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1 Nephi 19:17-22  

17 Yea, and all the earth shall see the salvation of the Lord, saith the prophet; every nation, kindred, tongue and people shall be blessed.
18 And I, Nephi, have written these things unto my people, that perhaps I might persuade them that they would remember the Lord their Redeemer.
19 Wherefore, I speak unto all the house of Israel, if it so be that they should obtain these things.
20 For behold, I have workings in the spirit, which doth weary me even that all my joints are weak, for those who are at Jerusalem; for had not the Lord been merciful, to show unto me concerning them, even as he had prophets of old, I should have perished also.
21 And he surely did show unto the prophets of old all things concerning them; and also he did show unto many concerning us; wherefore, it must needs be that we know concerning them for they are written upon the plates of brass.
22 Now it came to pass that I, Nephi, did teach my brethren these things; and it came to pass that I did read many things to them, which were engraven upon the plates of brass, that they might know concerning the doings of the Lord in other lands, among people of old.

When human history is seen in bits and pieces—an empire here, a kingdom there; a battle, the Renaissance, or a natural disaster—it is sometimes difficult to see the hand of God in it or the premortal decisions of the Council in Heaven being played out according to plan.

One of the reasons we tend not to see that is that it seems difficult to square with our strong sense of the importance of free agency. For some people there is an ideological conflict between the idea that God can move through linear time and know all things as they are, were, and will be, with the doctrine that we are each free to act according to our own wills and desires. The apparent conflict between God’s knowing and our agency is not real because we do not remember who we were then, what assignments we agreed to. Neither do we remember who our friends were there nor what role they played in the Council. Because we have no memory of our past, we are free to make independent decisions in the present. Those decisions are the product of our innate integrity rather than of an actual memory of our commitments to God and our premortal friends. Therefore, we are “placed in a state to act according to [our individual] wills and pleasures, whether to do evil or to do good” (Alma 12:31). As Jacob admonished, “ Therefore, cheer up your hearts, and remember that ye are free to act for yourselves—to choose the way of everlasting death or the way of eternal life” (2 Nephi 10:23).

This life is a time when we can define our Selves as though we were in a vacuum of time where only the present exists. But God moves through sacred time, and because he knows, he can accommodate for human weakness and well as for human strengths.

An easy example is Nephi’s being instructed to write the small plates “for a wise purpose” that God knew but that Nephi did not. About 2,400 years later someone stole the translated manuscript of 116 pages, and that material had to be replaced by the information on the small plates. That shows that God knew there would be a problem. It implies that he knew who would be responsible. There were people who had the opportunity to assist the Prophet but who chose to betray him instead. But it does not presuppose that anyone was forced or predestined to participate in the conspiracy that resulted in those pages being lost from Joseph’s possession. Mrs. Harris had the freedom to act as she chose. God knew what her choice would be and made arrangements to thwart her designs, but he did not force her nor her husband to participate in the attempt to prevent the Prophet from fulfilling his mission. God only made arrangements so that each person could act according to his or her own will but still could not upset the overall progress of the restoration of the gospel.{1}

Similar stories are told throughout the scriptures. In each instance, God gives men and women their full agency, even though he knows the source and consequences of their evil designs.

The scriptures also teach that it would be a mistake to believe those persons of integrity were limited to just a few who became prophets. Alma says of the people who lived in the days of Melchizedek, “there were many, exceedingly great many, who were made pure and entered into the rest of the Lord their God” (Alma 13:10-12).

When we speak of foreordination, that presupposes a responsibility one has accepted and which one has been commissioned to perform. That concept also presupposes that the time, place, circumstances, obstacles and blessings associated with that foreordination were foreknown by the Father, Jehovah, and members of the Council.

To understand that continuum, we must understand it as the prophets understood it. That is, not as a history of the mortal world but as a history of our whole existence including this experience in this mortal world.
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FOOTNOTE

{1} For a discussion of the loss of the 116 pages and the probability that Mrs. Harris was involved see my Joseph and Moroni 52-74.
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1 Nephi 19:10-17 

10 And the God of our fathers, who were led out of Egypt, out of bondage, and also were preserved in the wilderness by him, yea, the God of Abraham, and of Isaac, and the God of Jacob, yieldeth himself, according to the words of the angel, as a man, into the hands of wicked men, to be lifted up, according to the words of Zenock, and to be crucified, according to the words of Neum,{1} and to be buried in a sepulchre, according to the words of Zenos,{2} which he spake concerning the three days of darkness, which should be a sign given of his death unto those who should inhabit the isles of the sea, more especially given unto those who are of the house of Israel.

