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1 Nephi 2

Summary: The Lord tells Lehi to take his family and get the heck outta town. Laman and Lemuel, the oldest brothers, complain. Lehi rebukes them. Nephi wants to believe in his father, so he prays for assurance. His brother Sam believes, but Laman and Lemuel do not. Nephi prays for them. The Lord reveals to Nephi that he will be led to "a land of promise," and will be made a ruler and teacher over his brothers. Laman and Lemuel will be cut off from God's presence if they don't listen to Nephi. Their posterity will also be a scourge to Nephi's posterity if they aren't being obedient as well.

V. 11- The "stiffneckedness" of Laman and Lemuel

This word gets used a lot. What does it mean? I was taught by a great seminary teacher that to be stiffnecked means you cannot turn your neck. You can't look around. You can't see any other path but the one right in front of you. Used for somebody who is prideful and refuses to yield to the will of God (or anyone else for that matter).

V. 12- "They did murmur because they knew not the dealings of that God who had created them."

Not only did they not know or understand God's dealings (which has probably been all of us at some point), they were unwilling to try to understand. We'll see in a second that Nephi had a different response to his own ignorance.

V. 15- "My father dwelt in a tent."

What is the significance of this short verse? Perhaps it simply attests to the humility and obedience of Lehi, who was willing to pack up his belongings and leave at a moment's notice if the Lord commanded him to, even leaving behind his gold and silver and "precious things."

V. 16- "...having great desires to know of the mysteries of God..."

Herein lies the critical difference between Nephi and his oldest brothers. That small desire can be the spark to incredible revelation and divine guidance. Alma 32 is still a ways off, but that's one of my favorite chapters as it deals with this very subject. Even if you can no more than desire to believe, let this desire work in you.

V. 23- "For behold, in that day. . .I will curse them even with a sore curse..."

Great blessings are promised here, but I've always found it kind of humorous that Nephi pours out his heart for his unbelieving brothers, and the Lord responds by telling him that his brothers are going to be cursed, while he [Nephi] is going to have some pretty great blessings. Welp, that prayer kinda backfired. Just kidding. Until next time.

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