Nephi mentions that he "went forth unto the treasury of Laban" (1 Nephi 4:20) apparently without any help. Could Nephi have been familiar with the location of Laban's treasury? [Alan C. Miner, Personal Notes] [See the commentary on 1 Nephi 3:3]
“The Treasury of Laban”
The brass plates had been kept in "the treasury of Laban," from which Nephi retrieved them (1 Nephi 4:20-24). According to John Tvedtnes, the concept of keeping books in a treasury, while strange to the modern mind, was a common practice anciently, and the term often denoted what we would today call a library. Ezra 5:17-6:2 speaks of a "treasure house" containing written records. The Aramaic word rendered "treasure" in this passage is ginzayya, from the root meaning "to keep, hide" in both Hebrew and Aramaic. Also from this root is the Mishnaic Hebrew word g'nizah, denoting a repository for worn synagogue scrolls, and gannaz, meaning "archivist," or one in charge of records. The Mandaean word ginza has several meanings, one of which is "library." [John Tvedtnes, The Book of Mormon and Other Hidden Books: Out of Darkness unto Light, pp. 155-156]
“The Treasury of Laban”
Jeff Lindsay notes that on Rabbi Yosef's "Jewishness of the Book of Mormon" internet maillist, an inquirer wondered if the mention of Laban's "treasury" in First Nephi made sense in the Hebrew and in ancient Israel. Rabbi Yosef's e'mail of April 27, 1998 explains that it makes excellent sense, being "exactly in keeping with the culture and language." "Treasury" in Hebrew is "genizah," a word also used for a room in ancient synagogues where scrolls were stored. By way of support, Rabbi Yosef explains:
The early "Church Father" Epiphanius, in his Panarion, section 30, relates the story of a Jew named Josephus (Yosef) who became a believer in Messiah after reading Hebrew copies of Acts and John which he found in a "genizah" (treasury) in Tiberias, Israel (Epiphanius; Panarion 30:3,6). You may also have heard of an archaeological find known as the "Cairo Genizah," in which such an ancient store room of scrolls was found in the remains of an ancient synagogue.
How many New York farmboys would have known about an ancient Jewish practice of storing sacred records in a "treasury"? [Jeff Lindsay, "Laban's Treasury," Book of Mormon Evidences, [[http://jefflindsay.com/BMEvidences.shtml], Jan. 7, 2001]