1 Nephi 1-11

Quote of the Week:

“When God speaks and man obeys, that man will always be right.”
Thomas S. Monson, Ensign, May 05

Further reading:
Brent L. Top and Bruce A. Chadwick, “Helping Teens Stay Strong,” Ensign, Mar 1999, 27
David A. Bednar, “The Tender Mercies of the Lord,” Ensign, May 2005, 99–102
H. Ross Workman, “Beware of Murmuring,” Ensign, November 2001
Jeremiah 1-52
Lamentations 1-5
2 Kings 23-25
David A. Bednar, “A Reservoir of Living Water,” 2/4/07 (www.ldsces.org)
“The Tree of Life,” Ensign, 8/10

Handouts:

1 Nephi 1:1--Highly Favored of the Lord

Marjorie Pay Hinckley, Glimpses into the Life and Heart of Marjorie Pay Hinckley, p. 92
“We all have a small place in our hearts where we store our sorrows and disappointments.  But are there not days when you are simply overwhelmed with the blessings of the Lord?”

1 Nephi 1:2--Reformed Egyptian

Millet and McConkie, Doctrinal Commentary on the Book of Mormon 1:20; Book of Mormon Student Manual 121-122, p. 4
A typical English sentence of fifteen words will often translate into seven to ten Hebrew words.
Hebrew is a completely alphabetic language, whereas in Egyptian a symbol can represent an entire concept.

1 Nephi 1:20—Tender Mercies of the Lord

David A. Bednar, “The Tender Mercies of the Lord,” Ensign, May 2005, 99–102
I testify that the tender mercies of the Lord are real and that they do not occur randomly or merely by coincidence.
The Lord’s tender mercies are the very personal and individualized blessings, strength, protection, assurances, guidance, loving-kindnesses, consolation, support, and spiritual gifts which we receive from and because of and through the Lord Jesus Christ. . . .
The simpleness, the sweetness, and the constancy of the tender mercies of the Lord will do much to fortify and protect us in the troubled times in which we do now and will yet live. When words cannot provide the solace we need or express the joy we feel, when it is simply futile to attempt to explain that which is unexplainable, when logic and reason cannot yield adequate understanding about the injustices and inequities of life, when mortal experience and evaluation are insufficient to produce a desired outcome, and when it seems that perhaps we are so totally alone, truly we are blessed by the tender mercies of the Lord and made mighty even unto the power of deliverance (see 1 Ne. 1:20).

1 Nephi 2:16-17--Personal Revelation

Julie B. Beck, “‘And upon the Handmaids in Those Days Will I Pour Out My Spirit’ (Joel 2:29),” Ensign, May 2010, 10–12
“The ability to qualify for, receive, and act on personal revelation is the single most important skill that can be acquired in this life. Qualifying for the Lord’s Spirit begins with a desire for that Spirit and implies a certain degree of worthiness. Keeping the commandments, repenting, and renewing covenants made at baptism lead to the blessing of always having the Lord’s Spirit with us.  Making and keeping temple covenants also adds spiritual strength and power to a woman’s life. Many answers to difficult questions are found by reading the scriptures because the scriptures are an aid to revelation.  Insight found in scripture accumulates over time, so it is important to spend some time in the scriptures every day. Daily prayer is also essential to having the Lord’s Spirit with us.  Those who earnestly seek help through prayer and scripture study often have a paper and pencil nearby to write questions and record impressions and ideas.
Revelation can come hour by hour and moment by moment as we do the right things. When women nurture as Christ nurtured, a power and peace can descend to guide when help is needed. For instance, mothers can feel help from the Spirit even when tired, noisy children are clamoring for attention, but they can be distanced from the Spirit if they lose their temper with children. Being in the right places allows us to receive guidance. It requires a conscious effort to diminish distractions, but having the Spirit of revelation makes it possible to prevail over opposition and persist in faith through difficult days and essential routine tasks. Personal revelation gives us the understanding of what to do every day to increase faith and personal righteousness, strengthen families and homes, and seek those who need our help. Because personal revelation is a constantly renewable source of strength, it is possible to feel bathed in help even during turbulent times.
“We are told to put our trust in that Spirit which leads us “to do justly, to walk humbly, to judge righteously.” We are also told that this Spirit will enlighten our minds, fill our souls with joy, and help us know all things we should do. Promised personal revelation comes when we ask for it, prepare for it, and go forward in faith, trusting that it will be poured out upon us.

1 Nephi 3:7--Obedience

Ezra Taft Benson, Ensign, 5/98
When obedience ceases to be an irritant and becomes our quest, in that moment God will endow us with power.

Thomas S. Monson, Ensign, 5/02
Each of us has the responsibility to choose.  You may ask, ‘Are decisions really that important?’ I say to you, decisions determine destiny.  You can’t make eternal decisions without eternal consequences.


