1 Nephi and Passover: How the Book of Mormon Points to Jesus Christ From the Beginning
This article is a written summary of an episode of Let’s Get Real on Scripture Central featuring Stephen Jones and historian Don Bradley. Their conversation explores a remarkable possibility about the opening chapters of 1 Nephi: the story of Lehi leaving Jerusalem and Nephi obtaining the brass plates may unfold against the sacred backdrop of Passover. Drawing on the Book of Mormon itself, biblical chronology, research into the lost 116 pages, and an early account attributed to Joseph Smith Sr., Bradley argues that the familiar opening of the Book of Mormon contains layers of Exodus and Passover symbolism that point directly to Jesus Christ as the Lamb of God and Redeemer of the world.
TL;DR: Was the Beginning of the Book of Mormon Set During Passover?
Don Bradley argues that several details suggest the opening events of 1 Nephi occurred during the Passover season. An early account from Fayette Lapham reports Joseph Smith Sr. saying that Jerusalem was celebrating a feast when Nephi returned for the brass plates, helping explain why Laban was drunk, dressed ceremonially, and had been among the elders of the Jews. Bradley then connects this report with the Book of Mormon’s chronology, Lehi’s sacrifice, the family’s three-day journey toward the Red Sea, Nephi’s comparison of Laban with the Egyptians, and repeated references to Christ as the Lamb of God. The larger message is deeply Christ-centered: Lehi’s deliverance becomes a type of the deliverance offered to every person through Jesus Christ.
Watch Stephen Jones and Don Bradley Discuss Passover and 1 Nephi
Why the Familiar Beginning of 1 Nephi May Be Easy to Overlook
The discussion begins with a simple observation: Latter-day Saints know the beginning of the Book of Mormon extremely well.
“I, Nephi, having been born of goodly parents” may be one of the most familiar openings in scripture for Church members. But Bradley suggests that familiarity can actually cause readers to move past important details without stopping to ask why they are there.
One of those details appears only four verses into the Book of Mormon: “in the commencement of the first year of the reign of Zedekiah.”
At first glance, that sounds like a simple date marker. Bradley argues that it opens a much larger historical world.
Zedekiah did not simply inherit a peaceful throne. According to the biblical setting discussed in the interview, Babylonian king Nebuchadnezzar had besieged Jerusalem, removed Jehoiachin, and installed Zedekiah as king. The opening of the Book of Mormon therefore takes place during a period of enormous political and spiritual instability.
Lehi’s family story begins against that background.
But Bradley’s larger argument is that the story is about much more than one family’s escape from Jerusalem. From its opening pages, the Book of Mormon is beginning to tell the story of the redemption of the world through Jesus Christ.
What Do the Lost 116 Pages Tell Us About the Beginning of the Book of Mormon?
Much of Bradley’s insight developed while researching material connected with the lost 116 pages of the Book of Mormon manuscript.
The original manuscript began with material associated with the Book of Lehi. After those pages were lost, the familiar small-plates account beginning with 1 Nephi eventually became the opening of the published Book of Mormon.
Bradley explains that while researching what might be recoverable about the lost narrative, he examined an account from a man named Fayette Lapham.
Fayette Lapham’s Interview With Joseph Smith Sr.
Lapham was a young man living in the Palmyra area when the Book of Mormon was being printed. Curious about the new scripture but unable to read it because publication was not yet complete, Lapham and Jacob Ramsdell reportedly visited Joseph Smith Sr.
Joseph Smith Jr. was not there, but his father had been closely involved with his son’s experiences from early in the story of the Restoration.
According to Bradley, Joseph Smith Sr. told the visitors both about the coming forth of the Book of Mormon and about stories contained in the record.
Lapham later published an account of that conversation.
Bradley acknowledges that Lapham’s recollections contain mistakes and garbled details. He does not treat everything in the account as equally reliable. However, he argues that Lapham also preserved information that can be supported by sources unavailable to him when he published his account.
Evidence About When Joseph Smith Translated 1 Nephi
One example discussed in the interview concerns the order of Book of Mormon translation.
After losing the initial manuscript, did Joseph Smith immediately translate the small plates beginning with 1 Nephi, or did he resume where he had previously stopped and return to the small plates near the end?
Bradley points to manuscript research associated with Royal Skousen’s Book of Mormon Critical Text Project. John Whitmer’s handwriting appears in the manuscript of 1 Nephi, and Whitmer was in Fayette, New York, rather than Harmony, Pennsylvania. Because Joseph completed his translation work in Fayette, this supports the conclusion that the small plates were translated relatively late.
