Tag Archives: Lehi

The Man Dressed In A White Robe

09 Thursday Feb 2023

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For ten years I have had discussions with many different people about the man “dressed in a white robe” in Lehi’s vision recorded in 1 Nephi chapter 8. Some firmly believe that he was an angel or a true messenger from the Lord. Others believe that he was just a man. Lehi chose to follow this man and ended up walking through darkness for many hours until he finally decided to pray to God for help. What do we know of this man? We know only two things:

1. He was a man.
2. He was dressed in a white robe.

Lehi’s vision initially placed him in a dark and dreary wilderness. After he decided to follow this man, he discovered that he had been led into a dark and dreary waste and there is no more mention of this man. Finally after many hours of traveling in the darkness, he prayed for mercy. It wasn’t until after he prayed that he beheld an enormous field with a very special tree in the field whose fruit was “desirable to make one happy.”

But this was not Lehi’s first vision. In the very first few verses of the very first chapter of the Book of Mormon we read about Lehi’s vision where he sees God sitting on His throne and then he sees One descending whose “luster was above that of the sun at noon-day..” Then twelve others follow Him and “and their brightness did exceed that of the stars in the firmament.”

But the man who asked Lehi to follow him in his second vision of the tree of life had no glory or brightness to speak of, yet Lehi chose to follow him. The most elect of God’s people are also willing to and readily follow men who dress in white without question just as Lehi followed this man who had no glory or brightness. There is no shortage of men (and women) in this world who desire that anyone and everyone follow them with mottos and promises of rewards. There are many gospels of success and prosperity for the right price. Satan himself may be transformed as an angel of light ready to deceive anybody willing to pay attention. Korihor was deceived by Satan who had appeared to him in the form of an angel. In the Pearl of Great Price, however, when Satan appeared to Moses in chapter one, Moses could tell that he had no glory to speak of, unlike God who had just spoken to him while His glory was upon Moses, so Moses could discern the difference and had the presence of mind to reject Satan.

Some readers of the Book of Mormon might think it should have been important enough to God to make this man dressed in white identifiable (Nephi in another vision identified a different man in a white robe as John but this is another discussion). But I consider the anonymity of the man dressed in a white robe in Lehi’s vision an important feature and not a fault of the vision and its intended message. We must learn by sad experience never to trust in the arm of flesh as one Old Testament Prophet did which resulted in his tragic death. Sometimes such a lack of discernment can be fatal. Oftentimes it leads to bruised egos and also humbled hearts as with Lehi who had become lost in a dark and dreary waste.

Most believers have a shallow understanding of the scriptures and the powerful lessons they teach. We are given those lessons so that we may be wiser than they were and not make the same mistakes that they did. One of the most important lessons is to trust your own connection to God. Trust the Holy Ghost which you should have received if you were baptized.

D&C 45:56 And at that day, when I shall come in my glory, shall the parable be fulfilled which I spake concerning the ten virgins.

57 For they that are wise and have received the truth, and have taken the Holy Spirit for their guide, and have not been deceived—verily I say unto you, they shall not be hewn down and cast into the fire, but shall abide the day.

If you do not have more than a superficial understanding of the scriptures or the breadth and depth of knowledge and wisdom which they impart, it is incumbent upon you to study them in order to know how Satan operates in all his subtlety. But more importantly, studying and pondering them deeply and doing what God has taught and commanded brings you in harmony with Him. And if you are attuned to His voice, you will know when any man dressed in white, though well intentioned he might be, is leading you–whether naively or deliberately–from the dark wilderness you now occupy into a dark waste.


Great Are the Words of Isaiah

19 Wednesday Feb 2020

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It was about 2012 when I decided to make a serious study of the book of Isaiah in the Old Testament and for about two years, I focused on this book alone.

3 Nephi 23:1 And now, behold, I say unto you, that ye ought to search these things. Yea, a commandment I give unto you that ye search these things diligently; for great are the words of Isaiah.
2 For surely he spake as touching all things concerning my people which are of the house of Israel; therefore it must needs be that he must speak also to the Gentiles.
3 And all things that he spake have been and shall be, even according to the words which he spake.

