Latest / Scripture Central / 1 Nephi 1-5 | Jan 8-14 | Book of Mormon Matters with John W. Welch and Lynne Hilton Wilson

Transcript

1 Nephi 1-5 | Jan 8-14 | 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, who I will
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  refer to as Jack. We feel so honored to be able to
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  talk about this sacred text. And as we begin each week for
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  come follow me with Scripture Central, you can find all of the
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  notes. You just go to Book of Mormon
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  Central and you'll be able to find the John W Welch notes for
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  this. In addition to it, the Notes
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  Jack has prepared a fabulous book for us.
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  It's much shorter, shorter. It's like a Cliff note version
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  of our lessons that we're going to be talking about.
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  So if you want to follow along, you can either check the long
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  version for those of you who really want to get all of the
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  details, or a Cliff notes version right here that's
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  available either online or at the bookstore.
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  But we're thrilled to be able to be here today.
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  Yes, and and Lynn, the entire archive is a wonderful resource.
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  I hope people will go there and find lots of things, all the the
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  books and articles. So much has been written on the
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  Book of Mormon about the background of this story, and
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  we're beginning in the last time we talked about the title page.
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  And I think it's interesting that Moroni, of course, writes
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  the title page knowing how the story is ending.
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  Yeah, he's very familiar with all the details of Nephi all the
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  way down. He knows how it's all going to
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  turn out, but what do you make of the fact that Nephi and Lehi,
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  they didn't know that at the beginning?
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  In fact, even in the text it says not knowing beforehand, you
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  know, they they're completely walking by faith.
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  It's a very different story and it's not a journal.
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  Nephi is writing his text that we have anyway of first Nephi,
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  what do you think 30 years after?
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  So he's still got a little bit of historical perspective.
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  And Jack, in his vision, he gets the vision of the world.
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  But it's different, I think, when you have to walk the steps
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  of life. Exactly.
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  He He doesn't know where they will end up and how this will
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  work. He knows they have to leave
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  Jerusalem, but they live in a world of great uncertainty. 600
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  BC. And.
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  You know, I just love the stuff that Nibbley has written on
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  this. It's the most advanced time in
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  the history of the world that we know of with so much travel.
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  The Phoenicians are building boats and the Greeks are
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  starting to come up with their ideas.
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  And it it's really an advanced, in fact, Hugh Nibbley says this
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  is not just a guest date that a young boy is saying, let's start
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  a story in 600 BC. This is absolutely the best time
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  to start a new civilization, the best time to be traveling,
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  because people knew how to travel and their languages were
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  known by each other. Starting out in verse two, he
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  says, I make a record in the language of my father,
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  consisting of the learning of the Jews and the language of the
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  Egyptians. And who would have known in the
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  19th century that that was such a thing.
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  And now we have so many records where people are doing exactly
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  what Nephi said. Egyptian was well known and
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  people are using the Egyptian alphabet in their own languages.
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  Yeah, and that tells us that Lehigh was probably a caravan
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  here. I know Brother Nibley says.
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  He's a merchant. He's going back and forth.
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  And he knows his way around. Brother Trednis thinks he was
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  also a blacksmiths of some sort. You have to be.
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  If you're going to be traveling, you got to be making your own
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  tools and yeah. So it there's a lot of these
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  little details that make this story really come to life and
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  it's a wonderful and important story.
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  You say 600 BC was a time of of not just turmoil but fundamental
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  beginning. Buddha comes from that same time
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  period and the Greek, like you say the awakening of the Greeks.
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  Nibley and others call this the Axial period because it's the
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  axis on which so much in world history turns.
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  And so out of that Axial period comes the Book of Mormon, which
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  of course is the clearest statement of what the real big
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  picture of the world is all about.
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  And as we talk about the Book of Mormon today, the things that
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  are well known and well understood, I think we probably
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  won't spend as much time on because we want to spend the
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  time on the things that are a little bit harder to understand.
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  But I feel the history really allows you to appreciate this as
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  a divine work of God. You know, this is a marvelous
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  work and a wonder, and unless you realize how perfectly it
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  fits in anyways, we see the Hebraic poetry and all the
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  stylistic things and the little references to the Law of Moses
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  and the Judaic culture in Jerusalem.
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  As the Babylonians are going, let's point them out.
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  Right there in Jerusalem is Lehigh Lone Ranger.
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  Is he the only prophets that's there?
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  Yeah, yeah, yeah. I love this.
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  Point I do, and he's preaching all throughout chapter one.
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  At the same time that we've got Jeremiah, now the Book of Mormon
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  mentions is Zenic and Zennis and Nahum, but we also have Eurija
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  that's mentioned at the time of do you remember he's mentioned
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  in the book of Jeremiah as a prophet who is they're they're
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  furious that he's going to say Jerusalem to be destroyed.
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  So they kick him out, he goes, he goes fleeing as a refugee to
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  Egypt. And that was his mistake,
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  because the ruling party in Jerusalem had connections with
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  Egypt and so they were able to extradite him, require the
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  Egyptians to send Urijah back. And they kill.
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  Him. Oh, do they ever?
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  And I'm sure it was a public execution.
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  And Jeremiah tells us that Urijah wasn't even given a
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  burial, and that is the worst humiliation for the for the
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  deceased and for the family that you could do in that world.
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  And do you think Lehigh was there watching that?
