1 Nephi 4:, NC 1 Nephi 1 pars. 18 - 20
And after I had smitten off his head with his own sword, I took the garments of Laban and put them on mine own body, yea, every whit; and I did gird on his armor about my loins. And after I had done this I went forth unto the treasury of Laban. And as I went forth towards the treasury of Laban, behold I saw the servant of Laban, who had the keys of the treasury. And I commanded him in the voice of the Laban that he should go with me into the treasury; and he supposing me to be his master, Laban, for he beheld the garments and also the sword girded about my loins. And he spake unto me cancerning the elders of the Jews, he knowing that his master Laban had been out by night among them. And I spake unto him as if it had been Laban. And I also spake unto him that I should carry the engravings which were upon the plates of brass to my elder brethren who were without the walls. And I also bade him that he should follow me. And he, supposing that I spake of the brethren of the church and that I was truly that Laban whom I had slain, wherefore, he did follow me. And he spake unto me many times concerning the elders of the Jews as I went forth unto my brethren who were without the walls. And it came to pass that when Laman saw me, he was exceedingly frightened and also Lemuel and Sam. And they fled from before my presence for they supposed it was Laban and that he had slain me and had sought to take away their lives also. And it came to pass that I called after them, and they did hear me; wherefore, they did cease to flee from my presence. And it came to pass that when the servant of Laban beheld my brethren, he began to tremble and was about to flee from before me and return to the city of Jerusalem. And now I, Nephi, being a man of large stature and also having received much strength of the Lord, therefore, I did seize upon the servant of Laban and held him that he should not flee. And it came to pass that I spake with him, that if he would hearken unto my words, as the Lord liveth and as I live, even so, that if he would hearken unto our words, we would spare his life. And I spake unto him even with an oath that he need not fear, that he should be a free man like unto us if he would go down in the wilderness with us. And I also spake unto him, saying, Surely the Lord hath commanded us to do this thing and shall we not be diligent in keeping the commandments of the Lord? Therefore if thou wilt go down in the wilderness to our father, thou shalt have place with us. And it came to pass that Zoram did take courage at the words which I spake. Now Zoram was the name of the servant, and he promised that he would go down unto the wilderness unto our father. Yea, and he also made an oath unto us that he would tarry with us from that time forth. Now we were desirous that he should tarry with us for this cause, that the Jews might not know concerning our flight into the wilderness lest they should pursue us and destroy us. And it came to pass that when Zoram had made an oath to us, our fears did cease concerning him. And it came to pass that we took the plates of brass and the servant of Laban and departed into the wilderness and journeyed unto the tent of our father.
At this point can we address Nephi's favored status a little bit?
Before doing so we should ask the question, Was it possible for Nephi's brothers to obtain to the exact same "favored" status as Nephi or was Nephi somehow magically better than they were?
Remember what Alma taught concerning the ordination of priests of the order that Nephi was called to by the Lord?
"And thus they have called to this holy calling on account of their faith, while others would reject the Spirit of God on account of the hardness of their hearts and blindness of their minds - while if it had not been for this, they might had as great privilege as their brethren- or in fine, in the first place they were on the same standing with their brethren." (Alma 13:4, NC Alma 9 par. 10)
As a group we have discussed the attribute of God that He is no respecter of persons; all who approach Him diligently in humility will find Him.
We believe that Nephi's brothers had just as much right to exercise faith in God in the assignment to retrieve the brass plates as Nephi did.
We have looked at the failures they went through in order to ultimately succeed in getting the plates.
If Laman and Lemuel had not lost their resolve but had trusted in the Lord is it possible that they all might have emerged from the task as favored individuals?
If someone truly desires to repent, or turn to the Lord, does the Lord make them wait to receive His grace?
If Laman and Lemuel had decided, even after the angel had come, to repent and not be wroth but be believing, could the Lord have healed them even then and had them participate in the final successful effort to retrieve the plates?
We do not know much about Sam; just that he believed in Nephi's words.
According to the scriptures that is a gift of the Spirit.
"To some is given by the Holy Ghost to know that Jesus Christ is the Son of God, and that he was crucified for the sins of the world. To others it is given to believe on their words, that the also might have Eternal life, if they continue faithful." (D&C 46:13 - 14, T&C 32 par. 5)
It would appear that it might be a preparatory gift. Nevertheless Sam possessed it.
One thing that we have learned together in our study group is that those who are the true servants of God, those who are favored, do not lay claim to titles or greatness.
The Lord is the one who renames them, so to speak, after they have accomplished the tasks He commands them to do. This seems to constitute their "title"; it is an indication of a successfully completed task.
The work the Lord commands must be completed before any "title" is given and it is the Lord who gives the "title" or new name to the person. The person will not claim any "title" nor assume any "distinction" among his/her peers.
They direct all glory to God.
Let's look at Nephi as an example of this.
Was it Nephi who declared he would be favored of the Lord in this assignment?
"And now, behold, thy brothers murmur saying it is a hard thing which I have required of them; but behold I have not required it of them, but it is a commandment of the Lord. Therefore go my son, and thou shalt be favored of the Lord because thou hast not murmured." (1 Nephi 3:6, NC 1 Nephi 1 par. 10)
It was Nephi's prophetic father who declared it.
Did Nephi ever declare or act in a way that showed he felt superior to his brothers?
Didn't Nephi's plan fail?
If Nephi was "favored" why did he feel sorrowful, and have his life threatened, and why was he beaten by a rod?
What was the proof that Nephi was favored of the Lord in this assignment?
"...before departing from Jerusalem it was Nephi, not Lehi, who possessed the Sword of Laban, brass plates, and indicia of kingship."(Joseph Smith Papers 2, Denver Snuffer Blog, October 4, 2016)
Nephi was required to complete the task in order to possess any evidence that he had been favored of God in the task.
