A Prophet Yes, but a Father First - Second Book of Nephi, Chapter One (2 Nephi 1)

As we move from the first to the second book of Nephi, Lehi tries to reinforce Nephi’s teaching from the previous chapter. So we have the Lord working through several witnesses—Nephi, Isaiah, Moses, and Lehi—who plead with Laman and Lemuel to hearken to the core message of the gospel: that Jesus Christ has the power to save anyone, no matter where they are. This message is intended to comfort Lehi’s family, having traveled halfway across the world from the first promised land (Israel) to a new one.

Lehi says a lot, but his message boils down to a few basic points:

• Jerusalem has already been destroyed. Lehi tells them he has seen this in a vision, proving that if they stayed in Jerusalem, they’d probably be dead, or at least in captivity.

• The land to which the Lord has led them is a promised land. We learn that the Americas are a special place where all who go there have a promise that they can live in liberty—unmolested by people in other parts of the world—if they follow the Lord’s commandments.

• The flip side to the promise for Lehi’s family and others led by the Lord to America is that if they distance themselves spiritually from the Lord by straying from what they know is His path of righteousness and happiness, the Lord will bring others to the land who will physically displace them. This appears to be a warning that applies even to us as we read Nephi’s record 2,600 years later.

Then, in verse 12, the tone shifts from a general prophecy to a desperately specific plea from a father to his sons. I’m pretty sure Lehi has sensed that Laman and Lemuel are not inclined to stay on the right path, and he’s going to use every ounce of the energy he has left in him to try to win them back. Lehi wants to know in his heart that he has done all he could to warn his older sons of the consequences in store for their stubborn unwillingness to listen to their younger brother Nephi.

Lehi doesn’t hold back. He talks openly of the agony he has felt while contemplating the state of Laman’s and Lemuel’s souls. He refers to chains of captivity and to cursings, leading up to one of the most straightforward explanations in all of scripture of the difference between choosing the right and the wrong path (in verse 20):

Inasmuch as ye shall keep my commandments ye shall prosper in the land; but inasmuch as ye will not keep my commandments ye shall be cut off from my presence.

This is not just speculation. It’s a direct quote from the Lord.

Lehi gropes for anything he can say to get through to Laman and Lemuel. “Awake,” “arise,” “shake off the chains,” “put on the armor of righteousness.”

Then he mounts a vigorous defense of Nephi. He leaves no doubt regarding his view that Nephi has been vital to the family’s deliverance and prosperity with his steady virtue and visionary outlook. And he tells them again and again that if they fight against Nephi and reject him, they are fighting against and rejecting God, because Nephi is only trying to do what God wants him to do.

And in case they hadn’t taken his words seriously before, now Lehi really lays down the gauntlet. He tells Laman, Lemuel, Sam and the sons of Ishmael that his “first blessing” or birthright—extremely significant in a society run via patriarchal succession—will only pass to them to the extent they listen to Nephi. If they don’t, this blessing will instead pass to Nephi. Here it is laid out clearly. To be their fathers’ inheritors, they have to humble themselves. Can they do it? Are they willing to pay that price? It becomes reminiscent of the story of Isaac’s sons Esau and Jacob from the Book of Genesis in the Old Testament, where Esau’s misplaced priorities lead him to trade away his birthright to Jacob for a “mess of pottage” (some food given him to satisfy the hunger of a day).

After sharing this unmistakable promise and warning with his sons and the sons of Ishmael, Lehi turns to Zoram, the servant of Laban who had been compelled to join with the family (once he became aware of the sons’ recovery of the brass plates in Jerusalem). We witness the generosity of Lehi’s spirit as he tells this person from outside the family, who has shown great faithfulness as Nephi’s friend, that his descendants will receive the same blessings as Nephi’s descendants, contingent only on their righteousness.

