1 Nephi 11:1-10
There's not a whole lot discussed about these first 10 verses in the Institute manual. There are a few articles linked in the LDS Citation Index, but not a whole lot.
11:1 - I find Nephi's writing style to be a little bit difficult to read sometimes. For instance in chapter 10:17 he says that he desired to see the things that his father had seen, then goes on a 5 verse tangent, for lack of a better word, about the greatness of God. Then come chapter 11 verse 1, he again gets back on the subject he started with of desiring to see the same things his father had seen. It is just difficult for me to follow because he goes off onto other subjects in the middle of addressing something else. We will see, but I think he's the only one who has this writing pattern. I wonder what being "caught away in the Spirit of the Lord" means. Does it means like he went unconscious for several hours, or is it like a dream, zone out for a few minutes and it's like you've lived a lifetime.
11:2-3 - It's interesting to me that the Spirit asks Nephi "what do you want?" As an all knowing God, he would know what Nephi wanted and what he needs to know and see. So why does he ask him? I wonder if it's to make him put into words what he really wanted. Kind of like having an idea or a concept, but then when it comes time to describe it, the words escape you and you realize you don't have the handle on it you thought you did. But his request was simple enough, to see the things his father saw.
11:4-5 - So Nephi comes and is able to articulate what he wants to the Spirit, but then to ask, "well do you really believe that he saw the things he said he did?" I was mistaken, I thought that Nephi was praying at the time the Spirit came, but it says that he was "pondering in mine heart" which is a bit different. So I wonder if the Lord picked that time specifically to show Nephi those things, because it wasn't an answer to a prayer, it was just thought. So I guess that makes more sense why the Spirit asked him what he wanted, because in a prayer he probably would have already asked for what he wanted. But then this begs the question, why did the Lord take the time when he was thinking about it to show him, and didn't wait until he was praying for it. So why didn't Nephi pray for it? I guess it would have been a little presumptuous to assume that he was on the same spiritual level as his father the prophet, since he was still a young man. Maybe he secretly wanted to see the same things but would not have dared to ask the Lord considering himself too young, too unprepared, too unworthy or unproven. I'm not saying that this is why, but it would make sense. Actually this solves a lifelong discord for me. I actually always thought that Nephi prayed and was like "hey I want to see the things my father saw, show me." But it didn't happen like that at all. I'm not saying he wouldn't have prayed to see those things, but so far, we've seen Nephi to be more humble and patient than entitled and demanding. He simply prayed to know if his father was right in leading them away from Jerusalem, and his answer was visitation. He didn't even pray about being beaten up for wanting to stay to get the plates, but an angel intervened. So now it would be in keeping with his personality that he wasn't going to be so bold as to ask to see the things, maybe that's why the Lord picked now, because he knew he wasn't going to ask. When he answers "yea, thou knowest that I believe all the words of my father" it seems to me to be in keeping with the same arrogant attitude that I had felt from him before I understood, but when I go read it again, the Spirit asks very specifically "do you believe that your father saw the tree of life that he talked about?" That's a very specific question, he didn't ask if he believe his father was a prophet or if he had really had a vision with fire, he just asked about that one simple aspect of the story, and I don't know if that indicates how little faith is expected of people in general or maybe I'm just reading too much into it. But Nephi answers "you know I believe all the words of my father." So even though the Spirit asked specifically about the tree he answers, "I believe all of it."
11:6-7 - Why does the Spirit praise God because Nephi believes? He does eventually say "blessed art thou, Nephi," but he praises God first. Why I'll have to think about this a little bit more. And he says "because you believe you will be shown the things that you desired."
11:8-10 - So the Spirit has a very simple delivery method "Look!" Nephi observes and then describes what he sees. Then as we will see later, the Spirit will expand on what he has said. But then he asks again "what desirest thou?" So "what do you want?" "I want to see what my father saw." "Ok here is it, what do you want now?" Very interesting back and forth between the two. This teaching style worked for Nephi, but it probably wouldn't work for me, because I wouldn't have the presence of mind to ask follow up questions. But I have noticed that I do have a way that the Spirit speaks to me that probably wouldn't work for many other people. It's very blunt. "You know better," or "you're having a bad attitude." And for me it works. I'm not offended but I can't dance my way out of it, or justify it that way. I usually just think in response "oh yeah, that's true." I was thinking about this the other day actually, I had a blunt answer, and I thought "other people would probably be offended by that, but I have to hear it that way or else I don't listen." And I thought about the other ways that the Spirit speaks to people, I don't know many of them because mine have to be pretty in your face. These verses must be an illustration that the Spirit speaks to us and teaches us in ways that we understand, no matter what that way is, be it back and forth questions, bold scoldings (like I get and love my the way,) of other ways. The Lord knows us each very personally and we are taught the best way for us.
