Books of the Book of Mormon
Small Plates of Nephi
Contribution of Mormon
Additions by Moroni

The Book of Enos (/ˈiːnəs/) is the fourth book in the Book of Mormon and is a portion of the small plates of Nephi.[1] According to the text it was written by Enos, a Nephite prophet. According to the Book of Mormon, Enos was the son of Jacob and nephew of Nephi.

This short book consists of a single chapter, relating Enos' conversion after praying all day and all night, following with his subsequent dialogue with the Lord. It also discusses the redemption of the Nephites and their enemies, the Lamanites, and contains prophecies of future Nephite and Lamanite generations. Additionally, it contains descriptions of the Lamanites. The style of Enos resembles that of Erich Auerbach in his Mimesis and that of Nephi, Enos's ancestor and the Book of Mormon's opening narrator.

Narrative

Enos hunts in the woods and remembers the gospel that his father taught him; as a result, he kneels and cries all day and during the night for the salvation of his soul.[2] Then the voice of God tells Enos that he is forgiven of his sins. Enos believes the voice, but he wonders how the forgiveness is actually accomplished.[3] In response, God explains that Enos is forgiven because he has faith in Jesus Christ, even though he has never seen or heard Christ.[4]

Enos then prays for the salvation of the Nephites, but God says they will be blessed or punished according to their obedience.[5] Enos, fearing that the Nephites will refuse to obey the commandments of God, then prays for the Lamanites who oppress them; he asks God for the Lamanites' preservation. Additionally, he prays that God will preserve a record of the Nephites so that someday the Lamanites too might be brought to salvation. Only faith in Christ will save them, but God makes a covenant with Enos that he will bring the records of the Nephites to the Lamanites in due time.[6]

After this experience, Enos takes up the mantle of prophet and preaches among the Nephites,[7] fearing their destruction. In the record, Enos does not say whether he is successful at converting the Nephites, but he does say the Nephites fail to convert the Lamanites.[2] Before Enos dies he gives the records to his son Jarom.[8]

Portrayal of Lamanites

Throughout the narrative, Enos characterizes the Lamanites as possessing an unmoving hatred. According to Enos, the Lamanites become a wild, idolatrous, and bloodthirsty people, eating predatory animals. They live in tents, wander around in the wilderness, wear loincloths, shave their heads, and often eat raw meat.[9] Enos explains that they are skilled with bows, cimeters, and axes and continually seek to destroy the Nephites.

Fatimah Salleh and Margaret Olsen Hemming noticed that Enos implies that Lamanite practices, like eating raw meat, connote corruption, even though the same behavior had no negative connotations earlier in the Book of Mormon when the Nephites and Lamanites were still one people. Thus, Enos demonstrates "writer's bias." Hemming and Salleh concluded that Enos's criticism of the Lamanites is based more on prejudice and what is culturally acceptable to the Nephite rather than based on a charge from God.[10]

Book of Enos interpretation

Summary[11] Verses
Receives forgiveness 1-8
Prays for Nephites, Lamanites, and Record 9-18
Prophesies of future Lamanite and Nephite generations 19-24
Writes final words 25-27

Enos begins his account in a manner that is similar to Nephi’s: he mentions parental influence, passed on through religious counsel.[12] The narrative not only begins with this but also ends with it.[13] A difference from the style of Nephi is that Enos does not quote scripture in his narrative.[14] Terryl L. Givens also argues that Enos' intended literary audience leans toward the Lamanites, as the Nephites will eventually be destroyed.[15]

According to author Dennis Largey, the style of the Book of Enos implies that Enos did not narrate it over a long period of time but may have narrated it shortly before he died.[16] On another note, literary critic Richard Rust compares the style and syntax of the Book of Enos and that of Erich Auerbach's Mimesis account of when Abraham is about to sacrifice Isaac. Specifically, Rust noticed in both accounts similar uses of modifiers as well as “and.”[17] Additionally, Enos fills his narrative with words such as "wrestling" that generally appeal to a reader’s emotions, says Protestant theologian John Christopher Thomas.[18] The familial and covenantal responsibilities that Enos feels bring a serious but personal flavor into the narrative, according to BYU English professor Sharon J. Harris.[19]

See also

Notes

  1. ^ Sperry 1948, pp. 41, 43.
  2. ^ a b Rust 1997, p. 192.
  3. ^ Harris 2020, pp. 26–27.
  4. ^ Givens 2009, pp. 26–27.
  5. ^ Thomas 2016, p. 54.
  6. ^ Salleh and Hemming 2020, p. 137.
  7. ^ Sperry 1995, p. 15.
  8. ^ Bingman 1978, p. 116.
  9. ^ Thomas 2016, p. 55.
  10. ^ Salleh and Hemming 2020, pp. 134, 138–139.
  11. ^ Thomas 2016, p. 53.
  12. ^ Salleh and Hemming 2020, pp. 133–134; Largey 2003, p. 245
  13. ^ Miller 2023, p. 13.
  14. ^ Hardy 2010, p. 61.
  15. ^ Givens 2009, p. 86.
  16. ^ Largey 2003, p. 244.
  17. ^ Rust 1997, p. 147.
  18. ^ Thomas 2016, pp. 53–54.
  19. ^ Harris 2020, pp. 19–20, 26.

Works cited

Further reading

External links

Book of Enos Small Plates of Nephi Preceded byJacob Book of Mormon Succeeded byJarom
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