Come Follow Me LDS- 1 Nephi 16-22 (Jan 27 - Feb 2)

A Bow, A Ship & A Prophet'

-  The Arabian environment

-  Traveling protocol in Arabia

-  Nephi describes the wilderness journey 'like' the Children of Israel

- Like the Liahona, the Egyptian god of the wilderness, Min, had two arrows for migration.

-  Laman  & Lemuel say the people of Jerusalem 'are a righteous people'.

-  Nephi teaches of 'The Redeemer' to Laman and Lemuel

-  This is an 'axial' period in history throughout the world

-  Is the 'Promised Land' of the Americas as exclusive in history as we think?

-  Nephi uses Isaiah to preach of Christ

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in this episode we talk about a bowl a

ship and a prophet here we go okay in this

Cwic media episode we're going to be

covering first Nephi chapter 16 to 22

this is gonna finish off the first book

of Nephi here in chapter 16 we get kind

of a just an account of what some

several chronological events that happen

there's a little less theology in this

chapter and so I'm just gonna kind of

tap down on a number of these different

things but it does open with Nephi

talking to laman and lemuel again he's

following up from the vision of Lehi

here and now talking to laman and lemuel

about how the truth is hard to take

right and he says for example here in

verse 2 and it came to pass that I said

unto them that I knew that I had spoken

hard things against the wicked according

to the truth and the righteous have I

justified and testified that they should

be lifted up at the last day by the way

who's he talking about right in his time

he's probably talking about again

several pockets of people that would

have been in Jerusalem or had already

left Jerusalem just like the Lee Heights

are doing here right where for the

guilty take it the truth to be hard for

it cutteth them to the very center that

would be kind of like thinking of a

sword right that cuts you right to the

very core the sword or the word or

justice or the law is what that sword

would represent and then he says here in

verse three I think something that again

gives us kind of a shadow of laman and

lemuel being attached to

the establishment if you will the

theocratic establishment in Jerusalem

with their ideology and their orthodoxy

and doctrine he says and now my brethren

if you were righteous right so we're

gonna get us the distinction here again

if ye were righteous and were willing to

hearken to the truth

well again laman and lemuel think they

are righteous so what is little what is

Nephi talking about he's talking about

the higher law he's talking about the

fullness of the gospel he's talking

about going beyond the law of Moses and

same issue that they had it in Jesus's

time right the Jews in Jesus's time have

the legacy the orthodoxy of what has

happened here in Lehigh's time and they

are stuck only on the law of Moses they

have cut it off to look forward to

anything else or especially to look

forward to a redeemer for them and he

couples an important word here with that

that those that do not are not willing

to hearken to the truth that that you

would you would not murmur because of

the truth

again the word murmur where we get this

from primarily is from the story of the

exodus and the children of Israel

remember that they were the ones that

murmured all the time when they were

going through the wilderness and they

had come out of Egypt right the word

they were enslaved and were not able to

perhaps practice the religion the way

that they wanted to and then they go on

this long adventure through the desert

through the wilderness well what is

Nephi about to do here with his family

the lees heights are going to go through

an incredibly difficult time of

approximately 8 years or so where they

are going to suffer starvation they are

going to come close to death they're

going to suffer for lack of water

they're going to suffer because of the

labor intensive

way of living in life that they have is

basically there they're gonna be just

like Arab Bedouin traveling around in

their tents with their beasts of burden

and perhaps some cattle of some sort and

it's a very very difficult way of life

and they rely completely on the elements

in their favor which doesn't happen very

often there and so this is very

different from a very posh lifestyle

that for example laman and lemuel would

have had in Jerusalem as his dad

appeared to be Lehi appeared to be

someone of renowned and wealthy it's a

stark stark difference from what they

were used to but murmuring here Nephi is

going to kick into high gear for the

balance of this expedition throughout

the Arabian Peninsula and compare

them the lees heights to the children of

Israel coming out of Egypt and wandering

in the wilderness for 40 years and so V

Phi and laman and lemuel and Zoram they

take wives of the daughters of Ishmael

remember that Ishmael also has sons and

at least a couple of them are married

with children when layman Lemuel Sam and

Nephi go back to get the family of

Ishmael there those sons are already

married with children and we don't know

