The question of marriage is an important one, because Yahweh has now excluded a number of the potential marriage partners who might be seen as more desirable than the native populations because they are both racially and culturally similar to the Old World peoples among the Nephites. One is this establishment of rules concerning potential marriage partners, and the second is the nature of the skin of blackness.Įxogamy (marriage outside of the group) and the Lamanite Curse: There is not only a geographic division between the brothers and their families, but a moral and religious chasm as well. There are two important aspects to this declaration. This barrier is very clearly a religio-political one, because it specifically forbids intermarriage. The second part of this verse indicates that, after the curse, another sign was placed upon the Lamanites that allowed for a separation between the Lamanites and Nephites. Thus, Nephi can claim that the Lamanites are cursed because they fall under that foundational prophecy of the land which included both a blessing and a curse, according to righteousness. The cursing follows the people who work iniquity. That cursing was pronounced upon the land, but the iniquity must come from people, not land. The curse is a fulfillment of Lehi’s prophecy about the land: “If iniquity shall abound cursed shall be the land for their sakes” (2 Ne.

The second is that Yahweh caused a skin of blackness to come upon them.

Two things happen to the Lamanites as a result of their “harden their hearts against him.” The first is that they are cursed.

For behold, they had hardened their hearts against him, that they had become like unto a flint wherefore, as they were white, and exceedingly fair and delightsome, that they might not be enticing unto my people the Lord God did cause a skin of blackness to come upon them. It represents the commentary following the text introducing the phrase “skin of blackness” and analyzes the textual data to answer the question of meaning.Ģ1 And he had caused the cursing to come upon them, yea, even a sore cursing, because of their iniquity. Gardner, Second Witness: Analytical and Contextual Commentary on the Book of Mormon, 6 vols. The following is an excerpt from Brant A. What Does the Book of Mormon Mean by “Skin of Blackness”?

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