Latest / Scripture Central / 1 Nephi 16-22 | Jan 29-Feb 4 | Book of Mormon Matters with John W. Welch and Lynne Hilton Wilson

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1 Nephi 16-22 | Jan 29-Feb 4 | 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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And today we get to finish up First Nephi.
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Here we have been during the month of January, enjoying this
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book of first Nephi. I hope you have loved reading
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through it again, even though you've read it many times.
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These final chapters, chapters 16 to 22, I think can be kind of
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characterized by Nephi telling us that we have to live the
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gospel. Things work.
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If you do what is right, Nephi will tell us things that he has
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been doing, what he has done. They would never have made it
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all the way to the Promised Land if they hadn't really put their
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shoulders to the wheel or pulled on the OR whatever the metaphor
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is. But the message I think for us
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in the testimony that I have is that this book is a great guide
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for our lives. I know that these accounts that
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we have here about the righteous living and the doing of the
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gospel are a fundamental part of the gospel of Jesus Christ.
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I know that when I live the gospel, when I obey, when I keep
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the Sabbath day holy, when I do what I'm supposed to do, when I
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serve, when I love and care for people, all these things are
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doing things. It brings the light of the
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gospel into my life, and Nephi wants to kind of finish up this
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story. Well, he starts by doing.
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By getting married. We actually have the marriages,
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finally, so do it now. This doesn't mean let's.
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Talk about that. Let's open up first, Nephi
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chapter 16. The daughters of Ishmael are
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taken to wife. As we mentioned earlier, the
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marriages are probably arranged. That's part of the antiquities,
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although there may have been in this setting where they were.
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I don't know, Jack, what do you think?
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Because they were already immersed in the gospel of Jesus
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Christ. Did they have some agency?
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Did the daughter who defended Nephi earlier is is she able to
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defend him now, or do you think it was completely arranged ahead
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of time and they had no choice? I don't know.
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It doesn't tell us. He just says I took a daughter
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of your swan to wife in chapter 16.
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Under their circumstance, they didn't have many other choices.
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Well, they've got a few daughters, you know, But yeah,
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yeah. So, but I think they were all
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pretty excited about it. Extended families are great and
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it's not like we do today, where a couple gets married and pretty
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well goes off on their own. In the ancient world, people
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live together in a single home. It was typical for the the groom
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to go and live in the wife's home with her family, maybe to
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get to know the family, but whatever, they could live in one
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place or the other. But they lived in small
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villages. They lived together.
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They knew each other. And I know by the time of the
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New Testament they are living with the groom's family more
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often. But I think it all depends who
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has the more money right now. And here we see them living with
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the groom's family. So we've got enough daughters to
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take care of Zoram and Lehman and Lemuel and Sam and Nephi.
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But it sounds like at the same time as we are now starting seed
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with the next generation, that Soraya is young enough to again
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bear children and that she is having sons and daughters.
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We now have our first references of daughters coming up after
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this period of time, so that's exciting too.
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But this is a family text and we see a lot about the family in
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this text. I hope that that is not
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frustrating to me. It's just the dynamics of how
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the Lord was taking, because the family is often the unit to
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describe the children of Israel are married to God or the church
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is married to our Savior, you know, it's just a metaphor as
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well, So we can look at it that way.
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In case this doesn't fit into your life, chapter 16 also says
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that once the marriages are over, they're ready to take
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their journey again. And as they prepare, they've got
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all the seeds packed up, they've harvested, and they repaired
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their sandals or whatever was required.
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They find something outside the tent.
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Yeah. Lehigh opens up the tent door
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and there is a brass ball. A fine brass.
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Yeah, and they appreciated that. It's got two spindles, but it's
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not named. And where does it come from?
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I believe it's from God. Well, they did too.
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Let's read it. Chapter 16, verse 10.
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So they talk about this, this ball and then halfway through
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with the verse it says and within the ball were two
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spindles and the one pointed the way whether we should go into
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the wilderness. I think it's so significant that
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we have our own personal guides in our lives that as recipients
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of the gift of the Holy Ghost, if we listen to those first
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thoughts, if we pray constantly for guidance and direction, if
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we seek the Spirit night and day, every hour, every minute,
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we can receive this. If we always remember the Lord.
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And it's so hard. It sounds so easy, but it isn't.
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It's hard to keep the spirit with you at all times, because
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if we offend the Spirit, it's gone.
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Just like they did when they didn't obey the commandments,
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The ball didn't work. You know they didn't have the
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direction from the Leona. But I am so grateful for a
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personal Liahona through the gift of the Holy Ghost.
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And it helps to have reminders of things.
