Place: Jerusalem and the surrounding wilderness
Reference: 1 Nephi 2,3,4,5
Characters:
Lehi: Father of the family and a prophet. He enjoys fearlessly preaching repentance to the Jews, receiving death threats, reading books obtained in strange ways, dreaming crazy dreams, trekking through the wilderness, and dwelling in tents.
Sariah: Wife of Lehi and a worried mother. She enjoys spending time with family, bearing children in the wilderness, matchmaking, and gardening.
Nephi: Legendary younger brother and heroic prophet. He enjoys archery, playing with swords, building ships, hiking to high mountains, writing poetry, and confounding his brothers.
Sam: Faithful but sometimes forgotten middle child. He enjoys long walks through the wilderness, campfire stories, sailing, and playing with God's compass.
Laman and Lemuel: The two peas in a pod rebellious older brothers. They enjoy antagonizing their brothers, eating raw meat, making new friends, dancing with hot women, and uttering tribal cries.
Laban: Grumpy nobleman who's a descendant of "Joseph and the amazing, technicolor dream coat." He enjoys family history, treasure hunts, commanding armies, partying with his brethren, sword fighting, and wine tasting.
Zoram: Promise-keeping servant of Laban. He enjoys playing hide-and-seek in the dark, hitch hiking, reading in the libraries of Laban, and skinning beasts.
Writer: Nephi
Background information: This story teaches us some great principles: the need to pray and ask God to receive answers, the blessings from keeping the commandments, and the importance of trusting God even if we don't understand.
Previously on Book of Mormon Stories: Lehi received a vision from God that Jerusalem was going to be destroyed. After unsuccessfully preaching to the people, he and his family were commanded to leave Jerusalem and depart into the wilderness. Two of his sons, Laman and Lemuel, complained a lot against their father because they did not believe that God had commanded them to leave. Nephi was probably similarly upset but we will see what Nephi does different that helps him to receive a testimony that Lehi really had been commanded of God. (click here to read the full story)
Nephi is a funny guy. You get to see a bit more of the character of him in this story. He starts off by saying in verse 16 of chapter 2, "I, Nephi, being exceedingly young, nevertheless being large in stature, and also having great desires to know of the mysteries of God.." So here we learn what's important to Nephi: that he's a big, buff dude and that he's curious about God. Great. Next he says that "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." Hold on. He prayed and received an answer from God. You mean all you have to do is pray and God will answer you? Crazy! It's not like we're told that a million times in the scriptures. Nephi was able to receive an answer from God because he asked in faith and really wanted to know. God doesn't always pay us personal visits, but He always answers our prayers.
The Lord then gave Nephi a promise that becomes a repeating theme throughout The Book of Mormon: "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" He's also told, "And inasmuch as thou shalt keep my commandments, thou shalt be made a ruler and a teacher over thy brethren." What exceedingly young and large in stature guy doesn't want to be led to a land of promise or be a ruler over his brethren? Sign me up!
As soon as Nephi was told that he will be blessed if he keeps the commandments, his father came to him and told him that the Lord commanded that Nephi and his brothers should return to Jerusalem and obtain a record on brass plates. This record was owned by a man named Laban and had the genealogy of Lehi's forefathers and records of ancient prophets. Lehi and his family had just traveled for probably over a month in the wilderness and now the sons were told to go back because their crazy dad received yet another vision that they have to go back and get scriptures from a rich, powerful, blood-thirsty nobleman. Sounds super fun. Nephi's brothers were understandably less than excited. Nephi, on the other hand, was ecstatic. "A commandment? Did you just say commandment? The Lord just barely told me that I need to obey those!!" He then proudly said to his father, "I will go and do the things which the Lord hath commanded, for I know that the Lord giveth no commandments unto the children of men, save he shall prepare a way that they may accomplish the thing which he commandeth them." And just like that he convinced his brothers to come with and they all headed back to Jerusalem.
