So, Nephi and his brothers get married. Ishmael, miraculously, had enough daughters to go around, and presumably they matched the sons of Lehi in righteousness. Some were good-leaning and some were a little more rebellious in nature ... or perhaps all of them were spineless enough to just go along with whatever their husbands did. I mean this was several thousand years ago.
One tiny detail here that I find charming is reproduced below.
8 And thus my father had fulfilled all the acommandments of the Lord which had been given unto him. And also, I, Nephi, had been blessed of the Lord exceedingly. (1 Nephi 16: 6-7)
Did you catch that? He thought that his marriage was an exceedingly great blessing from God. So cute.
Next, they awaken one morning and find the Liahona. This must have been very exciting, and also very weird. Here are some questions I have about the Liahona that will probably never be answered:
1. Did anyone wonder if the Liahona was bad? Like if it was from Satan, or one of their enemies? If I were a prophet who had been eating death threats for breakfast, lunch and dinner for the past few years, I might be a tiny bit suspicious of a magical map ball that appeared outside my tent in the middle of nowhere. But I'm a jerk, as has already been established. Moving on.
2. Did the Liahona have any words or symbols on it besides the ones that appeared from time to time? Like a Ouija Board? If so, what language were they in?
3. Who decided that it should be called a Liahona?
Actually, #3 would probably be pretty easy to answer. I'll get back to you on that one.
After they find the Liahona, they started journeying in the wilderness, and things seem pretty OK for a while. Then, unfortunately, Nephi breaks his bow, which was made of steel. Breaking a steel bow seems like it would be kinda hard to do, doesn't it? Was Nephi really so strong that if he mishandled a piece of steel, it just snapped in his mighty hands? Was he messing around? Showing off? I do believe Nephi was kind of a show-off. Bless his heart. Anyway, they try to hunt without the bow and they don't catch anything, and everyone gets mad and blames Nephi because they're hungry. So many issues with families wandering in the wilderness center around hunger. I learned about that in Sunday School today, when we were studying about the Children of Israel.
Oh! Important detail! At this point, even LEHI had started to complain. It sounds like they had to go without food for more than just a day or two, so honestly, I can understand why even Lehi would get discouraged and cranky from hunger. I mean, I get cranky on Fast Sunday.
Nephi, ever the Boy Scout, builds himself a makeshift bow and arrow and asks his dad to pray about where he should go to hunt food. I think it's significant that he asked his dad to pray about it instead of praying about it himself. That seems to be a nice deference to patriarchal authority. As well as an effective usage of guilt to kick his dad into shape.
Both Lehi and Nephi get more than they bargained for when Lehi consults the Liahona and it scolds him to the point where he starts shaking with fear. In fact, the Liahona scared the crap out of everyone in the entire family. Another question that may never be answered: WHAT DID IT SAY?? Oh I am so curious.
Because of this experience, the family learns that the Liahona only works when they are righteous.
Now that they have been chastened and are recommitted to the cause, Nephi goes up a mountain and slays a bunch of animals for everyone. And there was much rejoicing. And, I know I am so hard on Nephi but I just can't help it sometimes, I imagine he was kinda smug and insufferable about that. You know?
Lastly, Ishmael dies, and everybody is sad again. Especially his kids, who presumably were only partially on board for this journey to begin with. Earlier chapters implied that Ishmael was the real camping enthusiast in the family.
Next, out of nowhere, Laman and Lemuel conspire to kill Lehi and Nephi so they can return to Jerusalem. Which, considering their usual lazy manners, seems kinda dark for them. But before their plan can get past the initial stages, THE LORD speaks to them and scolds them some more. Crisis averted. For now.
It is so strange to me that that story is tacked on the end of this chapter, almost as an afterthought. It seems like a pretty crucial event. One that would deserve further explanation. I wonder if Nephi didn't elaborate much because he preferred to dwell on the positive, perhaps. That would seem pretty in line with his character.
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