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I mean as having a a beautiful ball that whatever its nature
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might have been or what it looked like, it was a gift from
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God. It was something that they
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realized had been given to them, and I imagine they consulted it
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often. Every day they would have to say
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what where do we go today or how do we follow or where do we go
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to hunt? And they used it.
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So it's a daily reminder. And what do we have as a daily
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reminder? That was also brass that they
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used as their guide before the ball.
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The brass plates. Amen.
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Go to your scriptures every day. Get your direction.
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So they have the brass plates and now the brass ball.
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Nice parallels. A nice echo framing what we've
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talked about in the last lesson in the very middle of the book.
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Yes, but they leave the valley of Lemuel and the river of
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Lehman and now continue on on the borders of the Red Sea.
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And this path is again following the Frankincense trail.
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The geography of this part is spot on.
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I mentioned this earlier, but it's just fascinating.
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He tells us where he's going and when they turn east and when
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they turn South and when they're going SE and very, very clear
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that this appears to be the Frankincense trail, but perhaps
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not exactly on the trail because they're following the Liahona.
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But it's still interesting that they're still naming the
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locations. Do you see in verse 13 they come
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to a place at Four days Journey that we called Shazar.
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And they may be following places that aren't normally on the
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trail. Like you say, they they are
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naming these places. They don't know where they are.
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They don't have GPS or you know, a map that says this is where
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you now are. And I think by following the
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pointer, they're not right on the main highway of the
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Frankincense trail. I I think they're a large group.
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Most merchants on the Frankincense trail would not
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have had their women and their children.
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We've got a lot of nursing babies right now.
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Yeah, and they're going slow because they're carrying their
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tents and all these things. There might also have been
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greater exposure to robbers if you're on the main highway, so
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taking a path less traveled by might have been where they they
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were willing to go. But it says it LED them at least
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to the fertile places. Well, they're fertile enough.
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Fertile enough is the right word.
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This is still the Arabian desert.
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They're finding places where there's growth and where there's
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fertile plants. There will also be animals,
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birds and other things that they can then hunt for.
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But they get hungry. Why can't they Keep going?
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Chapter 16. Well, Nephi has a bow.
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They all have bows. And it's called a steel bow.
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Nephi is a steel, yeah. And it may have been a pure
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steel, nothing but steel metal bow, but more likely it was what
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we think is a composite bow, which is partly made of wood but
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then has metal straps on it to strengthen it.
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A strengthened bow like that could be shorter because it's
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got more tension, and so you can shoot heavy short arrows with a
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nice bow. But a completely metal bow would
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have been bulky, long, and more of a military bow.
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And what Nephi needs is something that will shoot darts.
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Well, it says his brothers bows lost their spring.
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That's right. And his bow breaks.
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And so people have hypothesized perhaps this is a place of all
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of humidity or something, I don't know.
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But the rust or the the change of climate, you know, it changes
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the wood. Anybody who's gone from a humid
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climate to lived in a desert climate knows you're going to
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have real problems. As a musician, I can barely keep
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my instrument in tune if I go from a dry climate to a moist.
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Climate. That's right.
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And I like the idea though of it being a composite bow, because
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then you have these metal pieces and you have pressure points
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where the wood is now being pulled against the tighter
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metal, now the more rigid metal. And it would be at those
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pressure points where the bow would be most vulnerable because
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it doesn't lose the spring, it breaks.
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Well, I don't think they've got a lot of food around or else
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they wouldn't be hungry. That's right.
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And and I think this is their low point now.
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There are no supermarkets where they are now.
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Yeah, they are. They are on the verge of
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starvation and everybody's complaining about it.
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They now have to start with something.
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What are we going to do? And some of them just sit around
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and complain, I suppose. But not Nephi.
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He's our doer, says I'm going to go and I'm going to find a way
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to make a bow and it notice that it also says he makes arrows.
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Yes. Why would you have to make
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arrows? If your bow is broken, you
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should have all these old arrows.
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Yeah, well, my nephew actually is an archery man, and he tells
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me you have to have arrows specific to the bow.
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So the different kinds of bows require different arrows.
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So I don't know if that's that's how now it works, but I know
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what it was. But that would make sense, and
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only people who did a lot of archery would know that a a bow
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that is too stiff for long flexible arrows, that's not
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going to match, and so you have to match the two.
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And that's why Nephi had to make bows to go with his new arrow.
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And it also says that they were killing their animals with their
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food, with slings. They are not hunters, They are
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providing food for their families.
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They are not trying to kill other animals, They are only
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trying to provide food. But because they're on the go,
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they require so much immediate food, and right now they don't
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have enough. We we think of Slings as just
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being slingshots, but you know, these were very effective
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weapons. Oh, don't remember the Old
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Testament. They had the slingers.
