User:RobertC/1 Ne 1:1-5 v1

Lexical notes

Verse 1

I, NEPHI, having been born of goodly parents, therefore I was taught somewhat in all the learning of my father

• Goodly parents. Could mean wealthy or kindly. [Look up in Webster’s 1828.]

• Therefore. Nephi’s being taught seems to be a result of Nephi’s goodly parents, either because his parents were wealthy or because they were kindly enough to teach him.

• I was taught. Notice passive voice which effectively cloaks the teacher. Also, teach places an emphasis on the teacher’s merits as opposed to the student’s—a humble way to describe what you’ve learned (see notes on “of my father” below). The English word, "teach," is etymologically related to "touch," as is "didactic" to "tactile." To teach is to point out, to put one's finger onto something. This "being taught" on Nephi's part may reflect the broad meaning of the Hebrew term for teaching, lmd, to train, to develop skills in oneself or another. Nephi learns through another, through an actual engagement. The ambiguity of such an engagement (one engages the enemy, and one is engaged to a future spouse) is suggestive: Nephi learns through a work of desire both to submit and to overpower, wraps his arms about his teacher both to embrace and to wrestle ("touching" in being "taught"). See also the notes on ‘’learning’’ below.

• Somewhat . . . all. [Look-up in Webster’s 1828.] This could suggest the incompleteness or the informal method of Nephi's learning? The use of the word all here is peculiar in light of the preceding word somewhat—seems almost an oxymoronic description. Somewhat may be suggesting a type of humility here on Nephi’s part where he is acknowledging the incompleteness/insufficiency of his learning.

• In. The way the preposition in links taught and learning seems to emphasize Lehi’s learning as established (relative to the case if Nephi had said something like “Lehi taught me pretty much everything he knew”).

• Learning. Notice that Nephi later speaks of the "language of my father, which consists of the learning of the Jews and the language of the Egyptians" (v. 2). ‘’Learning’’ here may refer to that, or it could refer to other type of learning as well. The English word, "learning," derives from an Indo-European root, leis, meaning a track or a furrow. To learn is etymologically to follow a track, a pathway already (and not recently) cut out, already trod for some time. The pre-existence of whatever is trod, bound up in the word "to learn," is also not unfamiliar to the Hebrew root lqch, the root behind the word most commonly translated in KJV as "learning": lqch means to take, to seize, even to steal, always implying the pre-existence of whatever is taken, seized, stolen. Certainly Lehi's learning implies that he takes up a way that has been trod for a long while before him. But the English and the Hebrew both imply still more: both "to learn" and lqch emphasize a sort of solitude. While teaching implies an instructor and an instructed, the learner comes upon a pathway that has been trod, but that might now be completely empty, and most likely is without a guide. That lqch can mean to steal certainly reinforces the lonely character of Lehi's learning: it might well be suggested that Lehi's learning, in which Nephi was taught, was a very solitary project.

• Of my father. Perhaps this is statement of genuine humility—Nephi is acknowledging that what he does is a by-product of his father’s learning as opposed to any emphasis on Nephi’s own efforts (which were surely required). This interpretation would complement humility implied by the passive construction of “was taught’’ noted above.