how large this group really is we don't

know who else there really is in this a

lot of times in the way they would write

here anciently they would just very much

hone in on just the family how they

mentioned Zoram here of course and Zoram

becomes the zoramites become a big

part of the book of Mormon and so then

Lehi is told and we're told by Knights

this could be another vision or dream

the Lehi has that he seems to be very

much a conduit for this form of

communication with God and so he's

told by night that on the morrow you

need to get up and leave

there is no time to wait here and so

they are going to get up in the

morning and leave now it's really

interesting because travel in the

Arabian Peninsula for the bed ones is

kind of interesting right the lifestyle

that they have living in these tents

requires movement oftentimes you can't

stay usually in a place for too long the

average stay in one of these tents in

one area is about 10 to 12 days and

that's gonna be you know sometimes you

might stay as much as six months but a

lot has to do with the seasons what time

of the year it is how much water is

there going to be how much foliage is

there in that area that you stopped

because you may stop and with all of

your beasts of burden and cattle that

you have with you you may not be able to

stay there very long and maybe that no

one has come and stayed there for a

while and some of the foliage has grown

there's been some water there there's

something to eat leaves to eat and

there's animals to hunt there

but you may not support you for a very

long period of time depending on where

you have stopped the other thing that

really makes you move is that if you've

got this cattle and these beasts of

burden and you're in a specific area

here you they're obviously not too far

away and you don't want to risk having

your camels and your cattle stolen from

you right and so they're not too far

away from your tent not you know

probably not right next to it but not

not too close and the problem is with

that closeness that proximity of those

animals is that after a while you can

imagine it starts to reek pretty badly

and what gets even worse are the fleas

and so eventually it becomes intolerable

and you have to move and so again if

it's a small little oasis a small little

area foliage which are a lot like some

of the spots that you see in in northern

and central Arabia then you're not

you're gonna have to move and find a new

spot at that point

they wake up the next morning and there

is the curious ball right through the

ball of curious workmanship and the

Liahona and it's interesting to think

about what this thing is and I think

that we mostly guess at really what

this is what this instrument is but I

think the important thing to understand

is how it's a tool for us as we

interpret what this compasses that is

based on faith and an and receiving

answers from the Lord of course all of

us if we're talking about a point of

restoration here with the Lea heights

what you would have there with that ball

of curious workmanship is the Holy Ghost

right

it is a Melchizedek function a higher

law function that Nephi is inserting

here not that it wasn't there it was

there but it's a part of their

journey of restoration and making sure

that we have all of these instruments

that are a part of something of the

higher law and remember this is kind of

like one of the instruments they're

gathering some of these things they've

had the sword of Laban right that they

keep and they is kept all the way down

through the kings and the prophets down

to Moroni and then you have here the

Liahona that is kept all the way down to

Moroni and eventually when Messiah comes

and meets the Mulekites they also get

the seer stones which are from the

brother of Jared and they keep those and

so you have these artifacts that were

really part of a legacy of this people

and a part of they're all part of a

symbolism of their relationship with God

right the sword of Laban was something

that freed them so to speak from

Jerusalem because they were able to get

the brass plates the records of God

the scriptures and so we talk about the

Word of God and the law well there's the

sword right that we just spoke about and

so you have the sword of Laban and then

you're going to have the Holy Ghost here

in in the form of something physical a

physical item that is the Liahona and it

worked with two arrows were told and

it's kind of interesting I mean one of the most

ancient Egyptian gods is the God men and

he has with him oftentimes a it's almost

like a thunderbolt like you would have

for Zeus but what it really is a

barbed arrow or two arrows in a sense

it's like it's two arrows that and Men

is mostly from the area of the Sinai and

Lower Egypt of the wilderness he's the

God of the wilderness that would have

had these two arrows so to speak of

something similar to exploration or

migration right and so something that

would be found in an ancient setting for

someone traveling through the wilderness

and then in verse 11 says again here

just like we had previously and we did

