The name of Nephi’s eldest brother Laman echoed both ancient Israel and modern magic. Twentieth-century archaeology and semitic studies have identified Laman as an ancient prophet name in Palestine and Arabia. Several of Smith’s scribes during the translation of the Book of Mormon spelled Laman’s name as it has been published from 1830 to the present. However, one unidentified scribe rendered the brother’s name as “lamen” in the manuscript. This was the spelling of the magic-inscribed parchment, or lamen, as given in magic works published before 1830. The Smith family had three magic lamens (see ch. 4).