The raising of this contingency is an interesting point to end on, because it reminds us that even though Nephi, Zoram, and others have tremendous personal virtue, their descendants will be subject to temptation like everyone else and remain in danger of falling away from truth and righteousness. Mentioning that blessings are conditional foreshadows many of the challenges these descendants will face in future stories from the book, and once again testifies that the way to overcome personal weakness is through humility before God, repentance, and continuing obedience.

You can read the entire chapter at the following link: https://www.churchofjesuschrist.org/study/scriptures/bofm/2-ne/1?lang=eng

A Marvelous Work and a Mighty Nation - First Book of Nephi, Chapter Twenty-Two (1 Nephi 22)

Just as it is important to have a scriptural record to testify of eternal truth through the generations, it is important for the people of the current generation to liken those scriptures to their specific place and time. After Nephi reads passages from Isaiah’s writings from the brass plates to his brothers, he explains their meaning. The last verse of this chapter (verse 31) refers back to the visions that Lehi and Nephi directly experienced several years before in Jerusalem and in the family’s first desert campsite (Lehi in 1 Nephi 1 and 8, Nephi in 1 Nephi 12-14), so it seems that Nephi has great fondness for Isaiah’s prophecies about the people of Israel and the Gentiles because he has seen many of the same things himself. But as verse 31 shows, Nephi knows that his brothers have some baggage when it comes to listening to him and to Lehi, so he wants them to get the message from sources they’re more comfortable accepting. I wouldn’t be surprised if Nephi settled on this teaching approach after much pondering and seeking of the Lord’s guidance through prayer. 

It seems Nephi’s approach is working, because after he reads the prophecies from Isaiah, his brothers exhibit curiosity. They ask Nephi questions about whether the prophecies will be literally (temporally) fulfilled or are meant to be understood more symbolically (spiritually). The direct experiences Nephi has had help him know what to emphasize to his brothers. He tells them that the prophecies have both literal and symbolic elements.

From there, he provides a straightforward explanation of key events that will occur for the Lord to gather his people. Note that 1 Nephi 15 records a very similar conversation between Nephi and his brothers years ago (complete with references to Isaiah – 1 Nephi 15:20) alluding to these same events. Just as it is with us, it appears that it’s important for them to hear the same things numerous times over their life’s journeys so they can remember their importance:

• Many of Israel have been scattered already (including themselves) and others will later be scattered upon the “isles of the sea” (verse 4).

• The Gentiles (again, those with no clear ancestral ties to the children of the covenant that passed from Abraham down through his grandson Jacob, also known as Israel) will play an essential role in helping restore these scattered branches of Israel. Two points are of particular importance:

1.      The Lord will raise up a “mighty nation” among the Gentiles (verse 7). As Nephi has already seen (in 1 Nephi 13), this refers to the United States. This nation will scatter the descendants of Lehi’s family (probably a reference to Native Americans), but it will also be the first country with a written constitutional guarantee of religious freedom.

2.      Upon this mighty nation, the Lord will do “a marvelous work” among the Gentiles (verses 8-9). Again, going back to 1 Nephi 13 (verses 39-42), this refers to truth and power being revealed among the Gentiles to bless both them and the scattered branches of Israel, including Lehi’s descendants. Specifically, the passage is talking about the discovery of the plates on which Nephi and his descendants will write sacred things, these plates’ translation into the Book of Mormon, and the book’s eventual circulation throughout the world.

Nephi emphasizes that these events will fulfill Isaiah’s prophecy about Israel being nourished by and carried on the shoulders of the Gentiles, and will fulfill the covenant promise to Abraham that all the earth will be blessed through his seed. Those who are familiar with the humble beginnings of Joseph Smith and others who helped him bring forth the Book of Mormon can’t help but marvel at how widely people around the globe have become familiar with the book and the Church. Think of how surreal this promise must have seemed to Joseph while he translated this passage.

