The Out of Jerusalem series by H.B. Moore (Covenant Communications, 2003-2006) retells the story of Lehi, Nephi, and their families as they leave Jerusalem and head for the promised land, giving the characters in the early parts of The Book of Mormon distinct personalities. Although there were many aspects I enjoyed as a part of the series, the last book just ruined it for me and left me upset. Although I can recommend the first few books of the series, I’d suggest you pass on the others .
The Growing Pains of Becoming a Prophet
The first book, Of Goodly Parents, gave us the background of characters, including Nephi and wife-to-be, Isabel. Obviously the names of many of the people are fabricated for the story, but I still felt it was a lovely perspective showing how a young man may develop into a prophet, intentionally increasing his faith as he sought answers from God. Likewise, it was a new to consider how Nephi’s future wife may have felt as she too left her home to follow the prophet Lehi. How would she feel as she recognized Nephi’s increasing closeness to the Lord? What might it be like to court a man that will be a prophet?
Struggles in the Wild
In the second book, A Light in the Wilderness, the author imagined some of how the eight years in the wilderness may have played out. In Moore’s fictionalized account, the group is enslaved by a desert community for five years of service, which challenged their faith, as well as the years in the land of Bountiful.
The third book, Toward the Promised Land, continues the years in the land of Bountiful and followed the family as it traveled to the promised land.
In these books, I was surprised by the amount of contact the family had with other, including the tribes of the Arabian peninsula, and then the other people who must have settled in the land Bountiful as well. Certainly, Lehi’s family were not the only people traveling through the wilderness and settling in a gorgeous seaside oasis. It was a new insight for me since I hadn’t thought of that.
In their travels across the waters, they also stopped at various ports along the way to replenish water and supplies. They faced sea pirates. Throughout it all, the faith of the people helped them through, even as Laman and Lemuel and family challenged that faith. Again, it hadn’t occurred to me that they stopped at various lands along the way, which may have been a different type of challenge. Did it really happen this way?
A Failed Chance to Depict a Promised Land
It is the last book, Land of Inheritance, that seemed to lose the thread of faith and inspiration as a driving force in the lives of these people. While in all the books the series are shared with differing omniscient perspectives, the main character always focused around the faithful Nephi and the women in his family. We see their thoughts and actions play out, and while it does move towards others, the faithful seem to be the focus.
In this last book, young teenaged Jacob becomes the main character we follow as the family’s settlement in the new land. I liked Jacob, and this would have been okay, but much of the story (especially the last half) revolved around Jacob’s rescue of one of the Nephite daughters. In this “thriller”-like plot, the violent sons of Laman and Lemuel abduct her and she is dragged through the forests, where a cannibalistic native tribe then takes her.
Again, for some reason, I always imagined the Nephite’s landing in a mostly vacant land to spread out and fill the earth. I feel Moore was right to not necessarily depict that. This cannot have been true, as we know many other people were present in the Americas for thousands of years before and after the Nephite civilizations. But to have a cannibalistic tribe within miles of the initial Lamanite and the Nephite settlement seemed completely unnecessary and wrong. This entire action sequence lacked the sensitive perspectives of faith that the rest of the series had. It was sensationalized rather than inspiring. (I also didn’t like the author’s treatment of the Lamanites become a loathsome people, as I consider it more of a spiritual transformation rather than a sudden physical transformation.)
While reading the last book, I missed reading about a faithful group of Nephites surviving after the trials of living in a new land! It simplified the struggles of faith and the need to survive by depending on God. Instead it was a somewhat racist and stereotypical depiction of a Native American escape narrative. What a disappointment.
I read an ebook version of the four books via Deseret Bookshelf (free with plus).
