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.
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!
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.
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.
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. 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.
[3] "At the Judgment-Seat of Christ" -
Larger Perspectives, Richard
Dilworth Rust, Provo, Utah: Maxwell Institute.
[6] "To Come Forth in Due Time" –
Introduction. Richard
Dilworth Rust, Provo, Utah: Maxwell Institute.
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