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  Well, it's a much smaller city, the city of Jerusalem.
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  We still call it a city By 600 BC, you know, you've already
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  lost your northern tribes. You've already we've already had
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  one of the deportations. So Daniel and maybe Ezekiel have
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  already been taken to Babylon. And so the wealthy and the
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  educated young men have already been taken.
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  And the 2nd deportation to Babylon is just on the heels.
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  And then we have the third deportation in the complete
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  destruction. So it's not like Lehigh is
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  speaking in a vac, You know, everyone knows that the
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  Babylonians are coming and there's trouble coming and
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  they're right overshadowing them with these deportations.
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  So the city is smaller. I think Nephi and Lehigh would
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  have been well known. You know, when you're dealing
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  with less than 10,000 people within the walls, archaeologists
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  have lots of numbers and I appreciate that.
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  But we're not dealing with a large city.
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  We're dealing with a town and people knew each other.
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  And on something like an execution, I think people heard
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  about it. But Lehigh's land is out of
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  town. So I don't know if the young
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  boys would have heard it if they were out working in the farm.
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  I I don't know exactly what the situation was, but I I I do
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  think it says in chapter one, verse one, you know, he's he's
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  from the area of Jerusalem. He's working in this town.
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  We know that Lehigh, even if he wasn't there, he would have
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  heard of it. When Lehigh goes out and prays
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  because he's so concerned about this, his first vision is a
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  pillar of fire on a rock. We don't know what that rock
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  was. But we know what the pillar of
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  fire is in the Old Testament's always the Shahina.
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  That's right. And then God says to him, And
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  now Lehigh, I've got an assignment for you.
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  I'd like you to go out and deliver that message.
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  And I think he said, wait a minute, didn't Urijah already
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  try that? And Jeremiah and Ezekiel and
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  yeah, yeah, yeah. It didn't go so.
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  Well, no, we have so many prophets.
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  But he's not. God is not giving up.
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  Why does he need to have Lehigh do it again?
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  You know, we need second witnesses.
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  We need third witnesses. And I feel like people don't
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  have a newspaper to read. Well, I'm sure they had some
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  sort of things to read, but they it communication is completely
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  different. You have to have voices in every
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  quarter. It was very needed to
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  communicate the message shape up or you're going to be destroyed.
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  And it's already happening. In fact, it's interesting to me
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  that both Jeremiah and Ezekiel say go to Babylon, that's the
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  plan. And Lehigh is told don't go to
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  Babylon and don't. Go to Egypt.
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  And well, everybody says don't go to Egypt, but that's
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  politically what they wanted to do.
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  And Urijah had tried that. Well, and Jeremiah is taken
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  there. So the only way out is Arabia.
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  But let's keep talking about his vision.
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  So he has this pillar of fire, It's on the rock, and he's
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  called by God like so many prophets are.
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  And we have multiple witnesses like this today too sometimes,
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  don't you think when we listen it to general conference, we've
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  kind of heard some of this before, but the message has to
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  be repeated over and over again. And each time the message has a
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  little bit more or a little different meaning for me.
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  How many times have I read First defy chapter one?
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  And this time through I have got different things out of it.
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  If we approach our scripture study with prayer, I think the
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  Lord will guide us to learn what we need to learn.
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  Absolutely, as many times as it takes.
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  His long-suffering, tender Mercy will keep teaching us until we
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  finally get the point. So as Nephi proceeds, the next
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  thing he wants to tell us is about Lehigh's vision that
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  Lehigh comes home, he's exhausted, he collapses on his
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  bed, and then he has what is called a throne.
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  Theophany. He sees God on his throne.
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  Theo. God, yeah.
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  There are other instances in the Old Testament where God is seen
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  on his throne. Isaiah Chapter 6, Ezekiel.
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  We can go through the whole list.
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  Amos. Many many many prophets.
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  Moses burning Bush. Yeah.
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  But none actually give us the same details that Lehigh does
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  and when he sees God sitting upon his throne, surrounded by
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  numberless concourses of angels. Well, that sounds like the Book
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  of Revelation. Of praising and singing praises
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  to their God, and so on. This is an experience that many
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  have many of the prophets will see.
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  Now when Nephi preserves this text, and it was probably also
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  in the book of Lehigh, which we don't have.
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  Alma would have known about this because Alma was a record
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  keeper. And I love to point out that
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  when Alma has his conversion experience where he 3 days and
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  three nights is at the point of death.
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  And he finally says, I remembered my Father Speaking of
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  the coming of one Jesus Christ, the Son of God to atone for the
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  sins of the world. And I cried out within my soul.
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  O Jesus, thou Son of God, have mercy upon me.
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  And then he's completely converted and changed.
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  And then Alma says that he was almost destroyed, but now how he
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  wanted to be as our father. Lehigh saw God sitting upon his
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  throne and he quotes this verse in first Nephi chapter 8.
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  Alma uses that to say how he felt now, wanting to be in the
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  presence of God. I love it.
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  And wanting to be with those angels praising God, The 21
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  words of Lehigh that are exactly in Alma 36.
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  So nice dealing with a attorney who counts things and knows
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  things like this. Yeah, and we know how that
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  happened. You know, Joseph Smith just
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  pushed the cut and paste button. Oh, yeah.
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  Yeah. No, No, No, no, no, no, no.
