I'm overwhelmed by this chapter, there are so many great things to comment on. I suppose most chapters are this way. I am having one of those experiences where you feel like you are reading something for the first time, even though I know I've read it so many times before.
foremost what strikes me is the value of a wilderness experience. Moses and the children of Israel are mentioned in this chapter for following Moses out of Egypt (through many miracles), being straightened in the wilderness, and being lead to a promised land. Nephi throughout the chapter reviews the difficulty and learnings they have had while in the wilderness, and we of course have all of the miracles that lead them to where they are at hand from previous chapters. We also know that they will be lead to a land of promise.
Laman and Lemuel don't get it. Nephi is commanded to build a ship and it is yet another opportunity for L&L to murmur, complain, mock, and all of their other immature practices. Nephi on the other hand realizes clearly the great miracles that have happened for them as they have travelled in the wilderness and faced eating raw meat, or having children in the wilderness. He recognizes clearly that the Lord was for them a light in the wilderness just as Moses was lead by day and given light by night.
In general we see again and again that when faith lacks Nephi is so good at seeing examples of faith in the scriptures and seeing the hand of the Lord in his own life that he can combat any doubting with so many examples.
His review of the blessings and miracles of Moses and his people was put in such a way that you can see clearly how it maps to the people of Lehi, and how they should take comfort and courage in it. They should also trust Lehi and Nephi more because of their role as prophet. That must have been really hard for L&L to swallow.
We have the choice as to whether we allow the word of the Lord to sink deep into our hearts or not. Nephi and Lehi allowed it. Laman and Lemuel and their families did not. Nephi reminds L&L again that they have seen an angel, they have heard his voice, and even when they were past feeling and could not hear the still small voice they were spoken to with a voice of thunder. Then in this chapter so that they could know by one more of their 5 senses, the Lord shocks them through Nephi.
Then they try to bow down and worship Nephi, which shows again their lack of faith and understanding of the Lord. They do not want to be close to the Lord, they seem to have chosen that and kept that as their choice through out their lives. And yet they seemed to have thought they knew their people and religion sufficiently to judge the people of Jerusalem to be righteous. (Nephi's response is that the people of Jerusalem wanted to kill Lehi a prophet of God - And that L&L wanted to kill Lehi, so they were murders in their hearts; they were not righteous.)
What a powerful chapter, I love learning from Nephi.
2 comments:
1 Nephi 17:2,12 - "we did live upon raw meat"
Why did the Lord require them to live upon raw meat while in the wilderness? Perhaps it is because the location they were traveling through was a dangerous one and the scene of smoke would have led to their discovery by robbers, etc.
1 Nephi 17:4 - "eight years in the wilderness."
Like the Israelites sojourn in the wilderness for many years, it is tough to say how long the Lord had intended to keep them traveling had they been perfectly obedient. Alma did say that when "they were slothful, and forgot to exercise their faith and diligence and then those marvelous works ceased, and they did not progress in their journey" (see Alma 37:41).
Although some of the afflictions experienced in the wilderness were wrought by the Lord to mold and test the family, there were many afflictions which they brought upon themselves.
1 Nephi 17:6 - "we were exceedingly rejoiced"
This verse seems to show how the vibrant experiences in life can bring exquisite joy. If it were not for the dull or the low times of life (or the afflictions), the Bountifuls would not be as appreciated. If all things were "a compound in one" there would be no way to really know and receive real joy.
1 Nephi 17:19-22 - "ye were lacking in judgment"
It is interesting to note the comparison between Nephi's clear judgment and Laman and Lemuel's skewed judgment. It is also interesting to note that, once again, Laman and Lemuel are suggesting they see something in Nephi of which they are terribly guilty of themselves (ie. they lack judgment); see commentary for 1 Nephi 16:1-3.
Due to disobedience of the commandments, the brothers had lost much of the light of Christ (see D&C 93:39), which is given them that they "might know good from evil (see Moroni 7:15-16).
This is strongly manifested in the fact that not only could the erring brothers not see that the people of Jerusalem were not wicked, but they discerned them as being righteous: "And we know that the people who were in the land of Jerusalem were a righteous people" (see verse 22).
Furthermore, due to this lack of light, they could not discern the obvious blessings of the Lord while in the wilderness. Note the divergent views of the hardships in the wilderness between Nephi and the brothers:
• Laman and Lemuel (see verse 20) - "it would have been better that they had died before they came out of Jerusalem than to have suffered these afflictions"
• Nephi (see verses 1-2) - "so great were the blessings of the Lord upon us... in the wilderness..."
1 Nephi 17:33-35 - "this people had rejected every word of God, and they were ripe in iniquity"
The destruction of the people of Canaan, although seemingly hard and severe, is a commentary on the Lord's seriousness concerning his covenants. This verse suggests that the Canaanites, prior to Israel's entrance into the Promised Land, had the "word of God" and decided to reject it.
Because the Lord "esteemeth all flesh in one" He patiently worked with these people until it was ultimately too late. When Abraham asked when the promises of the covenant of Abraham would be fulfilled (ie. that his seed would possess the Land of Promise), the Lord revealed to him the Exodus at the hand of Moses and suggested that until that time, it would not be his will to obtain it. Why? His response: "for the iniquity of the Amorites is not yet full" (see Genesis 15:16).
It is further interesting to note that had the Amorites or the rest of the Canaanites been equally righteous, they would have shared the land together and would have been favored together. With every covenant there are great blessings; however, there are also great cursing associated with such. Typically, the severity of punishment at the hand of the Lord is in direct correlation to the severity of the offense and the degree of light one has previously received.
1 Nephi 17:33-35 - "this people had rejected every word of God, and they were ripe in iniquity"
The destruction of the people of Canaan, although seemingly hard and severe, is a commentary on the Lord's seriousness concerning his covenants. This verse suggests that the Canaanites, prior to Israel's entrance into the Promised Land, had the "word of God" and decided to reject it.
Because the Lord "esteemeth all flesh in one" He patiently worked with these people until it was ultimately too late. When Abraham asked when the promises of the covenant of Abraham would be fulfilled (ie. that his seed would possess the Land of Promise), the Lord revealed to him the Exodus at the hand of Moses and suggested that until that time, it would not be his will to obtain it. Why? His response: "for the iniquity of the Amorites is not yet full" (see Genesis 15:16).
It is further interesting to note that had the Amorites or the rest of the Canaanites been equally righteous, they would have shared the land together and would have been favored together. With every covenant there are great blessings; however, there are also great cursing associated with such. Typically, the severity of punishment at the hand of the Lord is in direct correlation to the severity of the offense and the degree of light one has previously received.
1 Nephi 17:45 - "past feeling, that ye could not feel his words"
Although in most instances, the voice of the Lord comes in subtle feelings of the heart, translated into one's own words, it seems that Laman and Lemuel had heard an audible voice. See commentary for 1 Nephi 16:37-39. It is one thing for an individual to hear the voice of the Lord; however, it is an entirely different thing for one to internalize those words (see 2 Nephi 33:1-3). This is the great step they could not make. Their hearts were too hardened; therefore, the sensitivity to its power, reality, and truthfulness was lost.
Elder Henry B. Eyring said the following: "one of the effects of disobeying God seems to be the creation of just enough spiritual anesthetic to block any sensation as the ties to God are being cut" (Eyring, Henry B. "A Life Founded on Light and Truth" Brigham Young University. 15 Aug. 2000.) It seems that the result of Laman and Lemuel's previous choices has numbed them to the feelings of the spirit so that the potential profound experience resulted in hearing idle, plain, and dull words.
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