1 Nephi 1:Book of Mormon thoughts

Since we're studying the Book of Mormon in Sunday School this year, I've made the switch to studying it personally. In particular, after hearing how well people had thought through the stories of 1 Nephi 1-5 in our last lesson, I wanted to do a better job applying the Book to my life and consider why God and his prophets put the stories and the doctrinal lessons that he did in the book. I've done a lot of this thinking about a few parts of the book, but there's a lot more to do.

Here's my thoughts on 1 Nephi 1:

1 Nephi 1:

Apparently when we receive revelation, there’s sometimes more that the Lord is willing to reveal to us. Lehi shows this by having a revelation, returning to his home, and then having another grand revelation. Also, Elder Scott discusses this in a conference talk in 2010 (or 2011), in which he talks about asking God, “is that all that you want to reveal to me, or is there more?” Then he received additional revelation himself.

1 Nephi 1:14

Lehi thanks God for being merciful to those who come unto Him (here’s the phrase: “because thou art merciful, thou wilt not suffer those who ^bcome unto thee that they shall perish!”). This is significant. The message is that you don’t have to be a prophet or a “special” leader in order to 1) receive revelation or 2) be saved. Because Lehi is not a known prophet of the Bible, it shows that this mercy extends not only to the great prophets such as jeremiah but also the “lesser prophets” or perhaps to anyone.

1 Nephi 1:19

19 And it came to pass that the ^aJews did ^bmock him because of the things which he testified of them; for he truly testified of their^cwickedness and their abominations; and he testified that the things which he saw and heard, and also the things which he read in the book, manifested plainly of the coming of a ^dMessiah, and also the redemption of the world.

20 And when the Jews heard these things they were angry with him; yea, even as with the prophets of old, whom they had ^acastout, and stoned, and slain; and they also ^bsought his life, that they might take it away.

This is an interesting message for the Jews to get mad at. He taught 4 things: 1) they were wicked, 2) Jerusalem would be destroyed, 3) a Messiah would come, 4) the world would be redeemed.

They were either mad because 1) they didn’t think they were doing anything bad (pride), 2) they didn’t think Jerusalem could be destroyed because it was in too good of a strategic location or they had too good of an army or it had never happened before (pretty sure that’s not true), 3) they didn’t think a Messiah was necessary to save them (perhaps because they were God’s chosen people – although they assuredly knew there was a need for a Savior, but maybe they thought he would save them from others not from their own sins – sounds like a potential pride problem – he can save me from some things but not other things), and 4) they didn’t want the world to be redeemed, only themselves (other Jews only) as the Jews were the chosen people (pride).

Now, it’s not clear which of the 4 reasons is why they were upset at Lehi, but it could be any or all of the 4, and each of them is largely due to a pride issue that either existed with the leaders of the people or the people themselves. This certainly applies to members and non-members alike. For instance, it says in Jacob 5 that there is some bad fruit in the tree of the vineyard that will need to be cleaned out as the tree grows. This implies that some church members will need to be cleaned out. No need for us to be proud about the clear greatness of our church membership when the church isn’t yet what it needs to be.

1 Nephi 1:20

The tender mercies of the Lord are there for all and help to deliver his people. This is a powerful message, especially after Elder Bednar’s 2005 talk on the subject. What I’d like to focus on is the way that there were tender mercies. Consider what happened next in the story – over the next 8 years Lehi’s family journeyed in the wilderness and had many great and terrible life experiences. When looking at the stories, some might say that life was still really hard and that it doesn’t appear to be a merciful experience. However, there’s no doubt in reading that the Lord was involved. Angels were sent multiple times, the voice of the Lord intervened, Nephi was given revelation (as was his father), they had miraculous outcomes (Laban, bringing Ishmael’s family along, having the bow be good enough to get food when they were hungry), the Liahona, and on and on.

Someone could have had many of those same experiences and not recognized the Lord’s hand in them (like Laman and Lemuel for instance). What is critical is that they followed the Lord’s commands (and therefore knew he was involved) and made a record of his involvement, which likely helped them recognize that involvement. However, I emphasize that having somewhat surprising or intense or “amazing” experiences in life is often not enough to recognize that it was God’s hand involved. Also, don’t expect life to be easy because God’s involved. It won’t be. It’s not supposed to be.