As Nephi reviews these promises with his brothers, he emphasizes that the Lord will “make bare his arm in the eyes of all the nations” to help bring His people out of captivity. The imagery has been described as one of having authority and power to make the gospel of Jesus Christ known throughout the world. Centuries later, after appearing as a resurrected being to his disciples at the very end of Matthew’s gospel, Jesus Himself would charge them (and, by extension, all who follow Him) to do that (Matthew 28:18-20):

And Jesus came and spake unto them, saying, All power is given unto me in heaven and in earth. Go ye therefore, and teach all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost: Teaching them to observe all things whatsoever I have commanded you: and, lo, I am with you alway, even unto the end of the world. Amen.

In the rest of the chapter, Nephi shares things he previously saw (written in 1 Nephi 14) about the end of the world (or at least the end of the world as we know it). As shared, the events evoke a climactic struggle between good and evil. There’s reference to nations who fight against Israel being turned against one another and the Lord destroying the enemies of the righteous by fire. This is in line with what the apostle John shares in the Book of Revelation, though John goes into much more symbolic detail about these last days over several chapters. The idea of cleansing the wicked from the earth is not new. The Old Testament story of Noah involves a different cleansing element (water rather than fire), but shares the same basic principle.

Then Nephi leans on the authority of another prophet—the great Moses—to support his own words about a prophet who will be raised up (Deuteronomy 18:15-19). That prophet is Christ Himself, who will “execute judgment in righteousness” (verse 21). In this context, the prophecy seems to be referring to Christ’s Second Coming, echoing a statement the apostle Peter would make at the temple in Jerusalem (Acts 3:20-24) about 600 years later.

When Jesus comes again, we learn that He will gather his children as a shepherd gathers his sheep, and that Satan will have no power for many years. This evokes the prophecy of the Millennium found in the Book of Revelation (20:2) where Satan is bound for a thousand years and is unable to deceive the people during that time. How is Satan’s power taken away? By the righteousness of the people (verse 26). They don’t allow him into their hearts.

These events are all quite dramatic and sweeping in their consequences for the world, but Nephi brings his brothers (and us) back to the fundamentals at the very end. This reminds us that the main reason Nephi shared these things was not to produce mental and emotional excitement, but to show that “a man must be obedient to the commandments of God.” The whole tale of scattering and gathering through sacred records and prophets is one of simple accountability, promising that safety (defined more in terms of eternal salvation and inner peace than in terms of complete protection from physical harm) comes through repentance and in following Jesus (verses 28 and 31).

You can read the entire chapter at this link: https://www.churchofjesuschrist.org/study/scriptures/bofm/1-ne/22?lang=eng

Scattering, Gathering and Restoration - First Book of Nephi, Chapter Twenty-One (1 Nephi 21, see also Isaiah 49)

In this chapter from Isaiah that Nephi inserts into his record, Isaiah is writing specifically to the people of Israel who have been “broken off” and “driven out” from their lands. As we discussed in the summary of the last chapter, Isaiah lived through a time (740-700 B.C.) when several tribes (traditionally, around 10) of Israel were taken away into captivity or otherwise scattered when the northern kingdom of Israel was captured by the Assyrians.

Isaiah’s words have special resonance for Nephi’s family, who recently journeyed halfway across the world to a new, strange place. They have their own experience of being broken off from their lands in the sense that the Lord told Lehi to take them out of Jerusalem to avoid the Babylonian captivity that was imminent due to the people’s wickedness. Thus, when Isaiah writes in the name of the Lord to the “isles of the sea” (verse 8), Nephi hopes that this will bring reassurance to his people that the Lord has not forgotten them.

In this chapter, Isaiah appears to be referring to himself as a larger symbol for all of Israel, because in verse 3 he reveals that the Lord said to him: “Thou art my servant, O Israel, in whom I will be glorified.” So when we read the words “my servant” (as in verses 6 and 8) they can broadly apply to any person called by the Lord to “restore the preserved of Israel” and be “a light to the Gentiles,” or the rest of the world. This is a sign that God has not forgotten the covenant he made to Abraham, which eventually passed to Isaac and Jacob (who was renamed Israel and whose children became the starting point for Israel’s 12 tribes).

