1 Nephi 5 tweet: Sh complains against Lh & is comforted. Family reunited. Lh reads plates and prophesies about his seed. Plates will not perish nor dim.
This chapter is effectively the conclusion of the original first chapter of the Book of Mormon. Lehi and Sariah’s sons return to the wilderness having kept the commandment to obtain the brass plates, but at what cost? We will consider what the common themes of the first five chapters are and what Nephi was trying to accomplish in writing them in the way that he did.
Grant Hardy’s work with this chapter is really interesting. I’m tempted to include it in full but I’ll try to brief. Of Lehi’s reunion with his sons he makes the following point:
Lehi is undoubtedly happy to see his sons again (we are told that three times), yet he may have had some stern words for Nephi, or at least some pointed questions. S. Kent Brown has observed that burnt offerings, such as those Lehi sacrificed at 1 Nephi 5:9, were intended to purge sin, so Lehi must have felt somewhat ill at ease with how his request to procure the plates had been carried out.1 Nephi, as a narrator who is anxious for us to perceive him as spiritually superior to his brothers and in harmony with his father at all times, omits the homecoming dialogue. (If Lehi had said, “Surely God was directing you,” or “You alone among my sons have been faithful,” wouldn’t Nephi have mentioned it?)2
There is some conjecture in Hardy’s idea, but it is true that Nephi is silent about his father’s reaction to how the plates were obtained. Would you expect Nephi to say something of his father’s reaction? If so, why do you think nothing is included?
What do you think of Brown’s observation that the purpose of the burnt offerings in verse 9 would have been to purge sin? If so, whose sins?
Even though he was commanded by God, the killing of Laban would still have been a hugely traumatic event for Nephi. I doubt Laman and Lemuel would have offered any support – Nephi certainly doesn’t mention any – and so I would imagine Lehi’s approval and comfort would have been extremely important to him. If Lehi did have “some stern words for Nephi, or at least some pointed questions” I think Nephi would have felt very isolated at that point. He will have learnt at a young age that obedience can be a lonely place.
I suggested in an earlier post that I thought that most if not all of Lehi’s family would have considered their refuge in the wilderness as a temporary arrangement until the threat to Lehi’s life blew over (e.g. there is no mention of a promised land in the original command for Lehi to take his family into the wilderness). If this is true, the slaying of Laban would have changing everything. They would never get back their old Jerusalem life. Nephi and his brothers were now fugitives. After the initial joy of their reunion, the family would have had to come to terms with their permanent exile from Jerusalem. How do you think this would have changed the dynamics of family life?
Hardy also suggests a deliberate structure for the story of Sariah’s complaint:
5:1 – Parents rejoice
5:2–3 – Quotation 1: Sariah “complained … saying, Behold [three times] … and after this manner of language had my mother complained”
5:4–7 – Quotation 2: Lehi’s response, “But behold [three matching items] … after this manner of language did my father, Lehi, comfort my mother, Sariah … and my mother was comforted”
5:8 – Quotation 3: Sariah’s rejoinder, “Now I know … [three items] … and after this manner of language did she speak”
5:9 – Parents rejoice3
Why do you think Nephi would structure the story in this way? Joe Spencer writes, “This is less the story of Sariah’s complaint than it is the story of discovered union.”4 This is a rare scriptural example of a tender moment between husband and wife.
One final thought before some conclusions: in verse 21, Nephi says that after searching the brass plates they found them desirable. All other Book of Mormon references to ‘desirable’ are to the fruit of the tree of life in Lehi/Nephi’s vision and Alma’s simile. Do you think this is significant?
In conclusion, what do you think are the main messages that Nephi was trying to teach throughout this opening chapter (i.e. 1 Nephi 1–5)? As I said in the post on 1 Nephi 1, at the beginning of the chapter Lehi reads a book shown to him in a vision that causes him to prophesy. At the end of the chapter (i.e. 1 Nephi 5), Lehi searches another book (the brass plates) and prophesies concerning his seed. Therefore, the story arc of the original chapter begins and ends with two accounts of Lehi reading and then prophesying. And at the heart of the chapter is the account of a return to Jerusalem and how a holy book was obtained. Finally, Nephi’s use of the word desirable at the very end of the chapter may purposefully connect the brass plates with the fruit of the tree of life.
In the next original chapter (i.e. 1 Nephi 6–9) we will see a recurrence of these themes: a return to Jerusalem, seed, fruit, and talk a holy record kept on metal plates.
