Scriptures/The Book of Mormon/1 Nephi/2

Scriptures/The Book of Mormon/1 Nephi.
1 Nephi 2 at churchofjesuschrist.org

1) For behold, it came to pass that the Lord spake unto my father, yea, even in a dream, and said unto him: Blessed art thou Lehi, because of the things which thou hast done; and because thou hast been faithful and declared unto this people the things which I commanded thee, behold, they seek to take away thy life.

faithful: Considering the echoes that I note below in verses 4 and 6, it appears "faithful" here might be echoed ironically in vv. 8-9 where Lehi talks to Laman, who's name can be interpreted as "no faith". It is not necessary to accept this interpretation however, as it does seem a little weak, The structure appears to support the idea that vv. 4-10 are echoed in vv. 11-15, and then we can think of this verse being mirrored only in v. 19.

2) And it came to pass that the Lord commanded my father, even in a dream, that he should take his family and depart into the wilderness.

3) And it came to pass that he was obedient unto the word of the Lord, wherefore he did as the Lord commanded him.

he did as the Lord commanded him: Similar to what I noted in verse 1, it might be that the faithfulness to commandments mentioned here is echoed in Lehi

s exhortations to Lemuel in verse 10.

4) And it came to pass that he departed into the wilderness. And he left his house, and the land of his inheritance, and his gold, and his silver, and his precious things, and took nothing with him, save it were his family, and provisions, and tents, and departed into the wilderness.

his gold, and his silver, and his precious things: Will be echoed in verse 11.

5) And he came down by the borders near the shore of the Red Sea; and he traveled in the wilderness in the borders which are nearer the Red Sea; and he did travel in the wilderness with his family, which consisted of my mother, Sariah, and my elder brothers, who were Laman, Lemuel, and Sam.

Red Sea: The name of the Red Sea in Egyptian is actually pretty significant here. It is "The great sea of the water which is turning around", which is hugely significant to this time and location, when Lehi's family has turned back from Jerusalem, and is about to return to Jersualem only to leave again, while Laman and Lemuel are going to want to argue to not continue their journey, but to turn back. This is a place of directional turbulence much like the wilderness by the Red Sea was for the Israelites during the Exodus. In the poetic structure, this is echoed in the murmurings of Laman and Lemuel in vv. 12-13.

6) And it came to pass that when he had traveled three days in the wilderness, he pitched his tent in a valley by the side of a river of water.

Will be echoed in vv. 14-15

We also see a chiastic structure in the mention of valley, river, offering, river, valley

7) And it came to pass that he built an altar of stones, and made an offering unto the Lord, and gave thanks unto the Lord our God.

8) And it came to pass that he called the name of the river, Laman, and it emptied into the Red Sea; and the valley was in the borders near the mouth thereof.

9) And when my father saw that the waters of the river emptied into the fountain of the Red Sea, he spake unto Laman, saying: O that thou mightest be like unto this river, continually running into the fountain of all righteousness!

10) And he also spake unto Lemuel: O that thou mightest be like unto this valley, firm and steadfast, and immovable in keeping the commandments of the Lord!

11) Now this he spake because of the stiffneckedness of Laman and Lemuel; for behold they did murmur in many things against their father, because he was a visionary man, and had led them out of the land of Jerusalem, to leave the land of their inheritance, and their gold, and their silver, and their precious things, to perish in the wilderness. And this they said he had done because of the foolish imaginations of his heart.

12) And thus Laman and Lemuel, being the eldest, did murmur against their father. And they did murmur because they knew not the dealings of that God who had created them.

13) Neither did they believe that Jerusalem, that great city, could be destroyed according to the words of the prophets. And they were like unto the Jews who were at Jerusalem, who sought to take away the life of my father.

14) And it came to pass that my father did speak unto them in the valley of Lemuel, with power, being filled with the Spirit, until their frames did shake before him. And he did confound them, that they durst not utter against him; wherefore, they did as he commanded them.

15) And my father dwelt in a tent.

This verse stands out as one of the Book of Mormon's salient enigmas. Why is it mentioned that Lehi dwelt in a tent? One theory that has been posited is that a nod is being made to the Rechabites who share some similarities to Lehi, and may have partially inspired him to seek the Lord outside the confines of the accepted Jerusalem culture of his time. The connection seems plausible. Regardless, it would seem that this is a key phrase in the poetic structure of the text. This text, in combination with verse 14, is mirrored in verse 6. (This local mirroring appears to be a duplicative structure rather than a chiasm.) Not only this, but this entire encounter where Lehi frets about his children's welfare is mirrored by his vision of the tree of life in chapter 8, ending with a mirror of this text in 9:1. This is part of a large chiastic structure.

16) And it came to pass that I, Nephi, being exceedingly young, nevertheless being large in stature, and also having great desires to know of the mysteries of God, wherefore, I did cry unto the Lord; and behold he did visit me, and did soften my heart that I did believe all the words which had been spoken by my father; wherefore, I did not rebel against him like unto my brothers.

nevertheless being large in stature: What does Nephi's stature have to do with his attempt to cry unto the Lord?

17) And I spake unto Sam, making known unto him the things which the Lord had manifested unto me by his Holy Spirit. And it came to pass that he believed in my words.

18) But, behold, Laman and Lemuel would not hearken unto my words; and being grieved because of the hardness of their hearts I cried unto the Lord for them.

19) And it came to pass that the Lord spake unto me, saying: Blessed art thou, Nephi, because of thy faith, for thou hast sought me diligently, with lowliness of heart.

Blessed art thou: Nephi appears here to be echoing Lehi's experience. "Blessed art though ... " echoes v. 1 in this chapter. vv. 16-24 then would appear to be echoing, in miniature, Lehi's experience receiving a revelation from the Lord, then preaching to the people of Jerusalem, then being commended for the way he responded, then being offered a promise to bless him and his seed and being sent on a mission by his father.

20) And inasmuch as ye shall keep my commandments, ye shall prosper, and shall be led to a land of promise; yea, even a land which I have prepared for you; yea, a land which is choice above all other lands.

21) And inasmuch as thy brethren shall rebel against thee, they shall be cut off from the presence of the Lord.

22) And inasmuch as thou shalt keep my commandments, thou shalt be made a ruler and a teacher over thy brethren.

23) For behold, in that day that they shall rebel against me, I will curse them even with a sore curse, and they shall have no power over thy seed except they shall rebel against me also.

24) And if it so be that they rebel against me, they shall be a scourge unto thy seed, to stir them up in the ways of remembrance.