THE
FIRST BOOK OF NEPHI
HIS REIGN AND MINISTRY
This introduction was written by Nephi
himself. All other chapter headings
were provided by the Church for the 1981 edition.
1 Ne 1:1 Nephi’s introductory
statement
Nephi’s introduction is typical of
Egyptian writings.
Hugh Nibley
“The first three verses of 1 Nephi,
sharply set off from the rest of the text, are a typical colophon, a
literary device that is highly characteristic of Egyptian compositions. Typical
is the famous Bremer-Rhind Papyrus, which opens with a colophon containing (1)
the date, (2) the titles of Nasim, the author, (3) the names of his parents and
a word in praise of their virtues, with special mention of his father's
prophetic calling, (4) a curse against anyone who might ‘take the book away,’
probably ‘due to fear lest a sacred book should get into impure hands.’ Compare
this with Nephi's colophon: (1) his name, (2) the merits of his parents, with
special attention to the learning of his father, (3) a solemn avowal
(corresponding to Nasim's curse) that the record is true, and the assertion, ‘I make it with mine own hand’ (1 Nephi 1:3)--an
indispensable condition of every true colophon, since the purpose of a colophon
is to establish the identity of the actual writer-down (not merely the ultimate
author) of the text. Egyptian literary writings regularly close with the
formula iw-f-pw ‘thus it is,’ ‘and so it is.’ Nephi ends the main
sections of his book with the phrase, ‘And thus it
is, Amen’ (1 Nephi 9:6; 14:30; 22:31).” (Lehi in the Desert/The World of the Jaredites, p. 15.)
1 Ne 1:1 I, Nephi, having
been born of goodly parents
Joseph
F. Smith
“After all, to do well those things
which God ordained to be the common lot of all man-kind, is the truest
greatness. To be a successful father or
a successful mother is greater than to be a successful general or a successful
statesman. One is universal and eternal greatness, the other is ephemeral….Let
us not be trying to substitute and artificial life for the true one.” (Gospel
Doctrine, p. 358, taken from Latter-day Commentary on the Book of Mormon,
compiled by K. Douglas Bassett, p.2)
Heber J. Grant
“We
have heard gratitude expressed by many of the speakers because they, like Nephi
of old, have been born of goodly parents. I feel that I would be unworthy the
wonderful teachings and the magnificent and splendid example of a widowed
mother who reared me, if I too did not lift my voice here today and thank God
for a mother who loved Him, who loved the religion of Jesus Christ, whose life
was an example above reproach, than whom I knew no more loyal, patriotic and
true Woman among the Latter-day Saints. I thank the Lord for my father,
although I never knew him. I have had love lavished upon me by the leaders of
this Church and by influential men from one end of this country to the other,
because of the love and respect which they felt for my father… It is indeed a
wonderful and a splendid thing to be born of goodly parents; and it is one of
the saddest of all sad things where the sons and the daughters of goodly
parents are recreant to the faith of their parents, when they are careless and
indifferent, where they fail to honor their fathers and their mothers, and
thereby fail to honor their God, where they follow after the things of this
world, and allow the ideas of men to blind them.” (Conference Report,
April 1913, p. 112 - 113.)
Carlos
E. Asay
“I’m
convinced that special blessings await the youth who reverence their parents
through the good times and the bad times-when honest mistakes are made and when
the wise suggestions prove to be right. Most of us, like Nephi, were born of ‘goodly parents,’ and the best we can offer in
return is to strive to be goodly children.”(The Road to Somewhere: A Guide
for Young Men and Women, p. 94.)
1 Ne 1:1 I was taught
somewhat in all the learning of my father
Lehi
was known to be wealthy, and some have speculated that he was a merchant who
had frequent trade with Egyptian merchants.
There was considerable cultural influence from Egypt in Jerusalem at
this time and Lehi certainly knew the Egyptian language. Lehi was also well versed in the things of
the Spirit. Therefore, Nephi was likely
‘taught somewhat’ in the secular and ecclesiastical
learning of his father.
Hugh
Nibley
“In the brief compass of Nephi's account, which is an
abridgment of his father's own journal, whose type it imitates and continues ("1 Ne. 1:21 Nephi 1:2,
"1 Ne. 1:15"1 Ne. 1:1615-16), we are given an amazing amount of
information, both general and particular, regarding conditions in Lehi's day.