The interview also references a later recollection from Joseph Smith’s sister Catherine that Joseph was instructed to resume where he had stopped.
Bradley’s point is that Lapham reported this basic sequence much earlier. For Bradley, examples like this strengthen the case that Lapham really did receive inside information from Joseph Smith Sr., even though portions of his later retelling were imperfect.
Was There a Jewish Feast When Nephi Found Laban?
The most important detail for this episode comes from Lapham’s account of Nephi returning to Jerusalem for the brass plates.
According to the account discussed by Bradley, Joseph Smith Sr. said that when Nephi returned to Jerusalem, the people had been celebrating “a great feast” and many were drunk.
That detail does not appear explicitly in the Book of Mormon text we have today.
But Bradley argues that it helps explain several otherwise interesting details in 1 Nephi 4.
Why Was Laban Drunk?
In 1 Nephi, Nephi enters Jerusalem at night and discovers Laban lying drunk on the ground.
The text tells readers what happened but does not explain why Laban became drunk that night.
The feast tradition potentially supplies that context.
If Jerusalem was holding a major festival, Laban’s drunkenness would fit naturally into the larger celebration. Bradley notes that scripture condemns drunkenness; his argument is not that drunkenness was an appropriate part of Passover worship, but that people could abuse a festive occasion, particularly in the spiritually troubled Jerusalem described by Lehi.
Why Was Laban Wearing His Armor and Sword?
Bradley also asks why Laban was so elaborately dressed.
Nephi finds him wearing clothing significant enough that Nephi can later impersonate him, and Laban carries his famous sword. That seems unusual if Laban had simply gone out drinking casually.
It makes more sense, Bradley argues, if Laban had been participating in a ceremonial or religious occasion.
Why Was Laban With the Elders of the Jews?
There is another clue directly in 1 Nephi: Laban had been out among the elders of the Jews.
That places him with important religious or civic figures.
When these details are considered together—the feast reported by Lapham, Laban’s drunkenness, his clothing and sword, and his association with the elders—Bradley sees a coherent possibility: Laban had been participating in a major Jewish religious festival.
The next question becomes crucial: which feast?
Was the Feast in 1 Nephi Actually Passover?
Bradley’s argument moves from the early historical report to the chronology within scripture itself.
The key phrase is again 1 Nephi’s statement that these events began during the commencement of Zedekiah’s first year.
The interview connects Zedekiah’s accession with the end of one calendar year and the beginning of another. Bradley identifies the first month in the relevant Jewish calendar as Nisan—the month associated with Passover.
That gives the theory its first major textual clue: the Book of Mormon opens around the beginning of the Passover month.
What Does “Commencement of the Year” Mean in the Book of Mormon?
Bradley then asks whether “commencement” could simply mean sometime during the early part of a year rather than its literal beginning.
He compares the wording with Alma 56, where Book of Mormon chronology associates the commencement of a year with the opening days of the first month.
For Bradley, that strengthens the argument that Nephi’s phrase is intended to place readers very near the beginning of the calendar year—and therefore in the Passover season.
The chronology alone does not constitute the entire argument. Bradley then turns to what he sees as the more powerful evidence: the narrative itself is filled with Passover and Exodus themes.
Lehi’s Journey Is Presented as a New Exodus
The Exodus connections in 1 Nephi have long been noticed by readers and scholars, and Bradley incorporates those parallels into his Passover interpretation.
Ancient Israel was delivered from bondage in Egypt and led toward a promised land.
Lehi’s family is also commanded to leave a doomed society and travel toward a land of promise.
In this sense, Lehi can be read as a new Moses figure, while Nephi also repeatedly displays Mosaic characteristics.
The Pillar of Fire
Near the beginning of 1 Nephi, Lehi encounters a pillar of fire.
That imagery immediately recalls the Exodus, where God’s presence accompanies and guides Israel through the wilderness in a pillar of fire.
Bradley sees this as an early signal that readers should interpret Lehi’s journey in relation to Israel’s foundational deliverance story.
Three Days Into the Wilderness
The interview then points to another striking parallel.
The Israelites travel into the wilderness in connection with offering sacrifice to God.
Lehi and his family likewise travel three days into the wilderness, toward the Red Sea, and Lehi offers sacrifice and gives thanks to the Lord.
The similarities accumulate:
- Deliverance from a threatened land.
- A prophetic leader.
- A journey into the wilderness.
- Three days of travel.
- Sacrifice.