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  Maybe not. No, I mentioned this simply
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  because it shows how accurate the translation was.
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  It's not a loose translation. We can then rely on the accuracy
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  of these words and of the details that we're being told.
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  Details matter. Background matters.
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  The record is true and the more detailed we can be in our life,
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  We attend to the details and being meticulous about our
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  obedience to the laws and and careful about what we say and
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  do. In the words of Section 76,
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  Valiant in our testimony, it's not.
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  It's not just being careful. We need to be valiant too.
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  Yeah, but they do know. Now Nephi begins his record.
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  It's a personal record. It's interesting that he's, you
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  know, he's taking personal responsibility for what he says.
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  He's giving us what he knows, and sure, it's coming from his
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  perspective. Lehmann and Lemuel might have
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  had a different side of the story, but Nephi has been
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  called, and he's going to give us the best and most balanced
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  account he possibly can. It's interesting that he does
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  give Lehmann and Lemuel credit for good things that happen, and
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  he brings in other people, but he makes a point I Nephi having
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  been born of goodly parents, I'm speaking this is my personal
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  testimony and this pattern of identifying who the scribe is
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  who is writing the record keeper.
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  This is an ancient practice because they didn't have ISBN
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  numbers for publications. And so on.
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  But at the end, usually at the end of each record, the scribe
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  would give the name my name and it's called a colophon when the
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  scribe identifies who he is and what he's saying.
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  But Nephi is the scribe. Nephi is the Scribe.
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  He is writing this. He's making a record of his own
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  proceedings, but he's also building on Lehigh's record, and
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  quotes Lehigh and other prophets in the process.
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  So these names are important. These little functions give
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  validation. It's the strongest statement
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  Nephi can give us. I Nephi.
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  It's a first person witness. Which I think then suggests this
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  is an ancient text because we don't see that in 19th century
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  writings, and I've read a lot of 19th century writings.
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  This is another example that Nephi just was spot on.
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  This is an ancient text. It belongs in the ancient world.
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  So in chapter one, continuing on in verse 16, he starts saying my
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  father had this vision, I recorded it, and then he talks
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  about what happens next. And I'm going to read from verse
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  19. And it came to pass that the
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  Jews did mock him. So he goes forth to prophecy and
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  they start attacking and they just like they did with Jeremiah
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  and Uriah and Ezekiel, all of the other prophets, they are
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  attacked. He talks about the coming of the
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  Messiah and then he gives the initial purpose of the Book of
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  Mormon. And I I love the idea that is
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  the tender mercies of God that he wants to show us.
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  But in a few chapters next week we'll talk about chapter 6.
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  There he says the purpose of my tent is to bring people to God,
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  and his God of course is Jehovah, it's to bring people to
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  Christ. So by showing us the tender
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  mercies, that is I think a sub theme of the major theme that he
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  discusses in chapter 6, which is to come unto Christ, which is
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  the whole purpose of the Restoration, is to bring souls
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  to Christ. It's the Book of Mormon.
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  I love it. Why do you think he talks about
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  Tender Mercies? I don't know, Jack.
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  I don't know either, but aren't all mercies tender?
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  So sometimes you think God speaks a little more bluntly and
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  a little more forcefully and sometimes very gently.
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  And you know, as we look at Nephi's record, the tender
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  mercies are are spotted between very horrific experiences too,
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  and so he holds on to the times when he fills God's love.
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  And does Nephi show that same kind of concern and love toward
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  like Layman and Lemuel? And while he's writing this, you
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  know, at that time he knows, he knows that Layman and Lemuel
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  aren't going to go with it. But he does exhort them, and
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  Lehigh does too. And in that chapter two, we do
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  see Lehigh modeling that kind of tender instruction to his older
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  two sons, Lehman and Lemuel. And when you think of the
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  patience of Lehigh, as parents, we we need to also sometimes be
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  firm, but other times very tender.
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  Let's go look at chapter two. He has a Lehigh has another
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  dream and he's told to take his family.
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  So he is constantly being directed by God.
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  It's interesting as he describes taking his family, he says we
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  didn't take much with us and yet he's able to leave in an in an
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  instant. He's completely prepared.
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  He's got his not only his year supply, but he's got his 36 hour
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  kit, whatever, you know, he says in chapter 2, verse four, he
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  took his family and provisions and tents.
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  The fact that he had tents, let me know there's got to be
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  camels, because those tents, if your family's going to live in
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  them, are huge. Some Bedouins now have three
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  camels just for the poles of one large tent, and the tent becomes
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  such a significant part in the rest of the story.
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  If you count up how many times the word tent is mentioned,
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  you'll just start losing your fingers and toes, you know,
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  going to the tent of his father. I see this as an Exodus cycle.
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  I see this as the children of Israel are returning to their
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  Exodus. And I also think a tent is a
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  Tabernacle. It's the same word in Hebrew.
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  Yes, exactly. Right, Yeah.
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  And so the idea that they are travelling with something holy
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  and they are leaving the temple that is in Jerusalem that has
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  become corrupt and they are now going back to the wilderness in
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  a Tabernacle and this is where sacred things will now happen is
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  in the tent. The scriptures are read there,
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  the visions are received there. And I think as they go South,
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  you know it's a quite a ways just down to the Gulf of Aquaba,
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  it says a three days journey after they get to the Red Sea.