One of the tantalizing questions raised by the Book of Mormon is, Who were the Old Testament prophets quoted in the Book of Mormon, but not mentioned in the Bible? Nephi gives us some clues about who two of the prophets are whom he is quoting.

Jacob, gives his source. It is the prophet Zenos, who lived long ago in Palestine, not in the new world. He is introduced in the Book of Mormon a number of times as representative of the long line of messianic prophets who suffered persecution for his messianic teachings. He was no minor prophet; he’s cited in the Book of Mormon more than any other prophet but Isaiah.{3}

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FOOTNOTES

{1} Nibley writes that in the old world the names of Zenock and Neum have “disappeared without a trace.” Hugh Nibley, Temple and Cosmos: 245.

{2} Nibley has shown that Zenos was an Israelite prophet who lived before the time of Lehi. “The Story of Zenos,” in: Hugh Nibley, Since Cumorah, 2nd ed. (Salt Lake City and Provo: Deseret Book and FARMS, 1988), 278-82 is the most detailed account. Other statements about Zenos can be found in:
Hugh Nibley, Nibley on the Timely and the Timeless (Provo: BYU Religious Studies Center, 1978), 156.
Hugh Nibley, Of All Things! Classic Quotations from Hugh Nibley, 2nd ed., rev. and expanded, compiled and edited by Gary P. Gillum (Salt Lake City and Provo: Deseret Book Co., Foundation for Ancient Research and Mormon Studies, 1993), 90.
Hugh Nibley, Old Testament and Related Studies, edited by John W. Welch, Gary P. Gillum, and Don E. Norton (Salt Lake City and Provo: Deseret Book Co., Foundation for Ancient Research and Mormon Studies, 1986), 250.
Hugh Nibley, The Prophetic Book of Mormon (Salt Lake City and Provo: Deseret Book Co., Foundation for Ancient Research and Mormon Studies, 1989), 252.
Hugh Nibley, Ancient Documents and the Pearl of Great Price, edited by Robert Smith and Robert Smythe (n.p., n.d.), 10.

{3} Nibley, Temple and Cosmos, 245.
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1 Nephi 19:9  

9 And the world, because of their iniquity, shall judge him to be a thing of naught; wherefore they scourge him, and he suffereth it; and they smite him, and he suffereth it. Yea, they spit upon him, and he suffereth it, because of his loving kindness and his long-suffering towards the children of men.

“Lovingkindness” is usually written as one word in the Psalms, and is often found in tandem with the phrase “tender mercies.” The word translated as “lovingkindnesses” is from the Hebrew word hesed.{1} The Theological Dictionary of the Old Testament shows the power of that friendship/relationship:

We may venture the conjecture that even in cases where the context does not suggest such mutuality it is nevertheless implicit, because we are dealing with the closest of human bonds.”{2} An explanation and clarification of their phrase, “dealing with the closest of human bonds,” is found in a new version of Strong’s Concordance. It reads, “hesed, unfailing love, loyal love, devotion. kindness, often based on a prior relationship, especially a covenant relationship.”{3}

Even though the hesed relationship described in this psalm is between the king who speaks the words and Jehovah to whom he addresses them, it must be remembered that in the Israelite temple drama the king represented every man in the congregation. Therefore, the hesed relationship described here also evokes the terms of the covenant between Jehovah and each worthy man. That being so, it follows that this same hesed relationship also exists as an eternal, fraternal bond of each man with Jehovah, perhaps with their prophet/king, and most certainly each other. Consideration of the this-worldly continuation of those fraternal relationships brings us back to Peter’s assurance that “brotherly kindness” (philadelphia) is prerequisite to making one’s calling and election sure (2 Peter 1:1-11).

6 Remember, O Lord, thy tender mercies and thy lovingkindnesses [hesed, plural]; for they have been ever of old (Psalm 25:6).

