Notes
on even numbered lessons
#2 1
Nephi 1–7
First of all, I’m a little disappointed that the Gospel
Doctrine manual hasn’t been updated since 1999 given the huge amount of
research undertaken at the Maxwell Institute and elsewhere in the last 16
years. The Institute manual is from 2009, so a little better. That being said,
the gospel principles are the same and do not change, but it helps me to have
some insights from people like Terryl Givens and Richard Bushman. (By the way,
this “Letter to a Doubter” by Terryl is one of the best things I have read in a
long time. http://terrylgivens.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/03/Letter-to-a-Doubter.pdf)
1
Nephi 1
Lehi is a contemporary of Jeremiah and we know how badly
Jeremiah was treated. Being called as a prophet in those days would have been
about as popular as it is today in the world at large. Lehi’s first vision
comes as he is presumably praying to know the truth of what other prophets are
saying (vv. 5–6). He has the physical manifestation of a pillar of fire through
which he sees things that cause him to “quake and tremble.” So much so that he
is forced to go home to bed. Then he is given his call to be a prophet having
been shown a vision of all things which puts his mind at rest (v. 15), despite
the enormity of what he now has to do (v. 18). One wonders just what is in the book of
Lehi—those lost 116 pages. The tremendous change in his life as a result of
this one day. Like Moses. Our Book of Mormon mostly casts Lehi as an old man,
commanding sufficient respect to be able to bring his family out of danger, but
nearing the end of his life. So that his sons rebel. Yet there are 116 pages of
what he did and felt during that time—the dreams, visions, and prophecies of someone
close to God. Without him there would be no Book of Mormon. Nephi is the
narrator, but Lehi is the protagonist.
1
Nephi 2
The third recorded dream/vision of Lehi, sometime after, but
still presumably in the reign of Zedekiah (but before Jeremiah was cast into
prison (see 1 Nephi 7:14) brings the story away from the general to the
specific for the family. Lehi must have been some kind of merchant, used to
traveling because they have tents. It must have been urgent for them to leave
everything behind, other than necessities. He knew where he was going in the
wilderness. Now the family is divided—before Jerusalem was divided—general to
specific. Lehi tries to curb the rebellion of Laman and Lemuel, but they, like
the Jews in Jerusalem, “sought to take away [his] life” (v. 13). It takes power
from on high to stop them this time. Nephi, however, eventually (v. 16—his
heart needed to be softened) turns toward his father and the Lord—seeking to
know what he knows. When a family is divided in faith, how do you know whom to
follow? Again there is the feeling that Lehi is past it—the younger generation
wants to take over. Isn’t that where we are in the Church today with those that
rebel within the Church—Elder Bednar addressed that very well last conference.
1
Nephi 3
Lehi’s 4th recorded vision/dream sends them back
to Jerusalem. The previous encounter with divine power is sufficiently strong
that Laman and Lemuel accede, even so far as to allow Laman to go to Laban—but
when that fails, so do their hearts and they want to give up. Nephi, who still
defers to his father, swears an oath (v. 15) to do what his father has
commanded and looks for a practical solution—bribery. When that doesn’t work,
Laman and Lemuel attempt fratricide which leads to an angel intervening and
sending them back. How many times will the Spirit strive with us when we are
obdurate?
1
Nephi 4
When Nibley taught his Book of Mormon class to some Arab
exchange students, they came up to him after the lesson that included this
chapter and asked him why Nephi had been so squeamish. Even in relatively
modern times, life in the Middle East was apparently not held in so sacred
light as it is in the West. Nibley replied that “Nephi was a city boy.” And
that appeared to appease them. Jack Welch has written a great deal about “it is
better that one man
should perish than that a nation should dwindle and perish in unbelief” (v.