take seed of every kind that we might

carry into the wilderness going out

again into the lone and dreary world

just as Adam and Eve did and in verse 12

they go across the river Lima and just

like the again the comparisons to Exodus

just like the children of Israel crossed

the Red Sea probably the Gulf of Aqaba

probably right where they are and so

we're going to start seeing more and

more of this imagery of the Exodus we're

told that they go to a place called chezur

this is going to be another area

probably something that would be like a

river basin where during certain parts

of the year that would have been water

flowing through there it doesn't have to

still be there

there could be some water but there's

definitely going to be foliage kind of

an oasis and again if you go onto Google

Earth you can find these places that are

out in these areas some of them are up

in the mountains and some of them are

down in the valleys

and in fact chezur means something

twisting so you can imagine maybe a

broad or not so broad wadi a valley with

the straight walls going up and maybe

this is where there was a little oasis

kind of again a River Basin and this is

considered to be in the more fertile

part so they're not going too far away

from the borders here the mountains that

are found on the in on the area of the

Gulf of Aqaba and then down further into

the Red Sea this is part of what they

call the frankincense trail this is a

very famous trail we talk about

frankincense with the temple myrrh

with the temple these spices were

brought up through this frankincense

trouble trail especially in southern

Arabia toward where the leaf Heights are

going to end up and bountiful and there

was a trail that would be followed were

traders of these spices that were very

very valuable and not just for the Jews

right not just for the Israelites but

for a lot of the Middle Eastern cultures

that would use this to burn in their

temples they would use frankincense and

myrrh and so this trail had been

developed with probably areas that were

well known of how long it takes to get

to the next stop to stop to get more

water and food when there be somebody

else already there is a large enough for

more than one group of people to stay

but these caravans would have would have

definitely been going through these

areas and along the way therefore

they're finding food with their bows and

arrows their killing game so areas where

there would be small medium maybe even

large game here there were in those

areas probably still are there are

mountain goats if you're going up higher

up into the mountains and even leopards

in these areas so there is bigger game

that can be shot with an arrow or a

sling hit with a sling and that would

last a family for a little bit of time

but you have to imagine that they're out

doing this constantly right that they

are out constantly think about the need

out in a wilderness like this with very

little water and only a few spots of

foliage and game to kill your

they're probably out hunting quite a bit

and so they're following the Liahona and

they're finding places to hunt and this

is based off of their faith right it's

only based off of their faith that they

receive the direction it is in a sense

well it is absolutely an amazing object

lesson on faith right that that okay if

I can have enough faith I will be

directed where I should go again it's

that whole principle of not putting the

cart before the horse it's not putting

the sign before the faith right the

faith comes first and then you have

direction and the sign that you need

it's learning how to work with the Holy

Ghost it's learning how to trust in the

Lord and so then they've been relying on

this hunting for themselves so far and

we're gonna guess here I'll show you why

in a minute that maybe they're about two

to three years in the desert so far when

they stopped in this area and Nephi

breaks his steel bow okay now what we

ought to think about here is that this

is probably not a completely one piece

steel bow that's not what they had back

then that's not what they made what it

more likely would be is also a wood bow

that would have had several ribbed maybe

ribbed areas of metal on it but that it

the wood would still be able to break

and your bow would be done of course at

that point and it would have been very

common in that time to call that bow a

steel bow even though it's still bent a

you know made of bent wood and so they

come back to camp

back to the

Kent without any food and laman and

lemuel are murmuring and even his father

Lehi Nephi's father began to begins to

murmur again reaching back to the story

of the children of Israel right when

they had no food what about they were

gonna starve in the wilderness and even

Aaron for example would have been

murmuring and here Lehi is murmuring and

so that murmuring goes along with this

this very difficult journey and just

having to put everything you have out

there in trust in the Lord which is what

Nephi does and is trying to teach us

with how he's writing this story I mean

the ability for any of us in a modern

