1 Nephi 1-7

So much ought to be said about the first three verses of 1 Nephi 1 alone--or perhaps of those three verses in relation to the italicized (and ancient!) heading that opens the whole of 1 Nephi. But it seems to me that it would be best to return to deal with them from the perspective offered by the first verses of 1 Nephi 19, so I will postpone all discussion of the non-narrative introductory material until then. For now, I will deal only with the narrative that occupies Nephi's attention in the course of his first seven chapters.

A way of sorting out the basic structure to pave the way towards discussion:

1. 1 Nephi 1-2: Two sets of two visions (Lehi's two visions in 1 Nephi 1; Nephi's two visions in 1 Nephi 2), culminating in the establishment of the Lehitic covenant


2. 1 Nephi 3-6: The first of two "loose ends" concerning the covenant is tied up (the question of "commandments")


3. 1 Nephi 7: The second of two "loose ends" concerning the covenant is tied up (the question of "seed")

There is, in short, a rather straightforward narrative made up by these seven chapters: it is, through and through, a question of what I will call the "Lehitic" covenant, first of its reception, and then of sorting out necessary details so that its fulfillment becomes possible.

First, then: the visions.

The two visions Lehi has in chapter 1 are perhaps quite familiar: Lehi is out "pray[ing] unto the Lord . . . in behalf of his people" (1 Nephi 1:5), who are torn by the political complexities of the Babylonian-Egyptian conflict, when he suddenly encounters "a pillar of fire" that comes down ont "a rock before him" (1 Nephi 1:6). The experience seems to have been overwhelming, whatever its noetic content, and so he rushes home to "cast himself upon his bed" (1 Nephi 1:7), only to be "carried away in a vision" to some viewpoint from which "he thought he saw God sitting upon his throne, surrounded with numberless concourses of angels in the attitude of singing and praising their God" (1 Nephi 1:8).

This striking scene, the opening of Lehi's second vision, is--as has been pointed out by many LDS scholars--a relatively conventional prophetic scene: the prophet is given to witness the proceedings of the council in heaven, hearing the song of the angels who are gathered about the throne of God. (Nephi will in fact go on to copy into his small plates--in 2 Nephi 16=Isaiah 6--the account of Isaiah's similar vision.) But this scene will prove to be absolutely vital to the meaning and structure of Nephi's record as a whole: Nephi will return to this imagery when he comes to the conclusion of the second "volume" of his contribution to the small plates, that is, in 2 Nephi 31-33. This will have to be, however, dealt with only in time, though every detail of the vision--even of what is still to be discussed here--will prove to be vital to Nephi's later teachings.

The vision continues: thirteen different figures descend out of the council, twelve moving off into the world and "One" (note the capital "O") coming to Lehi to "g[i]ve him a book" that he bidden to read (1 Nephi 1:11). This too is a relatively common theme in scripture and the broader prophetic tradition: not only is the prophet privy to the goings on of the heavenly council, but he has the opportunity to read or to hear read the actual contents of the heavenly book of life (cf. Revelation 4-5, for example), something like a transcript of those proceedings, but a transcript that is generally kept sealed and so made unavailable to those outside. Lehi's being qualified to read the book, then, should probably be understood as a kind of initiation or ritual of inclusion (much like Isaiah's receiving the white stone that is pressed to his lips, etc.): Lehi is being, as it were, drawn into the council itself. This is signaled rather straightforwardly by verses 14-15. Lehi suddenly finds himself "praising . . . his God" with words that clearly echo verse 8: "Great and marvelous are they works, O Lord God Almighty! Thy throne is high in the heavens, and thy power, and goodness, and mercy are over all the inhabitants of the earth!" Lehi would seem to have been made into an angel, as it were, to have experienced apotheosis.

So soon as Nephi gets to this point in his narrative, he begins to clarify that this record is not primarily about his father, though he would seem already to be getting carried away with reporting his father's experiences. Rather, though, he says: "he [Lehi] hath written many things which he saw in visions and in dreams; and he also hath written many things which he prophesied and spake unto his children, of which I shall not make a full account. But I shall make an account of my proceedings in my days" (1 Nephi 1:16-17). Nephi's point, as I understand him, is to make it clear that he has not selected to recount these two visions (of the fire on the rock and of the council and the book) without good reason: they have something to do with his own story, which is his primary--perhaps his only--concern. In short, these two visions are only related in the narrative because they cannot be disentangled from Nephi's own experience.

