After his brethren had let Nephi know how foolish he was,
Nephi takes them back to the Exodus, reminding them of the many things the Lord
had done in the past, likening their situation to the Exodus.
Why he asks, were the children of Israel led from bondage in
Egypt? It was because they listed and
accepted the words of the Lord. David
would later write, “Thou hast brought a vine
out of Egypt: thou hast cast out the heathen, and planted it” (Psalms
80:8). Would they have been led out of
bondage had the Lord not commanded Moses to lead them? Nephi would later write:
And
now, my brethren, I have spoken plainly that ye cannot err. And as the Lord God liveth that brought
Israel up out of the land of Egypt, and gave unto Moses power that he should heal
the nations after they had been bitten by the poisonous serpents, if they would
cast their eyes unto the serpent which he did raise up before them, and also
gave him power that he should smite the rock and the water should come forth;
yea, behold I say unto you, that as these things are true, and as the Lord God
liveth, there is none other name given under heaven save it be this Jesus
Christ, of which I have spoken, whereby man can be saved.
2 Nephi 25:20
He told them they knew the children of Israel were slaves,
that they were given hard and demanding tasks.
Being released from bondage was a good thing for them.
Moses was commanded by the Lord to lead them out of
bondage. Through Moses words, the Red
Sea was divided and the children of Israel were able to flee the Egyptian
army. “And Moses stretched out his hand over the sea; and the LORD caused the
sea to go back by a strong east wind all that night, and made the sea dry land,
and the waters were divided” (Exodus 14:21).
Later in Nephite history, these events would be referred to
by others. When the people of Limhi were
about to gain their freedom from the Lamanites, Limhi would tell them:
Therefore, lift up your heads, and rejoice, and put your trust
in God, in that God who was the God of Abraham, and Isaac, and Jacob; and also,
that God who brought the children of Israel out of the land of Egypt, and
caused that they should walk through the Red Sea on dry ground, and fed them
with manna that they might not perish in the wilderness; and many more things
did he do for them.
Mosiah 7:19
When speaking to the corrupt judges (Gadianton Robbers)
tried to incite the people against Nephi3, he would tell them:
Behold,
my brethren, have ye not read that God gave power unto one man, even Moses, to
smite upon the waters of the Red Sea, and they parted hither and thither,
insomuch that the Israelites, who were our fathers, came through upon dry
ground, and the waters closed upon the armies of the Egyptians and swallowed
them up?
Helaman 8:11
The Egyptian army was drowned in the Red Sea.
He reminded them that the Lord provided manna (“What is it?”)
while they wandered in the wilderness.
When they needed water, Moses struck a rock and water came
out of the rock. “And Moses lifted up his hand, and with his rod he smote the rock
twice: and the water came out abundantly, and the congregation drank, and their
beasts also” (Numbers 20:11). The
Lord also led them in the wilderness, both day and night. “But
God led the people about, through the way of the wilderness of the Red sea: and
the children of Israel went up harnessed [OR equipped for battle] out of the
land of Egypt” (Exodus 13:18).
The Lord did all things that were necessary for the children
of Israel. Yet, even after all the Lord
had done, they “reviled against Moses and
against the true and living God” (1 Nephi 17:30).
Some examples of the scriptures.
They
have turned aside quickly out of the way which I commanded them: they have made
them a molten calf, and have worshipped it, and have sacrificed thereunto, and
said, These be thy gods, O Israel, which have brought thee up out of the land
of Egypt.
Exodus 32:8
And
the LORD said unto Moses, How long will this people provoke me? and how long will it be ere they believe me,
for all the signs which I have shewed among them?
I
will smite them with the pestilence, and disinherit them, and will make of thee
a greater nation and mightier than they.
Numbers
14:11 - 12
But
the house of Israel rebelled against me in the wilderness: they walked not in
my statutes, and they despised my judgments, which if a man do, he shall even
live in them; and my sabbaths they greatly polluted: then I said, I would pour
out my fury upon them in the wilderness, to consume them.
But
I wrought for my name's sake, that it should not be polluted before the
heathen, in whose sight I brought them out.
Yet
also I lifted up my hand unto them in the wilderness, that I would not bring
them into the land which I had given them, flowing with milk and honey, which is
the glory of all lands;
Because
they despised my judgments, and walked not in my statutes, but polluted my
sabbaths: for their heart went after their idols.
Ezekiel 20:13 - 16
Hugh Nibley observes:
Now [Nephi] compares the Nephites
to the children of Israel in the wilderness at the time of Moses. Every phase
of Israel's wandering in the wilderness is compared in 1 Nephi to that of
his own people, including their rebellion, "and notwithstanding they being
led, the Lord their God, their Redeemer, going before them, . . .
they hardened their hearts, . . . and reviled against Moses,"
says Nephi (1 Nephi 17:30).[1]
Hugh Nibley compares Laman and Lemuel with the children of
Israel.
[The children of Israel] took
exactly the same position as Laman and Lemuel. And what about their vaunted
common sense and righteousness? Forget that pious cant about Chosen People,
Nephi tells his brothers. If the Canaanites had been righteous they would have
been as "choice" to God as the Hebrews (1 Nephi 17:34).[2]
[1] Rediscovery
of the Apocrypha and the Book of Mormon, Hugh W. Nibley, Provo,
Utah: Maxwell Institute, accessed April 3, 2013.
[2] The
Way of the Wicked, Hugh W. Nibley, Provo, Utah: Maxwell Institute, accessed
April 3, 2013.
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