Transcript
Duration: ~45:52
I’m happy to be here today. I’m even happier that all the technology is working. Nobody’s been praying harder for that than me.
We’re glad.
I just want to say at the first, I know people listen to this on podcasts, because I’ve been listening on podcasts. If you are listening on podcasts and would like to see the slides that I show, if you will just email me, I will send them to you so you can look at those. And my email is—if you promise not to send me any offers for diamonds—you can do it to anita lineback at gmail dot com. Okay, so it’s really easy.
So today we’re talking about First Nephi sixteen to eighteen, and I titled this Directors, Cycles, and Ships.
As I was reading this, I just was overwhelmed with the cycles that I kept seeing. And here’s the cycles I see in Lehi’s family, okay?
There comes a problem, or a bump in the road, and then immediately there’s murmuring, and then after murmuring and whatever else goes on with that, there’s chastisement, and then there’s repentance, and then we come to another bump in the road, and there’s murmuring, chastisement, repentance, and it just keeps going on and on. And we’re going to see a number of those today in the reading that we have.
When we last left them, they were camping in the wilderness outside Jerusalem. This is an overview of Lehi’s journey. This is a map somebody made that I trust they know what they’re talking about, but I will make no claims for its authenticity except that it seems right to me.
Lehi and his family have been camping in the desert outside of Jerusalem, so they’ve been going back and forth, right? Get the plates, get some wives, get all of that stuff. And now this map of the Arabian Peninsula: they are going to travel down the east side of the Red Sea, and there’s a whole bunch of little places that they camped, apparently, and this is mountainous terrain, and then at the bottom they sort of make a left turn and they end up along the bottom of the Arabian Peninsula. That’s a journey of about twenty-two hundred miles.
I started thinking about that and I thought about what other journeys do we know. Well, the pioneers coming to Utah from various places in Missouri went about two thousand miles. The children of Israel wandered in the desert, and from Egypt to the promised land was about two hundred and fifty miles. So this is the math portion of the program today. I was very excited about this.
How long—if you’re going twenty-two hundred miles and it took them eight years—somehow I’ve never clicked in that it was eight years that they went. That’s going two hundred and seventy-five miles per year. If you’re the children of Israel going the 250 miles, they’re going 6.25 miles per year—not a real burning speed. And the pioneers were going about 15 miles per day. I just like doing a little math once in a while.
Here we go. They’re getting ready to start their journey.
And it came to pass—I’m in First Nephi 16 verse 9—and it came to pass that the voice of the Lord spake unto my father by night, and commanded him that on the morrow he should take his journey into the wilderness. And it came to pass that as my father arose in the morning and went forth to the tent door, to his great astonishment he beheld upon the ground a round ball of curious workmanship, and it was of fine brass, and within the ball were two spindles, and the one pointed the way whither we should go into the wilderness. And it came to pass that we did gather together whatsoever things we should carry into the wilderness, and all the remainder of our provisions which the Lord had given unto us, and we did take seed of every kind that we might carry into the wilderness.
Now this is amazing. The Lord tells him that night, “Okay, tomorrow you’re going to go in the wilderness,” and then that morning he finds this director outside his tent door. It just sounds fantastical, doesn’t it? This small thing that would point where you would go, and even we’ll find out later it has things written on it. How in the world could something like that happen?
Do we have anything like that today? I mean, before Google Maps, here it is, and it’s telling you.
So they’ve got this—I want to say magical, but that’s not the right word. They’ve got this ball that will tell them where to go for eight years. No battery recharging, nothing like that.
I’ve always thought that we need to liken the scriptures to ourselves. That’s a direct quote from some scripture. And I started looking, and I found an example of where they actually did this in the Book of Mormon. And I’m going to Alma 37.
And now my son, I have somewhat to say concerning the thing which our fathers call a ball or director—or our fathers called it Liahona, which is, being interpreted, a compass—and the Lord prepared it. And behold, there cannot any man work after the manner of so curious a workmanship. And behold, it was prepared to show unto our fathers the course which they should travel in the wilderness. And it did work for them according to their faith in God. Therefore, if they had faith to believe that God could cause that those spindles should point the way they should go, behold, it was done. Therefore they had this miracle, and also many other miracles wrought by the power of God day by day.