There is, of course, an obvious way in which this is the case: these two visions, taken together, result in death threats and other difficulties in Jerusalem (notice: it is specifically Lehi's mention of "a Messiah," according to verse 19, that leads to the most serious threats), which leads by the first verses of chapter 2 to an exodus of the entire family into the desert. But, given the way that Nephi recounts most of chapter 2, this is only half--or even less than half--of the story. The two visions result in familial crisis, one that will come to dominate the entirety of the book Mormon and Moroni eventually put together. It is this story, as Nephi introduces it in chapter 2, that is grounded in the curious theme of what I am calling the Lehitic covenant.

The way Nephi tells this story is rather interesting: he begins with only three characters, namely, Lehi, Laman, and Lemuel. The latter two are introduced specifically through Lehi's poetic admonitions, only after which Nephi mentions "the stiffneckedness of Laman and Lemuel" (1 Nephi 2:11). Nephi gives their reasons, and then he describes something like a showdown, in which Lehi "speak[s] unto them in the valley of Lemuel, with power, being filled with the Spirit, until their frames did shake before him" (1 Nephi 2:14). This apparently impressive scene leads Nephi directly to his own visions: "And it came to pass that I, Nephi, being exceedingly young, nevertheless being large in stature, and also have great desires to know of the mysteries of God, wherefore I did cry unto the Lord; and behold he did visit me, and did soften my heart that I did believe all the words which had been spoken by my father; wherefore, I did not rebel against him like unto my brothers" (1 Nephi 2:16).

The rift begins with this first vision (or at least quasi-revelatory experience) of Nephi, but it is confirmed in the two verses that follow: "And I spake unto Sam . . . . And it came to pass that he believed in my words. But, behold, Laman and Lemuel would not hearken unto my words" (1 Nephi 2:17-18). And then this rift drives Nephi to his knees: "and being grieved because of the hardness of their hearts I cried unto the Lord for them" (1 Nephi 2:18). This prayer results in the second vision/revelatory experience for Nephi, one that is spelled out in much more detail than the first (just as was the case with Lehi's two visions: the first is described in an almost passing fashion, essentially just leading toward the second, which is then described in great detail). Moreover, it must be noticed that this second revelatory experience on Nephi's part is heavily involved in the rift; indeed, it amounts to a revelatory clarification of what the rift means. It is this revelation--which makes up the remaining six verses of the chapter--that I call the Lehitic covenant.

The revelation begins in a relatively straightforward fashion: "Blessed art thou, Nephi, because of thy faith, for thou hast sought me diligently, with lowliness of heart" (1 Nephi 2:19). But it quickly becomes rather complex: the next verse finds the Lord announcing "And inasmuch as ye shall keep my commandments, ye shall prosper, and shall be led to al and of promise; yea, even a land which I have prepared for you; yea, a land which is choice above all other lands" (1 Nephi 2:20). Familiar though the language of this verse appears (it makes up, of course, the veritable leitmotif of the entire Book of Mormon!), it must be recognized that it is actually rather complex, indeed, complex enough that the next five chapters of Nephi's narrative are really just a long double clarification of this verse alone (and the subsequent eight chapters are, in turn, another long double clarification of the overarching "cultural" meaning of this same verse, though that will have to be discussed in its proper place).

What does the promise say, then? First, it comes with an important condition: the covenant promises what it promises only "inasmuch as ye shall keep my commandments." It should be noted that the nature of these "commandments" is not at all clarified here. (1 Nephi 3-6 are given entirely to the clarification of these commandments.) But Nephi would not likely have raised much of a question about that: just as modern readers naturally assume that the commandments in question are quite simply "whatever God happens to command at any point," Nephi seems to have taken the condition of the covenant to be a kind of vague obedience. (Nephi only thinks to ask questions about what the commandments are in the subsequent narrative, interestingly.)

At any rate, given compliance with the commandments, the covenant promises "a land of promise" and prosperity along the way (later mentions of this promise, once the Lehites are in the promised land, of course make it a question of prosperity not on the way to but in the land). And that seems straightforward enough: the valley of Lemuel is, as Nephi recognizes (but Lehi does not: cf. 1 Nephi 5:5!), only a stopover on the way to something much bigger, something much more important.