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The Benjaminites were slingers. And yeah, a.
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Whole division of the army, Yeah.
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They have these long slings and heavy, sharp stones that they
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could then use very effectively, as David does against Goliath.
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But you need find not only is resourceful and has an attitude
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of I can do hard things and when the going gets tough is when you
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rely on the Lord more. I love the fact that he goes to
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his dad and asks, but that's when they find out the Leona
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doesn't work if you're complaining, you know and the
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spirit doesn't work if you're complaining.
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And I think there's so many ties between understanding how to
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hear the Lord and understand. Do you remember also when Joseph
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Smith has the frustration time with Emma?
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He can't. Translate and I know in my life
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when I get too excited or anxious or mad or angry about
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things, I don't feel the spirit the same.
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And until you work it out, until you settle, go and settle.
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And Jesus says, when you come to the altar of the temple, or the
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altar in the sermon on the mount, and you have ought
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against your brother, or it also has your brother has ought
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against you, and you're aware of it.
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Either way, you must go and settle first, then come, and you
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may offer your sacrifice at the altar.
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So Lehigh has to repent, change his heart, and then open the
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ball again. And that's when they get a
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little chastisement. It came to pass that I, Nephi,
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beheld the pointers which were on the ball.
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They did work according to the faith and diligence and heed
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which we did give unto them. Yeah, 123.
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What does it take? Faith, diligence and heed.
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What's the difference? I think one is mental, one is
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action. What's he, Jack?
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I don't know. Obedience when you you hear it
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says, come from hearing, hear and obey, heed.
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Heed my words, so obey. So It takes not just faith in
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the sense of belief or loyalty or intentions, but then
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diligence. You really you have to apply
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yourself. And if you do those 3, then it's
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going to give you new messages. That's verse 29.
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They get new messages and they changed from time to time.
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And that's when the Lord says one of my favorite verses and
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favorite phrases by small means. The Lord can bring about great
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things. And Jack, I feel that almost
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every day in my life, the tiny things make the most difference.
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If I start on my knees, if I start with prayers, the things
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that I did as a child, the things that I do that feel like
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nothing in my ministering, the Lord magnifies by small and
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simple things are great things brought to pass.
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I love this verse. This is my life.
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It is so true, and we often overlook those small things.
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And you know, if you write your resume, you don't put those
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small things on the resume. The world looks for other
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things, but the Lord sees the heart.
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I think it's also interesting that Nephi is sent to the
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mountains to get the animals, so they're not up in the mountains.
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He's got to go up there to get them.
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And then he refers to in verse 31.
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I did slay wild beasts in the plural, so he's bringing home
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lots, and I still am baffled why his brothers couldn't have made
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a bow just as fast or slings or whatever.
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Anyway, it's fascinating to think of all the family
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dynamics. We're going to have to learn a
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lot about this in Heaven, but I don't know if the starvation
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period had anything to do with it.
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But it sounds as if, the way Nephites put the story together
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anyway, that Ishmael's death follows shortly after this
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period of real hunger. And yeah, and perhaps it was
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something else. Others may be sick.
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I mean, we were quick to blame Lehman and Lemuel for not doing
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something. But they may have been ill.
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Or they may be home taking care of people.
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Oh, that's excellent. Thank you.
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Yeah, let's step down to verse 34.
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It came to pass that Ishmael died and was buried in the place
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which was called Nahom. This is not a name that they
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have named and this is one of our greatest archaeological
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evidences of the Book of Mormon. And I believe it was 1976 when
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this was discovered and it's not too far from the Frankincense
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trail is a very, very large burial grounds.
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In fact, it was at the time the largest burial grounds that have
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ever been found. I don't know if that is still
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claimed. The fact that Nahom was named by
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them is so significant because we have found that name.
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NHM remember, there's no vowels on a stone at the largest burial
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ground in this area. And we even can wonder then, as
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we look back at the text, did he'd die right outside of there,
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or did they carry him to this place to be buried with the
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other bones? Because in this area, usually
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you want to be buried away from where people live because you
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didn't know how contagious things were and you tried to be
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buried within a short period of time after the death.
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And there was corpse impurity as well.
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You didn't want to touch the bodies.
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And here they are out in the desert.
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What do they do with him? So they probably would have
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given all the respect they could.
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They would have wrapped him carefully, but then carried him
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to this place where he could be properly buried and the body
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would then not be vulnerable to grave robbers or to animals
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digging up the body and things like that.
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So that would have been very important to them and explains
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why they would have told us. It was named Nahom.