So who is called by the Lord to re-gather Israel and bring salvation to the world? Isaiah’s account tells Nephi’s family that they and other branches of Israel will eventually find themselves miraculously delivered and lifted up. This implies that they may have to go through times of struggle and subjection to rulers who are not acquainted with the true nature of God and his relationship to mankind.

The first and central step, as always, is through the atoning sacrifice of Jesus Christ. Isaiah describes how the Lord will not forget his covenant, by referring in an unmistakable way to Christ’s crucifixion. The Lord says (in verse 16), “Behold, I have graven thee upon the palms of my hands.” This is a clear prophecy (given hundreds of years before the event actually occurs) about the Roman nails that will be driven through the hands of Jesus. Because Jesus will love his people so much, he will be willing to suffer on their behalf even unto death, making his love even more sure than that of a nursing mother for her helpless child (verse 15).

And the power of that love will bring salvation (via the forgiveness of sins) to those who believe on Jesus and exercise faith by acting in accordance with this belief. The gathering of the people comes from the preaching of the gospel of Jesus Christ, and the performance of the necessary ordinances (baptism, etc.) of His Church by those who have authority to act in His name.

Isaiah may be speaking about authority and power when he refers (in verse 2) to the Lord hiding his covenant people in the “shadow of his hand” and comparing them to a “sharp sword” and a “polished shaft” (an arrow) in his quiver. A revelation from the Lord recorded by Joseph Smith in 1832 (known today as Section 86 of a book of scripture in our Church called the Doctrine and Covenants) says that those who have the priesthood authority to act in God’s name “have been hid from the world with Christ in God.”

How have they been hid? At various times in the history of God’s people, for reasons that may not be entirely clear but probably depend on the overall obedience and humility of the people and their leaders, the authority to perform sacred ordinances with eternal effect in God’s name has gone away. When that has happened, we can literally say that the only ones who have this authority are those who have gone back to be hid in God’s hand after the end of their mortal lives.

But each time the authority has gone away, the Lord has looked for opportunities to restore it through the true heirs of Abraham’s covenant and of the priesthood authority that follows from it. These are people who show obedience and humility before the Lord, exemplified in a willingness to receive and perform the ordinance of baptism. Remember, it was John the Baptist (in Luke 3:8) who warned his Jewish audience not to rely solely on their ancestral link with Abraham, saying “God is able of these stones to raise up children unto Abraham.” When John said this, he knew that his own coming among the people represented a restoration of divine authority to perform ordinances. Another restoration of this authority came on May 15, 1829, when the resurrected John the Baptist appeared as an angel to Joseph Smith and his associate Oliver Cowdery and gave them (first) the means to baptize each other and (after that) the means to ordain each other with the priesthood authority that had previously been hidden from the world (see verses 68-73 of this history of Joseph Smith).

But even when the priesthood authority is actually present on earth, its holders can be “hid from the world” in the sense that most people don’t know where to find them amid the confusion and distraction of everyday life. That’s where the sharp sword and polished shaft come into play. The Lord’s covenant people have an obligation to share the message of salvation through Christ via faith, repentance, and obedience (including the receipt of necessary ordinances), and the sword and arrow represent the power that God gives to those who share this message in His name.

If we understand these concepts, the beauty and power of this chapter really begins to kick in, as we sense how the Lord’s messengers can find great joy and comfort in spreading the Word even when others initially reject them, because a way will eventually be prepared for the message to have glorious effect.

And then Isaiah shares this amazing idea that part of God’s plan is for the Gentiles (those who either aren’t physical heirs of Abraham’s covenant, or don’t know that they are) to gather the scattered people of Israel. The Gentiles will be given the power (again through sharing the word and performing ordinances under divine authority) to deliver God’s people from captivity, as they themselves become heirs to the covenant—proving how universally it applies. This is exactly what took place with the restoration through Joseph Smith of the gospel, priesthood authority, and Christ’s Church, and the next chapter will refer to this in more specific terms.

