As I begin another reading of the Book of Mormon my attention is drawn to Zoram and to the key role that he played in the saga.

Who was Zoram, and why was he a servant in the household of Laban?

Zoram was unquestionably an Israelite, but of which tribe?  He could have been of the tribe of Judah, but I would suspect that he was probably of the tribe of Joseph as was his master, Laban, and also Lehi.  His numerous descendants certainly became a major part of the eventual population of the land that was promised to the seed of Joseph, so I would expect that the Lord would have placed a Josephite in the house of Laban to carry out the role that Zoram played.

I think that it was against Jewish law for Jews to have Israelite slaves, so Zoram would not have been Laban’s slave; but neither was he apparently free, as Laban’s servant, to come or to go as he pleased.  As Nephi was physically restraining Zoram, one of the inducements he used to encourage Zoram to accompany them was a promise that “he should be a free man like unto us if he would go down in the wilderness with us.”  (1 Ne. 4:33).  Zoram was apparently not a free man, so even a difficult and primitive life in the wilderness was more appealing to him than a lifetime of bondage.

Zoram was a good person.  Zoram was a dutiful and trustworthy man.  Laban recognized this, and put him in charge of his treasury.  Zoram was entrusted with the keys (1 Ne. 4:20), which says volumes about his character and trustworthiness.  It is also significant to note that while others murmured during the wearisome journey, no mention is ever made of Zoram doing so.  Instead, Lehi ultimately blessed him for his faithfulness, and for being “a true friend” to Nephi.  (2 Ne. 1:30-31).

When Lehi left Jerusalem he “took nothing with him, save it were his family, and provisions, and tents, and departed into the wilderness.”  (1 Ne. 2:4).  Zoram left with even less than that.  His departure was even more precipitate than Lehi’s.  He left with only the clothes on his back—and presumably with the keys to Laban’s treasury.  Someone should take a metal detector and try to retrace the route the family took into the wilderness.  Somewhere along that route, and most probably at Lehi’s camp, Zoram would have discarded the now useless keys.

Was it an accident that Zoram was in the household of Laban, and that he was entrusted with caring for the treasury that housed the sacred records?  I don’t believe that for a minute.  His presence there was part of the Lord’s grand plan.  His presence there was a pivotal and an essential part of the plan.  Had he not been there to carry out his role, the Book of Mormon would never have been written.

As evidence that Zoram’s being in Laban’s household was part of the overall plan, we need only look at Ishmael’s family.  That family was certainly prepared to play another key part in the saga.  To fulfill the plan it was necessary for Lehi’s sons to have wives.  In Ishmael’s family there was a daughter provided for each of Lehi’s sons—plus one extra to provide a wife for the extra man that the Lord would place in the party.—Coincidences?—Not on your life.  The Lord “shall prepare a way for (us)  that (we) may accomplish the thing which he commandeth (us).  (1 Ne. 3:7).

“And if it so be that the children of men keep the commandments of God he doth nourish them, and strengthen them, and provide means whereby they can accomplish the thing which he has commanded them.”  (1 Ne. 17:3).

Zoram (and Ishmael, and Lehi, and Nephi) considered himself an ordinary (or even less than ordinary) person.  In the eyes of the world, and in his own eyes, he was nothing.  But in the eyes of God he was special.  He was essential.  His role was necessary to make the plan work.  When all of the information is in, I think that we’ll find that our own small roles are as essential as was Zoram’s We’re not ordinary.  We’re essential to the plan.