1 Nephi 7

1 Nephi 7
For some time after receiving the brass plates, Lehi prophesies about his seed. After prophesying he receives another revelation: grandkids require daughter-in-laws. I guess up until that point he wasn’t that interested in grandchildren since he hadn’t let any of his kids marry. But the Lord softens Lehi’s heart, and tells him that it isn’t good to be taking his family alone into the wilderness. His boys need wives. Back to Jerusalem they go, giving Laman and Lemuel yet another reason to beat up on Nephi when Nephi, after securing a wife, wants to leave Jerusalem.

Vs 1-2 Lehi receives instruction for his sons to get married. Specifically the Lord has prepared Ishmael and his family to be open to the suggestion of leaving Jerusalem to live in the wilderness with those crazy Lehites.

Vs 2 A big “again” used when Nephi mentions returning to Jerusalem.

Vs 4I have always wondered what the words were that Nephi used to persuade Ishmael to take his family into the wilderness. Obviously there was some connection previous, but it is not stated. Imagining what that conversation would have been like is difficult because we don’t know what the relationship was like prior to Nephi asking them to join them in the wilderness. All that Nephi says is, “we did speak unto him the words of the Lord.”

Vs 5 apparently Nephi’s request was difficult to accept and in addition to some testifying from Nephi the Lord softened the heart of Ishmael. I think it is interesting that his name is Ishmael since in the book of Genesis, as Abraham is starting his great adventure in the covenant, his first born is Ishmael, but by his servant wife Hagar. Ishmael is the ur-parent of Arabs and eventually Islam, at least according to tradition. So is there symbolism here where a child of Sarah marries a child of Ishmael and they join together in the adventure of seeking for the promised land?

Vs 6-7 apparently the Lord’s softening of heart and Nephi’s persuasive words are forgotten midway to Lehi’s tent. Some of Ishmael’s family figure out that it will probably be very uncomfortable living in the wilderness with no stated plan of when they will return or if they will return.

Vs 8, Nephi lists two things that Laman and Lemuel have modlled quite well, 1) hard hearts, and 2) blind minds.

Vs 9-10 Nephi lists the antidote for 1) hard hearts and 2) blind minds, by saying that we should 1) hearken and 2) remember. A hard heart is remedied by hearkening to the word of God. Just as Ishmael was won over by the words of God his heart was also “softened” (vs 5). Likewise, our minds are opened best when we remember what God has done for us, what “great things” (vs 11) he has done for us.

Vs 12 The Lord is able to do “all things according to his will . . . if [we] exercise faith in him.”

Vs 13-15 Nephi reminds everyone why they are leaving Jerusalem, because of its imminent destruction. Jerusalem is on the destruction list because its inhabitants have killed the prophets and do not listen to them.

Vs 15 An interesting choice of words here when Nephi tells his brethren, “if ye have choice go up to the land, and remember the words which I speak unto you, that if ye go ye will also perish.” Is Nephi questioning their agency? Why does he say, if ye have choice? Of course they have choice, and they have been whining about the fact that they are not doing what they want to do, namely returning to Jerusalem. This is what started the “rebellion,” a desire to return to what they had. I wonder what would have happened had they chosen to return. Nephi could not have stopped them and they would have perished when Jerusalem was destroyed by the Babylonians in 597 BC.

Vs 16 Nephi’s “choice” of words (if ye have choice) enraged his brothers because I guess they took it as a taunt, and they tied Nephi up and wanted to kill him by leaving him in the wilderness to be devoured by wild beasts (see Genesis 37 for Joseph’s similar experience).

Vs 17-18 This is an interesting case of the Lord answering your prayer by methods of his choosing. Nephi is tied up and asks that “according to his faith” God will give him strength to burst the bands with which he is bound. God doesn’t give him strength to be like superman, but instead simply loosens the rope from off Nephi’s hands.

Vs 19 the first thing Nephi does with his freedom is to go right back to his brethren and “preach” to them. Something they obviously do not enjoy, especially, I am sure, because they had just tied him up hoping he would die in the wilderness. Of course Laman and Lemuel are angry and are about to tie Nephi up with even tighter knots, when one of the daughters of Ishmael steps in to the conversation. One can only imagine what all the others are thinking as this family feud gets ugly and public. Perhaps Laman and Lemuel needed an excuse to back down and hiding behind a girl’s “skirt” was as good as any, so they backed down and as Nephi calmly puts it, “they did cease striving to take away my life.” I have often wondered if this brave Ishmaelite girl was the one who Nephi eventually marries, or more interestingly, if she is one who marries Laman or Lemuel.

Vs 20 Ishmael’s daughter is good at what she does, namely calling sinful men to repentance. Not only do laman and Lemuel stop trying to kill Nephi they actually begin to feel sorrow for what they have done. This is a great example of why Sister Missionaries are so important in the work of the Lord. Some people can only be touched by the testimony of a woman.