I like to imagine Nephi and his family pondering these amazing promises, realizing that somehow their long and strange journey is playing some part in ensuring salvation will be made available to all people. And that those who stand in its way will be frustrated and, if obstinate, destroyed.

You can read the entire chapter of 1 Nephi 21 at the following link: https://www.churchofjesuschrist.org/study/scriptures/bofm/1-ne/21?lang=eng

You can read the entire chapter of Isaiah 49 at the following link: https://www.churchofjesuschrist.org/study/scriptures/ot/isa/49?lang=eng

Blessings in the "Furnace of Affliction" - First Book of Nephi, Chapter Twenty (1 Nephi 20, see also Isaiah 48)

It seems appropriate that the first words we hear from Isaiah are written as though it were the Savior Himself speaking. Nephi is showing his brothers and us how the Lord views the men and women of the world—his imperfect children. We call it writing in a “Messianic voice” because it is meant to represent the Messiah’s thoughts and intentions.

God does not choose His spokesmen lightly. So it seems important to provide a little description of who Isaiah was. The Latter-day Saint Bible Dictionary tells us that in Hebrew, his name means “The Lord is salvation,” and then provides the following description (in italics below):

Son of Amoz, a prophet in Jerusalem during 40 years, 740–701 B.C. He had great religious and political influence during the reign of Hezekiah, whose chief advisor he was. Tradition states that he was “sawn asunder” during the reign of Manasseh; for that reason he is often represented in art holding a saw.

Chapter 6 of Isaiah implies that he was called to be a prophet by the Lord while in the temple (probably signifying that he served as a high priest in the Temple of Solomon, probably in the “holy of holies” where the Ark of the Covenant was kept, covered with a lid known as the “mercy seat” that appeared to be a kind of throne attended by angels). At the time, the people of Israel had been divided into a northern kingdom (known as the Kingdom of Israel) centered in Samaria and a southern kingdom (Kingdom of Judah) centered in Jerusalem. Isaiah represented the Lord to the leaders and people of Judah, and the Kingdom of Israel was taken into captivity by the Assyrians during Isaiah’s tenure as a prophet. The defeat of Israel and persistent threat to Judah doubtless provided some of the context for his prophecies about tribulation, captivity, and renewed freedom.

More on Jewish traditions regarding who Isaiah was and his eventual fate can be found in the Jewish Encyclopedia here.  

In addition to providing some of the most compelling accounts of the Savior’s life, death, Resurrection, and Second Coming found in scripture, Isaiah prophesied about many key events that would befall the people of Israel and Judah. By starting with a part of Isaiah’s writings known today as Chapter 48 (with slight changes given that the record Nephi transcribed from the brass plates was probably a bit more accurate than the version handed down through the generations over 2,000 years before being translated into English), Nephi puts us right in the middle of the action. Previous chapters in Isaiah explain that Jerusalem will be ransacked and the people will be taken captive by the armies of Babylon (which happens in 587 B.C.), but that Cyrus of Persia will conquer Babylon (which happens in 538 B.C.) and allow the Jews to return to their land.

For Nephi’s family, the capture of Jerusalem is a current event, and the liberation of the Jews about 40 years off. Clearly, Nephi is using Isaiah’s account from the brass plates to reassure his brothers that their departure from Jerusalem was necessary. But of course there’s more to it. At this point, there’s no going back after their long sea voyage. So what’s the point of sharing this passage from Isaiah?

I’m not sure there’s only one correct answer, but here’s my opinion. Nephi knows that he and his family have left everything they knew and are now starting over in a completely new place. There is great loneliness in this enterprise, and also it’s very easy to feel cut off from your heritage. So this chapter from Isaiah is important because it reminds them of the following fundamental truths at a time when they are very vulnerable:

• The Lord is in charge (not we or any other “idol” whose value we sometimes overestimate—money, worldly leaders, technology).

