Latest / Scripture Central / 2 Nephi 3-5 | Feb 12-18 | Book of Mormon Matters with John W. Welch and Lynne Hilton Wilson

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2 Nephi 3-5 | Feb 12-18 | Book of Mormon Matters with John W. Welch and Lynne Hilton Wilson · Scripture Central

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Welcome back to Scripture Central.
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I'm Lynn Hilton Wilson and this is John W Welch.
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We are really excited to talk with you today about second
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Nephi chapters 3-4 and five. These are beautiful chapters.
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Nephi's Psalm, Lehigh's Death, The Separation of the Family,
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the Building of the temple, these it covers almost possibly
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30 years, maybe a little over 20, and history.
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So we've got a lot compacted in three short chapters.
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But before we get to those parts, we have one other item of
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business to deal with, and that's Lehigh's blessing to
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Joseph. Well, let's talk about the four
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Joseph's then. How can we tell which Joseph
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we're talking about here, Lynn? Chapter 3 has four different
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Joseph's mentioned Joseph's son of Jacob as Jackson, Joseph of
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Egypt, and then Joseph the son of Lehigh.
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This very, very young boy, he's probably less than 10 at the
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time. But these prophecies are given
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like a patriarchal blessing that extends throughout his life.
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And then he prophesized that through the seed of Joseph, son
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of Jacob will come forth a seer, a choice seer.
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And that is, we believe Joseph Smith because he's also named
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after his father, Joseph Smith. And those are the four Josephs
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that are in this chapter. And I have in my margins of this
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chapter 3. Joseph one, Joseph 2, Joseph 3.
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Because it does get confusing sometimes.
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But the amazing thing is Lehigh has a record of Joseph.
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Really, Lehigh has a record that we don't have in our Bibles.
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It must have been on the brass plate.
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There's more there. That Joseph's story in Egypt is
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an amazing story, of course, as as he goes, he's sold into
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slavery by his brothers. When they come down and need to
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be helped, they're starving. The famine is going on, and
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Joseph has risen to such prominence there in Egypt, but
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he's in a position to be able to save the household of Jacob.
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All of the 12 sons of Jacob would have died if it hadn't
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have been for Joseph in Egypt. Lehigh he's a descendant of
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Joseph, which he says right here in chapter 3 verse four.
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I am a descendant of Joseph who was carried A captive into
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Egypt. This is the first time we learn
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that he is not from Judah, even though he was living in
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Jerusalem. That's correct.
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And that gives him a special interest in the story of Joseph.
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And maybe he knows that enough. Lehigh does that.
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He names his last born Joseph. And remember Joseph was one of
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the younger sons. He has one younger brother, but
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Joseph is one of the youngest. In the 12 tribes of Jacob.
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Tribes. Yes, and we see the same pattern
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here. But here we have a a wide
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expanse of ages between the oldest and the youngest of
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Lehigh and Soraya's children, and it makes for a complicated
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family situation. But Lehigh wants them all to to
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be united and to know that there will be a great blessing that
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will come from this youngest one.
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I wanted to start in the text, if you don't mind letting me
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read from chapter 3, verse 7. Joseph said so he's reading the
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record from the brass plates of Joseph of Egypt.
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Thus saith the Lord unto me, a choice seer will I raise up from
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the fruit of thy loins, and he shall be esteemed highly among
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the fruit of thy loins. This choice seer he goes on to
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describe in verse 9, He's going to be like Moses, and he's going
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to have great knowledge. And this seer will I raise up
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out of the fruit of thy loins, and unto him will I give power
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to bring forth my word unto the seed of thy loins.
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Not to the bringing forth of my word only, saith the Lord, but
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to the convincing of them of my word which shall already have
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gone forth among them. He's talking about the Book of
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Mormon. I think he's saying, And Joseph,
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you're going to have a record, and this record is going to come
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forth from the feud of your loins, from this seer.
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And it is going to in verse 12 confound the false doctrines.
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What you've been describing here is Joseph Smith.
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Yes. Who will be this choice seer?
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Yes, who will be, in a way, like Moses?
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So it's interesting that Joseph Smith will come, will bring
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forth the law as Moses did, but he will also organize Israel as
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Joseph organizes the Church. Joseph Smith, of course, will
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fulfill many functions and roles because he's bringing forth the
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fullness of the gospel. But one of those from Lehigh's
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perspective, is he will now be the successor of the tradition
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of Moses, which is not just to one tribe, the tribe of Judah.
