Why do Sam’s descendants appear to be combined with Nephi’s?

Thomas R. Valletta

“It appears that when he blessed Joseph with an interest in the land (2 Nephi 3:2), Lehi was creating in Joseph and in his posterity a durable right to possess some specific share of the land. By the same token, [in 2 Nephi 4:11] Lehi was saying that Sam would not have a separate tribal interest in a particular part of the land, but would merge legally and tribally with the seed of Nephi. Consequently, there are Josephites in the Book of Mormon, but never any Samites” (Welch, “Lehi’s Last Will and Testament,” 72).

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