Sam was Nephi’s identical twin brother


Also, Sam’s wife, who was a daughter of Ishmael, and Nephi’s wife, who was also a daughter of Ishmael, were identical twin sisters.

As identical twin brothers, Sam and Nephi’s genetic code was the same. And as identical twin sisters, their wives’ genetic code was likewise the same. This made the children of Sam and the children of Nephi “like unto” each other, as if the entire group of children came from only two people, and not four. Additionally, Nephi and Sam were also spiritually similar:

Nephi…and Sam…were just and holy men. (Alma 3:6)

Thus, Lehi’s blessing of sameness between the two brotherly lines takes on a bit more meaning:

blessed art thou and thy seed
for thou shalt inherit the land like unto thy brother nephi
and thy seed shall be numbered with his seed
and thou shalt be even like unto thy brother and thy seed like unto his seed
and thou shalt be blessed in all thy days (2 Ne. 4:11)

Separate tribal numbering, in such a situation, is useless, because the posterity from one line is indistinguishable from the other line. (The use of -ites among the Book of Mormon people was for distinguishing one line from another. See the post, Book of Mormon surnames: the meaning of the -ites and “people of”. ) Everyone in Sam’s line, then, was numbered in Nephi’s line. And this is why there are no “Samites” in the Book of Mormon.

At least, this is the thought that popped into my head last Thursday as I was reading the scriptures.

Disclaimer: This thought is not my understanding or belief, since there is no way to arrive at this conclusion definitively from the scriptures and I did not get any corresponding manifestation of the Holy Ghost when the thought came upon me, letting me know of its truth. Nevertheless, I put it up here on the blog because it makes quite a bit of sense to me and I found it to be quite an interesting and novel thought. And it wouldn’t surprise me one bit if it turns out to be true.

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6 Comments

  1. Some new understandings

    I could make these understandings a new post, I suppose, but I don’t think they are all that important. And I don’t really know where to put them. So, I’m going to put them here, even though they don’t really belong here, except that they deal with new Book of Mormon information.

    I have ever been puzzled by God commanding Moroni to write down the entire vision given to the brother of Jared, the vision which reveals all things. The brother of Jared wrote the vision down, in a confounded language–and I used to think the confounded language he wrote it down in was the Jaredite language, but I now understand that he wrote it down in a confounded language which was not the Jaredite language, and this so that no unprepared Jaredite would be able to read the vision and lose his chance at eternal life, and this was why the two stones were prepared, they (the stones) being for use by those Jaredites who were commanded by God to read the account of the vision, very much like I explained in the Perfect Understanding post–and then Ether wrote the vision down in his record (the plates of Ether), presumably in the Jaredite tongue this time, and then Moroni wrote the vision down in the Nephite language and engraved them onto the plates of Mormon. That is three times total that the vision was recorded!

    Now, the new understanding is this: the first account, written by the brother of Jared, was for the use of the Jaredites, and was in an unknown language so that they didn’t commit spiritual suicide by reading it in their sins. The second account, written by Ether, was for the Nephites. This account was in the language of Ether, which was unknown to the Nephites, therefore they needed the interpreters to read it, thus preventing them from committing spiritual suicide.

    The last account was written by Moroni, in Moroni’s language, and was for the Gentiles and the restored Nephites of the latter days. It was written in Moroni’s language, which is unknown to us, to prevent us from committing spiritual suicide, also, like the others. Now, why was it written by Moroni? Why couldn’t we just read the account that Ether wrote on the plates of Ether? Why did the Lord command Moroni to make yet another copy of the vision and include it in the plates of Mormon? Because of this:

    And whoso receiveth this record, and shall not condemn it because of the imperfections which are in it, the same shall know of greater things than these. Behold, I am Moroni; and were it possible, I would make all things known unto you. (Mormon 8:12)

    God commanded Moroni to make yet another copy because Moroni desired to make all things known to the Gentiles and the last day Nephites. He (Moroni) wanted to be the one that told us the revelation of all things, which was in the vision of the brother of Jared, and thus, because of his desire, and his faith, God granted it by commanding him to make another copy. Moroni, then, will have his wish. Moroni will be the one that makes all things known unto us, for with God all things are possible. Thus, the mystery is now solved. (At least, in my mind it is solved.)

    There are other things I could say about this, for this is a pattern, but it seems self-evident to me. I’ll let others, then, figure the rest out.

  2. This is a reminding note for me. Moroni’s future role in the restoration probably ought to be expounded upon in a post. Why he must return, the keys of the stick of Ephraim, the transfer of seership, his incomprehensibly strong faith manifested in his endurance test, his full name, etc. All these things and more ought to be explained. Remember to do so.

  3. How is that post on Moroni coming along?

  4. I haven’t even started on it. That’s why I posted that note, to remind me about it, because I knew I would forget all about it. And I did forget all about it, until this comment of yours.

    Everything, in fact, is forever delayed these days, it seems. I’ve got all the notes to the NAC, but no opportunity to really put it all together, though I have started to, in piece meal fashion. And those lengthy notes I took awhile back on that other topic is still sitting there, incomplete. Or, incomplete on paper, I should say. It is all complete in my head, as is the NAC, as is the post on Moroni. One of these days I’m gonna get myself a secretary or personal assistant, to just print out all my notes for me on a dot matrix printer (as one continuous piece of paper) because I find it a whole lot easier to organize my thoughts if I can just see the whole thing as one continuous sheet. In other words, I need to see everything, for my mind to work at peak efficiency. Analyzing bits is just not my thing. My brain synthesizes more than analyzes. So, when I try to work on things online, or as separate sheets of paper, it wears me out, for I need to see the whole thing, to organize things properly. And when I do see the whole thing, I find that I can just spit things out like there is no tomorrow.

  5. yea, gods all about creating the exact same thing over and over, no novelty, he’s all about inbreeding.


  6. And it came to pass that Laman was angry with me, and also with my father; and also was Lemuel, for he hearkened unto the words of Laman. Wherefore Laman and Lemuel did speak many hard words unto us, their younger brothers, and they did smite us even with a rod.

    And it came to pass as they smote us with a rod, behold, an angel of the Lord came and stood before them, and he spake unto them, saying: Why do ye smite your younger brother with a rod? Know ye not that the Lord hath chosen him to be a ruler over you, and this because of your iniquities? (1 Ne. 3:28-29.)

    Why did Laman and Lemuel speak hard words to, and beat, both Sam and Nephi, when they were only angry with Nephi and Lehi?

    One possibility is that they couldn’t tell Sam and Nephi apart because they were identical twins. When Nephi said, “Don’t hit Sam! I’m the one you want! I’m Nephi!” they possibly said, “You might be Nephi, but then again you might be Sam trying to protect Nephi!” And when Sam said, “Why are you hitting me? I’m Sam, not Nephi!” they possibly said, “You might be Sam, but then again you might be Nephi trying to avoid your punishment!” So they clobbered both of them just to be on the safe side.

    Another possibility is that Sam took Nephi’s side because Sam believed Nephi:

    And I spake unto Sam, making known unto him the things which the Lord had manifested unto me by his Holy Spirit. And it came to pass that he believed in my words. (1 Nephi 2:17.)

    and so Sam was punished for believing and defending Nephi.

    In fact, it might have been the case that both of these scenarios were in play at the same time.


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