But then the remainder of the verses that make up the covenant complicate this story greatly, returning to the theme of the familial rift: "And inasmuch as thy brethren shall rebel against thee, they shall be cut off from the presence of the Lord. And inasmuch as thou shall keep my commandments, thou shalt be made a ruler and a teacher over thy brethren. For behold, in that day that they [Nephi's brethren] shall rebel against me, I will curse them even with a sore curse, and they shall have no power over thy seed except they [Nephi's seed] shall rebel against me also. And if it so be that they [again: Nephi's seed] rebel against me, they [Nephi's brethren again, or now, presumably Laman and Lemuel's seed] shall be a scourge unto thy seed, to stir them up in the ways of remembrance" (1 Nephi 2:21-24).

The relations set up here between Nephi and his brothers is somewhat complex. First, it should be notice that all of the relations are predicated on the question of leaving the valley of Lemuel--and so, the city of Jerusalem--far behind: "ye . . . shall be led to a land of promise . . . . And inasmuch as thy brethren shall rebel against thee . . . ." The journey, it would seem, is to be what creates in the first place and determines the subsequent history of the split between what will eventually come to be called the Nephites and the Lamanites.

Second, and very importantly: this quickly becomes, then, a question not only of Nephi and his brothers, but of their seed. This must have sounded a bit strange to Nephi: not only has he just mentioned how young he was, but his family is hiding in the desert for their lives, and without the necessary marriages in place to propagate the seed spoken of in the covenant. That is, a second aspect of the covenant remains vague or as yet impossible: not only are the commandments referred to less than clear; the seed to be had is not yet a genuine possibility. (It will be 1 Nephi 7 that rectifies this situation.)

Third, finally, the actual relations that are established between the eventual Nephites and Lamanites deserve attention. Interestingly, while the Lamanites are cursed, the Nephites are not really blessed: only Nephi is given a specific blessing (of being "made a ruler and a teacher over [his] brethren"). Instead of being blessed, the Nephites are simply promised a kind of protection against the Lamanites so long as they are obedient. This protection, though, appears to be instrumental: the promise of protection is in place so that the Nephites can always identify why it is that the Lamanites have an ascendency, namely, because the Nephites have begun to rebel against God. The final phrase of the whole exchange between Nephi and the Lord is key: it is entirely a question of "the ways of remembrance," and the Lamanites are effectively a tool in the Lord's plan to ensure that remembrance takes place.

With that, the second of Nephi's two revelatory experiences here comes to an end. But the chapter break (between chapters 1 and 2) nonetheless does some violence to the flow of the narrative: one must not miss the fact that Nephi is on his way back from having this experience when he is confronting with the commandment to return to Jerusalem for the brass plates. The connection is vital, because, as Nephi tells the story, Lehi (1) mentions "commandments" (the importance of which had just been highlighted for Nephi) three times in his explanation and (2) frames the entire situation in terms of a split between Nephi and his rebellious brothers, Laman and Lemuel (the other major theme in the visionary experience Nephi had just had).

It is vital to note how Lehi, according to Nephi, employs the word "commandments" in his short discussion with Nephi in the first verses of chapter 3. First: "Behold I have dreamed a dream, in the which the Lord hath commanded me that thou and thy brethren shall return to Jerusalem" (1 Nephi 3:2, emphasis added). After explaining the existence of the record: "Wherefore, the Lord hath commanded me that thou and thy brothers should go unto the house of Laban, and seek the records" (1 Nephi 3:4, emphasis added). And finally: "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" (1 Nephi 3:5, emphasis added). Three times Lehi mentions "commandments," and that number itself is not without its own significance.

As if to highlight the point, as well as to demonstrate Nephi's being on the same wavelength as his father, we find that Nephi's response employs the same word three times: "And it came to pass that I, Nephi, said unto my father: I will go and do the things which the Lord hath commanded, for I know the Lord giveth no commandments unto the children of men, save he shall prepare a way for them that they may accomplish the thing which he commandeth them" (1 Nephi 3:7, emphases added). There is, here, a kind of matching up of father and son through the three mentions of the same key word (marked by the wording of verse 8: "And it came to pass that when my father had heard these words he was exceedingly glad, for he knew that I had been blessed of the Lord"). But there is also a kind of setting up of the story that is about to unfold: it is, from the very beginning, a question through and through of commandments.