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  It's 190 miles on Google Maps. But you know they were not
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  following Google Maps yet. They've got these little the
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  frankincense trail was pretty well marked along the Dead Sea.
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  And I assume that they were traveling in a well known path
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  because they don't need any direction to get down there.
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  There's no Leahona yet, you know, they're just following
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  this well known trail and the family is traveling because
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  Lehigh's life is endangered, probably quite quickly, and a
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  camel can go 60 miles in a day if they're on a March.
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  But if you're traveling with a family, I assume they had some
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  animals, but it doesn't mention any herds.
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  So could they be going 30 miles a day?
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  You know, if I were walking, I couldn't do it.
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  I I backpacked 20 miles a day and I was going as fast as I
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  could in the daylight hours. But I feel if they're on a
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  camel's, they may have been able to go more than 20 miles a day.
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  So between 10 and 30 miles a day, depending if they're
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  walking or riding and how much they're carrying.
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  But if they're carrying provisions, they're probably on
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  the animals and the animals are going lickety split and that's
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  how it's pacing them. But as they come down this, you
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  know, 200 miles plus -50 miles, whatever it is, they then set up
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  camp and let's talk about their first camp.
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  The place where they camp is actually a very protected area,
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  and of course you have to have water if you're going to stay
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  any length of time. And so there was a protected
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  valley with a very steep Cliff walls and a river running
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  through it. Nephi goes out of his way to
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  describe this place. And he talks about that the
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  water is running all the time and it goes into the Red Sea.
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  People have been looking for this and looking for this and
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  and unable to find it, not only because of the wars in that
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  area, but also because the frankincense trail didn't lead
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  you to a body of water that would run year round.
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  Now most water just runs in the winter time in an area where you
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  only get winter rains, But it sounds like this area has had
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  some a lot of archaeological evidence that suggests we may
• 20:42
  have found it. And I'd encourage everybody to
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  go and look at our videos on this.
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  We've got it here on scripture Central on Book of Mormon,
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  Central of some of the work that's been done and research to
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  find a very narrow little channel that goes out to the Red
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  Sea and on a rainy year the water will run all year long.
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  It's a fertile place. They can gather seeds there, and
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  moreover, there's a beautiful valley where the camels would
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  have had plenty to eat. It sounds like they stay there
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  for quite a while, this valley of Lemuel and the river of
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  Lehman. But I think it's also
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  interesting before we leave this they call it the names after
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  their sons to give them encouragement to say I have hope
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  in you. I know you can do this but they
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  it says we called it this. They call the valley the river.
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  Then it says we called the next place Shazar and we called the
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  next place. But then it occasionally says it
• 21:39
  was called. So notice as you're reading the
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  text, is this a place that Lehigh is naming or is this a
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  place that is an actual like Jerusalem was actually a place
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  known and we should be able to find archaeological evidence for
• 21:51
  those. But the fact that they use this
• 21:57
  as a base camp and they're there for a while before Lehigh gets
• 22:02
  the message of go back and get the records is fascinating to
• 22:06
  me. Why didn't Lehigh get that dream
• 22:08
  when they were in Jerusalem? Why send the boys back weeks and
• 22:12
  weeks of journeying in a dangerous land?
• 22:14
  And now the Babylonians are coming in again to make their
• 22:18
  second deportation as they're sneaking in.
• 22:21
  Well, there may be an answer to that.
• 22:24
  Lehigh has to get out of town quickly.
• 22:27
  The plates are in the custody of Laban, who is a guard over a
• 22:33
  group of at least fifty soldiers, and they are in the
• 22:37
  temple complex for Lehigh to have gone there and asked for
• 22:41
  the plates. You know, even when the four
• 22:45
  sons go in and talk to Laban, he's not very friendly.
• 22:51
  But if Lehigh had tried that, the same thing that had happened
• 22:55
  to Urijah probably would have happened to him.
• 22:58
  So they need to leave quickly. The Lord wants us to go through
• 23:02
  hardships to grow, and it could have developed faith or it could
• 23:05
  have developed anger, and we see both reactions in the family.
• 23:10
  I'm also fascinated with that trip going back that Lehigh, you
• 23:13
  know, asks all four sons, and Nephi says he prays for the Lord
• 23:18
  to soften his heart. He's going to follow the flow.
• 23:20
  He's going to follow his brother.
• 23:21
  But he prays, and that's when he says I will go and do the things
• 23:25
  which the Lord hath commanded. For I know the Lord giveth no
• 23:28
  commandment unto the children of men save He shall prepare a way
• 23:32
  for them to accomplish that. And I have seen that over and
• 23:34
  over. Anytime I feel overwhelmed, the
• 23:37
  Lord will prepare a way for you to accomplish what He wants you
• 23:40
  to do. And Nephi remembered that.
• 23:44
  I mean, look at the detail of the story that he's giving us.
• 23:48
  He remembers this many years later as he's writing this
• 23:51
  personal account. I don't think Lehigh's record
• 23:55
  would have had much of that in it.
• 23:57
  But this is Nehi's side of the story and he he does tell us
• 24:03
  some important things about getting the plates and the
• 24:06
  importance of those. Plates.
• 24:08
  I think everybody knows the story pretty well.
• 24:10
  They try, they're rejected. They're called robbers, which is
• 24:12
  significant because there's a difference between Robert, a
• 24:14
  thief. That's right.
