Back to Jerusalem? - First Book of Nephi, Chapter Three (1 Nephi 3)

What do you do when you go on a trip, and then realize you've left something important behind?

Apparently, that question is not new in our day. When Lehi and his family left Jerusalem in a hurry, they did not have a record of their people with them. In this chapter, Lehi and Nephi emphasize that bringing such a record with them is supremely important to ensure that knowledge of the following three things does not fade from generation to generation:

1) Key teachings from the Lord (through prophets) about how to survive in a world full of temptations and distractions (verse 20)
2) Their language (verse 19)
3) Stories of their family history and heritage (verse 3)

Making sure records are kept, and kept properly, becomes another prevailing theme (along with the importance of families) that continues throughout the book.

In days well before paper and printing presses, records like the one alluded to in this chapter were few and far between because of the difficulty and cost involved in producing them. It appears that Lehi himself may not have possessed a copy, which would explain why his family did not have one in their possession when they left Jerusalem. But the Lord thought the record important enough to command Lehi to send his sons back to Jersualem to get it (engraved on a set of brass plates) from a man named Laban (lay-bin) who probably had some association with them.

Why didn't the Lord tell Lehi to get the record on his way out of Jerusalem? That's anyone's guess. My sense is that He had a specific purpose in reserving this particular experience for Lehi's sons, and testing their character, as we find out in this and following chapters.

Laman and Lemuel were clearly not pleased at having to go all the way back (as mentioned in the previous chapter, it's about a 15-day journey between Jerusalem and their campsite), facing the uncertain prospect of how exactly to get the record from Laban, and then traveling another several days to return to their family. When put that way, it seems like we should probably be able to at least understand where their frustration was coming from.

Nephi's response was starkly different from that of his brothers. In fact, it stands as one of the most memorable scriptures in the Book of Mormon:

"I will go and do the things which the Lord hath commanded, for I know that the Lord giveth no commandments unto the children of men, save he shall prepare a way for them that they may accomplish the thing which he commandeth them."

Why was Nephi so willing to accept his dad's word about this new commandment? It seems that the effort Nephi put (during the last chapter) into confirming his father's earlier claims (about leaving Jerusalem) by approaching the Lord directly has convinced Nephi that his father is tapped into the right source.

But let's not give Laman and Lemuel too hard a time, at least not yet, because we learn that they are ultimately willing to give the expedition a try. And so Nephi unfolds to us the account of the four brothers making their way back to Jerusalem.

The brothers have a task, but really have no idea about how they plan to get the record from Laban. Laban is a prominent person, and pretty intimidating in manner, kind of like a rich guy from more modern times who knows how to succeed in a tough world, complete with his own security detail (or paid thugs). So the brothers do what anyone in over their heads might do. They flipped a coin. Or the equivalent of this--called in those days "casting lots," or a game of chance.

Apparently, the lots indicate that Laman (the oldest son) is "it," and, Laman just walks straight to Laban's house and asks for the record. The story says that Laban became angry and got Laman to leave quickly by threatening his life. Whether Laban was angry at Laman's impertinence ("that punk kid") or knew that he could get rid of him by making this threat, the effect was the same. Now Laman and Lemuel (and perhaps even Sam) want nothing more to do with this assignment, which apparently is not going to be easy.

But Nephi's steely determination takes over. As his quote from above indicates, he had committed to both his father and to God that he would carry out the task, and he tells his brothers that they're not going back to their family without the record.

The brothers have learned their lesson that leaving things to chance is a bad idea. Now Nephi has a plan. All the gold, silver and wealth his family left in their hasty flight out of Jerusalem is still at their old house. Why not take all this stuff and offer it to Laban in exchange for the plates?

Nephi is right about the wealth attracting Laban's interest, but seems not to have accounted for Laban's dishonesty and superior strength of force. When Laban sends his servants after the brothers to kill them, they're forced to abandon their wealth to Laban, and barely escape the city with their lives, finding refuge in a nearby rock cavity.

This appears to be the absolute last straw for Laman and Lemuel. They've listened to their gullible brother long enough. Not only are their lives in peril because of his simple faith, but now, with their wealth gone, they probably realize that any hope they nurtured of convincing their dad to return them to the comforts of Jerusalem had vanished. And, according to them, it's all Nephi's fault.

So, true to their character, they lose their temper and start cursing and hitting Nephi and Sam.

