30 And it came to pass that I, Nephi, did go forth up
into the top of the mountain, according to the directions which were given upon
the ball.
31 And it came to pass that I did slay wild beasts,
insomuch that I did obtain food for our families.
32 And it came to pass that I did return to our tents,
bearing the beasts which I had slain; and now when they beheld that I had
obtained food, how great was their joy! And it came to pass that they did
humble themselves before the Lord, and did give thanks unto him.
33 And it came to pass that we did again take our
journey, traveling nearly the same course as in the beginning; and after we had
traveled for the space of many days we did pitch our tents again, that we might
tarry for the space of a time.
34 And it came to pass that Ishmael died, and was buried
in the place which was called Nahom.
35 And it came to pass that the daughters of Ishmael did
mourn exceedingly, because of the loss of their father, and because of their
afflictions in the wilderness; and they did murmur against my father, because
he had brought them out of the land of Jerusalem, saying: Our father is dead;
yea, and we have wandered much in the wilderness, and we have suffered much
affliction, hunger, thirst, and fatigue; and after all these sufferings we must
perish in the wilderness with hunger.
36 And thus they did murmur against my father, and also
against me; and they were desirous to return again to Jerusalem.
37 And Laman said unto Lemuel and also unto the sons of
Ishmael: Behold, let us slay our father, and also our brother Nephi, who has
taken it upon him to be our ruler and our teacher, who are his elder brethren.
38 Now, he says that the Lord has talked with him, and
also that angels have ministered unto him. But behold, we know that he lies
unto us; and he tells us these things, and he worketh many things by his cunning
arts, that he may deceive our eyes, thinking, perhaps, that he may lead us away
into some strange wilderness; and after he has led us away, he has thought to
make himself a king and a ruler over us, that he may do with us according to
his will and pleasure. And after this manner did my brother Laman stir up their
hearts to anger.
39 And it came to pass that the Lord was with us, yea,
even the voice of the Lord came and did speak many words unto them, and did
chasten them exceedingly; and after they were chastened by the voice of the
Lord they did turn away their anger, and did repent of their sins, insomuch
that the Lord did bless us again with food, that we did not perish.
Using the Liahona, Nephi was directed to where he would find food. Here we see an example of how the Liahona worked. Directions were given to Nephi, in writing, on the Liahona. This is how he was directed to find food. He did not use it as we would use a compass to find directions.
Hugh Nibley describes hunting in the mountains of
Arabia.
“Hunting in the mountains of Arabia to this day is carried
out on foot and without hawks or dogs; in classical times the hunter in this
area was equipped with a bow and a sling—exactly like Nephi. Nephi’s
discovery that the best hunting was only at ‘the top of the mountain’ (1 Nephi
16:30) agrees with later experience, for the oryx is ‘a shy animal that travels
far and fast over steppe and desert in search of food but retires ever to the
almost inaccessible sand-mountains for safety.’ In western Arabia the
mountains are not sand but rock, and Burckhardt reports that ‘in these
mountains between Medina and the sea, all the way northward (this is bound to include
Lehi’s area), mountain goats are met, and the leopards are not uncommon.’ Julius
Euting has left us vivid descriptions of the danger, excitement, and exhaustion
that go with the hunting of the big game that abounds in these mountains, which
are, by the way, very steep and rugged.”[1]
Nephi was able to acquire ample food for Lehi’s party. It goes without saying that they were a happy
people. They had been starving; now they
had the food they needed. In their
rejoicing, they became humble and gave thanks to the Lord for providing them
food.
Lehi would refer to this instance when speaking to his
family shortly before his death.
“Rebel no more against your brother, whose views have been
glorious, and who hath kept the commandments from the time that we left
Jerusalem; and who hath been an instrument in the hands of God, in bringing us
forth into the land of promise; for were it not for him, we must have perished
with hunger in the wilderness; nevertheless, ye sought to take away his life;
yea, and he hath suffered much sorrow because of you” (2 Nephi 1:24).
Terrence Szink discusses the murmuring that had been going
on before Nephi returned with food.
“Both the Old Testament and the Book of Mormon mention that
this murmuring about the lack of food was directed against the Lord himself
rather than against his prophet-leaders. The similarity continues in that the
problem of food was solved miraculously … [The group in the Book of Mormon]
were instructed by the Lord to look at the Liahona, their miraculous ‘compass.’
When they looked, they saw written directions that led Nephi to a place where
he was able to kill game. When the family saw that he had obtained food for
them, ‘how great was their joy! And it came to pass that they did humble
themselves before the Lord, and did give thanks unto him’ (1 Nephi 16:32; see
also verse 39).”[2]
The journey continued, “traveling nearly the same course as
in the beginning” (1 Nephi 16:33). Using
Nephi’s explanation of their travels, we can get an idea of where the travelled
in the Saudi peninsula. The descriptions
are too long and detailed to discuss fully here.[3] It was at this campsite, Ishmael died and was
buried at Nahom [HEB probably “consolation,” from verb naham, “be sorry,
console oneself].
