Why Does the Book of Mosiah Begin Differently than All the Others?

Three Distinct Patterns of Beginning Books of the Book of Mormon

With few exceptions, depending on whether the Book of Mormon writer is giving his own account or

giving an abridgement of an existing account, the book will begin with one of two patterns.

• Personal Account: The author opens the book by introducing himself.

• Abridgement: The book begins by stating the time period in which the account begins.

The exceptions are Mosiah and Ether. But Ether is really just a variation of Moroni giving his personal account.  So the only odd-ball beginning of a book in the Book of Mormon is Mosiah. Why is Mosiah unique?  The answer is below.

Personal Account

All of the personal accounts begin with the name of the author.

• “I Nephi having been born of goodly parents...” (1 Nephi)

• “...After I, Nephi, had made an end of teaching my brethren...” (2 Nephi)

• “...Nephi gave me, Jacob, a commandment concerning the small plates...” (Jacob)

• “...I, Enos, knowing my father to be a just man...” (Enos)

• “Now, behold, I, Jarom, write a few words...” (Jarom)

• “...I, Omni, being commanded by my father, Jarom...” (Omni)

• “And now I, Mormon, being about to deliver up the record [to] my son Moroni...” (Words of Mormon)

• “And now I, Mormon, make a record of the things which I have seen and heard...” (Mormon)

• “Now I, Moroni, after having made an end of abridging the account of the people of Jared...” (Moroni)

Abridgement

All of the abridgements except for that of Ether begin with identifying a time period in which the account begins.

• “...in the first year of the reign of the judges over the people of Nephi...” (Alma)

• “...in the commencement of the fortieth year of the reign of the judges...” (Helaman)

• “...the ninety and first year had passed away, and it was six hundred years from the time that Lehi left Jerusalem...” (3 Nephi)

• “...the thirty and fourth year had passed away...” (4 Nephi)

The Exceptions

Moroni's abridgement of Ether starts off as an account of who is doing the abridging.

• “And now I, Moroni, proceed to give an account of those ancient inhabitants who were destroyed...”  (Ether)

But then there's the really weird beginning--Mosiah.

• “And now there was no more convention in all the land of Zarahemla...” (Mosiah)

What Happened to Mosiah?

It’s not clear why Mosiah begins suddenly out of nowhere.  But here’s a pretty good theory.  The 116 pages of manuscript that were lost by Martin Harris contained the first two chapters of Mosiah. In the original manuscript of the Book of Mormon, Oliver Cowdery began what we now have as chapter 1 of Mosiah with the heading called “Chapter 3”.  When the printer’s manuscript was being prepared, Cowdery changed “Chapter 3” to “Chapter 1”.  Here’s a link to more of a discussion on that.