• The Lord’s people do not escape the sufferings of life, as verse 10 says they are “chosen” in the “furnace of affliction.” (In fact, in some way that we probably cannot fully comprehend or appreciate, it appears that challenges are a necessary part of growth for those who want to become closer to God.)

• Most importantly, the Lord wants desperately to bless us. And not just a little, but in great abundance.

And so, as we puzzle through Isaiah’s poetic and symbolic language, we can detect a basic invitation being extended. Come out of Babylon (wickedness), and “come ye near unto me [the Lord]” (verse 16). If you do this, you will reap blessings that are both named—peace as a river, righteousness as the waves of the sea, seed (offspring) as the sands (verses 18-19)—and strongly implied (redemption and eternal salvation). And you don’t have to physically return to Jerusalem to reap these blessings. They are accessible half a world away on an undiscovered continent as well. This is a message that should not be lost on Nephi’s family, having left all the comforts of life behind for affliction, and now just beginning to get used to new comforts from the prosperity of the promised land.

In the Lord’s reminders of His relationship to us and how He can bless us in a way incomparable to anyone or anything else, we hear echoes of what He has already done. When Isaiah writes that the Lord has both declared and shown “former things from the beginning,” I can't help but imagine, in addition to the Exodus from Egypt (verse 21), and the Creation (verse 13), a time before we were born, when our spirits lived in the Lord’s presence and He showed and taught us many things.   

There’s this wonderful sense of the Lord’s merciful nature all through the chapter. He will not forget those who have stumbled, and will continue reaching out for as long as possible to give them second chances. But in the chapter’s final verse, Isaiah speaks for the Lord with a very terse warning (meant for us as well as for Laman and Lemuel): “And notwithstanding he hath done all this, and greater also, there is no peace, saith the Lord, unto the wicked.”

You can read the entire chapter at the following link: https://abn.churchofjesuschrist.org/study/scriptures/bofm/1-ne/20?lang=eng. Isaiah 48 is available here: https://www.churchofjesuschrist.org/study/scriptures/ot/isa/48?lang=eng.

Looking to Christ: Our Constant in Past, Present and Future - First Book of Nephi, Chapter Nineteen (1 Nephi 19)

Time is an interesting thing with the Lord. According to the little we know, the past, present and future is rolled out like a single scroll before Him. Our linear reckoning of events is something we have to accept as a condition of being on earth. The sensory experiences and basic human needs (water, food, shelter) of the present dominate our lives to such a degree that we need to make a great conscious effort to see the here and now in light of the past or of what we expect or hope to come in the future.

These realities seem to be on Nephi’s mind as he and his family begin their new lives in the “promised land” (American continent). We get a few short verses at the end of the previous chapter telling us of their arrival and their immediate material prosperity. But the rest of this book of scripture appears to be Nephi’s attempt to remind his family members and us of past prophecies of events that they and we need to keep in mind as they and we move forward in our lives. He’s basically trying to help us realize that the Lord can help us get a glimpse of how that single scroll should read when we make decisions that determine who we are becoming.

There’s an episode of the popular television show “Lost” that comes to mind. In the episode, one of the main characters finds himself traveling ever faster back and forth between the present and a specific point in the past—literally being transported through time in each instance. The frequency of time travel is so disorienting that it threatens his survival. While in the past, he finds a professor of physics who tells him to find something that is a “constant”—a fixed point that remains important for him no matter where (or when) he is. By locating and latching on to this constant in his life, the character is able to come to grips with the present in a way that saves himself.

Here, it’s clear that Nephi is presenting Jesus Christ as our constant. Just as faith in Christ led Nephi to look ahead and do what was necessary to get his family to the promised land after they had reached the land Bountiful, faith in Christ leads Nephi to turn his family’s attention back to familiar promises once they reach the promised land. In this case, because redemption in Christ is the answer for all times and places, looking back is looking ahead. Or at least preparing Nephi’s family for the challenges they will face in a way that helps us draw lessons for our own lives.

