Uploaded May 2026 | Updated September 2026, 53 minutes ago
"I, Nephi . . . ." We’ve all read the beginning of the Book of Mormon.
Lehi is warned. Nephi is sent back. Laban is drunk. The story moves fast and feels familiar.
But what if we’ve been reading it without understanding the setting it's unfolding in?
In this episode, I sit down with church historian and former "ex-Mormon" atheist Don Bradley to explore a clue hiding in plain sight, one that tells us more about the "lost 116 pages" and reframes how we see the Book of Mormon's entire opening sequence - and the book itself. Not by changing its meaning, but by grounding it in its original sacred context.
The beginning of the Book of Mormon isn't just happening randomly. It’s taking place during a specific moment in the Jewish calendar, a festival setting that adds layers of clarity to what’s happening and why, refocusing the story from being about Lehi's escape from Jerusalem to being about your own deliverance and the redemption of the world.
Once you see it, the timing, the tension, and even the actions of key figures start to come into sharper focus.
We don’t just revisit the story. We slow it down, connect the dots, and explore what was there all along.
If you’ve ever felt like there’s more going on in the scriptures than what’s on the surface, this conversation will change how you read them.
- - - - - - - - - -
Chapters:
0:00 Reframing the beginning of the BoM
5:51 Fayette Lapham lost pages account
15:39 New information from Lapham
26:01 Ancient Jewish feasts
34:00 Passover context & parallels
42:49 Passover content in BoM teachings
50:52 Lehi’s exodus & themes
1:01:50 Reframing the Passover & BoM
1:09:05 Why this matters?
1:17:37 Testimonies & Hope in Christ
The Lost 116 Pages: Reconstructing the Book of Mormon's Missing Stories
amazon.com/Lost-116-Pages-Reconstructing-Mormons/dp/158958760X
"A Passover Setting for Lehi's Exodus," published in Interpreter: A Journal of Latter-day Saint Scripture
interpreterfoundation.org/journal/a-passover-setting-for-lehis-exodus
"I, Nephi . . . ." We’ve all read the beginning of the Book of Mormon.
Lehi is warned. Nephi is sent back. Laban is drunk. The story moves fast and feels familiar.
But what if we’ve been reading it without understanding the setting it's unfolding in?
In this episode, I sit down with church historian and former "ex-Mormon" atheist Don Bradley to explore a clue hiding in plain sight, one that tells us more about the "lost 116 pages" and reframes how we see the Book of Mormon's entire opening sequence - and the book itself. Not by changing its meaning, but by grounding it in its original sacred context.
The beginning of the Book of Mormon isn't just happening randomly. It’s taking place during a specific moment in the Jewish calendar, a festival setting that adds layers of clarity to what’s happening and why, refocusing the story from being about Lehi's escape from Jerusalem to being about your own deliverance and the redemption of the world.
Once you see it, the timing, the tension, and even the actions of key figures start to come into sharper focus.
We don’t just revisit the story. We slow it down, connect the dots, and explore what was there all along.
If you’ve ever felt like there’s more going on in the scriptures than what’s on the surface, this conversation will change how you read them.
- - - - - - - - - -
Chapters:
0:00 Reframing the beginning of the BoM
5:51 Fayette Lapham lost pages account
15:39 New information from Lapham
26:01 Ancient Jewish feasts
34:00 Passover context & parallels
42:49 Passover content in BoM teachings
50:52 Lehi’s exodus & themes
1:01:50 Reframing the Passover & BoM
1:09:05 Why this matters?
1:17:37 Testimonies & Hope in Christ
The Lost 116 Pages: Reconstructing the Book of Mormon's Missing Stories
amazon.com/Lost-116-Pages-Reconstructing-Mormons/dp/158958760X
"A Passover Setting for Lehi's Exodus," published in Interpreter: A Journal of Latter-day Saint Scripture
interpreterfoundation.org/journal/a-passover-setting-for-lehis-exodus