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This is the place that we could find it.
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And they found the stone. I mean, this is just powerful.
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Joseph wouldn't have had a clue. And we've come up to so many
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archaeological evidences, but this one is the best.
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It's a good one. It's a bad but the daughters
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mourn and that's very consistent again with the ancient world.
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This pathos of the death, their suffering with their hunger and
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affliction, and now with the death of their father, they're
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just beside themselves. And this then begins sort of AI
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don't want to say a rebellion again, but verse 37 of chapter
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16 reads laymen and Lemuel and also the sons of Ishmael.
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Behold said, let us slay our father and our brothers Nephi,
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who has taken upon us to be our ruler and our teacher and and we
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who are his elder brethren. So we have another problem here.
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But the voice of the Lord comes and saves the day in verse 39.
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It always comes when we need him.
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Even the voice the Lord came and did speak many words unto them,
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and did chasten them exceedingly.
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And after they were chastened by the voice the Lord they did turn
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away from their anger, and did repent of their sins, insomuch
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that the Lord did bless us again with food that we did not
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perish. It's it reminds me so much of
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the children of Israel. If they are obeying, the Lord
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will bless them. That is just one of the major
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promises of the Old Testament that when we are obeying the
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Lord, we will be taken care of. No.
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And then when we go on into Chapter 17, it's very hard.
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We know that they are now, it says, wading through much
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affliction. They're probably staying again
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off the beaten path, but they're following the Lehona which is
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taking them. Nearly eastward.
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Nearly eastward. So if you go eastward from
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northwest Yemen, it takes you right across the southern part
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of the Empty Quarter in the middle of the Arabian desert.
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Now empty quarters because. There's nothing there.
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There's nothing there. And so no doubt they would have
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suffered and would have had a lot of afflictions.
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You're nursing. You're pregnant.
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You're carrying your seeds. Yeah, yeah, yeah.
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As they get to and following in, they are now finally able to get
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up into some mountains and down to the coast of the Indian
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Ocean. And there are only a few places
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where you can go from the desert inland over that range of
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mountains, the coastal mountains, to a very fertile
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part of what is now Oman and southern Yemen.
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And the winds that hit those mountains coming up in the
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monsoon periods, of course, drop a lot of water.
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So this is an area that is really verdant and big trees.
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The trees are big enough to even build a boat.
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In those trees, even today, there are lots of bees.
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It says wild honey. Wild honey because.
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Before I think they were eating more like date honey and
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pomegranate, the natural fruits there, but here it says wild
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honey. But they don't have beehives
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that they are keeping. No, they're.
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Wild and there are these hives that on the bushes and on the
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trees, especially on the cliffs, right there by the ocean, they
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come to this place, and it must have been.
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So happy. So a great relief to come to a
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place. Like this?
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Now, they didn't turn it into a a beach resort because there are
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a lot of sharks in the water there too.
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Yeah. So when they try to get mad at
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Nephi at one point and they're trying to throw him into the
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ocean, you'd say, well, you know, the Ocean's not very deep
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right there. Why would that put him to death?
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Oh, but the. Probably Nephi wasn't a very
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good swimmer. When would he have learned to
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swim? He's from Jerusalem, yeah.
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But the sharks in that water would have been, you know?
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I didn't know that, OK. Let's throw our brother in there
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and he'll be good shark bait. And the mountain is close enough
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for Nephi to go to the mountain and pray and get inspiration.
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And when I want to get revelation, I go to the temple.
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When Nephi wanted it, he went to the mountains.
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Well, there's no temple, and the temple is sometimes called the
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Mountain of the Lord. It is, yeah, definitely.
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So this is a wonder place and they must have that must have
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been there for a while. One of the attributes of this
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area is that there was ore, iron ore.
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Well, this is so fascinating because Nephi asks.
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He doesn't say how am I going to do this?
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I love though his questions. I want to change my prayers and
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my questions. He doesn't say how he says where
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should I go to find the OR. He is approaching every prayer
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from this perspective of belief and faith and I will do what
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you're asking me to do. Just fabulous.
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I love it. And being in the right place at
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the right time is often the most important thing in our lives.
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I'm also fascinated with the fact that somebody had to have
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some metallurgy, someone had to be a blacksmith of some level,
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and that because they're able to build some pretty significant
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things to know where to find the ore.
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And the Lord lies, leads them. But he often has to use what we
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have, the small and precious things again, do what we can.
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And he'll do the rest. So he makes the.
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Tools. This is now in chapter 17, verse
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16. It came to pass that I did make
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tools out of the ore, which I did molten out of the rock, and
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he says he builds the bellows out of the skins of the animals.
