William J. Adams Jr. (1994): "These incidences raise the question: Did others in Lehi's Jerusalem inscribe records on metal plates?"

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William J. Adams Jr. (1994): "These incidences raise the question: Did others in Lehi's Jerusalem inscribe records on metal plates?"

William J. Adams Jr.,

Lehi sent his sons back to Jerusalem to obtain scriptures engraved on "brass plates" (1 Nephi 3 and 4). Later we read that Lehi and his son, Nephi, kept records on metal "plates" (1 Nephi 6 and 9). These incidences raise the question: Did others in Lehi's Jerusalem inscribe records on metal plates?

The use of metal plates upon which records are inscribed is fairly well attested throughout the Middle and Far East from many centuries before to many centuries after Lehi, but none so far appear to be from Lehi's seventh-century BC Judea.

This lack of metal inscriptions from Judea could be interpreted to mean that (1) Judeans did not write on metal plates, or (2) archaeology has not found artifacts which would support the practice of writing on metal plates in seventh-century BC Jerusalem. Alternative 2 seems to have been the problem, for inscribed silver plates have been excavated only recently.

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