thursday: Book of Mormon, 1 Nephi, Chapter 1

chapter summary
Nephi describes his father's visions while in Jerusalem.

stand-out scriptures

1:1  I, Nephi, having been born of goodly parents, therefore I was taught somewhat in all the learning of my father; and having seen many afflictions in the course of my days, nevertheless, having been highly favored of the Lord in all my days; yea, having had a great knowledge of the goodness and the mysteries of God, therefore I make a record of my proceedings in my days.

 Often, it seems, we focus on the phrase "born of goodly parents." I, myself, was born of goodly parents, but also born of goodly grandparents, aunts, uncles and ancestors in general. Each member, each ancestor, that makes up my family contributes to this "goodly" legacy that created the parents I was born to. More and more I realize the importance of knowing our ancestors, knowing their goodly attributes, and how their trials and triumphs make me goodly. A little over a year ago, my great-grandmother, Virginia Kartchner Larkins, passed away. She was 89 years old. More than two years ago, my other great-grandmother, Ella Watterson Smith Getty, passed away. She was 96 years old. I count my blessings that I enjoyed the company of my two great-grandmothers and knew them. It is a sobering thought that my own children will not know them here on this earth. I wrote this the weekend of Grandma GG's (Larkins) funeral: 

After dinner Sunday night we went to the Kaysville Cemetary. We looked at both the Larkins and Smith sides. My grandma Trudy bounced around with a passion telling everything she could about our dear ancestors. She so greatly wants us to remember them. Remember that they lived. Remember their importance as our forbears.

I feel "highly favored of the Lord" because of my family. We are told that one of the most important words in the scriptures is remember. Not only do we need to remember our Savior, remember the commandments, and remember that we are children of God, but we need to remember our ancestors and turn our hearts to them.

It seems like Nephi is saying towards the end of this verse that since he has been favored and since he has a knowledge of God, he must make a record. When you are blessed to have the gospel, you are commanded to share it. It is a written testimony.

1:2  Yea, I make a record in the language of my father, which consists of the learning of the Jews and the language of the Egyptians.

This scripture had never stood out to me before. It seems pretty self-explanatory. But I did a little research on it and found that this verse is much more interesting when you know the differences in length between Hebrew and Egyptian. The gold plates were written in reformed Egyptian which was a type of shorthand. In Mormon 9:32-33, Mormon explains, "that if the plates had been larger they would have been written in Hebrew, and then the record would have been without imperfections" (Book of Mormon Student Manual, 4). But the plates weren't larger and writing on them was difficult enough to begin with. The interesting thing is that Hebrew is already a very compact language. "A typical English sentence of fifteen words will often translate into seven to ten Hebrew words...if they rejected Hebrew because the plates were not 'sufficiently large' then reformed Egyptian must have been a language remarkable for its ability to convey a lot of information with few words" (4). My testimony of Joseph Smith and his translation of the gold plates just swells with that simple fact. He "translated the Book of Mormon from hieroglyphics, the knowledge of which was lost to the world" (History of the Church 6:74).

1:12  And it came to pass that as he read, he was filled with the Spirit of the Lord.

Another simple scripture. But powerful in its promise. I think that's why daily scripture study is so vital. If we are filled with the Spirit daily, we will draw closer to him, and like Lehi be spiritually prepared to receive counsel and guidance from the Lord.

1:20  And when the Jews heard these things they were angry with him; yea, even as with the prophets of old, whom they had cast out, and stoned, and slain; and they also sought his life, that they might take it away. But behold, I, Nephi, will show unto you that the tender mercies of the Lord are over all those whom he hath chosen, because of their faith, to make them mighty even unto the power of deliverance.

What an awesome promise. If we are faithful we will have those tender mercies from the Lord bestowed upon us. I've noticed that the phrase "tender mercies" has become more commonly used in church since Elder Bednar gave his talk, "The Tender Mercies of the Lord" in General Conference April 2005. And that's wonderful! It is the small things that sometimes matter the most when we desperately need assurance from on high. Elder Bednar explains in his talk that as a new apostle he was nervous about his calling and felt inadequate. But right before he came to the pulpit to give his talk, the congregation sang "Redeemer of Israel." That simple but powerful hymn assured Elder Bednar that he was called of God.

He says, "My mind was drawn immediately to Nephi’s phrase 'the tender mercies of the Lord,' and I knew in that very moment I was experiencing just such a tender mercy. A loving Savior was sending me a most personal and timely message of comfort and reassurance through a hymn selected weeks previously. Some may count this experience as simply a nice coincidence, but I testify that the tender mercies of the Lord are real and that they do not occur randomly or merely by coincidence. Often, the Lord’s timing of His tender mercies helps us to both discern and acknowledge them."

It is a wonderful talk and can be read in its entirety here.

***

And so the chapter ends with Lehi desperately trying to warn the people of their imminent destruction and captivity. Even though countless other prophets warned the people as well, they would not listen. Jeremiah, the "head prophet" you could say, was imprisoned for his warnings. "The declaration that God would turn against his chosen people and allow his sacred temple and his holy city to be destroyed was considered an outrage...Had Lehi remained in Jerusalem, he likely would have received a similar fate or worse" (5). Jerusalem was ripe in both spiritual and political corruption. It was only a matter of time. And so, Lehi will be called to leave and start anew.