1 Nephi 10:1-10
10:1 - Nephi states that he must address the teachings of his father in order to give an accurate account. There are quite a few of Lehi's teachings in the first book of Nephi, and it's interesting to me that Nephi would use precious space on the plates to discuss his father's teachings when his father had made his own record. When the plates were originally translated there were 116 pages that Lehi had written at the beginning of the record, so Lehi obviously had extensive records of his own. But for Nephi to include his father's teachings in his own record, and for him to reference his father's lessons like we wouldn't have any idea about Lehi or what he taught, except what Nephi tells us, indicates for me that the Lord had prepared hundreds of years beforehand for the 116 pages to be lost. And many times in his record, Nephi tells us basically "and for more information on that, reference the large plates." But I haven't seen very many times when he says "and for more information on what my father was talking about, please reference his own personal plates." This says to me that Nephi either didn't know his father had his own record, which I doubt, or at a minimum he didn't know if we as future readers would have it. Oh course the Lord knew that the pages would be lost in translation, but he prepared for it from the beginning. After the pages were stolen, the plates were taken from Joseph Smith until the Lord felt he was spiritually ready to begin translating again. So when Joseph Smith translated this verse, he had already lost the first 116 pages and had the plates taken from him and then again restored. I wonder if when he translated this verse he knew that it was the Lord saying "I knew that this was going to happen and I prepared for it." I couldn't imagine the feelings that would have come over him when he realized that. If it were me, I would feel desperately sorrowful thinking that I personally caused the loss of truth, then to realize that it was planned for, and that the truth and teachings had been preserved through another means must have just been really liberating and emotional for him.
10:2 - Now Lehi is going to talk to his family about the Jews, or the people that they were and left. I think the way Nephi references the Jews is confusing because technically, he is a Jew, he lived in the Jewish city, Jerusalem, and he lived the Jewish lifestyle. But at this point I think that it's clear that Nephi has distanced himself from the Jews at Jerusalem and has set his own people, his own way of following the Lord.
10:3 - I read something the other day saying that in our day and age, the magnitude and historical tragedy of the destruction of the great city of Jerusalem is not something that is common knowledge among Christians. I guess if one really studies the scriptures, they would know that during the time of Jeremiah the city was destroyed and the Jews were either killed or taken captive to Babylon. But for the most part, the destruction of Jerusalem in about 600 BC is a mostly Mormon thing. Back in the ancient world, when one nation conquers another and takes their people back to their homeland as slaves, from what I understand those captive people simply vanish into the other people. They come, marry into the captors culture and then within a generation or two (probably about 70 years) there are no more orignal captive natives left, they have all been bred out or killed. I think it would be significant for Lehi to say "Jerusalem will be destroyed, the people will be killed and taken captive, but when the Lord is ready, they will leave Babylon and come back home to Jerusalem again." This probably wasn't a common occurrence for conquered nations, to be culturally perserved in their captive lands, and then be given their lands BACK to them to go home. This was probably quite a shock that the Jews would be preserved even in their capture and wickedness to learn their lesson, them come home.
10:4 - I don't know what is the most significant point of this verse, the fact that Lehi is saying "the Messiah is coming!" Or that he is giving them a 600 year time line? If I remember correctly, the Jews were always looking forward to the coming of the Messiah, so that prophecy shouldn't have been that ground breaking to Lehi's family, but the timeline, that is pretty specific. It always baffled me that the Nephites and the Lamanites had the exact year that Jesus would come and yet were sill so unsure that he actually would come. We are waiting for his second coming, but we are told "no man knoweth" when he is coming, I think it would be very interesting to be given the exact year.
10:5-6 - This probably answers the previous question about whether or not the Jews knew about the coming of the Messiah, here Lehi teaches that the prophets throughout the ages have testified that the Messiah was coming. This leads me to believe that the teachings were there, but they were very misunderstood as to who what when where and why the Messiah was coming. And as he expands, the need for a Redeemer is to save mankind from their lost and fallen state. These are all very common terms for us as Latter Day Saints, concepts we know well. But apparently these were not teachings known to the ancient Jewish people at large. Why didn't they know? There are probably many many reasons. Was this something being actively taught? Was this something suppressed by the Jewish leadership for power? Was is taught in an abstract way or was it not taught at all because the people were not ready for this type of idea?
10:7-8 - I guess because I have always known about John the Baptist, I've never really understood why it was so significant that he "prepare the way of the Lord." Why didn't Jesus just show up? What was John's effect on how Jesus was received? I am going to have to do a little bit more research on this. I did hear a very interesting idea the other day though, I'll have to find the Ensign article, but it said that John was born before Jesus to prepare the way for him. But John had to precede Jesus in death as well to prepare those in the spirit world for his coming. I had never thought about that. I had always thought of John the Baptist's death as tragic but that was it. It never occurred to me that he had to die when he did in order to make a smooth transition for the work to start when Jesus got to the spirit world. And if I remember correctly these are John's exact words, and assuming you believe that these words were written 600+ years before they were spoken, that is quite remarkable.