- The Red Sea.
- A promised land.
- God miraculously preparing the way.
Bradley therefore describes Lehi’s departure as a kind of new Exodus.
Why Lehi’s Sacrifice Matters in the Passover Interpretation
The timing of Lehi’s sacrifice becomes especially significant in Bradley’s reading.
Passover begins with sacrifice. Israel’s original Exodus is inseparably connected with the sacrifice of the Passover lamb.
When Lehi reaches the wilderness, one of his first recorded actions is likewise to build an altar and offer sacrifice to the Lord.
Bradley does not present every chronological detail as certain, but he argues that the combination of the Passover-month setting, the feast tradition, the sacrifice, and the Exodus imagery creates a compelling pattern.
The biblical Exodus begins with Passover.
Bradley’s proposal is that Lehi’s new Exodus begins in a Passover setting as well.
Why Nephi Compares Laban to Pharaoh and the Egyptians
One of the strongest connections comes from Nephi himself.
After the brothers’ attempts to obtain the brass plates fail, Laman and Lemuel want to give up. Nephi urges them to remain faithful by explicitly invoking Moses and the Exodus.
He reminds them that Moses divided the Red Sea and that Israel escaped captivity while Pharaoh’s armies were destroyed.
Nephi then applies the comparison directly to their situation: the Lord can deliver them and can overcome Laban just as He overcame the Egyptians.
That comparison becomes especially significant if these events are taking place around Passover.
Nephi is not merely remembering an unrelated Old Testament miracle. In Bradley’s interpretation, Nephi is living through a new deliverance at the very season when Israel commemorates its original deliverance.
Was Laban a Firstborn Son? A Possible Passover Connection
Bradley then introduces one of the episode’s more intriguing arguments.
Laban possessed the brass plates because they had been handed down through his ancestors. Bradley reasons that under ancient inheritance customs, such an important family inheritance may suggest that Laban occupied the position of a firstborn son.
The transcript presents this as a likelihood or inference, not as something explicitly stated in the Book of Mormon.
If that inference is correct, another Passover parallel emerges.
In the biblical Passover, the Egyptian firstborn die while Israel is delivered.
Nephi has already compared Laban to the Egyptians. Laban then dies, allowing the plates to be obtained so that an entire future nation will not spiritually perish.
The Spirit explains the principle to Nephi: “It is better that one man should perish than that a nation should dwindle and perish in unbelief.”
Bradley sees a remarkable connection between this statement and another statement associated with Passover in the New Testament.
What Does Laban’s Death Have to Do With Caiaphas and Jesus Christ?
The interview compares the language given to Nephi with the prophecy of Caiaphas in John 11.
Caiaphas argues that it is expedient for one man to die rather than the entire nation perish. John interprets those words prophetically in relation to the death of Jesus Christ.
The similarity to Nephi’s experience is striking.
Bradley carefully distinguishes the roles involved. Laban is not a type of the sinless Passover Lamb. In his reading, Laban more closely parallels the Egyptians. Jesus Christ is the true unblemished Lamb.
But the repeated idea—one dies so that a people might not perish—adds another layer to the Passover setting being developed throughout the narrative.
Jesus Christ as the Lamb of God in 1 Nephi
The most important Passover connection in the interview is not Laban. It is Jesus Christ.
Passover centers on deliverance through the sacrifice of an unblemished lamb. In Christian understanding, that imagery points toward the Savior.
Bradley emphasizes that Lehi’s earliest revelations are already focused on the coming Messiah and “the redemption of the world.”
Later, as Lehi explains his revelations to his sons, he identifies the Messiah as the Redeemer of the world and teaches about the One who will be identified as the Lamb of God who takes away the sins of the world.
Nephi’s own great vision then repeatedly identifies Jesus Christ as the Lamb of God.
That means the chronological setting and theological content reinforce each other:
- The story begins in the Passover month.
- The narrative contains Exodus imagery.
- Lehi begins his wilderness journey with sacrifice.
- Nephi explicitly invokes Moses and the Red Sea.
- Laban is compared with the Egyptians.
- Lehi teaches about the Messiah and redemption.
- Jesus Christ is identified as the Lamb of God.
For Bradley, this is the key to understanding the larger meaning of the opening chapters.
Why Did Jerusalem Reject Lehi’s Message About the Messiah?
The Passover framework also shapes the interview’s interpretation of Jerusalem’s response to Lehi.
Lehi warns that Jerusalem will be destroyed, but he also proclaims the coming Messiah and redemption.