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So they're living in a much different civilization here than
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they were for the last several years.
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And this brings up the. Point that we said we'd talk
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about later, which is metallurgy.
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Nephi obviously knows how to work with metal in a Lehman and
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Lemuel. If they were traditional first
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and second sons, they would have spent more time on the farm, in
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the agriculture, out working in the fields.
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The younger sons are skilled, been in trades, might be making
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pots or working with metal, and the younger sons also usually
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have much more education because the older sons are providing
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enough food for the family to live when the land will be.
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Inherited by the older two. So your land is more important.
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Yeah. And and land is more.
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Part of their life with the. Weight means to support their
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family, so they got to have an education.
24:09
So it makes sense that Nephi would have known a skill and and
24:17
he's already been able to make a bow.
24:19
So we can tell that Nephi must have had several technical
24:23
skills that allowed him to do what he needed to, so they start
24:27
building. The boat.
24:27
And of course they get this. Brothers get mad at him again in
24:30
the last part. Of Chapter 17, we can understand
24:33
again how this party would have felt about getting on this ship.
24:39
Oh, they wanted. To stay where they were.
24:40
Well, first of all, I don't think they're salesman.
24:42
They're. I don't think they're sailors.
24:44
Yeah. And.
24:45
It's it does take a skill to know how to sail ships.
24:50
There were boats sailing along the southern coast of Arabia at
24:56
that time and they may have gone and and at least talk to some
25:00
people about when to leave the chapter.
25:03
Ends with the rebellion again of saying we aren't going to go
25:07
with you, we don't want to go. And it's fascinating to me that
25:10
Nephi goes back to these stories to develop their faith with the
25:14
Exodus cycle. Don't you remember?
25:16
The Moses did this. Can't you believe this?
25:19
Don't you remember our history? And that is what he used to
25:22
build their faith. And I do the same thing now.
25:25
I try to build faith by going back and saying, I believe you
25:29
helped. Can you please help again?
25:32
And I know. That when we're on the Lord's
25:34
errand, he will help us to accomplish what we need.
25:38
We know the very famous verse in first Nephi, Chapter 3, verse 7.
25:43
I will go and do the things that the Lord has commanded.
25:45
Notice how this chapter 17 begins with an echo of that.
25:51
And thus we. See that the commandments of God
25:54
must be fulfilled, and if it's so be that the children of men
25:57
keep the commandments of God. He doth nourish them and
25:59
strengthen them, and provide means whereby they can
26:03
accomplish the thing which He has commanded them.
26:05
The theme is. So consistent.
26:08
It's beautiful. So.
26:10
There again, the message is driven home.
26:13
Not just once, not twice, but multiply that when we are on the
26:17
Lord's errand, he will provide a way that we can do this.
26:22
I think one of the points a good take away here from this is how
26:26
even though Lehmann and Lemuel continually persist in in
26:31
objecting to what he's doing and even threatened to kill him oh,
26:34
multiple times. Yeah, that.
26:36
Nephi does not lose his cool. He doesn't respond with anger.
26:42
You don't fight fire with fire. And he assures them that as the
26:47
Lord had helped them to come out of Israel as ancient people,
26:52
Yeah, yeah, that's all. Chapter 17.
26:54
Middlesex. He will help.
26:55
Us now, and he reminds them, You've seen an Angel, you've
27:01
heard his voice, and you've heard him speaking in a still
27:05
small voice. But you were past feeling and
27:09
then. We see in verse 50, if God had
27:12
commanded me to do all these things, I could do them.
27:15
If He commanded me that I should say into this water be thou
27:18
earth, I could do it. You know, he has so much faith,
27:23
and yet it says in verse 52 for the space of many days they left
27:28
him alone because they were so frightened of him.
27:32
And that's when the Lord then shocks him in verse 53.
27:35
I will shock them, saith the Lord.
27:38
And this will I do, that they may know that I am the Lord,
27:41
their God. And they shook.
27:44
And they finally believed to cooperate.
27:46
They were humbled by being forced to be humbled.
27:48
And as we read about later in King Benjamin and so they get
27:52
their message, Yeah, yeah, they did shake them.
27:55
But it says in verse 55 that they said we know for a surety
27:58
that it was the Lord is with thee.
28:01
I think this is significant for Nephi to be writing this record
28:04
down after the time that they had separated.
28:08
And he's saying, don't you remember?
28:10
Don't you remember? Nephi is really clearly the good
28:13
guys, and they are really clearly the bad guys, I think
28:15
because of the perspective of history.
28:17
But there are moments where you see that they come back and they
28:20
come back and they humble themselves.