Here is another example of where the phrase “of old” is a reference to the Council.{4} The prayer bears testimony that he knows that his and Jehovah’s hesed relationship is now even as it was in the beginning, at the Council in Heaven, and remains forever—unchanged:

The ancient Israelites and early Christians prayed with their arms lifted heavenward. Psalm 143 associates such prayer with the Lord’s hesed:

6 I stretch forth my hands unto thee: my soul thirsteth after thee, as a thirsty land.
7 Hear me speedily, O Lord: my spirit faileth: hide not thy face from me, lest I be like unto them that go down into the pit.
8 Cause me to hear thy lovingkindness [hesed] in the morning; for in thee do I trust: cause me to know the way wherein I should walk; for I lift up my soul unto thee (Psalm 143:6-8).

In the Psalms, that power is often associated with the Israelite king’s temple and coronation rites.{5} In the 36th Psalm it is the “fountain of life.”

5 Thy mercy [hesed], O Lord, is in the heavens; and thy faithfulness reacheth unto the clouds.
6 Thy righteousness is like the great mountains; thy judgments are a great deep: O Lord, thou preservest man and beast.
7 How excellent is thy lovingkindness [hesed], O God! therefore the children of men put their trust under the shadow of thy wings.
8 They shall be abundantly satisfied with the fatness of thy house; and thou shalt make them drink of the river of thy pleasures.
9 For with thee is the fountain of life: in thy light shall we see light.
10 O continue thy lovingkindness [hesed] unto them that know thee; and thy righteousness to the upright in heart (Psalms 36:5-10).

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FOOTNOTES

{1} Katherine Doob Sakenfeld of Princeton University Seminary wrote a dissertation on “hesed” in which she argued that it meant “to do what is expected of one.” With regard to the covenant, God does what is expected (keep his covenant promises); man should also maintain “hesed” (keep his covenant promises).
Katherine Doob Sakenfeld, The Meaning of Hesed in the Hebrew Bible: A New Inquiry (Missoula, Montana; Scholars Press for the Harvard Semitic Museum, 1978).

{2} G. Johannes Botterweck and Helmer Ringgren, eds., trans. David E. Green, Theological Dictionary of the Old Testament, 15 vols. (Grand Rapids, Michigan: Eerdmans, 1986), article about hesed, 5:45-48).

{3} John R. Kohlenberger III and James A. Swanson, The Strongest Strong’s, Exhaustive Concordance of the Bible (Grand Rapids: Zondervan, 2001), Hebrew dictionary # 2617.

{4} Examples of scriptures that use the phrase “of old” as reference to events in the Council in Heaven are: Deuteronomy 32:7-8; Psalms 25:6-7, 68:32-33, 93:1-2, 102:24-25, Micah 5:2 is another example. The most convincing modern example is D&C 76:6 “from days of old” and its parallel “from the council in Kolob” in Joseph Smith, A Vision, Times and Seasons, February 1, 1843.

{5} Other psalms were hesed is translated as lovingkindness are: Psalm 17:6-8, 48:9-10, 51:1; 36:5-10; 40:2, 11; 63:3; 69:11, 16, and 103:1-4. In Psalm 25: 7, 10 hesed is also translated as mercy.
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1 Nephi 19:7 

7 For the things which some men esteem to be of great worth, both to the body and soul, others set at naught and trample under their feet. Yea, even the very God of Israel do men trample under their feet; I say, trample under their feet but I would speak in other words—they set him at naught, and hearken not to the voice of his counsels.

Nephi mentions this important doctrine here, but it is most unequivocally expounded by Alma. In the prayer that began “O that I were an angel, and could have the wish of mine heart,” Alma bemoans the sorry condition of those who choose to do evil (Alma 29:4-5). It is always so with prophets and other righteous men. In the beatitudes, after bringing his audience through the sequence{1} that concluded “for they shall be called [new name] the children of God” Jesus explained what would happen next. He said, “And blessed are all they who are persecuted for my name’s sake, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven” (3 Nephi 12:10, Matthew 5:10). Later he observed, “A prophet is not without honour, but in his own country, and among his own kin, and in his own house” (Mark 6:4).
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FOOTNOTE

{1} For a discussion of the Beatitudes as sequence see Who Shall Ascend into the Hill of the Lord, First edition, p. 925-97; Second edition, p. 646-91.
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1 Nephi 19:3  

3 And after I had made these plates by way of commandment, I, Nephi, received a commandment that the ministry and the prophecies, the more plain and precious parts of them, should be written upon these plates; and that the things which were written should be kept for the instruction of my people, who should possess the land, and also for other wise purposes, which purposes are known unto the Lord.