Critics of the Book of Mormon remind us constantly that
there is no archeological evidence to support the Book of Mormon. This forum is not the appropriate place to
challenge this claim. Even so, it would
be appropriate to explain that archeological evidence has been found showing
the location of Nahom.
Excerpts of two articles are presented supporting Nahom.
Nephi’s account specifies that Ishmael was buried in “the
place which was called Nahom” (1 Nephi 16:34). Nephi’s phrasing suggests that
Lehi’s group did not originate the name but learned it from local inhabitants.
Modern Nehem includes an extensive traditional burial area with tombs dating as
far back as neolithic times, long predating Lehi’s day. The roots of the name
itself in Hebrew refers to mourning, consoling, and complaining of hunger, thus
fitting perfectly the events recorded by Nephi after the death of his
father-in-law, Ishmael (see 1 Nephi 16:35–39).
The identification of the ancient name nhm with
the modern place-name Nehem is supported by recent studies. S. Kent
Brown has discussed three altar inscriptions on display at the Maʾrib Antiquities Museum in
Sanaʿa, Yemen,
containing nhm as a tribal name dating from the seventh to sixth centuries
BC—roughly the time period when Lehi’s family was traveling through the area.8 Nhm
appears as a place-name and as a tribal name in southwestern Arabia in the
pre-Islamic and early Islamic period in the Arab antiquarian al-Hamdānī’s al-Iklīl 9 and in
his Ṣifat Jazīrat
al-ʿArab.10 If, as
Robert Wilson observes, there is minimal movement among the tribes over time,11 the
region now known as Nehem may well have had that or a similar name in
antiquity.[4]
One result is that “the place which was called Nahom” (1
Nephi 16:34) has been more securely linked to southern Arabia since the
discovery of limestone altars near Sanaʿa,
Yemen. These altars carry inscriptions containing the Arabian name NHM,
referring to the Nihm tribe.3 This
discovery from the right time period (independently dated to the seventh and
sixth centuries BC) and in the right location (south-southeast of Jerusalem;
compare 1 Nephi 16:13) is impressive archaeological evidence in support of the
historicity of the Book of Mormon.4
Ishmael’s daughters mourned the loss of the father. Their suffering during the journey added to
their sorrow. They began to murmur
against Lehi and wanted to return to Jerusalem.
“Ishmael might then have been fifty-three or fifty-four when his family
departed from the Jerusalem area … we cannot be sure of Ishmael’s age at the
time of his death in Nahom (1 Nephi 16:33-36), but it could have been some five
years into the journey. If he died under sixty years of age, this would explain
some of the anger of his daughters about what they considered his early demise
caused by following Lehi’s difficult wilderness agenda.”[5]
When things were hard, the Jews murmured against Moses and
Aaron.
“AND all the congregation lifted up their voice, and cried;
and the people wept that night.
“And all the children of Israel murmured against Moses and
against Aaron: and the whole congregation said unto them, Would God that we had
died in the land of Egypt! or would God
we had died in this wilderness!
“And wherefore hath the LORD brought us unto this land, to
fall by the sword, that our wives and our children should be a prey? were it not better for us to return into
Egypt?
And they said one to another, Let us make a captain, and let
us return into Egypt.
“Then Moses and Aaron fell on their faces before all the
assembly of the congregation of the children of Israel” (Numbers 14:1-5).
“The name of the area in Yemen now mapped as ‘Nehem’ is
pronounced by local inhabitants Nä-hum, derived from the Arabic
root nhm, whose basic meaning is ‘growl, groan, roar; suffer from
hunger; complain.’ The same root is found in biblical Hebrew (see Isaiah
5:29-30; Hosea 2:23) and in ancient Egyptian (nhm, ’thunder, shout; nhmhm, ’roar,
thunder’). Thus a ritual concomitant of mourning (groaning) is also associated
with this root, as well as the sense of suffering from hunger, which is equally
apt in the context of 1 Nephi 16:35, which reports much complaining, suffering,
and hunger.”[6]
Laman, Lemuel, and the sons of Ishmael joined in the
murmuring. They decided the time had
come to kill Lehi and Nephi. Nephi, they
whined, had “taken it upon him to be our ruler and our teacher, who are his
elder brethren” (1 Nephi 16:37). Nephi
had lied to them about seeing angels, but it was done through his cunning and
guile, he had deceived them. Their
hearts were stirred to anger.
The Lord intervened.
He “did chasten them exceedingly” (1 Nephi 16:39). Having heard the word of the Lord, they
calmed down and repented.
[3]
For a more complete discussion, see Refining
the Spotlight on Lehi and Sariah, S. Kent Brown, Provo, Utah:
Maxwell Institute.
[4] On Lehi’s Trail: Nahom, Ishmael’s Burial
Place, Stephen D. Ricks, Provo, Utah: Maxwell Institute.
[6] Lehi’s Trail and Nahom Revisited, Warren P.
Aston, and Michaela J. Aston, Provo, Utah: Maxwell
Institute.
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