Continuing his discussion of the children of Israel, he
tells his brethren that the Lord raises a righteous nation and the Lord
destroys wicked nations. He will lead
the righteous to lands before the wicked are destroyed. He curses the land for their sake.
Heaven is His throne and Earth is His footstool. “[H]e
loveth those who will have him to be their God” (1 Nephi 17:38). The Lord will covenant with those that love
Him. He will remember these
covenants. This, Nephi explains, is why “he did bring them out of the land of Egypt”
(1 Nephi 17:40). Jennifer Clark Lane
explains:
The Book of Mormon explains that
"the Lord's people" are not arbitrarily chosen to be saved while
others are chosen to be damned. Instead, it stresses that "the Lord
esteemeth all flesh in one," but "he that is righteous is favored of
God" (1 Nephi 17:35). This emphasis on righteousness clarifies the
adoption of Israel. Because they were righteous and willing to enter into
covenants with the Lord, they became "the people of the Lord" (see
Exodus 6:7).[1]
As the children of Israel wandered in the wilderness, they whined,
complained, and criticized Moses.
Because of their iniquity:
And
they journeyed from mount Hor by the way of the Red sea [HEB Reed Sea], to compass
[OR go around] the land of Edom: and the soul of the people was much
discouraged because of the way.
And
the people spake against God, and against Moses, Wherefore have ye brought us
up out of Egypt to die in the wilderness?
for there is no bread, neither is there any water; and our soul loatheth
this light bread.
And
the LORD sent fiery [OR poisonous] serpents among the people, and they bit the
people; and much people of Israel died.
Therefore
the people came to Moses, and said, We have sinned, for we have spoken against
the LORD, and against thee; pray unto the LORD, that he take away the serpents
from us. And Moses prayed for the
people.
And
the LORD said unto Moses, Make thee a fiery serpent, and set it upon a pole:
and it shall come to pass, that every one that is bitten, when he looketh upon
it, shall live.
And
Moses made a serpent of brass, and put it upon a pole, and it came to pass,
that if a serpent had bitten any man, when he beheld the serpent of brass, he
lived.
Numbers 21:4 - 9
The lifting up of the serpent represented the death of
Christ. Christ said, “And as Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness, even so must
the Son of man be lifted up:” (John 3:14).
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” (2 Nephi
25:20).
Moses required them to do a simple thing. There were those who refused to look (because
it was so easy), and they paid the ultimate price for their unwillingness to follow
the commands of the Lord.
So, after all the things the Lord had done for them, the
Jews are now a wicked people, ripe for destruction. For all I know, Nephi tells them, they are
about to be destroyed as I speak.
Nephi returns to their experiences. Lehi was commanded to leave Jerusalem. The Jews sought to kill him. You, he reminds his brethren, have also sought
to kill him. This makes them murderers
in their heart, just like the Jews.
Nephi makes it personal.
I wonder if his frustration over their continued wickedness hadn’t been
building up, and the time was right to be blunt in his words.
They are quick to sin but slow to remember God. (Abinadi would reminded Noah and his priests,
“it was expedient that there should be a
law given to the children of Israel, yea, even a very strict law; for they were
a stiffnecked people, quick to do iniquity, and slow to remember the Lord their
God” (Mosiah 13:29).)
You have seen an angel; he spoke directly to you. From time-to-time, he spoke to you in a still
small voice. But, because of your wickedness,
you would no longer recognize his words.
Paul’s words to the Ephesians could have been addressed to Laman and
Lemuel.
This
I say therefore, and testify in the Lord, that ye henceforth walk not as other Gentiles
walk, in the vanity of their mind,
Having
the understanding darkened, being alienated from the life of God through the ignorance
that is in them, because of the blindness [GR hardness] of their heart:
Who
being past feeling have given themselves over unto lasciviousness, to work all
uncleanness with greediness.
Ephesians 4:17 - 19
Lindon Robinson explains:
[T]here was a selfish craving for
things among the wicked. Loving things instead of God and his children produced
a spiritual condition described as hardheartedness, the opposite of a tender
heart that cares. For example, Nephi chastised his brothers because their
hearts were hard (1 Nephi 17:19), so much so that they were past feeling the
words of God that lead one to caring (1 Nephi 17:45). Hardheartedness is not only a lack of caring,
but also an antipathy that produces unrighteous satisfaction when others
suffer.[2]
You know the power of God; you have experienced the power of
God. “O,
then, why is it, that ye can be so hard in your hearts” (1 Nephi
17:46). Nephi tells them “my soul is rent with anguish because of you”
(1 Nephi 17:47). If you don’t get
your act together, Nephi tells them, you will be cast off forever.
This powerful experience, being filled with the Spirit of
God, took almost all Nephi’s strength.
[1] The
Lord Will Redeem His People: Adoptive Covenant and Redemption in the Old
Testament and Book of Mormon, Jennifer Clark Lane, Provo,
Utah: Maxwell Institute, accessed April 9, 2013
[2] Economic
Insights from the Book of Mormon, Lindon J. Robison, Provo,
Utah: Maxwell Institute, accessed April 9, 2013.
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