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But Moses is bringing together all of the House of Israel and
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gathering them, as will be said here, from even the Isles of the
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sea. And they think they are on an
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island, they say, and so they feel like they are remote.
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They are obscure, but they will not be forgotten.
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And the great promise is, I am sure, of this thing, Lehigh
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says. I am sure of the promise of
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Moses. For the Lord hath said unto me,
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I will preserve thy seed forever.
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So Lehigh knows that his legacy, his seed, will not die out.
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And indeed, through the survival of the Lamanites and lots of
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others, the the posterity of Lehigh has survived, and they've
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gone to the Isles of the sea, as is said here, and a lot of other
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places, and they will be gathered.
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And The Gathering is the most important work we should be
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doing. Now this choice seer who's going
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to translate the records of Lehigh's descendants, is going
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to have a record that is going to help teach the truth of the
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Bible, which is powerful. And I have seen that fulfilled.
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And I think we know this is Joseph Smith because of verse
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15. If we haven't been convinced
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yet, the name that she shall be called after me, and it shall be
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after the name of his father. There it is.
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There's our four Josephs right there.
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And this record, The Book of Mormon that we love and are
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studying this year, has one main purpose, and that is to testify
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of the truthfulness of the Bible.
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We have Jesus's record in the Old World and Jesus's record in
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the New World. How can we get a clear and
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coherent understanding of the complexities of the Bible?
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The Book of Mormon is the answer because it deals with so many
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things, but from a different time and different perspective.
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And when you put these two points together, as Tad
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Collister has said so well, and many others, if you have two
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points, you have a straight line between those two points.
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If you just have one point, you can have lots of different lines
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spinning out of that single point.
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And I think also it's it goes both ways that there are certain
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things that we don't find in the Book of Mormon that are then
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added and clarified by what we have in the Bible.
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So it's a two way St. we'll take for example Paul's statement
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about the organization of the church.
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There were some apostles, prophets, pastors, teachers,
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evangelists and so forth. We don't have that kind of
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statement in the book of no. That's 600 years later.
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So you have to have both. But if you put them together and
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take what is consistent and compatible between the two you
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you get the clear and precious and plain things that are
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necessary and have been restored.
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This blessing to Joseph then ends again, reminding us of the
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covenant. These beautiful verses on
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remember the covenant. I will not break my side.
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If you would please keep yours. And then in 24 he talks about
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the mighty wonders, and he wants him to be an instrument in their
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hands to bring forth God's great work.
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I feel the same messages are given to us.
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You know, we as the Latter Day Saints, whether we're from
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Joseph or not, many of us are adopted into that tribe or one
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of the 12 tribes to bring forth this great work.
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So in a sense, this chapter is about us.
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We are the ones who are trying to confound false doctrines and
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bring together again the gathering of Israel.
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And that's how I think these two books will grow together and be
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one in our hand. When we read them both and read
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them together, they reinforce mutually one another, the Bible
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and the Book of Mormon. They aren't inconsistent with
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each other. They they fill in each other's
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gaps and we have a fullness when we are through with the two
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reading. And in fact, let's look at verse
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12 for just a minute where Lehigh says something very
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similar to what Ezekiel said in chapter 37.
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And bear in mind that Ezekiel and Lehigh were contemporaries
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of each other. Lehigh may be a little older,
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but the image and the idea of two sticks that will be brought
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together somehow. And a stick is a scroll.
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That's where their scriptures were.
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And those two sticks, it says, shall come together, and for the
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reunification and the of Israel, and also the clarification of
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doctrine. So this is a relatively obscure
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passage, but it becomes completely clear through the
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fulfilment of this prophecy by the Book of Mormon.
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There's nothing else that comes close to fulfilling this
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prophecy, as does the Book of Mormon.
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Chapter 3 finishes the blessing of Joseph and then in chapter
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four we have the blessings to the grandchildren and Sam and
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Ishmael's children and the daughters.
