Shulem wrote: ↑Fri Mar 31, 2023 3:47 pmAlso note that Lapham’s account mentions a “chain” which is something not mentioned in the replacement text of our extant Book of Mormon. I find this very telling because Joseph Smith’s greedy eyes were always on the gold and it’s quite stunning that the chain was not mentioned again! Why?
What do you make of that? What happened to the chain?
The 11-15-24 was produced during the Mosiah Priority (Brent Metcalfe) dictations which means Smith pretended to play the role of Nephi in first-person after having first played Mormon; thus, Smith played the character of Mormon after abandoning hope in recovering the Book of Lehi (116 lost pages) and thereafter replaced it with an alternate narrative which gave Smith an expanded opportunity to fantasize role-playing through young Nephi. Curiously, Laban's chain was part and parcel with the sword but is not detailed in Nephi's account (1 Nephi 4) but was mentioned in Lehi's account (116 pages) as we may deduce through the account that Fayette Lapham gave as he received it from Joseph Smith Sr. about how Lehi's son murdered Laban and stole his sword: "He then went into the street in search of him; but every body being drunk, he could get but little information of his whereabouts, but after searching a long time, he found him lying in the street, dead drunk, clothed in his official habiliments, his sword having a gold hilt and chain, lying by his side..."
We may speculate on the quality (gold?) and use of the chain but the fact that Nephi's account does not mention the chain indicates a missing element in the story wherein a descriptive component is lost in the new narrative, a literal break in the chain. The chain should have been accounted for, preserved, and displayed with the ancient relics which Smith pretended to have access to:
D&C 17:1, June 1829, wrote:Behold, I say unto you, that you must rely upon my word, which if you do with full purpose of heart, you shall have a view of the plates, and also of the breastplate, the sword of Laban, the Urim and Thummim, which were given to the brother of Jared upon the mount, when he talked with the Lord face to face, and the miraculous directors which were given to Lehi while in the wilderness, on the borders of the Red Sea.
Apparently, Smith neglected to mention the chain when retelling the story about how he piously murdered Laban! This is a break in the chain and a hole in the script!

