We continue the Psalm of Nephi.
Nephi rejoices in the Lord.
28 Awake, my
soul!
No
longer droop in sin.
Rejoice, O my heart,
and give place no more
for
the enemy of my soul.
29 Do not anger again
because
of mine enemies.
Do not slacken my strength
because
of mine afflictions.
30 Rejoice, O my
heart,
and
cry unto the Lord, and say:
O Lord,
I
will praise thee forever;
yea,
my soul
will rejoice in thee,
my God,
and
the rock of my salvation.
(2
Nephi 4:28 - 30)
Having anguished over his sins, Nephi then rejoices in the
Lord. Matthew Nickerson observes:
Anger is one of the negative
effects of sin listed along with several others: remorse, sorrow, ill health,
moral weakness, agitation, and waning strength. To single out anger as [Nephi’s
sin] seems unwarranted. Anger concludes the list but is not set apart nor made
more prominent than any other in the list. Answering his own questions, Nephi
expresses trust in the Lord's redemptive powers. He is confident that the
Lord's mercies are sufficient to save him from these distressing symptoms of
sin…
As described earlier, omitting the
specifics of the Psalmist's transgression is an important characteristic of
classic individual laments and one I believe that Nephi adheres to. This is a
good example of how recognizing the poetic form as it appears in the Book of
Mormon can aid our understanding of these passages.[1]
He tells himself to be angry no longer because of his
enemies. Who are his enemies? John S. Tanner writes:
Before Lehi's death, Nephi had
foreseen in revelation the tragic division between Lamanites and Nephites (see
1 Nephi 12:22-23). When Lehi died, Nephi must have known that the long-dreaded
crisis was now both inevitable and near. With no father to turn to but his
Heavenly Father, Nephi cries for strength: so lonely is his new burden of
leadership, so dangerous his enemies, and so strong the temptation to be angry
"because of [his] enemies" (2 Nephi 4:29)—meaning, I suppose, his
brothers.[2]
He cries out to the Lord, praising Him forever. He will rejoice in the Lord, “the rock of my salvation” (2 Nephi
4:30).
Nephi asks the Lord for redemption and asks Him to watch
over him.
31 O Lord, wilt thou
redeem my soul?
Wilt thou deliver me
out
of the hands
of
mine enemies?
Wilt thou make me
that
I may shake
at the appearance of sin?
32 May the gates of
hell
be
shut continually
before me,
because
that my heart
is broken
and
my spirit
is contrite!
O Lord,
wilt
thou not shut
the gates of thy righteousness
before me,
that
I may walk
in the path
of the low valley,
that
I may be strict
in the plain road!
(2 Nephi
4::31 – 32)
Nephi asks the Lord to redeem his soul and deliver him from
his enemies. He asked Him that he would “shake at the appearance of sin” (2
Nephi 4:31).
He was approaching the Lord with a broken heart and contrite
spirit. He asks Him to open the gates of
righteousness and walk in the correct path.
33 O Lord,
wilt
thou
encircle
me around
in the robe
of thy righteousness!
O Lord,
wilt
thou
make
a way
for mine escape
before mine enemies!
Wilt
thou
make my path straight
before me!
Wilt
thou
not place
a stumbling block
in my way—
but
that thou wouldst
clear my way
before me,
and hedge not
up my way,
but the ways
of
mine enemy.
34 O Lord,
I have trusted in thee,
and I will trust
in
thee forever.
I will not put
my trust
in
the arm of flesh;
for I know
that
cursed is he
that
putteth his trust
in the arm of flesh.
Yea, cursed is he
that
putteth his trust
in
man or
maketh flesh his arm.
(2
Nephi 4:33 - 34)
Nephi asks the Lord to encircle him in a robe of
righteousness. Richard Rust looks at how
the word “encircle” is used in the Book of Mormon.
Heaven and hell both encircle. Lehi
declares to his family, "I am encircled about eternally in the arms of
[the Lord's] love" (2 Nephi 1:15); Nephi pleads for the Lord to
"encircle me around in the robe of thy righteousness" (2 Nephi 4:33);
and Amulek teaches that mercy "encircles [the penitent] in the arms of
safety" (Alma 34:16). Conversely, before being spiritually delivered, the
fathers "were encircled about by the bands of death, and the chains of
hell" (Alma 5:7); Zeezrom is "encircled about by the pains of
hell" (Alma 14:6); and Ammon testifies that his Lamanite brethren were
formerly "encircled about with everlasting darkness and destruction"
(Alma 26:15). These are part of the larger Book of Mormon circles that either
save or damn.
