The Oral Law and the Nephites

The Oral Law and the Nephites

What is the Oral Law?

One of the major differences between the Pharisees and Sadducees, was that the Pharisees accepted the Oral Law, while the Sadducees rejected it.  The First Century Jewish historian Josephus put it like this:

"...the Pharisees have delivered to the people a great many  observances by succession from their fathers, which are not written in the law of Moses;"

(Josephus; Ant. 13:11:6)

But Sadducees rejected these traditions, as Josephus continues:

"...for that reason it is that the Sadducees reject them, and say that we are to esteem those observances to be obligatory which are in the written word, but are not to observe what are delivered from the tradition of our forefathers"

(Josephus; Ant. 13:11:6)

Of course the Pharisees became the forefathers of Rabbinic Judaism, while the Sadducees became extinct. (Not until the middle ages did the Karite sect of Judaism arise, and again, like the Sadducees, reject the Oral Law.

If we read the Stick of Joseph, we find that the Nephites did in fact have the Oral Law, the traditions of our fathers.  We also find that a common feature of their antagonists was a rejection of these traditions.  And finally we find that proselytes from the Lamenites to the Assembly, embraced these traditions as well.

The Lamanites Sought to Destroy the Oral Law

Just one generation after the Nephites left Jerusalem under Lehi’s leadership, Enos, the grandson of Lehi and son of Ya’akov (Jacob) wrote concerning the Lamanites of his time:

14 For at the present our strugglings were vain in restoring them to the true faith. And they swore in their wrath that, if it were possible, they would destroy our records and us, and also all the traditions of our fathers.

(Enos 1:14)

“Our records” would certainly refer to the Brass Plates (The Tanak) and the Gold Plates (The Stick of Joseph),  the written Scriptures, but the phrase “and also all the traditions of our fathers” clearly refers to the Oral Law which was being preserved by the Nephites.

The Wicked People of Ammonihah Rejected the Oral Law

When Alma first came to teach in the city of Ammonihah, the people of that city rejected his message saying:

11 Nevertheless, they hardened their hearts, saying unto him: Behold, we know that you are Alma; and we know that you are Cohen HaGadol over the Assembly which you have established in many parts of the land, according to your tradition; and we are not of your Assembly, and we do not believe in such foolish traditions.

(Alma 8:11)

And when Alma returned with Amulek to teach again in Ammonihah, he rebuked them saying:

Behold, O you wicked and perverse generation, how have ye forgotten the tradition of your fathers; yes, how soon you have forgotten the commandments of Elohim.

(Alma 9:8)

The unrighteous majority of the city again rejected his message.  The righteous people of the city were exiled or burned (Alma 14:7-8)  and the wicked majority were destroyed by a Lamanite army in Elohim’s judgment (Alma 10:23; 14:11; 16:2,9)

Korihor Rejected the Oral Law

We read in Alma:

But it came to pass in the latter end of the seventeenth year, there came a man into the land of Zarahemla, and he was Anti-Messiah, for he began to preach unto the people against the prophecies which had been spoken by the prophets, concerning the coming of Messiah.

(Alma 30:6)

Korihor also spoke very strongly against the Oral Law saying:

14 Behold, these things which you call prophecies, which you say are handed down by holy prophets, behold, they are foolish traditions of your fathers.

15 How do ye know of their surety? Behold, you cannot know of things which you do not see; therefore you cannot know that there shall be a Messiah.

16 You look forward and say that you see a remission of your sins. But behold, it is the effect of a frenzied mind; and this derangement of your minds comes because of the traditions of your fathers, which lead you away into a belief of things which are not so.

(Alma 30:14-16)

... Because I do not teach the foolish traditions of your fathers, and because I do not teach this people to bind themselves down under the foolish ordinances and performances which are laid down by ancient priests, to usurp power and authority over them, to keep them in ignorance, that they may not lift up their heads, but be brought down according to your words.

(Alma 30:23)

27 And thus you lead away this people after the foolish traditions of your fathers, and according to your own desires; and you keep them down, even as it were in bondage, that you may glut yourselves with the labors of their hands, that they dare not look up with boldness, and that they dare not enjoy their rights and privileges.

28 Yes, they dare not make use of that which is their own lest they should offend their priests, who do yoke them according to their desires, and have brought them to believe, by their traditions and their dreams and their whims and their visions and their pretended mysteries, that they should, if they did not do according to their words, offend some unknown being, who they say is Elohim- a being who never has been seen or known, who never was nor ever will be.

(Alma 30:27-28)

31 And he did rise up in great swelling words before Alma, and did revile against the priests and teachers, accusing them of leading away the people after the silly traditions of their fathers, for the sake of glutting on the labors of the people.

(Alma 30:31)

It is difficult to ignore the parallels between Korihor and the Sadducees.  Not only did Korihor, like the Sadducees, reject the Oral Law, but he also rejected, as did the Sadducees, the doctrine of an afterlife:

17 And many more such things did he say unto them, telling them that there could be no atonement made for the sins of men, but every man fared in this life according to the management of the creature; therefore every man prospered according to his genius, and that every man conquered according to his strength; and whatsoever a man did was no crime.

18 And thus he did preach unto them, leading away the hearts of many, causing them to lift up their heads in their wickedness, yea, leading away many women, and also men, to commit whoredoms- telling them that when a man was dead, that was the end thereof.

(Alma 30:17-18)

And while Korihor admitted to being an agnostic. It is likely that many Sadducees were agnostics at heart as well.

It is indeed ironic that this man who spoke so strongly against the Oral Law was judged by Elohim by losing his ability to speak (Alma 30:48-59).

The People of Ammon Embraced the Oral Law

While we have looked at three antagonists to the Nephites who rejected the Oral Law, we also have an example of a large group of Lamanite converts, who embraced the Oral Law. 

When the sons of Mosiah taught the Lamanites, a large group, who came to be known as the People of Ammon, repented and joined the Assembly (Alma 23:4-5, 17-18).

5 And thousands were brought to the knowledge of YHWH, yes, thousands were brought to believe in the traditions of the Nephites; and they were taught the records and prophecies which were handed down even to the present time.

(Alma 23:5)

When Korihor brought his message to the People of Ammon, they literally showed him out of their land:

19 Now this man went over to the land of Jershon also, to preach these things among the people of Ammon, who were once the people of the Lamanites.

20 But behold they were more wise than many of the Nephites; for they took him, and bound him, and carried him before Ammon, who was a high priest over that people.

21 And it came to pass that he caused that he should be carried out of the land...

(Alma 30:19-21)