From this it can be shown that Lehi has an excellent claim to being a
thoroughly representative man of his time and place. First consider what the
Book of Mormon says.
1
Ne 1:1 having
seen many afflictions in the course of my days, having been highly favored of
the Lord in all my days… therefore I make a record of my proceedings in
my days.
Nephi
is making this record long after his arrival in the land of promise. His writings are more like his personal
memoirs than a daily journal.
Apparently, Nephi began writing on the large plates of Nephi not long
after arriving in the Americas (1 Ne 19:1-5).
However, he did not begin to record on the small plates of Nephi until
30 years after their departure from Jerusalem (2 Ne 5:28-33). This is significant because his record is
colored by the wisdom and perspective of his age; unnecessary details of daily
affairs are not included. Nonetheless,
Nephi is able to describe the spiritual experiences and revelations with
remarkable detail.
1
Ne 1:2 a
record in the language of my father, which consists of the learning of the Jews
and the language of the Egyptians.
This
passage has engendered quite a bit of controversy among Book of Mormon scholars
who are trying to determine the language Nephi used to record his history. The traditional teaching is that the Book of
Mormon was written in “reformed Egyptian,” a script which used symbols capable
of conveying entire concepts in much less space than Hebrew. The term, “reformed Egyptian,” comes from
Moroni’s description in Mormon 9:32.
There is speculation, however, that the language of Moroni’s day was
considerably different than that of Nephi’s day. Moroni admits in that verse that it had been handed down and altered by us, according to our manner of
speech. Any linguist knows that
languages can transform quickly, especially over hundreds or thousands of
years. Nephi doesn’t name the language
he used; he says it was the language of my father. Lehi was a Jew of the tribe of
Manasseh. Hebrew would have been his
primary language. However, scholars
have noted Lehi’s wealth and the obvious influence of Egyptian culture on Book
of Mormon writings and practices. These
suggest that Lehi was a prosperous merchant who would have had much trade with
Egyptian merchants. He undoubtedly knew
their business language. Nephi suggests
that this language was part of the learning of my
father and the learning of the Jews. This would have included learning how to
speak and write the Egyptian language of Lehi’s day. No scholar is as qualified to teach on this subject as is Hugh
Nibley, who said:
“’We now
realize that the ancient Jews could write quickly and boldly (in Hebrew), in an
artistic flowing hand, with the loving penmanship of those who enjoy writing.’
And the Nephites got rid of this to learn in its place the most awkward,
difficult, and impractical system of writing ever devised by man! Why all the
trouble? Simply to save space. What space? Space on valuable plates. When did
the custom begin? With Lehi. Where and when did he learn ‘the language of the Egyptians’? In Palestine, of
course, before he ever thought of himself as a record-keeper. Did the wealthy
Lehi learn Egyptian characters so that he could sit in his house in the land of
Jerusalem and by writing Hebrew with demotic (a form of Egyptian writing which
differed from classical Egyptian hieroglyphics; it was used for recording
deeds, books, etc.) symbols save a few cents a month on writing materials? And
did he command his sons to learn Egyptian so they could save space when they
kept records? Of course not: when they learned the language, neither Lehi nor
his sons had any idea that some day it would be useful to keepers of records on
metal plates. They had no other reason for learning Egyptian characters than to
read and write Egyptian. It was only later when historians became cramped for
space that they saw the advantage of continuing to write in Egyptian. And the
Egyptian characters can only have been preserved for their use because the
language was also preserved…”
”The fact
remains that the abridging and editing of the Book of Mormon was in a language
known to no other people on earth but the Nephites.” (Hugh Nibley, Lehi in
the Desert and The World of the Jaredites, pp. 16-17)
In conclusion, what was the language
used by the writers of the Book of Mormon?
The short answer, “reformed Egyptian,” is probably more helpful and
accurate than the long answer discussed above.
1 Ne 1:4 the first year of the reign of
Zedekiah
Daniel Ludlow writes, “Lehi and his
family apparently fled from Jerusalem in ‘the first
year of the reign of Zedekiah, king of Judah’ (1 Nephi 1:4, 2:1-4).
