Difference between revisions of "1 Ne 7:1-8:1"

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Home > The Book of Mormon > First Nephi > Chapters 3-7 > Chapter 7 / Verses 7:1-8:1
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Summary

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The relationship of Chapter 7 to the rest of Chapters 3-7 is discussed at First Nephi 3-7. This chapter can be outlined as follows:

A. Returning to Jerusalem for wives (Chapter 7)

• the instruction, journey, and Ishmael persuaded (7:1-5)

• Laman & co want to return to Jerusalem, Nephi preaches to them (7:6-15)

• Laman & co bind Nephi, hearts softened (7:16-8:1)

These sections of Chapter 7 are each discussed on the following subpages: Verses 7:1-5, Verses 7:6-15, Verses 7:16-8:1

Discussion

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Verse 12

• Nephi tells his brothers that the Lord can do all things for the children of men under two conditions. First what would be done must be according to the Lord's will. Second the children of men for whom he would do all things must exercise faith in the Lord. This is a common theme of the scriptures: the Lord can do anything for us if it is good and we have faith. We typically think of faith in this context as believing that the Lord can do what he really can do. For Nephi's brothers, given the miracles they have already seen, they need simply to remember in order to believe (see verses 10 & 11). But Nephi also shows us here that having faith is not simply about holding a certain set of beliefs it is about being faithful, or in other words, being obedient to the Lord's commands.

• The Lord can work through us to bring about his purposes, if we demonstrate our complete trust in him. Nothing will be able to stop his work from going forward, if his people will translate their belief into action. We will become more effective servants in his hands as we focus our faith in him.

Verse 14

• insomuch that they have driven him from the land. We know from the beginning of chapter 2 that the Lord actually commanded Lehi to leave Jerusalem. And we know that Jerusalem was about to be destroyed--that would be a good reason to leave. But Nephi is citing the fact that the people sought to take away Lehi's life as the reason for their departure because in this context Nephi is adding up the sins of the people that will bring about their destruction.

Verse 15

• To constrain means to impel forward. There is an important lesson in this word. We must be prepared for those times when the Spirit will send us an urgent message. There will be little to no time for delay. Immediate action is what will be called for, without hesitation and without second guessing.

Verse 7:17

In verse 17 Nephi asks to be given strength to burst the bands that he is bound with but then in verse 18 we aren't told that Nephi burst them, but rather that they were loosed from off his hands and feet. It could be that someone else in the party loosed Nephi's bands but it seems more likely that if this was the case Nephi would have noted it. The fact that Nephi simply says they were loosed suggests that they were loosed without Nephi or anyone else loosening them. It may be that the Lord chose this way of releasing Nephi rather than the way Nephi asked in order to testify (again) to Nephi's brothers that he supported Nephi.

Note that Laman and Lemuel do not repent directly after being called to repentance and warned against returning to Jerusalem (verses 8-15), instead they become angry and bind Nephi with cords (verse 16). They also do not repent when Nephi, apparently miraculously, is released from the cords they bound him with. They do however repent when Ishmael's wife and two children plead with them.

Points to ponder

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I have a question

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Verse 1

• Why doesn't this verse say "his sons should each take a daughter to wife"?

• What does it mean to "raise up seed unto the Lord"?

Verse 2

• If it was only the women that were needed for reproduction, then what was the point of bringing the men in Ishmael's family down into the wilderness?

• Who was Ishmael and why would the LORD select him to be brought into the wilderness? Why couldn't the LORD have told Lehi to take Ishmael and his family in the first place?

Verse 3

• This verse doesn't anticipate that Nephi or his brethren will have any difficulty in returning to Jerusalem this time. In what ways is this request to return to Jerusalem different from that given previously in 1 Ne 3:4?

Verse 4

• Is Nephi saying that Laman and Lemuel had become effective mouthpieces for the Lord by this point?

• What "words of the LORD" did they speak to Ishmael? Just the command that they were to take him and his household into the wilderness? Or did this involve other teaching?

• Why does Nephi say that they did speak the words of the LORD to Ishmael after they gained favor in his sight?

• Would Ishmael and his family have heard of the death of Laban and the disappearance of his servant and the plates? If they knew that Nephi had killed Laban, might some of them have been concerned about the potential risks of crossing Nephi?

Verse 5

• Are the "household" in this verse and the "family" in verse 2 the exact same thing?

Verse 6

• If Ishmael's sons already had their own families, then does that mean the prophecy earlier in this chapter about sons marrying daughters included both Ishmael's daughters and his granddaughters?

Verse 7

• Was this a resistance or a rebellion?

Verse 8

• Why didn't Nephi express his sorrow at this point, rather than comparing himself to them?

• Does this ancient example of a brother chastising older brothers provide a useful model of sibling interaction for modern readers?

Verse 9

• Haven't they partially hearkened, or why would they be on this trip in the first place?

Verse 10

• Have they really forgotten, or simply stopped remembering?

Verse 11

• Was this a permanent deliverance, meaning they did not have to worry about returning to Jerusalem and being apprehended?

Verse 12

• Faith. At the this verse, Nephi uses “exercise faith in him” and “be faithful to him” to mean the same thing. How does the second of these help us understand better what it means to have faith? How is the concept of "being faithful to" related the concept of "having faith in"?

• • The scriptures often use the metaphor of betrothal or marriage to describe the relation of the faithful to Christ. Does that help us understand what it means to have faith in him?

• • A husband and wife should be faithful to each other but what is meant by that isn't that one is obedient to the other. What is the relationship between obedience and faithfulness? Do these verses suggest a different way of thinking about obedience, a different way of thinking about faithfulness, or both?

Verse 13

• Were they really faithful enough to deserve the promised land?

• What constituted "knowing" at some future point that the city had been destroyed?

Verse 14

• Was Nephi not aware of the Mulekites who would soon be leaving Jerusalem and be lead by the Lord to the promised land?

Verse 15

• Is Nephi questioning whether his brothers have agency?

Verse 16

• Why would Laman and Lemuel tie Nephi up after he told them they were free to go back to Jerusalem? (Verses 15-16)

• Could it be that they remembered how Nephi had dealt with Laban (1 Ne 4), and were afraid their younger brother might treat them in a similar fashion?

Verse 17

• What difference did it make that the sons of Lehi were outnumbered by the family of Ishmael?

Verse 18

• Was it obvious to everyone there that the bands were miraculously loosed?

Verse 19

• Why did Laman and Lemuel have respect for women?

Verse 20

• If it took so little to humble Laman and Lemuel, then how far had they descended into the depths of wickedness?

Verse 21

• Did Laman and Lemuel have a broken heart and a contrite spirit?

Verse 22

• Why doesn't Nephi say "we did give thanks unto the Lord our God"?

Resources

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Notes

Footnotes are not required but are encouraged for factual assertions that average readers cannot easily evaluate for themselves, such as the date of King Solomon’s death or the nuanced definition of a Greek word. In contrast, insights rarely benefit from footnoting, and the focus of this page should always remain on the scriptures themselves rather than what someone has said about them. Links are actively encouraged on all sections of this page, and links to authoritative sources are preferable to footnotes.

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