30 And now, Zoram, I speak unto you: Behold, thou art the servant of Laban; nevertheless, thou hast been brought out of the land of Jerusalem, and I know that thou art a true friend unto my son, Nephi, forever.
I wonder how long it really took Zoram to trust Nephi. In 1
Nephi 4: 30–37 when they made the oaths with each other, binding their fates to
one another, it records that their fears toward each other ceased. I think I
wrote at the time in this journal about the binding power of an oath. But
knowing human nature, I just wonder how long it really took Zoram to go from a
person coming along for the sake of an oath to a person who was a “true friend
unto Nephi forever.” There is not much written about Zoram, but based on a
couple of clues I think we can conclude that even thought he was employed be a
wicked man, Laban, Zoram was not really a wicked man himself. The first clue is
when he was captured. When Nephi explained that their errand was commanded of
the Lord, “Zoram did take courage at the words [Nephi] spake” (1 Nephi 4: 35).
How did he know he could trust this man who had just killed his master if he
didn’t have a common belief in the Lord, or at least know that he could trust
people of God? The next clue is his behavior after joining Lehi’s party. Zoram
had more “right” to murmur and complain than did Laman and Lemuel. They chose
to obey their father and come on this journey. Zoram, on the other hand, was
compelled to come. True, he was given the choice to come and be free, but I’m
sure if he had decided otherwise, things would not have ended well for him, or
at least he had to believe that, given that they had already killed a very
powerful Laban. Yet there is no record of Zoram siding with Nephi’s brothers in
any of the conflicts they had. The last clue is that when the time came for
Nephi to split from his brothers, Zoram came with him (see 2 Nephi 5: 6). He
truly was a friend to Nephi forever, and received the blessings Lehi gave him
in the next verses.