And this is where Alma starts likening it. Nevertheless, because those miracles were worked by small means, it did show unto them marvelous works. They were slothful, and forgot to exercise their faith and diligence, and then those marvelous works ceased, and they did not progress in their journey. Therefore they tarried in the wilderness, or did not travel a direct course, and were afflicted with hunger and thirst because of their transgressions.
And now, my son, I would that ye should understand that these things are not without a shadow. For as our fathers were slothful to give heed to this compass—now these things were temporal—they did not prosper. Even so it is with things which are spiritual. For behold, it is as easy to give heed to the word of Christ, which will point to you a straight course to eternal bliss, as it was for our fathers to give heed to this compass, which would point them a straight course to the promised land.
I find that so interesting that Alma is likening—and I don’t know how he’s reading those plates or he just knows the story—how he’s likening the Liahona to them. And for those of you keeping score at home, the Liahona is only mentioned once in the Book of Mormon, and it’s right here in Alma 37. It’s always just called the directors otherwise.
Now Alma’s preaching to his people and he’s using the Liahona, and then I went down a rabbit hole. Because what does Liahona mean? They said it was a director, but I found an article by Jonathan Kirche called “The Direction of the Lord: An Etymological Explanation.” Etymology means the history of a word.
And he says the name Liahona, although it appears only once in the Book of Mormon text, has drawn the rapt attention of the curious and the learned. My contribution builds upon past efforts to explain the possible etymological meaning of the name Liahona. I offer what I argue to be a more plausible explanation than those of my predecessors in light of the Lehites’ linguistic background. My approach is to transliterate back into the Hebraic idioms of the time of Lehi what I perceived that Joseph Smith saw or heard and dictated.
I was really excited about this because I love vocabulary, and I know I’m an old English teacher so that just turns lots of people off. But he said he wanted to look at what, if Lehi was writing in Hebraic terms, those terms would have been that Joseph Smith would have heard or seen in his translation. And then he presents the grammatical elements used to form the name Liahona, which he shows to mean quite literally “to Yahweh is the whither,” or by interpretation “direction of or to the Lord.”
I thought that was really exciting. I can see that not everybody here is as excited about that, but I was excited about that. I really like this name—direction of or to the Lord.
Now, has anyone besides Lehi and his family and his followers ever seen the Liahona? I want you to just turn to a neighbor and say yes or no.
Okay. All right, let me point you to D&C section 17 verse 1. Behold, I say unto you—and he is talking to Oliver Cowdery, David Whitmer, and Martin Harris, three witnesses—Behold, I say unto you that you must rely upon my word, which if you do with full purpose of heart, you shall have a view of the plates, and also of the breastplate, the sword of Laban, the Urim and Thummim, which were given to the brother of Jared upon the mount when he talked with the Lord face to face, and the miraculous directors which were given to Lehi while in the wilderness on the borders of the Red Sea.
Now we have no official documentation that they saw all these things. But we also have no official documentation that they did not see these things. And I thought, oh, so I started researching, and I found some stuff, and I really wanted to show you it, but I couldn’t find it from any source that I was comfortable to put on a slide in front of all you ladies if it turned out to be bunk. But then I did find something somewhere that I was comfortable with.
This is Revelations in Context, and the chapter is “The Experience of the Three Witnesses.” Days later, the prophecy was dramatically fulfilled. It was in the latter part of June 1829, David Whitmer wrote. Joseph, Oliver Cowdery, and myself were together, and the angels showed them the plates to us. We were sitting on a log when we were overshadowed by a light more glorious than that of the sun. In the midst of the light, but a few feet from us, appeared a table upon which were many gold plates, also the sword of Laban, and the directors. I saw them as plain as I see you now, and distinctly heard the voice of the Lord declaring that the records of the plates of the Book of Mormon were translated by the gift and power of God.
So all of you who whispered yes, just give yourself ten points. That was really good. All right, there’s the end of my deep dive.