world modern Western world here to go

out and be able to do this without

murmuring let's be honest it's a long

shot and it's interesting isn't it that

in every one of these cases where you

have kind of this new dispensation or

this new restoration you have these

stories of Exodus all over the place

just in the Book of Mormon you have the

story of the Levites and the story of

the Jaredites and these incredibly

difficult journeys that they go through

look at the church in in our own little

history here recently with the whole

having to jump around from New York to

Ohio to different parts of Missouri to

Nauvoo and then having to truck out to

sort the Salt Lake Valley this seems to

be a part of what is required of a new

people right you have to be tried in a

furnace and that is what is happening

here with the Lee Heights and so Nephi

his bow is broken his brothers bows have

lost their Springs these bows used

to hold used to be able to work for

about 100,000 shots and you don't hit an

animal every shot you take right and so

this this is probably gives us kind of

an approximate number based on experts

in that field about bows and arrows

anciently probably would have put them

at about three years out of it out of

Jerusalem by the time they would have

lost the springs in their bows and so

Nephi makes a new bow which is an

absolutely incredible feat to actually

be able to create a bow that is going to

work you typically need experts to be

able to do that and he goes to his

father Lehi the patriarch and he asks

him where do I go to find food and Lehi

is humbled actually by Nephi and then

Lehi goes to the Liahona and he reads

there some words that terrify him and so

he's very very humbled because he

murmured and he didn't fully believe

right and Nephi I think is giving us the

example that look there is a plan in

place

remember the lilies of the field right

again that is a phrase that is used

typically in a restoration type of an

example we see it in Section 84 in the

Doctrine covenants we see it in the New

Testament with Jesus and so the Liahona

tells him to go into the tops of the

mountains that's where some of those

goats would have been and other game

that live up more toward the top ends of

the of the mountains very very difficult

terrain and Nephi kills more than one

wild beast and obtains food for the

family

then they tarry for a few more days

they're going to end up in a place

called nay home which we actually know

there is a place called nay home on this

trail that they probably followed it's

probably the only real you could call it

fairly solid archaeological evidence of

the Book of Mormon anywhere is this name

place Naomi and this basically means you

know

morning or a consolation that's what

Nahum probably means which would make a

lot of sense to mention the name

of it if it's where Ishmael dies and

then you have here in 35 we get and it

came to pass that the daughters of

Ishmael did mourn exceedingly because of

the loss of their father so again we've

talked about this before about how the

women are kind of that gateway and

culturally they are typically depicted

in these places obviously at birth but

also at death just like we have the

women at the feet of Christ at the cross

and of course at the tomb when Jesus

exits the tomb he speaks with Mary so

this is right in line with that culture

and then here we are in 37 where things

get very very tense and it says and

laymen said unto Lemuel and also unto

the sons of Ishmael behold let us slay

our father and also our brother Nephi

who has taken it upon him to be our

ruler and our teacher who are his elder

brother in' and in 38 he says now he

says that the Lord has talked with him

well

revelation right this is something

against the Deuteronomists and also that

angels have ministered unto Him

remember that reduction in the hierarchy

the heavenly hierarchy that the

Deuteronomists focus on but behold we

know that he lies unto us because

they’re retracting they’re

retreating back to their ways of

Jerusalem but they hear the voice of the

Lord and the voice of the Lord Chasen's

laman and lemuel and then they did turn

away their anger and did repent of their

sins in so much that the Lord did bless

us again with food that we did not

perish it's interesting this is very

much a thought back then and it's

probably a truth we don't think of it

this way but the aims

did and that is if there's someone among

you who is being sinful then that can be

holding you back from the group back

from receiving blessings think about the

story of Jonah and the Whale right where

Jonah is you know the storm is going and

they're trying to figure out why this is

happening there must be somebody on

board here who has been sinful and Jonah

finally says ok I confess it's me and

they toss him overboard right so they

can save themselves it's the same idea

here that Nephi is ending up with here

saying that because laman and lemuel

turned away their anger that they're now

blessed with food and we're gonna see it

in just a bit here again on a boat just

