3 Nephi 27

3 Nephi 27:1 it came to pass that the disciples were gathered together and were united in mighty prayer and fasting. I often think about this term, united. In Ukrainian, it is the same term used by the savior when he says that he and the father are one, and when he prays that the apostles will be one with him. In that context, it speaks of having aligned desires and will. So when the apostles come together and are united/one in mighty prayer, they clearly weren't 100% in agreement about their issue, because they were asking The Lord to resolve a dispute about the name of the church. I suppose they could have been aligned on the goal of "resolve this issue" or something else but the question stands: can you be united in mighty prayer with someone where the outcomes desired are different? For example, a family praying abut whether to move with one parent desiring to move and the other to stay. Or about having children, with similarly opposing opinions.

Mosiah 12

Mosiah 12:17-18 Six days shalt thou labor, and do all thy work; But the seventh day, the sabbath of the Lord thy God, thou shalt not do any work, thou, nor thy son, nor thy daughter, thy man-servant, nor thy maid-servant, nor thy cattle, nor thy stranger that is within thy gates; I am generally good about not working on Sunday but the comment here about your servants not working is interesting—how did people who rely on servants to prepare their food get by on Sunday? That thought led me to the question of how we prepare our food and Betsy often does it, but when we talk about division of labor in our family, my official work is to go to the office an earn money and Betsy's work is taking care of the kids. Seemingly as part of that, there is some home care and meal preparation. So if preparing meals is part of her job, should I request to e allowed to prepare the meals on Sunday? If I do it, it's service but if she does it, it's work.

Mosiah 12

Mosiah 12:19 And they began to question him, that they might cross him, that thereby they might have wherewith to accuse him; but he answered them boldly, and withstood all their questions, yea, to their astonishment; for he did withstand them in all their questions, and did confound them in all their words. When they had Abinadi, they questioned him to try and get him to blaspheme. It's funny to me that the justification for death that they most naturally moved toward was religious. What would it be like to live in a society where the capital offenses were all religious in nature? I worry it might be a little like the Salem community when they were hunting of witches. 12:26 I say unto you, wo be unto you for perverting the ways of the Lord! For if ye understand these things ye have not taught them; therefore, ye have perverted the ways of the Lord. if you understand something and do not teach it, you are perverting it? Or does that only relate to priests and gospel principles? And what if you just don't understand it and are teaching it wrong? But he appears to be saying (at least to these priests) that because they are priests, they have an obligation to understand these things. That seems to very naturally carry over to basically all priesthood holders—we are probably obligated to both understand and teach doctrine.

Mosiah 12

Mosiah 12:15 And behold, we are strong, we shall not come into bondage, or be taken captive by our enemies; yea, and thou hast prospered in the land, and thou shalt also prosper. Here, they use the fact that he has prospered as justification for his perceived righteousness. I think we do this often. Surprisingly, thee political left is more likely to make the opposite determination—where the political right stems from a Protestant Christian background, which prizes hard work above dependence, and often associates material success with that hard work and God's implied approval—the political left uses wealth acquisition as a clear example of greed and a lack of compassion. Focusing on the more convenient sin, I suppose, the one on sloth and envy, the other on greed and gluttony. The problem is that scripturally, we have clear examples of God blessing the righteous and taking credit for their success and other clear examples of God indicating he had no hand in a wicked person's material success. End lesson: you can't judge a man by his possessions.

Mosiah 12

Mosiah 12:13 And now, O king, what great evil hast thou done, or what great sins have thy people committed, that we should be condemned of God or judged of this man? we're the people really that unaware of their sinful behavior? How could they be, considering the punishments God was threatening to pour out on them? At this point, it had been at least 20 years since their last war with the Lamanites, during which, they had stomped all over the Lamanites. People now, though, don't think they are doing anything wrong when they sin. I'm thinking of Sarah, who moved in with her boyfriend, and then was hurt when her grandmother looked at her reproachfully for participating in communion. She felt (despite growing up being clearly taught otherwise) that she was not doing anything very wrong, meaning she didn't think it was bad to be having premarital sex or to be taking communion while doing so. Which I don't get. I mean, I could understand most of her behavior—all of it, in fact—except for the part where she didn't think her grandmother should look at her with reproach.

