“Not a Sacrifice of Man Neither”

Alan C. Miner

Critics of the Book of Mormon have pointed to the fact that while the book declares that they kept the law of Moses, there is nothing within its pages pointing to any type of sacrificial offerings at the temple like took place in the Old World. However, according to John Welch, four Book of Mormon passages link the Nephite observance of the law of Moses with the performance of sacrifice, one even implying daily sacrifice, all of which they understood as symbolizing the atoning sacrifice of Jesus Christ. Those four texts are as follows:

1. (Mosiah 13:30-31): In describing the performances and ordinances of the law of Moses, Abinadi called it "a law which they were to observe strictly from day to day, to keep them in remembrance of God and their duty towards him" and as "types of things to come." The phrase "from day to day" strongly suggests that the Nephites respected daily reminders and performance of the law of Moses. . . .

It should be noted that Abinadi accused Noah and his priests of many things. If the priests of Noah had not been attending to the appropriate daily requirements of the law, it is reasonable to assume that Abinadi would have raised that point against them, because he specifically acknowledged the need to observe the law daily, and the priests told Abinadi that they taught and lived that law (see Mosiah 12:28).

2. (Mosiah 2:3): King Benjamin's people "took of the firstlings of their flocks, that they might offer sacrifice and burnt offerings according to the law of Moses." Firstlings were required under the law of Moses (see Deuteronomy 12:5-6, 19-20). Such sacrifices symbolized the sacrifice of God's first and only begotten son (see Moses 5:5-8).

3. (Alma 34:10): Amulek taught that the great and last sacrifice of Jesus would not be a sacrifice performed by man, "neither of beast, neither of any manner of fowl." By mentioning beasts and fowl, Amulek encompassed the two legally acceptable categories of blood sacrifices designated in Leviticus 1, namely beasts taken from the herds of cattle or the flocks of sheep or goats of the person offering the sacrifice, and birds, specifically turtledoves or pigeons (see Leviticus 1:3-17). Grain offerings were allowed, but only as a substitute, "as the poor man's burnt offering

It should be noted that if the Nephites no longer offered such sacrifices, it is unlikely that Amulek would have brought up this detail in speaking to his Zoramite audience who, only a short time earlier, had split from the Nephites precisely because the Zoramites refused to keep all the law of Moses (see Alma 31:9-10). Thus they would have probably used it against him.

4. (3 Nephi 9:19): When the voice of Jesus spoke out of the darkness in 3 Nephi 9, he told the people, "Ye shall offer up unto me no more the shedding of blood; yea, your sacrifices and your burnt offerings shall be done away, for I will accept none of your sacrifices and your burnt offerings." These words imply that the surviving righteous Nephites had themselves offered such sacrifices, which had been fully accepted until the law of Moses was fulfilled in Christ.

[John W. Welch, "The Temple in the Book of Mormon," in Temples of the Ancient World, pp. 306-308]

Step by Step Through the Book of Mormon: A Cultural Commentary

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