• 24:16
  And what's the difference? Well, one's a local and one's an
• 24:19
  outsider. You tell me more.
• 24:21
  Well, IA thief is like a pickpocket or a shoplifter.
• 24:25
  Just somebody local. They get their hand slapped.
• 24:27
  Yeah, and a very minor punishment.
• 24:30
  If you steal a chicken, you have to give back two, for example.
• 24:34
  But a robber. Robbers come in bands.
• 24:37
  They they're in groups. And of course you have four
• 24:40
  sons. They look kind of like a a band
• 24:43
  of. They're large in stature.
• 24:45
  But the robbers, if you are a robber, this is like a a bandit.
• 24:52
  Our word bandit means they are in a band.
• 24:55
  And so bandits were among the the worst enemies of
• 25:01
  civilization in the ancient world.
• 25:03
  And when they come, they are treated as as marauders, and
• 25:08
  they are enemies, and I put to death.
• 25:11
  And do you think Laban? It says Laban is from the tribe
• 25:14
  of Joseph and Lehigh is from the tribe of Joseph.
• 25:17
  And these were the plates of the tribe of Joseph.
• 25:19
  Now I remember back in the Old Testament, after the days of
• 25:22
  King Solomon, you could live anywhere.
• 25:24
  It didn't matter if you were in the north of the South if you
• 25:27
  wanted to worship the temple. If you believed in Jehovah, your
• 25:30
  people would have come South. So it doesn't surprise me that
• 25:33
  we have a lot of different tribes in the South, even though
• 25:37
  400 years earlier they may have had property up north.
• 25:40
  But now at the time of the Babylonian exile, they're living
• 25:44
  in the South. But I'm fascinated with the fact
• 25:46
  that Laban is calling them outside Marauder bandit robbers,
• 25:51
  even though they would have been somewhat related to him.
• 25:55
  Did he know them? Is this Uncle Laban?
• 25:58
  But being a robber doesn't describe your genealogy.
• 26:03
  It describes your behavior. Ah.
• 26:05
  Which makes it even worse. He's calling a distant relative
• 26:08
  whatever it is. That's right.
• 26:09
  You're you're a traitor. I am calling you even though I
• 26:11
  can tell you're Jewish. I can tell or I tell you're an
• 26:13
  Israelite, but I I am going to refer to you as an enemy.
• 26:21
  And then of course the story continues on and Nephi says
• 26:24
  Nope, we're not going to do this and the poor guy gets beat up.
• 26:26
  I'm standing up for his brothers.
• 26:28
  I'm sure most brothers had a few fisticuffs at some point, but
• 26:31
  these brothers really take him down and he says Nope, I'm
• 26:33
  going. But the Angel of course stops
• 26:35
  them. And then, like you say, Nephi
• 26:38
  goes alone. I think it's significant that an
• 26:41
  Angel comes to reroute someone completely.
• 26:45
  You know if the if you're doing what's right, the spirit usually
• 26:47
  nudges you. If you get an Angel, that's like
• 26:50
  getting a spanking. Nephi does then go alone into
• 26:54
  Jerusalem, and he makes a big point of telling us that he did
• 26:58
  not know whatsoever thing he would do, so he hasn't planned
• 27:02
  it out, he says. I don't know how this is going
• 27:04
  to work. He also goes without any
• 27:08
  weapons. He's unarmed, So when he finds
• 27:13
  Laban drunk and right there on the corner of a street, as Nephi
• 27:19
  was going toward Laban's house, there, he wonders, well, what do
• 27:24
  I do next? And that's when the Spirit
• 27:27
  speaks to him and says slay him. And this is a terrible thing.
• 27:32
  Oh, he's a young man. I presume he's 14 or 15.
• 27:35
  I yeah, he's scared. But something very important is
• 27:38
  at stake here, And the Spirit says slay him, for the Lord has
• 27:44
  delivered him into thy hands. And Nephi then thinks, well,
• 27:49
  Gee, I hadn't hadn't really ever thought about doing this.
• 27:52
  I really don't want to. And the Spirit has to then give
• 27:54
  a second message. I have delivered him.
• 27:58
  And the same words are given again slay him, for the Lord has
• 28:03
  delivered him into Thy hands. Now that expression the Lord
• 28:07
  delivers him into his hands comes from Exodus chapter 21
• 28:12
  verse 13, where the law of excusable homicide is given.
• 28:19
  Exodus 21 is a a chapter giving explanations about what's in
• 28:24
  chapter 20 which are the 10 commandments and the 10
• 28:28
  commandments. It just says thou shalt not.
• 28:31
  But now we have an explanation and there are some occasions
• 28:34
  when you can kill. One of them is if the Lord
• 28:38
  delivers him into your hands and you have not been lying in wait
• 28:46
  and come presumptuously and others pre planned on what
• 28:50
  you're to do. So there were those requirements
• 28:53
  in order. It's a very narrow exception.
• 28:55
  Wow, Jack. That's powerful.
• 28:58
  That exception was quoted to Nephi by the Angel He's.
• 29:02
  Quoting scripture. And angels usually do quote
• 29:05
  scripture. Isn't that amazing?
• 29:07
  But Joseph wouldn't have known that.
• 29:09
  Well, that's the point. How many people you didn't know
• 29:12
  until I just told you that this is coming from Exodus 21.
