1 Nephi 11-22

In Chapters 11-15 Nephi's vision continues, and Nephi sees a lot. He sees the Saviour's birth, ministry, apostles, death and resurrection, the revelation of John, the loss of parts of the Bible, the discovery and colonising of America, and the restoration of the gospel and establishment of Zion.

I said in class that that's a huge amount of prophecy, and I was right in that. But I also said he saw events which would occur in the next 600 years, which is like us predicting events up to 2620. I was wrong. He's actually seeing events right up to the present day - 2,600 years. Which is like us predicting events up to the year 4260. Wow.

I asked why Nephi gets so much prophecy at a time when the rest of Israel was just beginning to have an awareness that there might be a messiah coming. I don't have the answer to that question, but various suggestions were made. Possibly, I felt, because Nephi and his family were leaving the holy land and needed to have some idea of the role they would play in Israel's history despite being far away, although it was pointed out that knowing how their descendants were going to destroy each other can't have been much fun. Possibly because of who Nephi was - and because he was particularly righteous. Anyway, Kevan said that it must have been pretty mindblowing for him at the time, and doubtless he didn't fully understand all that he'd seen.

Within these chapters is the prophecy of the coming forth of the Book of Mormon itself, and its relationship to the Bible. It's a long, eloquent passage in 1 Nephi 13:20-41, and among other things talks about the "plain and precious" truths that were lost from the Bible over the years, some of which are restored in the Book of Mormon. In a talk in the October General Conference in 2017 President Nelson listed some of these:

The Book of Mormon refutes notions that:

• Revelation ended with the Bible.
• Infants need to be baptized.
• Happiness can be found in wickedness.
• Individual goodness is adequate for exaltation (ordinances and covenants are needed).
• The Fall of Adam tainted mankind with “original sin.”

The Book of Mormon clarifies understanding about:

• Our premortal existence.
• Death. It is a necessary component of God’s great plan of happiness.
• Postmortal existence, which begins in paradise.
• How the resurrection of the body, reunited with its spirit, becomes an immortal soul.
• How our judgment by the Lord will be according to our deeds and the desires of our hearts.
• How ordinances are properly performed: for example, baptism, sacrament, conferring the Holy Ghost.
• The Atonement of Jesus Christ.
• The Resurrection.
• The important role of angels.
• The eternal nature of priesthood.
• How human behaviour is influenced more by the power of the word than the power of the sword.

Remember a couple of lessons ago I mentioned the friend who had asked whether I could continue to be a disciple of Christ but "without that book"? Here's another reason we need the Book of Mormon, eloquently explained by Tad R. Callister.

“The Bible is one witness of Jesus Christ; the Book of Mormon is another. Why is this second witness so crucial? The following illustration may help: How many straight lines can you draw through a single point on a piece of paper? The answer is infinite. For a moment, suppose that single point represents the Bible and that hundreds of those straight lines drawn through that point represent different interpretations of the Bible and that each of those interpretations represents a different church.

“What happens, however, if on that piece of paper there is a second point representing the Book of Mormon? How many straight lines could you draw between these two reference points: the Bible and the Book of Mormon? Only one. Only one interpretation of Christ’s doctrines survives the testimony of these two witnesses” 

AB aside: I don't know why he's worried; he looks as though he could wrestle a mammoth with his bare hands.

Facing challenges

Nephi's family faced a lot of challenges in these chapters. Eight years in the wilderness with uncertainty about what they would eat, bickering and fighting, Ishmael’s death, building a ship… I’m just going to focus on one of these challenges to show what we can learn to help us face our own challenges.

In 1 Nephi 16:18, Nephi records, "I did break my bow, which was made of fine steel." In the ancient Near East, kingly status, military power, and the right to rule were all symbolized by the bow. (See 2 Nephi 5:19) Nephi had a particularly fine bow, with greater range and accuracy than a wooden bow. It may have broken because of the increased heat and salinity of the air and the changed humidity as they travelled, the same reason Laman and Lemuel’s bows “lost their springs” (16:21)

His family were very angry and "extremely sorrowful" (20). Understandably, since they were "much fatigued, because of their journeying" and "they did suffer much for the want of food." (21) And the whole family was upset. "Laman and Lemuel and the sons of Ishmael did begin to murmur exceedingly" (no surprise there) "and also my father began to murmur against the Lord his God." (20) Even Lehi is complaining! But this is a serious problem - they could starve.

So what did Nephi do, and what can we learn from it?

1. Recognised the problem (21)
2. Tried to talk about it with his family - got it out in the open (22)
3. Used his own initiative to fix the problem (23). Nephi didn’t wait to be told, and unusually for him he didn't even ask God first. Making the wooden bow was undoubtedly difficult and  it wouldn't be as good as his old steel bow, but he didn't allow those to be excuses and did it anyway. He also only made one arrow – was that because he had so much faith? Christine suggested it was a "prototype", and she has a point. The arrows from his steel bow may well not have worked with his new bow, so he didn't waste time making more before he'd tested it.
4. He took backup – a sling and stones. So maybe he didn't have much faith in that one arrow after all, but it's good that he had a plan B and was prepared to enact it. We speculated that it's harder to kill big animals with a sling and stones.
5. Despite Lehi's murmuring, Nephi still respected his father enough to ask him where he should go to hunt for food. He still recognised his father's authority.

There's our blueprint: recognise the problem and talk about it; use you own initiative to fix it and accept no excuses; have faith but also have a plan B; still show due respect for those in authority.

I didn't get time in the lesson to ask how Nephi's family were blessed as a result of Nephi's faith and action. 

1. Lehi humbled himself again, which led to the Liahona working (30)
2. Nephi was able to find food (31). If you watch the Book of Mormon videos you'll see there's a sweet little point made. When Nephi and his brothers first go out hunting together with their original bows they bring back some birds, "a brace of pheasants" perhaps. Then later, when Nephi goes out with his new bow and single arrow he comes back with a fairly large deer. In other words, his hunt is more successful after the trial of his faith.
3. They came to a bountiful land of honey and fruit (17:5) (This is beautifully depicted in the Book of Mormon videos.)
4. Because they were unable to cook their meat God made it "sweet" to them and they were able to eat it raw. As Colin put it, they ate "jerky". (17:2 & 12)

They faced real serious trials and danger, but at 1 Nephi closes this large family are doing well, building a boat, managing not to kill each other, and ready for the next stage of their adventure. We too can come through trials, and be blessed as a result of our faithfulness and courage.