Brief notes on Laman, Lemuel and Cursing

(Corrected!) I hope it’s not too late to post this, and equally that it will still be useful in this quick and dirty form. Though long, I’ve included the scriptural passages for quick skimming, since I doubt they’re familiar. We’re familiar with blessings in the Church- patriarchal blessings, blessings on the food, blessings of health, etc. But blessings have a counter-part that Israelites were just as familiar with and we have no background for: cursings. I wanted to write a typology of curses for my dissertation, but it turned out my advisor’s advisor (three generations of UChicago!) had already done that for his dissertation. What we’re describing here is a very small portion of curse usage.

Since many people find the cursing (or at least their interpretive history within the Church) in the Book of Mormon problematic, I want to provide a tiny bit of background. Curses were an inherent and important part of covenants, most relevantly the law of Moses. Just as a contract stipulates what you get if you follow through (blessing), it often stipulates what will happen if you don’t (cursing). Some of these are explicit, some symbolized and implicit through ritual action.

Though the Book of Mormon has some atypical elements, I don’t think Lehi is doing anything unusual. He’s simply reminding his children of the consequences of their choices as covenant Israelites; we’re just not used to that being described as a “curse.” Other common elements, generically described are remembering and blessing. Lehi’s unusual statement about taking the curse of the descendants and putting it on the heads of the parents who are responsible is reminiscent of Ezekiel (Lehi’s rough contemporary) chapter 18, which specifies that children are not accountable for the sins of their parents.

 Know that all lives are mine; the life of the parent as well as the life of the child is mine: it is only the person who sins that shall die.5 If a man is righteous and does what is lawful and right— 6 if he does not eat upon the mountains or lift up his eyes to the idols of the house of Israel, does not defile his neighbor’s wife or approach a woman during her menstrual period, 7 does not oppress anyone, but restores to the debtor his pledge, commits no robbery, gives his bread to the hungry and covers the naked with a garment, 8 does not take advance or accrued interest, withholds his hand from iniquity, executes true justice between contending parties, 9 follows my statutes, and is careful to observe my ordinances, acting faithfully—such a one is righteous; he shall surely live, says the Lord God. 10 If he has a son who is violent, a shedder of blood, 11 who does any of these things (though his father does none of them), who eats upon the mountains, defiles his neighbor’s wife, 12 oppresses the poor and needy, commits robbery, does not restore the pledge, lifts up his eyes to the idols, commits abomination, 13 takes advance or accrued interest; shall he then live? He shall not. He has done all these abominable things; he shall surely die; his blood shall be upon himself. 14 But if this man has a son who sees all the sins that his father has done, considers, and does not do likewise, 15 who does not eat upon the mountains or lift up his eyes to the idols of the house of Israel, does not defile his neighbor’s wife, 16 does not wrong anyone, exacts no pledge, commits no robbery, but gives his bread to the hungry and covers the naked with a garment, 17 withholds his hand from iniquity, takes no advance or accrued interest, observes my ordinances, and follows my statutes; he shall not die for his father’s iniquity; he shall surely live. 18 As for his father, because he practiced extortion, robbed his brother, and did what is not good among his people, he dies for his iniquity. 19 Yet you say, “Why should not the son suffer for the iniquity of the father?” When the son has done what is lawful and right, and has been careful to observe all my statutes, he shall surely live. 20 The person who sins shall die. A child shall not suffer for the iniquity of a parent, nor a parent suffer for the iniquity of a child; the righteousness of the righteous shall be his own, and the wickedness of the wicked shall be his own. 21 But if the wicked turn away from all their sins that they have committed and keep all my statutes and do what is lawful and right, they shall surely live; they shall not die. 22 None of the transgressions that they have committed shall be remembered against them; for the righteousness that they have done they shall live. 23 Have I any pleasure in the death of the wicked, says the Lord God, and not rather that they should turn from their ways and live? 24 But when the righteous turn away from their righteousness and commit iniquity and do the same abominable things that the wicked do, shall they live? None of the righteous deeds that they have done shall be remembered; for the treachery of which they are guilty and the sin they have committed, they shall die. 25 Yet you say, “The way of the Lord is unfair.” Hear now, O house of Israel: Is my way unfair? Is it not your ways that are unfair? 26 When the righteous turn away from their righteousness and commit iniquity, they shall die for it; for the iniquity that they have committed they shall die. 27 Again, when the wicked turn away from the wickedness they have committed and do what is lawful and right, they shall save their life. 28 Because they considered and turned away from all the transgressions that they had committed, they shall surely live; they shall not die. 29 Yet the house of Israel says, “The way of the Lord is unfair.” O house of Israel, are my ways unfair? Is it not your ways that are unfair? 30 Therefore I will judge you, O house of Israel, all of you according to your ways, says the Lord God. Repent and turn from all your transgressions; otherwise iniquity will be your ruin. 31 Cast away from you all the transgressions that you have committed against me, and get yourselves a new heart and a new spirit! Why will you die, O house of Israel? 32 For I have no pleasure in the death of anyone, says the Lord God. Turn, then, and live.