Those are the very words out of the mouth of our Savior, Jesus Christ when He visited the people in the land Bountiful. I no longer wanted to skip over the Isaiah chapters in Second Nephi and because of my intensive studies of Isaiah’s words, I no longer wade through these Isaiah chapters with weariness, but rather, I relish reading them today.  There are four remarkable commentaries on Isaiah’s writings found in the Book of Mormon. They are given by Nephi, Jacob, Abinadi, and our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ when He visited the people at Bountiful.

(Background) In a nutshell

The Assyrians occupied the upper Mesopotamia. For centuries they killed and conquered nations from Egypt to Persia and built their mighty empire on their ruins. Once conquered, the enemies were brutally tortured in order to make an example of any who would rebel. Walls and stone carvings depicted images of people being skinned alive, burned to death, children being blinded before their parents and many more violent and unthinkable barbaric brutalities.

It is no wonder that Jonah fled rather than accept his divine assignment to preach repentance to them at Niniveh. But the terror of his stay inside the belly of a whale caused him to finally humble himself sufficiently to fulfill his mission. And to his amazement, they did repent. But this only lasted about forty years before they were spilling blood again.

During the height of its power, Assyria made a continuous assault on the northern kingdoms of Israel and in 721 BC, succeeded in its conquest, carrying off of to Assyria the last major segment of the Israelites. After Assyria’s fall, however, these people migrated northward and became known as the “lost tribes of Israel.”

The fall of this empire was prophecied by Isaiah, but so strong was this empire and huge and vast, was the capital of Niniveh, that people laughed and scoffed at him. Where once, Assyria was a small northern province of Babylon, it had become a super power. By the time that Lehi would have been born, Assyria would have ascended to the height of its power. But by the time Lehi had married and raising a family, the tide of history shifted. Babylon became increasingly agitated and an uprising was soon at hand.

The fact that hordes of barbarians from the north began descending to loot the mighty Assyrians enabled Egypt to break away. Then Media began to rebel. The Babylonians to the South mobilized, demanding independence. About a decade before Lehi left Jerusalem, the great battle for Ninevah was fought. All dissident factions stormed the city, breaching its might walls.

The Assyrians regrouped, setting up a temporary capital at Haran, where Abraham formerly lived and attempted to create a counter-offensive. It was at this time that Egypt’s ruler, Necho II realized that as much as he despised Assyrian rule, he hated the thought of Babylonian conquest more. He mobilized his armies up the highway along the Mediterranean coast of Palestine and found a surprise at the narrow pass near Megiddo. They found Josiah, king of Judah, commanding an army and blocking the way. Obviously the mountain kingdom of Judah did not want the Egyptians to succeed.

Necho had nothing against them because they were among Egypt’s best customers. But Necho was not about to let them stop him. He sent ambassadors to Josiah, saying, “What have I to do with thee, thou king of Judah? I come not against thee this day, but against the house wherewith I have war: for God commanded me to make hast: forebear thee from meddling with God, who is with me, that he destroy thee not.”–2 Chronicles 35:21

To make the long story short (trying to, anyway), Josiah refused and was killed in battle. This was about 609 BC and when Lehi was well on his way to achieving status as a prosperous citizen at Jerusalem. The fact that he lived down from the city in the land of his inheritance might have contributed to his safety while it is conceivable that Laban, with his “ten thousand” fought in the battle with Josiah.

The next few years war raged between Babylon and Assyria, supported by Egypt. Babylon had gained major traction when it’s king died and Nebuchadnezzar was crowned in his father’s place. In the process of mopping up and sweeping toward Egypt, Babylon swallowed up the tiny kingdom of Judah like a tiny crumb. He ordered his ministers to take some of the promising young Jews to be trained in the language, culture and governmental procedures of Babylon. One of the young men was Daniel and three other young Jewish men accompanied him. Eventually, through miraculous events, they proved themselves to be outstanding. Daniel ended up being the king’s top adviser and the others, administrators of Babylon.

