The beginning of the tender mercies

First we meet Nephi. He introduces himself by explaining that he has been blessed from birth, and that when he describes what happened and why, it is important that we understand that he was blessed from the beginning. In this way, Nephi seems to be one of those golden children. You know the ones I mean. The ones that seem born to lead. The ones that are naturally good, naturally able, naturally more than the average joe. The ones you would be jealous of except they really are as good inside as they appear outside. They are so darn nice, you just have to like them.

Anyway, Nephi goes on to explain that it all started because his father, Lehi, had a vision of the Lord in a pillar of fire, a la moses, and then being overcome, went home, and continued to have visions of the destruction of Jerusalem because of their wickedness and of the eventual coming of a Messiah. He is so grateful for the warnings and the knowledge of the visions that he praises God and then goes out to tell all his neighbors and friends. Not surprisingly, they aren't as grateful for this information and it becomes dangerous for Lehi and his family to continue to live in Jerusalem.

Nephi's story telling here is fascinating. He interrupts the narrative to tell us not to worry because "the tender mercies of the Lord are over all those whom he hath chosen because of their faith, to make them mighty unto the power of deliverance." He then goes on to say that they are instructed by the Lord to leave Jerusalem, leaving most their worldly possessions behind never to return. Now I don't know if that is the kind of "mighty unto deliverance" they were looking for. It doesn't seem to fit Laman's and Lemuel's, his brothers, idea of it. Nephi shares that L&L are pretty upset about leaving. They tend to think dad is making mountains out of molehills and that leaving all their money and nice things behind is an overreaction that really cramps their style.

They travel into the wilderness for three days, then they make camp in a valley by a river, and Lehi builds an alter to give thanks. Lehi is grateful a lot throughout these early chapters. He then names the valley and the river after Laman and Lemuel to give them a visual to increase their faith and humility. It doesn't really work. But it does get Nephi to thinking, so goes to pray to find out for himself whether what they are doing is right, and then he says the Lord softens his heart and answers affirmatively. But I have to wonder when reading this, how hard could Nephi's heart have been? Unless he is leaving a lot out, he seems to be pretty willing to obey. So, Nephi shares his answer with his brother Sam, and Sam believes him. Now it doesn't say whether Sam prays about it for himself or not. It just says he believes Nephi, which I think makes Sam kind of special. Could it be that Sam's heart was even softer than Nephi's originally was, or am I reading too much into it?

Nephi also shares this experience with L&L and their reaction is not as nice. Nephi doesn't extrapolate but whatever they do or say must be pretty serious because it makes Nephi "grieve" and pray for them. Nephi's prayers for his brothers are answered sort of half and half. The Lord starts by telling Nephi that he is blessed and will be a leader and a teacher to his brothers, but his brothers will continue to be rebellious and will eventually be cut off. He is also promised that his brothers progeny will be a scourge unto his own descendants when they forget that they are blessed. Sort of an odd thing to have to take comfort in.

When Nephi returns, his father sends he and his brothers back to Jerusalem. (I know it is irreverent, but all I can think of during this section is the part in the Blues Brothers when they say "we're on a mission from Gyad".) They are sent back to get copies of the records of Lehi's ancestors and the writings of the prophets, so basically a copy of the scriptures. This is where the adventure really starts. L&L don't want to go, which I find rather odd. I mean, they didn't want to leave Jerusalem and now they don't want to go back, even to visit? This is when Nephi gives the famous "I will go and do what the Lord hath commanded" quote, and the adventure really begins. The four brothers head back to Jerusalem, and when they get there they draw lots to figure out who is going to talk to Laban, the guy with the records. I find this odd. I am the oldest of 6 and I can assure you that if my brothers and I were on a similar venture, I would be sent in first no matter what. The fact that Laman doesn't just step up goes to show why it is prophesied that Nephi will lead the family. The lot falls to Laman anyway, so he goes and asks Laban for the records, but Laban throws him out on his keister. So the brothers mull over the problem and decide that maybe they can offer to buy the records, so they go and get the good stuff from their abandoned house, and Laban takes the loot and then throws all of them out and has them chased by his guards. You gotta lay odds that the guy who has the records is a rich thief with armed guards at his disposal.

So, the brothers are out of ideas, and when they can't think of anything better to do, L&L decide to blame Nephi for their troubles and they start beating up their younger brothers. As the L gang is beating the younger ones with a rod, and angel comes to the rescue! He stops L&L and tells them that basically Nephi will eventually rule over them, and that if they go back to Jerusalem, Laban will be delivered to them and they will get the records. When the angel leaves, L&L still don't want to go, and Nephi says "ummm. Don't you get you do something when an angel tell you to?"
to be continued...