A portion of the brass plates brought by Lehi to the New World contained the books of Moses (1 Nephi 5:1-13). Nephi and other Book of Mormon writers stressed that they obeyed the laws given therein: "And we did observe to keep the judgments, and the statues, and the commandments of the Lord in all things according to the law of Moses" (2 Nephi 5:10).

But aside from sacrifice and the Ten Commandments, we have few explicit details regarding the Nephite observance of the Mosaic code. One would expect, for example, some mention of the festivals which played such an important role in the religious observances of ancient Israel. Though the Book of Mormon mentions no religious festivals by name, it does detail many significant Nephite assemblies.

One of the more noteworthy of the Nephite ceremonies was the coronation of the second Mosiah by his father, Benjamin. Some years ago, Professor Hugh Nibley outlined the similarities between the Book of Mormon account and ancient Middle Eastern coronation rites. He pointed out that these rites took place at the annual New Year festival, when the people were placed under covenant of obedience to the monarch. My own research further explores the Israelite coronation/New Year rites, and aims to complement other scholarly studies of the ceremonial context of Benjamin's speech.

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SUKKOT IN ZARAHEMLA

The biblical Sukkot celebration is closely paralleled by the account of King Benjamin's assembly recorded in Mosiah 1:1-6:6. Benjamin began by calling his son Mosiah to discuss with him an assembly that he wished to convene "on the morrow," and to give him a charge (Mosiah 1:2-17; 6:3). The purpose of the assembly is given in these words: "I shall proclaim unto this my people . . . that thou art a king and a ruler over this people" (Mosiah 1:10-11). But it is evident, from the actual text of Benjamin' discourse, that religious instruction far outweighed the coronation ceremony itself. In fact only three verses of his speech (Mosiah 2:29-31) are devoted to the succession of the new king, and only a portion of a single verse (Mosiah 6:3) is given to Mosiah's consecration. The account begins:

And it came to pass that after Mosiah had done as his father had commanded him, and had made a proclamation throughout all the land, that the people gathered themselves together throughout all the land, that they might go up to the temple to hear the words which king Benjamin should speak unto them. And there were a great number, even so many that they did not number them; for they had multiplied exceedingly and waxed great in the land. And they also took of the firstlings of their flocks, that they might offer sacrifice and burnt offerings according to the law of Moses (Mosiah 2:1-3).

Several elements here are characteristic of Sukkot. The gathering of the Nephites "up to the temple" indicates the sanctity of the occasion. Regarding their sacrifices "according to the law of Moses" it is significant to note that there are more sacrifices prescribed for Sukkot than for any of the other festivals. Likewise, the tower which King Benjamin caused to be erected corresponds to the wooden pulpit traditionally constructed for the king on the occasion of the Feast of Tabernacles. Another Sukkot feature is the mention of the blood of Christ (Mosiah 3:11), reminiscent of the blood of the covenant sprinkled on the people by Moses at the first Sukkot (Exodus 24:8).

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CONCLUSION

This study is not intended to be conclusive. Rather, it is just one more probe into the Old World origins of the Book of Mormon civilization and culture. While a few questions have been at least partially answered here, many more still present themselves. How would the Nephites have coped with a new climate in the celebration of a prepluvial festival? (The word "rain" does not occur in King Benjamin's speech, though he speaks of prosperity.) Were all of the elements of the Nephite assembly based on Israelite counterparts, or did some stem from other Middle Eastern civilizations, as suggested by Dr. Nibley? Was there a Nephite Sukkot liturgy? Did Laban's brass plates contain all of the Psalms? Can we use the Book of Mormon material to date the beginnings of the Jewish Sukkot liturgy of the Second Temple period? Although these and other questions must remain unanswered, we can now respond to the question which prompted this study: To what extent did the Nephites keep the rites of the Law of Moses? The preponderance of our evidence certainly verifies the words of Nephi: "And we did observe to keep the judgments, and the statutes, and the commandments of the Lord in all things, according to the law of Moses" (2 Nephi 5:10).