Come Follow Me LDS- 1 Nephi 1-7 Pt 2

''Return to Jerusalem'

-  Are Laman and Lemuel Deuteronomists?

-  The Davidic Covenant

-  Lehi is a 'visionary man' against the theology of Jerusalem at the time.

-  Jeremiah's soft heart and Laman and Lemuel's murmuring -  What does 'the God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob' mean?

-  Fetching the Brass Plates

- Ishmael Joins the part

Haha. Recording and editing in the middle of the night is not recommended! Here is a link to John W. Welch's paper on the legality, according to the Law of Moses, that Nephi lays out in his account about slaying Laban- https://scholarsarchive.byu.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=1006&context=jbms  

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in this episode we talk about Lehi as a

visionary man more distinction between

Laman and Lemuel's doctrine and Nephi

and Lehigh's doctrine and a return to

Jerusalem here we go okay here we are

now in chapter 2 of first Nephi and

Nephi jumps right back in to show the

contrast of what they are leaving in

Jerusalem and the theology there in

Jerusalem with the Deuteronomists and

what Lehi is preaching right he wants to

create that separation so he talks about

what he talks about the Lord coming to

him in a dream and telling him that he

is blessed for the things that he

preached to the people in Jerusalem and

then he says again that in a dream again

he's setting up this whole thing about

Lehi being a visionary man right so he

says again in verse 2 that in a dream

the Lord came to him and told him to

take his family and depart out of the

wilderness and what we get here in this

is it's an exodus think about how the

children of Israel left out of Jerusalem

right it says it see it's the same thing

and that we're going to see a very much

an exodus theme throughout Nephi here

throughout first Nephi and

we're going to see themes that carry

back to numerous different Old Testament

themes he's writing in the tradition of

the Old Testament of the Covenant and of

the Messiah in a wisdom tradition so

he's showing that he keeps coming to him

in a dream because being a visionary man

and having direct revelation like that

as a prophet is not as a no-no right in

Jerusalem they don't want to look at

that and that sounds familiar too

again today right let's distance

ourselves from God there is nothing

available there what we have what they

would say then is hey what we have here

in the Canon here in the Torah in

the five books of Moses and with the

prophets that's all we need we don't

need any other revelation and so it's

something similar to that anyway they

don't want to support the idea of being

a visionary man of having these

apocalyptic visions these theophanies

and of the Lord communicating directly

with Lehi so he keeps bringing this up

he's I think this is the fourth time now

he's brought up that Lehi has had a

dream or a vision and were barely into

chapter 2 here so he tells him to depart

and he's going to depart both physically

and take his family and he's going to

depart right he's departing

theologically he's departing with a

different doctrine as well he's got to

get out and he's got to get out not

because he wants to get out it's because

he's being forced out because what is

happening in Jerusalem you have an

orthodoxy and we can see this in

numerous different movements even today

and consistently throughout political

movements and theocratic movements

of different sects of even within

Christianity at times where you get a an

orthodoxy where it's almost like they're

the Puritans right it's this purist

orthodoxy that if you don't tow the line

with what is politically correct then

you are out of here right we are we are

going to cast stones at you we are going

to cast names at you and mock you but

you don't belong here and so that's

that's kind of what's happening with

with Lehi here and this is how it's

always been right that we get this idea

in the book of Revelation we have the

the woman that is out in the wilderness

and she's the church because that's

where the church is in this world the

church is in the wilderness because it's

not accepted in Jerusalem proper it's

not accepted in Babylon it's not

accepted in this world and so it's out

in the wilderness where was John the

Baptist well he had to be out in the

wilderness even Jesus and his family

were not in Jerusalem right there out in

Galilee is a minority where the word

Jews were a minority out there and we

look at our own history as latter-day

saints right we didn't belong in New

York we didn't belong in Kirtland we

didn't belong in Missouri we didn't

belong in Navajo even though we built it

right we had to also have an exodus and

it wasn't our choice but we weren't

politically correct and we didn't belong

right we just didn't belong and so it

was an exodus out same type of thing and

so we're told that he comes out he

travels for a few days and after a few

days he comes to the borders near the

shore of the Red Sea

now the borders near the shore of the

Red Sea this is probably the Gulf of

Aqaba which is a little Inlet not a