28:23
Oh, that's right. And as as difficult as this must
28:26
have been for Nephi to have to separate from Lehmann and
28:31
Lemuel, as he will do after the death of Lehigh, he knows that
28:37
he can't risk the whole success of their calling to raise up a
28:44
righteous seed that can receive and be visited by the
28:49
resurrected Jesus, as he has been promised that he saw in the
28:53
vision. In the vision that he saw.
28:55
So that remains a very powerful motivation.
29:01
Gives Nephi. Confidence and purpose the the
29:06
small plates of Nephi will be kept among the Nephites.
29:10
Of course, Jacob is the High Priest and they will be kept in
29:14
the treasury, or maybe the Holy of Holies of that temple where
29:18
their most sacred, sacred things were kept.
29:22
So we don't know that Laman and Lemuel ever actually read these,
29:25
but the Nephites would have taken this out and would have
29:29
read this as a part of their creation account, their epic
29:34
story of how they got to where they are, and we know that.
29:37
They read them because they quote from these plates all
29:40
throughout the rest of the book. But as we finish up chapter 17
29:43
and go to 18, he finishes the boat.
29:47
They're able to cooperate enough to actually help him on the
29:49
building. We're not talking about a big
29:51
ship yet. I keep calling it a boat, just
29:53
because they're not as big as I would have thought.
29:56
And as we see the ancient ones that do these world trips again,
29:59
he in 18 verse three I, Nephi did go into the mount OFT, and I
30:04
did pray OFT unto the Lord. Wherefore the Lord showed unto
30:07
me great things. This is our hope now that we can
30:10
too go to the temple OFT go to our knees OFT, and receive great
30:14
things. This verse is for us now, but
30:22
chapter 18 is where we finally introduced Jacob and Joseph, the
30:26
little brothers, and they gather seed in chapter 18, verse 6, and
30:32
they get ready to go on the boat.
30:34
But unfortunately the problems happen on the boat too and the
30:39
Leona doesn't work because they're arguing again, that's
30:44
verses 12/13/14. You know, they get angry and it
30:49
just doesn't work. It happens every time the
30:51
Spirit. Leaves and the direction doesn't
30:54
work. Ancient Mariners had a very
30:58
close connection to the forces of nature and of the gods that
31:04
they believed in. And you have to know the
31:06
currents, You have to be able to read the signs of the clouds,
31:11
the birds that you have to follow.
31:13
Being led by the Spirit was so important and we don't know how
31:19
Nephi and he didn't have a map, he didn't have the way to go,
31:25
but he did have the power of revelation and that would be the
31:30
way that God would bring these people to the new world and
31:34
they. Get there.
31:35
Let's start with chapter 18, verse 23.
31:37
And it came to pass that after we had sailed for the space of
31:40
many days, and I'd add weeks and months, we did arrive at the
31:45
Promised Land. And we went forth upon the land
31:47
and did pitch our tents, and we did call it the Promised Land.
31:53
Now this is so fascinating to me because this phrase, promised
31:56
land, is a Nephi phrase, either the Land of promise or promised
32:00
Land. It's all over Nephi, and it's
32:02
not nowhere else. It's right here, he continues on
32:05
to say. They planted seeds and they find
32:07
silver and copper and gold and cows and oxes, asses and horses.
32:14
And I am excited to say that there have been so many
32:19
archaeological discoveries. Never leave your faith because
32:22
something hasn't been uncovered yet.
32:24
You know, look what's happened since the Dead Sea Scrolls in
32:27
1948. Look what's happened since.
32:30
You know, we have found so many animals.
32:33
I'm from California. The La Brea Tar Pits have had
32:36
horses for a long time that date pre Columbian, and we have had
32:41
so many examples of animals that look and like horses, but there
32:46
are smaller horse rather than the same Arabian horse.
32:50
They're more diminutive, but they're much larger than a pony.
32:52
They're real horses and many people.
32:55
Have seen already the archaeological report that we've
32:59
been able to release recently on archaeological discoveries of
33:03
horses horse bones in a an area in north eastern Mexico.
33:12
And the interesting thing there is, as they've done carbon
33:14
dating on these horse bones, they date to all of the period
33:20
covered not only by the Nephites, but also by the
33:23
Jaredites, Yes. But chapter 19, my favorite
33:26
part, is when he begins testifying of Christ.
33:30
Nephi begins writing some things that are sacred on these plates,
33:34
and we had talked about the idea of ore You've done a lot of work
33:38
on plates, Jack, but I'm just fascinated with the idea that no
33:43
one ever says they're 24. Karat gold, you know, these
33:46
things are probably copper with a gold.