This theme follows right through the story: the story of 1 Nephi 3-6, this first return to Jerusalem, is all about the meaning of the word "commandments" in the Lehitic covenant as given to Nephi in 1 Nephi 2.

Indeed, after the first failed attempt to retrieve the plates from Laban, when Nephi's brothers are about to return empty-handed to Lehi, Nephi says: "As the Lord liveth, and as we live, we will not go down unto our father int he wilderness until we have accomplished the thing which the Lord hath commanded us" (1 Nephi 3:15, emphasis added). In fact, he goes on: "Whrefore, let us be faithful in keeping the commandments of the Lord; therefore, let us go down to the land of our father's inheritance, for behold he left gold and silver, and all manner of riches. And all this he hath done because of the commandments of the Lord" (1 Nephi 3:16, emphases added). Note here that Nephi not only mentions the commandments a few more times in his words, but that he marks a kind of connection between himself and his father: Lehi left his riches behind because he was obedient to the commandments, and so we can use that to fulfill the commandments ourselves. He mentions the commandments twice more in the course of this short discourse: "Wherefore, if my father should dwell in the land after he hath been commanded to flee out of the land, behold, he would also perish" (1 Nephi 3:18, emphasis added); "And it came to pass that after this manner of language did I persuade my brethren, that they might be faithful in keeping the commandments of God" (1 Nephi 3:21, emphasis added).

Five times in the course of the brief transition from attempt number 1 to attempt number 2 Nephi mentions commandments. His fidelity to the commandments themselves is thus beyond question. But his understanding of what those commandments are is relatively immature as yet. He seems, quite naturally, to understand the commandments to refer to whatever his father announces in the name of the Lord: as his father had used "commandments" three times in his commission to return to Jerusalem, Nephi assumes through most of this discussion that the word has reference to the mandate to get the plates. But, as will become clear, this is only a preliminary understanding, and it has to be superseded.

The familiar story continues: the second attempt to obtain the plates (this time through trade) fails as well, and Lehi's sons find themselves hiding in a cave, quarreling. The fight is broken up by the appearance of an angel who lets Laman and Lemuel in on the nature of the Lehitic covenant, at least in a preliminary way. But Nephi sees this is opening up a space for him to take up his consistently favorite theme: "Let us go up again unto Jerusalem, and let us be faithful in keeping the commandments of the Lord" (1 Nephi 4:1, emphasis added). This time he only mentions it once, using the rhetorical force of the Moses-and-the-Red-Sea comparison to some effect. The result, of course, is that Nephi finds himself on his way into the city alone at night, wandering by the Spirit, while his brothers hide outside the city walls.

Nephi soon stumbles onto Laban, drunk and asleep, in the street. He busies himself admiring Laban's sword (some have suggested that this, along with a few other details in Nephi's record, suggests that Nephi's was an apprentice to a metal-worker), but then finds himself "constrained" by the Spirit to kill Laban (1 Nephi 4:10). Nephi's choice of words here is vital: he does not say that he was commanded, but constrained. That the injunction came to him--at least as he describes it--as less than a full-blown commandment is significant: it gives him the opportunity to open up a conversation with the Spirit, through which he will come to a far different understanding of the commandments than he has maintained up until this point.

The conversation is indeed fascinating. Nephi describes the Spirit's response to his initial refusal to kill Laban thus: "Behold the Lord hath delivered him into thy hands" (1 Nephi 4:11). Scholars have pointed out that this language is an echo of the Mosaic Law, according to which it was not murder to kill an enemy who was "delivered into one's hands": the Spirit seems to have been making it quite clear that the injunction to kill Laban was not at variance with the Mosaic commandments. But more interesting still is what Nephi thinks to himself in response to this first response from the Spirit: "Yea, and I also knew that he had sought to take away mine own lief; yea, and he would not hearken unto the commandments of the Lord; and he also had taken away our property" (1 Nephi 4:11, emphasis added). In part, Nephi's little list here seems to be his sorting out of the reasons he would be justified in killing Laban under the law, but one must not miss his second and central reason: Laban wouldn't listen to the commandments.

At this point, Nephi is still understanding the commandments to be whatever Lehi has enjoined him to do. In fact, it should be pointed out that Laban's not hearkening to the commandments of Lehi is hardly a justifiable reason to dispatch him, and so one has to ask why this reason is featured in the list of definitely justifiable reasons. The answer, I think, is simply that Nephi has to let his readers know at the very beginning of this conversation how he defines the commandments at this point, since it is about to be changed drastically. His own reflections thus begin with his as yet completely unchanged understanding of what the commandments in the Lehitic covenant must be: whatever the Lord commands right now through Lehi.