Let’s go back to Nephi 16 verse 28. And it came to pass that I, Nephi, beheld the pointers which were in the ball, that they did work according to the faith and diligence and the heed which we did give unto them. And there was also written upon them a new writing, which was plain to be read, which did give us understanding concerning the ways of the Lord. And it was written and changed from time to time according to the faith and diligence which we gave unto it. And thus we see that by small means the Lord can bring about great things. And it came to pass that I, Nephi, did go forth up into the top of the mountain according to the directions which were given upon the ball.
So he goes and these directors lead him to food, because that’s a problem in the wilderness. You can’t pack enough food for apparently eight years. So they’re using the Liahona to direct them through words, through their faithfulness.
And then I remembered just last week and the week before we taught a lot about the iron rod as the way to God. And I thought, how can the—there’s two ways apparently, or at least two ways. The Liahona can lead you, the iron rod can lead you. They seem to be different ways to get to the truth.
Richard Paul wrote an essay in 1967, and he said there are two types of church members: Liahonans and iron rodders. And I found it really interesting. I really liked it because he said there’s kind of two different ways to do it: hanging onto the rod or living faithfully and following directions. But I feel like I’m not one or the other. And then I thought, well, I’m sort of like Nephi and Lehi. They use both—the idea of the iron rod and the Liahona. But it’s interesting to think about how you use both the iron rod and the Liahona in your life. Two different ways.
So I immediately went back to this slide I used last time I taught. And you may think, oh, she’s so tickled with the way that slide turned out. That’s why she’s using it again. And you’re right. It’s exactly why I’m using it again. But it talks about having a less direct way and a more direct way to hear God’s voice. And if you remember, personally, that’s why I’m reading what I’m reading for in the Book of Mormon: I’m looking for ways I can—things I can do to hear God’s voice.
So this was the slide that I used, and I thought, oh, I bet I can use it again because it was so good. I’m going to use it again, only this time I’m calling it the Liahona versus the Iron Rod. And then I didn’t like that. So I thought, the Liahona and the Iron Rod. Okay, we can use both.
So there’s my slide: Liahona on one side, Iron Rod on the other side. And then I thought, how are these people moving forward using these tools? So I thought, okay, what am I going to write under Iron Rodder? And the first thing I said: words of the prophet. Listen to the words of the prophet—that’s the iron rod. And then the scriptures—the word of God. We all know the song: the iron rod is the word of God. And then I came to this one: the Liahona magazine. Can you imagine? It was just like made for this slide. And then I started getting closer to the Liahona: personal revelation. And then more personal incentive. And I’m actually going to talk about this with a few other stories here in this lesson. And heart and mind. If you remember, the feelings in your heart and mind.
So there’s a continuum, and the Liahona and the iron rod are both important. But I think it’s really interesting sometimes to think about what are you using at any particular time.
Let me just say one other thing with this. Neither of these work unless you’re keeping the commandments and not murmuring. You can’t hear the still small voice when you do that. This is presupposing that you are doing your best.
All right. Nephi 17. And it came to pass we did again take our journey in the wilderness, and we did travel nearly eastward from that time forth, and we did travel and wade through much affliction in the wilderness, and our women did bear children in the wilderness. And so great were the blessings of the Lord upon us, that while we did live upon raw meat in the wilderness, our women did give plenty of suck for their children, and were strong, yea, even like unto the men, and they began to bear their journeys without murmurings. And thus we see that the commandments of God must be fulfilled. And if it so be that the children of men keep the commandments of God, he doth nourish them, and strengthen them, and provide means whereby they can accomplish the thing which he commanded them. Wherefore he did provide means for us while we did sojourn in the wilderness. And we did sojourn in the wilderness for the space of many years, yea, even eight years in the wilderness.
And remember, this time the Liahona has been working for these eight years, keeping them on track all this time.
Well of course we can’t go very long before we run into some problems, and I’m calling this “doing what the Lord asks.” And Nephi’s got a problem. His bow breaks—his steel bow breaks—and even worse, the other guys’ bows have lost their spring. I don’t know what the life cycle of a bow and arrow is, but I gotta think it’s less than eight years before that happens.
