“I Will Go Before Thee into a Land Which Is Choice Above All the Lands of the Earth”

Brant Gardner

The Abrahamic parallels begin even before this point, for the story in Genesis that immediately precedes Abraham’s is the Tower of Babel (Gen. 11:1–9), Shem’s genealogy ending with Lot (Gen. 11:10–27), and Yahweh’s command to Abram to “get thee out of thy country” (Gen. 12:1). Abram and his family leave with the promise that they will be a “great nation” and that Abraham will have numerous descendants (Gen 12:2). These elements also appear in the Jaredite story. Again, I see Mosiah and/or Moroni as influences on the particular phrasing of this passage.

Text: There is no chapter break here in the 1830 edition.

Second Witness: Analytical & Contextual Commentary on the Book of Mormon, Vol. 6

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