For their next attempt to obtain the record, Nephi and his brothers decided to go back to their old home and gather up "our gold, and our silver, and our precious things" to trade Laban in exchange for the brass plates. Once again Laban tried to kill them and he stole their stuff.
Laman and Lemuel were ticked. They had been almost killed (twice now for Laman) and now all their valuables were gone. They yelled at their younger brothers, Sam and Nephi, "and they did smite us even with a rod." Ouch. "And it came to pass as they smote us with a rod, behold, an angel of the Lord came and stood before them, and he spake unto them, saying: Why do ye smite your younger brother with a rod?" I wish an angel had appeared to my older siblings when they smote me. But that's beside the point. Anyway, Laman and Lemuel ceased their smiting after being chastised by the angel. They were still upset and didn't believe that God could help them but Nephi was like, "Seriously? You just saw an angel! And we need to keep the commandments!"
Nephi then decided to try this own his own without his brothers. "And I was led by the Spirit, not knowing beforehand the things which I should do." He crept into the city into the house of Laban. He saw a man laying on the ground and approached him. "I beheld a man, and he had fallen to the earth before me, for he was drunken with wine. And when I came to him I found that it was Laban." This is another funny moment with Nephi. He just barely noted that it's Laban when he saw Laban's shiny sword. He then gives us a full verse about how cool Laban's shiny sword is: "And I beheld his sword... and the hilt thereof was of pure gold; and the workmanship thereof was exceedingly fine, and I saw that the blade thereof..." Such a guy. The Spirit then nudged Nephi to remind him that he's standing over the unarmed, drunk man who has the plates and had tried to kill him. The Spirit next commanded Nephi to kill Laban. Nephi, understandably, freaked out a bit. "What!? But that's against the commandments and you said not to break them!" The Spirit then told him that "the Lord slayeth the wicked to bring forth his righteous purposes. It is better that one man should perish than that a nation should dwindle and perish in unbelief." Nephi then realized that if he is to inherit the promised land, his children will need the commandments which are on the brass plates. If he doesn't follow the commandment to kill Laban, he can't obtain the brass plates, and if he doesn't obtain them then his children won't know the commandments. If Nephi doesn't kill Laban to obtain the record then he won't be obeying God's commandments. A-hah! Finally understanding, Nephi took Laban's shiny sword and killed him. Then he dressed up as Laban and went in search of the brass plates.
Along the way, he met one of Laban's servants, Zoram. Zoram thought Nephi was Laban so he took him to the brass plates. After Nephi obtained the plates, he took Zoram with him to his brothers outside the city walls. As they approached, his brothers got scared and started to run away because they thought Nephi was Laban, but Nephi called out to let them know it was him. Zoram then started to tremble and run away but Nephi, the young but large in stature guy, grabbed him. He promised Zoram with an oath that if he will follow them, he will live and he can be part of their family and go to the promised land. Zoram vowed that he would stay with them and the five of them returned to their parents in the wilderness with
the brass plates.
Their mother, Sariah, had thought they had all died so she was extremely relieved when they returned. They gave thanks to God. Nephi ended by reminding us about the whole commandment thing and how obedient he had been: "And it came to pass that thus far I and my father had kept the commandments wherewith the Lord had commanded us." Good job, Nephi.
Nephi learned the importance of keeping all the commandments of God even when he didn't understand or when no one else wanted to. Obeying God isn't popular. Most of the world thinks that obedience to God's commandments limits us and makes us dumb sheep. On the other hand, it blesses and frees us. Nephi was in a scary situation and he could've easily given up, but if he didn't do as the Lord commanded then he would've lost the promises and blessings associated with obedience. We need to trust that God knows best and that if we do as He asks, He will help and protect us and bless us.
Proverbs 3:5-6 "Trust in the Lord with all thine heart; and lean not unto thine own understanding. In all thy ways acknowledge him, and he shall direct thy paths."
Amen.
No comments:
Post a Comment