In a future part of the text of the Book of Mormon, during the second day of his visit to the Nephites, the Lord will ask Nephi to bring forth the records which had been kept. He will remind Nephi he had commanded Samuel to testify that many would arise from the dead and appear to many at the time of his resurrection and will note this had not been recorded (3 Nephi 23:7-13). Accordingly, the missing scripture will be added to the record. According to Lynn Johnson, on the surface, this account seems straightforward enough. The Savior shows his concern that the scriptures be complete, and a prior omission is rectified. But what was omitted? Was it a record of the prophecy, or a record of the fulfillment of the prophecy?
Two aspects of the structure of the text in the record of Samuel's prophecy provide strong evidence that it was the prophecy that had been left out:
(1) First, the prophecy of the resurrection of the saints (Helaman 14:25) is out of chronological order in the reiteration of the events connected with the death of the Savior. It is placed in the midst of the description of the natural violence of that time, rather than after the darkness lifted, which is when it would have occurred. Indeed, McConkie and Millet point out the problem by noting, "The rise of many Saints from the graves was not, strictly speaking, a sign of his death, but rather took place at the time of the Lord's resurrection." Placing verse 25 after verse 27 would restore the proper order. The inconsistency can be explained by assuming that verse 25 was inserted years later in response to the Savior's reminder. (see illustration)
(2) An even more compelling argument that the prophecy was inserted later lies in the literary structure of verses 20-27. Substantial portions of the recorded words of Samuel from the city wall are in an inverse parallel order known as chiasmus that pervades the Book of Mormon. Verse 25 disrupts the symmetry of a chiasm concerning the signs of the death of the Savior.
In light of the discussion above, we gain insight into the writing, abridging, and translation of the Book of Mormon. Among other things, we know Samuel did not write the record, for he jumped from the wall, fled, and was never seen again among the Nephites (Helaman 16:8). Moreover, he would not have omitted the prophecy. Whether the passage was spoken in chiastic form or not, whoever wrote the account took great pains to write it so, but he forgot the one prophecy. The younger Nephi did not rewrite the account, but simply wrote in the margin or between the lines. He probably was constrained by the availability of space on the plates. Even if he understood the literary structure of the passage, he may not have been able to find room to preserve it when inserting the missing scripture.
Furthermore, this finding helps us understand how Mormon abridged the records in writing the Book of Mormon. In at least this case he obviously copied the corrected account verbatim into his abridgment for, if he had paraphrased or otherwise written the text himself, he could have balanced the passage quite simply as shown above. Mormon apparently was quite familiar with chiastic style, since much of his abridgment is so written, including the record of the dialogue in question (3 Nephi 23:6-14). Joseph Smith followed the original language in his translation, preserving the modified structure. Moreover, when he translated Helaman 14 he could not have yet known that the Savior would later direct Nephi to insert the missing scripture. Finally, it can be concluded that Helaman 14:20-27 was not the product of a single author of any age. [D. Lynn Johnson, "The Missing Scripture," in Journal of Book of Mormon Studies, Fall 1994, pp. 84-91] [See 3 Nephi 23:11]
Helaman 14:25 Many saints shall appear unto many ([Illustration]): The Present Textual Chiastic Structure of Samuel's Prophecy Without Verse 25 / The Restored Textual Chiastic and Chronological Structure of Samuel's Prophecy. [D Lynn Johnson, "The Missing Scripture," in Journal of Book of Mormon Studies, F.A.R.M.S., Fall 1994, pp. 86-90]