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And I love the fact that he goes back again to the images for the
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Garden of Eden and says you children will not be punished
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for your parents sins. You will may have to have some
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of the consequences of living their lifestyles, but you will
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not be punished. Those punishments will go on
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your own. You know right from the start
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this idea that we are not punished for Adam's
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transgressions and Jack, this was revolutionary in in
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understanding the scriptures and we need the Book of Mormon here
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to get these kind of details. To see it applied that way, of
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course there was a principle in Deuteronomy, chapter 24, verse
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16, which is an interesting one, right in the law.
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Deuteronomy says the fathers shall not be put to death for
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the children, neither shall the children be put to death for the
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fathers. Every man shall be put to death
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for his own sin. Joseph Smith expresses this idea
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in the second article of faith. We believe that a man will be
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punished for his own sins and not for Adam's transgressions.
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And he could have added and not for his children's or his
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parents transgressions either. We are individually accountable
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for what we do. And and this is so normal to us
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in our faith tradition, we don't realize this is a different
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theology than others have. That's right.
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And in the laws of different nations at the time of Lehigh,
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it was common for children to be put to death for the wrongs of
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their their parents. For example, in the Law of
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Hammurabi, if a doctor operates on someone's child and the child
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dies, the punishment is that the doctor's child will be put to
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death. Oh dear.
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But but this idea that that somehow justice has to balance
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things out, or that that's that's the best way to get
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doctors or other people, that's a principle that could apply to
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many different kinds of situations.
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But it was a misunderstanding. But Deuteronomy makes it clear
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that we are individually responsible for even within the
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family. We're not responsible for what
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our parents do and we're and our children are not responsible for
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what. And even though we read that in
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Deuteronomy, with Lehigh restating it, here we get the
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clarification because in the 19th century most of
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Christianity believed in the depravity of man.
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Humanity is born in wickedness, and they are naturally evil, and
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they are doomed for Satan's world unless they come unto
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Christ. And Lehigh does not give that
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message as he finishes up these beautiful blessings.
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And skipping down to verse 12, it came to pass that after my
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father Lehigh had spoken unto his household according to his
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feelings of his heart and the spirit of the Lord which was in
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him, he waxed old, and it came to pass that he died and was
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buried. And from this point forward we
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get Nephi's beautiful Psalm. And I see it so appropriately
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after the death, because there is a time of mourning and
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lamentation, and I don't know if he's writing this immediately
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and then retranslates it later and records it in his record,
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because we don't think he's really writing this record until
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years later. But whenever he's writing it,
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this is one of the most human sides of Nephi we see.
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We're taking a look into his heart.
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I love Nephi's Psalm. Nephi also shows here not just
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his ability to share his emotions.
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He he is an open person who admits his weaknesses.
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He realizes our vulnerability. Maybe he's learned this by the
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hardship and the disappointments.
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And maybe thinking, I wonder what I could have done to to
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have been better to laymen and Lemuel so we wouldn't have
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divided. Lehigh is now dead and Lee we
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can't look to Lehigh to bring us together anymore.
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So Nephi it's. Very reflective.
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He he is. He's very honest, very candid,
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and it's a good model for us. Lots of times we we need to
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admit our weaknesses and admit our problems and within the
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family, let people know how much we we rely on each other.
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And Nephi yearns for that. And so Nephi takes some time I
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think, to compose this. I do too, I.
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I don't think that this beautiful composition just
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somehow rolls off the the tongue, and particularly as as
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it's being inscribed on the plates.
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This is kind of Nephi's farewell to his father, but also his
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recognition that without his father, on whom he has relied so
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much, he now must turn even more to the Lord.
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You mentioned the idea that this is a lament.
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We have a book in the Old Testament called Lamentations.
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Jeremiah. And of course, Jeremiah saw a
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lot of things to lament over. Lamentations were often composed
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and used in connection with funerals because that's when
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people mourn, and sometimes for prolonged periods.
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And they had songs of mourning and lamentation to help emote
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and to unload the the burdens and the problems that and the
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loneliness and the loss that they're carrying.
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These Lamentations show up not just in Hebrew literature or or
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in the Old Testament. They also show up in other
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ancient, Near Eastern and classical languages.
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I was fascinated to see that Nephi's Psalm follows this
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ancient structure. I looked at some laments in the
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Psalms Psalm 13 and 34, Seventy 140, as well as the Jeremiah
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text, and they all start with an invocation and then their
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complaint, and then they do this confession of trust.
