Book of Mormon Feast
God in 1 Nephi 13
God • Holy Ghost • Lamb
Lamb of God • Lord • Lord God
Savior • Shepherd • Son of the Eternal Father
Spirit of God • Spirit of the Lord
1 Nephi 13:14
The wrath of God was upon the natives
The Book of Mormon teaches
that God sponsored the colonization of the Promised Land
And it came to pass that I beheld
many multitudes of the Gentiles upon the land of promise;
and I beheld the wrath of God, that it was upon the seed of my brethren;
and they were scattered before the Gentiles and were smitten.
The wrath of God now enters the narrative more specifically, manifested through the Gentile invasion. Nephi speaks of “many multitudes.” This may refer to different nationalities who came exploring the New World. It also provides a separation from the previous verse, where he saw “other” Gentiles led by the Holy Spirit. He does not say that all these multitudes were thus led, or that they all went out of captivity.
The Spanish and English treated the native Americans differently.
The Spanish sought to Christianize them while they enslaved them, at the same time accidentally depopulating many areas through their European diseases. They interbred extensively, so that today few inhabitants south of the border know anything about their native ancestry. Those who do are still in turmoil with the children of their Gentile conquerors.
The English made and broke treaties with them, while driving the survivors from their lands of inheritance farther and farther west, and also in some cases infecting them with diseases. Those who are left remain largely a separate people, with a pretense of autonomy, but relegated to the poorest lands of America and dependent on the (Gentile) government for its largesse in their survival. Plagued by alcoholism, another curse from their European conquerors, their own tribal governments make up for their subjugated state by exerting oppressive control over the lands, so that the native Americans themselves cannot establish businesses on the Reservation.
In either case the natives were scattered; their civilization, if not their genetic presence, became extinct.
1 Nephi 13:15
The Spirit of the Lord was upon the Gentiles
The Book of Mormon teaches
that God helped the Gentiles obtain the Promised Land for their inheritance
And I beheld the Spirit of the Lord, that it was upon the Gentiles,
and they did prosper and obtain the land for their inheritance;
and I beheld that they were white, and exceedingly fair and beautiful,
like unto my people before they were slain.
The Spirit of the Lord is credited with allowing the Gentiles to obtain (conquer) the land, and prosper. Again, the Spanish and English accomplished this in different ways.
The Spanish sought for gold, and they certainly obtained it, making the Spanish empire very prosperous for centuries. It caused an inflation problem, however, and in the end probably hurt Spain more than it helped.
The English, too, were able to grow their empire, thanks to their settlements in the New World. They prospered through obtaining the raw materials from their colonies, and from their monopoly on selling their own manufactured goods back to them. But this helped spur the American revolution, leading to the end of their empire.
In both cases, though the mother countries did not continue to prosper through their
conquests, the settlers in the New World thrived. The Spanish slave-
1 Nephi 13:16
The Gentiles were humble before the Lord
The Book of Mormon teaches that humility brings the power of the Lord
And it came to pass that I, Nephi, beheld
that the Gentiles who had gone forth out of captivity
did humble themselves before the Lord; and the power of the Lord was with them.
Nephi has spoken of “many multitudes” of Gentiles. He now returns to a specific group, only those who went forth out of captivity. He has previously stated that these Gentiles were led here by the Spirit of the Lord. He now tells us that they continued to have His power, because of their humility.
We have already seen that the Great and Spacious Building is the pride of the world. And we know that the evils of pride are a major theme in the Book of Mormon, that the Nephite civilization fell because of their embracing pride, and that the American nation would be and is plagued by that same moral failure. This verse is one of hope: It assures us that our American heritage is originally one of humility before God. It reminds us that this humility is the key to enjoying the power of the Lord.
1 Nephi 13:18
The power of God was with them
The Book of Mormon teaches that God’s wrath is against
those who stand in the way of those who are protected by His power
And I beheld that the power of God was with them,
and also that the wrath of God was upon all those
that were gathered together against them to battle.
The American colonists’ humility was not just the first generation of Pilgrims and Puritans: It extended 150 years to the Revolutionary period that Nephi now sees. He sees that the wrath of God is upon their mother Gentiles (England), which means England is going to lose the war. Was England the worst offender against God at this period of history? Or is this another case of the wrath of God working to implement His plan for maximum opportunities and growth for all his children, which would happen with the founding of America’s government of freedom?
Wars are easy to start. “Bullies” are not just a modern phenomenon; they are one
basic aspect of the natural man. Armed conflict, one people group against another,
is always happening in many corners of the world, which occasionally flares up to
suck in larger groups. Wars form a major part of traditional history courses, including
their dates and the fine leaders who initiate them, who we admire and to whom we
give the epithet “great:” Alexander the Great (conqueror of the Mediterranean area),
Peter the Great (who began the Great Northern War, 1700-
I doubt that God takes sides in all these attacks and oppressions, or that He always saves those who are more innocent. However, He can use this basic human propensity to accomplish His purposes.
1 Nephi 13:19
Delivered by the power of God
The Book of Mormon teaches that the American colonists
won their War for Independence because God delivered them
And I, Nephi, beheld that the Gentiles that had gone out of captivity
were delivered by the power of God out of the hands of all other nations.
Many European nations had cast their eyes upon American soil – England, Netherlands,
France, Spain, Sweden, Russia, Denmark-
Nephi says that these Gentiles were delivered by the power of God, not by their own
military efforts. Of course, those military efforts were required, and God worked
through them, but He intervened at crucial moments, when they had done all they could
do. Numerous times the weather changed precipitously in some particular -
(See “Delivered by the Power of God: The American Revolution and Nephi’s Prophecy,” by Jonathan A. Dibble. )
1 Nephi 13:23
The book contains the covenants of the Lord
The Book of Mormon teaches that the covenants in the Bible are of great worth
And he said: Behold it proceedeth out of the mouth of a Jew.