little Inlet but it's a long Inlet at

the north end of the Red Sea that goes

up a little bit further up toward

Jerusalem and so that's probably where

they end up here somewhere at the north

end of this inlet and that's kind of

where what they call the wilderness and

then they end up going out probably

another three days traveling southward

and they end up in a valley there there

is likely other biblical history here as

well this is out where the Midianites

might have been this might be out toward

where Jethro was where might be out walk

toward where Moses ended up when he left

Egypt on his own there is some history

out in this area here this would be in

the very north end of Saudi Arabia

and the borders are likely the mountains

so there is a mountain range a desert

mountain range that goes along one along

the coast and one a little more inward

and we're told that they are out toward

the borders the mountains out by the

coast and here he pitches his tent and

we care a lot about the tent of Lehigh

buying from Nephi but here he pitches

his tent and he offers a sacrifice and

this is something again it looks like

Nephi is specifically saying something

against what the reforms of Josiah the

Deuteronomists had said where they were

saying that you can't have worship

outside of Jerusalem right you may not

it looks like what they had said was you

can't go out and offer sacrifices

outside of the temple you can't go out

and worship with sacrifices away from

Jerusalem we do know interestingly that

in the Dead Sea Scrolls in the temple

scroll it appears that there was the

ability actually at least in that time

our more toward give or take a couple

hundred years at the time of Jesus but

they did have the ability the Jews did

have the ability to worship and offer

sacrifices if they were more than three

days away from the temple and so that

might be what Nephi is specifying here

that he puts that in there and makes

sure hey we're at least three days out

here because that was what was actually

acceptable that was actually the real

law even though the Deuteronomists may

have said you can't do it at all so he

may be showing that he is following the

law here by being three days away from

the temple and offering sacrifices and

then we start getting into the family

politics here right and this is where

murmuring is now introduced right we

have Lehi

talking about a river that there by then

he calls it layman the river layman and

then there in the valley they call that

he calls that the valley of Lemuel now

interestingly enough this is an area

that everyone thought well this is

ridiculous how can you have water

running down here this is complete

desert and completely dry but there are

places like this and we have photos of

these things you can see it on Google

Earth there are areas where there is

actually a little bit of a river that

might have been a lot more before but

they would have a little river coming

right out into that Gulf of Aqaba and

these valleys that they have like the

valley Lemuel there they're not what we

would think of in a mountainous valley

out here in the West or anywhere in the

early in the United States except for

maybe in Zion’s Park and places like that

we're in more of a desert area and you

have these walls that go straight up and

very narrow sometimes they can be very

narrow these in the column in Arabic

they're called Wadis W A D I and these

Wadis can be just like in science park

if there's a flash flood every once in a

while though where that happens the

water will come up really high and watch

all of the dirt and the sand and

everything out of there and it's but

these waters some of them do have little

rivers I mean we said we call it a river

here it's probably more like a creek and

it might very well be an under an

underground Creek it kind of the sources

underground but those exist even today

well at least there's one that exists

today and because that might be the

only one this might very well be the

valley of Lemuel but here's where Laman

and Lemuel began to murmur and this is

really important we talk about the knee

whore principle and Nephi sets up

without specifically saying they don't

believe in Christ he gives us all of

these clues that we can grab on to there

may be more in the hundred and sixteen

pages that would have been more specific

and he just needs to follow up because

of that more specific about talking

about Christ

but Laman and Lemuel begin to murmur

because here they left they've left

Jerusalem they probably had a very posh

if they were well-off they agree it

appears with the doctrine of what's

going on in Jerusalem at this time and

they might begin murmuring here might be

what triggers that is actually maybe

it's the sacrifice that they're not

supposed to be doing this away from the

temple that might really set off Laman

and Lemuel apart from just leaving I

think if you look specifically at Laman

and Lemuel and look at them as being

religious not just iniquitous in fact I

don't know that I would say that so much

in the way we might think of that it

seems to me like they are religious and

they do not like Lehigh's theology they