• 29:16
  But how big was the scripture, the collection of scripture, in
• 29:20
  Lehigh's day? They don't have the Old
• 29:23
  Testament. No, it's not a closed Canon
• 29:25
  anyway. They have, but they do have the
• 29:27
  Torah. They have everybody.
• 29:28
  Knows they have the brass plates and they would have been taught
• 29:31
  that in primary. They would have read that in the
• 29:33
  synagogue. They know this text.
• 29:35
  By they say young men started learning it at age 5.
• 29:38
  And so when the Angel quotes these words, Nephi is assured.
• 29:44
  OK, this is precisely an exception.
• 29:47
  I love it. To the ordinary rule.
• 29:50
  Now people say well is it, It's awful that it happened and some
• 29:54
  people maybe even have tried to use this as an excuse for
• 29:59
  intentional pre planned killings, but that is not what
• 30:03
  the law says if you pre plan. Then it's not.
• 30:06
  Then you're not within the Lord's doing so.
• 30:11
  Nephi does go forward with it and I'm sure it was traumatic
• 30:17
  for him. Oh, I'm sure.
• 30:19
  But the the value of the brass plates are treasured and that's
• 30:26
  why they are kept and used so much for the next, you know, 5
• 30:31
  or 600 years at least until Jesus comes.
• 30:35
  This is their body of scripture. I also feel like this goes right
• 30:38
  back to what Nephi says in chapter 3.
• 30:41
  The Lord will magnify him to do what is required.
• 30:45
  He just told his dad. I know the Lord will give us no
• 30:48
  commandments save He shall prepare the way.
• 30:50
  And then here we have a perfect example.
• 30:52
  He's now showing us His thesis is now being demonstrated with
• 30:56
  an example. And this is so exceptional
• 31:00
  because of the high stakes and the importance of having the
• 31:05
  scriptures. Now we can relate to this to
• 31:07
  some extent because the scriptures are just that
• 31:11
  important to us as well. Now we're not asked to go and do
• 31:15
  what Nephi had to do in order to get a copy of the scriptures.
• 31:19
  We give them out to everybody in the world.
• 31:23
  Happily. But we should value what we have
• 31:27
  at the same level that Nephi valued.
• 31:31
  And Lehi had the records the prophecies that they had.
• 31:37
  And we wonder why Nephi put so much Isaiah and Zenith and other
• 31:41
  records into his own copy. We did not have the breast
• 31:47
  plates, and yet those are scriptures that were missing.
• 31:49
  But you want to talk about Zoram, So Nephi now has killed
• 31:52
  Laban. He's put on all of Laban's
• 31:54
  clothing and here comes I don't we don't know his nationality,
• 32:01
  but we know he's an important person because he's got the
• 32:04
  keys. So if you have a key, and
• 32:06
  remember keys are hand carved, the person who has them used to
• 32:08
  have them on his round his neck. Their locks and keys weren't
• 32:12
  very common Then a very important person has these.
• 32:15
  What else do we know about Zoram?
• 32:17
  You know, Zoram was the servant of Laban, and Laban was the
• 32:23
  commander of 50, so he's probably the Temple Guard.
• 32:27
  And in the Old Testament, you can be a servant for seven years
• 32:30
  if you're a fellow Israelite, or you can choose to stay your
• 32:33
  whole life. That's the point.
• 32:34
  And I think he was probably one of those, unless he was a
• 32:38
  foreign captive and then it doesn't have to be 7 years
• 32:42
  because he wants his freedom enough to go with them.
• 32:47
  But I also think that Zoram may have been a foreigner and
• 32:50
  therefore wanted his freedom, but I also think he had a soft
• 32:54
  heart. He he was sensitive to the
• 32:58
  spirit or else he wouldn't have been able to make that oath.
• 33:01
  That oath is so fascinating. He makes an oath and they stop
• 33:04
  worrying about him. Well, oaths were very powerful.
• 33:07
  The oath that Nephi gives to Zoram that if you come with us,
• 33:12
  you will have a place with us, which means basically now Nephi
• 33:16
  can't adopt Zoram. He's a brother.
• 33:18
  He's a son, yeah. But Lehi will honor that promise
• 33:22
  that Nephi has given. When Lehi learns how Zoram gets
• 33:27
  there. I'm sure when they you know,
• 33:29
  when the group gets back to Lehi, they say here dad, we're
• 33:32
  home and look who we brought. And he says who's this?
• 33:37
  And Nephi says, here's the story and here's what I promised him.
• 33:42
  And at that Lehigh then adopts Zoram.
• 33:46
  And we know that because there are then 7 tribes of Nephites,
• 33:52
  there are Nephites, Jacobites, Josephites, Lamanites,
• 33:55
  Lemuelites, Ishmaelites and Zoramites.
• 33:58
  What? About Sam.
• 34:00
  Sam is not one of the Samites. There is not a Samite tribe.
• 34:04
  It's listed in there we can. Talk about that later when we
• 34:06
  get to 2nd Ephite chapter one. OK, OK, so Zoram is the 7th
• 34:10
  tribe now. So he is the Zoramites are a one
• 34:13
  of the seven tribes and that shows that Lehigh has recognized
• 34:19
  Nephi's promise that Zoram will have place with them.
