View source for Book of Enos

{{Short description|Fourth book in the Book of Mormon}}
{{Books of the Book of Mormon}}
The '''Book of Enos''' ({{IPAc-en|ˈ|iː|n|ə|s}}) is the fourth book in the [[Book of Mormon]] and its text is a portion of the small [[plates of Nephi]].{{sfn|Sperry|1948|pp= 41, 43}} According to the text it was written by [[Enos (Book of Mormon)|Enos]], a [[Nephite]] prophet. [[Historicity of the Book of Mormon|Most scholars]] believe it to be a 19th century work by [[Joseph Smith]].<ref>{{cite book |last=Persuitte |first=David |author1-link=David Persuitte |title=Joseph Smith and the Origins of The Book of Mormon |date=2010 |publisher=McFarland |isbn=9780786408269 |url=https://books.google.be/books?id=hrR7DwAAQBAJ&newbks=1&newbks_redir=0&dq=David+Persuitte+Mormon&source=gbs_navlinks_s |edition=2nd}}</ref>

==Identity of Enos== 
According to the Book of Mormon, Jacob had a son named "Enos" (see Jacob 7:27) and the Book of Enos follows immediately after the Book of Jacob in the manuscripts of the Book of Mormon and all printed editions. (See Jacob 7:27 to Enos 1:1.) However, in the opening verse of the Book of Enos (Enos 1:1), Enos mentions only his "father" and does not expressly affirm that his father was [[Jacob (Book of Mormon prophet)|Jacob]] or that his uncle was [[Nephi, son of Lehi|Nephi]]. It is a reasonable assumption that Enos was the son of [[Jacob (Book of Mormon prophet)|Jacob]] (of Jacob 7:27); but that relationship is not established in the text.

Given the issues that have been debated about how it could have been fully 179 years between the time when Lehi (and Nephi) left Jerusalem and when Enos "began to be old" (Enos 1:25) and was "soon" to "go to the place of [his] rest" (Enos 1:27), it is possible either that [[Jacob (Book of Mormon prophet)|Jacob]] and Enos each lived to about 95 years of age, with [[Jacob (Book of Mormon prophet)|Jacob]] fathering Enos late in life, or that [[Jacob (Book of Mormon prophet)|Jacob]] had one son named Enos (as stated in Jacob 7:27) and yet that the Enos of the Book of Enos was another Enos altogether, perhaps, for example, a grandson or even great-grandson of [[Jacob (Book of Mormon prophet)|Jacob]]. The identity of Enos of the Book of Enos is not necessarily established as the son of [[Jacob (Book of Mormon prophet)|Jacob]] and grandson of Lehi and Sariah. Clearly, however, Enos's ancestry leads directly to Lehi and Sariah through Jacob.

==Summary of the Book of Enos== 
This short book consists of a single chapter, relating Enos' conversion after praying all day and all night, following with his subsequent dialogue with the Lord. It also discusses the [[salvation|redemption]] of the Nephites and their enemies, the [[Lamanites]], and contains prophecies of future Nephite and Lamanite generations. Additionally, it contains descriptions of the Lamanites. The style of Enos resembles that of [[Erich Auerbach]] in his ''[[Mimesis: The Representation of Reality in Western Literature|Mimesis]]'' and that of Nephi, Enos's ancestor and the Book of Mormon's opening narrator.

== Narrative ==
Enos hunts in the woods and remembers the gospel that his father taught him; as a result, he kneels and cries all day and during the night for the salvation of his soul.{{sfn|Rust|1997|p=192}} Then the voice of God tells Enos that he is forgiven of his sins. Enos believes the voice, but he wonders how the forgiveness is actually accomplished.{{sfn|Harris|2020|pp=26-27}} In response, God explains that Enos is forgiven because he has faith in [[Jesus|Jesus Christ]], even though he has never seen or heard Christ.{{sfn|Givens|2009|pp=26-27}}

