1 Nephi 11:11-23
11:11 - It amazes me that Nephi had the presence of mind to know what he wanted. I would have probably stood in front of the spirit and stuttered and drooled until he gave up and went away. Nephi says that he and the Spirit spoke to each other like two men talking. He says that the Spirit looked like a man, but Nephi knew he was the Spirit. I have heard the concept of the "Body of my Spirit." Like a spirit is not just loose particles floating around without purpose, even though there is no physical containment for the spirit in the form of a body, it would make sense that the spirit of a person would still be in some organized manner.
11:13-15 - In the pre existence Mary was one of the most valiant women, that is why she was chosen as Jesus's mother. I think that the description of her as a "virgin" is a little bit lost in our society today. Now parents work, kids have lives outside of home, they have boyfriends, and many times, probably the vast majority, the parents don't know that their daughters (or sons, but we'll focus on the girls here because Mary is a girl) are sexually active. It isn't until they turn up pregnant that it finally comes to light. But in the ancient Israelite world, as far as I understand, sex was pretty heavily regulated to be within marriage (with the exception of men being with prostitutes, which I don't know a ton about in this context) so in our society today, when describing a young woman, "virgin" probably wouldn't be included, but back then it was appropriate because of course a young woman in that day would have not been sexually active, she would have been waiting for marriage. Maybe in this context "virgin" is used to describe a young woman who is not yet married. But he also describes her as "most beautiful and fair." Now as a woman of great worth, I am not a beauty queen. I recognize and embrace my physical beauty, but I don't think Nephi would have described me as "most beautiful and fair above all other" women. So it begs the question, what about Mary was beautiful? Was it something where because her spirit was so amazing, it shone forth out of her body? Or was she legitimately shocking beautiful, and if so, why did that matter? Couldn't Jesus have been raised by a woman such as myself who is not shockingly beautiful?
11:16-17 - This has always been a confusing question to me "Knowest thou the condescension of God?" Even now, this is kind of a strange question for me. It kind of comes out of no where and especially because Nephi basically says "I know God love his children, but I don't know all things." Maybe part of the confusion comes because of the English word "condescending" which has a negative connotation of arrogance, belittling, and snobbery in general. In the Institute manual Elder Gerald N. Lund talks about God, Jehovah, the great of all, left his status and power and authority in the pre existence and came down into in infant's body. Not only that but he was born into a regular family, nothing fancy and in fact born in a barn. If we break up the term into con-descension, descend obviously means to come down. But the prefix "con" can mean with, but also perhaps a more applicable meaning would be "con" simply to intensify the meaning, i.e. "confirm" meaning, I guess, extra firm. So not only did he descend, it was the ultimate descension, in not only leaving the grandeur for mediocrity, but also with the atonement, for in the atonement, he descended below all things. So that's what that word means, not only did he descend, he went lower than anyone else. Very interesting.
11:18-21 - Nephi sees the woman, Mary, then she is carried away by the spirit, just like he is at this very moment, and when she comes back she has a child. This must have been confusing for Nephi, since there had been no other virgin births, that probably wasn't even a concept that he was aware of. The Spirit announces "Behold the Lamb of God, yea, even the Son of the Eternal Father!" Then changes the subject almost immediately. "Look the virgin has a baby, and then on your right you'll see the biggest rock in the world." Kind of like "wait, what?" I wonder if because Nephi had no concept of the virgin birth, it wasn't the Spirit's mission to explain that to him right now, and so he just kept the vision going by making a very abrupt change in topic. But Nephi doesn't seen to flinch a bit, he's right there on topic.
11:22-23 - Nephi answers that the tree of life is the love of God, "which sheddeth itself abroad in the heart of the children of men; wherefore, it is the most desirable above all things." I love the tree imagery here, the tree "sheddeth" it's love "abroad" in the hearts of men, kind of like a large tree with outstretched branches, and it's leaves of love fall off the branches and land in people's hearts, making them happy and loved. Unlike Lehi's description of the tree, this is a more detailed explanation and with the wording and imagery, I can imagine people standing under the tree and catching little leaves as they fall, right into their heart and being so happy. Why is the love of God the most desirable thing of all? I know that this is a new concept for me, but I'm going to have to go back and reread some of what I've written and pray about this. Then the Spirit adds on "Yea, and the most joyous to the soul." This is part of the question and answer back and forth that is apparently one of Nephi's learning styles."