In this case, Nephi’s efforts include reading the records of the prophets of Israel and Judah to his family, but don’t end there. As we read his words, we realize that he is describing for us the process of making new scripture. We have already learned about the two different sets of metal plates that Nephi made (small and large) and used to make a record of his people. He tells us shortly after his family arrived in the promised land is the moment in time when Nephi fashioned those sets of plates and began the process of recording events, memories and impressions. Again, what we are reading comes from the small plates, which are devoted to particularly sacred things. So he’s not concentrating on all the details of who did what where and when, except for what really matters.

And that’s Christ. So what is important enough for Nephi to share about Jesus?

• That Jesus, the God of Israel, will humble Himself in such a way that He will live a mortal existence in linear time, just as we do.

• That He will yield Himself to the judgment of wicked men who will lift Him up, crucify Him, and bury Him in a sepulchre (verse 10).

• That all the earth shall see the salvation of the Lord, and He will bless “every nation, kindred, tongue and people” with the chance to be gathered in. The flip side is that those who have resisted this open invitation from the Lord to be gathered will find desolation instead, though because the Lord’s love for them and power is so strong, even they may receive more chances.

• That there are so many witnesses of Jesus and the salvation He offers. Nephi’s account reveals to us the names of three prophets from the brass plates whose names have otherwise been lost in history: Zenos, Zenock and Neum.  

I get the impression that Nephi is earnestly pleading with his family—and, as always, particularly Laman and Lemuel—to recognize that they represent a branch of the Lord’s people He has promised to ultimately gather. To drive this point home, Nephi feels especially inspired to share the prophecies of perhaps the most powerful Old Testament-era witness of the Messiah: Isaiah.

He explains why he reads Isaiah to his family by saying that, more than other writings found in the brass plates, Isaiah’s writings can “fully persuade them to believe in the Lord their Redeemer.” He tells us that he encourages his family to “hear ye the words of the prophet” and to “liken the scriptures unto yourselves, that ye may have hope” (verse 24). Hope? Hope in what? It’s not too difficult to guess—again, hope in Jesus Christ for salvation and eternal life.

It’s quite clear that Nephi isn’t simply documenting what he said to his family. More importantly, he’s telling us that his earnest plea to them to heed Isaiah’s message applies to us too. After all, Isaiah’s prophecies are renowned for having more than one meaning. When Nephi shared them with his family, Jesus’ coming in the flesh was the main topic because that was their future. But in applying these teachings to us, he is referring to the important part of Isaiah’s prophecies for our future. That is Christ’s Second Coming. In both cases, the Lord has spoken through Isaiah so that those who look back to him receive help in learning how to look ahead in their lives to Christ in some way, either on earth or in the next life.

With this chapter, Nephi sets the stage for him and his younger brother Jacob to share a total of 19 chapters from Isaiah’s prophecies by directly copying them from the brass plates into the plates constituting the records of their people. By doing this, Nephi and Jacob indicate to us that Isaiah’s writings are not just valuable to us as poetry or as evidence for how people worshipped 2,500 years ago, but as something whose value and vitality has actually increased rather than decreased over time.

So if you only take one thing away from this chapter, it should be the importance of learning to know and love the teachings of Isaiah. We’ll have that chance over many other chapters to come!

You can read the entire chapter at the following link: https://abn.churchofjesuschrist.org/study/scriptures/bofm/1-ne/19?lang=eng 

Constant Faith Amid Turbulence - First Book of Nephi, Chapter Eighteen (1 Nephi 18)

As we finish the previous chapter, Nephi has stood up to his brothers Laman and Lemuel and shown them an undeniable manifestation of the power of God that is with him. Here, we witness how miraculous an effect Nephi’s demonstration has had. His brothers turn from his worst ridiculers to his uncomplaining helpers in the project to build the ship that is to take them to the promised land. More importantly, they are back on the same page in their humility and reverence before God. Still, we get hints that Nephi remains exceptionally vigilant in his efforts to know and do the Lord’s will. He tells us in verse 3 that he visits “the mount oft,” and the Lord shows him “great things.” These great things include, but do not seem limited to, how to build the ship.

