Why did Lehi build an altar and make an offering?

Thomas R. Valletta

Lehi lived the law of Moses. “According to the Mosaic law, an altar was to be built either of earth or stones not ‘polluted’ by any tools (Ex. 20:24, 25).” (Reynolds and Sjodahl, Commentary on the Book of Mormon, 1:26).

“Lehi built an altar of stones to make an offering and give thanks. It was an altar of unhewn stones as stipulated in Exodus 20:25. The wording is intentional, again showing the Book of Mormon to be translated from an ancient Semitic record. It was not a ‘stone altar,’ which might allow for cut, fitted stones, but an ‘altar of stones’” (Ogden and Skinner, Book of Mormon, 1:20–21).

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