Enos then prays for the salvation of the Nephites, but God says they will be blessed or punished according to their obedience.{{sfn|Thomas|2016|p=54}} Enos, fearing that the Nephites will refuse to obey the commandments of God, then prays for the Lamanites who oppress them; he asks God for the Lamanites' preservation. Additionally, he prays that God will preserve a record of the Nephites so that someday the Lamanites too might be brought to salvation. Only faith in Christ will save them, but God makes a covenant with Enos that he will bring the records of the Nephites to the Lamanites in due time.{{sfn|Salleh and Hemming|2020|p=137}}

After this experience, Enos takes up the mantle of prophet and preaches among the Nephites,{{sfn|Sperry|1995|p=15}} fearing their destruction. In the record, Enos does not say whether he is successful at converting the Nephites, but he does say the Nephites fail to convert the Lamanites.{{sfn|Rust|1997|p=192}} Before Enos dies he gives the records to his son [[Jarom]].{{sfn|Bingman|1978|p=116}}

== Portrayal of Lamanites ==
Throughout the narrative, Enos characterizes the Lamanites as possessing an unmoving hatred. According to Enos, the Lamanites become a wild, idolatrous, and bloodthirsty people, eating predatory animals. They live in tents, wander around in the wilderness, wear loincloths, shave their heads, and often eat raw meat.{{sfn|Thomas|2016|p=55}} Enos explains that they are skilled with bows, cimeters, and axes and continually seek to destroy the Nephites.

Fatimah Salleh and Margaret Olsen Hemming noticed that Enos implies that Lamanite practices, like eating raw meat, connote corruption, even though the same behavior had no negative connotations earlier in the Book of Mormon when the Nephites and Lamanites were still one people. Thus, Enos demonstrates "writer's bias." Hemming and Salleh concluded that Enos's criticism of the Lamanites is based more on prejudice and what is culturally acceptable to the Nephite rather than based on a charge from God.{{sfn|Salleh and Hemming|2020|pp=134, 138-139}}

== Book of Enos interpretation ==
{| class="wikitable"
|+
!Summary{{sfn|Thomas|2016|p=53}}
!Verses
|-
|Receives forgiveness
|1-8
|-
|Prays for Nephites, Lamanites, and Record
|9-18
|-
|Prophesies of future Lamanite and Nephite generations
|19-24
|-
|Writes final words
|25-27
|}
Enos begins his account in a manner that is similar to Nephi's: he mentions parental influence, passed on through religious counsel.<ref>{{harvnb|Salleh and Hemming|2020|pp=133–134}}; {{harvnb|Largey|2003|p=245}}</ref> The narrative not only begins with this but also ends with it.{{sfn|Miller|2023|p=13}} A difference from the style of Nephi is that Enos does not quote scripture in his narrative.{{sfn|Hardy|2010|p=61}} [[Terryl Givens|Terryl L. Givens]] also argues that Enos' intended literary audience leans toward the Lamanites, as the Nephites will eventually be destroyed.{{sfn|Givens|2009|p=86}}

According to author Dennis Largey, the style of the Book of Enos implies that Enos did not narrate it over a long period of time but may have narrated it shortly before he died.{{sfn|Largey|2003|p=244}} On another note, literary critic Richard Rust compares the style and syntax of the Book of Enos and that of Erich Auerbach's ''[[Mimesis: The Representation of Reality in Western Literature|Mimesis]]'' account of when Abraham is about to sacrifice Isaac. Specifically, Rust noticed in both accounts similar uses of modifiers as well as “and.”{{sfn|Rust|1997|p=147}} Additionally, Enos fills his narrative with words such as "wrestling" that generally appeal to a reader's emotions, says Protestant theologian [[John Christopher Thomas]].{{sfn|Thomas|2016|pp=53-54}} The familial and covenantal responsibilities that Enos feels bring a serious but personal flavor into the narrative, according to BYU English professor Sharon J. Harris.{{sfn|Harris|2020|pp=19-20, 26}}

==See also==
*[[Book of Mormon]]

