Mulekites as Nephites
We may not leave this brief survey without mentioning another aspect of the general subject, one that has, in my judgment, been neglected but which should not be ignored. (Omni 13-22) Now read Mosiah 25:2. It appears that when the Nephites and Mulekites merged, the lamb ate the lion. (We need not now spend time on the importance of record-keeping nor the equally provocative subject of what causes a equally provocative subject of what causes a language to deteriorate). How many students of the Book of Mormon have realized that the Nephites of its record appear to have been descendants of the Jews as much as or more than descendants of Ephraim and Manasseh? The Lehi group came from Manasseh (Alma 10;3); from whom did the Ishmael family descend? This question, however, is overshadowed by the fact that the numerically inferior Nephites (Mosiah 25:1-2) were submerged physically by the more numerous Mulekites. To what extent, then, and in what way, is the Book of Mormon the “stick of Joseph”? This question, like some more asked here, comes close to some cherished beliefs of Latter-day Saints. Let me make a suggestion or two, for, of course, the Book of Mormon is the stick of Joseph. But is that equivalent to saying that it is the record of Joseph? Perhaps not.
Alma 10:3 tells us categorically that Lehi was of the strain of Manasseh, the elder of Joseph’s sons. The Book of Mormon does not anywhere give the genealogy of the family of Ishmael. If it said that Ishmael was of Ephraim, there would be no problem. I think we may look in other directions for tentative solutions.
1. The Book of Mormon is not a record of common people, but of prophets, or, perhaps more accurately, by prophets. And every prophet, except Samuel, was a Nephite. Ammon the Zarahemlaite was one of the few Mulekites mentioned by name, and he was not a custodian of the records, nor was any other of that lineage. The Nephites were at least half Josephites (to coin a term), and doubtless one hundred per cent of that persuasion through official confirmation is lacking. This would make the Book of Mormon fill every technical requirement of the Bible text.
2. The Book of Mormon is the record of that son of Israel who ran “over the wall” to the “utmost bound of the everlasting hills,” (Genesis 49:22, 26) the only one that can quality on those terms. (J. N. Washburn, Book of Mormon Guidebook [N.P.: J. N. Washburn, 1968], 26-27)