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1 Nephi 5

Summary: Lehi's wife Sariah wonders if her kids are ever coming back. Then her kids come back. Lehi takes a gander at the Brass Plates. Among other things, he discovers that he's a descendant of Joseph, who was sold into Egypt. Joseph! GO GO GO JOSEPH, YOU KNOW WHAT THEY SAY! That Joseph. He prophesies that one day, all of his posterity will have the scriptures. 

 V. 2 - Sariah complains against Lehi, telling him he is a "visionary man."

In our day, this is nothing to complain about. We have a "visionary man." Actually, we have several of them. Prophets and apostles. That is something to be very grateful for. Can we blame Sariah for her complaining? Would we have done the same thing? Even though Lehi is a prophet, this doesn't mean it's all easy peesy cheese and crackers (is that even a saying?). The Lord is still testing everyone. He tested Nephi and his brothers when they went to go get the plates. He tested Lehi and Sariah when their children went on a pretty dangerous mission. And this testing is going to continue, although with each test of faith that they pass, their trust in the Lord grows just a little bit more.

V. 21- "And we had obtained the records which the Lord had commanded us, and searched them and found that they were desirable; yea, even of great worth unto us..."

Why were the plates of such "great worth?" And are scriptures of that same "great worth" to us? Think of how accessible the scriptures are nowadays. Think of how easy it is to get yourself a Bible or a Book of Mormon or a triple combination, or the availability of online scriptures or on mobile devices,  or the millions of books out there designed to teach you about the scriptures. Does that diminish their worth, that they are in more abundance and freely available than at any time in Earth's history? One reason they were so valuable to Nephi's family is because of what they had to go through to get them. They almost got killed because of them (twice). They spent all their gold and silver to try to get them, and that didn't work.  And a guy lost his head! HIS HEAD. Of course, they were valuable too because of the fact that they contained prophetic words, genealogy, an account of the creation and the fall, and the records of the Jews. But I think part of their worth too, not only for them, but for us, is how much blood has been shed so that we could have them. Not just for the Book of Mormon, but the Bible as well. Think of all the people martyred in the last several hundred years in an attempt to make the scriptures available to common people. There's definitely some worth there, I think.


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