What the Jews at Jerusalem did not know was that the Lord was setting up a series of circumstances, which would be most favorable to them. But the apostate king, Jehoiakim, despised the prophets. During the siege, he had to stop paying tribute to Egypt and begin paying Babylon, which he despised. Soon, though, he stopped paying tribute to Nebuchadnezzar. Before long, he was under attack and died. Nebuchadnezzar raided and looted the temple, then rounded up and carried away captive ten thousand people, including craftsmen and smiths. (See map below).

assyrianempire

With this historical background aside, here are some verses to ponder:

Isaiah 1:3 The ox knoweth his owner, and the ass his master’s crib: but Israel doth not know, my people doth not consider.
4 Ah sinful nation, a people laden with iniquity, a seed of evildoers, children that are corrupters: they have forsaken the Lord, they have provoked the Holy One of Israel unto anger, they are gone away backward…
10 ¶ Hear the word of the Lord, ye rulers of Sodom; give ear unto the law of our God, ye people of Gomorrah.
11 To what purpose is the multitude of your sacrifices unto me? saith the Lord: I am full of the burnt offerings of rams, and the fat of fed beasts; and I delight not in the blood of bullocks, or of lambs, or of he goats…
13 Bring no more vain oblations; incense is an abomination unto me; the new moons and sabbaths, the calling of assemblies, I cannot away with; it is iniquity, even the solemn meeting.

The ox and the ass are arguably the least intelligent of domesticated animals and yet they are both described as knowing their owner or master. Isaiah is speaking to a nation of idolaters. These are His children, His “covenant people.” Yet they do not know Him. The ox is a clean/kosher animal, which could be likened to the Israelites. The ass is an unclean animal and could be likened to all the gentiles (not of the ethnic lineage of Abraham). Both dumb animals know their owners and masters. Yet the Lord’s covenant people do not know Jehovah. The Master’s own covenant people are considered with a covenant curse. To “know” the Lord is a covenant relationship, but to NOT know Him is a covenant curse. In this passage, the Lord is exasperated by the vain temple ceremonies, which were supposed to teach His people how to come to know Him. The ancient temple ceremonies were supposed to keep the people of Israel in remembrance of the Savior’s coming sacrifice. Both ancient and latter-day rituals are symbolic of something else, but as such, they become stumbling blocks to those who are asleep.

As a side note, there is no graven image that is not a product of one’s hands. Idolatry results from consumer demand. The Hebrew word Abad means both to work  and worship. People worship the work of their hands. In this world, there is no economy without an exchange of products resulting from consumer demand. You can buy anything in this world with money. Mammon is the driving force behind the world’s economy. Babylon is the archetype of this system in the book of Isaiah. On the other hand, Zion does not require money. In Zion, all things are given and received freely. The Lord gave to us this earth and all things therein to be used freely and not by extortion or excess. Extortion and excess is exactly how the world operates. They take ownership of the things God has ordained for their use freely and charge a price for them. Excess is the result of one exalting oneself above another or others, thereby creating inequality in a society driven by an economy where money is the medium of exchange. In Zion, there are no rich because there are no poor because there is no money, there being no need for money. In Babylon, however, such behavior is the iniquity of a people. Idols, idolatry and commerce (economy) are all tools of Mammon.

Jehovah compares the ruling priests to Sodom and the laymen to Gomorrah. Sodom and Gomorrah set the precedent for a condemned people and so Isaiah uses it as an archetype to compare His covenant people to. They were abusers and ripe for destruction. And yet the Lord saved Lot and his family. Whenever the Lord is about to destroy a people, He tends to “gather” those few who have not forsaken Him, even by angels. Angels came to take Lot and his family out, even prodding him to leave before they destroyed the city. Likewise did the Lord bring out Lehi from Jerusalem and his family. Lot’s wife probably could not believe that her beautiful city could be destroyed. She was not attuned to the Spirit and couldn’t feel the warning to flee. Her heart was set upon the world in which she lived. So she turned around and was turned into a pillar of salt, good for nothing but to be trodden underfoot. Laman and Lemuel were the same as Lot’s wife. And so will all be whose hearts are set upon their riches–their idols.

And this is only the first half of chapter one. Chapter one is quite an indictment of the filthiness of Israel. She is a harlot whoring after her lusts, forsaking her bridegroom, who is quick to forgive and mighty to save. And though, as we read later in the chapter, though her sins be red like crimson, they shall become white as snow.