11:13-15 - In the pre existence Mary was one of the most valiant women, that is why she was chosen as Jesus's mother. I think that the description of her as a "virgin" is a little bit lost in our society today. Now parents work, kids have lives outside of home, they have boyfriends, and many times, probably the vast majority, the parents don't know that their daughters (or sons, but we'll focus on the girls here because Mary is a girl) are sexually active. It isn't until they turn up pregnant that it finally comes to light. But in the ancient Israelite world, as far as I understand, sex was pretty heavily regulated to be within marriage (with the exception of men being with prostitutes, which I don't know a ton about in this context) so in our society today, when describing a young woman, "virgin" probably wouldn't be included, but back then it was appropriate because of course a young woman in that day would have not been sexually active, she would have been waiting for marriage. Maybe in this context "virgin" is used to describe a young woman who is not yet married. But he also describes her as "most beautiful and fair." Now as a woman of great worth, I am not a beauty queen. I recognize and embrace my physical beauty, but I don't think Nephi would have described me as "most beautiful and fair above all other" women. So it begs the question, what about Mary was beautiful? Was it something where because her spirit was so amazing, it shone forth out of her body? Or was she legitimately shocking beautiful, and if so, why did that matter? Couldn't Jesus have been raised by a woman such as myself who is not shockingly beautiful?
11:16-17 - This has always been a confusing question to me "Knowest thou the condescension of God?" Even now, this is kind of a strange question for me. It kind of comes out of no where and especially because Nephi basically says "I know God love his children, but I don't know all things." Maybe part of the confusion comes because of the English word "condescending" which has a negative connotation of arrogance, belittling, and snobbery in general. In the Institute manual Elder Gerald N. Lund talks about God, Jehovah, the great of all, left his status and power and authority in the pre existence and came down into in infant's body. Not only that but he was born into a regular family, nothing fancy and in fact born in a barn. If we break up the term into con-descension, descend obviously means to come down. But the prefix "con" can mean with, but also perhaps a more applicable meaning would be "con" simply to intensify the meaning, i.e. "confirm" meaning, I guess, extra firm. So not only did he descend, it was the ultimate descension, in not only leaving the grandeur for mediocrity, but also with the atonement, for in the atonement, he descended below all things. So that's what that word means, not only did he descend, he went lower than anyone else. Very interesting.
11:18-21 - Nephi sees the woman, Mary, then she is carried away by the spirit, just like he is at this very moment, and when she comes back she has a child. This must have been confusing for Nephi, since there had been no other virgin births, that probably wasn't even a concept that he was aware of. The Spirit announces "Behold the Lamb of God, yea, even the Son of the Eternal Father!" Then changes the subject almost immediately. "Look the virgin has a baby, and then on your right you'll see the biggest rock in the world." Kind of like "wait, what?" I wonder if because Nephi had no concept of the virgin birth, it wasn't the Spirit's mission to explain that to him right now, and so he just kept the vision going by making a very abrupt change in topic. But Nephi doesn't seen to flinch a bit, he's right there on topic.
11:22-23 - Nephi answers that the tree of life is the love of God, "which sheddeth itself abroad in the heart of the children of men; wherefore, it is the most desirable above all things." I love the tree imagery here, the tree "sheddeth" it's love "abroad" in the hearts of men, kind of like a large tree with outstretched branches, and it's leaves of love fall off the branches and land in people's hearts, making them happy and loved. Unlike Lehi's description of the tree, this is a more detailed explanation and with the wording and imagery, I can imagine people standing under the tree and catching little leaves as they fall, right into their heart and being so happy. Why is the love of God the most desirable thing of all? I know that this is a new concept for me, but I'm going to have to go back and reread some of what I've written and pray about this. Then the Spirit adds on "Yea, and the most joyous to the soul." This is part of the question and answer back and forth that is apparently one of Nephi's learning styles."
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