The most relevant background passages are below.

Blessing and cursing are the two options.

Deu 11:26 See, I am setting before you today a blessing and a curse: 27  the blessing, if you obey the commandments of the LORD your God that I am commanding you today; 28 and the curse, if you do not obey the commandments of the LORD your God, but turn from the way that I am commanding you today…

Deu 30:15-19 See, I have set before you today life and prosperity, death and adversity. 16       If you obey the commandments of the LORD your God that I am commanding you today, by loving the LORD your God, walking in his ways, and observing his commandments, decrees, and ordinances, then you shall live and become numerous, and the LORD your God will bless you in the land that you are entering to possess. 17  But if your heart turns away and you do not hear, but are led astray to bow down to other gods and serve them, 18  I declare to you today that you shall perish; you shall not live long in the land that you are crossing the Jordan to enter and possess. 19  I call heaven and earth to witness against you today that I have set before you life and death, blessings and curses. Choose life so that you and your descendants may live, 20 loving the LORD your God, obeying him, and holding fast to him; for that means life to you and length of days, so that you may live in the land that the LORD swore to give to your ancestors, to Abraham, to Isaac, and to Jacob.

The Book of Mormon mantra that righteousness=life/”prosperity in the land” and wickedness (=violation of the covenant)= death is rooted in the Deuteronomic mindset.

Curses for violating the covenant are made explicit

Explicit curses often parallel the blessings, and then add some extra as well. Note that while the description of blessing only runs from Deu 28:1-13, the cursing runs longer as below.