==Notes==
{{reflist}}

==Works cited==
*{{Cite Q|Q123363520|ref={{sfnref|Bingman|1978}}}}
*{{Cite Q|Q114004901|ref={{sfnref|Givens|2009}}}}
*{{Cite Q|Q123382112|ref={{sfnref|Hardy|2010}}}}
*{{Cite book |last=Harris |first=Sharon J. |title=Enos, Jarom, Omni: A Brief Theological Introduction |publisher=Maxwell Institute for Religious Scholarship |year=2020 |isbn=978-0-8425-0015-9 |language=en|chapter=Enos|pages=18–48}}
*{{Cite Q|Q123364479|author-last=Largey|author-first=Dennis L.|chapter=Enos, book of|page=245}}{{sfn whitelist|CITEREFLargey2003}}
*{{Cite journal |last=Miller |first=Adam S. |title=Words Sunk Deep: Indwelling, Necessity, and Reconciliation in Enos 1 |url=https://scholarlypublishingcollective.org/uip/jbms/article/doi/10.5406/23744774.32.01/381242 |journal=Journal of Book of Mormon Studies |volume=32|year=2023 |pages=13 |via=Scholarly Publishing Collective}}
*{{Cite Q|Q124214275|pages=146-147, 192-193|ref={{sfnref|Rust|1997}}}}
*{{Cite Q|Q123378840|chapter=Enos|pages=133-139|ref={{sfnref|Salleh and Hemming|2020}}}}
*{{Cite book |last=Sperry |first=Sidney |title=Our Book of Mormon |publisher=Stevens and Wallace, Inc. |year=1948 |edition=1st |location=Salt Lake City, Utah, USA |pages=41, 43}}
*{{Cite journal |last=Sperry |first=Sidney B. |title=What the Book of Mormon Is |url=https://scholarsarchive.byu.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?params=/context/jbms/article/1090/&path_info=18304.pdf |journal=Journal of Book of Mormon Studies |volume=4 |issue=1 |year=1995|pages=14 |via=BYU ScholarsArchive}}
*{{Cite Q|Q123196681|chapter=Enos|pages=53-56|ref={{sfnref|Thomas|2016}}}}

== Further reading ==
* {{Cite book |last=Arnold |first=Marilyn |title=Encyclopedia of Mormonism |publisher=[[Macmillan Publishers|Macmillan]] |year=1992 |editor-last=Ludlow |editor-first=Daniel H. |language=en |chapter=Book of Enos}}
* {{Cite journal |last=Fenton |first=Elizabeth |date=2023 |title=The Book of Mormon and Book History |url=https://scholarlypublishingcollective.org/uip/jbms/article-abstract/doi/10.5406/23744774.32.06/381241/The-Book-of-Mormon-and-Book-History?redirectedFrom=fulltext |journal=Journal of Book of Mormon Studies |volume=32 |pages=74–96 |doi=10.5406/23744774.32.06|url-access=subscription }}
* {{Cite Q|Q123497267|last=Givens |first=Terryl |chapter=The Book of Mormon and the Reshaping of Covenant|pages=341–361}} 
* {{Cite book |last=Hickman |first=Jared |title=Envisioning Scripture: Joseph Smith's Revelations in Their Early American Contexts |publisher=Signature Books |year=2022 |isbn=9781560854470 |editor-last=Townsend |editor-first=Colby |pages=269–302 |chapter=The Book of Mormon as Amerindian Apocalypse}}

==External links==
*{{wikisource-inline|Book of Mormon/Enos|Book of Enos}}
* [https://www.churchofjesuschrist.org/study/scriptures/bofm/enos/1 ''The Book of Enos'' from the official website of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints]

{{s-start}}
{{s-hou|[[Small Plates of Nephi]]|||}}
{{s-bef|before=[[Book of Jacob|Jacob]]}}
{{s-ttl|title=<small>[[Book of Mormon]]</small>}}
{{s-aft|after=[[Book of Jarom|Jarom]]}}
{{s-end}}

[[Category:Books of the Book of Mormon|Enos]]