New World Pressure for Kingship

When Nephi and “all those who would go with [him]” fled from his older brothers and their murderous intentions, they came to a new land and built a city in a place they called Nephi (2 Nephi 5:6–8). Up to this point, Nephi had already been acting as their leader, teaching them to work in various crafts and organizing their labor for large construction projects (2 Nephi 5:15–17). The people called themselves after Nephi, and they desired “that [Nephi] should be their king” (2 Nephi 5:18). 

The text does not explain why they wanted this or how it was different from the leadership role Nephi was already filling. According to Gregory Steven Dundas, “They were simply acting like typical ancient people.”¹ In that respect, it is interesting to note that other ancient people in pre-Columbian America were beginning to adopt an early form of kingship around this time. Brant Gardner argues that, for Nephi’s followers, the “desire for a king reflected a surge in the rise of kings all around the city of Nephi.”²

Mayanist David Webster explains that the initial developments that led to centralized authority and kingship among the Maya began between 650 and 400 BC.³ Similarly, Linda Schele and Peter Matthews describe the rise of “early kings, called ahaw” in the context of developments dated to around 500 BC.⁴ For example, archaeologist Richard Hansen documented that during the early first millennium BC in the Mirador Basin of Guatemala, “an embryonic leadership and status hierarchy” began to arise, with clear “symbols of hierarchical status” attested by 600 BC. Then, between “600 to 400 BC, kingcraft had evolved to the point where pyramidal structures” were constructed, and “with the maturation of kingship, a major new focus became the economic and social organization of massive labor forces to construct ritually significant architecture.”⁵

Similarly, early developments are attested in the southern Guatemalan highlands. For instance, at the site of Naranjo, about three kilometers from ancient Kaminaljuyú (at present-day Guatemala City), a stone monument at a large ceremonial center constructed between 750 and 400 BC suggests that, if not full-blown kingship, at least “some form of centralized authority played a key role in the construction and control of Naranjo.”⁶ Robert J. Scharer and Loa P. Traxler have noted that “the appearance of [such] public monuments marks the beginnings of the institution of divine kingship in Maya society.” No later than 400 BC, “the earliest Maya rulers had begun to dedicate carved stelae as public testimonials to their political legitimacy,” as evidenced by a stela from this period at Kaminaljuyú.⁷

According to Webster, “Some archaeologists believe that the basic ideological and iconographic conventions of kingship originated in highland centers such as Kaminaljuyú.”⁸ Significantly, several Latter-day Saint scholars have proposed that the city of Nephi was in the highlands of Guatemala, at or near Kaminaljuyú.⁹ Thus, Gardner explains, “The Book of Mormon places Nephi’s kingship in the right location for the nascent Mesoamerican forms of kingship, albeit early in its development. … In the city of Nephi, we see evidence of the general trend to kingship that would continue in other Mesoamerican communities.”¹⁰

Conclusion

The people of Nephi wanting a king in the sixth century BC fits well with the emergence of centralized authority and king-like rulers in the New World in the mid-first millennium BC. Furthermore, this context provides a possible explanation for why the people wanted a king, despite Nephi’s desire to avoid kingship. Gardner reasoned:

This resistance [to kingship] suggests that the impetus to have a king is not coming from the Old World Nephites, who would likely defer to Nephi’s desires. Nephi tells us that he doesn’t teach much of the Old World culture to his people (2 Nephi 25:6). If he was personally opposed to being a king, even though he was clearly the ruler of the community, we may be justified in suggesting that the idea for a king did not come from the Old World precedent. … With the probable presence of larger numbers of [indigenous New World peoples within Nephi’s community] as opposed to those with genetic ties to the Old World, it is also probable that the concepts of kingship would include more Mesoamericanized forms than a mirror for the Middle Eastern types.¹¹

In the Old Testament, when the Israelites requested that Samuel appoint “a king to judge us,” their motive was so that they “may be like all the nations” around them (1 Samuel 8:5, 20; see Deuteronomy 17:14). Their broader ancient Near Eastern context motivated the early Israelites to seek a king. Likewise, the broader ancient American context of the early Nephites likely influenced them to push for Nephi to fulfill a king-like role. The manner in which the text reflects this cultural and historical trend in pre-Columbian America supports its status as a genuine ancient American document.

Gregory Steven Dundas, “Kingship, Democracy, and the Message of the Book of Mormon,” BYU Studies Quarterly 56, no. 2 (2017): 7–58.

Brant A. Gardner, Traditions of the Fathers: The Book of Mormon as History (Salt Lake City, UT: Greg Kofford Books, 2015), 184–189.

Brant A. Gardner, Second Witness: Analytical and Contextual Commentary on the Book of Mormon, 6 vols. (Salt Lake City, UT: Greg Kofford Books, 2007), 2:106–107.

2 Nephi 5:6–82 Nephi 5:15–172 Nephi 5:18

2 Nephi 5:6–8

2 Nephi 5:15–17

2 Nephi 5:18