Bade Him That He Should Read

As I read 1 Nephi 1 recently I was struck by the focus on records and the written word. Nephi started out in the first verse by telling us, “Having had a great knowledge of the goodness and the mysteries of God, therefore I make a record of my proceedings in my days.” He continued, “Yea, I make a record in the language of my father, which consists of the learning of the Jews and the language of the Egyptians.” He then bore testimony of that record in only the third verse of the book: “And I know that the record which I make is true; and I make it with mine own hand; and I make it according to my knowledge” (v1-3). Thus he commenced the Book of Mormon with a focus on records which would remain throughout the entire book. He summarized later in the chapter what he was doing with records: “But I shall make an account of my proceedings in my days. Behold, I make an abridgment of the record of my father, upon plates which I have made with mine own hands; wherefore, after I have abridged the record of my father then will I make an account of mine own life” (v17). Therefore he would abridge the record his father had made and then write an account of his own life in what would become the first two books of the Book of Mormon. His records would be passed down from prophet to prophet who would each in turn put a special focus on recording the account of their people and their dealings with the Lord. From Nephi to Moroni there was an explicit emphasis and keeping records and preserving books for future generations, and we are blessed to have a small portion of what they wrote to guide our lives today.  

            The first chapter of 1 Nephi also gives an account of another book which was greatly influential for Nephi’s father. Lehi had a vision in which he saw the Lord and other angels, and “the first came and stood before my father, and gave unto him a book, and bade him that he should read.” It is significant I believe that the thing the Lord wanted His prophet to do was read—surely He or one of these messengers could have told Lehi what he needed to know, but there was a need for him to read. And “that as he read, he was filled with the Spirit of the Lord.” This is surely a message for us; if even the prophet needs to read to obtain the messages of the Lord and be filled with His Spirit, so too do we need to read the words of holy writ to hear His voice. Nephi continued describing what happened to Lehi in these words: “And he read, saying: Wo, wo, unto Jerusalem, for I have seen thine abominations! Yea, and many things did my father read concerning Jerusalem—that it should be destroyed, and the inhabitants thereof; many should perish by the sword, and many should be carried away captive into Babylon.” He learned of the destruction of Jerusalem through the book that he read in the which he found “great and marvelous things” (v11-13). He then went and testified to the people of Jerusalem of “the things which he read in the book, manifested plainly of the coming of a Messiah, and also the redemption of the world” (v19). This book that Lehi read in his vision guided him to preach to the people of their coming destruction as well as the coming of the Messiah in a future day. That is no doubt meant to be symbolic for us—we too have been given a book from heaven, even the Book of Mormon, and it teaches us of both the consequences of sin and testifies of Jesus Christ and His redemption. The first chapter of this sacred record is a witness of the power of the written word, and it is an implicit invitation which bids us to read its words and be filled with the Spirit of the Lord like Lehi of old.