According to the Bible (2 Chronicles 36:11), Zedekiah was twenty-one years old
when he was made king over the kingdom of Judah by Nebuchadnezzar, the leader
of the Babylonian empire. However, the exact date of Zedekiah's ascension to
the throne is not mentioned in the Bible, although nearly all of the scholars agree
it must have been within a few years of 600 B.C.” (A Companion to Your Study
of the Book of Mormon, p. 89)
Although Lehi and his family left
Jerusalem not long after this, Jerusalem was not besieged by the Babylonians
for another nine years, And it came to pass in the
ninth year of his reign, in the tenth month, in the tenth day of the
month, that Nebuchadrezzar king of Babylon came, he and all his army
against Jerusalem, and pitched against it, and built forts against it round
about. So the city was besieged unto
the eleventh year of king Zedekiah. (Jer
52:4-5) Later in chapter 52, Jeremiah
describes the unfortunate fate of Zedekiah; his sons (all except for one who
would later travel with his people, the Mulekites, to the promised land) were
killed before his eyes, and then he had his eyes ‘put out.’ (Jer 52:8-11)
1 Ne 1:4 Lehi is a biblical name.
Judges 15 records that the
Philistines came to a place called “Lehi” to battle the men of Judah. Lehi was within the area given to the tribe
of Judah after the Israelites had settled in Canaan. The name Lehi means “jawbone” or “cheekbone”. Interestingly, this was the place where the
mighty Samson killed a thousand Philistines with the jawbone
of an ass (see
Judges 15:9-17).
1 Ne 1:4 Why was there more than one prophet in the
days of Lehi?
Some students of the gospel
identify so strongly with the president of the church as “the Prophet” that
they are bothered by the presence of multiple prophets in Old Testament
times. Who was the President of the Church
in Lehi’s day? Was there one predominant prophet?
First of all, there is
almost always more than one prophet on the earth at one time. Currently, there are 15 men on the earth set
apart as Prophets, Seers, and Revelators.
What makes the President of the Church unique is that he is the only man
on earth who has authority to exercise all the keys of the priesthood, even
though those keys were given to him when he was first ordained an apostle. Today’s organization of prophets is much
different than in Lehi’s day.
In the Old Testament, there
was no “President of the Church.” The presiding priesthood authority under the
Mosaic Law was the high priest of the Aaronic Priesthood (2 Kgs. 22:8; Neh.
3:1). Since the ecclesiastical institution of the time was governed by the
Aaronic Priesthood, these prophets (most of whom had obtained the Melchizedek
priesthood through personal righteousness) were not ecclesiastical
administrators in the same sense that they are today. Rather, they received
mandates from the Lord to perform specific prophetic functions. The prophet Jonah is a good example; he was
commanded of the Lord to preach repentance to the city of Nineveh. Lehi was commanded to prophecy to the Jews
regarding their impending destruction and to call them to repentance. Other Old Testament prophets were given
special callings to counsel the king in conjunction with their responsibility
to cry repentance to the people, e.g. Samuel, Nathan, Isaiah, and Jeremiah. They may have been the major prophets of their
day but they were not the administrative leaders of the religious organization
under Mosaic Law.
1 Ne 1:4 there came many prophets
The justice of God requires that he
warn the people before they are destroyed.
2 Kings 17:13 says Yet the Lord testified
against Israel, and against Judah, by all the prophets, and by all the seers,
saying, Turn ye from your evil ways.
In the case of the Babylonian captivity, the Lord sent several prophets
to warn the people. Lehi, Jeremiah, Ezekiel,
Habakkuk, Nahum, Urijah (Jer 26:20-23), Zephanaiah and Obadiah were probably
all contemporaries, and all but Obadiah and Nahum are known to have prophesied
specifically about the destruction of Jerusalem.
1 Ne1:5 Lehi…prayed unto the Lord, yea, even
with all his heart, in behalf of his people
It is noteworthy that Lehi’s answer to
prayer came after he prayed even with all his heart,
in behalf of his people. Enos
received an answer to his prayer because of his diligence and humility. This is a good example of a tiny pearl of
truth often found in the Book of Mormon.
One secret to getting your prayers answered is to pray, even with all your
heart.
1 Ne 1:6 And
it came to pass
This is the first use of this phrase commonly
found in the Book of Mormon. Mark Twain joked that if the phrase, ‘And it came to pass,’ were removed from the Book
of Mormon, it would be just a pamphlet. However, the phrase is very typical of
ancient texts.