like Jonah then we get right to the end

of their trip and we're told and it came

to pass that we did take our journey in

the wilderness and we did travel nearly

eastward from that time forth and we did

travel and wade through much affliction

in the wilderness and our women did bear

children in the wilderness it's going to

become

again very very difficult these little

kids that are being born and you're

trying to survive like bed ones now this

by the way in the southern end of Arabia

is going to be exactly where you would

go here cutting across into an area

where there were a lot of bandits there

were bandits everywhere but especially

down in this area and so you would have

to be very very careful and you

especially at night would want to

hide yourself and this would take you

exactly over toward where you would end

up at the southern end of the Arabian

Peninsula but in the meantime they

weren't supposed to have any fires and

so that's a common thing if you read the

few accounts of Westerners that had gone

into Saudi Arabia and lived it with the

bad ones even with Sir Richard Burton

for example you get a picture where

you are always on guard from others

right you're not living in a city they

could be just you and your family and a

few others and

there's a culture there that there

you're gonna be they're gonna be raids

all the time so they didn't want to be

found and so they rarely ever would have

lit a fire and so they ate a lot of raw

meat and this is common back in that

time they would have done that they

would have eaten the kidneys and they

would have been eaten the liver raw and

they even the meat if necessary is

difficult that is that is to eat when

it's raw but they may have just eaten

that straight raw or lit a fire very

quickly in the day just for a little bit

and just soften the meat up just a

little bit by cooking it but it makes

you wonder again about those hundred

sixteen pages and what Lehigh might have

covered about this journey and how

fascinating that would be to really get

an in-depth account of this unbelievable

trip for eight years through the Arabian

Peninsula staying a week or two in one

place moving for another place for a few

months another place for a few weeks and

all of the difficulties that they must

have had and so then in verse five it

says and we did come to the land which

we called bountiful because of its much

fruit and also wild honey this is

fascinating a few years back five years

ago I was reading a book by the Hebrew

linguist as Ione Zev it I did an episode

on this one of the first ones I did and

I came across as I went through this I

came across his discussion of the word

Eden of the Garden of Eden and he's

talking about Eden and what the

etymology of it is where this word comes

from what it really literally would mean

and guess what he comes up with it's

fascinating

yes you guessed it he came up with

bountiful he says that Eden means

bountiful he said that exact word it's

pretty fascinating and there on the

seashore and they say that they called

this orientem which being interpreted is

many waters as probable

has an Egyptian root in it in the word

orientem but this is not their end

place and as much as they are excited

and exhilarated for this bountiful area

that their end says here in verse seven

and it came to pass that after I Nephi

had been in the land of bountiful for

the space of many days doesn't seem like

too long of a period of time the voice

of the Lord came unto me saying arise

and get thee into the mountain and it

came to pass that I arose and went up

into the mountain and cried unto the

Lord

so that would be again just like Moses

going up to sign I'd to have his vision

right that's what he's seeing here

something very similar that's what he is

narrating using that idea of authorship

that what is how is he trying to put

this together remember that Moses went

up the mountain Sinai had a vision and

what did what was that vision really

about that vision was really about

building the tabernacle he sees the

creation vision the Garden of Eden

vision and he comes back down off the

mountain with the tablets and builds the

tabernacle and so what is Nephi doing

here he goes up into the mountain as he

is called just as Moses was to go up

into the mountain and then he comes back

down understanding that he needs to

build the ship and so the ship becomes

like a temple to them it's it says the

exact parallel in that sense that ship

is a is a temple it's the same with the

Jaredites when we get to them as well

with the brother of Jared who goes up on

the mountain and sees the finger of the

Lord and then builds the ships and then

we get again the story of kind of like

the children of Israel here so Nephi

comes back down he says hey I've been

told that I need to build a ship and

they begin to murmur against him again

right just like the children of Israel

in 18 and thus my brethren did complain

against me and were desirous that they

might not labor

or they did not believe that I could

build a ship it's just like the children

of Israel rejecting the higher law right

