Nephi and Moses

It seems that Nephi really connected with the story of Moses and the two certainly had a lot of similarities.  He first spoke of Moses when his brothers doubted they could really obtain the plates from Laban.  Nephi encouraged them with these words: “Therefore let us go up; let us be strong like unto Moses; for he truly spake unto the waters of the Red Sea and they divided hither and thither, and our fathers came through, out of captivity, on dry ground, and the armies of Pharaoh did follow and were drowned in the waters of the Red Sea” (1 Nephi 4:2).  In this difficult moment when the task of getting the plates seemed impossible to his brothers, Nephi took courage from Moses knowing that if the Lord could perform such a great miracle for Moses, He would do it for Nephi as well.  Nephi would face many great challenges the rest of his life and surely this wasn’t the only time that he gained strength from Moses’s miraculous crossing of the Red Sea.  

               Nephi again referenced Moses and the story of the children of Israel when he was teaching his brothers after they refused to work to build the ship.  Nephi recounted how “Moses was commanded of the Lord to do that great work,” clearly suggesting that he too had a great work to accomplish in getting his family to the Promised Land.  Faced with a monumental task, I think Nephi gained confidence from knowing that Moses had succeeded in his mission.  Nephi also reminded his brothers of how the Lord had miraculously preserved the children of Israel in the wilderness.  They were “fed with manna” and then “Moses, by his word according to the power of God which was in him, smote the rock, and there came forth water, that the children of Israel might quench their thirst”  Nephi was likely trying to tell his brothers that the Lord had miraculously preserved their company as they traveled across their own desert.  Nephi spoke as well of how the Israelites “hardened their hearts and blinded their minds” in the wilderness even though they had seen such great miracles” (1 Nephi 17:26-30).  His brothers too had problems of forgetting what the Lord had done for them.  Even though they had seen an angel who confirmed the necessity and importance of their voyage to the Promised Land, Laman and Lemuel still complained and threatened to kill Nephi.  Nephi must have felt just like Moses in this regard—he had to deal with those who lacked faith despite seeing miraculous things. 

               Later Nephi told us that he did “read many things unto [his brothers] which were written in the books of Moses” (1 Nephi 19:23).  His experience crossing the wilderness, dealing with rebellious brothers, and ultimately seeing God’s miraculous powers must have drawn him to the books of Moses in which he could read about the Exodus and the faith of Moses.  Lehi told his son Joseph that the future Joseph Smith would be “great like unto Moses,” and surely we could add as well that Nephi was great like unto Moses (2 Nephi 3:9).  Both Nephi and Moses showed their faithfulness and loyalty to the Lord despite the many challenges around them.