If we as disciples of Jesus Christ spend time in reflection and introspection, how do we compare to these ancient people of the Lord? We might be surprised to discover that we are just like they were.

No Samites

10 Monday Sep 2012

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After Nephi fled from his brethren with those who would follow him from the land of their first inheritance, they settled down in a place they chose to call Nephi. Two things have always stood out in my mind. The fact that Nephi had sisters and the fact that we never hear from Sam. Whether Nephi’s sisters were older and married to Ishmael’s sons, thus making this family the clear choice to bring them out of Jerusalem, or Lehi had at least two more daughters in the wilderness–or perhaps both are the case! It could well be that Nephi had older sisters married into Ishmael’s family and Lehi had at least one more daughter in the wilderness, and thus Nephi had sisters, as in plural.

Anyway, there have been commentaries on this matter for at least twenty years. One more thing that I want to mention is that I have noticed all my life how “silent” Sam is. I can’t help but feel that Sam wasn’t completely normal. He was obviously not deaf, blind or lame. He was strong and thus able to make the journey out of Jerusalem and back twice, once for the plates and once more for Ishmael’s family. Sam was intelligent and able to understand Nephi and believe all his words. His brothers had no problem smiting Nephi and Sam in the cavity of a rock after having fled Laban’s home, although the angel only acknowledged Nephi, at least according to Nephi’s account.

But we never once read about Sam commenting on anything. Sam was able to marry and have children. I, personally, can’t help but feel that Sam might have been unable to speak, as in, he might have been at the very least, mute. This is just speculation, of course but it begs the following questions: If Sam was as faithful as Nephi, then why was Sam not given the opportunity to lead or be a leader? Was he not mighty like Nephi? Why not? The only clue we have, which really isn’t much of a clue, but it does shed light on the fact that Sam was the “least of these.”

2 Nephi 4
10 And it came to pass that when my father had made an end of speaking unto them, behold, he spake unto the sons of Ishmael, yea, and even all his household.
11 And after he had made an end of speaking unto them, he spake unto Sam, saying: Blessed art thou, and thy seed; for thou shalt inherit the land like unto thy brother Nephi. And thy seed shall be numbered with his seed; and thou shalt be even like unto thy brother, and thy seed like unto his seed; and thou shalt be blessed in all thy days.

After Lehi blesses EVERYONE, even his grandchildren, he finally speaks to Sam. Rather than bless Sam according to his rank in the family, Lehi saves him for last. Lehi tells him that he is “like unto [his] brother.” Sam’s posterity becomes Nephi’s posterity. It’s just that simple. And the Book of Mormon history proved it. Nobody ever claimed to be a Samite. Many people, even wicked people claimed to be Zoramites, after Zoram who was pressed out of Jerusalem. So people hundreds and hundreds of years after Lehi, were well aware of their genealogy, but not a single Samite. Ever.

Jacob 1
12 And it came to pass that Nephi died.
13 Now the people which were not Lamanites were Nephites; nevertheless, they were called Nephites, Jacobites, Josephites, Zoramites, Lamanites, Lemuelites, and Ishmaelites.

This brings me back to my first scripture. Jacob said that “the people which were not Lamanites were Nephites; nevertheless, they were called Nephites, Jacobites, Josephites, Zoramites, Lamanites, Lemuelites, and Ishmaelites.” These were the people who went with Nephi. This means that there were indeed one or some children of Laman, maybe even Laman’s wife, as well as one or some children of Lemuel and possibly Lemuel’s wife, and some of Ishmael’s household who abandoned Laman and Lemuel in the land of their first inheritance to settle what they would call the city of Nephi. This may well have included some if not ALL of Nephi’s sisters, any of whom could have been married to Ishmael’s son. This was a very telling verse.

Genealogy

07 Friday Sep 2012

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1 Nephi 15:16 And thus my father, Lehi, did discover the genealogy of his fathers. And Laban also was a descendant of Joseph, wherefore he and his fathers had kept the records.