Mosiah 12

Mosiah 12:1 And it came to pass that after the space of two years that Abinadi came among them in disguise, that they knew him not, and began to prophesy among them, saying: Thus has the Lord commanded me, saying—Abinadi, go and prophesy unto this my people, for they have hardened their hearts against my words; they have repented not of their evil doings; therefore, I will visit them in my anger, yea, in my fierce anger will I visit them in their iniquities and abominations. I wonder what was the purpose of his disguise if the first words out of his mouth were, "my name's Abinadi." 12:3 And it shall come to pass that the life of king Noah shall be valued even as a garment in a hot furnace; for he shall know that I am the Lord. This is an interesting metaphor. How often do you think that something is worth a piece of clothing in a furnace? How often do you throw clothing in the furnace anyway? How many Nephites had furnaces? Noah's people, when they brought Abinadi to king Noah quoted it a little differently, 12:10 10 And he also prophesieth evil concerning thy life, and saith that thy life shall be as a garment in a furnace of fire, indicating that regardless of what he said, they heard that king Noah's life was going to end with him being burned up. (I wonder if perhaps his priests took this prophesy as inspiration when they had finally had enough of him, or if it was just their preferred method of killing. Would Abinadi have been burned at the stake if he hadn't prophesied this against king Noah?) The idea of cloth being thrown(specifically) into a furnace isn't something that I can find other references to, but I did find a couple of places where God talks to Moses about burning clothing. In Leviticus, Moses instructed that the clotting of a leper should be burned if the disease was there, And if it appear still in the garment...thou shalt burn that wherein the plague is with fire. The implication is clear, there comes a point where the clothing is unredeemable and must be burned to prevent the further spread of disease. In the Epistle of Jude, when speaking about how we need to concern ourselves with the salvation of others, he tells us, And of some have compassion, making a difference: And others save with fear, pulling them out of the fire; hating even the garment spotted by the flesh. This is a fairly clear reference to what needs tobe burned and what doesn't—the filthy garment, the connection to the worldly sins, has to go, but the sinner himself needs to be plucked from the fire before he is consumed. I believe the fear is supposed to be our caution regarding touching the unclean thing; in our quest to save others, we need to be cautious to avoid falling into the same sins we are helping them to overcome. Anyway, back to the story of king Noah, his life is going to be treated like the diseased garment that it is, spreading its filth and disease all over the kingdom.

Mosiah 2

Mosiah 2:28 I say unto you that I have caused that ye should assemble yourselves together that I might rid my garments of your blood, at this period of time when I am about to go down to my grave, that I might go down in peace, and my immortal spirit may join the choirs above in singing the praises of a just God. ie always thought it was a great thing that this guy wanted to get to heaven in order to join the choir. I wonder whether he sang well in life and loved it or if he, like me, was not gifted in singing and so looked forward to the opportunity to go to heaven where he would be able to sing the way he perhaps always heard his voice inside his own head. 2:3131 And now, my brethren, I would that ye should do as ye have hitherto done. As ye have kept my commandments, and also the commandments of my father, and have prospered... I don't know of I had noticed this before, but these people are (some of them) the group that left the land of Nephi when the Lord warned the first Mosiah to take those who would listen and bail. They left the people who were unwilling to listen to the prophets, and they were either absorbed or slaughtered or driven out by the Lamanites who showed up to possess that land. So when he's talking to them and reminding them that they have listened to the prophet, he knows full well what they were asked to do in abandoning their homes and lands to follow a prophet's word. You also have here, the Mulekites, who I have to wonder about here. They had lost much of their language, had no writing, and had lost their spiritual moorings until Mosiah showed up, talking a fine language, reading out of books, and telling them about God. Apparently they latched onto it, though, as he doesn't distinguish between Mulekites and Nephites as he speaks.