and neither would they believe that I

was instructed of the Lord they're not

gonna believe in this revelation stuff

and laman and lemuel rejoice over this

that Nephi is now disappointed and

discouraged and then they say something

really interesting here and this is a

key point to understanding how Nephi is

separating him and his father from laman

and lemuel right we get this again just

like as we've discussed often times here

in these first few episodes about the

Deuteronomists it says her in verse 20

and thou art like unto our Father laman

and lemuel speaking to Nephi led away by

the foolish imaginations of his heart

his visions right yea he hath led us out

of the land of Jerusalem and we have

wandered in the wilderness for these

many years and our women have toiled

being big with child and they have borne

children in the wilderness that suffered

all things save it were death and it

would have been better that they had

died before they came out of Jerusalem

than to have suffered these afflictions

all right so they are again

it's their reaching back to Jerusalem

it's like Lot's wife reaching back to

Sodom right they are they're trying to

keep looking me if I has them looking

back constantly to go back to what

Jerusalem is but just like Lot's wife is

looking back to Sodom it's not about the

place or even the comfort

they're saying that's what it is but

talking about them longing for that and

reaching back to it and looking back to

Jerusalem is about what Jerusalem

represents and in this time it

represents a pasta see it represents a

loss of Christ and in 22 here's our key

right and we know that the people who

were in the land of Jerusalem this is

laman and lemuel were a righteous people

for they kept the statutes and judgments

of

Lord and all his commandments according

to the law of Moses wherefore we know

that they are a righteous people and our

father hath judged them and hath led us

away because we would hearken unto his

words

well hearken unto his words as compared

to what has compared to the words of

those that were in Jerusalem right they

are focused just on the law of Moses

this other stuff that goes beyond it

that's been removed

silly vain imaginations of your heart

this idea of a messiah who is Jehovah

that is going to come and be the

ultimate sacrifice in place of the

sacrifices of the law of Moses no we're

not going to believe in that and then

what's really interesting here in

response to this knee if I comes back

and who does he invoke again Moses write

again Moses has been elevated to a place

where to the Deuteronomists and probably

laman and lemuel here to a place of a

pinnacle above a God who would

condescend to them and in fact probably

above an Abraham as well because Abraham

represents the higher law the higher

covenant and remember this whole time

where are they going as they're

traveling to the promised land the

higher covenant and so he talks about

the Exodus here which is exactly what

he's going over and creating a parallel

for throughout the rest of this travel

here through this journey that they're

going through throughout Arabia and it

gives us an idea of what's going on in

Jerusalem he says here as a parallel

here remember they're saying Jerusalem's

righteous and so Nephi says in 25 now

you know that the children of Israel

were in bondage and he know that they

were laden with tasks does that sound like

the Pharisees which were grievous to be

borne wherefore ye know that it must

needs be a good thing for them that they

should be brought out of bondage what

was happening in Jerusalem

and then he says but you know that the

Egyptians were drowned in the Red Sea

well he knows that Jerusalem is going to

fall right and he know also that they

were fed with manna in the wilderness

what has he just been going over that

they would be blessed if they would

follow the commandments that they would

have food and you know that Moses by His

Word according to the power of God which

was in him smote the rock and there came

forth water that the children of Israel

might quench their thirst and here they

are in Bountiful now right the Lord did

watch over them and got them to

bountiful and then he says very

specifically and this is probably

something that really irks laman and

lemuel in 30 he says and notwithstanding

they being led the Lord their God their

Redeemer he's putting this in here he's

writing this in on purpose here going

before them leading them day by day and

giving them light unto them by night and

doing all things for them which were

expedient for man to receive even then

they hardened their hearts and blinded

their minds against Moses so again he's

comparing laman and lemuel to the

children of Israel here then down in

verse 39 a little bit of temple imagery

here we get he ruleth high in the

heavens for it is his throne and this

earth is his footstool right again that

is the holy of holies the throne of God

which was put in in the Temple of

Solomon much larger than the Ark of the

Covenant the Ark of the Covenant put

down into the rock down below the throne