And then, at the precise moment where everything seems to be falling apart for Nephi, God steps in. An angel, or messenger of the Lord, intervenes, and tells the brothers two things. First, the angel rebukes Laman and Lemuel for turning against Nephi, and tells them what the Lord already had told Nephi in the previous chapter--that their younger brother would become a ruler over them because of their "iniquities."

And second, the angel tells them to go back to Jerusalem, where they have every reason to believe that people are on the lookout to kill them. But the angel promises that the Lord will deliver Laban into their hands.

After the angel communicates his messages, he departs, and then the chapter ends on a telling note. Instead of trusting in the power of an angel who miraculously appears right in front of them and promises heavenly help, Laman and Lemuel keep focusing on their own inability to stand against Laban's thugs. Seconds after being given a reason to suspend disbelief and count on a power beyond their own, they fall back into the same pattern of doubt and distrust.

But Nephi is slowly mounting the learning curve. From casting lots, to making his own plan, Nephi has done the best he could with what he had until the Lord steps in and just tells him to trust that everything will be OK. And sometimes that's the hardest part...(TO BE CONTINUED in chapter 4)

Read the chapter here: https://www.lds.org/scriptures/bofm/1-ne/3?lang=eng

Escaping Jerusalem - First Book of Nephi, Chapter Two (1 Nephi 2)

As we left our protagonist (Lehi, a prophet among the Jews) in the last chapter, he had received a vision which lent additional conviction to his calls for repentance among the people of Jerusalem in 600 BC.

Now, as we come into Chapter 2, we find the Lord speaking to Lehi in a dream. First, he provides words of comfort and reassurance that Lehi has been doing exactly as he should, even though he’s not getting a lot of love and smiles from the people of the city. In fact, in this dream, the Lord commands Lehi to take his family and leave Jerusalem.

Very matter of factly, the narrative tells us that Lehi did as he was told, and the story moves on to tell us about Lehi abandoning his home and possessions. He and his family depart with necessary supplies and provisions, and the story follows them into the wilderness and a completely new life.

Before we follow the narrative any further, though, it’s important to recognize the significance of what just took place. This faith of this man must have been enormous for him to simply pick up and leave. It appears he had accumulated some wealth, and he is willing to leave that behind without hesitation. Not only that, but all the comforts of the identity and status he and his family had spent their lives cultivating.

What’s even more astounding about Lehi’s faith is that after what appears to be a fairly arduous trek in one of the hotter areas on earth (probably about two weeks – scholars tell us about 12 days to get to the Red Sea from Jerusalem, and then verse 6 tells us 3 more days after that), the first thing Lehi does after arriving at their temporary home in a river valley is to build an altar to offer sacrifices in gratitude to the Lord.

(See the possible route Lehi and his family took here: https://www.churchofjesuschrist.org/bc/content/shared/content/images/gospel-library/manual/32506/32506_000_057_04-possibleroute.pdf)

So he’s not only obeying. He’s joyfully and thankfully obeying despite great personal sacrifice. Of course, because of Lehi’s faith, he has a good reason to be thankful. What his sons Laman (lay-man) and Lemuel (lem-yoo-uhl) think is a terrible burden of leaving all that they had, Lehi knows is actually a huge blessing of being able to escape an impending catastrophe.

Which leads us to the very important distinction that we are introduced to in this chapter. Between those who “murmur” (Laman and Lemuel, in this case), and those who give Lehi the benefit of the doubt and decide to go directly to the Lord to find out for themselves. This is where Nephi (our narrator), is introduced as a character in the story. He is the youngest of four sons, but because of his desires to know more of God, we see that he is being prepared to become the family leader. This echoes some of the Old Testament accounts we have of younger brothers like Jacob and Joseph who were given greater responsibilities than their older brothers.

In fact, the tension between those who seek to keep the Lord’s commandments (Nephi and his brother Sam) and those who murmur (Laman and Lemuel) is one of the key threads that winds throughout the Book of Mormon and the account of the civilizations that will spring from this one family. The Lord is very clear up front that those who keep the commandments will prosper, and those who don’t won’t. “Prosperity” here is more about ultimate happiness through personal contentment and family togetherness than it is about material wealth.

Here's the link to the chapter: https://www.churchofjesuschrist.org/study/scriptures/bofm/1-ne/2?lang=eng

Also see this video clip (starting from 7:28):

Epic Quest Begins - First Book of Nephi, Chapter One (1 Nephi 1)

The beginning of the Book of Mormon contains a story that is not unlike much of the "epic quest" literature and film that remains very popular with most cultures (i.e., Lord of the Rings, Star Wars, Harry Potter). A hero and those close to him find themselves in mortal danger and need to move quickly and over vast distances to save themselves and their civilization. Only in this case, the story is not fiction.

