CFM BOM with Sam Week 2 - 1 Nephi 1-7

An introduction to The Family, The Follower, and The Prophet

Comprising most of 1 Nephi, we have a situation somewhat unparalleled in other scripture. We can observe, through Nephi's words, how a Prophet is called, how he teaches, how a family can follow a prophet, how some people reject a prophet, how you can know a prophet is called of God...
There are a lot of lessons. The point is that we can examine this in a more close-up manner than in any other set of scripture.

This portion is also unique in the surprising way in which it teaches the first and second missionary discussions, albeit in a non traditional manner. Check this out

1st missionary lesson	example scripture
God is our Loving Heavenly Father	1:1, 1:14-15, 1:20
The Gospel Blesses Individuals and Families	throughout
Heavenly Father Reveals his Gospel in Every Dispensation	1, 6
The Savior's earthly ministry and atonement	1:9-12
The Great apostasy (apostasy in general)	1:19, 2:11-13, 3:31, 5:1-3, 7
Restoration of the gospel	n/a
The Book of Mormon	All of it :D
Pray to know the truth through the Holy Ghost	2:16-24

The Tree of Life vision is a highly symbolic earthly interpretation of the plan of salvation but we can see the same pattern in the second lesson. I will write some of the comparisons for week 3.

Fin Bref: The first pages of the Book of Mormon are not only sacred ancient record; it is as though they were crafted specifically to help others who are learning about the gospel for the first time to see how to do it.

1 Nephi 1

The first chapter is so packed, it is a little hard to choose what to write on. We already mentioned that there are patterns of who a prophet is, testimony of Jesus Christ as the redeemer, and rejecting/accepting a prophet.

Check out the very last verse. There is such power here! Nephi made his record years after these events took place, so he has the blessing of 20/20 hindsight, which is nice, but this is, in some ways, his central theme, as well as the ongoing theme of the Book of Mormon.

But behold, I, Nephi, will show unto you that the tender ^cmercies of the Lord are over all those whom he hath chosen, because of their faith, to make them mighty even unto the power of ^ddeliverance.

These are words of power. If Nephi was a knight on Roshar, His oaths would be these words of radiance. 

1 Nephi 2

the prophet Lehi takes the first action other than visions and teaching and he gets his family out of Jerusalem. We also see him teaching his family here. 
Nephi is such a gospel rock star, that most people don't realize that he must have been in some serious turmoil those first days. Imagine if you had to leave San Francisco and go down the coast 50 miles (I don't have any idea how far this camp actually was but hey) and leave behind your phone and everything! The most critical moment is when Nephi opens his heart in vs 16. it says he had great desires to know the mysteries, and it seems he prayed for a LONG time, at least in my opinion. He may have gone back a couple times as well, but it is clear that he received a lot of instruction. He was also gone long enough to miss the game plan to go back to Jerusalem, so Lehi needs to tell him afterward in Ch. 3.
Most importantly, God softens Nephi's heart. Did Nephi have a hard heart to begin with!? Looks so. But he kept a curiosity and openness that Laman and Lemuel didn't seem to have.

1 Nephi 3, 4

These chapters show how to follow a prophet. Super intensely.
On my Mission, Chapter 4 was always a gut check to see if the investigator was actually paying attention. If you know why, comment below :D
Nephi sees commandments as living things. When he says commandments, he doesn't mean rules, he literally means the will of the Lord to him specifically. We'll see this over and over again throughout the 2 books of Nephi. When he says commandments of the Lord, he doesn't mean the general rules in the scriptures. he means the specific instruction that God has given to him.

There is a chance that archeologists discovered the cave that Nephi and his brothers hid from Laman in. Some people get very excited about it, others say that while it's possible, there needs to be more evidence before we really know. you can learn more about it here: https://beitlehi.org/jerusalem-cave/
Some cool facts about the place:
1. The cave is in the beit lehi archeological site, which means "Dwelling Place of Lehi" (could also refer to Samson's donkey jawbone or something similar. Samson's donkey jawbone is a great bible story and incredibly violent, but if you want it, read Judges 15)
2. The cave dates back to the iron age or the time that the Babylonians were besieging Jerusalem. Same time as Lehi and family
3. there is an inscription that sounds like scripture on the walls “I am Yahweh thy Lord. I shall accept the cities of Judah and I will redeem Jerusalem. Absolve us oh Yahweh.” This inscription is, apparently, written in the form of Hebrew used before the invasion. It is the writing of a prayer or prophecy both pleading for Jerusalem to be spared, and promising that God will deliver. Which matches vs 20 in chapter 1 and is, as I mentioned, a major theme of the Books of Nephi and of the Book of Mormon itself.
4. There are also 2 sailboats inscribed. I'm not sure that Lehi and family knew they would be crossing the waters but it's possible.

Hopefully we learn more about this as time passes. I hold skeptical optimism that we may be able to correlate it eventually!

1 Nephi 5-7

Chapter 5 is intriguing. It doesn't seem like Lehi and his family knew the scriptures very well. This was probably due to the limitations of knowldedge dissemination of the time, but it opens up a lot of questions. this will come up again in 2 Nephi 2
Sometimes I'm jealous of Nephi and his wife situation. He knew it was going to be one of the daughters of ishmael and it seems like they hit it off pretty quickly. Nothing like begging for your soon to be fiancee's life to make a strong bond, right?
We see other great moments of faith throughout. 
Nephi takes a break in chapter 6 to make some commentary of the record. Particularly, he says that he wishes to pursuade everyone to come unto Christ, who is the same God as the God of the old Testament (his fathers) This is the first time he expressly states the purpose of the plates.