acting as the footstool and representing

the earth then he says something

interesting in verse 40 right where the

children of Israel now under a lower

covenant from what they accepted at

Sinai he's been going over this with

laman and lemuel about Moses and the

children of Israel now he invokes

Abraham and about the Abrahamic covenant

and the reason that they were saved is

because of the Abrahamic covenant or the

higher Melchizedek covenant that goes

along with the oath or the promised land

he says and he loved those who will have

him to be their God behold he loved our

fathers and he coveted with them yay

even Abraham Isaac and Jacob that is the

Melchizedek covenant and he remembered

the covenants which he had made the new

and everlasting covenant wherefore he

did bring them out of the land of Egypt

in other words we are following a

Melchizedek Covenant here Nephi that's

that's what I get out of that Nephi is

saying look there is the lower covenant

and that's what Jerusalem is following

still and look what it's doing to them

right we are following the Covenant of

Abraham Isaac and Jacob there's a higher

covenant here and this is what he has

just experienced Nephi as he's gone

through this vision this this complex

vision of the Tree of Life and then of

the future this prophetic portion of the

vision talking about his people and the

Gentiles and the Abrahamic covenant and

that becomes what the whole Book of

Mormon is about and he's laying that out

here in comparison to laman and lemuel

who want to follow a lower covenant that

doesn't look forward to the higher

covenant and then in chapter 18 we get

me five finish to the ship and we get

the account of both Jacob and Joseph

being born this is kind of interesting

for Lehi and in the way he names his

sons right as you have laman and lemuel

these are Hebrew names and then you have

Nephi and Sam which are most likely

Egyptian names and then you get Jacob

and Joseph well that is a father and a

son and it could very well be that Lehi

here is kind of reaching to his

tribal roots you with his last two sons

here and he's going to Jacob who is

Israel and his son Joseph which is where

Lehi comes from and so as they leave the

old world and going to the ship

the last two sons here kind of sparked

this recognition of who the Lee Heights

are as they leave the old world and head

toward the new world they are a remnant

a specific remnant of the house of

Israel and then of course as they're

traveling on the waters another

terrifying event here this is as bad as

being out in the wilderness and being

close to starvation and thirst laman and

lemuel and the sons of Ishmael tie up

Nephi again this is becoming a habit

here it is they tie him up the storm

that they're in increases and so again

this is just like with Jonah right the

storms that he was in it was because of

him and what he had been doing and in

denying the Lord and his call to go

preach and Nineveh here it's because of

laman and lemuel and the sons of Ishmael

and what they're doing to Nephi and

so just when they think all is lost in

this storm I've been in some pretty

heavy waters before I've done a lot of

sailing out in the open water and it's

it's a little frightful right it's

a little bit frightening being out there

and if this is a big storm you can

imagine the stubbornness of laman and

lemuel not wanting to untie Nephi at the

risk of everybody's lives but they

finally do and then everything calms

down and it's very obvious here that

laman and lemuel are losing their

little power struggle here

the Lord is with Nephi and so the winds

and the currents eventually bring the

leaf Heights to the promised land

I think I mentioned this previously but

it's it's really interesting to me I

think that the new world here is not so

unfamiliar and even though they may not

have known exactly where they were going

who knows I mean they may have heard of

this place that wouldn't be surprising

there was at this time about 600 BC

there

this huge upheaval in society not just

in Judah but throughout the Middle East

and even in the Far East and there

are expeditions and explorations going

on all over the place

boats heading out to explore different

areas it's kind of a craze that's going

on same thing happened in the early 20th

century with Antarctica

so as Hugh Nibley describes it it's a

very axial point of time with a lot of

upheaval and a lot of change but here

they arrive at the promised land but

this is the same place that the mule

kites end up more or less they end up

running into them and it's the same

place that the Jaredites had ended up

more or less they end up running into or

the mule kites end up running into the

last Jaredite that seems awfully

coincidental to me three different

peoples coming from three different

expeditions to at around the same time

fairly close to the same time within a

couple decades maybe and one from

millennia or more before and yet here

they are all encountering each other in

the new world so it might be a place

that the Lord had used oftentimes as a

promised land for other peoples that had