don't like what he's preaching and they

don't like that he's having these dreams

and these visions from God and it

bothers them and so they call him out

they murmur and they call him a

visionary man this is something Nephi

specifically putting in here to show a

distinction and then we get a whole

bunch of meat here in verses 12 and 13

it says 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 this is the exact

opposite of what we get with Nephi here

shortly it's also the exact opposite of

what Jeremiah says right in in I think

it's in chapter 31 Jeremiah 31 where he

talks about the New Covenant so this is

a contrast against an idea and knowledge

of the New Covenant when he says that

they knew not the dealings of that God

who had created them Jeremiah says in

conjunction with the new covenant that

will be restored he says at the time of

Christ he says that and we get this

reiterated in the New Testament he says

that they will know the Lord says they

will know me those that were

following me and those that have there

the law written in their hearts this is

important this is all based on Jeremiah

right here at the time of Lehi that

those that have the law written in their

heart with the new covenant will know

him that's the Lord and the Lord will

know them right so when he says that

they do not know the dealings of the

Lord to me that's exactly an echo of

what Nephi and Lehi probably heard

directly from Jeremiah so this is why

they murmur so what we need to keep in

mind here if we've looked at this is

that the higher law the Melchizedek law

focused on the Son of God is the reason

for their murmuring that's what we're

told here by Nephi that's how I see it

and 13 neither did they believe that

Jerusalem this is also important this if

you study it all and you follow scholars

the LDS scholars this is an important

thing to understand that these two

things here are separate they are

different issues here 13 says neither

did they believe that Jerusalem that

great city could be destroyed according

to the words of the prophets so again

who are the prophets the prophets are

those that are preaching Christ and

calling for repentance and so they don't

believe in the prophets and they don't

believe that the Jerusalem can be

destroyed that's is what they called the

Davidic covenant and it basically said

if we are righteous then we will be able

to hold on to Jerusalem and the problem

is they think they are righteous Laman

and Lemuel think they're righteous

that's what I think if you look at this

if you read first and second Nephi here

going through here it's the first Nephi

especially and you and you and you

listen to what Nephi is saying you'll

see that Laman and Lemuel are not break

the law of Moses right there's no

adultery there is no worshipping other

idols as we hear all about at Jerusalem

here they are saying that's a key

thing to understand about Jerusalem

because what we're told in the Old

Testament is this is all about

idol worship and that's what the big

Reformation was about and again maybe so

I'm not saying it's not but here we have

Laman and Lemuel that appear to be very

tied to Jerusalem they're later going to

say how righteous Jerusalem is and yet

they don't worship idols and so it's

what is the difference here what is the

problem

it may not be idol worship that there is

so much of an issue with Lehi doesn't

say anything about idol worship and

these people need to repent in Jerusalem

because of the idols of their worship

that's not doesn't mean that that didn't

exist right it very well may have

existed but the problem is Christ's

right the problem is the loss of Christ

so they believe that Jerusalem cannot be

destroyed because they believe it is

righteous so Laman and Lemuel think

themselves as being righteous and

they're tying themselves Nephi is

showing that Laman and Lemuel are tied

to Jerusalem as it is and then it says

and they were like unto the Jews there

you go who are at Jerusalem who sought

to take away the father the life of my

father so why are they like the Jews

there why are they the same right layman

Lemuel are the same as the Jews that

were trying to kill Lehi and we see that

later on they try to kill the high right

and yet they believe that Jerusalem

cannot be destroyed because it is

righteous so that's a key distinction to

understand they're not breaking the

Sabbath they're not committing adultery

they are following the law of Moses the

way that they believe it should be

followed that seems to be apparent here

but they don't believe in the higher law

they don't believe in Jehovah coming

down as the Son of God

which seems apparent to me so Nephi

masterfully sets this whole stage up

right between Chapter one and now

chapter two of this difference Laman and

Lemuel are like the Jews in Jerusalem

and what they believe and Lehi and Nephi

and Sam following along here and Sariah

are like the prophets that are preaching

about Christ and are tied to the New

Covenant right they believe in a higher

covenant they believe that the law of

Moses looks forward to the Son of God it

is not an end in a vote in of itself and