As our first chapter begins, we are introduced to our hero. His name is Lehi (pronounced lee-high), and he is one of the prophets who lived and taught in Jerusalem among the Jews just before the armies of Babylon raided the city and took most of those in the Kingdom of Judah captive (right around 600 BC or BCE). In fact, Lehi is a contemporary of the Old Testament prophet Jeremiah, and when the story opens, we find Lehi testifying to the people of Jerusalem that they needed to repent and turn back to the Lord or risk destruction (the classic prophetic "voice of warning"). After praying especially hard for his people to open their hearts, he receives a vision. In the vision, he apparently sees Jesus Christ and his 12 apostles descending in glory, and they provide him direct revelation about many things.

After his vision, it seems that Lehi now preaches repentance to the people with a much greater sense of certitude about what's at stake. If he doubted before, there is no equivocation anymore. He now shares some very specific things with his people about the dangers that await them, and is mocked for it. One of the key components of his teaching is that the Messiah will come to redeem the world.

As the chapter ends, the people appear to have some ominous things in mind for Lehi. But we are reassured that the "tender mercies" of the Lord are over those who follow him, even unto their deliverance.

This brings me to an important point. Our narrator is not Lehi himself, but his son Nephi (neef-eye). Nephi is telling the story from memory several years later. In hearing Lehi's story through Nephi, we sense that this father and son share a special bond, and anticipate learning more about how the quest Lehi will later start will involve Nephi.

The first line of the chapter reads, "I, Nephi, having been born of goodly parents..." and then begins the narrative. This teaches us how important our families are to our identities and our backgrounds. Right from the start, we learn that family will be a central theme of the Book of Mormon, and throughout the book we will trace how important (though not completely determinative) family interactions and traditions--especially how we record and share our family's stories of heritage--are to the fate of communities and civilizations.

The most important takeaways from this chapter, in my opinion, are the admirable qualities Lehi shows in humbling himself before the Lord and seeking knowledge from Him. Lehi is equally determined to help his people if there is any chance he can, and to find out key eternal truths and principles important to every person's understanding of their relationship to God and the world. Right from the very beginning, we are shown that this book testifies of Jesus Christ and the salvation offered through Him.

You can read the chapter here: https://www.churchofjesuschrist.org/study/scriptures/bofm/1-ne/1?lang=eng

Also see the first 7:27 of this video clip:

 

Origin Story and Witnesses - Introductory Passages

The first thing I want to share is what are known as the introductory sections to the book. They talk about both the origins of the book and what's in it. Some of the account sounds downright implausible on first hearing for those unacquainted with it, which makes direct communication with God through prayer that much more important in determining what's true.

Joseph Smith, a young teenage farmboy in western New York (at the time, in 1823, a western frontier area) was visited by an angel named Moroni (pronounced mohr-oh-nigh: the same angel found at the top of many of our temple spires sounding a trumpet) who guided Joseph up to a hillside where gold plates with a record inscribed from an ancient civilization were hidden. The plates were deposited around 400 A.D. by Moroni while he was still living. He was the last survivor of his civilization. Over the course of four years, Joseph prepared to receive the plates, and ultimately received them and translated them into English by the power of God and with the help of a few different people. 

However, no one but Joseph was permitted to see the plates until after the translation was finished, when three men were shown the plates by Moroni, and eight other men were shown the plates by Joseph himself. These men signed their names to the fact that they had actually seen the plates, and never retracted these claims, even though some broke with the Church later in life.  

The title page was actually translated directly from the plates, and indicates that a key purpose of the book is "to the convincing of the Jew and Gentile that Jesus is the Christ, the Eternal God, manifesting himself unto all nations." There are a number of explanations talking about the different metal plates used and eventually brought together from different sources. The introduction contains the important quote from Joseph Smith that he told his associates that the Book of Mormon is "the most correct book on earth, and that a man would get nearer to God by abiding by its precepts, than by any other book." At the same time, these sections indicate that the Book of Mormon supports the Bible.

The Testimony of the Prophet Joseph Smith is a very compelling account from Joseph Smith's own recollection (written in 1838). He explains that after he had translated those plates he was given permission to translate (some plates' translation is being reserved for a future time), he returned the plates to Moroni. 

You can find all these introductory passages at this link (everything above the link that reads "1 Nephi"): https://www.lds.org/scriptures/bofm?lang=eng