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After they describe their own weaknesses, they trust in God.
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Then they have their petition to God, and it ends with this
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promise and vowed to God that they will follow.
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And I just think of Joseph Smith translating this lickety split
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as fast as a quill could go. And he had no idea of this
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ancient pattern, and I only know of it in the Old Testament.
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But you said there are patterns of this outside of the Old
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Testament. Some Homeric.
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Structure of this of the. Limitations as well.
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Yes, OK, well, it's it's exactly right here.
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It's a bullseye. This text is an ancient text.
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This is one of another evidence of the Book of Mormon.
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Yeah, and it is. It's a beautiful passage.
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And it's it's not just following mechanically a, you know,
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stylized kind of lamentation. He's not just pretending this
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this is so personal. Oh, let's get in the text to see
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the personality of it, because it is personal.
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Let's just dive right in chapter 4.
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So starting in verse 15 I write the things of my soul right
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there. It tells us Jack, he is going to
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be open and transparent with us here.
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And he says his soul delights in scripture, which is very evident
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because he quotes the Old Testament of the brass plates
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over and over but he ponders them.
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What a what a good example for me.
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But verse 16 is where he starts this beautiful lament.
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Yes, go ahead. Behold, my soul delighteth in
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the things of the Lord, and my heart pondereth continually upon
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the things which I have seen and heard.
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This is a nice couplet of parallelism, and this will
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happen in many of these verses. Where the verses are actually
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two parts, they complement each other.
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Here he's saying, my soul delights in the things of the
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Lord. So this would be all anything
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pertaining to the Lord, especially in in Nephi's world,
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the scriptures, the temple, the sacrifices that were being made,
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the teachings and instructions, and my heart ponderous
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continually upon the things which I have seen and heard.
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His own personal experiences. That's right.
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That personal revelation here is put maybe not on par, but at
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least coupled with the things of the Lord.
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And we follow that model too, that the scriptures are
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scripture, but they need to be adapted and and implemented and
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personalized. And notice he says, My heart
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pondereth continually upon the things which I have seen and
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heard. So he hasn't forgotten the
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visions that he has seen. He he hasn't forgotten the words
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that the Lord has spoken to him. He probably more than just
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ponders them. He's probably reciting them,
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remembering them. They have that tradition of
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memorizing books of scripture. Yeah, exactly.
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But from this beautiful little 2 verses here, 17 now says.
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Notwithstanding the great goodness of the Lord in showing
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this great marvelous work, my heart exclaimeth And here he
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goes. O wretched man, that I am, Yeah,
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my heart sorroweth because of my flesh.
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My soul grieveth because of my iniquities.
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I am encompassed about with temptations and sins, and they
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so easily beset me. He becomes a real person to me
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here. Yes, he knows the goodness of
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God. Then why does he have a bad
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thought about his brothers or why does he get angry about in
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some little thing? You know, I this is just, I
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think all of us can just slip into Nephi's life here and say I
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have the same experience. And when I desire to rejoice, my
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heart groans because of my sins. You know our our consciences
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kind of come in there and try to cut us off.
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We know who's presenting those things to to not allow us to
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have these spiritual experiences, to raise doubts in
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our minds and in our spirits. Nevertheless, he says, I know in
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whom I have trusted, Amen. And I think that we can all say
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that we know in whom we have trusted.
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We We may not know all of God's purposes, but we know in whom we
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have trusted. And He can trust him because He
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continues on to say He's my support during afflictions in my
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wildernesses, and He has filled me with His love to the
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consuming of my flesh. Now I have never experienced
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that, but I've never experienced the trials that He has either.
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And if there is opposition, perhaps that's why but the
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consuming of my flesh. What does that mean?
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I don't know. Well, the flesh, of course, is
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in opposition to the Spirit. And so I think he's saying that
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when the Spirit comes to us, our flesh becomes less significant.
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We become less conscious of these sins.
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They they fade into the background and we can now
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concentrate on the Lord and on his righteousness.
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And the Spirit is the cleansing power, so the the the sins would
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be cleansed. And that's when he remembers
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back to the time when his enemies quaked before him.
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And he talks about his visions in 23 and the prayers and the
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angels that came. I just love every word of this
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Psalm. And yet he then asks again in 27
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Why should I yield to sin because of my flesh?
