1 Nephi Chapter 9
First Nephi Chapter 9 is one of the shortest chapters in the Book of Mormon. But remember that the Book of Mormon wasn’t originally divided into chapters and verses until 1879 by Orson Pratt with the help of 17-year-old James E. Talmage (future apostle and author of Jesus the Christ and Articles of Faith), so Nephi didn’t actually write a short chapter. He just inserted a brief explanation about the plates upon which he was writing. There isn’t a lot of doctrine or history in this short chapter, but there are a few observations we can make. Hopefully, they will be helpful.
1 Nephi 9:1 “A great many more things”
Nephi tells us that his father, while still living in a tent in the valley of Lemuel, did . . . see, and hear, and speak . . . a great many more things, which cannot be written upon these plates. What else did Lehi see, hear and speak? If we had the Book of Lehi, surely we would know more. Lehi is a great prophet! He does the things that prophets do. He receives revelation in dreams and visions. Based on what he learns in those revelations, he counsels, warns and guides his people. Nephi will share a little more of what Lehi taught in the next chapter and we will read Lehi’s counsel to his sons before his death in 2 Nephi 1-4. Other than that, we won’t read any more of the prophecies and words of Lehi in the Book of Mormon. I suspect we will have them some day. I certainly hope so!
1 Nephi 9:2-4 Large and Small Plates of Nephi
Nephi explains to us that he is not writing the full history of his people on these plates. These Small Plates are for the plain and precious things and are more concerned with doctrine than history. We don’t have the Large Plates of Nephi, but Mormon did. They were passed down through the line of the kings while the Small Plates were passed down through the line of the prophets. Nephi was the first king, so the Large Plates started with him and continued to be passed down to the next king, who, by the way was known as “Second Nephi.” (See Jacob 1:11) Because of their love for Nephi and gratitude for his service in leading and protecting them as their king, the people named the successor kings after him. These kings who succeeded Nephi had the Large Plates and kept the more secular history of the people on them. These Large Plates continued and were added upon until the time of Mormon. They were kept by kings, judges and prophets. It is from these plates that Mormon made his abridgment beginning with the Book of Lehi until his own time.
There is a short but good video on Book of Mormon Central about Nephi’s writing of the Small Plates. Here is the link: KnoWhy #11 published in 2016 by Book of Mormon Central
The Small Plates continued in the line of the prophets, usually from father to son, but sometimes from brother to brother, until the time of Amaleki, the last writer on the Small Plates. He didn’t have a son to pass them on to and the plates were full, so he gave the Small Plates to King Benjamin – a king and a prophet. At that point there were no more authors of the Small Plates but the plates, now full, were kept with the Large Plates until they were all given to Mormon. Most of this is explained in Omni 1:23-25 and Words of Mormon 1:3-6.
Reading about the Small and Large Plates of Nephi and the care that Nephi took in keeping a record of his life reminds us of the importance of keeping a record of our own lives. Let’s talk for a few minutes about personal journals.
Keeping a personal journal
Do you keep a personal journal? I hope so! We’ve been encouraged by several prophets to keep a record of our life and the evidence of the hand of the Lord in it. I was a young man not yet thirty years old when President Spencer W. Kimball in 1975 began to urge the Saints to keep a regular journal and to write their personal history. Five years later, he was still encouraging the Saints to keep a daily journal. In an article in the New Era in 1980, he encouraged the youth to begin when they are young. He said:
On a number of occasions I have encouraged the Saints to keep personal journals and family records. I renew that admonition. We may think there is little of interest or importance in what we personally say or do—but it is remarkable how many of our families, as we pass on down the line, are interested in all that we do and all that we say.
He went on to have lots more to say about keeping journals and writing our personal history. If you want to read more, the link is
I wrote my personal history at age 30. I was in medical training in Southern California. I dictated it in the car on my way to and from work when I had a long commute from Torrance to UCLA. I paid a young sister in our ward to transcribe the recordings for me. But there has been a lot of “water under the bridge” since then, so I need to go back and bring my personal history up-to-date. It’s not going to happen this year with the time I’m spending on this Book of Mormon blog.
Lori and I have each tried to keep a personal journal since the time of Pres. Kimball. We were pretty spotty for more than a decade, but started to be more regular after that, over 30 years ago. Since then, I have written more or less daily in my personal journal. I used to type on the computer, print what I wrote and then put it into a binder like Pres. Kimball did. (He said in the talk referenced above that he had 33 black binders of journals on his bookshelf when he was called as president of the Church.) A decade or so ago, I quit printing my journal pages. My journal is now saved electronically. I hope it is safe in Dropbox. Maybe someday I’ll print it, but I doubt it.
