Book of Mormon Commentary CofC - Odessa, Missouri Community ...

Book of Mormon Commentary
1 Nephi Chapter 1
1:107 Vineyards were found throughout Palestine, especially on the mountain slopes and hills (Isa.
5:1). Drunkenness "was not an uncommon vice in ancient Israel. Noah, Lot, and Nabal are
mentioned as being drunken" (Isa. 28: 1, 7).
1 Ne 1:112 And the Spirit said unto me again, Behold the Lord hath delivered him into thy hands; yea,
and I also knew that he had sought to take away mine own life; yea, and he would not hearken unto the
commandments of the Lord; and he also had taken away our property.
1:112 This does not imply that God caused Laban to become. intoxicated. Knowing Nephi would
not of his own volition kill a man, the opportunity was pointed out and the reasons given for
taking a human life.
1 Ne 1:114 Behold the Lord slayeth the wicked to bring forth his righteous purposes.
1:114 It is difficult for some to reconcile this statement of the Spirit with the working of God's
love and of man's agency.
In preparing the land of Canaan for Israel's return from the Exodus, God gave a strict command to
"utterly destroy" the inhabitants (Deut. 7:2-6). The reason given for this hard policy was that
because of "the wickedness of these nations the Lord doth drive them out from before thee" (Deut.
9:4). As a people destined to provide the cradle for Christianity, God must have had a special
concern lest the Israelites be drawn away to the idolatrous and lustful practices of the heathen
nations now occupying the land of Canaan. While extermination does seem unlike the treatment
which the God we know and love would inflict, there are so many unknown factors entering the
problem that man can do no better than take the scriptural account as the best under the conditions.
Men have their agency to choose good or evil. God does not coerce them through punishment to
choose his way only, but it is in the very nature of their choosing that the results are determined.
They who sow the seeds of evil will reap destruction; "they have sown the wind and they shall
reap the whirlwind" (Hos. 8:7).
1 Ne 1:115 It is better that one man should perish, than that a nation should dwindle and perish in
unbelief.
1:115 The Lord was speaking of the new nation which Lehi and his family were to build in the
new world. It was a necessity that they should have the records of God's dealing with their fathers
from the beginning.
1 Ne 1:117 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.
1:117 A record engraved on brass plates was doubtless rare, and Laban had been proud to talk of
this possession and its contents. Otherwise Nephi would never have known that it contained the
five books of Moses.