And I, Nephi, beheld it; and he said unto me:
The book that thou beholdest is a record of the Jews,
which contains the covenants of the Lord,
which he hath made unto the house of Israel;
and it also containeth many of the prophecies of the holy prophets;
and it is a record like unto the engravings which are upon the plates of brass,
save there are not so many; nevertheless, they contain the covenants of the Lord, which he hath made unto the house of Israel;
wherefore, they are of great worth unto the Gentiles.
Nephi sees that the liberated Gentiles have a book, which is easily identified as the Bible. In colonial and early American households, a Bible was frequently the only book available in the house. Children learned to read from the Bible, or the New England Primer, which carried many selections from and references to the Bible, such as “In Adam’s fall we sinned all.” Or “Zaccheus did climb the tree his Lord to see.”
This book is valuable to the Gentiles because of the covenants of the Lord, and they were acutely aware of that. They likened themselves unto the House of Israel and being led out of Egypt and saved by the hand of the Lord.
Public schools teach that the American Founders studied classical Roman and Greek
writers and political systems in order to arrive at the American Constitution. There
is truth in this assertion, but they as they read the complete histories and failures
associated with these systems, they knowingly made significant adaptations to their
system of republic. They read widely – philosophers, historians, political thinkers.
But the most heavily-
(See “Early Americans Studied the Bible,” by Earl Taylor Jr, National Center for
Constitutional Studies. https://www.nccs.net/2003-
1 Nephi 13:24
The apostles bear record of the Lamb
The Book of Mormon teaches
that the Bible originally contained the fulness of the gospel
And the angel of the Lord said unto me:
Thou hast beheld that the book proceeded forth from the mouth of a Jew;
and when it proceeded forth from the mouth of a Jew
it contained the fulness of the gospel of the Lord,
of whom the twelve apostles bear record;
and they bear record according to the truth which is in the Lamb of God.
Why does the angel say that the book proceeded “out of the mouth of a Jew”? The Bible covers the history of the Jews before there were Jews, as written by Moses, of the tribe of Levi. The prophets represent both the tribes of Judah and Joseph. Paul, who wrote much of the New Testament, was of the tribe of Benjamin.
In the context of this verse and other Book of Mormon references, “Jew” may mean any member of the House of Israel. Or it may mean someone from the nation of Judah. The angel says “a Jew” as a rhetorical device, a synecdoche. It proceeded from all these prophets and writers of the House of Israel, and in its original form it was complete.
Though talking about the book, the Lord is in the center of this verse. The book contained the fullness of His gospel. We are reminded that the twelve apostles bear record of Him, which is the bulk of the New Testament. They bear record of the truth which is in Him. He said that He is the “Way, the Truth, and the Life.”
The truth in the Lamb of God illuminates this confusing world with its tangled history and competing ideas. It is a simple message of divine origins, choice and accountability, sin and the need for repentance, and the potential of a divine destiny, with the Lamb of God at the center, providing His saving atonement.
What truth of the Lamb of God do you cherish today?
1 Nephi 13:25
The truth which is in God
The Book of Mormon teaches that the Bible holds God’s truth
Wherefore, these things go forth from the Jews in purity unto the Gentiles, according to the truth which is in God.
The angel speaks less allegorically as he reiterates in this parallel statement. The Book comes from the Jews, and in its original form it is pure, bearing the truth of God.
The truth which is in God encompasses His nature and objectives, His perspective on human lives, His directions for achieving eternal happiness. Unlike truth related to physical existence, this truth cannot be discovered by scientific means, or deduced by philosophical methods. It must be revealed.
1 Nephi 13:26
They took away from the gospel of the Lamb
The Book of Mormon teaches
that the abominable church took away many covenants of the Lord from the Bible
And after they go forth by the hand of the twelve apostles of the Lamb,
from the Jews unto the Gentiles,
thou seest the formation of a great and abominable church,
which is most abominable above all other churches;
for behold, they have taken away from the gospel of the Lamb
many parts which are plain and most precious;
and also many covenants of the Lord have they taken away.
I do not understand the meaning of this verse in a historical context, which I take to mean that our knowledge of history is incomplete, and a complete understanding will have to wait for more revelation or discoveries.
It is clear that the Bible does not lay out what we understand today as God’s covenant
path, beginning with baptism, including the endowment, and concluding with eternal
marriage. Nor does the Book of Mormon, because it was written to dove-
The Old Testament was a book, a canonized set of scripture. If the Book carried by the Gentiles was pure and complete when it passed into the hands of the abominable church, one would suppose that the Jews still had a complete Old Testament, with all the plain and precious things and covenants which are lacking in the Book that went through the abominable church. Such is not the case.
The Bible mentions a number of books of scripture which are no longer extant (see
LDS Bible Dictionary: Lost Scriptures). The Book of Mormon and Pearl of Great Price
quote a number of Old Testament-
The New Testament was a collection of letters and writings, which in the first few hundred years of Christianity were narrowed down to our current New Testament.
There are New Testament apocrypha available today. We know historically that they were rejected from the body of canonized scripture by the medieval church. However, they are anything but plain, being quite esoteric. Not everything that glitters is gold, and not all ancient writing that claim divine origin are actually scripture.
Nevertheless, the message of this verse is that while information has gone missing from the Bible, we may be grateful that so much has been restored in our day through revelation.