Why did the Lamanites feel Nephi robbed them when he took the brass plates?

Thomas R. Valletta

“Nephite kingship was … connected with and was even symbolized or legitimized by possession of certain material objects. … Nephi took the brass plates with him when he abandoned the land of Nephi. … The Lamanites … claimed that by taking them Nephi had ‘robbed them’ … (Mosiah 10:15–16; compare 2 Nephi 5:3; Alma 20:10, 13). When Benjamin transferred the kingdom to his son Mosiah, he gave Mosiah the brass plates, as well as the plates of Nephi, the sword of Laban, and the Liahona” (Peterson, “Priesthood in Mosiah,” 191).

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