I write more frequently in my journal than Lori does. But what I write is pretty boring. It is about what I do everyday. A lot of it is pretty mundane. I’m guess I’m a bit OCD that way, but I can’t “let go” of a day until I have written about it. Writing about each day helps me process life, put it into perspective and helps me stay focused on what is most important. And it helps me to be more aware of and grateful for my blessings. Sometimes I’m too tired to write at night (and fall asleep with my finger on the delete key while trying to write! That doesn’t work very well!) so I write the next morning, if possible before I start my day. My journal is like the Large Plates of Nephi – a more secular and complete historical record. I doubt that anyone will ever read it, but at least I’m following the counsel of a prophet given nearly 50 years ago.
Lori writes in her journal less often than I do, but what she writes is precious! She writes her journal by hand in a leather bound book of blank pages. I gave her the first book over 40 years ago. For years, the only time she had a chance to write was when she was in the hospital after having a baby or surgery. Now she writes on vacation or at our cabin or condo or on other peaceful occasions. Her journal is like the small plates of Nephi – not nearly so much writing, but what is there is precious! I think she now has four of these leather-bound hand-written journals. Each is a treasure! I hope our children and grandchildren will read her journals someday.
Lest you think that my journal writing is all mundane and boring, I have several confidential journals stored on my computer which are password protected and which no one will likely read. In them I record sacred experiences, temple insights, tender mercies of the Lord and other confidential but important things in my life. I also have a “church journal” in which I take hand-written notes in sacrament meeting each week and sometimes in other church meetings. I’m a compulsive note taker. It helps me stay focused in a meeting and I find it useful to go back and refer to the notes later. These journals are my “small plates.”
1 Nephi 9:5 “For a wise purpose”
You know the story of the lost manuscript pages. Well, Nephi didn’t know the story or why he was commanded to make a second set of plates, but the Lord knew. Here is how Millet and McConkie summarize this miracle:
Nephi was commanded to keep both the large plates (a record of the more secular matters, such as the reigns of the kings, the wars, the journeyings of the people, etc.) and the small plates (a record of the spiritual experiences of the people and of God’s dealings with them). He stated that he had been commanded to keep the small plates for “a wise purpose” in the Lord. That purpose would not be fully realized until the year 1828, when Joseph Smith would be involved (with Martin Harris) in the loss of the first 116 manuscript pages of the Book of Mormon, pages translated from the large plates. At that point the Lord commanded Joseph Smith to turn to the small plates and undertake a translation of material which would cover approximately the same time period as that which had been lost (see 1 Nephi 6; Words of Mormon 1:5–7; D&C 10). Indeed, the Lord knows all things from the beginning. (DCBM)
1 Nephi Chapter 10
Having recounted some of the words of his father Lehi, including his dream of the Tree of Life and after explaining about the Small and Large Plates he had made, Nephi now goes forward with his own record in this chapter. He will summarize some of his father’s most important teachings, but the voice is Nephi speaking. He is no longer quoting Lehi.
1 Nephi 10:1 “I, Nephi, proceed . . . with mine own account”
Nephi now begins to write about himself, his proceedings and his reign and ministry. You might be asking, “What reign? He’s just a young man and the youngest of four brothers. He’s not ‘reigning’ over anyone.” But remember that Nephi is writing 30 years later. He and his family have been through the desert, crossed the ocean to the Promised Land in a ship that the Lord told him to build, have established a colony on the Promised Land and separated into two groups, the Nephites and the Lamanites. By the time Nephi is writing his story in the Small Plates, he truly is a prophet and is the king and leader of his people. So it’s appropriate for him to speak of his “reign and ministry.”
But before going on with his own story, Nephi recounts some of the teachings of his father. Some of this is repetitious from earlier chapters, but Nephi feels that it is important. And some valuable new information is given.
1 Nephi 10:2-16
In these verses Nephi reviews some of the most important teachings of his father Lehi, who was still living in a tent in the valley of Lemuel. (It must really be important that Lehi is living in a tent because Nephi mentions it several times.)
Here is a bullet list of the topics Nephi reviews of the teachings of his father. After the list, we’ll go back and look more closely at some of them.
· Jerusalem will be destroyed and the Jews carried captive into Babylon. But they will return again.
· The Messiah will come in 600 years from the time that Lehi and his family left Jerusalem.
· The Messiah will be the Redeemer and will save those in a lost and fallen state.
· A prophet, John the Baptist, will come to prepare the way for the Messiah.
· This prophet will baptize the Lamb of God at Bethabara.
· The Messiah will be slain, but He will rise from the dead and manifest Himself to the gentiles by the power of the Holy Ghost.
· The House of Israel will be scattered and eventually gathered again.
