Scholars have noticed that the Book of Mormon
contains what are called colophons.
One scholar explained that “in antiquity,
the beginning and/or the end of a literary text
was often marked by colophons.
The colophons as superscriptions and subscriptions
contained various information about the published text
(addressee, author, scribe, subject,
chronological information, etc.)”
Nephi’s introductory colophon is arguably the most notable example of its use in the Book of Mormon.
After summarizing the contents of his record
and identifying himself as both scribe and author of the text,
Nephi began his account
by affirming his good parentage and upbringing,
his education and scribal training, and his
reliability as an author.
But Nephi was not the only Book of Mormon
author to use colophons.
Enos and Mormon both begin their accounts
with a colophon,
while Jacob included a colophon at the conclusion of his record.
Mormon also used colophons throughout his
abridgement.
The use of colophons to signal the beginning
or end of a text is widely found in biblical, Egyptian,
and Mesopotamian sources.
These and other considerations led on scholar
to conclude that the type of colophon seen in 1 Nephi
is “highly characteristic of Egyptian compositions.”
Nephi said he wrote his record “in the language
of [his] father,
which consists of the learning of the Jews and the language of the Egyptians”.
This being the case,
it is reasonable to expect that his writings should bear the marks of an ancient Judeo-Egyptian literary culture.
Nephi’s use of colophons fulfills this expectation
remarkably well.
Inasmuch as there is clear evidence (unavailable
in Joseph Smith’s day)
for Egyptian influence on Jewish literary and scribal culture
before and during Nephi’s time,
this in turn reinforces the book’s historicity.
And now you know why
