After Lehi’s family has spent some time in an area still fairly close to Jerusalem that has allowed them to retrieve items and people as the Lord deemed needful, and to receive important preparatory guidance and revelation, they are now ready to begin the next steps of their journey. No turning back at this point. They are really severing the ties with their ancestral home.
And it begins with the formation of new families. Nephi, his three brothers, and Zoram (Laban’s servant who joined them in the wilderness) all marry various daughters of Lehi’s acquaintance Ishmael. Not long before, we are told that at Nephi’s urgings, his brothers had “humbled themselves before the Lord.” The humbling process and their marriages seem to place them in a favorable situation to meet the challenges that are sure to come their way as they continue on their journey.
There’s also a sense that as these new families form, with each son (and Zoram) taking responsibility as husbands and fathers, the days where Lehi is the clear leader over this group are numbered. This generational pattern of leadership transition in families is a familiar one down to our day. And, as in all times, it raises questions about whether the next generation is ready to take charge.
For the time being, though, Lehi still leads the expedition. He receives word from the Lord that the group is to leave their camp and journey on, and the next morning he finds something at the entrance to his tent. Nephi describes it as a “round brass ball of curious workmanship.” Later in the Book of Mormon (Alma 37:38), we learn that the people call this device “Liahona” (which, in their language, means “compass”). It has two spindles. One of these spindles apparently points them in the direction they are supposed to go. How? Nephi tells us that somehow the Liahona works not by magnetism or some other law of the physical world, but rather according to the family’s faith and diligence.
Early on, it seems like everything works pretty well. The family travels in a south-southeast direction, apparently going along the Arabian coast near the eastern shore of the Red Sea, with the Liahona leading them to the more fertile areas in that desert region where they can hunt for food with bow-and-arrow and sling-and-stone.
But when Nephi’s metal bow breaks, everything changes. Apparently, he is the champion hunter of the group. Around the same time his bow breaks, the others’ wooden bows begin to give out. Once you lose access to food, it doesn’t take much for life in the desert to get pretty dismal, and after that it’s not easy to break the cycle of discouragement that ensues.
This is where we see a significant transition. Previously, Lehi has been the “rock,” or core source of strength, for his family. Now here they are, tired, out of food, and much farther away from civilization (Jerusalem) than before. As Laman and Lemuel start complaining again, joined by Ishmael’s sons, for the first time we really see Lehi’s own human frailty. I expect that his own “murmuring” may be explained partly by his concern that he is responsible for leading everyone into this predicament (or at least most everyone else thinks he is responsible).
Out of the whole group, Nephi is the one who keeps a cool head. First of all, he knows that it is the Lord, and not Lehi, who is in charge of the situation. Second, regardless of what has already taken place, he is focusing on what to do about the present, not lamenting past choices or speculating about the traveling party’s long odds of future survival.
But instead of completely taking over leadership and saying, “Now I’m in charge,” Nephi looks to find a way to reestablish and reinforce his father’s authority and faithfulness. He makes a new bow and arrow from wood and asks Lehi to inquire of the Lord where to go find food. This is wise for two reasons. First, because it’s the right thing to do. The Ten Commandments tell us to honor thy mother and father, and Jesus showed us how to do this perfectly by doing His Father’s will. The scriptures teach this same pattern with Isaac and Abraham and many others. Even if Lehi is not perfect, it is Nephi’s duty to lift Lehi up in his time of difficulty. The second reason for the wisdom of Nephi deferring to his dad is that Lehi is the only figure whose leadership the others will accept. It’s already been made clear that Laman and Lemuel have a very hard time with the idea of their younger brother leading them.
We then see the sincerity of Lehi’s repentance. It is interesting to read that the Liahona also can convey written messages from the Lord. We find out that some words appeared on the device that really scare everyone (except Nephi, it seems). Is it a warning about what might happen if they (especially Lehi) complain about their circumstances again?
In any event, order is restored. Lehi is directed to tell Nephi where to hunt, and once the food comes in, everyone feels more joyful and a little humbler. The journey continues.
