The family is the core unit of any society. I believe God planned it that way because He knew the love and support we would need to survive physically and those things we would need in order to return to His presence are best achieved within the family. In truth, the family is the core unit of eternity.
The Book of Mormon is, at its heart, the story of a family. Like we do, they had challenges. It is the story of a father trying to teach his children to know Jesus Christ. It is the story of a mother who, while feeling concern for the well-being of her children, still loves, honors, and supports her husband. It is the story of one faithful son who loves and respects his father and, therefore, follows his example and of another son who aligns his life with his father and younger brother. It is about two sons, so enamored by the world with its riches and pleasures, that they cannot see the big picture, and who rebel against their parents, calling their father a visionary (read here senile and deluded) old man. Sounds like a lot of families I know; how about you?
The beginning of Lehi's story is taken from the Small Plates of Nephi. The original story from Lehi's own hand was translated and then lost. The Lord instructed Joseph Smith not to retranslate the Book of Lehi because conspiring men would change wording of his original translation to make him appear to be a fraud. The Small Plates covered the same period of time as the Plates of Lehi which Mormon had edited and placed at the beginning of the story. We are really blessed that this event occurred as Nephi later tells us that the only things he wrote on the Small Plates were essentially spiritual. So, although we do get some historical narrative, we also see that narrative from the larger and more spiritual perspective.
The first six chapters of the Book of 1 Nephi refer to many different sets of plates. It can be confusing, so throughout my study, I will be looking up the different sources and sharing them with you.
Those chapters frequently also reference the word of God. Just last December, I studied the Book of Revelation and was taken by a reference to the word and how well it segued me into the new year and the Book of Mormon. In Chapter 19, John described the Second Coming of Christ. Two of the ways He will be recognized is by His appearance and His name. John wrote: And he was clothes with a vesture dipped in blood: and his name is called The Word of God (verse 13)
Recognizing the Apostle John as a reputable source, I think that whenever we read the word of God in the Book of Mormon, we can understand that to be a reference to Jesus Christ.
Join me this week as we study the first seven chapters of the Book of Nephi, or as we might choose to call it:
©January 2020, Dr. Kathleen Rawlings Buntin Danielson
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