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Why should I give way to temptation?
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I'm I'm sure we've all asked ourselves this question.
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Why should my soul linger in the valley of sorrow, and my flesh
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waste away, and my strength slacken because of mine
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afflictions? This is such an important
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question. And notice he will ask why?
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Why? Why?
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Why there are 4 why's there? We've mentioned this before that
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Elder Ballard has encouraged us to ask these why questions.
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He once said. He once said that the why
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question will be the most likely question to help open ourselves
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to revelation. And he says, why am I angry?
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Because of my iniquity. Now these, of course, are
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rhetorical questions. And then the answers start
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coming in 28. Here is where he answers his
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whys. That's right.
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And he starts out by quoting Awake.
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My soul no longer dupin, sin, Rejoice my heart, and give place
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no more to the enemy of my soul. Do not anger again because of
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mine enemies. So that's the enemy of his soul,
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is that he's getting angry about his enemies.
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Or or his brothers. I think that's who he's
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referring to. Yep.
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Do not slacken my strength because of mine affliction.
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Rejoice, O my heart. Cry unto the Lord.
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And it's interesting. If heart means mind as well,
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then in addition to emotions, then he's saying, I have got to
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control my thoughts and I've got to control my emotions.
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And I'm going to take charge and I am going to cry unto the Lord.
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This is all verse 30. Lord, I will praise thee
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forever. Yeah, I will rejoice in thee, my
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God, my rock of my salvation. So how do we leave the times
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when we're encompassed by our sins and our frustrations and
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our enemies and our anger? Well, he gives us a step by step
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process where we can go through this, a handbook.
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And you begin. I will cry unto the Lord.
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You address the Lord and he will begin here a series of O Lords,
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six of them. O Lord, I will praise thee
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forever. That's making a promise.
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By being thankful, you get out of your own point of view.
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You're thinking more of how much you appreciate and are benefited
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by what he has done. Not only will I do this, I will
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do this forever. Yeah, my soul will rejoice in
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thee, my God, and the rock of my salvation.
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You know that that phrase rock of my salvation is also in the
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Psalms. Nephi is drawing upon a number
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of Psalm phrases. It's almost like a mosaic of the
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psalms. Here and you wonder, how can he
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pull these phrases together? I think they had memorized.
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Which psalms had he memorized? Most of them?
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When would they have memorized them?
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As they sang upon the their walking, and as they he was in
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Jerusalem. But mostly in the temple, the
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Psalms is the hymn book. Of course, but.
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But they probably didn't have each had their.
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Own hymnal. Their hymnal where they could, I
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don't. Think so?
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They had to have them memorized. And I think they also, we have
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indications that as they went to the temple, they would sing
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these songs as they walked. Yes, yes, the songs, The hymns
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of ascent. Yeah, yeah, Verse 31.
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Wilt thou redeem my soul? Now this is so interesting to me
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because do you remember Lehi finishes by saying the Lord will
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redeem my soul from hell. And here Nephi is asking the
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same question. You've shown me such great and
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wonderful things, and I still blow it.
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I still fall, I still become a victim to anger.
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And then he says. Will you still do?
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It will you redeem my soul. Let's look at that word redeem
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for just a minute. Oh, I love it.
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Because the concept of redemption, we think of it just
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in a theological sense. But if you go to Leviticus
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chapter 25 for the end of that chapter, there are several
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verses that talk about the Redeemer and if you become a
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slave, or if you become so poor that you have to indenture
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yourself to someone else and work for that person.
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You need a Redeemer to buy you back.
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That's right. And who can be your Redeemer?
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It has to be a relative of yours, has to be a family
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member. Otherwise, you know, if you're
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maybe you have a neighbor who isn't your relative, but he
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thinks, well, I'd like to have that person come work for me.
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Oh, so he's not doing it to get you out of slavery, He's trying
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to do it to increase your servitude?
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But you don't want to create a market no where people can say,
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well, I'll buy that person. Or you don't want a situation
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where you have become a slave or an indentured worker to someone
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and that person says, well, I don't like what you're doing.
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So a Redeemer is a family member.
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So I'll put you up for sale in the marketplace.
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They can't do that. He can say I will release you
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and let you go home, but there are only certain people who have
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the right to come in and redeem you.
