"And. I beheld his sword, and I drew it forth from the sheath thereof; and the hilt thereof was of pure gold, and the workmanship thereof was exceedingly fine, and I saw that the blade thereof was of the most precious stell ". . 1 Néphi IV; 9.

The Book of Mormon stresses the importance of an artifact, that of the sword of Laban and this on several occasions in this book. Joseph Smith by his translation inspired gives us important keys, to suggest the existence of an order of knighthood, which probably was creates around this sword. We will study this question of historical interest. In Old Israel have knew already the institution of the Knighthood with famous the "valiant ones" or "valiant knight" of King David, who was his personal guard and trained a "pre-knighthood" being located between the Roman Praetorian guard and the order of knighthood in the traditional sense of the term. The text of the Book of Mormon, teaches us that a character, guard of the bronze plates, also had a sword. It is presented like a harmful character, who wants to prevent the realization of the divine plan, concerning the family of Léhi. But its descent is noble, since he is an ancestor of Joseph who was thrown in the well and soothsayer large vizier d' Egypte, according to the Bible, under the name We thus find, into 1 Néphi V; 16 this invaluable indication: And thus my Léhi father, discovered the genealogy of his fathers. And Laban was also downward of Joseph; this is why him and his/her fathers had held annals. The text is thus very clear on this point, that indicates that if Laban is a transgressor of the Law, the object which it holds, its Sword, the Sword of Laban, east can be a family good, which was transmitted to him by far. Belonged it can be to Joseph already? If the guard were out of gold, that can make think of a sword of an Egyptian dignitary, but they are only speculations, we do not have an evidence of these things. Nevertheless it is interesting, we can, a such Hercules Poirot of the archaeology of the Book of Mormon, to emit some logical deductions. This Sword of Laban will be taken along in the Promised Earth, i.e. America, it will become the matrix of the other swords used in the conflicts described in the Book of Mormon, and will have the row of symbol for the Royalty. The sword will become also a national treasure as well as Liahona and annals. The Sword of Laban makes us think of Excalibur in the matter of Brittany, and it seems to have a divine capacity, just like Excalibur in the hands of King Arthur. If Arthur gains battles armed with Excalibur, in the same way, King Benjamin gains victories with the Sword of Laban... We can read that in Words of Mormon chapter I verse 13: ... and it faced them; and it fought with the force of its arm, with the sword of Laban. We see with the verse according to whether "it is with the force of the Lord" that King Benjamin and his army fought Lamanites victoriously, but we can as understand as the magic force of this sword contributed to it. A spiritual force emanating from the Celestial Father. Higher we put forth the assumption than the Sword of Laban could have belonged to Joseph in Egypt... But, it could be very well an artifact of another world... that of the Celestial Father, same manner that Excalibur was it for the Kingdom arthurien. The parallel between Sword of Laban and Excalibur is trying. In medieval Europe, all the large swords passed to have divine capacities with the combat, and thus bore proper names, giving them life... The singing sword Durandal of the Roland knight, a sword which spoke... Excalibur whose dubious etymology Gaelic could want to mean "lasts the lightning", the Merry sword of the imperial sacring of Charlemagne, etc. Did the Sword of Laban bear a proper name? The book of Mormon is dumb in this respect, and we know that it misses 166 pages with the Book, and that another part is to be come. Then, we can think, in good logic, that this sword was to bear a proper name which qualified it. But which? We will undoubtedly not know it. Like the Merry one, or Excalibur, the Sword of Laban had to play a part in the ritual of the sacrings of Kings Nephites, but there too the Book of Mormon is far from prolix on the matter. We are tiny room with assumptions and tracks. Doctrines and Alliances section 17 verse 1 states clearly that the Sword of Laban (with Urim and Thummin)"was given" by the Lord to the Brother of Jared, when it spoke with the Lord on the Mountain "face to face", as Moïse also did it in its time. That clearly underlines the character magic and divine of this sword, whose capacity gives the victory and who is intended to the Kings. It is known as into 2 Néphi V; 14: And me, Néphi, I taken the sword of Laban and, according to his model, I did many swords, for fear the people which were called Lamanites did not come from a way or another to melt on to make us and us perish... Isn't the military effectiveness of this sword any more to show, Nephi decides to make it manufacture "in series", an anachronistic image for Antiquity? Not... We know for example that in the Romain Empire, and even for the young Roman Republic, the blacksmiths could create similar models of swords to equip the Roman légionaries. In the same way in old Greece, of the blacksmiths could on the request, to manufacture identical swords for different Hoplites, although the Greeks rather liked individualism in the military equipment! Here Néphi employment a method known in old Rome to choose to manufacture this model of sword known as "of Laban". It also does it by need, the arrival out of promised ground is recent, the infrastructures of a great civilization, are set up gradually... The Sword of Laban is the only artifact of this nature in the New World. This sword in thus a particular place in the accounts of the Book of Mormon, and made of it an object crowned like was Excalibur in Europe. We often intended to say that the Book of Mormon is the Bible of the New World whereas the Bible is for the Old one, but in complétude one of the other. We can say, in the same way, as Excalibur is the supernatural sword of the Old World and the Sword of Laban that of the New World. The book of Mosiah chapter I verse 15 and 16 known as: And it happened that when King Benjamin had finished saying these words to his son, it gave him the load of all the businesses of the Kingdom. And moreover, it gave him also the load of annals which were engraved on the bronze plates; and also plates of Néphi; and also the sword of Laban and the ball, or director, which led our fathers through the desert... In a very affirmative way, the Book of Mormon shows us that the Sword of Laban formed part, at the sides of the bronze plates and Liahona. It consequently had, to exist a ceremonial, a ritual of transmission of these objects of King as a King, at the Néphite people. And we can deduce from it that there was most probably an order of knighthood attached to the Court of King Benjamin and other kings Néphites, around the Sword from Laban. Archaeology modern us has shown that there existed in Mexico, of authentic orders of knighthood, like that of the Jaguars, which brought together the best warriors, with rites and well established traditions. Thus the thing is not at all impossible. Laban was a guard of the gold plates, its Sword will become the "guardian" of the Néphites victories, ensuring on the battle field, with the handle of the King, the victory over the enemies. With the end of the XIXe century, Joseph Smith, Oliver Cowdery, and Brigham Young stated to have seen the sword of Laban in the strange cavity of the Hill of Cumorah. Joseph and Oliver transfer wonders in this "cave" of hill of Cumorah (we have also very serious reasons to think that it is not a question of a cave, but of a "sanctuary" arranged by the man where put back these invaluable and crowned elements), they transfer the Sword of Laban, and there was an inscription brings back to us Brigham Young in his newspaper of the speeches on June 17, 1877. It would have been written that: This sword never will not be engainée yet until the kingdoms of this world are well to the kingdom of our God and his Christ. A prophecy attached to a sword, just like Excalibur for Europe, which must return in the world for the return of Arthur. It is known as in the Mormon Church that the alive Prophet can see the Sword of Laban in the room which is reserved to him with the Temple of Salt Lake City... Or then is it always kept in some secret room of the hill of Cumorah? It is not very important for our study, which imports us, it is the existence of a mystical order around the Sword, of the "Knights of the Round Table" of the New World, guards of the traditions around King Benjamin. All that is extremely enthralling, and deserves a methodical, and systematic examination. An order of knighthood around the Sword of Laban, is thus possible.