Why would people react violently to what should sound like good news?
Bradley suggests that many people wanted political deliverance from Babylon. Jerusalem had already suffered Babylonian intervention and would eventually be destroyed.
Against that expectation, Lehi’s message points toward a different kind of Messiah: a sacrificial Redeemer who would save the world from sin and death.
The Messiah’s ultimate mission was far greater than simply removing one political enemy.
Christ would accomplish the redemption represented by Passover itself.
The Law of Moses Was Always Supposed to Point to Jesus Christ
One of the most faith-building portions of the conversation concerns the purpose of the law of Moses.
Bradley discusses the religious reforms associated with King Josiah and an emphasis in Lehi’s broader era on observing the law, including Passover.
But the Book of Mormon’s Passover imagery, in Bradley’s reading, moves readers beyond ritual alone to the divine Person toward whom the ritual points.
Lehi sees God upon His throne. He sees One descending from heaven, followed by twelve others. Nephi is guided by the Spirit. Christ is revealed as the Lamb of God.
The law therefore is not an end in itself.
The law points to Jesus Christ.
The sacrifices, festivals, Exodus story, and Passover lamb all find their deepest meaning in the Savior and His Atonement.
The Book of Mormon Is Another Testament of Jesus Christ From Its First Chapter
This becomes the central thesis of the entire interview.
Readers can sometimes imagine that the Book of Mormon begins with a family history and gradually becomes more explicitly centered on Christ.
Bradley argues almost the opposite.
The witness of Christ is already embedded in the structure of the opening story.
Lehi’s temporal deliverance points toward humanity’s spiritual deliverance.
The promised land recalls Israel’s Exodus.
The sacrifice recalls Passover.
The Lamb points toward Christ.
The escape from destruction anticipates redemption.
As Bradley puts it:
“Even when it’s talking about Lehi, it’s talking about Jesus Christ. Even when it’s talking about Lehi’s deliverance, it’s talking about our deliverance.”
This perspective gives greater meaning to the familiar subtitle Another Testament of Jesus Christ. According to the interpretation presented in the episode, that description applies from the very beginning of 1 Nephi.
Lehi’s Deliverance Becomes a Symbol of Our Deliverance
The discussion then moves from historical and textual analysis into personal faith.
If Lehi’s deliverance is deliberately patterned after Passover and the Exodus, then his family’s story points beyond itself.
Israel’s bondage represents the deeper bondage of humanity to sin and death.
The Passover lamb points toward Jesus Christ.
Deliverance from Egypt points toward deliverance through the Savior.
And Lehi being led away from destruction becomes another scriptural witness that God can redeem His children.
Bradley summarizes the idea in words from his own writing:
“They are about the spiritual deliverance of all men, of humanity as a whole, through the Lamb slain before the foundation of the world.”
Jesus Christ does not physically appear among the Nephites until centuries later, but Bradley’s conclusion is that the Book of Mormon is already bearing witness of Him from its opening scenes.
How Don Bradley’s Research Strengthened His Faith in the Book of Mormon
The conversation becomes especially personal when Bradley explains what this discovery means to him.
He describes himself fundamentally as a historian who wants to understand what actually happened. He says he does not begin research by trying to manufacture spiritual lessons. He seeks historical truth and allows whatever patterns exist in the evidence to emerge.
That matters because Bradley says some of the research that eventually contributed to these discoveries began during a period when he had lost his faith and was outside the Church.
His attempt to understand the history eventually became part of his journey back.
Rather than feeling that he has to impose sacred meaning on Restoration history, Bradley says deeper investigation has allowed him to discover sacred patterns already present within it.
For him, historical research and faith do not have to be enemies. Careful study can illuminate dimensions of scripture that deepen testimony.
Jesus Christ’s Redemption Became Personal After the Loss of Don Bradley’s Son
Perhaps the most moving portion of the interview comes when Bradley connects these doctrines with the death of his son Donnie.
The redemption of the world, he explains, cannot remain an abstract theological concept.
If Christ redeems the world, that means He redeems individual people.
It means families.
It means parents and children.
It means the people we love and have lost.
Bradley speaks about losing not only his son but also other beloved family members. His faith in the Resurrection gives him hope that separation by death is temporary.
That transforms the Passover symbolism from an interesting academic discovery into a deeply personal testimony.
The Passover is about deliverance from death.
The Book of Mormon is about deliverance.
And Jesus Christ is the One who ultimately makes that deliverance possible.
What Does the Book of Mormon Teach About Hope During Difficult Times?