33:50
What do you call the aloe on the outside?
33:52
Well, it's a. Tumbaga Yes, yes, the ancient
33:56
way. They used to take him the
33:58
ancient people. Of America were able to make a
34:00
foil of metal and thin plates that matches the description of
34:04
something that you might use for a very carefully written record
34:10
like this write. Something inscribe it.
34:12
These are copper. And gold mixed together so as
34:16
you heat it and then spread it out and it cools.
34:21
You then wash the surface of the alloy with a slight acid, like
34:29
citric acid, and the acid will then leach out the copper, the
34:35
first few layers of copper Ma atoms and we'll leave the gold
34:42
like a gold plate. As a gold.
34:44
Surface. It's like a gold plating, but
34:46
they don't have to do it with electrolysis, which then you
34:50
could actually. Carve into the gold and see the
34:53
copper underneath. That's right.
34:55
Wow. So if you do this.
34:57
And then write or scratch on the gold foil, you first of all have
35:04
a different color of the copper coming through.
35:07
Coming through but. Also, then that could oxidize a
35:12
little bit and you'd have an even stronger course, making
35:16
making the inscriptions a little easier to read, he says in
35:18
verse. Six of chapter 19.
35:20
I do not write anything upon plates, save it, be that I think
35:24
it be sacred. And I like to use that approach
35:27
for my scriptures, for my journals, for my letters.
35:31
Let's make sure we're saying the things that matter most and
35:36
what? This tells us is that they write
35:37
on other substance substances as well.
35:40
Oh yeah, you can. Write on bark.
35:42
You can write on leather, you know.
35:44
Even in Israel, by this time they were thinning out the
35:47
leather and they know how to do. That and but the most important
35:50
things they preserve with the most durable medium and that
35:55
would be the metal when we finish up here.
36:02
Lynn, with coming back to the four stages of the prophetic
36:07
worldview. So the last half of. 19/20/21
36:11
and 22 of chapters first Nephi if you remember.
36:14
What we talked about last week when we were going through the
36:17
four stages of first Nephi 11/12/13 and 14 Nephi will now
36:23
echo that here at the end of chapter 19.
36:27
It's all about Christ and the prophecies of his coming, and he
36:32
quotes there the prophecies from Zenus and Zenoch and Naam.
36:36
It talks also about the suffering and the crucifixion of
36:41
Jesus and the cataclysm at the time of his death.
36:45
And by the way, those words which are prophesied here by
36:48
Zenith will be quoted very specifically and accurately in
36:54
the Prophecies of Samuel the Lamanite Wow, which tells us
36:58
that Samuel had access. Has access to.
37:01
This record or to the brass? Plates, yes, and.
37:04
Remember he was converted as a Lamanite, but then comes to
37:08
Zarahemla to spend some time with his missionaries Nephi and
37:12
Lehi, and they had the brass plates and the plates of Nephi.
37:18
So that all fits very nicely there.
37:20
So your stage. One of Christ is beautifully
37:24
described this whole second-half of chapter 19, 'cause it says as
37:28
we end the chapter, they refer to him as the Holy One of
37:31
Israel. That's right.
37:33
But then in chapter 20, what's stage 2?
37:36
Even though Jesus will come to these people who have been
37:39
brought back to Jerusalem, all will not accept him.
37:43
Well chapter. 20 is Isaiah Isaiah 48 That's right.
37:47
But what happens is Nephi now finds in Isaiah prophecies about
37:52
what will happen when Christ comes when the Messiah comes.
37:57
Even though these people I should know better, they will be
38:03
put into another furnace of affliction.
38:06
Yeah, verse. Ten I have refined thee, I have
38:09
chosen thee in the furnace of affliction, and those.
38:13
Gatherings will then happen as they go forth again out of
38:18
Babylon. And then in Chapter 21 we have
38:22
the conclusion of the second phase of Nephi's vision, And
38:27
that is, there will be some of the Gentiles who will receive
38:32
the gospel. And verse 22 Behold, I will lift
38:36
up mine hand to the Gentiles, and set up my standard to the
38:39
people, and they shall bring thy sons in their arms, and thy
38:43
daughters shall be carried upon their shoulders.
38:47
So, Jack, do you? Think Nephi is including these
38:50
chapters of Isaiah here because he wants to show the repetition
38:54
between his people and the Vision and now the Israelites in
38:59
the ancient world. Exactly.
39:01
We have Lehi's vision, we have Nephi's vision and now we have
39:07
Isaiah's confirmation. So these three, and they're all
39:12
saying the. Same thing they.
