1 Nephi 17- Oops they forgot!

Here is my journal entry from yesterday. Its kinda long, and I was mostly writing to myself, but I included it in its entirety anyway. Feel free to add any thoughts you have on this chapter, or anything else it brings to mind!

Sometimes I am amazed at how powerful the scriptures can be. I just read 1 Nephi 17 and I loved so much about it. I read it online and listened to it as well, and it spoke volumes to me.

What hits me most profoundly is Laman and Lemuel and all that the Lord has shown them and how they constantly forget. In the previous chapter, 16, they actually hear the voice of the Lord (v 39). Who knows how much time has passed before ch 17, but it can't be more than a year, and already they are once again ready to kill Nephi! Then, as they are once again threatening Nephi, he proceeds to teach them a beautiful analogy from the Old Testament, of the children of Israel and how the Lord led them out of Egypt, and provided so many miracles for them, and yet many of them hardened their hearts, just like Laman and Lemuel. Nephi actually told them they were being just like the people the Lord destroyed in the promised land, and that they were murderers, just like the people in Jerusalem, and the Lord destroys the wicked, so they'd better watch out. Well maybe he didn't say it like that, but they were sure ticked. They wanted to throw him into the ocean. But fortunately, the Lord protected Nephi for a few days, and the spirit was so strong with him, in fact, that his brothers didn't even try to lay their hands on him. The Lord knew they still had anger in their hearts though. So he told Nephi to shake them. The last verse, 55, is so ironic and beautiful to me, because when Nephi shakes them, they start to worship him! They go from wanting to kill him to thinking he's a god! The beautiful part comes when Nephi says, I am just your brother, yea, even your younger brother.... worship God and honor your parents. In other words, when Nephi has the chance to have his brothers finally bow down to him, he shows them they were wrong all along, that he doesn't want the power the so often accuse him of (i.e. 1 Ne 16:38). All he wants is for them to obey the Lord and respect their parents. For his happiness? No, only for theirs. What a beautiful verse. I wonder how long they remember this time??

Another aspect of ch 17 that is very touching to me is Nephis perspective on their time in the wilderness. It is a very different one than that of his brothers'. In v 20, we hear the perspective of Laman and Lemuel, that their wives have gone through so much in the wilderness, that it would have been better if they would have died before they even left Jerusalem. But at the beginning of the chapter, we see from Nephis perspective, all the ways the Lord has blessed them in the wilderness and helped them accomplish His commandments. How the women had become strong like unto the men, so they could bear their burdens. How they had been able to provide for their babies while they were nursing. How Heavenly Father made it possible for all of them to survive and thrive on raw meat only. And how they even got to the point of bearing their burdens without out complaint. And I do love how he doesn't pretend that there weren't afflictions, in fact, in v1 he says they did "wade through much affliction in the wilderness." But he chooses to focus on how Heavenly Father has helped him through these afflictions. And it seems Nephi has gained much through this time in the wilderness, he has learned to really rely on the Lord, and, probably through much prayer and pondering, has acquired a deep understanding of afflictions and of the scriptures.

I often wonder how I would have handled these afflictions in the wilderness if I were called on to do the same thing? Would I be a Laman or a Nephi? Maybe more like a Sam. I always wonder what he is doing when Nephi is having his confrontations with his brothers. Maybe just sitting back and watching, hoping to not get involved. Maybe trying to get Laman and Lemuel to stop without much success. Maybe stepping in and giving some chastisement of his own every once in a while. That might have been recorded had there been a book of Sam. :) Sometimes I really wish Lehi would have just let Laman and Lemuel go back to Jerusalem! I'll bet they could have if they really wanted to. But they chose to stay and complain and be martyrs and try constantly to kill their brother and father. Life would have been so much easier for everyone else in their family, and I'll bet the Book of Mormon would have been filled with less bloodshed if they would have just stayed in Jerusalem! But I know they had a purpose as a scourge to Nephi's seed to stir them up unto remembrance. Plus Lehi loved them. He wouldn't just leave his oldest sons when he knew they would surely perish in Jerusalem. Even though that's what they wanted. And really, what they deserved. ;)