Book of Mormon Lesson #2. 1 NEPHI 1-7

Book of Mormon Lesson #2. 1 NEPHI 1–7

 In addition to answering the questions in the Class Member Study Guide, please review the questions and purposes suggested by Latter-day Prophets as quoted in last week's lesson and in the corresponding post for Book of Mormon Lesson #1.

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Consider pondering 1 Nephi 7:12, “[T]he Lord is able to do all things according to his will, for the children of men, if it so be that they exercise faith in him.”

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The Babylonian empire conquered the kingdom of Judah around 605 B.C. when Babylonian forces captured Jerusalem. It was a time of great wickedness among the people of Judah—immorality and corruption were rampant. In about 587 B.C., Zedekiah attempted a revolt against Babylon, resulting in a much greater destruction of Jerusalem. Many people were killed, and most of the rest of the Jews were taken captive into Babylon. This fulfilled Lehi’s prophecies to Judah that if they did not repent they would be destroyed. (See Book of Mormon Student Manual.)

re: 1 Ne. 1:4, the “many prophets” included Jeremiah, Obadiah, Nahum, Habakkuk, and Zephaniah. (See Book of Mormon Student Manual [BOMSM].)

re: 1 Nephi 1:20,  Elder David A. Bednar has said:  “[T]he tender mercies of the Lord are real … The Lord’s tender mercies are the very personal and individualized blessings, strength, protection, assurances, guidance, loving-kindness, consolation, support, and spiritual gifts which we receive from and because of and through the Lord Jesus Christ…. For instance, as you and I face challenges and tests in our lives, the gift of faith and an appropriate sense of personal confidence that reaches beyond our own capacity are two examples of the tender mercies of the Lord. Repentance and forgiveness of sins and peace of conscience are examples of the tender mercies of the Lord. And the persistence and the fortitude that enable us to press forward with cheerfulness through physical limitations and spiritual difficulties are examples of the tender mercies of the Lord.” (See April 2005 Conference Report; also quoted in BOMSM.)  

re: 1 Nephi 2:5–10. “The distance from Jerusalem to the Red Sea is approximately 180 miles through hot, barren country infested anciently by many marauders. Lehi and his family ‘traveled three days’ beyond this point. This meant at least a 12- to 14-day trip one way from Jerusalem to their temporary home in the valley of Lemuel.” (See BOMSM.)  

re: 1 Nephi 2:16, 19, President Brigham Young said: “I am more afraid that this people have so much confidence in their leaders that they will not inquire for themselves of God whether they are led by Him. I am fearful they settle down in a state of blind self-security, trusting their eternal destiny in the hands of their leaders with a reckless confidence that in itself would thwart the purposes of God in their salvation, and weaken that influence they could give to their leaders, did they know for themselves, by the revelations of Jesus, that they are led in the right way. Let every man and woman know, by the whispering of the Spirit of God to themselves, whether their leaders are walking in the path the Lord dictates, or not.” (JD 9:150; quoted in March 1975 New Era; October 1989 General Conference; August 1996 and September 1998 First Presidency Message [FPM]; Principles of Leadership Teachers Manual Religion [2001]; Doctrine and Covenants and Church History Student Study Guide [2005].)

re: 1 Nephi 2:20 . . .

…President Ezra Taft Benson said, “The Lord was not promising…material wealth…but that [the faithful] would prosper in righteousness ...” (April 1986Conference Report [CR].)

… President Heber J. Grant said that “real prosperity” is “growth in a knowledge of God, and in a testimony, and in the power to live the gospel” (Teachings of Presidents of the Church: Heber J. Grant).

… President James E. Faust said, “Payment of tithes and offerings … will not ensure riches—indeed, there is no assurance of being free from economic problems  —but it will … create a communion with the Savior that will enhance a person’s inner core of strength and stability.” (See February 1998 First Presidency Message.)