then we get this strange insertion here

in the next verse it just says and my

father dwelt in a tent I still don't

completely understand this I know

there's been a lot written on it but

it's odd because it's just sitting right

here in the middle and then the thought

continues here you know it's different

it was on Laman and Lemuel now it goes

to Nephi and in 16 it says and it came

to pass that I Nephi being exceedingly

young nevertheless being large in

stature we might think of him maybe as a

teenager that has grown early right he's

he's young he's a teenager but he's

maybe a man physically right and also

having great desires to know of the

mysteries of God wherefore I did crying

to the Lord and behold he did visit me

and we're gonna get this theme going

throughout the Book of Mormon and did

soften my heart so the New Covenant a

soft heart like one that could be

engraving upon with a new covenant like

Jeremiah talks about is going to be

contrasted continually with murmuring

and the theology of Laman and Lemuel and

a hardened heart so we're gonna look for

those two differences as we go through

here in 18 laymen Lamia would not listen

to Nephi because of the hardness of

their hearts

and then in nineteen the Lord speaks to

Nephi and says blessed art thou Nephi

because of thy faith so Laman and Lemuel

did not have the faith in what again

they think they're righteous they

probably obey the law of Moses what

faith were they missing that Nephi is

distinguishing here about himself and

then in 20 in as much as she shall keep

my Commandments the lower law the

preparatory law ye shall prosper and

shall be led to a land of promise

this is imagery he's being led to a land

of promise which is what Abraham was

going to receive right what he received

though he never really did because the

real land of promise is the oath of the

oath and covenant of the Melchizedek

priesthood and Laman and Lemuel in a

sense are not going to be a part of that

promised land yes they go physically in

a boat they end up in the Americas as

well but he says here specifically right

after that that with his brothers if

they rebelled that they are going to be

cut off from the presence of the Lord

well that's the spirit but it's also the

oath right it's exaltation if they

do not repent if they if they don't stop

rebelling and that Nephi is going to be

a ruler and a teacher over him so this

is being set up we've got this visionary

experience Nephi was gonna have one too

he's just like Joseph right remember

Joseph the younger brother of all the

other 12 brothers 11 at the time he is

thrown into a pit and they're not real

happy with him and he has visions and he

interprets them and his brothers are not

real happy about it but in a sense he

ends up ruling over them even literally

and temporally in Egypt so we're gonna

get a lot of this about Nephi showing

himself and tying himself to the brass

plates as Joseph which is his father his

distant father right and as King David

as well and then quickly over to chapter

3 as we spent so much time on 2 again

but in chapter 3 again he has another

dream another dream visionary man and

that he's told that he needs to go Nephi

DS to go with his brethren and they need

to go back to Jerusalem which is pretty

scary Lehi is a very well-known person

it appears so finding out that you are

of the family of Lehi could be death

right away and so this is not a this is

a very dangerous mission but that he's

told that he needs to go back and get

the records of the Jews he needs to get

the brass plates and they know exactly

where to go which is interesting right

they know exactly where to go Lehi is

part of maybe some kind of nobility of

the landlords of the court he knows

where to go and we get the important

verse here in in chapter 3 verse 7 I

will go and do and when they get up

toward in Jerusalem they are toward

Jerusalem the walls of the city they

cast lost this is a very common thing

they cast lots who's got the shortest

stick maybe to see who's going to go

right and they go and they follow

through and try and get it they don't

they get run out they go up they grab

their treasures which they had left

behind at the end their land of

inheritance not sure exactly where that

is and they bring it back to Laban Laban

basically steals it and then runs them

off again so they go out to the

wilderness again and they say

specifically in verse 27 here that they

went and they hid themselves in the

cavity of Iraq this is exactly what

David did in the at the time of Saul

when Saul was looking for him to kill

David he's setting that up a little bit

here it looks like and then something

interesting happens Laman they

begin to smite Nephi and Sam

with a rod right and in angel appears

and stops them now is this going to make

any difference more than maybe for a day

or two it seems it's not we're gonna get

into that down the road a little bit but

they've seen an angel who has stopped

them from beating on Nephi they're not

they don't like Nephi they do not like

Nephi and maybe Nephi is not a real good

people person

I don't know it's very possible but