Again, this family is not from a seafaring place, so they rely on the Lord’s specifications in constructing the ship. And it’s not clear what the finished product looks like, except that Nephi hints it may not look like what we typically picture when we think of a ship.

Finally, everything is ready, and the Lord tells Lehi it’s time to get his family and their provisions on board so they can shove off. During the wilderness journey, we learn that Lehi and Sariah have given birth to two additional sons named Jacob and Joseph.

The shallowness of Laman’s and Lemuel’s repentance becomes apparent many days into the journey. Everything seems to be proceeding well. Laman, Lemuel, the sons of Ishmael, and their wives begin “making merry,” apparently not just in a happy-go-lucky way, but pretty thoughtlessly and rudely.

Nephi, aware that their promises of safety and security are contingent on their humility before the Lord, attempts to speak to his brothers “with much soberness” (verse 10), presumably hoping to moderate their behavior. But the old resentment and envy returns, and Laman and Lemuel tie up Nephi. This shows how important leadership can be. I have wondered why Sam did not rush to Nephi’s defense, or at least why there’s no record of this in Nephi’s account. But perhaps I’m being too unrealistic or harsh. Nephi had developed his leadership qualities (most importantly, a strong determination to live by the Lord’s guidance) over time, and once he is out of the way, maybe we can’t just expect someone else to spring up in his place.

We learn that Lehi tries his best to get Laman and Lemuel to reconsider, but in his older age, it appears that Laman and Lemuel are unmoved by his entreaties. One of the saddest parts to this story is how selfish Laman and Lemuel show themselves to be in a setting where you’d expect everyone to be very mindful of the need to pull together. Usually on a ship, you try your best to get along with your crewmates, even if they’re complete strangers. We know this from the phrase, “we’re all in the same boat.” Here, however, Laman and Lemuel exhibit indifference to their own mother and father to the point of the parents’ near-death in their grief. Nephi fills out the scene for us with his tearful wife and distraught children and younger brothers.

And it appears as though the Lord is going to let Laman and Lemuel reap the full consequences of their actions. There is no miracle to deliver Nephi from their pettiness.

We learn that, far from being on automatic pilot, the family is very dependent on the Liahona to guide them on the waters, just as it guided them on land. Once Nephi is bound, the compass doesn’t work. And, in addition, a big storm kicks up, threatening the ship with destruction. After four days of this, the selfish survival impulse finally goads Laman and Lemuel into untying Nephi.

It’s important that we recognize Nephi’s faithfulness throughout the ordeal. Had he not continued to praise God during his afflictions, things could have ended disastrously for the family. It seems as though they were on the verge of being “swallowed up in the depths of the sea” (verse 20).

So don’t take for granted what Nephi is able to do. Only from great patience and resilience is he able to be in the right frame of mind and spirit to get the Liahona to work again and to pray to the Lord to calm the storm. Although Nephi is not the Savior, through his actions as a prophet (and thus a representative) of the Lord we get a taste of the kind of power Jesus Himself will later show in calming the Sea of Galilee amid great turmoil and fear among those around Him. To not let a turbulent environment and panicked people affect your faith is an uncommon accomplishment reflecting great discipline and wisdom accumulated over time (though everyone can work at it). As the family reaches the promised land, Nephi is going to need every bit of his faith and strength with the challenges he will face. And, of course, Nephi’s example is a lesson to us to build up our own reserves of faith and strength as we strive after the “promised land” in our own lives.

The chapter ends on a note indicating how abundantly Lehi’s family is blessed by their new surroundings from the very beginning. Looking back on their journey, it becomes all the more miraculous when we consider that the likeliest route from the Arabian Peninsula to the American continent took the family across two oceans (the Indian and Pacific) in an age of navigation 2,100 years before Columbus.   

You can read the entire chapter at the following link: https://abn.churchofjesuschrist.org/study/scriptures/bofm/1-ne/18?lang=eng

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