And it says: Now it came to pass that I, Nephi, having been afflicted with my brethren because of the loss of my bow, and their bows having lost their springs, it began to be exceedingly difficult, yea, insomuch that we could obtain no food. And it came to pass that I, Nephi, did speak much unto my brethren, because they had hardened their hearts again, even unto complaining against the Lord their God.
So here we’ve got the problem and the murmuring starting. And then right next, instead of murmuring, Nephi takes some action, some personal incentive. And it came to pass that I, Nephi, did make out of wood a bow, and out of a straight stick an arrow, wherefore I did arm myself with a bow and an arrow, and a sling, and with stones. And I said unto my father, Where shall I go to obtain food? And of course, what’s he going to do? He’s going to ask the Liahona where he should go to find food.
Now I can’t do everything here, but I do know that Laman and Lemuel got so mad at Lehi, or Nephi, they tied him up. They were mad, and at this point he shocks them—literally shocks them. This is where I see it escalating. Every time the murmuring starts, they do something—they murmur, they beat up Nephi, now they tie him up. And now he shocks them. More than once this happens. And that’s when Lehi is able to do—and it says, and it came to pass that the voice of the Lord said unto him, Look upon the ball, and behold the things which are written. And it came to pass when my father beheld the things which were written upon the ball, he did fear and tremble exceedingly, and also my brethren and the sons of Ishmael and our wives.
I’d really like to know what was written on that ball. But it scared them.
And it came to pass that I, Nephi, beheld the pointers which were in the ball, and they did work according to the faith and diligence and heed which we did give unto them. And there was also written upon them a new writing, which was plain to be read, which did give us understanding concerning the ways of the Lord. And it was written and changed from time to time according to the faith and diligence which we gave unto it. And thus we see that by small means the Lord can bring about great things.
That’s about the third time we’ve heard that. Small things can bring about great things.
I’d just like to say, how many of you think that Laman and Lemuel were jerks? Okay. All right. I just want to ask a question to this group. How many of you in here have ever sinned? Oh, I feel so much better being in a group of sinners. How many of you in here have repented? How many of you in here have ever repented for the same thing more than once?
I appreciate the long-suffering of the Lord with Laman and Lemuel. Because the Lord has been long-suffering with me. I have repented of the same things. I have my own cycle. Maybe some of you have your own cycles too, where you’re not where you want to be and you do your cycles. So I’m having a little soft spot in my heart for Laman and Lemuel here as a good example of what the Lord will do for them.
All right. Same issue once more with feeling. How do we do what the Lord asks of us? We’re going to need a bigger boat.
And it came to pass that after I, Nephi, had been in the land of Bountiful for the space of many days, the voice of the Lord came unto me, saying, Arise, and get thee into the mountain. And it came to pass that I arose and went up into the mountain, and cried unto the Lord.
Okay, how many times do we see this when a prophet goes up to the mountain? We talk about the mountain of the Lord or the temple of the Lord. We see this with Moses on Sinai, and we see it other times too. Nephi goes up into the mountain.
And it came to pass that the Lord spake unto me, saying, Thou shalt construct a ship after the manner which I shall show thee, that I may carry thy people across these waters.
Now once again, if I was given a task—he doesn’t say, “Lord, make the ship appear.” He says, And I said, Lord, whither shall I go that I may find ore to molten, that I may make tools to construct the ship after the manner which thou hast shown unto me? I love this. He is thinking, what can I do to make this come to pass?
Now this may surprise you, but it may not. His brothers were not impressed with the fact that he was going to build a ship. Like, how in the world can you build a ship? And why doesn’t the Lord just build it? He could part the Red Sea; certainly he could build a ship. Why is it? That’s a really good question to ponder.
I will say that I always think that the Lord doesn’t ever give us anything that we can’t do for ourselves—that we need to take part in it. But we’re going to talk about shipbuilding.
