“And after I had smitten off his head with his own sword, I took the garments of Laban and put them upon mine own body; yea, even every whit; and I did gird on his armor about my loins.”:
Nephi here is trying too appear as Laban to get the plates. He can now freely walk into Laban’s home with his servants respecting him. We don’t know if Nephi looks anything like Laban, however, its the clothes that demand the respect, not Laban himself. Think about it… its Laban’s wealth that demand respect, not Laban himself. Take away Laban’s wealth and he doesn’t garner the respect that his servants give him. His fine clothes are a symbol of his wealth.
We’ll hear a number of references to ‘fine twined linen” and “costly apparel” in the book of Mormon. Why does this theme constantly creep up? Somehow I don’t think that nice clothes are intrinsically bad. However, in a society infatuated with the accumulation of wealth and a competitive spirit wanting to have things that are nicer than your neighbor, having designer clothes or nice clothes can be a problem. Of course, there’s nothing wrong with wanting to present yourself nicely, but when that desire becomes a pursuit or obsession and leads our minds to the love of money, we are getting into trouble because that pursuit takes our focus off of spiritual things.
In all things there must be moderation. We need some wealth to be able to focus on spiritual things, however, the pursuit of wealth should not be the end goal.
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