Book of Mormon Feast
God in 1 Nephi 17
Almighty God • God • Lord
Lord their God • Lord thy God • Lord your God
Redeemer • Spirit of God • The True and Living God
1 Nephi 17:37
God raiseth up a righteous nation
The Book of Mormon teaches that God oversees the rise and fall of nations
And he raiseth up a righteous nation, and destroyeth the nations of the wicked.
Nephi is making a blanket statement. The brothers may apply it initially to Moses
and the children of Israel conquering and inheriting the promised land. Although
Nephi understands much more, it is probably too much to expect that the brothers
can grasp the concept that they are now to be the righteous nation, and they are
leaving the nation of the wicked. Nephi knows of the ebb and flow of history. People
and nations are not stagnant; they move toward the Lord or away from Him. He manages
His earth as a farmer manages his fields, and He knows when it is time to work the
crop – fertilize it, weed it, or plow it under. (See Isaiah 28:23-
1 Nephi 17:38
He leadeth the righteous to precious lands
The Book of Mormon teaches
that God leads His people, and prepares places for them
And he leadeth away the righteous into precious lands,
and the wicked he destroyeth, and curseth the land unto them for their sakes.
The Bible or Brass Plates may teach us this lesson, as the Lord led Abraham from the land of his fathers, and He led the children of Israel to Egypt and out of Egypt. But Nephi has seen many more cases of this in his vision through the ages, and he clearly understands that his family is the recipient of this blessing of being led away into precious lands.
As readers of the Book of Mormon, we are familiar with several more cases where this occurs. And as Americans we may see the hand of God in leading our forefathers – whether literal or the founders of our country – out of the lands of their captivity to this promised land.
Are we to assume that every person who arrives on our shores was led here by God? People generally make moves – whether to a new house, a new town/job, or even a new country – based on their hopes of some sort of a better life. Is God behind all of these moves?
This scripture is not talking about people moving in general, but about special cases where He is about to allow destruction of a wicked people, and He chooses to save some righteous group.
The scripture as written was merely another reassurance to Laman and Lemuel that they were on the right path – they need to continue their journey away from Jerusalem and toward the promised land, and they need to be more helpful participants.
But what does this scripture mean for us? We may look upon the state of our world
and our nation and wonder what might keep God from destroying us, because we have
abandoned His principles in a mad pursuit of self-
1 Nephi 17:39
He ruleth high in the heavens
The Book of Mormon teaches,
with Isaiah, that Heaven is God’s throne, and earth is His footstool
He ruleth high in the heavens, for it is his throne, and this earth is his footstool
Nephi immediately answers our last question: God knows what He is doing. Managing the earth, in any epoch, is not difficult for Him. He has His plan. We may not (indeed, we will not) know all the details of that plan, or even of our part in it, but we can be assured that He has everything under control to bring opportunities to all His children, and in particular to enable those children who choose to hearken to His voice to have the mortal experience that will be best for them, and to be able to serve in their sphere.
1 Nephi 17:40
God loves those who will have Him to be their God
The Book of Mormon
reafirms the covenants God made with Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob
And he loveth those who will have him to be their God.
Behold, he loved our fathers, and he covenanted with them,
yea, even Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob;
and he remembered the covenants which he had made;
wherefore, he did bring them out of the land of Egypt.
The first great commandment is to love the Lord our God. He in turn loves us (but “We love him, because he first loved us.” 1 John 4:19). The chosen people of God are those who have chosen Him as their God. His primary blessing is to offer a covenant relationship with those who are willing to enter that sacred arrangement.
Nephi’s brothers have called upon Moses for justification of the people of Jerusalem, so Nephi has described to them more aspects of the situation of the children of Israel under Moses. In this interim he points to a God who is aware of, watches over and guides all inhabitants of the earth, and who blesses all who love Him and choose to obey him. Nephi even gives them the briefest glimpse of God in heaven, as Lehi did in his first vision.