And it came to pass that I, Nephi, did make bellows wherewith to blow the fire, of the skins of beasts. And after I had made bellows that I might have wherewith to blow the fire, I did smite two stones together that I might make fire. For the Lord had not hitherto suffered that we should make much fire as we journeyed in the wilderness. For he said, I will make thy food become sweet, that ye cook it not. And I will also be your light in the wilderness, and I will prepare the way before you, if it so be that ye shall keep my commandments. Wherefore, inasmuch as ye shall keep my commandments, ye shall be led towards the promised land, and ye shall know that it is by me that ye are led.
Okay, so Nephi’s a shipbuilder now, but there’s another shipbuilder in the Book of Mormon, in Ether. Ether 3 verse 1. And it came to pass that the brother of Jared—now the number of vessels which he had prepared was eight—went forth unto the mount, another mountain, which they called the mount Shelem because of its exceeding height, and did molten out of a rock sixteen small stones, and they were white and clear, even as transparent glass. And he did carry them in his hands upon the top of the mount, and cried again unto the Lord, saying—
Once again, the brother of Jared takes initiative. What are we going to do? I don’t want to travel in the dark. What can I do? And so he makes these molten stones and he takes it to the Lord.
Behold, O Lord, thou hast smitten us because of our iniquity, and hast driven us forth, and for these many years we have been in the wilderness. Nevertheless, thou hast been merciful unto us. O Lord, look upon me in pity, and turn away thine anger from this people, and suffer not that they shall go forth across this raging deep in darkness, but behold these things which I have molten out of the rock. And I know, O Lord, that thou hast all power, and can do whatsoever thou wilt for the benefit of man. Therefore touch these stones, O Lord, with thy finger, and prepare them that they may shine forth in the darkness, and they shall shine forth unto us in the vessels which we have prepared, that we may have light while we shall cross the sea.
I’m not going to spoil this; we’ll get to Ether later on at the end of this story. But that’s the brother of Jared taking initiative, building ships that he didn’t know about.
And lastly, Genesis 6 and 14. This is the Lord speaking to Noah. Make thee an ark of gopher wood; rooms shalt thou make in the ark, and shalt pitch it within and without with pitch. And this is the fashion which thou shalt make it of: the length of the ark shall be three hundred cubits, the breadth of it fifty cubits, and the height of it thirty cubits. A window shalt thou make to the ark, and in a cubit shalt thou finish it above; and the door of the ark shalt thou set in the side thereof; with lower, second, and third stories shalt thou make it.
So now we’ve got three non-ship builders becoming ship builders. And all three of them had successful journeys in their ships.
Now I don’t think I will ever be asked to build a ship. I may be told where to rent a houseboat, but I won’t be building a ship. But I have been asked to do hard things. And I have found I have been more successful in doing hard things when I go to the Lord and when I try to help myself.
The Lord doesn’t—if you’ve got a problem, he doesn’t just sort of make that guy at the office disappear that you don’t like. He doesn’t suddenly make your kids respectful. But if you—I have found in my life, when I try to do the hard things, the Lord will help me. And usually it’s small things, and I don’t even recognize what those small things are until days and often years later.
All right. Same issue, same cycle. Verse 8, Nephi 17—wait, First Nephi 18. And it came to pass after we had gone down into the ship and had taken with us our provisions and things which had been commanded us, we did put forth into the sea and were driven forth before the wind towards the promised land. And after we had been driven forth before the wind for the space of many days, behold, my brethren and the sons of Ishmael and also their wives began to make themselves merry, insomuch they began to dance and to sing. I don’t think this is a bad thing, okay? I just am. And but here it comes: and to speak with much rudeness. Yea, even that they did forget by what power they had been brought thither; yea, they were lifted up unto exceeding rudeness.
Well, here we have the cycle once more. They’re at sea, and Nephi—I’m sure they thought, “Killjoy that he is”—he says, you know, stop that. We’ve got to stop that. The Lord doesn’t want this.