Mosiah 2

Mosiah 2:21 I say, if ye should serve him with all your whole souls yet ye would be unprofitable servants. I'm thinking about this notion of profitable servants. If you are rich enough to afford servants, you must believe that what they are giving you is worth the money you are paying them for performing those tasks, or else you would not employ them, right? And yet, servants are not supposed to contribute to actual profitability, they're jut supposed to do tasks that you don't have the time or willingness to do yourself. So if we provide literally nothing to God, the why does he continue to bless us? My kids don't perform any actual work for me, and when they do help, it's rarely actually helpful, but they provide me joy and fulfillment in my life, which is why I like them. Perhaps God gets something else out of the relationship with us than "profitability."

Mosiah 2

Mosiah 2:18 Behold, ye have called me your king; and if I, whom ye call your king, do labor to serve you, then ought not ye to labor to serve one another? Who in my life could say this to me? And who could I say it to? As parents, are we able to say this to our children? "Hey, kids, I have served you, so you should serve one another?" Or are we precluded from calling that revive since we created those kids, and they didn't exactly elect us to our jobs as their parents? In America, we have the mindset that we owe our kids a decent upbringing, and the best shot at success in life, since we brought them into this life. In most of Asia, however, they take a completely different view—the kids owe the parents because the parents created them and brought them into this life. Which does the scripture support? Moses said to honor thy father and thy mother. The proclamation to the world says that children have claim on their parents for support. Psalms says that children are an inheritance to the lord.

Mosiah 2

Mosiah 2:15 Yet, my brethren, I have not done these things that I might boast, neither do I tell these things that thereby I might accuse you; but I tell you these things that ye may know that I can answer a clear conscience before God this day. Mosiah is concerned that his people know that he has a clear conscience. Why is it important that others know the state of your conscience? I feel like this is not the only case where this is said. Maybe it is, though. I just retread the end of 2 Nephi and the start and finish if Jacob, and didn't see it, so maybe I'm just remembering this section.

Still, though, why do you need others to know the state of your conscience? To that end, why do you need to let others know whether you have a testimony at all? We have our sacrament meetings where we take turns sharing what we know with the other people who have come to church that Sunday, and it often includes the line, "I want you to know..."

Mosiah 2

Mosiah 2:9 I have not commanded you to come up hither to trifle with the words which I shall speak, but that you should hearken unto me, and open your ears that ye may hear, and your hearts that ye may understand, and your minds that the mysteries of God may be unfolded to your view. King Benjamin here asks for three faculties: ears, hearts, and minds. The first to actually take in the message, the second to be prepared to feel something as you do so, and the last to think through what he says in order to have some intellectual understanding of what he is saying. I notice that this is in fair contra position to the mindset or expectation of non religious activists in the US today, who produce bumper stickers saying things like, "the more you know, the less you believe." When I was a missionary, one of the things we told ourselves was that somebody had done a study of religiosity and education that showed that religiosity decreased as education increased except in a few notable cases, Mormonism being one. Thanks to the questionable reliability of Wikipedia, I have found that educational attainment drives or is correlary to religious involvement: "Similarly, studies of Mormons in the US show that Mormons with higher education attend church more regularly than uneducated Mormons. Survey research indicated that 41% of Mormons with only elementary school education attend church regularly, compared to 76% of Mormon college graduates and 78% of Mormons who went beyond their college degrees to do graduate study attending church regularly.[19]

Mosiah 2

Mosiah 2:3 And they also took of the firstlings of their flocks, that they might offer sacrifice and burnt offerings according to the law of Moses; 4 And also that they might give thanks to the Lord their God. This idea of sacrifice as an expression of gratitude is one that I wonder whether it still exists. It was not only common in the Old Testament, but commanded. Is it still commanded? Is tithing a "sacrifice"? I haven't thought of it that way, but I feel that a significant part of the reason I pay it is gratitude. When we fulfill our callings, is that a sacrifice made to show gratitude? Should we think of it that way? I wonder how it changes the thing that you are doing if you change your mindset to be, "I am teaching this lesson to express gratitude to heavenly father for the blessings he has given to me."