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And Jesus is our brother, and so he is a relative who can come
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and exercise the right of redemption.
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Now what Nephi is asking for here is be come and redeem my
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soul. I am at risk of becoming a
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captive, a slave of the devil, and you can come and buy me.
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Give me my freedom. Continuing in verse 31, do you
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see down there the last line? He's asking the Lord to help him
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shake at the appearance of sin. Oh, yes.
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That's wonderful. I know.
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I just tried that in my own lives.
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What does that shake? What does that mean to shake?
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Recognize that what I'm about to do is offensive to God.
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Help me to be repulsed from it. Help me to be repel.
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How about afraid of It? Yes.
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Shake at the fear of it. OK, shaking at the fear.
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Of it, knowing the consequences of it, after expressing his
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willingness, want to be delivered, want to be redeemed
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and shaking at sin, rejecting it.
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Now he wants the Lord to do his part, and the Lord is requested
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to may the gates of hell be shut continually before me.
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Because that's the redemption that he needs.
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He needs to be redeemed from hell.
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Yeah, and who's going to shut those gates?
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Oh, Jesus Christ. And that will happen because my
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heart is broken and my spirit has contrite.
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So there we have again the broken heart and contrite
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spirit. Oh Lord, wilt thou not shut thy
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gates of thy righteousness Before me?
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Let me walk in the path of the low valley that I may be strict.
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In the plain Rd. we talk about the covenant path.
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And here the promise is if you'll let me walk in that
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pathway. I know it's the low path,
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meaning it's in the valley. I'm not having to climb up over
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rugged mountains. The Covenant path is smooth.
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It's nice. It's there's probably water
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along the side of it. But I will be able to walk in
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the low Valley, and if so, I will be strict in the plain Rd.
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What does that mean? I won't wander.
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I'll be strict in keeping all of the observances and the needs of
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walking in the covenant. And the way we go from flirting
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with the gates of hell to the gates of righteousness is
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through having a broken heart and contrite spirit and strict
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in walking on the Lord's path. Because Christ says I am the
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way. This is what he's saying.
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The plain Rd. can mean that it's plain and obvious, but it also
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can be like a plain it's level. It's not filled with rocks and
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bumps and things like that. And that's the way the path of
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righteousness is, is a plain way.
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Sometimes we over complicate things and we you know, we wish
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life were more exciting and you know things like that.
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But the plainness and the simplicity in many people, Jesus
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say, says, well, we'll stumble because of the plainness, the
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simpleness of the way. And then comes my favorite
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verse, verse 33. Oh Lord, wilt thou encircle me
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roundabout in the robe of thy righteousness?
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Oh Lord, will thou make my escape before my enemies?
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Will. They'll make my path straight
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before me. Will they'll not place a
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stumbling block in my way, but that I would clear my way before
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me and hedge on up my way the ways of my enemy.
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This reminds me of that ancient definition of the atonement.
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The ancient definition. Do you remember?
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Hugh Nibley describes this, Cahar, The idea that you're
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escaping from your enemies. You're running in the
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wilderness. You're fleeing and you prostate
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yourself before the tent of a Sheikh, pleading for redemption,
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pleading for safety and and food and security and help me for my
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enemies. And then if the Sheikh will take
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the door flap of this tent or or his own clothing, whatever, and
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he covers you as you're fleeing, and then you embrace in this
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opening of the tent, of this opening of the Tabernacle, you
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embrace and then you're welcomed into his presence for safety.
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If that is the root word for a tone, Nephi is describing it
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perfectly. Here he is going to be encircled
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in the robes of righteousness after he has escaped from sin.
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His enemy is sin. It's not his brothers.
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It's sin. And as you say, the the Hebrew
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word cofer can mean to cover, and the powers of Christ cover a
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multitude of sins. And what we're asking for here
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as the gates of righteousness, those are the temple doors.
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I think the whole thing is temple symbolism.
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The robes of righteousness are temple.
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Clothing, putting on temple garments.
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And if you do that, then the way will be clear and my enemies
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will have no power over me and I'll be covered.
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You've got my my needs covered. It's it's such a powerful idea
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and expressed so beautifully in this Psalm, he continues on in
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verse 34. I have trusted in thee.
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So remember back to the the the five stages of the classic
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lament that you talked about Stage 4.
