Posts Tagged ‘mormons’

1 Nephi 17:43

Jerusalem Falls

Jerusalem Falls

“And now, after all these things, the time has come that they have become wicked, yea, nearly unto ripeness; and I know not but they are at this day about to be destroyed; for I know that the day must surely come that they must be destroyed, save a few only, who shall be led away into captivity.”

Nephi, writing this at about 591BC, is very close regarding the Babylonian Captivity, which occurred at 586BC – just 5 years later (remember time counts towards 0 on the BC scale). As we can recall, this captivity was the reason Lehi and his family left Jerusalem. Lehi tells us this destruction and captivity was due to the wickedness of the people. Nephi reminds us about this prophecy here. There are some interesting reasons we can review (after the fact) about why the Lord spared Lehi and his family from the captivity and brought them to the promised land in the Americas.

  1. The captivity lasted quite a while (until 537BC – a total of 49 years). It wasn’t until Persia overthrew Babylonia that the Jews were given permission to return to Jerusalem. Over this period of time, many of the Jews intermingled with the locals; traditions changed, even the religion changed somewhat. When they returned to Jerusalem almost 50 years later, 2 generations had passed and they had a really hard time restoring things back to the way they were. In fact, things were never quite the same, as much of the traditions evolved while in Babylonian captivity. Lehi’s family were removed from this situation and continued their religious worship unblemished by the captivity.
  2. When the captivity happened, many were killed and the rest were taken to Babylon. The Jews did not bring their homes and riches with them. They were captive, not treated quite as a traditional slaves, but they certainly had their wealth taken from them with no promise of that status changing any time soon. Lehi’s family, on the other hand, left their wealth voluntarily, being led towards a promised land. They were not captives; they were free. While there is no doubt they toiled on their journeyings they were never slaves and they all had hope that the promised land was coming.

Lehi’s family, by heeding the commandments of the Lord were spared the great toils of captivity. Even Laman and Lemuel, who pushed back so many times, were spared captivity. We too can be spared many pitfalls in life by heeding the commandments. Many of the things we’ll be spared will be spiritual challenges, but also many things we can be spared from are physical things, enabling us to obtain our promised land in due time.

Moses' Brazen Serpent

Moses' Brazen Serpent

1 Nephi 17:41-42

“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.
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.”

An interesting cross reference here – rods are often used as a metaphor for God’s word. Think of Lehi’s dream – the iron rod is the word of God; also Isaiah 11:4 (smite the earth with the rod of His mouth). Here we see that the Lord straitened them with his “rod”, which is His word, usually through His prophet.

Now, Nephi is using his words to convince his brethren that he is not foolish in trying to build a ship. He is using examples from the past to bring the their remembrance that God, at times, commands that great things be done, and His servants can accomplish them. Other times the commandments are simple, yet the people still do not follow.

You remember that the Israelites created a golden calf to worship as Moses was receiving the 10 commandments at Sinai. While this was obvious idolatry, part of what they were worshiping in the gold calf was the gold – the symbolism of wealth. After generations of slavery, who wouldn’t want some wealth. But of course, when wealth becomes the center of our worship, the intent of our hearts, only problems live there. God requires our devotion and asks that we have an eye single to His glory – only then can we secure the blessings that he has in store for us – including blessings of prosperity.

Another interesting lesson here is Moses brazen serpent. Another quick refresher – the Israelite (again) began worshiping other gods and were not keeping the law, so the Lord sent fiery flying serpents (and scorpions according to Deut 8:15). Moses created a brass serpent and put it on a staff and in order to be saved from the bites and the Israelites were told that to be healed they just had to look at the brazen serpent. The scriptures tell us that many of them perished because the labor (to look at the serpent) was too easy. We can imagine how it would have been: You are in your tent having been bitten by one of these poisonous snakes; you are sick and nauseous and dieing. Someone runs to the door of your tent and says: “Moses has just told us, if we look at this brass snake he created and put on a staff – we’ll be healed”. Then he runs off to tell the next tent. There are millions of us in the camp, so we’d have to travel to the brazen serpent feeling sick and all. Would you have the faith to make the trek in that condition to just look at the serpent? Or would you be calling for the doctor?

The serpent, of course, was a symbol of Christ. As we look to Him and keep an eye single to His glory, our souls will be healed, and through His atonement our fallen state will be excused and we can be permitted to return to Heaven.

From a wealth point of view we can learn from both of these historical stories. We can’t pursue wealth for the sake of pursuing wealth and expect the Lord to help us. When we put the pursuit of wealth before God, we are idolators also. If we are obedient and follow the commands the Lord gives, even those from our local leaders, we can be taken from our impoverished state to a state of enrichment with all of the accompanying blessings the Lord promises us. Lets be careful we don’t fall into the trap of expecting to have to perform “some great thing” to qualify for the Lord’s blessings. Lets take Him at His word and expect the blessings that come with obedience.

Archives