Nephi kept everything that was important on his original large plates. They contained “the record of my father [he mentions his father’s journal twice], and also our journeyings in the wilderness, and the prophecies of my father; and also many of mine own prophecies…and the genealogy of his fathers [so he had also copied a good deal from the Brass Plates], and the more part of all our proceedings in the wilderness.”

It appears that “journeyings” were their travels, and “proceedings” were what they did when they stopped in the various places. They spent eight years to traverse the distance of a typical four month’s journey, so there would have been a lot of story to tell. His writing the information on plates indicates that Nephi believed he was doing a necessary, permanent, and probably final job of it.

Before we assume that the Small Plates are just an abridgement of the Large Plates, we ought to ask, What were the Small Plates for? The answer we usually give is that when Mormon was working on his own history, he found these plates and decided that for some reason that he didn’t know, he would stick them on at the end of his own work. The Lord had known, 2,500 years before, that they would be needed because Martin Harris would lose the precious 116 page of manuscript (D&C 10:38-42).

Nephi tells us the Lord instructed him that the Small Plates should contain an account of “the ministry and the prophecies, the more plain and precious parts of them, should be written upon these plates.” That can be read: “plain-and-precious” or “plain” and “precious.” If the latter, it again calls attention to the double languages in which Nephi wrote First and Second Nephi. There are some things that are so sacred that if they are lost, their loss virtually signals the closing of that dispensation of the gospel. Interestingly, those most sacred things that must not be forgotten are also the things that must not be written, except, of course, in places that are carefully guarded—guarded physically or by a code language. Nephi seems to be saying both.

Nephi’s instructions to his successors were that the plates “should be handed down from one generation to another, or from one prophet to another, until further commandments of the Lord.” In ancient Israel the chief prophet was often the king (as it was with Nephi and Benjamin), but, as in Judah, the early Nephite kings apostatized, so apparently to avoid the loss or alteration of the Small Plates, they were to be kept by the descendants of Jacob until they could safely become a part of the royal regalia.
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1 Nephi 18:23-25  

23 And it came to pass that after we had sailed for the space of many days we did arrive at the promised land; and we went forth upon the land, and did pitch our tents; and we did call it the promised land.
24 And it came to pass that we did begin to till the earth, and we began to plant seeds; yea, we did put all our seeds into the earth, which we had brought from the land of Jerusalem. And it came to pass that they did grow exceedingly; wherefore, we were blessed in abundance.
25 And it came to pass that we did find upon the land of promise, as we journeyed in the wilderness, that there were beasts in the forests of every kind, both the cow and the ox, and the ass and the horse, and the goat and the wild goat, and all manner of wild animals, which were for the use of men. And we did find all manner of ore, both of gold, and of silver, and of copper.

With those words, Nephi ends the story he began in chapter one. The concluding chapters of First Nephi are a kind of summing up of—not his story—but his intent. Their connection with the narrative can probably best be understood in light of Nephi’s “thesis statement”:

And when the Jews heard these things they were angry with him; yea, even as with the prophets of old, whom they had cast out, and stoned, and slain; and they also sought his life, that they might take it away. But behold, I, Nephi, will show unto you that the tender mercies of the Lord are over all those whom he hath chosen, because of their faith, to make them mighty even unto the power of deliverance (1 Nephi 1:20).

A corollary to that is:

And I, Nephi, did go into the mount oft, and I did pray oft unto the Lord; wherefore the Lord showed unto me great things (1 Nephi 18:3).