Put another way, humanity, the Book
of Mormon says, is either encircled and lifted up through mercy or encircled by
chains and brought down to hell. This movement, rising and falling, or ascent
and descent, develops a way to see the book as a whole as the story of mankind's
journey through life, fall, and redemption.[3]
He asks the Lord for a straight path to escape from his
enemies. As with “encircled,” straight
has different meanings in the Book of Mormon.
John Welch explains:
Straight can mean more
than "in a straight line." It can mean "direct." In fact,
that is a good meaning as applied to define course or path.
Nephi's poetic prayer for redemption in 2 Nephi 4:33 includes the plea
"Wilt thou make my path straight." This is one of a number of
scriptural images of the path (course) to salvation (eternal bliss, promised
land, the way to the keeper of the gate) being a straight (direct) route (see
also 2 Nephi 9:41; Alma 37:44). When a mother says, "After school, you
come straight home," it means by either the shortest, quickest, safest, or
easiest route, as the child has been given to understand. In the case of
directions given by the Liahona (see Alma 37:44), a straight or direct course
probably connoted "expeditious" or "best." Thus we should
be open to more possibilities than one might ordinarily think of.[4]
Nephi has put his trust in the Lord and will do so
forever. He refuses to put his trust in
the arm of flesh because “cursed is he
that putteth his trust in the arm of flesh … cursed is he that putteth his
trust in man or maketh flesh his arm” (2 Nephi 4:34).
Hugh Nibley writes:
The great man in his old age still
speaks the language of the desert: "I may walk in the path of the low
valley, that I may be strict in the plain road" (2 Nephi 4:32—33) is the
purest Bedouin talk for "May I stick to thewady and not get
off the clearly marked mainline that everyone follows!" One hears the echo
of innumerable old desert inscriptions in his prayer: "O Lord, wilt thou
make a way for mine escape before mine enemies! Wilt thou make my path straight
before me! Wilt thou not place a stumbling block in my way—but that thou
wouldst clear my way before me, and hedge not up my way, but the ways of mine
enemy" (2 Nephi 4:33). The immemorial desert custom which required a
sheikh to place the edge of his robe (kuffah) over the back of anyone
seeking his protection is clearly recalled in Nephi's cry: "O Lord, wilt
thou encircle me around in the robe of thy righteousness!" (2 Nephi 4:33).[5]
Nephi ends his Psalm.
35 Yea, I know that
God
will
give liberally to him
that asketh.
Yea, my God will give me,
if
I ask not amiss;
therefore I will lift up my voice
unto
thee;
yea, I will cry
unto
thee,
my God,
the rock of my righteousness.
Behold, my voice shall
forever ascend up
unto
thee,
my
rock
and mine everlasting God.
Amen.
(2 Nephi 4:35)
I close with an observation from Richard Rust.
The power of Nephi's words is most
apparent when the passage is read aloud and also when it is recognized as
poetry with its primary appeal to feeling.8 I
discovered this quality through my own experience: when my family and I read
the Book of Mormon together each morning, I recognized the intense nature of
passages such as Nephi's psalm. Later, when I searched the Book of Mormon for
its poetry, I better understood why I was responding with my feelings to these
passages.[6]
[1] Nephi's Psalm: 2 Nephi 4:16–35 in the Light
of Form-Critical Analysis, Matthew
Nickerson, Provo, Utah: Maxwell Institute, accessed July 27,
2013.
[2] Jacob and His Descendants as Authors, John S. Tanner, Provo, Utah:
Maxwell Institute, accessed July 27, 2013.
[3] "At the Judgment-Seat of Christ" -
Larger Perspectives, Richard
Dilworth Rust, Provo, Utah: Maxwell Institute, accessed July 27,
2013.
[4] Straight (Not Strait) and Narrow, John S. Welch, Provo, Utah:
Maxwell Institute, accessed July 27, 2013.
[5] Lehi and the Arabs, Hugh Nibley, Provo, Utah: Maxwell
Institute, accessed July 27, 2013.
[6] "To Come Forth in Due Time" –
Introduction. Richard
Dilworth Rust, Provo, Utah: Maxwell Institute, accessed July 27,
2013.
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