remember that it's the schism

between them is this theology and that

physically Nephi wants to leave with his

father from Jerusalem and the layman

alone me want to stay right it's kind of

like Abraham and lot which direction are

you going to point your tent in fact it

says here in 31 after the angel departed

layman let me again began to murmur says

here behold he is a mighty man and can

command 50 that's what a general would

have he would have his garrison of

50 right there his immediate soldiers

it's not all the armies the divisions in

the thousands and tens of thousands that

he would command but he would have a

garrison of 50 with him and this is

laymen let me Eliza argument how are we

ever going to do this he is too powerful

and this is very interesting here here

we go right back to the Deuteronomists

and what they've done remember they have

elevated Moses and so we do get a theme

here from Nephi about the Exodus and

that's certainly a part of this but I

think it's interesting here in chapter 4

verse 2 that Nephi brings in Moses here

because that's probably something that

laymen alumna are more likely to listen

to that's just my guess and so he says

therefore let us go up back to Laban and

let us be strong like unto Moses when he

divided the Red Sea well there right

there

at the Red Sea in fact the Gulf of Aqaba

is probably actually where Moses and the

children of Israel would

have travelled through is through that

Gulf they are right there or their tent

is right Lehigh is and so Nephi finally

convinces his brothers and Nephi goes

forward from where they're at and

he alone goes and he says here in verse

six and I was led by the spirit not

knowing beforehand the things which I

should do I find in my life that when

I'm really trying to go after righteous

types of goals that oftentimes that

compelling future that I see that is

righteous right is what brings me

forward it's not knowing how I'm going

to do it or what I'm going to do but

it's that commitment

it's that inspiration that I feel is hey

this is something I need to do even

though I don't know what to do and yet

that seems to be in many ways I think as

I look back on my life in those

situations

I almost feel more I feel I they're not

saying there's not doubts but I feel

like I know the direction at least I

know how many get there but it's like I

just need to put one foot in front of

the other and go because I know that I

know the direction I'm supposed to go

and I think that that is a great lesson

here that we learned from Nephi he

doesn't know what to do

he's led by the spirit he doesn't know

how this is going to happen it seems

like an impossibility but he's gonna go

and do it anyway and so he finds Laban

Laban is drunken with wine he's fallen

to the earth and he's in full regalia

here right he's in his entire uniform

and he's got his sword and we're told

that he had been out with the elders

that night so there's some that have

brought this up Bradley for example

recently he wrote the hundred last

hundred sixteen pages

that think that hey this very well could

have been the Passover Feast at this

time this may be during Passover which

would make it very interesting that Lehi

would be leaving at this time but it

might also be a reason that right then

the Jews were trying to get rid of

certain people before this all began but

he may be in full regalia here in full

uniform because he's out with the elders

as part of a feast and he's drinking

part of the feast and I'm not going to

go into this part very much because this

one gets hit more than anything else I

will provide maybe a link or two in the

descriptions about what to look at here

a lot of people are bothered by this

that Nephi is told by the spirit to go

ahead and take Laban’s life and he

becomes a sacrifice it's kind of like

what we learn about in the scapegoat

theory from Rene Girard that there's got

to be a scapegoat for a civilization to

survive in a sense and it's almost the

exact opposite of what happens with a

savior later on who is the scapegoat but

is not guilty as Laban is Nephi goes

through a whole string of reasons that

are legal reasons in the law of Moses

why it was the right thing to do with

Laban but we would spend way too much

time on this that we do not have here

so he cuts off the head of Laban that

sword ends of Laban ends up staying with

the Nephites all the way through to the

time of Moroni and becomes a sacred

relic right what does that represent

what does that sword represent it

represents the freedom that they had

to leave and it represents the Word of

God just like a sword should why the

Word of God because they get the brass

plates the sword or a rod right is

looked at oftentimes as justice or the

Word of God right

and so Nephi puts on all of the all of

the uniform he goes and talks in the in

the voice of Laban which maybe he could

act completely drunk right that would

slur his voice and be a little bit

easier to get by Zoram more to convince

Orem he doesn't have to walk like him he

doesn't have to talk as much like him he

can act really drunk just in my mind

kind of how he might do that that's what

