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The Book of Mormon > Enos > Chapter 1

Questions

Verse 4

• Reached the heavens. "And when the night came I did still raise my voice high that it reached the heavens." Did Enos do something differently in his prayer style at night that finally he 'reached the heavens' that he wasn't doing during his earlier daytime 'mighty prayer and supplication?'

Lexical notes

Verse 1

• Admonition: "Gentle reproof; counseling against a fault; instruction in duties; caution; direction" (Websters 1828).

Verse 2

• Wrestle is mentioned five other times in the scriptures. The three cases in the Old Testament are less similar to the use here. Twice wrestle is used when Jacob physically wrestles God (Gen 32:24-25), and once wrestle is used to express the competition Rachel has with her sister to bear Jacob sons (Gen 30:8). The other two uses are more similar. In Ephesians, Paul uses wrestle to describe the struggle we face against the evils of this world. Finally, Alma labors in the spirit wrestling with God in mighty prayer (Alma 8:10).
• Before. Notice there are two definitions for before. One before refers to physical location and the other to chronological location. In this case it seems to mean something like "in front of."

Verse 5

• Thy sins are forgiven thee. The phraseology here emphasizes the act of sin instead of the person sinning. That is, God could have said "Enos, thou art forgiven for thy sins" and emphasized the forgiveness of the person as opposed to forgiveness of the act. Instead, God's emphasis here seems to be on the forgiveness of the sins.

Exegesis

Verse 2

• Wrestle. Unlike Alma 8:10, the other wrestle verse from the Book of Mormon (see the lexical notes above), Enos describes wrestling before not with God. From the context it seems that the type of wrestling described here is as described in Eph 6:12, wrestling with spiritual wickedness.

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The Book of Mormon > Enos > Chapter 1

Questions

Verse 8

• Faith in Christ. What does it mean to have faith in Christ? Does it imply that we have faith that Christ can save us from our sins? If so, how is it that Enos, when forgiven, ask Christ how that is done?

Lexical notes

Verses 6

• Wherefore my guilt was swept away. The wherefore in this verse seems to be a result of Enos's knowledge that God cannot lie, in conjunction with God's staement that God cannot lie (v. 6).

Verse 8

• Thy faith hath made thee whole. God's use of the phrase "thy faith hath made thee whole" is used here approximately 500 years before its employment in 5 verses in the Gospels:

1. Matt 9:22 be of good comfort; thy faith hath made thee whole. And the woman was made whole from that hour.
2. Mark 5:34 Daughter, thy faith hath made thee whole; go in peace, and be whole of thy plague.
3. Mark 10:52 Go thy way; thy faith hath made thee whole.
4. Luke 8:48 Daughter, be of good comfort: thy faith hath made thee whole; go in peace.
5. Luke 17:19 Arise, go thy way: thy faith hath made thee whole.

Exegesis

Verses 7-8: How is it done?

After Enos's sins are forgiven (verse 5) and Enos's guilt is swept away (verse 6), Enos asks the Lord "how is it done?" Given that Enos is Jacob's son and has no doubt heard something about what we should do to seek forgiveness, the question is surprising. One way to understand this question is think of it in light of the difference between hearing about forgiveness and experiencing it. Though Jacob no doubt had heard about forgiveness and had learned something about it growing up, it seems that he hadn't experienced it. verse 2 suggests this: Enos describes this story as "the wrestle which I had before God, before I received a remission of my sins". Following this line of thinking then, Enos's question "how is it done" isn't the same type of question he could have asked when hearing from his father or others about repentance upon hearing about repentance. The question is not asking for more details about how forgiveness works. That he could have done. The question is also an expression of wonder and amazement at the miracle of his own changed heart--his guilt swept away. The Lord's answer to Enos's question is brief. He doesn't explain the 8 or 12 steps to forgiveness. The Lord's answer preserves the miracle of forgiveness; he simply says tells Enos that it is because of his faith that he is forgiven. This answer inspires feelings of love for his brothers the Nephites.

Alternatively we might read Enos's question as suggesting that he really didn't understand that it was through faith that we receive remission of sins. That would suggest that it is not necessary to understand a great deal about the nature of the plan of salvation in order to be able to take advantage of it.

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The Book of Mormon > Enos > Chapter 1

Questions

• God basically tells Enos here that he could have anything his heart desired. Why does Enos immediately think of the records they had been keeping? Why did he think those records would have a greater effect in the conversion of the Lamanites than the ministering of the Nephites?

Lexical notes

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Exegesis

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The Book of Mormon > Enos > Chapter 1

Questions

• Could it be that the coming forth of the Book of Mormon itself is the result of this prayer and the covenant God made with Enos here?

• This covenant seems essentially different than other covenants. What is that difference?

• V. 20 - Is Enos merely pointing out cultural differences here? Certainly some of these descriptions are bad, such as "blood-thirsty", "idolatry", "seeking to destroy us" etc. But some of these other things - "dwelling in tents", "wandering about in the wilderness", eating raw meat - recall Lehi's path through the wilderness. Furthermore, dwelling in tents is usually seen as a good thing in the Old Testament. What do we make of this description by Enos? What's his point?

Lexical notes

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Exegesis

Verse 20 describes the Lamanites as "wild, and ferocious, and a blood-thirsty people, full of idolatry and filthiness." It seems that Enos makes these disparaging remarks about the character of the Lamanites in order to explain the Nephite's lack of success in preaching to them. Enos also tells us that the Lamanites dwelled in tents, wandered around in the wilderness, and that many of them ate only raw meat. It sounds like the Lamanites were hunters and the Nephites farmers (see verse 21). Enos's comments on the Lamanite culture probably suggest differences with the Lamanite culture. (If the Nephites also had slept in tents, it seems that Enos would be less likely to mention this as a trait of the Lamanites.) Enos also comments on the Lamanite clothing. Again, this probably suggests that the Nephites didn't wear the same type of clothing. It is interesting that Enos makes note of these cultural differences in the same verse that he explains the Nephite's lack of success in preaching to the Lamanites. It may be that the cultural divide between the Nephites (as farmers) and the Lamanites (as hunters) was a contributing factor in the lack of success the Nephite's had in preaching to the Lamanites.

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Questions

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Lexical notes

Mansions

• While we can't be sure of the exact word translated in verse 27 as "mansions", the King James Version of the Bible only uses the word "mansions" once, in John 14:2 where Christ says "In my Father's house are many mansions: if it were not so, I would have told you. I go to prepare a place for you." The Greek word translated here as "mansions" is the noun mone, which is later translated as "abode" in John 14:23. Rather than implying that Christ has prepared spacious homes for us in heaven, a modern interpretation of the word "mansion", the original Greek seems to imply that Christ has created dwelling places for us there. In Latter-day Scriptures, the word mansion is used in reference to dwelling places in the presence of God here in Enos, three times in Moroni's discourse on faith in Ether 12 (Ether 12:32, Ether 12:34, and Ether 12:37), and seven times in the Doctrine and Covenants.

Exegesis

Verses 23-24. Verse 24 tells us that there were wars among the Nephites and Lamanites. In verse 23 Enos tells us that it was only by, among other things, continually prophesying of wars that the Nephites were kept from "going down speadily to destruction." It may be that these wars were necessary in order to remind the Nephites of their dependence on the Lord. See 1 Ne 2:23-24.

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Verse 25

• One hundred and seventy nine years seems like a long time to have passed between the time Lehi left Jerusalem and Enos is about to die. See a short article on this from Farms here.