Now he comes back down to the covenant people, reaching back even before Moses’s time to Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. We can read in the Bible of the faithfulness of these patriarchs. Abraham 1:2 is the most powerful exposition, where Abraham tells, in his own words, how he wanted more righteousness, more knowledge, more instructions from God. His is a premier example of having the Lord to be his God.
Nephi has brought his discussion back to his central theme – that the children of Israel were led by God out from bondage to the promised land. Laman and Lemuel can’t see it yet, but they are experiencing the same leadership by the same God.
1 Nephi 17:41
God straitened them in the wilderness with His rod
The Book of Mormon teaches that many refuse
the salvation that God offers, refusing the simple labor He requires
And he did straiten them in the wilderness with his rod;
for they hardened their hearts, even as ye have;
and the Lord straitened them because of their iniquity.
He sent fiery flying serpents among them;
and after they were bitten he prepared a way that they might be healed;
and the labor which they had to perform was to look;
and because of the simpleness of the way, or the easiness of it,
there were many who perished.
God straitened his people. In English we have the curious situation of the homonyms “strait” and “straight,” which mean different things, but which seem to walk together in gospel and behavioral applications, sometimes causing confusion.
“Strait” as an adjective (considered archaic) means “narrow,” and the corresponding verb “straiten” (also archaic) means to make narrow.
When coupled with its noun meanings, it becomes much richer. A strait is “a narrow passage of water connecting two seas or two large areas of water,” as the Bering Strait, the Strait of Gibraltar, or the Straits of Magellan. When navigating on the large bodies of water (as in the air), many options and course deviations are open to choose from. But when navigating a strait, the captain must be vigilant and careful to follow the maps and beware of the hazards on either side.
The geographic “strait” may have informed the other noun use – “a bad/difficult situation, difficulty, trouble, crisis, a
mess, a predicament, a plight.” A strait is not a dead-
Most seafaring is not through straits, and God does not straiten His people randomly. Nephi says that He did it because of their iniquity. They had wandered too far from His guidelines, and in His course of instruction He brought them back to center. The fiery serpent event was the sort of test where failure of the exam meant the student was dropped from the course. It was an easy test, more a test of willingness to continue with the Instructor.
The Lord straitened them with His rod. We generally think of a rod as an instrument for beating, but the context does not support that meaning. It sounds more like a prod – a cattle prod – to induce them to see and move in the correct direction.
The King James Bible uses the word “straiten” in various forms a few times, but does not link this word with the fiery serpent experience.
1 Nephi 17:42
God’s matchless power
The Book of Mormon teaches of God’s patience in dealing with rebellious children
And they did harden their hearts from time to time,
and they did revile against Moses, and also against God;
nevertheless, ye know that they were led forth by his matchless power
into the land of promise.
Laman and Lemuel have done some reviling against God and their leadership; perhaps Nephi points this out to encourage them that God will be patient with them as He was with the children of Israel, and as He is with all His children. He gives them multiple chances and maintains His loving concern even when they are balking.
1 Nephi 17:44
The Lord commanded him
The Book of Mormon teaches that it is a great sin to be a murderer in the heart
Wherefore, the Lord commanded my father
that he should depart into the wilderness;
and the Jews also sought to take away his life;
yea, and ye also have sought to take away his life;
wherefore, ye are murderers in your hearts and ye are like unto them.
Nephi has switched gears. He is no longer explaining God’s great plans and mercy, and encouraging Laman and Lemuel to repent even though they have complained, as the children of Israel did through the ages. He has come to the end of the historical narrative and now compares his brothers to the current murderous Jews, who are about to be destroyed for their wickedness.
Nephi has given and will give us many of his own words and the words of his father
Lehi. He rarely records the words of Laman and Lemuel, being content to say that
they murmured. We may envision that Laman and Lemuel listened respectfully and silently
to verses 23-
1 Nephi 17:45
Slow to remember the Lord God
The Book of Mormon teaches that people can quench their good feelings
so that they can no longer feel God’s influence in their hearts
Ye are swift to do iniquity but slow to remember the Lord your God.