13). Here is Nibley from An Approach to
the Book of Mormon “The Book of Mormon is no more confined to mild and
pleasant tales than is the Bible; it is for the most part a sad and grievous
tale of human folly. No one seems more disturbed by the demise of Laban,
however, than Nephi himself, who takes great pains to explain his position (1
Nephi 4:10—18). First he was “constrained by the Spirit” to kill Laban, but he
said in his heart that he had never shed human blood and became sick at the
thought: “I shrunk and would that I might not slay him” (1 Nephi 4:10). The Spirit
spoke again, and to its promptings Nephi adds his own rationalizings: I also
knew that he had sought to take away mine own life; yea, and he would not
hearken unto the commandments of the Lord; and he also had taken away our
property (1 Nephi 4:11). But this was still not enough; the Spirit spoke again,
explaining the Lord’s reasons and assuring Nephi that he would be in the right;
to which Nephi appends yet more arguments of his own, remembering the promise
that his people would prosper only by keeping the commandments of the Lord: And
I also thought that they could not keep the commandments . . . save they
should have the law (1 Nephi 4:15; italics added), which the dangerous and
criminal Laban alone kept them from having. And again, I knew that the Lord had
delivered Laban into my hands for this cause. . . . Therefore I did obey the
voice of the Spirit (1 Nephi 4:17—18). At long last, and with great reluctance,
Nephi did the deed. If the Book of Mormon were a work of fiction, nothing would
have been easier than to have Laban already dead when Nephi found him (killed perhaps
in a drunken brawl) or simply to omit altogether an episode which obviously
distressed the writer quite as much as it does the reader, though the slaying
of Laban is no more reprehensible than was the beheading of the unconscious
Goliath.”
It
is interesting to me that Nephi could have taken much from Laban’s treasury,
but he confined himself to what he had come for—the law. He knew, since the
angel told him (nation dwindle in unbelief), that this was a treasure greater
than any earthly riches. Do we regard our canon with such reverence? Or better
still, find out why?
The
oaths that Nephi and Zoram make are significant. In the Western world if a
bully says to you “I promise I won’t hurt you,” do we trust that? Situational
ethics are the standard in today’s world. Not so in Lehi’s.
1
Nephi 5
One
thing about the wilderness—as I understand it, exile for the Jews at that time
meant away from the fellowship of other Jews. My master’s thesis was on refuge
and asylum, specifically about the six cities of refuge in the five books of
Moses. The cities had walls and once you left those walls, you left the
protection of the law even, so outside the walls was a wilderness. If we leave
the protection of the “law” of God, we are in the wilderness.
“Visionary
man.” H. Donl Peterson: “Lehi was a visionary man. Sariah, and Laman and
Lemuel, on two different occasions used that phrase in referring to him (1
Nephi 2:11; 5:2). Both accounts carry the same uncomplimentary implications
that father Jacob’s older sons had when they saw Joseph approaching their camp
saying “Behold, this dreamer cometh” (Genesis 37:19).
Lehi
did not deny the charge of being visionary. He confirmed his sons’ accusation
by confounding them through the power of the Spirit (1 Nephi 2:14). To his wife,
he replied: “I know that I am a visionary man; for if I had not seen the things
of God in a vision I should not have known the goodness of God, but had tarried
at Jerusalem, and had perished with my brethren” (1 Nephi 5:4).” I suppose that
for Lehi’s family “visionary man” carries the same connotation as “head in the
clouds” would today. It’s a shame that the first time we are introduced to
Sariah, she is nagging her husband! But at least the text is kind to her when
she reaffirms her faith in Lehi and his revelations. The rest of this chapter
deals with two things that should be equally as important in our lives as they
were in theirs—family history and the scriptures.
1
Nephi 6
This
chapter sets the tone and focus for all those authors coming after Nephi—what
is of most worth to pass on to our descendants: “I desire the room that I may
write of the things of God. . . . Come unto the God of Abraham, and the God of
Isaac, and the God of Jacob, and be saved. . . . Write . . . things which are
pleasing unto God and unto those who are not of the world.” Is this where our
“in the world but not of the world” comes from?
1
Nephi 7
Verse
3 always seems to me to fit nicely with 1 Nephi 3:7—and it is easy to remember
since it is the reverse: 7:3.
Lehi’s
next dream/vision sends them back to Jerusalem, or at least the environs where
Ishmael lives. For them to go back after what happened to them the last time
must have been a huge testimony to their faith in their father’s ability to
receive revelation. But whether because they achieve their mission unscathed,
or because distance from their father and maybe the reluctance of some of Ishmael’s
children who were married with families of their own to leave, there is
rebellion and now it is time for Nephi to manifest the power of the Lord.
Reluctantly at first, “Behold ye are mine elder brethren, and how is it that ye
are so hard in your hearts, and so blind in your minds, that ye have need that
I, your younger brother, should speak unto you, yea, and set an example for
you?” Probably realizing the truthfulness of Nephi’s words, his brothers decide
the best solution is to kill Nephi in the vain hope that killing the prophesier
will kill the prophecy! As if that has ever worked. But they are not so far
gone to “the world” that they cannot be turned by the power of God. So once
again they return to Lehi and, possibly in gratitude, possibly as an offering
for the success of their continued journey, they offer sacrifice.
No comments:
Post a Comment