Hugh Nibley
“Nothing
delighted the critics more than the monotonous repetition of ‘it came to pass’ at the beginning of thousands of
sentences in the Book of Mormon. Here again is something that Western tradition
found completely unfamiliar. Instead of punctuation, the original manuscript of
the Book of Mormon divides up its phrases by introducing each by an ‘and,’
‘behold,’ ‘now,’ or ‘It came to pass . . . .’ Simply outrageous--as English
literature, but it is standard Egyptian practice. Egyptian historical texts,
Grapow points out, ‘begin in monotonous fashion’ always with the same stock
words; at some periods every speech is introduced with the unnecessary ‘I
opened my mouth.’ Dramatic texts are held together by the constant repetition
of Khpr-n, ‘It happened that’ or ‘It came to pass.’ In Egyptian these
expressions were not merely adornments, as Grapow points out, they are a
grammatical necessity and may not be omitted. Paul Humbert has traced the
origin of prophetic biblical expressions to archaic oracular formulas. At any
rate they are much commoner in Egyptian than in the Bible, just as they are
much commoner in the Book of Mormon. However bad they are in English, they are
nothing to be laughed at as Egyptian.” (Since Cumorah, p. 29)
1 Ne1:7 Lehi is overcome with the Spirit
Intense spiritual experiences often
have the effect of draining one’s physical strength. This seems to be the case with Lehi. Three other examples of this phenomenon are as follows, 1) Daniel
sees the Lord in a glorious vision, then remarks, and
there remained no strength in me (Dan 10:8), 2) king Lamoni had been
overcome by the Spirit for two days, when he awoke he announced, I have seen my Redeemer…. Now, when he had said these
words, his heart was swollen within him, and he sunk again with joy; and the
queen also sunk down, being overpowered by the Spirit (Alma 19:13), and
3) Joseph Smith and Sidney Rigdon saw the vision of the three degrees of glory
together while at the Johnson farm in Hiram, Ohio. There were other men in the room who witnessed their countenances
as they received D&C section 76.
One of these men, Philo Dibble recorded the scene as follows, “Joseph
sat firmly and calmly all the time in the midst of a magnificent glory, but
Sidney sat limp and pale, apparently as limber as a rag, observing which,
Joseph remarked, smilingly, ‘Sidney is not as used to it as I am.’” (Juvenile
Instructor, May 1892, pp. 303-4) See also 1 Ne 17:47.
1 Ne 1:8 he
thought he saw God sitting on his throne
For some reason, a variation of this
phrase was also used by Alma in describing his vision of the throne of the
Almighty. Alma records, Yea, methought I saw, even as our father Lehi saw,
God sitting upon his throne (Alma 36:22). Certainly, both were
transfigured to witness what they thought they saw.
1 Ne 1:8
numberless concourses of angels
“This expression reminds us,
perhaps, of Daniel who saw ‘the Ancient of Days’
on his throne: ‘Thousand thousands ministered unto
him, and ten thousand times ten thousands stood before him.’ [Daniel
7:9-11] All ready to carry out his commandments. Daniel says, ‘the judgment was set and the books were opened.’
Or, as we should say, the court was in session. Judgment was about to be
pronounced upon the ‘four beasts,’ that is,
the Babylonian, the Medo-Persian, the Macedonian and the Roman Empires.”
“The vision of
Lehi was analogous to this. But the impending judgment in his vision was upon
Judah and Jerusalem, and not upon pagan empires.” (Commentary on the Book of
Mormon, ed by George Reynolds, Janne Sjodahl, and Phillip Reynolds, chap. 1,
p. 9)
1 Ne 1:9 Who was the One descending out of the
midst of heaven?
The Savior was the
One. This is consistent with the next
verse as there were twelve (apostles) others who were following him.
“I love the Book of Mormon most of all because it has
led me to a fuller understanding of the life and mission of Jesus Christ and
has opened my heart wider to experience His love. The Book of Mormon testifies
of Christ from the very first chapter, where Lehi sees ‘One
descending out of the midst of heaven [whose]
luster was above that of the sun at noon-day’ ("1
Ne. 1:91 Nephi 1:9), to the very last chapter,
where Moroni says, ‘If ye by the grace of God are perfect
in Christ, and deny not his power, then are ye sanctified in Christ by the
grace of God, through the shedding of the blood of Christ, which is in the
covenant of the Father unto the remission of your sins, that ye become holy,
without spot’ ("Moro. 10:33Moroni 10:33). Through the many testimonies of
Book of Mormon prophets and through Christ's own words to the Nephites, I have
come to exclaim, as does Nephi, ‘I glory in
plainness; I glory in truth; I glory in my Jesus, for he hath redeemed
my soul from hell.’ ("2 Ne. 33:62 Nephi 33:6; italics added.)