The final portion of the discussion applies the message to a troubled modern world.
The speakers acknowledge war, political conflict, moral challenges, physical suffering, mental illness, pandemics, grief, and uncertainty.
But they point out that the original Passover and the opening of the Book of Mormon also occur in times of crisis.
Israel’s Passover occurs after generations of bondage.
Lehi’s ministry begins after Jerusalem has suffered a Babylonian siege and while greater destruction is approaching.
The Crucifixion occurs amid suffering and apparent tragedy.
Yet in each of these sacred stories, God brings redemption.
That becomes the episode’s message of hope: the existence of suffering does not mean that God’s redemptive purposes have failed.
Jesus Christ has overcome sin and death, and because of Him, disciples can face uncertainty without surrendering hope.
Remembering Jesus Christ Changes How We Live the Gospel
When Stephen Jones asks what responsibility believers have if these principles are true, Bradley emphasizes a scriptural word: remember.
Knowing the gospel intellectually is not the same as remembering Christ in ordinary life.
Remembering the Savior changes how disciples approach anxiety, stress, grief, relationships, and uncertainty.
Bradley offers a particularly meaningful insight about gratitude:
“The key to gratitude isn’t to focus on the gratitude, it’s to focus on the gift.”
When disciples remember the gift of Jesus Christ, gratitude follows naturally.
Remembering Him should also change how covenant disciples treat others. Christ came to bear humanity’s burdens, and His followers covenant to bear one another’s burdens. He brings comfort, and disciples covenant to comfort those who need comfort.
Faith in redemption should therefore produce not only hope but Christlike action.
The Gospel of Jesus Christ Is a Gospel of Hope
Bradley’s experience with grief gives particular weight to his concluding message.
He acknowledges the tremendous difficulty of losing a child and speaks openly about the challenge of continuing to live with hope through such pain.
Yet he declares:
“The gospel of Jesus Christ is a gospel of hope. If we’re not living with hope, we’re forgetting the gospel.”
That does not mean disciples will never grieve or struggle. Bradley’s own story makes clear that grief can be profound.
Rather, Christian hope means trusting that grief and death do not have the final word.
Because of Jesus Christ, Resurrection is real. Redemption is real. Separation is not permanent. God’s purposes extend beyond the tragedies and uncertainties of mortality.
Why the Passover Connection in 1 Nephi Matters for Latter-day Saints
The greatest value of the Passover interpretation presented by Stephen Jones and Don Bradley is not simply that it offers an interesting explanation for why Laban was drunk.
It changes the scale of the opening story.
Lehi is not merely escaping Jerusalem.
He is participating in a new Exodus.
Nephi is not merely obtaining a record.
The brass plates will preserve the scriptures, language, commandments, and covenant identity of a future people.
The family’s deliverance is not merely about physical survival.
It becomes a type of the greater deliverance offered to all humanity.
And Passover is not merely an ancient Jewish festival.
Its sacrificial lamb points toward Jesus Christ, the Lamb of God.
Final Takeaway: The Book of Mormon Points to Jesus Christ From Page One
The central message of this Let’s Get Real on Scripture Central conversation is that readers may discover much more in the familiar opening chapters of 1 Nephi when they read them against their biblical and historical background.
Don Bradley’s argument begins with a fascinating historical clue from research into the lost 116 pages: an account attributed to Joseph Smith Sr. that places a feast in the background of Nephi’s encounter with Laban.
But Bradley emphasizes that most of the supporting pattern is visible in the Book of Mormon itself: the commencement of Zedekiah’s reign, the Passover month, sacrifice, the three-day wilderness journey, the Red Sea, Moses, the Egyptians, Laban, the promised land, the Messiah, redemption, and above all, the Lamb of God.
Together, these details lead to a deeply faith-affirming conclusion.
The Book of Mormon does not have to wait until 3 Nephi for Jesus Christ to become the center of its story.
He is there from the beginning.
Lehi’s deliverance points toward our deliverance. Israel’s Passover points toward our redemption. The lamb points toward the Lamb of God. And the opening chapters of the Book of Mormon invite readers to recognize that Jesus Christ can redeem individuals, families, and ultimately the entire human family from sin and death.
The episode closes with Stephen Jones affirming his own witness while inviting viewers not simply to rely upon the testimony of the speakers, but to seek their own witness through the Holy Ghost. That invitation captures the larger purpose of the discussion: to look more carefully at the Book of Mormon, discover Jesus Christ within its pages, and find greater reason to live with faith and hope in His promised redemption.