· Part of the scattering of Israel is that Lehi and his family will be led to a land of promise.
· Israel will be gathered when (as) they come to the knowledge of their true Messiah, their Lord and their Redeemer
· Many more things which Lehi prophesied which are not written in the Small Plates but are written in the Large Plates.
Now let’s go back and look at some important topics from this list.
1 Nephi 10:4 The Messiah will come in 600 years!
This prophecy is amazing! Lehi told his people exactly when to expect the Messiah to come. We have no record of any prophet in the Old Testament giving such a specific prophecy of the timing of the coming of the Messiah. Was the prophecy given but lost or taken from the Old Testament scriptures as they were passed down? Did the Jews remove the prophecy from their scriptures to absolve themselves for not recognizing their Messiah when He came and for sending Him to His death at Roman hands? Or maybe the Lord was willing to give this information to Lehi since he and his family would be on the other side of the world and not in contact with those in the Holy Land, where the Messiah would come. Maybe it was ok for the people in the land of promise to know more specifically when the Messiah would come.
Was this prophecy generally known among the children of Lehi? Or was it just kept by the prophets? When Samuel the Lamanite prophesied that the sign of the coming of the Savior (a day and a night and a day without darkness) was given from the wall of Zarahemla, it sounds like it was news to the people. If they were aware of this prophecy of Lehi, you’d think they would have said, “Yep, Samuel’s right. That’s when He will come.” But that’s not what happened. So perhaps this prophecy was not generally known among the children of Lehi.
Don’t you wish we had that specific of a prophecy of when the Savior will come the second time? But maybe not. If we knew that He were going to come in 200 years from now, we’d probably loaf around for 199 years and then try to scramble to get ready in the last year before He comes. It’s better not to know. That way we are motivated to live as if this is the year He will come, or at least that it will be soon. When I was a young man, I thought I’d live to see the Second Coming of the Savior. I figured it would be about the year 2000 (I would be 53 when the bells would welcome in the year 2000.) or no more than 20 years later. It is now the year 2020 and He isn’t here yet. I don’t know when He’s coming. Obviously, if even the prophets and angels of heaven (Matt 24:36) don’t know when He will come, then no one alive on earth knows. I no longer think that I will live to see His Second Coming, but I believe that perhaps some of my children or very likely some of my grandchildren will do so. Regardless, we should live as if He is coming this year so that, whenever we meet Him – in this life or the next – we will be prepared to do so.
1 Nephi 10:4-14 Names of the Messiah
Notice how many different names for the Messiah are given in just these few verses:
· Messiah (v. 4, 5, 7, 9, 10, 11, 14)
· Savior (v. 4)
· Redeemer (v. 5, 6, 14)
· Lamb of God (v. 10)
· Lord (v. 14)
Each name is significant and describes some unique aspect of the mission of the Son of God. In just 11 verses, there are five different significant titles used for the Savior. Truly, the Book of Mormon is “Another Testament of Jesus Christ.”
Interestingly, the name Christ does not appear in the Book of Mormon until 2 Nephi 10:3 when Jacob, brother of Nephi, tells the people that in the preceding night, an angel told Jacob that His name would be Christ.
It would be instructive to go through the Book of Mormon looking at each use of the names of Christ, to see how they are used and what they mean. An easy way to do that is to use the search function in the Gospel Library app. It’s the little looking glass icon in the bottom of the page on the right (at least that’s where it is on my iPad). Try typing in the word “Christ” and search. You will find that the word “Christ” is found 2011 times in the scriptures (look at the tabs across the top of the page). Some of those times will be in chapter headings, so there aren’t actually that many times in the actual text of the scriptures when His name is used. If you look now under the Scripture tab at the Old Testament, you will see that the name “Christ” is used 15 times. But when you look at those references, they are all in explanatory material and chapter headings. The name “Christ” does not appear at all in the text of the Old Testament! You might argue that it’s not there because Christ is a Greek word for Messiah. But look at the Book of Mormon, most of which dealt with the same time period as the Old Testament. The name Christ is used 118 times in the Book of Mormon. According to my count, nearly 90 of the times the word Christ is found in the Book of Mormon is in actual text that was written before the Savior was born. Why so many references to Christ in the Book of Mormon? It appears that the name Christ or Jesus Christ was lost or removed from the Old Testament scriptures and needed to be restored by the Book of Mormon, “Another Testament of Jesus Christ.”
As we have mentioned before, there are over 100 names of Jesus Christ in the Book of Mormon. Susan Easton Black has written about this. Here is a link: https://www.churchofjesuschrist.org/study/ensign/1978/07/discovery/names-of-christ-in-the-book-of-mormon
1 Nephi 10:4 “The Lord God”
Having written above about the names of Christ, it is important to notice the title The Lord God in this verse. This is obviously speaking of God, the Father. There is excellent commentary on this name in Millet and McConkie. I’ll quote from them rather than paraphrase.