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Was that at some point in this lamentation process, the person
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who is lamenting will make an actual petition will ask that
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something be done. Pleading to the Lord.
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It's not just enough to to weep and to mourn, but to say, Lord,
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what I would like you to do is this.
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Make a request in honesty and he will answer your request and
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hear. What Nephi is asking for is
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encircle me around in the robe of thy righteousness.
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He doesn't want to be made. A king doesn't want a King's
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robe. He simply wants to have the
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righteousness as the the aegis, the the protection and the
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lament. Pattern then ends with stage 5,
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where you make some kind of a vow of praise, and verses 34 and
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35 do exactly that. I have trusted in thee, and I
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will trust in thee forever. There's the there's the vow.
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Isn't it right there? He keeps going.
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I will not put my trust in the arm of flesh.
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For I know that cursed is he that put this trust in the arm
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of flesh. Yay, cursed is he that pursed
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his trust in man or maketh the flesh his arm.
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I know that God will give me liberally to him who asketh.
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Yay, my God will give me if I ask not amiss.
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And that is so beautifully because he's it.
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It sounds a little bit like James.
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You know when James says you've got to ask and God will give you
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liberally. At least the word is twice used
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in both those verses. Not that he's the quitting the
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same, but we everything we ask for is not for our best.
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We have to say thy will be done and we have to say good, better,
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best if I ask, not amiss. I think it's a huge addition to
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all of our prayers, all of our petitions, all of our vows.
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And then in reciprocity, what can we offer?
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And Nephi finishes by saying, Here's what I'll do for you,
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Lord, I will lift up my voice unto thee.
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I will cry unto thee, my God, the rock of righteousness,
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Behold, my voice shall forever ascend up unto thee my rock and
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mine everlasting God. Amen.
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Amen. That is the Psalm of Nephi,
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Chapter four, one of the most powerful open hearted prophets.
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Messages that we can all apply. And I remember reading this and
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starting to notice how, O Lord, O Lord, O Lord, how many times
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does he use O Lord, Because with six O Lords and four other times
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just Lord, which is 10. Now the word Lord here is almost
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always a translation of the word Jehovah Yafei.
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And that cannot be pronounced under Jewish ritual procedures
36:18
in the Temple out loud except and there is an exception and
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you know when it. Is Day of Atonement at the Veil
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Day of. Atonement and the High priest
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can then speak the name of Jehovah out loud 10 times, but
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it has to be 10 because 10 is the perfect number.
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So you were you were right that this has a lot of Day of
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Atonement overtones. And Joseph Smith translated this
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by the gift and power of God. He would never have known that
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little Old Testament detail. And isn't it?
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You know, I just want to say that a lot of these insights
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that I am grateful for have come to me when I've been trying to
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serve other people. I don't think that these kinds
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of insights or understandings or awareness and internalizing
37:18
these things are are just given to us for our personal
37:22
amusement. They are given to us when we are
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blessing other people so that we can bless other people.
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And I think that's what Nephi is doing here, too.
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He wants to bless his children and grandchildren.
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He wants to bless the efforts that they are now turning to, as
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they say farewell to Lehigh. And now we'll turn attention to
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building a temple. That's Chapter 5.
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And that's where we go next. And the Nephites?
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Before they can build the temple, there is a separation.
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So the brothers have finally, now that Lehi has died, they
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finally start attacking Nephi to try to kill him.
38:08
As I mentioned last week when we went through the organization of
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all these parallels between first Nephi and 2nd Nephi, this
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is one of them. Lehi's family had to leave
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Jerusalem, and now Nephi's family will have to leave the
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land of their first inheritance. And as they do so, they don't
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really want to, but they're able to take with them the records,
38:30
the brass plates, the Liahona, which was then called the
38:33
compass or the ball. It's not called the Liahona till
38:35
later. Lots of people come, everybody.
38:38
In fact, it says also my sisters.
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Now this is the first references sisters.
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Some people have suggested the sisters were born between Jacob
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and Joseph. And that's why it's my last born
38:49
in the wilderness that there was in between Jacob and Joseph, you
38:52
know, had this second family almost kind of an idea, all
38:55
those who believe in the warnings of the revelation of
38:58
God, wherefore they did hearken unto my words.
