The Book of Mormon claims Lehi, his family and the Nephites kept the laws of Moses (also called the Torah). However, how they kept the feast days (also called the Moedim) of the Torah in the BoM reveal that they actually broke Torah.
In Leviticus 23, and reiterated in Deuteronomy 16, we read that all who were under the Torah were required to observe the Moedim by making sacrifices at the Jerusalem temple with Levitical priests in authority. In Deuteronomy 4:2 and 12:32, God even strongly warned the children of Israel that they were not to add to or take away anything from His Torah.
However, in their observance of the Moedim, the Book of Mormon does not describe the use of any Levite priests or a Jerusalem temple. So, this book is more of a reflection of the 19th century Protestantism of Joseph Smith’s time rather than a true account of ancient Jews in the Americas.
The following is a breakdown of discrepancies in the Book of Mormon which contrast with the Biblical Torah:
LOCATION OF SACRIFICES:
The Torah specified that sacrifices should be made only at the temple in Jerusalem (Deuteronomy 12). But Lehi contradicted this law by offering sacrifices in the wilderness without a tabernacle or temple.
PRIESTHOOD AUTHORITY:
In the Torah, the performance of sacrificial rites were restricted to the tribe of Levi. However, Lehi was from the tribe of Joseph (Alma 10:3), not Levi. Yet, he offered sacrifices, which would have been another violation of the Torah. Mormon apologists claim that, in the New World, his family established their own Melchizedek priesthood because there were no Levites to perform the rites. But there is nothing in the Book of Mormon which announces, explains or even infers that Lehi received the authority to become a Melchizedek priest. Instead, Mormon apologists are relegated to pure conjecture to explain away this issue.
A DIFFERENT INTERPRETATION OF THE LAW:
Mormon apologists claim that, while Lehi and his descendants sought to follow the Torah, their new circumstances in the New World required that they adapt its practices. Again, this meant that they added to or took away from the Torah, thereby breaking it.
They also claim that the Nephites relied on revelation and their own Melchizedek priesthood authority to interpret and apply the law, which differed from the practices centralized in Jerusalem. But there is absolutely no evidence to back up those assertions and nothing in their apologetic which lines up with Biblical instructions on this issue.