39:14
Say the same, looking forward to the ultimate end game of how the
39:21
life on earth will develop and. Nephi in chapter 21, verse 15
39:26
quotes one of my favorite verses of Isaiah.
39:29
He's talking about the the Lord. They're claiming the Lord's for
39:33
forsaken us. He's forgotten us.
39:34
He's not answering our prayers, but that's when he answers.
39:37
Can a woman forget her suckling child, that she should not have
39:41
compassion on the son of her womb?
39:43
Yeah, they may forget. Some women do.
39:46
But yet will I not forget thee. O House of Israel, behold, I
39:52
have engraven thee on the palms of my hands.
39:54
You know, even though they're being claimed, God is not here.
39:59
I will never. I have engraven thee on the
40:02
palms of my hands. This is so messianic.
40:05
Exactly. And that's.
40:05
The end of Nephi's third stage in chapter 13, where he talks
40:10
about even though there will be be apostasy and the covenants
40:13
will be broken and lost, they will not be forgotten, and the
40:17
Lord will then again commence to bring about a marvelous work and
40:22
a wonder. So this is sort of the.
40:23
Changing point from the third stage to the fourth stage and
40:26
then. As you leave that and go on to
40:29
chapter 22, this is Nephi's. Commentary This.
40:33
Is now Nephi will pick up the commentary and we'll we'll
40:38
assure people that the Lord will raise up a mighty nation among
40:42
the Gentiles. That's verse 7, so that the the
40:46
restoration will occur and then in verse.
40:49
Eight. Our seed is scattered.
40:52
But then listen to what happens. The Lord God will proceed to do
40:56
a marvelous work among the Gentiles, which shall be of
41:00
great worth unto our seed. Wherefore it is likened unto
41:03
their being nourished by the Gentiles, and being carried in
41:07
their arms upon their shoulders. And he will.
41:09
Bring them again out of captivity, and they shall be.
41:13
And here's that word gathered, gathered.
41:15
So this is stage. Four with the gathering of the
41:19
righteous, and they'll be gathered.
41:21
With this marvelous work, Jack, what's the marvelous work?
41:24
The. Coming 4th of the Book of Mormon
41:26
Marvelous, we're going to wonder.
41:27
Go read all of our first half of the Doctrine Covenants.
41:30
The marvelous We're going to Wonder, but at the same.
41:33
Time. Think back to Chapter 14 of
41:37
First Nephi. At the same time the righteous
41:40
are being gathered. What happens in verse 13?
41:44
There is an abominable. Church.
41:46
Yeah. The abominable great.
41:48
And abominable church, which is the whore of the earth.
41:50
And this again is Satan, and they will war against the O
41:55
House of Israel. And verse 15.
42:00
For behold, saith the prophet, the time comes speedily, that
42:05
Satan shall have no more power over the hearts of the children
42:08
of men. Well, that's the.
42:10
Millennium and that's how the. Fourth stage ends, the Lord will
42:13
prevail. We can see these things working
42:16
out in the decades, in the centuries, in the in the world
42:22
view. In the world.
42:24
View of of how the gospel was expected to come and how it will
42:30
happen. You know, I had never understood
42:33
why First Nephi ended there. This is so helpful.
42:36
He is a master writer and with I without computers and without a
42:41
pencil and paper. I don't know how he could
42:43
organize everything so clearly. But there seems to be a rhyme
42:47
and reason why he has to end. First Nephi here is because he
42:51
is shown what he needs to show, and next week we'll start in
42:54
second Nephi. I hope that all of our scripture
42:58
study can be enhanced by the Spirit of the Lord directing us,
43:01
because I believe this is the word of God, and that the Spirit
43:06
wants us to become better because of it.
43:09
And I can. Testify that although the
43:13
writings of Isaiah are confusing to many people, Nephi's vision
43:19
gives us the key, the overview and with the help of the Book of
43:25
Mormon, we can get through and get out of the prophecies of
43:31
Isaiah. Clarity, inspiration, and and
43:36
recognize that what people in the world have struggled to do
43:42
to understand Isaiah, Joseph Smith was able to bring forth
43:48
with a wonderful process of using the Urim and Thummim to
43:54
receive revelation and to produce a miraculous miracle.
44:01
And this, I think is is for me the final purpose of all of
44:08
what's done so that we can have understanding and knowledge and
44:13
go forth as they did, with confidence and know that even
44:18
though there may be trouble around, the Lord will prevail.
44:23
He needs us to be faithful and confident, but there's no reason
44:29
that we can't know that if he has kept every word that he has
44:35
promised up to this point, and he has, he will be true to His
44:40
word to the very end. I know that to be true.
44:44
In the name of Jesus Christ, Amen.
44:46
Amen.