1 Nephi 18:17-25
18:17-18 - Nephi spends 2 verses talking about how this terrible incident effected his parents. Every family has drama, some more than others, and this appears to be a highly dysfunctional family. Apparently it was Laman and Lemuel, as referred to as "them: and named specifically, but also involved are the sons of Ishmael, and I don't know if they said specifically how many there are, but I'm assuming two. When family drama comes up, it's painful for everyone. I've had my fair amount of family drama in my life, and when it comes up there are so many emotions that are rubbed raw, especially as a parent with a set of righteous kids, at least one an up and coming prophet, then you have another set that are akin to the devil incarnate. Lehi has the most extreme ends of kids and that must be deeply troubling to him. Sometimes when I get really upset, I can get physically ill, I think the emotional upheaval combined with near death in a ship and my guess is they weren't eating much due to the storm, they are old, yes, I can see how this could have made Lehi and Sariah almost die. I wonder if at this point Lehi saw how evil L&L were and just wanted to push them overboard so that everyone else could live in peace. I mean really, if you take the whole "better for one man to perish than a whole nation dwindle in unbelief" idea that's exactly what this is. But I guess without being commanded by the Lord to push them overboard, it would be murder, yeah I guess that makes sense.
18:19 - I never understood this verse until right now when discussing the previous verse. No one was probably cooking much because of the storm, and by day 4 without much food, I can imagine that Joseph and Jacob were really suffering from hunger. I know my kids would be going nuts if they went without eating for just a couple of hours "I'm starving!!!" But several days into it, I couldn't even imagine, and if perhaps if either one of them were still nursing, because I believe that most children back then were nursed until they were between 3-5, which it's possible that Joseph might have still been that young. So here are these 2 little kids, probably about the same age as my kids or a little younger, who were desperately hungry, and terrified because not only was the ship about to sink, but their mother was deathly ill. I don't get sick very much and even if I do, I still manage to function and the kids usually don't even notice, but when I'm really really sick or if I'm upset or crying, which I don't do much of either, they are upset too. Combine hunger, fear, and empathy for their very sick mother, this must have been a very bad time for them. I wonder if this experience shaped their decision to become righteous, because as they grew up, they could have just as easily become wicked and joined L&L's camp. I wonder if they looked back to this experience and saw the power of God and the horror that comes when living wickedly. Nephi's wife and kids weren't able to sway L&L either, but I guess that's to be expected. If Jacob and Joseph's (J&J) terror, as well as I'm sure that their own children and wives were terrified and begging them to stop because they didn't want to die, if those 2 groups were unable to sway L&L to let Nephi go, it's no wonder Nephi's wife and kids had no impact either.
18:20 - Nothing save imminent death could convince L&L that what they were doing was wrong, and that they were not in fact in charge of anything, God was in charge. How hardened does someone's heart have to be get to that point. It's just incomprehensible to me that it could escalate to this point, I've done some bad things, I've been inactive in the church, I've basically done whatever I wanted even though I knew better, but I couldn't imagine being brought to the point of death before I would listen. I couldn't listen to my children scream because they are scared and "breathe out much threatenings" against them. But they finally, finally untie him, and "repented of the thing that they have done." What kind of repentance did they do I wonder? I mean this seems to be a pretty serious event, what a mess.
18:21-22 - The dramatic release and Nephi prays and the storm stops. I can imagine, the storm passings, the waves settling out, and the sun coming out and everyone just crying out of relief that this terrible event was over. I wonder how all the boys who did this, Laman, Lemuel, and the sons of Ishmael (let's just call them "the boys" to refer to the wicked group of men), I wonder how all the boys faced the rest of the family, especially their parents, who I would imagine were at one of the lowest points of their lives during that event. How did they act the first time they sat down to family dinner and everyone was probably just emotionally exhausted and still recovering.
18:23-25 - Landing the ship, getting off and pitching their tents must have been an amazing relief to everyone. I would imagine that the tension on the rest of the trip was pretty high on the ship. Unlike before, there wasn't a few verses detailing their repentance and Nephi's forgiveness. I mean, I'm sure that Nephi did forgive them and I'm sure that they were sorry, but deeply repentant in their hearts? Doubtful, simply because Nephi usually says that they truly repent and then humble themselves before the Lord. Maybe while they were building the ship and growing spiritually so that they were able to humble themselves before the Lord without being compelled, maybe they were far enough along spiritually that they knew better than to do this, tie up Nephi, and because the Lord didn't immediately release him, they probably took courage in their hearts and just took a nose dive into spiritual darkness and they were very familiar with that place and it was comfortable for them. So here they are all landed and unloaded, they plant their seeds that they brought from Jerusalem and "they did grow exceedingly; wherefore we were blessed in abundance." This must have been quite comforting for them after almost dying on the sea, to have the Lord bless them so intensely. There are so many animals, that Nephi seems to be familiar with, as he names them and apparently knows the difference between "the cow and the ox" I don't even know the difference. In the children's version of the illustrated Book of Mormon, when if mentions the ore, gold, silver, and copper it shows a picture of L&L digging in the ground and rejoicing over the gold that they found. I didn't see any reference to that in the scriptures, but it's still an interesting idea to consider. But then again Nephi is the metallurgist so I don't give that idea too much credit.