Deu 28:15ff But if you will not obey the Lord your God by diligently observing all his commandments and decrees, which I am commanding you today, then all these curses shall come upon you and overtake you: 16 Cursed shall you be in the city, and cursed shall you be in the field. 17 Cursed shall be your basket and your kneading bowl.18 Cursed shall be the fruit of your womb, the fruit of your ground, the increase of your cattle and the issue of your flock. 19 Cursed shall you be when you come in, and cursed shall you be when you go out. 20 The Lord will send upon you disaster, panic, and frustration in everything you attempt to do, until you are destroyed and perish quickly, on account of the evil of your deeds, because you have forsaken me. 21 The Lord will make the pestilence cling to you until it has consumed you off the land that you are entering to possess. 22 The Lord will afflict you with consumption, fever, inflammation, with fiery heat and drought, and with blight and mildew; they shall pursue you until you perish. 23 The sky over your head shall be bronze, and the earth under you iron. 24 The Lord will change the rain of your land into powder, and only dust shall come down upon you from the sky until you are destroyed. 25 The Lord will cause you to be defeated before your enemies; you shall go out against them one way and flee before them seven ways. You shall become an object of horror to all the kingdoms of the earth. 26 Your corpses shall be food for every bird of the air and animal of the earth, and there shall be no one to frighten them away. 27 The Lord will afflict you with the boils of Egypt, with ulcers, scurvy, and itch, of which you cannot be healed. 28 The Lord will afflict you with madness, blindness, and confusion of mind; 29 you shall grope about at noon as blind people grope in darkness, but you shall be unable to find your way; and you shall be continually abused and robbed, without anyone to help. 30 You shall become engaged to a woman, but another man shall lie with her. You shall build a house, but not live in it. You shall plant a vineyard, but not enjoy its fruit. 31 Your ox shall be butchered before your eyes, but you shall not eat of it. Your donkey shall be stolen in front of you, and shall not be restored to you. Your sheep shall be given to your enemies, without anyone to help you. 32 Your sons and daughters shall be given to another people, while you look on; you will strain your eyes looking for them all day but be powerless to do anything. 33 A people whom you do not know shall eat up the fruit of your ground and of all your labors; you shall be continually abused and crushed, 34 and driven mad by the sight that your eyes shall see. 35 The Lord will strike you on the knees and on the legs with grievous boils of which you cannot be healed, from the sole of your foot to the crown of your head. 36 The Lord will bring you, and the king whom you set over you, to a nation that neither you nor your ancestors have known, where you shall serve other gods, of wood and stone. 37 You shall become an object of horror, a proverb, and a byword among all the peoples where the Lord will lead you. 38 You shall carry much seed into the field but shall gather little in, for the locust shall consume it. 39 You shall plant vineyards and dress them, but you shall neither drink the wine nor gather the grapes, for the worm shall eat them. 40 You shall have olive trees throughout all your territory, but you shall not anoint yourself with the oil, for your olives shall drop off. 41 You shall have sons and daughters, but they shall not remain yours, for they shall go into captivity. 42 All your trees and the fruit of your ground the cicada shall take over. 43 Aliens residing among you shall ascend above you higher and higher, while you shall descend lower and lower. 44 They shall lend to you but you shall not lend to them; they shall be the head and you shall be the tail. 45 All these curses shall come upon you, pursuing and overtaking you until you are destroyed, because you did not obey the Lord your God, by observing the commandments and the decrees that he commanded you. 46 They shall be among you and your descendants as a sign and a portent forever. 47 Because you did not serve the Lord your God joyfully and with gladness of heart for the abundance of everything, 48 therefore you shall serve your enemies whom the Lord will send against you, in hunger and thirst, in nakedness and lack of everything. He will put an iron yoke on your neck until he has destroyed you. 49 The Lord will bring a nation from far away, from the end of the earth, to swoop down on you like an eagle, a nation whose language you do not understand, 50 a grim-faced nation showing no respect to the old or favor to the young. 51 It shall consume the fruit of your livestock and the fruit of your ground until you are destroyed, leaving you neither grain, wine, and oil, nor the increase of your cattle and the issue of your flock, until it has made you perish. 52 It shall besiege you in all your towns until your high and fortified walls, in which you trusted, come down throughout your land; it shall besiege you in all your towns throughout the land that the Lord your God has given you. 53 In the desperate straits to which the enemy siege reduces you, you will eat the fruit of your womb, the flesh of your own sons and daughters whom the Lord your God has given you. 54 Even the most refined and gentle of men among you will begrudge food to his own brother, to the wife whom he embraces, and to the last of his remaining children, 55 giving to none of them any of the flesh of his children whom he is eating, because nothing else remains to him, in the desperate straits to which the enemy siege will reduce you in all your towns. 56 She who is the most refined and gentle among you, so gentle and refined that she does not venture to set the sole of her foot on the ground, will begrudge food to the husband whom she embraces, to her own son, and to her own daughter, 57 begrudging even the afterbirth that comes out from between her thighs, and the children that she bears, because she is eating them in secret for lack of anything else, in the desperate straits to which the enemy siege will reduce you in your towns. 58 If you do not diligently observe all the words of this law that are written in this book, fearing this glorious and awesome name, the Lord your God, 59 then the Lord will overwhelm both you and your offspring with severe and lasting afflictions and grievous and lasting maladies. 60 He will bring back upon you all the diseases of Egypt, of which you were in dread, and they shall cling to you. 61 Every other malady and affliction, even though not recorded in the book of this law, the Lord will inflict on you until you are destroyed. 62 Although once you were as numerous as the stars in heaven, you shall be left few in number, because you did not obey the Lord your God. 63 And just as the Lord took delight in making you prosperous and numerous, so the Lord will take delight in bringing you to ruin and destruction; you shall be plucked off the land that you are entering to possess. 64 The Lord will scatter you among all peoples, from one end of the earth to the other; and there you shall serve other gods, of wood and stone, which neither you nor your ancestors have known. 65 Among those nations you shall find no ease, no resting place for the sole of your foot. There the Lord will give you a trembling heart, failing eyes, and a languishing spirit. 66 Your life shall hang in doubt before you; night and day you shall be in dread, with no assurance of your life. 67 In the morning you shall say, “If only it were evening!” and at evening you shall say, “If only it were morning!”—because of the dread that your heart shall feel and the sights that your eyes shall see. 68 The Lord will bring you back in ships to Egypt, by a route that I promised you would never see again; and there you shall offer yourselves for sale to your enemies as male and female slaves, but there will be no buyer.

