1-8 Sariah…complained… did mourn… was comforted… was exceedingly glad… was filled with joy… knew of a surety, The specificity of the account suggests that Nephi and Sariah were close and that she herself must have related the story to Nephi. But notably, women are rarely a part of the complaining in Nephi’s account (1 Ne 7:19; 1 Ne 17:2; 2 Ne 5:6), so why does he share this now? BYU professor Camille Fronk writes,
“Why would Nephi choose to record this incident to focus our attention on his mother— an incident that clearly manifests her murmuring against Lehi? Why not choose an experience that more obviously showed her spiritual strength? To establish Lehi and his family in a new land where they would inspire and instruct later generations to come unto Christ, God needed more than a father and a son (as successor) to possess a testimony tried in the fire of affliction. God also needed a matriarch, weathered by her own trials of faith and armed with her own unwavering witness, to stand steadfast with her prophet-husband. The reader should take note of the fact that there is no indication that Sariah ever murmured again.”
Lehi had visions, as did Nephi. Sariah did not, but neither did she need them. This was enough, her “epiphany in the desert,” and it cements her faith in the family mission.
4 I know I am a visionary man, like his forefather Joseph of Egypt (Gen 37:8, 19)
6 after this manner of language did my father Lehi comfort my mother Sariah, a solid, differentiated, partnered response. He does not get defensive, he does not contradict her, but neither does he fold. He acknowledges she is right, he is a visionary man, and the situation looks dire, but he holds to his belief that the Lord will deliver his sons.
10, 21 my father Lehi took the records…and did search them…they were desirable, even of great worth, As latter-day saints, I think where we often rest on our laurels is on the fact that we have the Book of Mormon; but having and searching are two different things. Laban had the plates, but it is unlikely he himself searched them. Had he done that, they would have changed him, and he likely would have been a different person. Time and circumstance may dictate how and to what extent we can search the scriptures, but so does our effort.
11-13 they did contain, essentially all that we have in our current Bible down to the writings of Jeremiah, which is essentially everything except for the books of Ezra, Nehemiah, Esther, Haggai, Zechariah and Malachi. And of course they also had more, like the writings of Zenock, Zenos, & Neum (1 Ne 19:10). Jeremiah was Lehi’s contemporary, and likely his friend; as also Nephi may have been friends with Daniel, Shadrach, Meshach, and Abed-Nego; though Nephi escaped the Babylonian captivity while they did not.
14-16 he was a descendant of Joseph, through Mannasseh (Alma 10:3), and Ishmael through Ephraim (we learn this from Joseph Smith). We also learn in 1 Chronicles 9:3 that many from Ephraim and Manasseh survived the Assyrian conquest of the Northern Kingdom by going south to Judah; hence Laban, Lehi, and Ishmael, all Josephites, were living among the Jews in the southern kingdom.
But why the elaboration on Joseph here? Because through Lehi, the promises made to Joseph are all fulfilled, and not just that his descendants would be a fruitful bough (Gen 49:22; 1 Ne 12:1). More importantly, Joseph served as a pattern for his descendant Lehi, whom the Lord likewise removes from his Israelite brethren (like “a branch…broken off” 1 Ne 19:24) to another land in order to eventually bring salvation to the house of Israel—in fulfillment, in fact, of Joseph’s own prophecy recorded on the brass plates (2 Ne 3:12) And the means of that salvation would be the record kept by Lehi’s descendants, beginning with Nephi, who was following Lehi’s lead.
So, if I can state this clearly, just as Joseph was cut off from his brethren, cast off to a foreign land, only to become the means by which his brethren would be saved from the famine, and all of Egypt saved… so in like manner Lehi and his descendants were cut off from their brethren, the Jews, cast off to a foreign land, only to become the means (by writing the Book of Mormon) by which they (or their record) would save their brethren (the Jews) from the latter-day spiritual famine, and in fact save all the world.
As ancient Joseph was a ‘savior’ of his brothers, so his posterity (us) would be ‘saviors’ of mankind. How? First by his descendants (Lehi) writing the Book of Mormon, and second by his latter-day descendants (us, who are largely of Ephraim & Mannasseh) taking that book to the world to gather and save our brothers and sisters, and by doing it through Joseph of Egpyt’s namesake, Joseph Smith (JST Genesis 50:30-33; 2 Nephi 3:6-8, 9-11, 16; D&C 113:6)
17 filled with the Spirit, Lehi learned a lot, yes, but more importantly, scripture study filled him with the Spirit of God.
18-19 these plates of brass should go forth unto all nations…neither should they be dimmed anymore by time, they must have been tarnished due to disuse while with Laban. It strikes me that it is in these verses where we find ourselves. The prophecy can’t be fulfilled unless we make it happen. We are the ones living in the latter-days who must ensure that the record spreads among all nations and stays bright.
22 we should carry them with us, so we should carry them with us on our own journey of life! And this verse ends the actual first chapter of Nephi in the original manuscript. So it marks the first main point Nephi makes, and it has to do with the value of the record and the blessings afforded to those who receive it and search it.
Holy Envy 