"Inasmuch as you shall keep my commandments, ye shall prosper, and shall be led
to a land of promise; yea, even a land which I have prepared for you; yea a land
which is choice above all other lands. And insasmuch as thy brethren shall
rebel against thee, they shall be cut off from the presence of the Lord.
And insasmuch as thou shalt keep my commandments, thou shalt be made a ruler and a teacher over thy brethren." (1 Nephi 2:20-22)
When Nephi has finished his prayer he goes to his Father’s tent whereupon Lehi sits Nephi down and tells him about a dream. In the dream the Lord commands that Nephi and his brothers to return to Jerusalem and obtain a book that is a “record of the Jews and also a genealogy of thy forefathers, and they are engraven upon plates of brass.” (1 Nephi 3:2-3)
The record of the Jews is nothing less than the scriptures that have been compiled up to the reign of Zedekiah – the current King of Judah. The Israelite people had always been obsessive record keepers. Anyone who has read the first five books of the Old Testament knows this because every detail of the Law of Moses is recorded therein. The revelations and actions of the prophets are recorded in other books. Some of their history is written in Kings and Chronicles. We have all of this information, even the tedious stuff, because these people knew the importance of written records. Lehi and kin are going to a new land and they need these records so that they won’t forget the revelations and commandments of God. They need them just as we need them.
Nephi tells his father that he will go and do what he has been asked to do. Gulp. Nephi knows that Jerusalem is politically unstable, wicked and not too fond of his family. He could be facing a murderous mob when he gets there. But ya gotta do what ya gotta do so he gathers up his brothers and off to Jerusalem the go. When they arrive just outside of the city they sit down and discuss strategy. A man named Laban has the plates. Laban is a powerful man with a lot of social currency. The boys drew lots – I am guessing they didn’t know about the rock-paper-scissors thing – and the lot fell to Laman.
Laman goes to the home of Laban and they sit down together to have a civil conversation. Laman asks Laban for the plates. Laban gets angry and throws Laman out of the house. Strike one.
Laman returns to camp where the brothers hatch another plan. When they left Jerusalem the first time they left behind all their worldly possession, which included gold, silver and other things that were quite valuable. The plan now is to approach Laban and offer a trade of all their expensive stuff for the book. Sounds good! Laban doesn’t think so. He wants to keep the goods and the book so he calls his servants, tells them that Nephi and crew are trying to rob him. The boys flee the scene, leaving their bargaining chips behind. Strike two.
Now what? Laman and Lemuel are furious. They barely escaped with their lives on this foolish errand. They beat up on Nephi and Sam with a rod and spew a diatribe of angry words. While they were doing this an angel appears.
The angel askes why they are abusing their brothers and says, “don’t you know that your brother has been chosen by God to be a ruler over you because of your sins? Now get up and go get the book. God will deliver Laban into your hands.” (paraphrased)
The appearance of an angel didn’t faze Laman and Lemuel. They didn’t miss and beat and started up right where they left off, “How is it possible that the Lord will deliver Laban into our hands? Behold he is a might man, and he can command fifty, even he and slay fifty; then why not us? (1 Nephi 3:31) I find this exchange a little humorous. They saw the angel and obviously believed their eyes because they were now arguing against what the angel had said. The whole miracle and promise-from-the-Lord thing just kind of passed right over their heads. Maybe they were upset that the angel didn’t lay out a plan for them. Fair enough.
Nephi’s response was, once again, based on faith. He tells his brother that the Lord is way stronger than Laban’s fifty henchmen. He reminds them about Moses and the way the Lord lead the entire nation of Israel out of bondage. You have seen an angel; you know the scriptures now let’s go get those plates! Of course Laman and Lemuel are still grumbling but they give in and go back to Jerusalem with Nephi leading the way.
Ask yourselves just what you would do to get the plates? How far would you go to do what God has asked you to do? Next you are going to find out what Nephi had to do and it is a bit of a shocker.
