Many passages in the Book of Mormon refer to white garments, and Alma declares that a man’s garments must be washed white or he cannot be saved. Modern scholars such as Erwin Goodenough have identified the white garment as being of particular importance to the Jews. Paraphrasing Goodenough, Hugh Nibley states that “God himself may be represented in the earliest Jewish art as one of three men clothed in white… . This image [from the Dura Europos synagogue] wasn’t even known to exist until 1958 … there are three men in white, or a single figure, the prophet in white. The symbol of the chosen prophet, an emissary from God, is always the white robe, which is reserved for heavenly beings.” This coincides perfectly with Nephi’s statement that the righteous will be “clothed with purity, yea, even with the robe of righteousness” (2 Nephi 9:14). (See Echoes, 485.)