Nephi2, having returned from his mission, saw the
Nephites had become a wicked people. He poured his heart out to the Lord.[1]
He began by wishing he could have lived back when Nephi1
first left Jerusalem. He had a romantic concept as to what things were like
then. “It is hard not to smile at his misplaced nostalgia. Either he has been
reading a very different version of early Nephite history or he hasn’t been
paying attention.” ‘Possibly Nephi was confused by the difficulty of reading
the old text clearly.’”[2]
His heart was filled with sorrow having to live in this time
of wickedness.
“OH that my head were waters, and
mine eyes a fountain of tears, that I might weep day and night for the slain of
the daughter of my people!
“Oh that I had in the wilderness a
lodging place of wayfaring men; that I might leave my people, and go from them!
for they be all adulterers, an
assembly of treacherous men.
“And they bend their tongues like their bow for lies: but they are not valiant for the truth upon the earth;
for they proceed from evil to evil, and they know not me, saith the LORD” (Jeremiah
9:1-3).
Nephi had a garden, built by the chief way to the Zarahemla
marked. In that garden, he had a tower. Seeing the wickedness of the Nephites,
he retired to his tower and began to pray.
As they were passing by, a group of men saw Nephi praying. They
ran and told the people what they had seen. A large group went back to see why
Nephi was mourning the wickedness of the Nephites.
Nephi heard them coming. When they arrived, he stood before
the multitude. Why, he asks, are you gathered here? Are you here to be told
about your many sins? The Nephites were like the Pharisees and Sadducees who
came to hear John, the Baptist. But when he saw many of the Pharisees and
Sadducees come to his baptism, he said unto them, O generation of vipers [GR
crop of serpents], who hath warned you to flee from the wrath to come” (Matthew
3:7).
Nephi continued, telling them he was on his tower, pouring
out his soul to God. He was saddened because of their sins.
He told them they were there because of his mourning for
their sins. They should be amazed they have allowed the devil to have a great
hold of their hearts. “And now I, Nephi, cannot say more; the Spirit stoppeth
mine utterance, and I am left to mourn because of the unbelief, and the
wickedness, and the ignorance, and the stiffneckedness of men; for they will not
search knowledge, nor understand great knowledge, when it is given unto them in
plainness, even as plain as word can be” (2 Nephi 32:7).
“When the righteous are in authority, the people rejoice:
but when the wicked beareth rule, the people mourn” (Proverbs 29:2).
Why did they give into his temptations? He has brought their
souls down to everlasting misery. “Oh, my soul, almost as it were, fleeth at
the thought. Behold, he did not exercise his justice upon us, but in his great
mercy hath brought us over that everlasting gulf of death and misery, even to
the salvation of our souls” (Alma 26:20).
“When Nephite subgroups reject the rule of divine law, they
often adopt ‘priestcrafts’—that is, perversions of the covenant that are
motivated by the quest for power, wealth, fame, or other secular objectives
(Alma 1–4; 9–14; 30–34; Helaman 7–16; 3 Nephi 1–7). Widespread rejection
of the covenant brings Nephite society nearly to its knees. As a sign of this
awful situation, the terms of the covenant are temporarily reversed: converted
Lamanites try to reclaim the nearly universally wicked Nephites (Helaman 4–9).”[3]
Nephi called on them to repent. Why did they want to die?
“Why should ye be stricken [HEB smitten] any more? ye will revolt
more and more: the whole head is sick, and the whole heart faint [HEB diseased].
“From the sole of the foot even unto the head there is no soundness in it; but wounds, and bruises, and putrifying
sores: they have not been closed [HEB squeezed], neither bound up, neither mollified
[HEB softened] with ointment” (Isaiah 1:5-6).
“Have I any pleasure at all that the wicked should die? saith
the Lord GOD: and not that he should
return from his ways, and live …
“For I have no pleasure in the death of him that dieth,
saith the Lord GOD: wherefore turn yourselves,
and live ye” (Ezekiel 18:23, 32).
Return to the Lord. Because they had hardened their hearts,
they will not hear the voice of the Lord. Instead, you have received the anger
of the Lord. Except they repent, he will scatter them and they will “become
meat for dogs and wild beasts” (Helaman 7:19).
[1] “And
that you be firm in keeping the commandments wherewith I have commanded you;
and if you do this, behold I grant unto you eternal life, even if you should be
slain” (D&C 5:22).
[2] Mormon’s
Sources, John L. Sorenson, Journal of the Book of Mormon and Other
Restoration Scripture 20/2 (2011): 8.
[3] The
Covenant of the Chosen People: The Spiritual Foundations of Ethnic Identity in
the Book of Mormon, Steven L. Olsen, Journal of the Book of Mormon and
Other Restoration Scripture 21/2 (2012): 23.
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