The Servant of Laban

The account that Nephi gave us as it relates to Zoram leaves some questions unanswered. We are introduced to him this way, “I went forth unto the treasury of Laban. And as I went forth towards the treasury of Laban, behold, I saw the servant of Laban who had the keys of the treasury. And I commanded him in the voice of Laban, that he should go with me into the treasury.” Nephi clearly recognized this man as the “servant of Laban” without any introduction (and in the night), and so he must have seen him before to know who he was. Did Nephi know him simply because he had seen him in the house of Laban when offering to buy the plates with his father’s riches? Or had Nephi met him before they ever left Jerusalem? Nephi and his family clearly knew who Laban was before ever attempting to get the plates from him because Lehi gave him no introduction when discussing the mission with his children. Perhaps Nephi had then met Zoram previously, but we can’t know for sure. We gather than Zoram was probably around the same age as Nephi and his brothers since he also was married at the same time as them (but perhaps slightly older since he married the oldest of the daughters of Ishmael). So, he was a single young man, but he likely was still leaving behind other family members or at least friends when he came with Nephi and his brothers. Part of Nephi’s argument to come with them to was this: “Surely the Lord hath commanded us to do this thing; and shall we not be diligent in keeping the commandments of the Lord?” (1 Nephi 4:20, 34) This suggests that Zoram was a man of faith and perhaps already knew of the prophecies of the impending destruction of Jerusalem. Had he heard Lehi or other prophets preach? Had the Lord somehow prepared him to make this life-altering decision in a single moment? One moment he was the servant of Laban and the next he was fleeing his home into the wilderness to never return. However, the Lord might have warned him of this, he showed incredible faith going with Nephi!

                Today as I pondered Zoram’s story, I thought about what happened after he and Nephi left. The next morning surely Laban was found, and it would have been discovered at the same time that Zoram was gone. With time it would have been confirmed that he simply disappeared without a trace, and it struck me today that he was probably the prime suspect. A man was found dead and at the same time his servant disappeared. Perhaps the plates were discovered missing and at that point someone may have suspected Nephi and his brothers given that they had recently come asking for them. But I think it would have been assumed that Zoram was at least an accomplice to help them retrieve them because, as Nephi told us, he “had the keys of the treasury” (1 Nephi 4:20). Why else would he have disappeared? Some may have thought at first that Zoram was killed too, but when no body was found that hypothesis would have lost merit. And what if Zoram had remained when Nephi and his brothers fled with the plates? He would have recounted the story of how someone dressed like Laban had asked him for the plates, and he had obliged not realizing it wasn’t Laban. I think this story would have been disbelieved—others would have questioned him, “Really, you couldn’t tell that this man wasn’t your own master whom you see every day? You want us to believe that you really couldn’t discern the difference between his voice and Laban’s?” And likely he would have still been suspected of playing part in murder and theft. He might have been condemned for what happened and his life totally ruined. Perhaps some of these thoughts crossed his mind as he determined what to do as Nephi offered to have him come with them—what choice did he have?

                Centuries later when Ammoron wrote to exchange prisoners with Moroni, he said this: “I am Ammoron, and a descendant of Zoram, whom your fathers pressed and brought out of Jerusalem” (Alma 54:23). This is one way of viewing what happened that night—Zoram was forced by Nephi to come with them. But there is an important point that Ammoron failed to understand about this story of his ancestor: Nephi surely saved the life of Zoram that night. Jerusalem was indeed destroyed, and most of the people were killed. If Zoram had never met Nephi and none of this had happened, Zoram would have perished under the hand of the Babylonians or at least been taken into captivity for the rest of this life. It was not Nephi but the hand of the Lord that preserved Zoram’s life—a righteous man—and gave him an inheritance in a land of promise.