Ye have seen an angel, and he spake unto you;
yea, ye have heard his voice from time to time;
and he hath spoken unto you in a still small voice, but ye were past feeling,
that ye could not feel his words;
wherefore, he has spoken unto you like unto the voice of thunder,
which did cause the earth to shake as if it were to divide asunder.
Nephi’s focus in this verse is Laman and Lemuel’s hard-
There’s a slight confusion in the pronouns “he” in this verse. Noun #1 – the Lord your God, is followed directly by Noun #2 – an angel. First “he” is probably the angel, who the brothers both saw and heard. Subsequent “he’s” have probably switched back to the Lord, because we cannot credit an angel with all these communications. (And furthermore, the “he’s” continue in the next verse with power exercised only by the Almighty God.)
God, even knowing the end from the beginning, has given Laman and Lemuel all the evidence they need to believe and understand His purposes. He has spoken to them in different way.
Some people read the Book of Mormon and do not get a flaming, “burning in the bosom,” and they believe that the Holy Ghost has not testified of the truth to them. But God will speak to different people in different ways, and in different ways at different times. Often the power of the Holy Ghost comes as a “still, small voice.” Admittedly it may be difficult to differentiate this voice from one’s own thought and emotions, but God knows that, too, and He gives sufficient. Sometimes the power of the Holy Ghost comes as rational truth.
Later, Alma will first wish to speak with a voice of thunder to all people, but he
then acknowledges that God does and will speak to them according to His wisdom and
understanding of their situation, whether “people” means a cultural group or individuals.
(Alma 29:1-
Perhaps the best take-
1 Nephi 17:46
By the power of His almighty word
The Book of Mormon teaches that when we see God’s power,
we should recognize His sovereignty, and not harden our hearts
And ye also know that by the power of his almighty word
he can cause the earth that it shall pass away;
yea, and ye know that by his word
he can cause the rough places to be made smooth,
and smooth places shall be broken up.
O, then, why is it, that ye can be so hard in your hearts?
God can operate on the earth, on the rough places and smooth places, and reverse their natures, but He cannot operate on the human heart. It must be freely softened.
In verses 17-
1. We knew that ye could not construct a ship.
2. We knew that ye were lacking in judgment.
3. We know that the people who were in the land of Jerusalem were a righteous people.
4. We know that they are a righteous people.
They claimed to know that the people of Jerusalem were righteous because “they kept the statutes and judgments of the Lord, and all his commandments, according to the law of Moses.” Laman and Lemuel do not lack faith in God or in the Jewish traditions. Nephi has provided a link between their current project, surely guided by the Lord, and the children of Israel being led out of Egypt by the guidance of the Lord through Moses, a prophet.
Nephi augments their “We know” statements with other things that accompany a reliance on the Law of Moses:
1. Ye know that the children of Israel were in bondage.
2. Ye know that they were laden with tasks, which were grievous to be borne.
3. Ye know that it must needs be a good thing for them, that they should be brought out of bondage.
4. Ye know that Moses was commanded of the Lord to do that great work.
5. Ye know that by his [Moses’s] word the waters of the Red Sea were divided hither and thither, and they passed through on dry ground.
6. Ye know that the Egyptians were drowned in the Red Sea, who were the armies of Pharaoh.
7. Ye know that they were fed with manna in the wilderness.
8. Ye know that Moses, by his word according to the power of god which was in him, smote the rock, and there came forth water, that the children of Israel might quench their thirst.
After explaining the worldwide ways of the Lord to them, he reminds them of more that they know from personal experience, namely, the ways in which the Lord has spoken to them. He now renews the direct “Ye know” statements. It appears that Nephi is presenting incontrovertible evidence that the Lord is in charge – of the earth, of the children of Israel, of their own expedition – and they ought to accept that fact and cooperate.
“Why do you do what you do when you know what you know?”