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1 Nephi 18:22 ”

22 And it came to pass that I, Nephi, did guide the ship, that we sailed again towards the promised land.

Walton discussed the possible routes:

The normal wind movement is northward into the Indian Ocean, which includes the Arabian Sea, during the summer months, and in the opposite direction in winter, generally with periods of calm in between. Had they sailed in the early summer, they certainly could have made no progress against the summer winds, so we must assume they sailed in the early autumn. Thus, they could very easily have gone through the period of calm referred to, followed by favorable winds. …

An examination of the Pilot charts of the world reveals that if the Nephites embarked in late summer, after the harvest, they would have two or three months of northerly winds, or about 100 days, and, if they floated at the normal rate of from 3 to 5 miles per hour, they would reach a south latitude of about 40 degrees in that length of time, or slightly south of the line connecting Cape Town, South Africa and Melbourne, Australia. Here they would encounter the …’Prevailing Westerlies,’ as they would here enter the ocean currents that travel eastward around the globe the year round. These currents continue their eastward course until they encounter the southern tip of South America, which extends southward to 56 degrees south latitude, where they split. Those south of 56 degrees continue on around the earth, while those striking the Chilean coast are deflected northward along the shoreline, turning seaward again at about 35 degrees south latitude during the warm months, but continuing northward to about 20 degrees during the winter.{1}

Brown and his party have suggested essentially the same route.{2} However, some scholars are now suggesting that the Nephite civilization was in the northeastern United States. If that is correct, then their route might have been across the Atlantic, and the storm a hurricane.
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FOOTNOTES

{1} Leon C. Walton, “Routes To The Promised Land,” Liahona, The Elders Journal, August 8, 1944, 101-03.

{2} John Sorenson and Kelly DeVries in S. Kent Brown and Peter Johnson, Journey of Faith, from Jerusalem to the Promised Land  (Provo, Utah, The Neal A. Maxwell Institute for Religious Scholarship, BYU, 2006),

92-94.
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1 Nephi 18:13-15  

If all or part of First Nephi is patterned after the sequence of events of the Feast of Tabernacles temple drama, then this is the place where the king remains in the underworld for three days, confronted by the dual monsters of death and hell. He says it was on the fourth day that he was liberated by the powers of Jehovah. Here again, Nephi’s story fits the outline of that temple drama sequence.

13 Wherefore, they knew not whither they should steer the ship, insomuch that there arose a great storm, yea, a great and terrible tempest, and we were driven back upon the waters for the space of three days; and they began to be frightened exceedingly lest they should be drowned in the sea; nevertheless they did not loose me.
14 And on the fourth day, which we had been driven back, the tempest began to be exceedingly sore.
15 And it came to pass that we were about to be swallowed up in the depths of the sea. And after we had been driven back upon the waters for the space of four days, my brethren began to see that the judgments of God were upon them, and that they must perish save that they should repent of their iniquities; wherefore, they came unto me, and loosed the bands which were upon my wrists, and behold they had swollen exceedingly; and also mine ankles were much swollen, and great was the soreness thereof.

God always moves in natural ways to show his power. Sorenson shows that the horrific storm they encountered can easily be explained as a monsoon. Sorenson wrote:

When they left the Arabian Peninsula, the land of Bountiful, if they followed the course that later Arab sailors followed, they would have gone virtually straight east across the Indian Ocean. And that required that it was during the season of the monsoon, when winds are from the south but veering over toward the Indian Peninsula.{1}

That argues for the historicity of Nephi’s account, but it does not emphasize what was most meaningful to Nephi—that the compass did not work during the storm, so the brothers had no idea where they were or where they were going.
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FOOTNOTE

{1} John Sorenson in S. Kent Brown and Peter Johnson, Journey of Faith, from Jerusalem to the Promised Land (Provo, Utah, The Neal A. Maxwell Institute for Religious Scholarship, BYU, 2006),
92.
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1 Nephi 18:11 

11 And it came to pass that Laman and Lemuel did take me and bind me with cords, and they did treat me with much harshness; nevertheless, the Lord did suffer it that he might show forth his power, unto the fulfilling of his word which he had spoken concerning the wicked.

There is a quality of sublime trust in Nephi’s statement. Only a short time before, if the brothers had even touched Nephi they would have sizzled. Now they no longer feel any reverence toward him, his calling as a prophet, or his God. They presume to prove their superiority over him by showing he does not have power to defend himself when they all ganged up on him together.
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