1 Nephi 1-5 - Come Follow Me with Sam

 Welcome!

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

Joseph Smith could not have selected a better chapter to introduce the world to the church than 1 Nephi 1. How did he know? Oh wait he didn't, he was just translating what God had put in place for His own purpose to begin a second time the work.

Lets break down everything (a lot of everything) that is taught in the first chapter

v1 - pattern of a follower - taught, seen afflictions, being highly favored, with knowledge of the mysteries.

v4 witness of the veracity of the Bible if this record is true

v5 indication of elements of a sincere prayer

v6-14 introduction of the idea and pattern of receiving revelation - things which are fearful, things which witness of higher power and of Christ's power, repentance, praise, call to action, and soul-joy

v8 witness of God if this record is true

v9 witness of Christ if this record is true

v10 witness of the new testament if this record is true

v1,v17 importance of record keeping (do we under-emphasize this in the church?)
v18 standard pattern of a prophet's call

v19,20 standard pattern of the people's reaction

v20 promise in the face of this adversity, that there is true deliverance.

You don't need to be a convert or a friend of the church to ponder these lessons. You can use these to teach your children many of the key patterns of how to seek God and where to put our trust.

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. In fact, after reading this and understanding better the true situation Lehi put his family in, I understand Laman and Lemuel's initial reluctance a lot better.

Imagine Someone like Steve Jobs for instance. This person would have everything he needs in Silicon Valley; prestige, leadership, riches, a nice mansion, an estate, investment portfolio, respect of everyone, endless entertainment, a strong future for his kids and probably (hopefully) a really appreciative wife. Then one day you go to your wife and your sons and your daughters and you say "Hey, life has been really great here, but tomorrow, we are going to leave it all. Leave your cell phone, leave your friends, leave whatever engagements you are in. This is all a whisper of a past life now. By first light tomorrow, please put a suitcase of your belongings in our car. you'll definitely want good, sturdy camping gear, clothes, and your necessities but we aren't taking much. I've got some food, and some hunting passes. We are going to travel about 50 miles south and set up a camp and wait until I learn what to do next. 

This would sound completely insane. And it would be insane. Except Lehi saw a vision and he knew what he saw. He also knew the Jews in Jerusalem were very wicked and that his life was in danger. 

I'm not recommending that anyone move out of their home if they have a 'vision', because unless you are doing the right things, there is a good chance you are being deceived. But if God really does call you in a vision, and if He tells you to do something, then you should do it. Even when everyone thinks you are crazy.

This is the situation that Nephi, Sam, Laman, and Lemuel are in. Their old lives are ended. Now they need to figure out what to do about what is going on. 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. 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!? Probably so. But he kept a curiosity and openness that Laman and Lemuel didn't seem to have.

Because of his righteousness, he was able to bless Sam and help him know that these things were true as well in v17. 

My name is also Sam, and I too have benefitted from the testimony and revelation of others. We can all play our part to be a Sam in some experiences where we open ourselves to the blessings of the righteousness of others. We can also play our part to be a Nephi, and continually seek to find opportunities and experiences to help our neighbor, if it is our neighbor's choice and God's will that they wish to be helped.

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

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. 

originally published 1/5/2020

updated 1/7/2024