As we read the words of Lehi, it’s easy to ask what the
source of Lehi’s teachings is. He tells
that he is teaching “according to that
which is written” (2 Nephi 2:17).
Lehi is the first and main Book of
Mormon prophet to discuss the fall of Adam. Since he states that he obtained
his basic understanding of this event from "the things which [he had]
read" on the plates of brass (2 Nephi 2:17; see also 1 Nephi 5:11), one
wonders how much of Lehi's theology was based on the preexilic Israelite
religion recorded on those plates and how much came as direct revelation to
him. Certainly Lehi's explanation is a unique, plain, and precious revelation
on the fall, free agency, and the atonement. But the main principles Lehi
mentions in the clearest scriptural explanation of the human condition were in
fact familiar topics for early Israelite writers.[1]
In the preexistence, there was an angel. This angel fell “heaven; wherefore, he became a devil, having sought that which was
evil before God” (2 Nephi 2:17). Isaiah
wrote about the fallen angel.
How
art thou fallen from heaven, O Lucifer, son of the morning [HEB morning star,
son of dawn. The ruler of the wicked world (Babylon) is spoken of as Lucifer,
the ruler of all wickedness]! how art
thou cut down to the ground, which didst weaken the nations!
For
thou hast said in thine heart, I will ascend into heaven, I will exalt my throne
above the stars of God: I will sit also upon the mount of the congregation, in
the sides of the north [IE dwelling of the gods according to Babylonian belief]:
I
will ascend above the heights of the clouds; I will be like the most High.
Yet
thou shalt be brought down to hell, to the sides of the pit.
Isaiah 14:12 - 15
In Abraham’s writings, we read about the fall of
Lucifer.
And
the Lord said: Whom shall I send? And
one answered like unto the Son of Man: Here am I, send me. And another answered and said: Here am I,
send me. And the Lord said: I will send
the first.
And
the second was angry, and kept not his first estate; and, at that day, many
followed after him.
Abraham 3:27 - 28
Writing about the devil, Moses tells us:
Wherefore,
because that Satan rebelled against me, and sought to destroy the agency of
man, which I, the Lord God, had given him, and also, that I should give unto
him mine own power; by the power of mine Only Begotten, I caused that he should
be cast down;
And
he became Satan, yea, even the devil, the father of all lies, to deceive and to
blind men, and to lead them captive at his will, even as many as would not hearken
unto my voice.
Moses 4:3 - 4
Jacob would refer to Lehi’s teachings when preaching to the
Nephites. “O the wisdom of God, his mercy and grace! For behold, if the flesh should rise no more
our spirits must become subject to that angel who fell from before the presence
of the Eternal God, and became the devil, to rise no more” (2 Nephi 9:8).
Having been cast out of heaven Satan became miserable. He was not satisfied being miserable
alone. It became his desire to share his
misery with all mankind. (My mother says
“Misery doesn’t love company. It insists
upon it.”)
Falling back on Lehi’s teachings, Nephi would write:
For
the kingdom of the devil must shake, and they which belong to it must needs be
stirred up unto repentance, or the devil will grasp them with his everlasting chains,
and they be stirred up to anger, and perish;
For
behold, at that day shall he rage in the hearts of the children of men, and
stir them up to anger against that which is good.
And
others will he pacify, and lull them away into carnal security, that they will
say: All is well in Zion; yea, Zion prospereth, all is well—and thus the devil cheateth
their souls, and leadeth them away carefully down to hell.
And
behold, others he flattereth away, and telleth them there is no hell; and he
saith unto them: I am no devil, for there is none—and thus he whispereth in
their ears, until he grasps them with his awful chains, from whence there is no
deliverance.
Yea,
they are grasped with death, and hell; and death, and hell, and the devil, and
all that have been seized therewith must stand before the throne of God, and be
judged according to their works, from whence they must go into the place
prepared for them, even a lake of fire and brimstone, which is endless torment.
2 Nephi 28:19 - 23
During his ministry in the New World, the Savior warned the
Nephites, “Behold, verily, verily, I say
unto you, ye must watch and pray always lest ye enter into temptation; for Satan
desireth to have you, that he may sift you as wheat” (3 Nephi 18:18).
He became the father of lies. Lehi refers to him as “that old serpent” (2 Nephi 2:18).
Nephi shares a lie of the devil in the last days. “And
there shall also be many which shall say: Eat, drink, and be merry;
nevertheless, fear God—he will justify in committing a little sin; yea, lie a
little, take the advantage of one because of his words, dig a pit for thy
neighbor; there is no harm in this; and do all these things, for tomorrow we
die; and if It so be that we are guilty, God will beat us with a few stripes,
and at last we shall be saved in the kingdom of God” (2 Nephi 28:8).