Gordon B. Hinckley, “Keep the Faith,” Ensign, Sep 1985, 3
I approached a large farm gate one day. I lifted the latch and opened the gate. The movement at the hinges was so slight as to be scarcely discernible. But the other end of the gate cut a great arc sixteen feet in radius. Looking at the movement of the hinges alone, one would never dream of the magnified action that came as a result of that tiny movement.
So it is with the decisions in our lives. Some small thought, some small word, some small action can lead to tremendous consequences.

1 Nephi 3:28-31--Seeing Angels

Heber J. Grant, cited in Unlocking the Book of Mormon, p. 7
Laban stole their wealth and tried to destroy them. Nephi’s brethren commenced to murmur again, and they took a rod and beat him with it.  As they did so an angel of the Lord stood before them, and he commanded them to go up again, promising that God should deliver Laban into their hands.
. . . . [I have heard many] say, ‘Oh, if I could only see an angel, I would believe and forever be faithful.’ The seeing of an angel amounts to nothing, unless you are keeping the commandments of God.

1 Nephi 4:6-18--Death of Laban

Hugh Nibley, Lehi in the Desert and the World of the Jaredites, p. 114-15
If the Book of Mormon were a work of fiction, nothing would be easier than to have Laban already dead when Nephi found him or simply to omit an episode which obviously distressed the writer quite as much as it does the reader, though the slaying of Laban is no more reprehensible than was the beheading of the unconscious Goliath.

1 Nephi 4:32--Oaths in Ancient Times

Hugh Nibley An Approach to the Book of Mormon, 1964, p. 104-05
When Zoram saw the brethren and heard Nephi’s real voice he got the shock of his life and in a panic made a break for the city.  In such a situation there was only one thing Nephi could possibly have done, both to spare Zoram and to avoid giving alarm—and no westerner could have guessed what it was.  Nephi, a powerful fellow, held the terrified Zoram in a vise-like grip long enough to swear a solemn oath in his ear, ‘as the Lord liveth, and as I live,’ that he would not harm him if he would listen.  Zoram immediately relaxed, and Nephi swore another oath to him that he would be a free man if he would join the party:  ‘Therefore if thou wilt go down into the wilderness to my father thou shalt have place with us . . . .
But not every oath will do.  To be most binding and solemn an oath should be by the life of something, even if it be but a blade of grass.  The only oath more awful than that ‘by my life’ or (less commonly) ‘by the life of my head,’ is the wa hayat Allah ‘by the life of God,’ or ‘as the Lord liveth,’ the exact Arabic equivalent of the ancient Hebrew. . . .So we see that the only way that Nephi could possibly have pacified the struggling Zoram in an instant was to utter the one oath that no man would dream of breaking, the most solemn of all oaths to the Semite: ‘As the Lord liveth, and as I live!’ 

1 Nephi 8--Dreams

Harold B. Lee, BYU Devotional, 10/15/52
I fear that in this age of sophistication there are those of us who are prone to rule out all dreams as of no purpose, and of no moment. . . . If our spiritual eyes could be open, we could see others visiting with us, directing us.  And if we will learn not to be so sophisticated that we rule out that possibility of impressions from those who are beyond sight, then we too may have a dream that may direct us as a revelation.

1 Nephi 8:35-38--Wayward Children

Robert D. Hales, Ensign, May 2004
Father Lehi . . . loved his family and rejoiced that some of his children kept the Lord’s commandments.  But he must have been heartbroken when his sons “Laman and Lemuel partook not of the fruit” representing the love of God. . . .
We too must have the faith to reach our children and bid them to keep the commandments. . . . Our worthiness will not be measured according to their righteousness.  Lehi did not lose the blessing of feasting at the tree of life because Laman and Lemuel refused to partake of its fruit.  Sometimes as parents we feel we have failed when our children make mistakes or stray.  Parents are never failures when they do their best to love, teach, pray, and care for their children.

1 Nephi 11:1--Pondering

Millet and McConkie, Doctrinal New Testament Commentary, 1:74
Pondering and meditation are forms of sacred devotion, quiet and effective moments of prayer by which man draws near to the infinite and is made a partaker of the things of God. . . . Some of the greatest revelations of all time have come as a direct result of pondering.

1 Nephi 11:1--Spirit of the Lord

Sidney B. Sperry, Answers to Book of Mormon Questions, 27-30
It may be pointed out that the phrase “Spirit of the Lord” occurs forty times in the Book of Mormon, and in not a single passage where it occurs can there be shown a clear-cut example favoring the interpretation that it represents the pre-existent Christ instead of the Holy Ghost.  On the other hand there are many occurrences of the phrase that can refer only to the Holy Ghost. . . .
It is worthy of notice that in Ether 3 where the momentous meeting of the brother of Jared with our pre-existent Lord is related at length, no mention of Him is made as the “Spirit of the Lord.”
We may conclude that inasmuch as there is no single instance in the Book of Mormon where the phrase “Spirit of the Lord” can be clearly and unequivocally equated with the pre-existent Christ, it is far more reasonable in view of the evidence here presented to believe that the phrase refers to the Holy Ghost.”