The Spirit speaks again, telling him to kill Laban and providing a kind of logical justification (the whole "it is better for one man to perish" business). Readers of the Book of Mormon have long had trouble ethically with this justification attributed to the Spirit: God would never, goes the argument, offer a kind of scapegoat logic as justification to have someone killed. But I wonder, in light of the prevalent emphasis on commandments and the Lehitic covenant that runs through this narrative, whether the emphasis isn't elsewhere: it isn't so much a question of the one dying for the Spirit as it is a question of shifting Nephi's sights from his own one-on-one relation to Laban to the question of entire peoples (the Nephites and Lamanites about which he had just learned). That is, the Spirit seems intent less on making some kind of logical argument than on pressing Nephi to recognize that the context is not the Jerusalem street, but the covenantal conversation he had had a few days earlier.

Nephi makes this ver clear: "And now, when I, Nephi, had heard these words, I remembered the words of the Lord which he spake unto me in the wilderness, saying that: Inasmuch as thy seed shall keep my commandments, they shall prosper in the land of promise" (1 Nephi 4:14, emphasis added). Notice that Nephi is not won over by the Spirit's logic, but instead, he is reminded of the covenantal revelation of 1 Nephi 2. And so soon as he remembers that, the entire situation is a question of (1) his "seed" and (2) the "commandments." And then Nephi begins to work out his own logic: "Yea, and I also thought that they could not keep the commandments of the Lord according to the law of Moses, save they should have the law. And I also knew that the law was engraven on the plates of brass" (1 Nephi 4:15-16). Here Nephi begins to see where all of this is going: once his focus is shifted to his seed, he realizes that the commandments they will have to obey can't be whatever immediate commandment has come through the resident patriarch; rather, it is necessary to provide them with some kind of written code. And the obvious candidate--since it is a collection of commandments--is the Law of Moses, written in the very plates he has been sent to retrieve.

Everything thus comes together for Nephi quite rapidly: the commandments in the covenant are the commandments of the Mosaic Law. And, as he says, "Therefore I did obey the voice of the Spirit, and took Laban by the hair of the head, and I smote off his head with his own sword" (1 Nephi 4:18, emphasis added). And the remainder of the story follows quickly: Nephi disguises himself, retrieves the plates, swears Zoram to join them, and the whole group returns to Lehi. Interestingly, once they return, the language of commandments surfaces again: Sariah mentions the commandments twice in 1 Nephi 5:8; Nephi notes, after the plates have been gone through and indexed, that "thus far I and my father had kept the commandments wherewith the Lord had commanded us. And we had obtained the records which the Lord had commanded us . . . insomuch that we could preserve the commandments of the Lord unto our children" (1 Nehi 5:20-21); and Nephi mentions in his brief aside about his record: "Wherefore, I shall give commandment unto my seed that they shall not occupy these plates with things which are not of worth unto the children of men" (1 Nephi 6:6).

With that, the first return journey comes to an end, and the first loose end concerning the Lehitic covenant is tied: the commandments are clarified, so far as the covenant goes, as being the commandments of the Law of Moses. The consequences of that centralization of the Mosaic Law for the Nephites will prove enormous, but they will have to be discussed in another place.

So soon as things seem to have settled down, though, Nephi and his brothers are sent to Jerusalem all over again: the covenant needs to be further clarified, since it is a question not only of commandments, but also of seed. So 1 Nephi 7 recounts their journey to bring the family of Ishmael, with its collection of potential spouses, down into the wilderness as well. The journey seems to go rather well, of course, until the confrontation between Nephi and his brothers on the way back down to Lehi's tent. Again the theme is the rift between brothers that is the theme of the Lehitic covenant itself, but everything is--at least for the time--sorted out and the possibility of seed (and hence of the fulfillment of the covenant) is in place.

And thus the first seven chapters come to an end: everything is in order that needs to be in order for the Lehitic covenant to be fulfilled. Lehi's family has made its last trip back to Jerusalem, and things now pause while the visions of 1 Nephi 1-2 are doubled by another set of visions in 1 Nephi 8-15.