• 34:23
  And in our world, if someone says, oh, I won't do it, I'll be
• 34:26
  good. That doesn't mean they're going
• 34:28
  to be good. I want to see some evidence.
• 34:30
  But these everybody believed him.
• 34:32
  His word was as good as is. I I just love this very
• 34:36
  different world, Very different even than the 19th century.
• 34:39
  This is another example of an antiquity evidence in the Book
• 34:42
  of Mormon. Yeah, when an oath was made in
• 34:45
  the ancient world, you would rather die than violate your
• 34:49
  oath. Amazing.
• 34:51
  And especially when you swear by God and Nephi does as the Lord
• 34:55
  liveth. OK then you are you are
• 35:00
  completely bound and loyal to that promise and people can
• 35:03
  count. On that Amazing.
• 35:05
  Now why do they have to have Zoram come with them though?
• 35:07
  Why can't they just? Because he was a witness.
• 35:10
  Oh, well, he they've taken the plates.
• 35:14
  He's carrying them out with them and.
• 35:17
  He could turn us into the police, you know, he could go,
• 35:19
  they could traffic him down and get him.
• 35:21
  They're finished. If Zoram won't come with them.
• 35:23
  Yeah, I guess the alternative was Zoram.
• 35:26
  We've got a deal for you. Come with us or we kill you.
• 35:30
  But they weren't. They were not bandits.
• 35:32
  I don't think they could have done it because I.
• 35:34
  Think they could or would have done that.
• 35:36
  But Zoram also, I think, realizes that if he lets the
• 35:40
  four brothers go with the plates and he goes back and they they
• 35:45
  say to him, you, you were on guard, this was your job and you
• 35:51
  were fooled by these people. Yeah, he's in bad shape either
• 35:54
  way. That's right, because the plates
• 35:55
  are gone. He's in bad shape either way.
• 36:02
  Let's jump ahead to chapter 5 and I want to just talk a little
• 36:05
  bit about Soraya. It's unfortunate that I think
• 36:09
  that our chapter heading says Soraya is is murmuring or
• 36:12
  complaining, whatever, because everybody complaints Lehigh
• 36:16
  complaints when he gets hungry. Everybody has a period, even
• 36:19
  Nephi and his Psalm. It's just heartbroken, I think,
• 36:24
  as a good mother, concerned that her sons have been gone for
• 36:27
  probably over a month or perhaps around that period of time.
• 36:32
  You know, it's been a long journey.
• 36:34
  But I wanted to emphasize a little bit about Soraya because
• 36:36
  we're told who his family is when they're going.
• 36:39
  We have no daughters mentioned at this time.
• 36:40
  They aren't born yet, I don't think.
• 36:42
  I think they're born later with Jacob and Joseph.
• 36:44
  But we have Soraya, the first woman mentioned in the Book of
• 36:47
  Mormon, and it's very evident to everyone who reads the Book of
• 36:51
  Mormon that there are not a lot of female names.
• 36:53
  But I want to just pause and say there are almost 100 women that
• 36:59
  are unnamed in the Book of Mormon.
• 37:01
  We have a lot of references to women, but they are unnamed.
• 37:05
  And I think more significant than the names is this familial
• 37:09
  unit. As you look at the Book of
• 37:10
  Mormon, looking for families and looking for women and how do
• 37:14
  they interact and how are they part of the text?
• 37:18
  It's fascinating to see the significant role that they are.
• 37:22
  But it's usually in an unnamed text, which also goes back to
• 37:26
  the fact that it fits into 600 BC.
• 37:29
  We have a priestess in the Old Testament from this time named
• 37:31
  Holda. And I see Soraya as a priestess
• 37:33
  here. And I think it's interesting, as
• 37:34
  we look at what Soraya says and she spake saying, now I know of
• 37:40
  a surety that the Lord has commanded my husband to flee
• 37:42
  from the wilderness. Yeah.
• 37:44
  I also know of a surety that the Lord had protected my sons and
• 37:48
  delivered them out of the hands of Laban and given them power
• 37:51
  whereby they could accomplish the things which the Lord hath
• 37:55
  commanded them. Do you see that?
• 37:57
  You know, I just love that Connection between the way this
• 38:01
  book is so carefully grafted and compiled is just beautiful.
• 38:10
  The rest of the chapter 5 now goes on to talk about Lehigh,
• 38:15
  starts reading the brass Plates and he is ecstatic to find out
• 38:18
  his genealogy. And other things too.
• 38:21
  Let's talk for a minute about the brass plates.
• 38:22
  We'll we'll learn later what's on those plates.
• 38:26
  The first thing that's there is the the five books of Moses, the
• 38:31
  Torah, the Torah. And you know, people not too
• 38:37
  long ago were very dubious about the existence of the Torah that
• 38:44
  early. Many German scholars of the 19th
• 38:46
  century came up with the idea that, and maybe it had been
• 38:51
  around before then, but they certainly amplified it, that the
• 38:56
  Old Testament was really composed and put together by the
• 38:59
  Jews when they went to Babylon, and now they're in captivity.
• 39:04
  And so they want to preserve their record, which makes sense.
• 39:07
  Ezekiel and Daniel and others are there.
• 39:10
  They're prophets writing from Babylon, and so they're saying
• 39:13
  that perhaps they did the editing and compiling and.
