Additionally, one wonders why the text would specifically note that he had a "perfect knowledge of the language of the people" if he were a Nephite. One would expect a Nephite to have a working knowledge of his own language.14 These examples strongly suggest that "others" integrated with the Nephites and Lamanites and identified themselves according to these family names.
1. See Arthur R. Bassett, "It Begins with a Family," in The Book of Mormon: It Begins with a Family (Salt Lake City, UT: Bookcraft, 1993), 7–19.
2. See Book of Mormon Central, "Did Interactions with 'Others' Influence Nephi's Selection of Isaiah? (2 Nephi 24:1)," KnoWhy 45 (March 2, 2016). See also John L. Sorenson, "When Lehi's Party Arrived in the Land, Did They Find Others There?" Journal of Book of Mormon Studies 1, no. 1 (1992): 1–34; John Gee and Matthew Roper, "'I Did Liken All Scriptures Unto Us': Early Nephite Understandings of Isaiah and Implications for 'Others' in the Land," in The Fulness of the Gospel: Foundational Teachings from the Book of Mormon, ed. Camille Fronk, Brain M. Hauglid, Patty A. Smith, Thomas A. Wayment (Salt Lake City and Provo, UT: Deseret Book and Religious Studies Center, Brigham Young University, 2003), 51–65; Brant A. Gardner, "The Other Stuff: Reading the Book of Mormon for Cultural Information," FARMS Review of Books 13, no. 2 (2001): 21–52; Traditions of the Fathers: The Book of Mormon as History (Salt Lake City, UT: Greg Kofford Books, 2015), 154–158.
3. For a thorough exploration of this, see Matthew Roper, "Nephi's Neighbors: Book of Mormon Peoples and Pre-Columbian Populations," FARMS Review 15, no. 2 (2003): 89–128; reprinted in The Book of Mormon and DNA Research: Essays from The FARMS Review and the Journal of Book of Mormon Studies, ed. Daniel C. Peterson (Provo, UT: Neal A. Maxwell Institute for Religious Scholarship, 2008), 185–218.
4. Tracy Maria Lemos, "Kinship, Community, and Society," in The Wiley Blackwell Companion to Ancient Israel, ed. Susan Niditch (Hoboken, NJ: Wiley, 2016), 380.
5. Even though Jacob only had twelve sons, there are actually thirteen tribes. This is because Joseph's two sons, Ephraim and Manasseh, were given an inheritance with Jacob's sons, as noted in Genesis 48:5.
7. For more on this, see Shaul Bar, "Who Were the 'Mixed Multitude'?" Hebrew Studies 49, (2008): 27–39.
8. See Book of Mormon Central, "Why Did the "Pride Cycle" Destroy the Nephite Nation? (3 Nephi 6:10)," KnoWhy 195 (September 26, 2016).
9. Joseph A. Callaway and Hershel Shanks, "The Settlement in Canaan: The Period of the Judges" in Ancient Israel: From Abraham to the Roman Destruction of the Temple, 3rd edition, ed. Hershel Shanks (Washington, DC: Biblical Archaeology Society, 2011), 59–83. See also Hershel Shanks, William G. Dever, Baruch Halpern, and P. Kyle McCarter Jr., The Rise of Ancient Israel (Washington, DC: Biblical Archaeology Society, 1992).
11. See Book of Mormon Central, "Where Did Joseph Smith Get His Teachings on the Family? (3 Nephi 18:21)," KnoWhy 285 (March 10, 2017).
12. See Book of Mormon Central, "Why Did Lehi Divide His People into Seven Tribes? (Jacob 1:13)," KnoWhy 319 (May 29, 2017).
13. See Brant A. Gardner, Second Witness: Analytical and Contextual Commentary on the Book of Mormon (Salt Lake City, UT: Greg Kofford Books, 2007), 1:351–356; 2:6–13, 102–103.
14. John A. Tvedtnes, "New Approaches to the Book of Mormon: Explorations in Critical Methodology," Review of Books on the Book of Mormon 6, no. 1 (1994): 28–29.
15. For a general treatment of the importance of the family in society, see Reed H. Bradford, "Family: Teachings About the Family," Encyclopedia of Mormonism, 4 vols., ed. Daniel H. Ludlow (New York, NY: Macmillan, 1992), 2:486–488.
16. Neil L. Andersen, "'Whoso Receiveth Them, Receiveth Me,'" Ensign, May 2016, 49–50, online at lds.org.
17. Andersen, "'Whoso Receiveth Them, Receiveth Me,'" 50, online at lds.org.
18. For more information on how the Book of Mormon teaches us to do this, see Kenneth W. Anderson, "What Parents Should Teach Their Children from the Book of Mosiah" in Mosiah, Salvation Only Through Christ, The Book of Mormon Symposium Series, Volume 5, ed. Monte S. Nyman and Charles D. Tate, Jr. (Provo, UT: Religious Studies Center, Brigham Young University, 1991), 23–36.
19. See Book of Mormon Central, "How Can the Book of Mormon Strengthen Marriages and Families? (Jacob 3:7)," KnoWhy 302 (April 19, 2017).