Sword of Laban
|
|
The Sword of Laban was a sword from the Book of Mormon that is said to have originally belonged to Laban of Jerusalem. When Nephi and his brothers went to retrieve his family's records from Laban, he refused to give them to Nephi. Later, when returning to Jerusalem, Nephi found Laban drunk on a city street. The Holy Ghost told Nephi to take Laban's sword and to kill Laban.
Nephi described the Sword of Laban as such: And I beheld his sword, and I drew it forth from the sheath thereof; and the hilt thereof was of pure gold, and the workmanship thereof was exceedingly fine, and I saw that the blade thereof was of the most precious steel. (1 Nephi 4:9)
Nephi kept the sword after he escaped Jerusalem with Zoram, Laban's servant. Apparently the sword was passed down through the ages to future prophets, kings, and warriors, as it is mentioned centuries later in the Book of Mormon. The sword supposedly existed to the present-day, and was hidden away with the Gold Plates found by Joseph Smith, Jr.