Eve was tempted to “[p]artake
of the forbidden fruit, and ye shall not die, but ye shall be as God, knowing
good and evil” (2 Nephi 2:18). Eve
partook of the fruit and convinced Adam to partake of the fruit. Abinadi told Noah and his priests, “[the wicked would be cast out because] they
are carnal and devilish, and the devil has power over them; yea, even that old
serpent that did beguile our first parents, which was the cause of their fall;
which was the cause of all mankind becoming carnal, sensual, devilish, knowing
evil from good, subjecting themselves to the devil” (Mosiah 16:3).
Stephen Ricks tells us that Satan’s expulsion from heaven
was essential for the fall.
A vital precondition for the
fall was the expulsion of Satan from the presence of God. According to
Lehi, an "angel of God had fallen from heaven; wherefore, he became a
devil, having sought that which was evil before God." Because of his
expulsion from the presence of God he "had become miserable forever"
and "sought also the misery of all mankind." Satan tempted Eve to partake
of the forbidden fruit, saying, "Ye shall not die, but ye shall be as God,
knowing good and evil" (2 Nephi 2:17—18) (Emphasis in original).[2]
Alma2, expressing his desires to the Lord said, “Yea, and I know that good and evil have
come before all men; he that knoweth not good from evil is blameless; but he that knoweth good and evil,
to him it is given according to his desires, whether he desireth good or evil,
life or death, joy or remorse of conscience” (Alma 29:5).
Moroni would write, quoting Mormon:
For
behold, my brethren, it is given unto you to judge, that ye may know good from
evil; and the way to judge is as plain, that ye may know with a perfect
knowledge, as the daylight is from the dark night.
For
behold, the Spirit of Christ is given to every man, that he may know good from
evil; wherefore, I show unto you the way to judge; for every thing which
inviteth to do good, and to persuade to believe in Christ, is sent forth by the
power and gift of Christ; wherefore ye may know with a perfect knowledge it is
of God.
But
whatsoever thing persuadeth men to do evil, and believe not in Christ, and deny
him, and serve not God, then ye may know with a perfect knowledge it is of the
devil; for after this manner doth the devil work, for he persuadeth no man to
do good, no, not one; neither do his angels; neither do they who subject
themselves unto him.
And
now, my brethren, seeing that ye know the light by which ye may judge, which
light is the light of Christ, see that ye do not judge wrongfully; for with
that same judgment which ye judge ye shall also be judged.
Wherefore,
I beseech of you, brethren, that ye should search diligently in the light of
Christ that ye may know good from evil; and if ye will lay hold upon every good
thing, and condemn it not, ye certainly will be a child of Christ.
Moroni 7:15 - 19
From his words, we know Lehi was aware of the words of
Moses.
One sentence from Moses seems to
have spawned a whole family of formulaic references in the Book of Mormon:
"And he became Satan, yea, even the devil, the father
of all lies, to deceive and to blind men,
and to lead them captive at his will, even as many as
would not hearken unto my voice" (Moses 4:4). This language is echoed
precisely by both Lehi and Moroni, who, when mentioning the devil, add the
stock qualification: "who is the father of all lies" (cf. 2
Nephi 2:18; Ether 8:25), while Jacob says the same thing in similar terms (2
Nephi 9:9). Incidentally, the descriptive term devil, which is used
frequently to refer to Satan in both Moses and the Book of Mormon, does not
occur at all in the Old Testament. New Testament occurrences do not reflect
this context.[3]
Noel Reynolds explains the importance of choosing between
good and evil.
Lehi elaborates extensively on this
formula12,
[choosing between good and evil, life
and death], by linking it to the transgression of Adam and Eve,
which they committed in the hope of gaining a knowledge of good and evil and
the difference between them. But, as Lehi goes on to explain, it is the
redemption from this transgression accomplished by the Messiah in the fulness
of times that makes men free to choose between the two (see 2 Nephi 2:18, 26).
And so it is that men "are free to choose liberty and eternal life, . . .
or to choose captivity and death"—the one through the mediation of the
Messiah and the other through the power of the devil, "for he seeketh that
all men might be miserable like unto himself" (2 Nephi 2:27).[4]
[1][1]
Lehi's
Theology of the Fall in Its Preexilic/Exilic Context, Bruce M. Pritchett
Jr., Provo, Utah: Maxwell Institute, accessed June 22, 2013.
[2] Adam's
Fall in the Book of Mormon, Second Temple Judaism, and Early Christianity, Stephen
D. Ricks, Provo, Utah: Maxwell Institute, accessed June 22, 2013.
[3] The
Brass Plates Version of Genesis, Noel B. Reynolds, Provo,
Utah: Maxwell Institute, accessed June 22, 2013.
[4] Lehi
As Moses, Noel B. Reynolds, Provo, Utah: Maxwell Institute, accessed
June 22, 2013.,
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