39:02
And they took their tents. And just like Lehigh did they,
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they did it again. They also take the Sword of
39:08
Laban and they go out and it says in verse 16, once they get
39:13
to this new place, it says many days that they're traveling.
39:15
But once they get there, I did build a temple, and I did
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construct it after the manner of the Temple of Solomon.
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So I don't know if that meant it was 90 feet by 30 feet by 30
39:25
feet or if that meant we just had a holy of holies and a holy
39:27
place. But this is so interesting
39:29
because we have not had they, they're not from Aaron.
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They're not of the priesthood authority.
39:36
This is coming because of the Holy Order of God, which we'll
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talk about more next week. But they're building this
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temple. One of the very first objections
39:45
that was raised by Alexander Campbell against the Book of
39:48
Mormon in 1831 was the idea that there can only be one place
39:53
where there is a proper temple. Oh, OK.
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Because Deuteronomy chapter 12 talks about the place and trying
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to centralized the worship of Jehovah there in Jerusalem.
40:04
And so he said this. There's a problem here, but in
40:08
fact. We do find archaeologically that
40:12
there were temples in many other places in ancient Israel.
40:16
Jerusalem was not the only place.
40:19
We don't know exactly when and why they used those other
40:22
temples, but we know that there were several.
40:24
He ends verse 16 by saying and the workmanship thereof was
40:28
exceeding fine, and then he talks about there being
40:31
industrious and laboring with their hands.
40:33
And doesn't that make you think of some temples that have been
40:35
built? Yes, like Kirtland.
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And Salt Lake and so many others.
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The the dedication of temples comes not from the materials
40:46
that are put into it, but by the the hearts and the devotion that
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go into the planning and the labor.
40:54
And some people giving their lives to make these temples
40:58
possible. And I think Nephi wants us to be
41:02
clear that the workmanship we gave it our very best.
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I also think it's significant that the Old Testament, at least
41:12
initially before the the first captivities centered around the
41:15
temple. It's not until later that they
41:18
start centering around the law, but the temple was the central
41:22
focus and here we see the same pattern.
41:24
This is an ancient text and then verse 27 says they live after
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the manner of happiness. So verse 28 says he's been 30
41:38
years, have passed away, they've got the temple built, they've
41:40
got teachers teaching, they're living after the manner of
41:42
happiness. And it's only been 30 years
41:44
since they left Jerusalem. But then there's only just a
41:47
couple verses. We talk about making other
41:50
plates before it's 40 years, so we really jump a huge section of
41:55
time here. So Nephi says here that I had
41:58
kept the records upon my plates of Nephi, which we would call
42:03
the large plates of Nephi. And the large plates of Nephi
42:08
begin with the book of Lehi. So we had Lehi's work, and then
42:13
Nephi has been writing kind of his chronicle of what they've
42:17
been doing. But now he is inspired to make
42:21
another set of plates, and this is for the prophet of thy
42:26
people, and on them will be Engraven, the things which are
42:32
pleasing to God. I think it's important that the
42:37
second set of plates is being created in connection with the
42:41
consecration of Jacob and Joseph as priests and teachers, because
42:48
the first set of plates will be will remain the record of the
42:53
the public officers, the history, and that the large
42:59
place will then serve the king and the royal household.
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But now we're going to have a sacred record.
43:07
Well, these three chapters are some of the most beautiful
43:10
chapters in all of Second Nephi. And they testify of Christ.
43:14
And I add my testimony that Jesus is the Christ, the
43:18
Redeemer of the world, and they testify of the Atonement and the
43:21
way that we can remove ourselves from sin through repentance and
43:24
forgiveness. This is one reason why I love
43:28
the Book of Mormon. And the Book of Mormon never
43:32
disappoints me at all levels of spiritual instruction, of
43:38
truthfulness, of brilliant interaction with other
43:43
traditions and texts, solving personal problems and family
43:48
problems and national problems. But most of all, helping us, as
43:55
Nephi does when he pours out his soul to be on a good
44:00
relationship with our Heavenly Father and with our Savior,
44:04
Jesus Christ, and knowing that he is our Redeemer, makes life
44:13
meaningful and happy and joyous for me, and I'm sure, for
44:19
everyone who takes this and integrates it into their lives.
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And I say that in the name of Jesus Christ, Amen.
44:27
Amen.