Passover Missing in Book of Mormon
Why is the Passover mentioned 71 times in the Bible, but 0 times in the Book of Mormon?
I find 45 references to Passover in the Old Testament and its associated feast of unleavened bread 43 times. Most references to the two festivals of Passover and unleavened bread are found in the law of Moses. We must remember that the Book of Mormon is not a law code, but a book of history and religious teachings. In the main history portion of the Old Testament (Joshua through 2 Kings), there are only two references to the feasts of Passover and unleavened bread. Joshua and the Israelites celebrated the two feasts after crossing the Jordan river into the land of Canaan (Joshua 5:10-11). It is likely that this was the first time they had celebrated the feasts since the exodus. Joshua 5:2-9 expressly states that, prior to the celebration, they circumcised all Israelite males for the first time since leaving Egypt. (In Exodus 12:43-48, we read that uncircumcised males cannot participate in the Passover feast.)
Later, we read that when a copy of the law (Deuteronomy, according to most Bible scholars) was inadvertently discovered in the time of King Josiah, he and his people celebrated the Passover with unleavened bread (2 Kings 23:9, 21-23; 2 Chronicles 35:1, 6-9, 11, 13, 16-19). In both cases, we are dealing with the reinstitution of the festival, not an annual observance. The chroniclers later credited King Hezekiah with a similar celebration (2 Chronicles 30:1-2, 5, 15, 18, 21), but this may have been an attempt to build up Hezekiah, who was highly revered in post-exilic times as a potential messiah. In this case, too, we are dealing with a reinstitution of the festival, of which, we are informed, there had not been “the like in Jerusalem” “since the time of Solomon” (2 Chronicles 30:26).
The Old Testament does not mention Passover in the context of a regularly-celebrated festival, so why should we expect more of the Book of Mormon?