What was the greatest labor in accomplishing the task?
If Nephi had not performed the labor of persuading his brothers to continue in the task; if he had simply said go back to dad and I will do this, would he have successfully completed the task?
We feel that part of his being favored, along with leaving Jerusalem with the emblems of kingship, was also in his obtaining the skills and attributes he had acquired by working alongside his brothers and receiving an increase of faith in the Lord.
Is it significant that it took three tries to accomplish the task?
It wasn't one or two or four or more tries it was three.
We can see from the scriptures that everything Nephi did required work and effort; physical and faith filled effort.
There was no delegating.
"It was Nephi, not Lehi, who received the revelation giving instructions on how to build the boat for the trip to the promised land. It was Nephi who received the more fulsome revelation of the tree of life. It was Nephi who was shown the entire sweep of history in a revelation summarized in 1 Nephi chapters 11-14. Nephi prepared, and God preserved the Small Plates of Nephi as the foundational scripture of the Book of Mormon. Mormon did not abridge Nephi–we have his record in full."(Joseph Smith Papers 2, Denver Snuffer Blog, October 4, 2016)
Isn't it in the looking back on life, at what the Lord has done in giving gifts and strength for an individual to complete everything He has commanded them to do, what allows that individual to know that because of their faith in Christ they have been favored?
This is what Nephi penned after 40 years of reflection upon what the Lord had done for him.
"And having seen many afflictions in the course of my days, nevertheless having been highly favored of the Lord in all my days, yea, having had a great knowledge of the goodness and the mysteries of God,..." (1 Nephi 1:1, NC 1 Nephi 1 par. 1)
Was it in the remembrance of all of the physical labor and the meditation and the study and the crying unto God that Nephi is able to see God's goodness manifest in these events and therefore see that he had been favored?
In the context of Nephi's life he ministered to very few individuals.
He had his family and the family of Ishmael.
All of his labors were confined to them yet within this very small sphere of influence Nephi was able to work and toil and labor and sacrifice in faith for them and look back and see the evidence that the Lord had favored him in all of it.
There was no title or office or percs.
There was only work and sacrifice.
The evidence of favor consisted in God being willing to manifest His goodness and His mysteries to Nephi as he toiled, sacrificed and labored.
What does it mean for God to manifest his goodness?
What does it mean for God to manifest His mysteries?
In my small sphere of influence could I also work in faith, willing to sacrifice for God, and be able to look back over my life and see evidence of God's favor; of Him manifesting His goodness and His mysteries to me in my labors?
Is this what has been going on from the beginning?
Is Nephi being favored of God an example the Lord placed in the Book of Mormon to show us that we in our own small spheres of influence can by our faithful labor and sacrifice for the Lord by ministering to others also become favored and receive of His goodness and mysteries just like Nephi?
This seems to be an important lesson we could learn.
We do not need some great podium from which to proclaim anything in order to be favored of God.
"The agenda for you is different than the agenda for me. Your needs are different than mine. Your responsibilities are different than mine. You have your own family, you have your own ward, you have your own neighbors and you have your own issues. Fathers and sons, mothers and daughters – you are part of a community somewhere. And inside of that, all of you need to listen to the voice of God because he loves everyone. He loves that eccentric aunt that you just dread having come around. You can't for the life of you, understand why she thinks cloves should be poked into a turkey on Thanksgiving. You wonder if maybe there should be a procedure that more easily confines her to someplace where they administer psychotropic drugs. God loves her as much as He loves you. God loves all of us. Your agenda, and the people you can affect, and the relief that you can administer, and the needs that are in front of your eyes day by day, are uniquely yours. And the relief that you can grant to those around you, that's yours. It was given to you by God as a gift. Don't harden your heart." (Lecture 3 - Repentance, 40 Years in Mormonism, Denver Snuffer, September 29, 2013)
Isn't this what Nephi did?
Just a couple of things about Zoram and Nephi's initial encounter:
Is it possible that Nephi received an gift of the Spirit to be able to talk in the voice of Laban?
Were Zoram's eyes holden so that he did not recognize Nephi only Laban's garments and sword?
Is this a manifestation of God's goodness to Nephi in this task?
Isn't it interesting that the only mention of "keys" in the Book of Mormon is right here?
Zoram had the keys to the treasury of Laban.
The Book of Mormon which the Prophet Joseph declared to contain the fullness of the Gospel of Jesus Christ only contains this one mention of any "keys" and they don't have anything to do with any "priesthood."
Again, outside the walls of Jerusalem, is the Lord's goodness manifest in giving Nephi strength to hold Zoram so he could not flee back to Jerusalem?
How does Nephi have authority to invoke again the name of the Lord to make an oath with Zoram?
Was it always intended by the Lord that Zoram would become part of Lehi's party and eventually a family member fleeing to the Promised Land?
"...notwithstanding our afflictions we have obtained a land of promise, a land which is choice above all other lands, a land which the Lord God hath covenanted with me should be a land for the inheritance of my seed. Yea, the Lord hath consecrated this land unto me and to my children forever and also all they who should be led out of other countries by the hand of the Lord." (2 Nephi 1:5, NC 2 Nephi 1 par. 1)
If we are to take Lehi's words at face value doesn't that mean that anyone who has come here to the Americas, regardless of the manner in which they came, have been led here by the hand of the Lord?
Many times as a group we end up with more questions than answers as we study the Book of Mormon together.
We are sure that we are just scratching the surface and that there is so much more to be found.
We also know that everyone's understandings are different and that can lead to many new and wonderful discoveries in the Book of Mormon that we are unaware of at present.
We hope that our questions will lead to more and more contact with the Holy Spirit that we may be made holy.
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