The Book of Mormon prophets often make reference to “God” or “the Lord” without any indication of whether Elohim or Jehovah was intended. This verse has obvious reference to the fact that Elohim our Father (here designated “the Lord God”) would raise up and send his Only Begotten Son (Jesus Christ, also sometimes designated as “the Lord God”). Elder Bruce R. McConkie taught: “Most scriptures that speak of God or the Lord do not even bother to distinguish the Father from the Son, simply because it doesn’t make any difference which God is involved. They are one. The words or deeds of either of them would be the words and deeds of the other in the same circumstance. Further, if a revelation comes from, or by the power of the Holy Ghost, ordinarily the words will be those of the Son, though what the Son says will be what the Father would say, and the words may thus be considered as the Father’s.” (“Our Relationship with the Lord,” p. 101.)
(This Doctrinal Commentary on the Book of Mormon (DCBM) by Robert L. Millet and Joseph F. McConkie written 30 years ago is really excellent! It is in four volumes, so it is a project to read, but it is worth it. For those who are fairly mature in their understanding of the Book of Mormon or for those who are fairly new to the Book of Mormon but are looking for deeper understanding, I highly recommend it. I could quote much more from their Commentary than I do. I just pick a paragraph here and there to supplement what I write. I hope that’s ok.)
1 Nephi 10:17 “the things which he spake by the power of the Holy Ghost”
How do we receive revelation from the Holy Ghost. This verse gives us an important clue. Nephi says that his father “spake by the power of the Holy Ghost” because of his “faith on the Son of God who was the Messiah who should come.” This verse contains two of the first four principles of the gospel (See Article of Faith IV). The first step in receiving the Holy Ghost is to have faith in the Lord, Jesus Christ. This faith leads us to repentance and the waters of baptism. After baptism, we are worthy to receive the Gift of the Holy Ghost, which gift is given by the laying on of hands by those who hold the Melchizedek Priesthood. Had Lehi been baptized? We don’t know, but probably so. And he did hold the Melchizedek Priesthood so probably received the Holy Ghost by one who also held the same priesthood. We don’t know the details of how these ordinances were performed, but the pattern is the same through the ages. Faith in Jesus Christ is the first step.
1 Nephi 10:17 “having heard all the words of my father”
Nephi “heard” the words of his father, Lehi, a prophet of God. His older brothers “heard” the same words but didn’t “hear” them, meaning they didn’t open their ears and their hearts to hear and accept what his father taught about the Messiah who would come. Nephi now desires to know for himself. Because of his faith, he will come to know by seeing the things his father saw. Chapters 11-15 contain Nephi’s summary of the marvelous vision he had, one of the greatest revelations we have recorded in all of the scriptures. We will consider those verse next week. They contain many precious and profound truths!
1 Nephi 10:17 “which is the gift of God unto all those who diligently seek him”
The Holy Ghost is given to all of those who diligently seek Him. The price they must pay is to follow the principles and ordinances on which the Gift of the Holy Ghost is predicated, as detailed above. Those who are first learning about the gospel, listening to the missionaries or reading the Book of Mormon are entitled to receive the witness of the Holy Ghost to help them understand what they are learning and to know that it is true. But the constant companionship of the Holy Ghost, i.e. the Gift of the Holy Ghost is available only to those who follow the steps upon which this Gift is predicated. In the ordinance of Confirmation, the newly-baptized person is confirmed a member of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints and then the words are spoken, “receive the Holy Ghost.” We are only baptized and confirmed once, but we spend the rest of our lives trying to “receive” the Holy Ghost. It is the quest of a lifetime to learn to listen to His “still, small voice”and to be guided by it.
1 Nephi 10:22 “the Holy Ghost giveth authority that I should speak these things”
Nephi closes this chapter with his testimony that he has authority to speak these things by the power of the Holy Ghost. The verse is prelude to the next five chapters which contain a remarkable vision and powerful doctrine. I believe that when he refers to speaking of “these things”, he is referring both to what he has just said but also what he will now say.
Millet and McConkie in their Commentary write the following about the authority of Nephi to speak the words of God:
One who speaks by the power of the Holy Ghost speaks with authority. As the voice of God, there is neither apology nor uncertainty in the expressions of the Spirit. One who speaks under this influence utters the words that God or angels would speak if they were personally present, and therefore his voice is the voice of the Lord, his utterance a revelation of the mind and will and word of that same Lord (see D&C 68:3–4)
Nephi speaks with authority. He is a great prophet. His words are powerful. How blessed we are to have them!
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