Then Ishmael dies. And this is where we really see a transition. The single family unit we had is now splitting into several different family groups because of the recent marriages. This makes unity more challenging. Especially when it’s the wives (the daughters of Ishmael) who are complaining about their circumstances: “We’re hungry, thirsty, tired, and otherwise afflicted without any clear hope of a good end to our journey, and on top of that, now our father is gone and we’re left with this other old man and his crazy son leading us. We want to go home!”
It’s not absolutely clear, but unlike in 1 Nephi 7 where at least one of Ishmael’s daughters pleads with her brothers and with Laman and Lemuel to show mercy to Nephi, here there’s no mention that any of the daughters (not even the one Nephi married) show confidence in Lehi and Nephi. That doesn’t make them responsible for Laman trying to hatch a plot with Lemuel and Ishmael’s sons to kill and usurp authority from Lehi and Nephi, but it helps explain the situation a little better. Laman’s plot is quickly put down by the “chastening voice of the Lord,” which makes itself known to the plotters and leads them to repentance.
It appears from modern archeology that we have some idea of how far the group has traveled at this point. The chapter says that the place Ishmael died is called Nahom (meaning “consolation” in Hebrew). In February 2001, the Church magazine Ensign reported that some Latter-day Saint researchers located a stone altar dating to around 700 B.C. near the southwest corner of the Arabian peninsula (in present-day Yemen). According to this article and a later source, this altar and two others at the same site contain an inscription corresponding to the sound “NHM” in Sabean (a language related to Hebrew), appearing to confirm that Nahom is an actual place on what was known during that time as the Frankincense
Trail (a very profitable route for traders in frankincense, which is found almost exclusively in that part of the world at that time).
There seems to be some speculation about whether Lehi’s family has followed the trail, and if they have, whether they have stayed on the well-traveled path or perhaps intentionally have stayed away from it and the various types of people it attracts.,
From this source and this source, there are some interesting maps. The first shows one possible version of the route Lehi’s family takes (with the site of the “Nahom” altars as place #5). Nahom is about 1,900 miles from Jerusalem, so the group is now many weeks’ (if not months’) distance from their starting point.
The next map is one of the Frankincense Trail and other trade routes with various historical places denoted (including some approximations for Book of Mormon places). The site Marib is where the Nahom altars are located, and is now an area near the crossroads of warring Sunnis and Shiites in modern-day Yemen.
Which leads to our guest post. My good friend Todd Watkins sent me this perspective in response to the posting for "Nephi Catches the Vision," (1 Nephi 11) with particular emphasis on the meaning of the “great and spacious building.” I think his perspective offers a very interesting view into the possibilities that Lehi's vision may have had some very specific meanings for him and his family as they trekked through the Middle Eastern landscape of circa 600 B.C., especially when considering the other information above.
Here's what Todd said (and check out the picture he included too):
I wanted to share with you just one perspective as a long-time Middle East hand [Todd has spent many years living, studying, and working in the Middle East] that allows me to explain this dream and journey to myself in real world terms.
In my opinion, Lehi's vision served two purposes. The more spiritual one that you described in your post and a pragmatic/realistic one.
The building that Lehi describes appears to me to be similar to traditional Yemeni buildings that one would see in the old-walled city of Sana (see below).
In pre-Islamic times the buildings probably would not have had the Mashrabiya covers.
Lehi was probably aware of the cities in Yemen and as travelers in the desert, it would have been very tempting to go to the city for rest and supplies.
However, I think the dream communicated that if the group stopped there, Laman and Lemuel would not follow to the New World.
As such, I believe it was a very real warning to avoid the cities of Yemen and continue across the inhospitable desert to probably Salalah/Dhofar in Oman, where the annual Indian monsoon would have allowed for the growth of numerous and large trees to construct a boat.
Just food for thought.
In fact, identifying Salalah, Oman as the ultimate end to the journey on land and the departure point via sea (we’ll get to this in 1 Nephi 18) appears to track very closely with the theories in the maps above about Lehi’s route and the general trade routes of the time.
You can read the chapter at the following link: https://www.churchofjesuschrist.org/study/scriptures/bofm/1-ne/16?lang=eng
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