Next week’s reading: 1 Nephi 6 and 7
(Edit: As 1 Nephi 6 is just six verses long, I intended to cover 1 Ne. 6 and 7 in one post. Turns out I have more to say about 1 Ne. 6 than I anticipated. So next week I’ll just cover 1 Ne. 6 and pick up 1 Ne. 7 the week after.)
- Kent Brown, “What Were Those Sacrifices Offered by Lehi?” in From Jerusalem to Zarahemla, 1–8
- Grant Hardy. Understanding the Book of Mormon, pp. 20
- Grant Hardy. Understanding the Book of Mormon, pp. 21
- http://feastuponthewordblog.org/2012/01/01/book-of-mormon-lesson-2-all-things-according-to-his-will-1-nephi-1-7-sunday-school/
February 2, 2016 at 10:18 pm
In verse 1 they “came down into the wilderness into our FATHER”. (Capitals added)
Verse 1-8 is Sariah’s testimony experience.
Notice how she is described as complaining not murmuring.
She worried that it would be the wilderness that would kill her sons, not Laban. Gives you a clue how inhospitable the wilderness was.
She has 3 issues with Lehi that are mentioned in verse 2.
1) He was a visionary man
2) No land of inheritance
3) Potentially no descendants, no sons.
However Lehi comforts her in verse 4-5.
1) I know I am a visionary man, but it has/ will save us
2) I know we have left our land of inheritance, but we will get a land of promise, and our sons ( descendants) will survive.
Reminds me of Abraham and the promise of an inheritance in a new land and descendants to populate it.
Regarding the sacrifice in verse 9 I don’t think it had to do with anything with sin,
“Wickedness never was happiness ” their attitude was rejoicing and thanksgiving.
Leviticus 7:12-15
Finally the book that Lehi read in 1 Nephi 1:11 is very similar to the brass plates that Lehi was reading. I wonder any connections.
Themes of the first 5 chapters
1) Isaiah prophetic call
2) Moses and exodus
3) ?
4) David and Goliath
5) Abraham and Sariah
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February 2, 2016 at 10:39 pm
Thanks Ben. Great spot on the wilderness being Sariah’s concern. I think your OT themes in the first 5 chapters are also right. I think the killing of Laban is may also be a type of Moses and the exodus – Nephi as Moses, Laban as Pharaoh, and the brass plates as the Egyptian treasures to be taken into the wilderness. In that scenario, in chapter 3 we read of two failed attempts to obtain the plates, which might be likened to Moses’ failed attempts to persuade Pharaoh to let the Israelites go.
I would also add to those themes, that there are a few times when Nephi tells his story in such a way as to draw comparisons with Joseph of Egypt.
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February 4, 2016 at 11:14 pm
Another thought!
In 1 Nephi 5:10-16 we are given a summary of the contents of the plates of brass, had Nephi and Lehi seen a bible before?
I think this was a description of something new to them, hence the need to explain and describe it. We nowadays automatically assume, oh yeah, Nephi is describing the Old Testament.
But this version of the Old Testament (plates of brass) would be different from the other versions like the Masoretic text, Septuagint, and Qumran literature that would come later. Plates of brass contain unknown prophets, unknow prophecies, emphasis on Northern Israel/ Kingdom,(Ephraim-Joseph rather than the Southern Israel/Kingdom Juadah-Jews).
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February 9, 2016 at 9:15 pm
v4. I love Lehi’s manner in speaking to Sariah. How many of us if we were in Lehi’s position would dismiss her complaints and say it was a command from the Lord? If you look at Lehi’s reply carefully you’ll notice that he not only reassures her but also accepts her point of view
e.g.”I know that I am a visionary man; for if I had not seen the things of God in a vision I should not have known the goodness of God…”
In other words ‘You are absolutely right, and because of what you know, you know how good the Lord has been to us.’ A caring exchange as opposed to what could have been quite volatile.
v22. Nephi’s language in the closing of this chapter is also instructive:
“Wherefore, it was wisdom in the Lord that we should carry them with us, as we journeyed in the wilderness towards the land of promise.”
This is a parallel to the important role of the scriptures in guiding God’s children to the ultimate promised land through the wilderness of life.
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February 12, 2016 at 12:01 pm
Thanks Matt. On your last point, we’ll pick this up again when we look at Lehi’s vision.
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