… Elder Dallin H. Oaks has said, “The possession of wealth or the acquisition of significant income is not a mark of heavenly favor, and their absence is not evidence of heavenly disfavor.” (Pure in Heart, 76; see also 1 Timothy 6:5; Alma 31-32).

re: 1 Nephi 3:7, President Ezra Taft Benson said, ‘When obedience ceases to be an irritant and becomes our quest, in that moment God will endow us with power’” (April 1988 CR; quoted in Book of Mormon Student Manual.)

re: 1 Nephi 4:6,  Elder David A. Bednar has said: “Nephi had to go to Jerusalem three times to obtain the plates of brass…. When did he get the revelation? When he was going to Jerusalem to get the plates [not knowing beforehand the things that he should do].  I think there is a reason why that is at the very beginning of the Book of Mormon….  Many times the revelation doesn’t come until we are pressing forward and going, not just sitting and waiting for it come.” (Elder and Sister Bednar, “Face to Face,” May 2015).

re: 1 Nephi 4:6-18 …

... Elder Jeffrey R. Holland has said: “Nephi intentionally records this experience in elaborate detail, even though his small plates were limited in both size and subject matter. Why did he take such pains to preserve for future readers an action which was so difficult for him to perform and which has been so widely misunderstood? Why not simply leave it out? . . .

        “It is wrong to assume that Nephi in any way wished to take Laban’s life…. In fact the commandments he had been taught from childhood declared, ‘Thou shalt not kill’; and he recoiled, initially refusing to obey the prompting of the Spirit….  The judgment against Laban is being received ‘by revelation,’ and Nephi ultimately must slay Laban for the very reason which initially led him to shrink from it  … It would seem, finally, that obedience to divine revelation is the focal point of this story. God can restore life in time and eternity; can do almost nothing with willful disobedience [see, , 1 for example, 1 Nephi 7:12, 3 Nephi 19:35] ….

        “.... The Prophet Joseph Smith taught: ‘…. This is the principle on which the government of heaven is conducted—by revelation adapted to the circumstances in which the children of the kingdom are placed.  Whatever God requires is right … although we may not see the reason thereof till long after the events transpire.’[See Teachings of the Prophet Joseph Smith, 256; quoted in Book of Mormon Student Manual.]” (September 1976 Ensign.)

… Elder Dallin H. Oaks has said: “If we harden our hearts, reject continuing revelation, and limit our learning to what we can obtain by study and reason on the precise language of the current cannon of scriptures, our understanding will be limited to what Alma called 'the lesser portion of the word' (Alma 12:11).  If we seek and accept revelation and inspiration … we will … have ‘the mysteries of God . . . unfolded unto [us] by the power of the Holy Ghost’ (1 Ne.10:19).” ("Scripture Reading and Revelation," January 1995 Ensign, 7.)

... Elder Oaks has also said "We have to forego some good things in order to choose others that are better or best" (October 2007 CR).

Re: 1 Nephi 5:14. When Jacob (Israel) gave his sons patriarchal blessings (see Genesis 49) the greatest blessings were promised to the most valiant son, Joseph, and his posterity.  Of Joseph’s patriarchal blessing, President Benson said:  “There are several points which we should note carefully about this blessing.  

            “1. Joseph’s posterity would be numerous …

“2. His posterity or ‘branches’ would ‘run over the wall.’

“3. His descendants would be sorely persecuted …

“4. The blessings on Joseph’s posterity were to prevail ‘above the blessings of my progenitors unto the utmost bound of the everlasting hills.’ …

            “Where is the fulfillment of this important [blessing recorded]?

            “That record is called the Book of Mormon … [which] tells the account of a colony of Israelites, descended from Joseph, who left Jerusalem before its great destruction during the Babylonian siege under King Nebuchadnezzar… how these descendants of Joseph came ‘over the wall’—a metaphoric expression which denoted the great [Pacific] ocean … how they were guided by the Lord to  a land of promise to Joseph and his descendants, a land ‘of everlasting hills.’ It tells how Joseph’s posterity [would become] very numerous upon the land until they filled it ... All this was in fulfillment of Joseph’s blessing!” (See December 1976 Ensign, emphasis added.)