11:1 - I find Nephi's writing style to be a little bit difficult to read sometimes. For instance in chapter 10:17 he says that he desired to see the things that his father had seen, then goes on a 5 verse tangent, for lack of a better word, about the greatness of God. Then come chapter 11 verse 1, he again gets back on the subject he started with of desiring to see the same things his father had seen. It is just difficult for me to follow because he goes off onto other subjects in the middle of addressing something else. We will see, but I think he's the only one who has this writing pattern. I wonder what being "caught away in the Spirit of the Lord" means. Does it means like he went unconscious for several hours, or is it like a dream, zone out for a few minutes and it's like you've lived a lifetime.
11:2-3 - It's interesting to me that the Spirit asks Nephi "what do you want?" As an all knowing God, he would know what Nephi wanted and what he needs to know and see. So why does he ask him? I wonder if it's to make him put into words what he really wanted. Kind of like having an idea or a concept, but then when it comes time to describe it, the words escape you and you realize you don't have the handle on it you thought you did. But his request was simple enough, to see the things his father saw.
11:4-5 - So Nephi comes and is able to articulate what he wants to the Spirit, but then to ask, "well do you really believe that he saw the things he said he did?" I was mistaken, I thought that Nephi was praying at the time the Spirit came, but it says that he was "pondering in mine heart" which is a bit different. So I wonder if the Lord picked that time specifically to show Nephi those things, because it wasn't an answer to a prayer, it was just thought. So I guess that makes more sense why the Spirit asked him what he wanted, because in a prayer he probably would have already asked for what he wanted. But then this begs the question, why did the Lord take the time when he was thinking about it to show him, and didn't wait until he was praying for it. So why didn't Nephi pray for it? I guess it would have been a little presumptuous to assume that he was on the same spiritual level as his father the prophet, since he was still a young man. Maybe he secretly wanted to see the same things but would not have dared to ask the Lord considering himself too young, too unprepared, too unworthy or unproven. I'm not saying that this is why, but it would make sense. Actually this solves a lifelong discord for me. I actually always thought that Nephi prayed and was like "hey I want to see the things my father saw, show me." But it didn't happen like that at all. I'm not saying he wouldn't have prayed to see those things, but so far, we've seen Nephi to be more humble and patient than entitled and demanding. He simply prayed to know if his father was right in leading them away from Jerusalem, and his answer was visitation. He didn't even pray about being beaten up for wanting to stay to get the plates, but an angel intervened. So now it would be in keeping with his personality that he wasn't going to be so bold as to ask to see the things, maybe that's why the Lord picked now, because he knew he wasn't going to ask. When he answers "yea, thou knowest that I believe all the words of my father" it seems to me to be in keeping with the same arrogant attitude that I had felt from him before I understood, but when I go read it again, the Spirit asks very specifically "do you believe that your father saw the tree of life that he talked about?" That's a very specific question, he didn't ask if he believe his father was a prophet or if he had really had a vision with fire, he just asked about that one simple aspect of the story, and I don't know if that indicates how little faith is expected of people in general or maybe I'm just reading too much into it. But Nephi answers "you know I believe all the words of my father." So even though the Spirit asked specifically about the tree he answers, "I believe all of it."
11:6-7 - Why does the Spirit praise God because Nephi believes? He does eventually say "blessed art thou, Nephi," but he praises God first. Why I'll have to think about this a little bit more. And he says "because you believe you will be shown the things that you desired."
11:8-10 - So the Spirit has a very simple delivery method "Look!" Nephi observes and then describes what he sees. Then as we will see later, the Spirit will expand on what he has said. But then he asks again "what desirest thou?" So "what do you want?" "I want to see what my father saw." "Ok here is it, what do you want now?" Very interesting back and forth between the two. This teaching style worked for Nephi, but it probably wouldn't work for me, because I wouldn't have the presence of mind to ask follow up questions. But I have noticed that I do have a way that the Spirit speaks to me that probably wouldn't work for many other people. It's very blunt. "You know better," or "you're having a bad attitude." And for me it works. I'm not offended but I can't dance my way out of it, or justify it that way. I usually just think in response "oh yeah, that's true." I was thinking about this the other day actually, I had a blunt answer, and I thought "other people would probably be offended by that, but I have to hear it that way or else I don't listen." And I thought about the other ways that the Spirit speaks to people, I don't know many of them because mine have to be pretty in your face. These verses must be an illustration that the Spirit speaks to us and teaches us in ways that we understand, no matter what that way is, be it back and forth questions, bold scoldings (like I get and love my the way,) of other ways. The Lord knows us each very personally and we are taught the best way for us.
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