And then in First Nephi 18 verse 10: And I, Nephi, began to fear exceedingly lest the Lord should be angry with us, and smite us because of our iniquity. So the rudeness might be a little more—that might have been a euphemism for what they were doing. I don’t know. That we should be swallowed up in the depths of the sea. Wherefore I, Nephi, began to speak unto them with much soberness. But behold, they were angry with me. Oh, who couldn’t have seen this coming? Behold, they were angry with me, saying, We will not that our younger brother shall be a ruler over us. And it came to pass that Laman and Lemuel did take me and bind me with cords, and they did treat me with much harshness. Nevertheless, the Lord did suffer it that he might show forth his power, unto the fulfilling of his word which he had spoken concerning the wicked.
And it came to pass that after they had bound me, insomuch that I could not move, the compass which had been prepared of the Lord did cease to work. Well, now we’re in the middle of the ocean, and the compass doesn’t work, and Nephi’s tied up—he who is the only one that has any experience in shipbuilding now. And then what’s worse, a storm comes up. And the storm scares everybody, including Lehi and his mother. And Nephi himself says, oh my word, now we’re going to be lost into the sea. And I got to think, eight years we’ve been doing this, and now here we’re going to die.
And then in verse 21, it came to pass that the brothers finally figure out that this is a problem—maybe we ought to untie Nephi. And it came to pass that after they had loosed me, behold, I took the compass, and it did work whither I desired it. And it came to pass that I prayed unto the Lord; and after I had prayed, the winds did cease, and the storm did cease, and there was a great calm. And it came to pass that I, Nephi, did guide the ship, that we sailed again toward the promised land.
I really like this painting by Jorge Cocco Santángelo. You know, it’s really nice. And once again, after the chastisement, help.
Well, okay, it’s been building up since the beginning of First Nephi. And it came to pass that after we had sailed for the space of many days, we did arrive at the promised land. And we went forth upon the land, and did pitch our tents, and we did call it the promised land. And it came to pass that we did begin to till the earth, and we began to plant seeds; yea, we did put all our seeds into the earth which we had brought from the land of Jerusalem. And it came to pass that they did grow exceedingly; wherefore we were blessed in abundance. And it came to pass that we did find upon the land of promise, as we journeyed in the wilderness, that there were beasts in the forests of every kind, both the cow and the ox, and the ass and the horse, and the goat and the wild goat, and all manner of wild animals, which were for the use of man. And we did find all manner of ore, both of gold, and of silver, and of copper.
Well, they come to a land not of milk and honey, but a land of fertility, beasts, and ores. They’ve come to the land. And that’s where we’ll end up in First Nephi 18 today.
So what have we learned today? It’s always not an assignment, not a challenge—or maybe an invitation, unless you respond better to assignments or challenges. What do you want to get out of the Book of Mormon? I repeat that because I am finding that I am finding lots of things for the reason I want to read the Book of Mormon today.
But we’ve learned some other things too. When are you a Liahonan and when an iron rodder? That’s something that I’d like to [consider]. And how can we begin to build our ship, make our bow, or get to the promised land? What do I, Anita, need to do to do that? And lastly, what cycle do we want to break? Do you have a cycle that you want to [break]?
Well, you can use the lessons from Nephi in these chapters of Nephi. You can hold onto the rod, you can listen to the compass, you can do whatever you will. But I think the Book of Mormon is written for us today, so how can you apply it to your life?
I love—over the years I’ve been in lots, most of the organizations—and I love it when I’m teaching in Primary because that is the one place I unfailingly get touched by the Spirit each week. Sometimes it’s in lessons, sometimes it’s in the sharing time presentation that Primary presidency does, but mostly it’s in the music. And I can’t tell you how many times I’ve had tears listening to the music in Primary.
So today, with a prayer in my heart, I’m going to play you a song called “The Liahona” by Angie Killian, and it is a Primary song.
[Song / video plays]
Song excerpt (audible lyrics):
…And I will follow where he leads.
I will follow where he leads.
He’s coming…
I could have just played that song instead of yammering at you for forty-five minutes. And those kids—I’d like every one of them for my grandchildren, I’ll tell you, they are cute.
But let me just say: may we all listen to our own Liahona and keep hold of the iron rod to get to our own promised land. And I say these things in the name of Jesus Christ. Amen.
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