10:9-10: Again, reference to baptism, something very common knowledge to us today, taught as if it was some bizarre lesson. I guess if we think about it, the Jews must not have had baptism as a way they agree to live their lives in accordance with Jewish law. I guess they were just born and raised with no other option. Circumcision and the Passover are the ceremonies, I guess. This would probably be in line with the living the letter of the law vs. the spirit of the law. Living the letter of the law gives one little choice, they can be obedient in actions but rebellious in heart. But baptism must be the requiring of the heart. But then again, Alma baptizes believers in the waters of Mormon, both the Jews and Alma's organization being taught and run by the Lord, yet very different executions of the ordinances.
10:2 - Now Lehi is going to talk to his family about the Jews, or the people that they were and left. I think the way Nephi references the Jews is confusing because technically, he is a Jew, he lived in the Jewish city, Jerusalem, and he lived the Jewish lifestyle. But at this point I think that it's clear that Nephi has distanced himself from the Jews at Jerusalem and has set his own people, his own way of following the Lord.
10:3 - I read something the other day saying that in our day and age, the magnitude and historical tragedy of the destruction of the great city of Jerusalem is not something that is common knowledge among Christians. I guess if one really studies the scriptures, they would know that during the time of Jeremiah the city was destroyed and the Jews were either killed or taken captive to Babylon. But for the most part, the destruction of Jerusalem in about 600 BC is a mostly Mormon thing. Back in the ancient world, when one nation conquers another and takes their people back to their homeland as slaves, from what I understand those captive people simply vanish into the other people. They come, marry into the captors culture and then within a generation or two (probably about 70 years) there are no more orignal captive natives left, they have all been bred out or killed. I think it would be significant for Lehi to say "Jerusalem will be destroyed, the people will be killed and taken captive, but when the Lord is ready, they will leave Babylon and come back home to Jerusalem again." This probably wasn't a common occurrence for conquered nations, to be culturally perserved in their captive lands, and then be given their lands BACK to them to go home. This was probably quite a shock that the Jews would be preserved even in their capture and wickedness to learn their lesson, them come home.
10:4 - I don't know what is the most significant point of this verse, the fact that Lehi is saying "the Messiah is coming!" Or that he is giving them a 600 year time line? If I remember correctly, the Jews were always looking forward to the coming of the Messiah, so that prophecy shouldn't have been that ground breaking to Lehi's family, but the timeline, that is pretty specific. It always baffled me that the Nephites and the Lamanites had the exact year that Jesus would come and yet were sill so unsure that he actually would come. We are waiting for his second coming, but we are told "no man knoweth" when he is coming, I think it would be very interesting to be given the exact year.
10:5-6 - This probably answers the previous question about whether or not the Jews knew about the coming of the Messiah, here Lehi teaches that the prophets throughout the ages have testified that the Messiah was coming. This leads me to believe that the teachings were there, but they were very misunderstood as to who what when where and why the Messiah was coming. And as he expands, the need for a Redeemer is to save mankind from their lost and fallen state. These are all very common terms for us as Latter Day Saints, concepts we know well. But apparently these were not teachings known to the ancient Jewish people at large. Why didn't they know? There are probably many many reasons. Was this something being actively taught? Was this something suppressed by the Jewish leadership for power? Was is taught in an abstract way or was it not taught at all because the people were not ready for this type of idea?
10:7-8 - I guess because I have always known about John the Baptist, I've never really understood why it was so significant that he "prepare the way of the Lord." Why didn't Jesus just show up? What was John's effect on how Jesus was received? I am going to have to do a little bit more research on this. I did hear a very interesting idea the other day though, I'll have to find the Ensign article, but it said that John was born before Jesus to prepare the way for him. But John had to precede Jesus in death as well to prepare those in the spirit world for his coming. I had never thought about that. I had always thought of John the Baptist's death as tragic but that was it. It never occurred to me that he had to die when he did in order to make a smooth transition for the work to start when Jesus got to the spirit world. And if I remember correctly these are John's exact words, and assuming you believe that these words were written 600+ years before they were spoken, that is quite remarkable.
10:9-10: Again, reference to baptism, something very common knowledge to us today, taught as if it was some bizarre lesson. I guess if we think about it, the Jews must not have had baptism as a way they agree to live their lives in accordance with Jewish law. I guess they were just born and raised with no other option. Circumcision and the Passover are the ceremonies, I guess. This would probably be in line with the living the letter of the law vs. the spirit of the law. Living the letter of the law gives one little choice, they can be obedient in actions but rebellious in heart. But baptism must be the requiring of the heart. But then again, Alma baptizes believers in the waters of Mormon, both the Jews and Alma's organization being taught and run by the Lord, yet very different executions of the ordinances.
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