1 Ne 1:11 the
first came….and gave unto him a book
Books shown to prophets in vision
usually have messages of doom for the wicked.
Lehi was fortunate that he only had to read the book. Ezekiel and John the revelator were both
required to eat the books shown to them in vision. (see Ezek 2:9-3:3 and
Revelation 10) The content of the book included the wickedness of the Jews,
their impending destruction including death by the sword, the Babylonian
Captivity, the coming of the Messiah, and the redemption of the world (see v.
19).
1 Ne 1:16 he hath written many things which he
saw in visions and in dreams
The next verse makes it clear that
Nephi is abridging the record of his father.
Many of the visions and prophecies of Lehi would likely have been
recorded in the book of Lehi which was lost with the 116 pages (see
D&C10). Nephi doesn’t have room on
his plates to rewrite them all. This also helps us to distinguish between 1
Nephi and 2 Nephi. The former was an abridgement of the record of Lehi (with a
lot of personal additions from Nephi). The latter was Nephi’s own record.
1 Ne 1:20 the Jews… were angry with him… and
they also sought his life
Lehi was just one of myriad
of prophets who were rejected in Jerusalem.
The Savior himself was no different.
The Jewish history of rejecting the prophets prompted the familiar
statement from the Savior, O Jerusalem, Jerusalem, thou that
killest the prophets, and stonest them which are sent unto thee, how often
would I have gathered thy children together, even as a hen gathereth her
chickens under her wings, and ye would not. (Matt
23:37) See also 2 Chron 36:15-16 and Jer 35:15-17.
“In order to understand why the
people threatened the life of Lehi when he prophesied concerning the impending
destruction of Jerusalem, it might be necessary to review briefly the
historical situation in the Near East about 600 B.C. When the Book of Mormon
record begins in Jerusalem about 600 B.C., the kingdom of Judah is a vassal
state of Babylonia and is ruled by a twenty-one-year-old puppet king, Zedekiah.
The great military and economic powers in the Near East at this time are: (1)
Babylonia, which just a few years before had defeated the Egyptians at the
Battle of Carchemish and had thus ‘earned’ the right to control the small
kingdom of Judah (‘southern’ kingdom), which is located between these two great
powers; (2) Egypt, which had passed the peak of her military power but still
had great cultural and economic influence; and (3) Assyria, which had conquered
the kingdom of Israel (‘northern’ kingdom) about 722 B.C. and was awaiting
further opportunities for conquest.
“Zedekiah does not want his
kingdom to be under the control of Babylonia, however, and he and some of his
advisers are considering forming an alliance with Egypt in an attempt to throw
off the Babylonian yoke. Jeremiah and the other prophets of the Lord are
warning against such an alliance. The position of the prophets is not a popular
one with the political and economic leaders of Judah, however. Hence the
prophet Jeremiah is persecuted and frequently thrown into prison (the
references in the Bible that refer to this period are 2 Kings 23-25; 2
Chronicles 36; Jeremiah 2639). Lehi, another prophet, is warned by the Lord to
flee from Jerusalem to escape the destruction that the prophets state will
surely result from an alliance with Egypt (1 Nephi 1:12; 2 Nephi 2:1-4).”
(Daniel H. Ludlow, A Companion to Your Study of the Book of Mormon, pp.
90-91)
1 Ne 1:20 the
tender mercies of the Lord are over all those whom he hath chosen
Neal A. Maxwell
“’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.’ ("1 Ne. 1:201 Nephi 1:20;
italics added.)
“The
Lord teaches us much about Himself through His ‘tender
mercies.’ He also teaches us much about that which we may become, as we
confront, on our scale, the individual curricula of our lives. His most apt
pupils, of course, are the men and women of God. In those instances of record,
the Lord has displayed much gentleness and tenderness in His tutoring of such
individuals. The pattern usually involves His disclosing more about Himself and
about His work, thus expanding the horizons of the person being tutored. He is
likewise reassuring and assigns that favored individual a portion of His work,
including declaring the gospel, while making special promises. The pattern,
though mercifully scaled, is there in the lives of all true disciples.” (Meek
and Lowly, p.115.)