Wow. You can see why the opposite of cursing can be summarized as “prosper in the land.” This is the “sore cursing” of 2 Nephi 1:22.

Interesting to me is that there is no usage of “curse” or “cursing” outside of the Small Plates of Nephi, and the vast majority of occurrences are in 2 Nephi 1-5. (I thought that couldn’t be right. I accidentally ran that search on my 1830 Book of Mormon text, which I haven’t finished importing yet, instead of the 1981 text.) 2Nephi 1-5 do have a significant number of “curse” “cursing”, but it definitely occurs elsewhere.

To summarize: Cursing was inherently tied to covenant-making in Israel, just as much as blessing was. As Israelites, Lehi is drawing on that to remind his children of the covenantal consequences of their choices.

Lehi’s talk with his kids is reminiscent as well of the “original” patriarchal blessing of Genesis 49, ”    (“Then Jacob called his sons, and said: “Gather around, that I may tell you what will happen to you in days to come.Assemble and hear, O sons of Jacob; listen to Israel your father….”
but there’s no time to flesh this out tonight.

13 comments for “Brief notes on Laman, Lemuel and Cursing

  1. but what’s with the “skin of blackness?” The cursing is not the issue. It’s the “skin of blackness.” that’s the issue. How can that be justified?

  2. Dan, in the 10 minutes I had to write this, I only address the general issue of cursing, since most people think is some kind of Book of Mormon innovation, instead of tightly connected to covenant.

  3. Thanks, Ben. I have to say that between you, Julie, Dave, and Kent, this year’s becoming my best BoM study year yet.

  4. On my mission we had an investigator who was very sick one of the times we showed up. We gave him a blessing, talked about blessings and let that be our visit. The next time we saw him he talked about how he was healed soon after we left and attributed it to the blessing. Then he asked if we had an “oppisite blessing”. The neighbors dog had been giving him problems and he figured if we had the power/authority to heal we should have the power to do the opposite. We told him “no” and did some service for him.
    After we left my companion and I discussed the concept of an “opposite blessing” and soon decided that the concept is known as curse. It’s nice to see the same reasoning here.

  5. Great job. Simply spoken, a curse is the separation from God, His paths and His ways as a result of sin, turning away from the gospel.

    On the “skin of blackness” my husband, Marvin Perkins, uses the scriptures to lay this out clearly in the Blacks in the Scriptures DVD series. in essence, the “skin” is the spirit of the individual, which is darkened when the light of Christ is dimmed due to sin.

  6. There’s also the thought that the skin of blackness involves ritualistic paint as the non-Nephites mix in with the indigenous populations. The fundamental idea is a separation from the Nephites who were attempting to maintain their Jewishness. (We shouldn’t assume how successful they were in this mind you)

  7. Interesting thoughts Ben I always learn a lot from your posts.

    But why try to justify the BOM as if it is an infallible text free of hatred and racism? The LDS leadership certainly are less prone to try to justify ostensible expressions of hatred in the OT (such as that of the writers towards the Amalekites as in 1 Samuel 15:18 – “And the Lord sent thee on a journey, and said, Go and utterly destroy the sinners the Amalekites, and fight against them until they be consumed.”).

    Why can’t it just be accepted that either JS or Nephi (depending on whether you believe the BOM to be a 19th century or an ancient text) was prejudiced against people with dark skin and that they were wrong?

  8. Brad, why are you asking me about something I haven’t written about? There’s nothing in my post about race or “skin of blackness” or attempts to argue for infallibility.

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