I would probably do and Zoram leads him

to the Treasury and they pull out

the brass plates they come back to the

brothers the brothers begin to run

thinking it's Laban but it's not as Orem

then begins to run and Nephi makes a

covenant with Zoram saying that they

will not kill him they wouldn't maybe

have to kill him like just like Laban

that's another hard issue there but he

spares Zoram's life we're told

specifically because he makes the

covenant to go along with them so not

not a tough choice I don't think for him

at this point and then quickly in

Chapter five we get the whole visionary

man thing again this is a huge theme

this is important this is the legacy of

Joseph of Egypt this is Daniel this is

Ezekiel this is John the Revelator this

is a part of the higher law this is a

part of being a seer and a Revelator and

so when the boys come back then

Sariah the mother is ecstatic

obviously she's very happy and Nephi

says that she had complained that also

that that he was a visionary man and

Lehi says to her I know that I'm a

visionary man for I had not if I had not

seen the things of God in a vision I

should not have known the goodness of

God but had tarried at Jerusalem and had

perished with my brethren might want to

look at numbers 12 6 on that as well he

might be referencing that and then in

verse 8 we get Lehi talking about Nephi

37 the famous I will go and do this is

kind of what the couplet to it right

here in in 5:8 it says now I know of a

surety that the Lord hath commanded my

ode and now we get this from Sariah and

this is kind of the couplet to

Nephi's chapter 3 verse 7 of I will go

and do right she says now I know of a

surety that the Lord hath commanded my

husband to flee into the wilderness yay

and I also know of a surety that the

Lord hath protected my sons and

delivered them out of the hands of Laban

and given them power whereby they could

accomplish the thing which the LORD hath

commanded them so that brings everything

full circle right because this is when

he says I will go and do it when Lehi

says you need to go back to Jerusalem to

get these brass plates and so this is

finalizing that at this point here and

then we find out what's in the brass

plates part of what's in the brass

plates it does have the five books of

Moses it does have an account of Adam

and Eve that is an account of the temple

that's what that is right it has a

record of the Jews from the beginning

this is a secular history probably

something more like what we see in 1st

and 2nd chronicles and first and second

Kings that might be exactly what they

are referencing or something similar to

that and then it says it has everything

all the way down to the commencement of

the reign of Zedekiah king of Judah so

these brass plates

Laban may this may have been one of a

few and maybe the only copy that would

have had all of us it has writings of

Jeremiah they're contemporary in here so

it's very up-to-date it's not a scroll

it's something that's probably been

taken from Scrolls from Jeremiah and put

into this record and then he also sees

that he is a descendant of Manasseh from

Joseph and he sees also that Laban was a

descendant of Joseph so again it's a

little bit of a coincidence there but

could be that a number of the tribe of

Manasseh or from Ephraim or from some of

the northern tribes had some power here

in Judah and then in chapter 6 it's a

short one he says hey I'm not going to

give you the lineage my lineage of my

father's because my father's got it in

his record well unfortunately we don't

have his father's records so we miss out

on that we just know that he's from

Manasseh but in verse forged

very important here going along with the

themes that we're talking about here

right now he says for the fullness of

mine intent is that I may persuade men

he says this later on also right to come

unto Christ but here he says for the

fullness of mine intent is that I may

persuade men to come unto the God of

Abraham and the god of Isaac and the God

of Jacob and be saved right that is the

God of Abraham Isaac and Jacob is the

God of the higher law that's the focus

of that title right he made that direct

covenant of the land of promise and the

oath and covenant of the Melchizedek

Priesthood with those three men father's

son grandfather right Abraham Isaac and

Jacob and that's where we get Israel

from it's from that original covenant

with Abraham the Abrahamic covenant and

that's what we're gonna hear about all

throughout the Book of Mormon are those

two focuses of Christ right the focus of

the doctrine of Christ and the focus of

the covenant that the Lord made with

Abraham Isaac and Jacob and their

descendants just as Moroni tells us in

the title page and then in verse 7 we

get the account of the brothers again

going back to Jerusalem and getting

Ishmael so this has got to be pretty

tough on Laman and Lemuel right they do

not want to be leaving Jerusalem they

keep going back and then having to leave

again but the Lord says hey we've got

the Word of God now that's great now we

need descendants for this people and so

they've got to go back to get Ishmael

