Saturday, January 18, 2020

Deliverance in 1 Nephi 4

Nephi must have had significant training in a scribal tradition.  His writing is multilayered and contains interwoven messages. Consider the theme of deliverance in 1 Nephi 4.

1) Nephi reminds his brothers of the Lord's power to deliver the children of Israel. Nephi exhorts his brothers to be faithful and strong "like unto Moses" and trust the Lord to deliver them and to destroy Laban "as the Egyptians."

2) Laban is delivered to Nephi. The Lord leads Nephi by the power of the Spirit to the drunken Laban, who was "delivered...into [his] hands."

3) Nephi's posterity is delivered by Nephi's act. Slaying Laban allows Nephi to obtain the brass plates, which will bring the commandments to his posterity, allowing them to remember the source to which they could look for deliverance.

17...I knew that the Lord had delivered Laban into my hands for this cause—that I might obtain the records according to his commandments. (1 Nephi 4)

4) Zoram is delivered. By pretending to be his master, Nephi "delivers" Zoram out of bondage and into the small group who will be led to the promised land. Zoram receives this by heeding the voice of his master and [making] an oath" to "hearken unto [Nephi's] words."

Notice how Zoram, when first recognizing the situation he is in, "began to tremble," but after making the oath he "did take courage at the words which I spake." This is very similar to the description Book of Mormon writers often give to describe conversion.

Summary of themes


Examples #1-3 present a clear past/present/future reference to consider: Just as days past, the Lord is powerful enough to deliver those who are faithful.

Example #4 plays on the theme of "see an angel, be an angel" and the idea that the Holy Land had become corrupted by wicked and false traditions. Nephi tricks Zoram into leaving the walls of the city to see the "elders of the Jews," but actually delivers him from real bondage as a result.