“Having Received Much Strength of the Lord”

Monte S. Nyman

Faith as a principle of power is exemplified here. Although large in stature, Nephi received much strength of the Lord (v. 31). Zoram was apparently a righteous man, the situation had not yet been conducive for Nephi to persuade him to come with them, as was obviously the Lord’s will. It seems it was necessary to get him outside the walls of the city in order to prevent a scene that would attract the attention of others.

Zoram exercised faith as a principle of action when he promised to go down into the wilderness with them. Once more the binding power of the oath in the ancient world was shown. In addition to the sparing of Zoram’s life, Nephi assured him “as the lord liveth” that he would be a free man like unto us” (vv. 32–33). Thus he would no longer be a servant as he had been in the house of Laban. He would have equal status with Nephi and his family. Nephi also informed him that they were doing what the Lord had commanded them to do (v. 34). That Nephi could talk to him in this manner and Zoram responding as he did is another evidence of his being a righteous man. Zoram’s willingness to make an oath in return also showed his integrity. Regarding the oath, Dr. Hugh Nibley has written:

When he (Zoram) saw the brethren and heard Nephi’s real voice he got the shock of his life and in a panic made a break for the city. In such a situation there was only one thing Nephi could possibly have done, both to spare Zoram and to avoid giving alarm—and no westerner could have guessed what it was. Nephi, a powerful fellow, held the terrified Zoram in a vice-like grip long enough to swear a solemn oath in his ear, “as the Lord liveth, and as I live” (1 Nephi 4:32), that he would not harm him if he would listen. Zoram immediately relaxed, and Nephi swore another oath to him that he would be a free man if he would join the party: ‘Therefore, if thou wilt go down into the wilderness to my father thou shalt have place with us.’ [1 Nephi 4:34]
The oath of power: What astonishes the western reader is the miraculous effect of Nephi’s oath on Zoram, who upon hearing a few conventional words promptly becomes tractable, while as for the brothers, as soon as Zoram “made an oath unto us that he would tarry with us from that time forth … our fears did cease concerning him.” (1 Nephi 4:35, 37).
The reaction of both parties makes sense when one realizes that the oath is the one thing that is most sacred and inviolable among the desert people and their descendants: “Hardly will an Arab break his oath, even if his life is in jeopardy,” for “there is nothing stronger, and nothing more sacred than the oath among the nomads,” and even the city Arabs, if it be exacted under special conditions. “The taking of an oath is a holy thing with the Bedouins,” says one authority, “Wo to him who swears falsely; his social standing will be damaged and his reputation ruined. No one will receive his testimony, and he must also pay a money fine.”
But not every oath will do. To be most binding and solemn an oath should be by the life of something, even if it be but a blade of grass. The only oath more awful than that “by my life” or (less commonly) “by the life of my head,” is the wa hayat Allah “by the life of God,” or “as the Lord liveth,” the exact Arabic equivalent of the ancient Hebrew hai Elohim… .
So we see that the only way that Nephi could possibly have pacified the struggling Zoram in an instant was to utter the one oath that no man would dream of breaking, the most solemn of all the oaths to the Semite: “as the Lord liveth, and as I live!” [1 Nephi 4:32]

It was important to take Zoram along because the sons did not want to be pursued by the Jews (v. 36), but apparently the Lord had other reasons that were not evident to Nephi. The family of Ishmael, who were soon to join them, had one more daughter than Lehi had sons, and Zoram, being a righteous man, would fit well into the Lord’s program by marrying the eldest daughter (see 1 Nephi 16:7).

Book of Mormon Commentary: I Nephi Wrote This Record

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