The Word of God Out Loud

After arriving in the Promised Land, Nephi told us about his continued attempts to teach his brothers.  He said, "Now it came to pass that I, Nephi, did teach my brethren these things; and it came to pass that I did read many things to them, which were engraven upon the plates of brass, that they might know concerning the doings of the Lord in other lands, among people of old.  And I did read many things unto them which were written in the books of Moses; but that I might more fully persuade them to believe in the Lord their Redeemer I did read unto them that which was written by the prophet Isaiah" (1 Nephi 19:22-23).  What intrigued me as I read this recently was the repetition of the phrase "I did read"—three times Nephi said that he did read from the scriptures to his brothers.  It is interesting to me that he would read out loud to them and not have them read it themselves.  Perhaps Laman and Lemuel weren't able to read the language the brass plates were in and so they needed Nephi to read it to them?  Or perhaps Nephi simply realized that there was power in reading out loud the words of the Lord.

            Other scriptures seem to attest to the importance and power of reading from the scriptures out loud.  For example, Moses commanded the people saying, "When all Israel is come to appear before the Lord thy God in the place which he shall choose, thou shalt read this law before all Israel in their hearing. Gather the people together, men, and women, and children, and thy stranger that is within thy gates, that they may hear, and that they may learn, and fear the Lord your God, and observe to do all the words of this law" (Deut. 31:11-12).  It's likely that many of the people couldn't read and that there were few copies of the law to be distributed, and so reading with the people as a group was a necessity if they wanted the people to know it.  But I think there was more to it than that: Moses knew that there was power in hearing the word of the Lord.  Joshua clearly saw the importance of this as he continued the practice after Moses was gone: "There was not a word of all that Moses commanded, which Joshua read not before all the congregation of Israel, with the women, and the little ones, and the strangers that were conversant among them" (Joshua 8:35).  I love that, like Moses, Joshua included everyone—he was not just reading to the men but also included the women, children, and even strangers who were among them.  While we certainly encourage all to read and ponder the words of God for themselves, there is power in hearing out loud the words of the Lord.  When the children of Israel returned from Babylon, Ezra and Nehemiah and the other leaders understood this.  We read that the Levites "caused the people to understand the law: and the people stood in their place. So they read in the book in the law of God distinctly, and gave the sense, and caused them to understand the reading" (Nehemiah 8:7-8).  Once again the people were gathered together to hear out loud the words of the Lord.  As Paul later wrote, "then faith cometh by hearing, and hearing by the word of God" (Romans 10:17-18).  For those who will truly listen, the spoken word of the Lord builds faith in Him.  This is perhaps one of the reasons that we should even today be reading the scriptures aloud in our families: doing so will strengthen the faith of all who hear.