Summary: The Lord tells Lehi that they need to flip a u-turn back to Jerusalem to go grab the Brass Plates from Laban. Lehi sends his kids back to get the plates, with Nephi being more than willing and Laman and Lemuel just kinda doing their murmuring thing. Two attempts fail: the first, Laman goes in and asks nicely for them, drawing Laban's anger and then Laban trying to kill him. The second, they all go in with their plenteous gold and silver, drawing Laban's lust for precious things and then Laban trying to kill them, as he enjoys doing, while taking their stuff. Laman and Lemuel hit Nephi and Sam with a stick, then an angel shows up and rebukes them. The chapter ends with Laman and Lemuel murmuring some more.
V. 6 - "Thou shalt be favored of the Lord because thou hast not murmured."
The footnotes contain an interesting phrase- "Sustaining church leaders." In other words, when you raise your hand to sustain somebody in a calling, whether it be a nursery leader, the relief society president, the ward organist, a stake president, a member of the seventy, an apostle, a prophet, or any other calling, you are making a promise that you will support this individual in their calling, and that you will NOT MURMUR. That includes not murmuring at the ward organist (me) when I keep messing up or I'm playing too loud. (For the record, no one has murmured at me. Yet.) This sustaining is essentially an act of faith. You are acknowledging that you trust this person's divine calling and that what they do in this calling is authorized by the Lord. Am I reading too much into it? I don't know. But there's a lot that goes into that little arm raise, even though it may be a fairly routine sacrament meeting ritual.
V. 7 - "I will go and do the things which the Lord hath commanded."
Nephi expresses his faith through obedient action. This is probably the most famous verse in the Book of Mormon, would you agree? This statement is contrasted by Laman and Lemuel's faithless statements in the chapter about hard things being required of them.
V. 11- "Laman went in unto the house of Laban and talked with him as he sat in his house."
I always like to wonder what they talked about. I usually imagine it as Laman making awkward small talk with Laban, sitting around a coffee table on a couch, Laman asking Laban how things are going, how's work, how's the wife and kids, how long have you lived in this house, wow, this is a nice house, what's the square footage on this house, wow, wow. Hey, are those the Brass Plates over there? Nice! Can I borrow those for the weekend?
V. 31- "Laman and Lemuel again began to murmur..."
They have no faith. No faith in God. No faith in God's prophet. Not even after witnessing an angel. No "go and do" here, like Nephi.
V. 6 - "Thou shalt be favored of the Lord because thou hast not murmured."
The footnotes contain an interesting phrase- "Sustaining church leaders." In other words, when you raise your hand to sustain somebody in a calling, whether it be a nursery leader, the relief society president, the ward organist, a stake president, a member of the seventy, an apostle, a prophet, or any other calling, you are making a promise that you will support this individual in their calling, and that you will NOT MURMUR. That includes not murmuring at the ward organist (me) when I keep messing up or I'm playing too loud. (For the record, no one has murmured at me. Yet.) This sustaining is essentially an act of faith. You are acknowledging that you trust this person's divine calling and that what they do in this calling is authorized by the Lord. Am I reading too much into it? I don't know. But there's a lot that goes into that little arm raise, even though it may be a fairly routine sacrament meeting ritual.
V. 7 - "I will go and do the things which the Lord hath commanded."
Nephi expresses his faith through obedient action. This is probably the most famous verse in the Book of Mormon, would you agree? This statement is contrasted by Laman and Lemuel's faithless statements in the chapter about hard things being required of them.
V. 11- "Laman went in unto the house of Laban and talked with him as he sat in his house."
I always like to wonder what they talked about. I usually imagine it as Laman making awkward small talk with Laban, sitting around a coffee table on a couch, Laman asking Laban how things are going, how's work, how's the wife and kids, how long have you lived in this house, wow, this is a nice house, what's the square footage on this house, wow, wow. Hey, are those the Brass Plates over there? Nice! Can I borrow those for the weekend?
V. 31- "Laman and Lemuel again began to murmur..."
They have no faith. No faith in God. No faith in God's prophet. Not even after witnessing an angel. No "go and do" here, like Nephi.
Comments
Post a Comment