and bring him with them convince them to

go down with them and so it's

interesting here again we get no

introduction to Ishmael who he is at all

it just says and bring down Ishmael and

his family into the wilderness that's

what they're supposed to do as if we

already know who he is again probably

part of the hundred and sixteen pages

and so they convince Ishmael and his

family to come back down with them and

as they're traveling there's a rebellion

right the sons of Ishmael the two sons

of Ishmael and Laman and Lemuel and

others kind of turn on them

maybe they're saying hey this is enough

we want to go back and they began to go

after Nephi and he fights like what you

just saw an angel and this is still what

you're going to go through the point is

is that those types of things don't

matter right everybody wants physical

evidence I want to know that someone saw

those golden plates I want to know that

there is an archeological discovery

about the Book of Mormon and the

Americas somewhere and just like cherem

and Cora whore and knee whore right they

want to turn the gospel on its head they

want to get rid of faith which is not

belief but it's growth it's the way we

grow and they want to turn it on its

head and they want the sign first and

the faith then to come later or the

assurance that it came later they want to

completely skip the first principle of

the gospel which is faith which of

course takes away the entire possibility

of us ever becoming more like the Savior

and reaching our own land of promise

again faith is not a blind belief it's

not what faith is faith is trust in my

estimation anyway and in Dallin H Oaks’s

estimation - I heard him say that a

few months back and then here we get

support for Jeremiah a lot of people

have said that Jeremiah was written by

the Deuteronomists the Book of Jeremiah

and that sometimes he seems to agree

with them well let's just remember that

it probably was edited by the

deuteronomist but they have full support

here with Nephi he says in 14 for behold

the Spirit of the Lord seeth ceaseth

soon to strive with them being the

people of Jerusalem for they have

rejected the prophets who prophesied of

Christ and Jeremiah have they cast into

prison and they have sought to take away

the life of my father in so much that

they have driven him out of the land

when he talks about the Jews again

oftentimes even in the New Testament yes

it's a broader group but they're really

talking about the core of that right

it's the people in charge it's them it's

the elites it's the people of the know

of nobility in the court and with power

they know Lehi they know who he is he is

a major figure Nephi talks about

Jeremiah the prophets

Lehi and so Nephi is telling them look

Jerusalem is gonna be it's gonna perish

and if you stay here you're going to

perish along with them and Laman and

Lemuel and perhaps a couple of sons of

Ishmael here or saying no these are good

people they're righteous we believe in

the Davidic covenant we are hyper

nationalists so to speak and nothing bad

can happen to us and nothing can happen

to Jerusalem why because they're Pro

Egypt

they're probably Pro Egypt and they

don't believe that anything happening

from Babylon could affect Jerusalem so

they're mad they're mad at him again

he's got a different theology here he's

got a different believe it's like a

outcome it's like a competing it's like

the Protestants and the Catholics you

know five hundred years ago there is

there is conflict here within this

family or in the Middle East even today

between the Shia and the Sunni Muslims

and so they bind him and Nephi points

this out again an allusion to Joseph of

Egypt he says for they sought to take

away my life that they might leave me in

the wilderness to be devoured by wild

beasts and remember that the sons of

Jacob right they leave Joseph of

Egypt in the pit

they take his robe which is interesting

that's another story and they break it

up and they put blood on it and they say

that he was devoured by wild beasts so

here Nephi is the younger brother he's

to rule over there his other brothers

his other brothers are not really happy

with him who is this upstart and Joseph

by the way was one of the wisdom

tradition right of wisdom of visions

same type of thing that's being pulled

in here purposefully by Nephi and they

could do that if they believed that he

is a false prophet if they believe that

he is committing blasphemy it's not just

a matter of all world wicked and we're

gonna kill him because we want to go

back home if they are religious which I

think they are they have to justify it

through the law of Moses just like Nephi

was doing with Laban and they can do

that in a couple of places in deuteron

me but through his faith Nephi breaks

the cords and eventually they all leave

go back down and meet up with Lehi and

Sariah and the rest of the party at

Lehigh stent on the Gulf on the coast of

the Gulf of Aqaba and here now we've got

the setting of we've brought back the

Word of God we've brought back family

and now we're ready to move toward the

land of promise I'll talk to you next

time