According to the

Book of Mormon The Book of Mormon is a religious text of the Latter Day Saint movement, which, according to Latter Day Saint theology, contains writings of ancient prophets who lived on the American continent from 600 BC to AD 421 and during an interlude ...

, Neum was an

old world The "Old World" is a term for Afro-Eurasia that originated in Europe , after Europeans became aware of the existence of the Americas. It is used to contrast the continents of Africa, Europe, and Asia, which were previously thought of by th ...

prophet In religion, a prophet or prophetess is an individual who is regarded as being in contact with a divine being and is said to speak on behalf of that being, serving as an intermediary with humanity by delivering messages or teachings from the s ...

whose pre-Christian era writings were recorded upon the

plates of brass Laban () is a figure in the First Book of Nephi, near the start of the Book of Mormon, a scripture of the Latter Day Saint movement. Unlike many of the other Book of Mormon characters, Laban neither ends up in the New World, nor is he a Biblical ...

. There is only one known instance where Neum is specifically cited in the ''Book of Mormon''. In 1 Nephibr>19:10
the prophet Nephi uses the paraphrased words of Neum to show that the coming

Messiah In Abrahamic religions, a messiah or messias (; , ; , ; ) is a saviour or liberator of a group of people. The concepts of '' mashiach'', messianism, and of a Messianic Age originated in Judaism, and in the Hebrew Bible, in which a ''mashiach ...

would be killed by

crucifixion Crucifixion is a method of capital punishment in which the victim is tied or nailed to a large wooden cross or beam and left to hang until eventual death from exhaustion and asphyxiation. It was used as a punishment by the Persians, Cartha ...

. Outside of the Book of Mormon, there is no evidence that Neum existed. However, there is evidence that writings of, and references to several ancient Israelite prophets were destroyed by the ruling class of the ancient Jews.
Nibley, The Dead Sea Scrolls: Some Questions and Answers The best known example of this is a reference in the

Dead Sea Scrolls The Dead Sea Scrolls (also the Qumran Caves Scrolls) are ancient Jewish and Hebrew religious manuscripts discovered between 1946 and 1956 at the Qumran Caves in what was then Mandatory Palestine, near Ein Feshkha in the West Bank, on the ...

to an ancient prophet known as the

Teacher of Righteousness The Teacher of Righteousness (in Hebrew: מורה הצדק ''Moreh ha-Tzedek'') is a figure found in some of the Dead Sea Scrolls at Qumran, most prominently in the Damascus Document. This document speaks briefly of the origins of the sect, prob ...

who was driven out of Jewish society because he preached of the coming of a Messiah. Outside of the Dead Sea Scrolls, there is no other reference to this person, and until 1950, there was absolutely no record of his existence. The scrolls state that the Teacher of Righteousness was descended from another mysterious prophet named Zadok, which might have been a transcribed or altered version of the name

Zenock In the Book of Mormon, Zenock () is a nonbiblical prophet whose described life predates the events of the book's main plot and whose prophecies and statements are recorded upon the brass plates possessed by the Nephites. In the narrative, Zenock ...

, another prophet referenced only in the ''Book of Mormon''.

References

* Pinegar, Ed J. & Allen, Richard J. ''Book of Mormon Who's Who'' Book of Mormon prophets {{LDS-stub

See also

References