I have begun taking a serious interest in my lineage and will be taking over where my mother left off. She has done a considerable amount of work in tracing our lineage back a number of generations. One thing that I do know is that I was “born to a goodly lineage, even that of Ephraim, the son of Joseph who was sold into Egypt.” What’s more fascinating is that my father stems from Manasseh and my mother, from Ephraim, both sons of Joseph. My family is split with three siblings stemming from Manasseh and myself from Ephraim. My father was born and raised in San Antonio, Texas and my mother in Ciudad Juarez in the state of Chihuahua, Mexico. I was born and raised in El Paso, Texas.

Alma 10:3 And Aminadi was a descendant of Nephi, who was the son of Lehi, who came out of the land of Jerusalem, who was a descendant of Manasseh, who was the son of Joseph who was sold into Egypt by the hands of his brethren.

I look forward to connecting all those who came before me and the stories that they have to tell. It has been a challenge for my family to dig up records from Mexico. I only hope that I can make some leaps from the great steps that they have taken.


The New Covenant, Part 1

27 Monday Aug 2012

Posted by in Gospel Doctrine

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D&C 84:57 …and remember the new covenant, even the Book of Mormon…

Without a solid understanding of the Old Testament, it is difficult for most Christians to understand the significance of the Book of Mormon. Like the New Testament, the Book of Mormon is another testament or another covenant, even the new covenant, which is essentially the everlasting gospel of Jesus Christ.

We cannot begin to understand who the Nephites and the Lamanites were without first understanding where they came from. Indeed their patriarch, Lehi, did not know until he had obtained a record found on brass plates from the treasury of a military leader named Laban. The Book of Mormon begins with the exodus of a small family led by Lehi from Jerusalem into the wilderness to escape the coming destruction and conquest of Babylon. In 1 Nephi 5:14 Lehi discovers that he is a descendant of Joseph who was sold into Egypt. This was the same Joseph, son of Jacob, father of twelve sons who became nations.

Like their predecessors in the old world, these people had a tradition of memorizing their lineage and later in the Book of Mormon, in Alma 10:3 we learn that Lehi descended from Joseph through his son Manasseh. Joseph, son of Jacob who was renamed Israel by an angel, had eleven brothers. These twelve brothers became the heads of twelve nations or tribes as they are called in the Bible. The Bible as we have it today is a record of the tribe of Judah, or in other words, the Jews.

Before Jacob died, he gathered up his family to bless them and to prophecy what should befall them in the last days. In Genesis 49, he addresses his sons, one by one, including Joseph, who in verse twenty-two declares that he is a fruitful bough, even a fruitful bough by a well; whose branches run over the wall. Jacob continues by saying, “The blessings of thy father have prevailed above the blessings of my progenitors unto the utmost bound of the everlasting hills: they shall be on the head of Joseph, and on the crown of the head of him that was separate from his brethren.”

We read about Israel pleading with the Lord for deliverance in Psalms 80:

“O Shepherd of Israel, thou what leadest Joseph like a flock…Thou hast brought a vine out of Egypt; thou hast cast out the heathen, and planted it…She sent out her boughs unto the sea, and her branches unto the river…”

After Jacob and his family settled into the land of Egypt, more specifically, Goshen, after having been rescued by Joseph from a great famine, this family grew into a people so great that Egypt began to fear them. Thus these Isrealites became enslaved. After many generations, the Lord saw fit to honor his covenant with Abraham and give the land of Canaan to his posterity, the Israelites, for an inheritance. And so Moses brought them out and they traveled for forty long years until they reached their promised land. And because of their wickedness they became scattered over time.

Isaiah is a great prophet who wrote many great things that would soon come to pass. He prophecies many things concerning Israel and the trials they would face because of their wickedness. In chapter sixteen, verse eight, we read, “…they wandered through the wilderness: her branches are stretched out, they are gone over the sea.”

We begin to paint a clear picture regarding the scattering of the twelve tribes of Israel, but more specifically, the tribe of Joseph. It is clear that Joseph is the bough, or in other words a main branch of Israel. And his nation becomes separated from his eleven brethren by the sea. When Lehi departed from Jerusalem, the Lord told him that he was to be given a new land of inheritance. This land of inheritance became Lehi’s promised land–a land across the great sea in the new world.