Mosiah 1

Mosiah 1:16 And moreover, he also gave him charge concerning the records which were engraven on the plates of brass; and also the plates of Nephi; and also, the sword of Laban, and the ball or director, which led our fathers through the wilderness, which was prepared by the hand of the Lord that thereby they might be led, every one according to the heed and diligence which they gave unto him. This is king Benjamin to his son, king Mosiah. I know it s conspiracy theorist but wouldn't it be cool if president Monson has the sword of Laban? He may.

There's a really interesting article that explores a few things you might not have thought about in connection with the sword of Laban here.

Mosiah

Mosiah 1:11 And moreover, I shall give this people a name, that thereby they may be distinguished above all the people which the Lord God hath brought out of the land of Jerusalem; and this I do because they have been a diligent people in keeping the commandments of the Lord. The name that he is going to give them is the name of Christ. I think it is interesting that he is giving it to them because they have been diligent in keeping the commandments, I.e. you earn the name of Christ through obedience.

I remember the first time I heard this and actually heard it. I was in high school, and a newly returned missionary was giving his welcome me home talk and he focused on this idea of being called by the name of Christ and I thought it was a weird thing and it took me a while and another reading of the chapters to feel like it was correct and appropriate. It is interesting to me still. We are striving to literally become like Christ, not figuratively, but in every sense. We aspire to be called by his name, we hope to reflect his image in our countenance, we try to align our wills to him so that our behavior becomes the same thing he would do if he were here. Basically, we are trying to become exactly like him in looks, name, behavior, and even authority (throug the priesthood).

Words of Mormon

Words of Mormon 1:7 and I cannot write the hundredth part of the things of my people. Mormons abridgment of the book of Mormon reminds me a little bit of the abridged version of the Princess Bride, and Steven King's comments to the fellow who did it. I don't remember the guy's name, but apparently, he pulled out of the original only the parts he liked, or thought were interesting, and skipped over whole sections of the book that he thought were not necessary. Now, a proper abridgment doesn't give undue weight to the more interesting parts of the book but rather, gives an accurate reproduction of the entire work with all sections shortened. That's not what Mormon did with the book of Mormon. If he was giving an accurate abridgement of the whole history of his people, there's no way he would have given so much attention to the wars in Alma, and such a cursory treatment of the years after Christ visited them. Instead, he picked out the parts that he felt inspired would be the most important for us to have.

Omni

More on Zedekiah

Jeremiah 37:1 And king Zedekiah the son of Josiah reigned instead of Coniah the son of Jehoiakim, whom Nebuchadrezzar king of Babylon made king in the land of Judah.
2 But neither he, nor his servants, nor the people of the land, did hearken unto the words of the Lord, which he spake by the prophet Jeremiah.

Zedekiah was a wicked king, who was also a weak king. His city was besieged by the Chaldeans, who ran away when pharaoh's army showed up, and at that point, they ran away. This was problematic for the prophet Jeremiah, because. He had prophesied that the Chaldeans would burn jerusalem, so when they turned tail, the Israelites told Jeremiah he was wrong.

When he says that the Chaldeans will still burn the city, the other nobles ask the king if they can throw him in prison and he replies, 5 Then Zedekiah the king said, Behold, he is in your hand: for the king is not he that can do any thing against you.

So they throw Jeremiah into prison and the king kind of freaks out, because he is scared so he pulls him out to talk to him and is told, Thus saith the Lord, the God of hosts, the God of Israel; If thou wilt assuredly go forth unto the king of Babylon’s princes, then thy soul shall live, and this city shall not be burned with fire; and thou shalt live, and thine house:

He again reveals his weakness of character when he says, I am afraid of the Jews that are fallen to the Chaldeans, lest they deliver me into their hand, and they mock me.

