ABSTRACT

Lehi had a son named Sam. Although this name doesn’t show up in the Bible, it is attested in ancient Near Eastern inscriptions.

EVIDENCE SUMMARY

Sam was the name of one of Nephi’s older brothers in the Book of Mormon (1 Nephi 2:5). This non-biblical name was viewed by some early commentators as being both modern and American, and therefore as evidence that the Book of Mormon was a product of nineteenth-century fiction. Discoveries made after the publication of the Book of Mormon, however, show that Sam was indeed an authentic ancient Near Eastern name.

An Attested Name

Hugh Nibley, in his important 1952 work Lehi in the Deseret, noted that Sam was an Egyptian name and that the throne name of an Egyptian Pharaoh of the Eleventh Dynasty was Sam-Tawi (“uniter of the two lands”).

More recently, the name Sam written in paleo-Hebrew (the early form of Hebrew used in Lehi’s day) was discovered on a stamp seal from Jerusalem dating to the seventh century BC. Ancient Hebrew characters such as those found on the inscription make no distinction between two types of s sounds—ś (s) and š (sh). The form of Sam in the Book of Mormon, assuming it follows early Israelite orthography, could therefore be a viable spelling no matter how it was anciently pronounced (whether as Sam or Shem).

On the other hand, as seen in Judges 12:6, northern Israelites who were from the central hill country of Ephraim and Benjamin in the Transjordan would likely have pronounced the name as Sam rather than Shem. Thus, if the spelling of Sam in the Book of Mormon is indicative of how it was anciently pronounced (i.e., if the spelling is sensitive to later Hebrew conventions or to appropriate English pronunciation), it may point to Lehi’s ancestry in the northern kingdom and in western Transjordan near the Ephraimite border, rather than in eastern Manasseh. Either way, a viable option presents itself if the name indeed derives from Hebrew.

Conclusion

The name Sam, which was once seen as evidence against the Book of Mormon, is now known to be an authentic ancient Near Eastern name. Particularly relevant is its status as an attested Hebrew name. Not only has the paleo-Hebrew form of the name been found in Jerusalem, but it dates to the time of Lehi, validating the appropriateness of Lehi giving this name to one of his sons.