After That Ye Are Seventy and Two

We are first introduced to Nephi, the son of Helaman, in the Book of Mormon in this verse: “And it came to pass in the fifty and third year of the reign of the judges, Helaman died, and his eldest son Nephi began to reign in his stead. And it came to pass that he did fill the judgment-seat with justice and equity; yea, he did keep the commandments of God, and did walk in the ways of his father” (Helaman 3:37). This was about 39 BC, and although we don’t know when Nephi was born, I think we can assume he was at least about 20 years old if he became at this time the leader of the whole people. Nephi was a prophet and leader of the people throughout the rest of the book of Helaman. He left the people around the start of the 92^nd year of the reign of the judges, just shy of forty years after he became the chief judge: “And Nephi, the son of Helaman, had departed out of the land of Zarahemla, giving charge unto his son Nephi, who was his eldest son, concerning the plates of brass, and all the records which had been kept, and all those things which had been kept sacred from the departure of Lehi out of Jerusalem. Then he departed out of the land, and whither he went, no man knoweth; and his son Nephi did keep the records in his stead, yea, the record of this people” (3 Nephi 1:2-3). The older Nephi was at this point likely at least 60 years old. If we suppose that his son Nephi, who was his oldest, was born when his father was 20-25 years old, then the younger Nephi would have been 35-40 years old. Nephi, the son of Nephi, was the same who was the spiritual leader of the people when the Savior came among the Nephites and Lamanites. That was about 34 years after he took over leadership from his father, and so he likely was around 70-75 years old when the Savior came to visit him and his people.

                I was interested in understanding Nephi’s age this morning because of the Savior’s statement to His nine disciples who wanted to come into His presence as soon as possible: “And he said unto them: Blessed are ye because ye desired this thing of me; therefore, after that ye are seventy and two years old ye shall come unto me in my kingdom; and with me ye shall find rest” (3 Nephi 28:3). If Nephi was one of these nine, that means the time for him to come into the Savior’s presence would likely have been imminent since he was already very close to 72 years old. But it’s also very possible that Nephi was already older than that, which, I suppose, would mean he would be in the other group at that point. When the Savior turned to the three who wanted to remain on the earth, He did not say anything about their age but made the transformation come over their body right then: “And behold, the heavens were opened, and they were caught up into heaven, and saw and heard unspeakable things…. They were changed from this body of flesh into an immortal state, that they could behold the things of God.” Was Nephi one of these three? We cannot know—and we are not supposed to know because when Mormon was about to write their names, “the Lord forbade; therefore I write them not, for they are hid from the world”—but it is interesting that after this point Nephi was no longer mentioned (3 Nephi 28:13, 15, 25). This is the last story recorded in 3 Nephi, and then 4 Nephi is introduced with these words, “Fourth Nephi The Book of Nephi Who Is the Son of Nephi—One of the Disciples of Jesus Christ.” If I interpret this correctly, Fourth Nephi was then named after another Nephi, the son of the Nephi who was the disciple of Jesus. In other words, this Nephi of 4^th Nephi was the grandson of the Nephi in the book of Helaman, and he recorded what happened to the people over the next several decades. His father is never mentioned again, and his son Amos followed him: “And it came to pass that Nephi, he that kept this last record, (and he kept it upon the plates of Nephi) died, and his son Amos kept it in his stead; and he kept it upon the plates of Nephi also” (4 Nephi 1:19). What is surprising in this account of 4^th Nephi is that Mormon never recorded the death or departure of Nephi the disciple. As far as I know, this is the only instance in the Book of Mormon where the exit of a prominent record-keeper was not recorded for us. In other words, know about the deaths (or supposed translations) of Nephi, Jacob, Enos, King Benjamin, Mosiah, Alma, Alma (the younger), Helaman, Helaman (the younger), and Nephi. For two of those, Alma (the younger) and Nephi, Mormon couldn’t tell us about their deaths but was sure to record their departure. But Nephi, the son of Nephi and grandson of Helaman, just disappeared. Whether that means he became one of the three Nephites or that he turned 72 and went into heaven, we cannot know for sure.