Using Lessons from Israel's History to Build a Boat - First Book of Nephi, Chapter Seventeen (1 Nephi 17)

In this chapter, we really begin to see the gap in spiritual perception and power widen between Nephi and Laman/Lemuel.

But first, Nephi fast forwards his account ahead in time. It’s now been eight years since Lehi’s family left Jerusalem. It is not clear from Nephi’s narrative why it takes them this long to reach the seaside area they call Bountiful. It may be in part because Lehi’s group is taking its time, but more than 500 years later in the Book of Mormon the prophet Alma the Younger explains to his son Helaman that the slothfulness and lack of faith and diligence shown by the group rendered the Liahona (compass) inoperative—preventing the group from traveling a direct course, and afflicting the people with hunger and thirst (Alma 37:41-42). Nephi tells us that during these eight years of arduous wilderness life and a diet of raw meat, their women have had children and have held up with little complaint.

As mentioned in the last chapter, Bountiful may correspond with the present-day area of Salalah in Oman, located on the Arabian Sea coastline and known for relative fertility (especially when compared with the desert climate to which Lehi’s group is accustomed) because of occasional monsoons (rainy seasons)—see the picture below.

As comforted as Lehi’s group probably is after finding a relatively fruitful area, this is not the ultimate promised land the Lord has in store for them. There is this interesting passage where the voice of the Lord tells Nephi to head to a nearby mountain to communicate with Him. I always imagine Nephi being suddenly awakened in the pre-dawn hour by this voice, gradually shaking off the fatigue as he ascends the mount, and then earnestly crying out to know what the Lord would have him do.

We find out that the Lord is stretching Nephi beyond what he has done before. People from Jerusalem are not generally known as seafarers, yet the Lord tells Nephi that He will show him how to build a ship to get the group to the promised land, if they can keep His commandments. Nephi shows his typical faith by immediately asking the Lord where he can find metal in the ground to make the tools he’ll need to construct the boat. Thus, the preparations begin.

But his brethren (Laman and Lemuel) have other ideas. I can imagine that after all their traveling, Laman and Lemuel are probably thinking that they’ve finally found someplace halfway decent, and now Nephi is going to try to get them to commit suicide by convincing everyone to get on an amateur-built boat going who-knows-where.

This is where the gap between the brothers in spiritual perception and power becomes very apparent. Laman and Lemuel insist not only that Nephi is foolish in trying to build a boat, but that the whole project of leaving Jerusalem is a mistake. They go on to claim (despite their own experiences with the deceitful Laban to the contrary) that the people still in Jerusalem are righteous—hinting that Lehi was wrong when he warned of the city’s impending destruction and the captivity of his inhabitants.

But Laman and Lemuel are way out of their depth. When they showed discouragement after failing to get the brass plates from Laban in Jerusalem, Nephi had rallied their spirits by referring to a story from their heritage—the miracles of Moses leading their Israelite ancestors out of captivity from Egypt (1 Nephi 4:2). Nephi does something similar here, but his teaching is far more detailed and powerful. Instead of merely referencing the parting of the Red Sea, he connects the immediate circumstances he and his brothers face with the entire history of the people of Israel. 

My belief is that Nephi has now had eight years to drink in the stories and lessons of Israel’s history from examining the brass plates. Because he has been “studying his scriptures” regularly, and Laman and Lemuel have not, it really shows in Nephi’s ability to use those scriptural examples to convey the truth that the Lord “raiseth up a righteous nation, and destroyeth the nations of the wicked” (verse 37). In doing so, Nephi exposes the false nature of Laman’s and Lemuel’s narrative.

Essentially, Nephi’s argument demonstrates to Laman and Lemuel that the people of Israel did not gain freedom from Egypt and seize the land of Canaan from its earlier inhabitants simply because the Lord loves them more or because their birth into the tribes of Israel makes them inherently more worthy or better than other peoples. These blessings came through obedience to the word of the Lord. Even then, the people of Israel had not been perfect in their obedience, but for a time they were more obedient than others. Now, this had changed, and that’s why Lehi was warned that Jerusalem was doomed and they had to leave. It was also why they needed to listen to the Lord now in the matter of building a ship to get to the promised land. Nephi is trying to help Laman and Lemuel realize that if they don’t come around to what the Lord is commanding him to do, they will regret it.

I’d like to emphasize two very important passages. One is where Nephi relates an account from when Moses and the Israelites wandered in the wilderness after fleeing Egypt. As the Old Testament also teaches (Num. 21:4-9), the Lord plagued the Israelites with some sort of poisonous snakes (“fiery serpents”) because of their disobedience. The antidote to the poison was to have anyone who was bitten look at a brass serpent that Moses had raised on a pole at the Lord’s instruction. Seems pretty simple, right? Well, according to Nephi (in verse 41), several of the Israelites thought it was too simple. They couldn’t believe that just looking at something could heal them. And so tragically, many Israelites died because they weren’t humble enough to consider that the simple way of open-minded faith was more important than anything else.

The second passage is where Nephi remarks that despite all the experiences Laman and Lemuel have had with the Lord’s angel and His “still small voice,” they have shown themselves to be “past feeling.” So the Lord has had to get their attention by essentially raising his voice at them.

There are huge lessons for us in these teachings, and we see Nephi’s faith bear fruit when he wards off Laman’s and Lemuel’s threats against him with a physical manifestation of the Lord’s power. Previously, Nephi had to rely on others to coax Laman and Lemuel out of their harmful intentions. Now, his power in and through the Lord is enough that he is self-sufficient. It is enough to literally shock some sense into Laman and Lemuel. But for how long?

You can read the entire chapter at the following link: https://www.churchofjesuschrist.org/study/scriptures/bofm/1-ne/17?lang=eng