He doesn't go, and then, came Nebuchadrezzar king of Babylon...against Jerusalem, and they besieged it...And the city was broken up. And it came to pass, that...Zedekiah...and all the men of war fled. But the Chaldeans’ army pursued after them, and overtook Zedekiah... and they brought him up to Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon...Then the king of Babylon slew the sons of Zedekiah in Riblah before his eyes...Moreover he put out Zedekiah’s eyes, and bound him with chains, to carry him to Babylon.

They go on to burn Israel, according to the prophesy of Jeremiah. And in all that, somehow, one of his sons, Mulek, escaped with a group of people to America.

Omni

Omni 1:15 Behold, it came to pass that Mosiah discovered that the people of Zarahemla came out from Jerusalem at the time that Zedekiah, king of Judah, was carried away captive into Babylon.

The people of Zarahemla were descendants of Mulek, the son of Zedekiah, and the people he brought with him. We don't know who they were, and this introduces an interesting element to the book of Mormon: were there any priests or Levites with Mulek? Without any, the Nephites had only the melchezidick priesthood. With some, it is possible that thy had levitical priests. I don't think that it matters, ultimately. The king, Zarahemla himself had no written record of his genealogy, but gave a genealogy of his fathers, according to his memory

On to Zedekiah. We learn about him in Jeremiah 37 1 And king Zedekiah the son of Josiah reigned instead of Coniah the son of Jehoiakim, whom Nebuchadrezzar king of Babylon made king in the land of Judah.
2 But neither he, nor his servants, nor the people of the land, did hearken unto the words of the Lord, which he spake by the prophet Jeremiah. So basically, a wicked king. Also, he was a ak king. The princes hated Jeremiah because he was constantly calling them out on being wicked.

I'd like to revisit this more tomorrow.

Omni

Omni 1:13 And it came to pass that he did according as the Lord had commanded him. And they departed out of the land into the wilderness, as many as would hearken unto the voice of the Lord; and they were led by many preachings and prophesyings. And they were admonished continually by the word of God; and they were led by the power of his arm, through the wilderness until they came down into the land which is called the land of Zarahemla. They seem to have been in the wilderness for quite some time. I wonder how long this was.

Omni

Omni 1:1 Behold, it came to pass that I, Omni, being commanded by my father, Jarom, that I should write somewhat upon these plates, to preserve our genealogy— Again, leading with preserving genealogy, which is a bit different than leading with to teach about Christ. Of course my own motivation for keeping this journal is "to document which days I actually read the scriptures," followe closely by a "to record my incredibly valuable thoughts for my progeny," neither of which is "to teach about Christ.

Omni 1:9 Now I, Chemish, write what few things I write, in the same book with my brother; for behold, I saw the last which he wrote, that he wrote it with his own hand; and he wrote it in the day that he delivered them unto me. And after this manner we keep the records, for it is according to the commandments of our fathers. And I make an end. Chemish is an interesting one—he makes a point of stating that he saw his brother make his final entry, says that doing that is the manner they follow, which implies that he may not have read this whole record before putting down his one comment and passing it on. He is followed by his son, who says that he doesn't know of any revelations or prophesies other than those that are already written, which, to me, implies that he at least read the book. He also makes an interesting update on the genealogy thread—in his mind, it is supposed to be the genealogy of the kings, which they're keeping. He almost implies that he doesn't get the value of the plates he is keeping or why he is doing so.

Jarom

I like the book of Jarom. He's fairly humble, with his, what could I say more comments and his brevity. He gives us a picture of the Nephites when nothing dramatic enough for Mormon to decide to copy it is happening. Th Nephites are living, by and large, righteously. They're having wars, but not being overcome. They're working and prospering, becoming rich. And they keep the law of Moses, the sabbath day, and they don't profane or blaspheme. It's interesting to me that he called out specifically profaning and blaspheming. The first is to speak Of sacred things irreverently or disrespectfully and the second is to speak of God irreverently or disrespectfully. The two are very connected, and when Jarom is making his list of how to describe the Nephites, he includes those two forms of respect for holiness.