was very well written. It was about LDS Scholarship's claims on the historicity of the Book of Mormon. One of the main points was the incongruity of the Book of Mormon's more negative profile of King David as compared to the Jews at Jerusalem. Here was my note to the scholar:

Kyle, I enjoyed your paper. You may well have already heard back from Latter-Day-Saints on this, but one thing I would bring to your attention about the Book of Mormon is its "Josephite" almost "Anti-Judaic" theme.

Lehi, Nephi, Ishmael, Laban, Zoram, Laman and Lemuel, all the original key members of the departing party from Jerusalem that are the original characters of the Book of Mormon are all Josephites. That is, they come from the tribes of Ephraim and Manasseh. They have a different tradition from most of those that are at Jerusalem in the time of Jeremiah, though they support Jeremiah. In other words, The Book of Mormon is not a "Judaic" record, it is a "Josephite" record. This is an important distinction. This is why the Brass Plates they take from Laban are written in Egyptian and why they write their own record in Egyptian. Lehi, the original patriarch and prophet of the Book of Mormon, is preaching AGAINST those in Jerusalem just as did Jeremiah, his contemporary. He was preaching about Christ and those at Jerusalem wanted to kill him for it. That is why he left.

In addition, throughout the majority of the Book of Mormon, those who are called "Nephites" are really part of a political and religious group comprised mostly of the "Josephite" Nephites, and the Judaic Mulekites. The Mulekites far outnumber the original Nephites. The Mulekites are the majority of the dissenters from the Nephites and the instigators of most of the wars between the Nephites and the Lamanites (the dissenters all go to the political group known as the Lamanites). The two big differences between the two groups are that the Nephites believe in Liberty and representation in their government, and in the Doctrine of Christ, while the Lamanites and those who dissent to them do not believe in either.

So in the Book of Jacob, when Jacob speaks against David much more so than what we find in the Bible, those who are listening do not have the same affiliation to David as did the majority of the Jews at Jerusalem in the time of Jeremiah. To the Nephites, the icon of their "royal heritage" is not David, but Joseph.

Thank you for sharing the paper.

Greg Matsen