18:19 - I never understood this verse until right now when discussing the previous verse. No one was probably cooking much because of the storm, and by day 4 without much food, I can imagine that Joseph and Jacob were really suffering from hunger. I know my kids would be going nuts if they went without eating for just a couple of hours "I'm starving!!!" But several days into it, I couldn't even imagine, and if perhaps if either one of them were still nursing, because I believe that most children back then were nursed until they were between 3-5, which it's possible that Joseph might have still been that young. So here are these 2 little kids, probably about the same age as my kids or a little younger, who were desperately hungry, and terrified because not only was the ship about to sink, but their mother was deathly ill. I don't get sick very much and even if I do, I still manage to function and the kids usually don't even notice, but when I'm really really sick or if I'm upset or crying, which I don't do much of either, they are upset too. Combine hunger, fear, and empathy for their very sick mother, this must have been a very bad time for them. I wonder if this experience shaped their decision to become righteous, because as they grew up, they could have just as easily become wicked and joined L&L's camp. I wonder if they looked back to this experience and saw the power of God and the horror that comes when living wickedly. Nephi's wife and kids weren't able to sway L&L either, but I guess that's to be expected. If Jacob and Joseph's (J&J) terror, as well as I'm sure that their own children and wives were terrified and begging them to stop because they didn't want to die, if those 2 groups were unable to sway L&L to let Nephi go, it's no wonder Nephi's wife and kids had no impact either.
18:20 - Nothing save imminent death could convince L&L that what they were doing was wrong, and that they were not in fact in charge of anything, God was in charge. How hardened does someone's heart have to be get to that point. It's just incomprehensible to me that it could escalate to this point, I've done some bad things, I've been inactive in the church, I've basically done whatever I wanted even though I knew better, but I couldn't imagine being brought to the point of death before I would listen. I couldn't listen to my children scream because they are scared and "breathe out much threatenings" against them. But they finally, finally untie him, and "repented of the thing that they have done." What kind of repentance did they do I wonder? I mean this seems to be a pretty serious event, what a mess.
18:21-22 - The dramatic release and Nephi prays and the storm stops. I can imagine, the storm passings, the waves settling out, and the sun coming out and everyone just crying out of relief that this terrible event was over. I wonder how all the boys who did this, Laman, Lemuel, and the sons of Ishmael (let's just call them "the boys" to refer to the wicked group of men), I wonder how all the boys faced the rest of the family, especially their parents, who I would imagine were at one of the lowest points of their lives during that event. How did they act the first time they sat down to family dinner and everyone was probably just emotionally exhausted and still recovering.
18:23-25 - Landing the ship, getting off and pitching their tents must have been an amazing relief to everyone. I would imagine that the tension on the rest of the trip was pretty high on the ship. Unlike before, there wasn't a few verses detailing their repentance and Nephi's forgiveness. I mean, I'm sure that Nephi did forgive them and I'm sure that they were sorry, but deeply repentant in their hearts? Doubtful, simply because Nephi usually says that they truly repent and then humble themselves before the Lord. Maybe while they were building the ship and growing spiritually so that they were able to humble themselves before the Lord without being compelled, maybe they were far enough along spiritually that they knew better than to do this, tie up Nephi, and because the Lord didn't immediately release him, they probably took courage in their hearts and just took a nose dive into spiritual darkness and they were very familiar with that place and it was comfortable for them. So here they are all landed and unloaded, they plant their seeds that they brought from Jerusalem and "they did grow exceedingly; wherefore we were blessed in abundance." This must have been quite comforting for them after almost dying on the sea, to have the Lord bless them so intensely. There are so many animals, that Nephi seems to be familiar with, as he names them and apparently knows the difference between "the cow and the ox" I don't even know the difference. In the children's version of the illustrated Book of Mormon, when if mentions the ore, gold, silver, and copper it shows a picture of L&L digging in the ground and rejoicing over the gold that they found. I didn't see any reference to that in the scriptures, but it's still an interesting idea to consider. But then again Nephi is the metallurgist so I don't give that idea too much credit.
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