1 Nephi 1-5

 This week we start into the text of 1 Nephi.  I have read 1 Nephi so many times, but somehow I always am surprised at Lehi's initial visions. My mind wants to jump into Lehi's family leaving Jerusalem and I forget that Lehi has two really significant revelations before they leave. In the first Nephi sees the Lord in a pillar of fire, and the Lord speaks to him, though we don't find out what he said.  Then he returns to his home and falls onto his bed and sees another vision.  This is a throne theophany, very like the one seen by Isaiah 100 years earlier. (Isaiah 6).  These two visions use symbols appropriate to the culture in Lehi's day to convey specific information.  The vision of the Lord standing on a rock reminds readers of Moses first seeing God in the burning bush, and then later when the presence of the Lord would be manifest by a pillar of fire appearing over the tabernacle. They communicate that 1. Lehi has been called as a prophet. and 2. the temple of Lehi's day was no longer the exclusive dwelling place of the Lord. The temple theophany establishes Lehi as a prophet, but also suggests that he will produce a volume of scripture. 

It is interesting that Lehi sees "One descending out of the midst of heaven,"  and "twelve others following him." (v. 9-10).  Since I am tracking references to Jesus in the Book of Mormon this year, here is one of the earliest ones.  The one descending is clearly Jesus, and the twelve following are his disciples. So how much did Lehi understand about the incarnation of Jesus?  At this point in the story, probably not much.  He was clearly familiar with the words of Isaiah because they are quoted extensively in both 1st and 2nd Nephi.  Isaiah gave a lot of foreshadowing of the Savior's incarnation but doesn't speak of if explicitly.  There seems to be an expectation of a Messiah, but at this point I don't think Lehi or Nephi understand that Jesus, the same God they worshipped as Jehovah, would come to Earth, take upon himself a mortal body, and save humanity for death and sin. That information is given to Nephi and Lehi gradually as they travel toward the promised land.  

One more interesting little insight from today's lesson.  In 1 Nephi 1:1-2 Nephi writes: "I, Nephi, having been born of goodly parents, therefore I was taught somewhat in the all the learning of my father. ...Yea I make a record in the language of my father, which consists of the learning of the Jews and the language of the Egyptians." One of my podcasters pointed out that in 1830, "goodly" could mean good, but could also mean "having goods," or wealthy.  If the meaning means "wealthy" it follows well that was why Nephi, as even the youngest son, was able to attend school and learn about the language of the Jews and the Egyptians.  So why would Nephi have to learn the language of the Jews?  Wasn't he a Jew himself? Actually, he was not.  The Brass Plates contained the genealogy of Lehi, and from these he learned that he was a descendant of Joseph, not Judah. He was from one of the 10 tribes that were "lost" or conquered 120 years earlier.  Lehi dwelt in Jerusalem, but he was a foreigner in Jerusalem, and perhaps spoke a different language at home than the "language of the Jews." His family were descendants of refugees from the Assyrian invasion in 722 BC, and perhaps still felt like outsiders in Jerusalem.  I think we will notice that Nephi speaks of the Jews with a degree of separation.  He and his family had lived among them "all of his days." but maybe didn't fully identify with them. That may have enabled Lehi to more easily see the corruption that had fallen upon the Jews.  Their ancestors had seen the 10 tribes ripen in iniquity before they were destroyed and maybe they now recognized the same symptoms. As Tyler Griffith points out in Scripture Central, they may have also seen the current temple as corrupt.  That is why they felt alright about building an alter in the wilderness and offering sacrifices, (2:7) even though such a thing was not permitted under the contemporary Jewish code.