In the companion volume to this commentary, The Covenant Story, which contains the text of the Book of Mormon, the term "Lamb" as a title of the Lord has been bolded in order to emphasize its significance as a central message of the book of 1st Nephi. The term "Lamb" (with it's covenant sacrificial and atonement symbolism) has been cited as the "literal" chiastic center of 1 Nephi. It sits at the center of 164 elements repeated in reverse order, extending from "the Lamb of God" (1 Nephi 14:3). (See the commentary on 1 Nephi 1:2.) While the term "Lamb" is used 57 times in chapters 10-14 of 1 Nephi, it is used only 14 other times in the rest of the Book of Mormon:
by Nephi 4 times (2 Nephi 31:4,5,6; 33:14)
by Alma 2 times (Alma 7:14; 13:11)
by Amulek 1 time (Alma 34:36)
by Mormon 1 time (Helaman 6:5)
by Moroni 5 times (Mormon 9:2,3,6; Ether 13:10,11)
Interestingly, the deity title "Lamb" does not occur in the Old Testament portion of our present King James Version. However, Isaiah's mention of one who is "brought as a lamb to the slaughter" (Isaiah 53:7; see Mosiah 14:7) in his prophecy of Christ is most revealing. The title "Lamb of God" is first mentioned by John (John 1:36), and the title "Lamb" occurs 25 times in the book of Revelation. [Alan C. Miner, Personal Notes] [For interesting commentary relative to "the Lamb," see 1 Nephi 10:10; 11:32-33; 12:11; 12:18; 13:28; 13:39; 14:3]