1 Nephi 1:2-4

Before we move on to Nephi’s account, I want to mention a couple more things to keep in mind as we read Nephi’s account. 

In the last post, we learn Nephi did not begin this account until 30 years after he had left Jerusalem (see 2 Nephi 5:28).  He explains the Lord’s command to make a second record.  He explains what he intended to include in the record, and closes telling us 40 years had passed away (see 2 Nephi 5:34).

What we will study is more a memoir than a day-to-day account of what occurred.  It is written through the eyes of Nephi.  He is writing having had time to evaluate events and their place in what had occurred during those forty years.  Grant Hardy explains, “Nephi’s voice is privileged above all others – as editor and sole narrator he always has the final say – and his standing as a prophet reinforces his unique authority to interpret the events he recounts.”[1]

Returning to Nephi’s record, he tells us that he was “taught somewhat in all the learning of my father” (1 Nephi 1:2).  He also tells us that he is making his record in his father’s language.  This learning is made up of the learning of the Jews and the language of Egyptians. 

Daniel C. Peterson addresses this Egyptian influence.  “1 Nephi 1:2 suggests cultural connections between Egypt and Israel in Lehi and Nephi's time, and these connections seem to be consistent with what scholars are learning. Interestingly, the very name ‘Nephi’ turns out to be authentically Egyptian. Thus, Nephi's claim that his father knew Egyptian is borne out by his own name.”[2]

Matthew L. Bowen continues:  “That Lehi would give his son an Egyptian name is not unlikely, since Lehi's language ‘consist[ed] of the learning of the Jews and the language of the Egyptians’ (1 Nephi 1:2). One reason Nephi was quick to point out his father's knowledge of Egyptian may have been to explain the origin of his non-Hebrew name.”[3]

Nephi testifies to the truthfulness of his record.  He is making it with his hand and based on what he has learned.  King Benjamin probably had this in mind when he told his sons, “I would that ye should remember that these sayings are true, and also that these records are true.  And behold, also the plates of Nephi, which contain the records and the sayings of our fathers from the time they left Jerusalem until now, and they are true; and we can know of their surety because we have them before our eyes” (Mosiah 1:6).

Having introduced himself and his background, Nephi tells us about his father, Lehi.  Lehi’s story begins in the first year of the reign of Zedekiah.  The Old Testament tells us: “Zedekiah was twenty and one years old when he began to reign, and he reigned eleven years in Jerusalem” (2 Kings 24:18); “And when the year was expired, king Nebuchadnezzar sent, and brought him to Babylon, with the goodly vessels of the house of the LORD, and made Zedekiah his brother king over Judah and Jerusalem” (2 Chronicles 36:10). 

Lehi had lived in Jerusalem "all his days.”  Terrence Szink writes about Lehi.

*Lehi was born in Jerusalem and had dwelt there "all his days" (1 Nephi 1:4). He was likely a husband and father of young children during Josiah's reforms. If we are to believe 2 Kings 23:2, he was present at the reading of the book of the law that formed the basis of those reforms. I believe that Lehi would have taken these reforms to heart and done his best to teach them to his children. This may explain why one of the central themes of the Book of Mormon is this idea of alternate blessings or curses, depending on the righteousness of the people.[4]

Lehi was one of those messengers sent to call the people of Jerusalem to repentance. 

And the LORD God of their fathers sent to them by his messengers, rising up betimes [HEB early, promptly], and sending; because he had compassion on his people, and on his dwelling place:

But they mocked the messengers of God, and despised his words, and misused his prophets, until the wrath of the LORD arose against his people, till there was no remedy.

2 Chronicles 36:15 - 16

If they didn’t repent, Jerusalem would be destroyed.

Then rose up certain of the elders of the land, and spake to all the assembly of the people, saying,

Micah the Morasthite prophesied in the days of Hezekiah king of Judah, and spake to all the people of Judah, saying, Thus saith the LORD of hosts; Zion shall be plowed like a field, and Jerusalem shall become heaps, and the mountain of the house as the high places of a forest.

Did Hezekiah king of Judah and all Judah put him at all to death?  did he not fear the LORD, and besought the LORD, and the LORD repented him of the evil which he had pronounced against them?  Thus might we procure great evil against our souls [JST Jer. 26:19 ... and beseech the Lord and repent? and the Lord turned away the evil which he had pronounced against them. Thus by putting Jeremiah to death we might procure great evil against our souls.] and besought the LORD, and the LORD repented him of the evil which he had pronounced against them?  Thus might we procure great evil against our souls. and besought the LORD, and the LORD repented him of the evil which he had pronounced against them?  Thus might we procure great evil against our souls.

Jeremiah 26:17 - 19

David Seely and Fred Woods write about the prophets sent to the people of Jerusalem.

In order to counter the public sentiment of confidence that emerged during the Babylonian threat, the Lord sent prophets to warn the people: "There came many prophets, prophesying unto the people that they must repent, or the great city Jerusalem must be destroyed" (1 Nephi 1:4). Prophets like Lehi and Jeremiah were threatened with death when they spoke what many Jews considered to be blasphemous words against the holy city (1 Nephi 1:20; Jeremiah 26:12–15; 38:4). In fact, the prophet Urijah was put to death by King Jehoiakim for delivering the same message of destruction that Lehi and Jeremiah did (Jeremiah 26:20–23).[5]

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[1] Understanding the Book of Mormon:  A Reader’s Guide, Grant Hardy, Oxford University Press, 2010, pg. 281.

[2] 1 Nephi 1–7, Daniel C. Peterson, Provo, Utah: Maxwell Institute, accessed December 17, 2012.

[3] Internal Textual Evidence for the Egyptian Origin of Nephi's Name, Matthew L. Bowen, Provo, Utah: Maxwell Institute, accessed December 17, 2012.

[4] Jerusalem in Lehi's Day, Terrence L. Szink, Provo, Utah: Maxwell Institute, accessed December 17, 2012.

[5] How Could Jerusalem, "That Great City," Be Destroyed? David R. Seely, and Fred E. Woods, Provo, Utah: Maxwell Institute, accessed December 17, 2012.