left we know for example the Vikings

ended up in the northeast of up in

Canada and on the upper north coast of

the United States you know I years ago

we know the Chinese ended up coming to

the Pacific coast in Mexico before

Columbus did so it's not so odd that

these groups from the Middle East end up

in the America so it's not so odd that

these groups from the Middle East the

old world end up in the Americas then of

course in nineteen we get a little bit

of theology here we know about

the prophecy that the Son of God will

come about 600 years from this time

Lehi prophecy

that Nephi talks about his crucifixion

they know about these things they know

how he was going to die and they talked

about and used the exact words of he

suffereth right and their smiting him

this is all stuff that you hear from

Isaiah for example this is all focused

on the Redeemer and the restoration of

the knowledge of the doctrine of Christ

and it appears that in the brass plates

we there are other books there that we

don't have in the Old Testament today

surprised because what do they focus on

maybe very explicitly they focus on the

Son of God we're told here that the God

of Abraham Isaac and of Jacob yieldeth

yieldeth himself according to the words

of the angel as a man into the hands of

wicked men to be lifted up there's that

phrase again this is a phrase that has

been around at least well definitely

even before the brazen serpent according

to the words of zenok a lost prophet and

to be crucified according to the words

of Miam so before this time again they

know he's going to be crucified and to

be buried in a Sepulcher according to

the words of zenus and we get right here

already the sign of the three days of

darkness at his death and that even this

sign would be given to those that

inhabit the Isles of the sea and more

especially given in to those who are of

the house of Israel so when you hear

things like well the Book of Isaiah

really doesn't really specifically talk

about the Son of God or of the Lamb of

God it talks about something like that

that could be construed as Jesus Christ

just remember that here we have evidence

that the prophets spoke specifically

about Jesus Christ even to how he was

going to die and that he would be buried

in a Sepulcher and that he would be spit

upon

and that it would be dark for three days

it's hard to imagine that Isaiah didn't

at one point talk about that in a more

explicit manner and ii5 says here again

now it came to pass that I needed teach

my brethren these things it's about

Jesus Christ and it came to pass that I

didn't read many things to them which

were engraving upon the plates of brass

including about Jesus Christ and he says

here interestingly enough in 23 this is

important and I did read many things

into them which were written in the

books of Moses but that I might more

fully persuade them to believe in the

Lord their Redeemer see he's got to get

them to believe in Jesus Christ I did

read unto them that which was written by

the prophet Isaiah for I did liken all

scriptures unto us that it might be for

our prophet and learning now in chapters

20 and 21 we get some Isaiah chapters

I'm not going to go into that right now

I'm gonna wait till we get a little bit

more heavy into that in a second Nephi -

to bring that in and so we can really

focus on what's going on with Nephi as

he obsesses over Isaiah and inserting

these chapters but what is interesting

is where he starts off with I'll get to

that a little later on but he's starting

off here with chapters 48 and 49 and

he's building into this area here of

Isaiah that is crucial very messianic

it's a Masonic and very covenant

driven with the house of Israel and the

Gentiles and Nephi is is he's likening

himself to what's happening here in

Isaiah because he sees that his family

is a remnant of Israel and that they

play right into what Isaiah is talking

about as a general rule of prophecy with

the house of Israel being scattered and

with the gospel going to the Gentiles

that's exactly what the role of the

Nephites and Lamanites are they are

scattered right they leave the

old-world they go across the Great

Waters they come to a promised land they

keep a record that is focused on the

doctrine of Christ and restoration of

what has been lost in Jerusalem and then

that book that that is about their

dealings with the Lord and with each

other is preserved and brought to the

Gentiles brought to Joseph Smith brought

to Ephraim and Nephi sees his role in

his descendants role in all of this and

it's exactly what Isaiah describes in

his book and so Nephi here ends his

first book on these words of Isaiah

talking about the Messiah and talking

about the Abrahamic covenant in the

beginning of his book he starts like

talking about the Savior and the

environment in Jerusalem and in the end

of his book here in first Nephi he ends

up talking about the Savior the Redeemer

and using messianic verses from Isaiah

and about how his people here now

scattered from Jerusalem play an

imperative role in the prophecies of

Isaiah I'll talk to you next time