• 39:15
  And and I have no doubt that they did some of that, but I
• 39:18
  think they're working with texts that predated the destruction of
• 39:23
  Jerusalem. And as believers in the Book of
• 39:25
  Mormon, as we read now in the brass plates, not only Isaiah
• 39:30
  but we have so many other prophets that are quoted, that
• 39:33
  then contradicts that theory. Is there any archaeological
• 39:36
  evidence of a biblical text that dates to before the time of
• 39:42
  Lehigh? You know, I I studied a little
• 39:44
  bit of archaeology in Jerusalem for a long time and they
• 39:47
  searched and searched and searched, but of course with the
• 39:50
  destruction of what are you going to expect?
• 39:52
  Things are burned, you know. The only thing that would
• 39:54
  survive is something that is not going to be burned.
• 39:56
  And any metal would have been immediately taken, melted down,
• 40:00
  and used for other purposes. And so we have one great
• 40:04
  archaeologist in the 20th century who began digging just
• 40:08
  outside the walls of Jerusalem, right off Mount Moriah, down at
• 40:12
  the base of Mount Moriah. And sure enough, he comes across
• 40:16
  what is now referred to as the Silver Scroll.
• 40:19
  And I see, Lynn, that you're wearing the silver scroll on a
• 40:23
  necklace. It's about the same size that it
• 40:25
  was and it was rolled up. And why would they have rolled
• 40:29
  this little scroll up? I think the words that are
• 40:32
  written on it date to 600 BC. So it's the oldest scripture we
• 40:36
  have in the entire world, in Jerusalem on metal plates, and
• 40:41
  it is the priestly benediction. The Lord bless you and keep you
• 40:46
  and may his face shine upon you and be gracious.
• 40:48
  That is the oldest text and it's on metal and it's from 600 BC
• 40:52
  and it's in Jerusalem. I think this is one of the
• 40:54
  greatest evidences we have of the brass plates being a
• 40:58
  reality. It really is.
• 40:59
  Here's a an enlarged version of that that you know, you can get
• 41:08
  these things as souvenirs in Jerusalem.
• 41:10
  The silver scroll is on display in the Israel Museum.
• 41:15
  It's recognized, as you've said, as one of the most important
• 41:18
  archaeological discoveries of the of our day.
• 41:23
  And the little scroll was actually rolled up and was put
• 41:27
  on the body of a teenage girl who died and was buried there.
• 41:34
  And so the the scroll itself has to be older than the burial and
• 41:40
  so it probably dates to Lehigh's time.
• 41:45
  And so here we have a passage from the book of Numbers,
• 41:48
  numbers, Chapter 6, right there on metal.
• 41:51
  And isn't that a wonderful blessing?
• 41:54
  Jack, there's no coincidences. The Lord directed that when you
• 41:57
  read the study on that archaeological dig which we have
• 42:00
  online as well, fascinating details, The Lord is directing
• 42:04
  his work. So the hand of the Lord is
• 42:07
  helping us to understand the backgrounds of these events so
• 42:12
  that we, with confidence, can make sense of them.
• 42:16
  When when you want to understand a text, you have to know where
• 42:19
  those statements are coming from, who is speaking, why they
• 42:23
  are saying what they're saying, what their cultural expectations
• 42:26
  are. Otherwise, the words are vacuous
• 42:30
  and they're without any real kind of assurance that you know
• 42:34
  what's happening. Like Soraya said, I know with a
• 42:38
  surety what was her assurance that God had delivered them.
• 42:44
  It was that she now had the plates that they had succeeded
• 42:48
  in fulfilling the assignment that Lehigh had given them to go
• 42:52
  back and get the scriptures. I assume she had the assurance
• 42:56
  also from a witness of the Spirit.
• 42:59
  And you know, Lynn, I'm grateful that I haven't been asked in my
• 43:02
  life to go through some of the trials that these people did.
• 43:08
  I wonder if I would have been as faithful and as courageous as
• 43:12
  they were. But I know from what little I
• 43:17
  know, that the Holy Ghost bears testimony of the truthfulness of
• 43:24
  this record. These little details are are
• 43:29
  just hints pointing in a direction that then ask us to
• 43:35
  take this record seriously. And I have done that all my
• 43:38
  life. And as I do, I too receive
• 43:43
  assurances through the Holy Ghost that this is the will and
• 43:48
  the word of the Lord for us today.
• 43:52
  I know that this book came forth at a time when we would need it
• 43:57
  just as much as Lehigh needed his records.
• 44:02
  It came forth at a time when the priesthood and the leadership of
• 44:07
  the Church needed to be established by Joseph Smith so
• 44:11
  that we could be guided by prophets.
• 44:13
  Today I know they are the prophets of the Lord, and that
• 44:18
  they speak the truth and the goodness of God and his tender
• 44:22
  mercies to us. And I say this in the name of
• 44:26
  Jesus Christ. Amen.
• 44:28
  Amen. And I think that is that we'll
• 44:32
  end up Chapter 5 today to encourage you all, in your
• 44:35
  scripture study, to be prayerful, to seek the spirit of
• 44:38
  the Lord because there is so much truth in these beautiful
• 44:41
  pages. To approach them with faith and
• 44:43
  a meek and humble heart, but with lots of questions and for
• 44:46
  lots of answers, check Jack Welch's John W Welch's Notes on
• 44:51
  Book of Mormon Central.