Others Among the Nephites

In the Church’s Gospel Topics essay Book of Mormon and DNA Studies, it says, “Cultural and demographic clues in its text hint at the presence of other groups.”  This is an assertion that I’ve heard before but I’ve never known what exactly in the Book of Mormon would suggest this.  The citation refers to an interesting article from John Sorenson called When Lehi’s Party Arrived in the Land Did They Find Others There?.  In the article he argues that the text of the Book of Mormon does suggest that the Nephites and Lamanites mixed with others in the land who were already there when Lehi arrived with his family.  The article gives I think some compelling indications that the Nephites were not simply literal descendants of Lehi’s group or of the Mulekites. 

              One of the arguments that the article by Brother Sorenson makes uses the encounter with Sherem as evidence of another culture mixing with the Nephites at this point.  Sherem seems to have come from somewhere else because the text tells us that “there came a man among the people of Nephi whose name was Sherem.”  Sherem also said that he “sought much opportunity” to speak to Jacob, a statement that would seem odd as a Nephite given that the Nephite society couldn’t have been very large if only original Nephites were there (Jacob 7:1, 3).  Jacob was at the time in his later years and possibly close to even 100 years old, but even that would only suggest hundreds of Nephites in the population, not an enormous number.  So, as Brother Sorenson argues, it would be very odd if Sherem were a Nephite since he could have easily found Jacob to talk to him and wouldn’t need to “seek” the opportunity like one would seek someone out in a city with tens of thousands or more.  Brother Sorenson concluded, “The text and context of this incident would make little sense if the Nephite population had resulted only from natural demographic increase.”

              There seems to me one problem, though in assuming that Sherem came from a non-Lehite society.  When he got to Jacob, his argument was as follows: “I have heard and also know that thou goest about much, preaching that which ye call the gospel, or the doctrine of Christ.  And ye have led away much of this people that they pervert the right way of God, and keep not the law of Moses which is the right way” (Jacob 7:6-7).  It seems very unlikely to me that someone from another culture would come arguing for the law of Moses to be kept and observed.  But the text does seem to suggest that he came from outside the Nephite society—what if he was a Lamanite?  In that period of time the Lamanites surely still knew of the Law of Moses, and perhaps Sherem had for some reason decided to be a sort of missionary from the Lamanites to the Nephites.  This would fit the detail that he had managed to develop a “perfect knowledge of the language of the people” in order to come among them from the Lamanites and speak against Christ.  Of course, we can’t know for sure and unfortunately the Book of Mormon is not a text about the history of the Nephites and so many details are left out about their culture.  The focus always is on “the doctrine of Christ,” and understanding whether or not other peoples mixed with the Nephites is much less important than understanding that doctrine.