1 Nephi 4:18

18  Therefore I did obey the voice of the Spirit, and took Laban by the hair of the head, and I smote off his head with his own ^asword.

            SCRIPTORAL PRINCIPLE/LESSON to be LEARNED:  (stop after verse 18)

            -what is the Lord teaching us with the demise of Laban and the success of Nephi?  (there              are a multitude of principles)

            -what is the Lord teaching us about obedience as Nephi struggles, deliberates and reasons with the Lord's command?

      "therefore" (a summation of why Nephi was to kill Laban)

            -Lord slayeth the wicked to bring forth his righteous purposes.

            -it is better that one man should perish than that a nation should dwindle and perish in

 unbelief.

            -his people could not keep the commandments of the Lord according to the law of Moses   unless they had the law.

            -the Lord had delivered him into thy hands.

      CR:  1Sam 17:51  This event was 475 years since a similar experience between David and Goliath.

            -finally Nephi concedes to the voice of the Spirit and resolves to slay Laban.  The word “therefore” signifies the result of a line of reasoning that occupied the preceding verses.  It is as if he is telling us the rational/reasons for why he obeyed such an unorthodox command.

            -the death of Laban brings up a curious question.  Does the suffering of Christ during the atonement cover the murder of Laban?  In considering this question the subject of whether there was an actual sin/transgression or other breaking of the commandments that occurred, what nature of actions does the atonement cover and what claim does justice have on this (and other such) events?

      “took Laban by the hair of his head and I smote off his head”

            -(6/7/95) we generally glide quickly by these words and hardly give them a second thought, but I think we should give consideration to what Nephi is experiencing in the event these words represent.

      Nephi was an honorable and good young man.  I think we may safely suppose that he did not glory in violence or harm.  His heart was peaceable and his soul enjoyed the gentle things and now he is required to do one of the ugliest things imaginable.  I cannot fathom the trauma of lifting a man by the hair of his head, feeling the weight of his drunken body, swinging the sword and cutting through the skin, the muscles, severing the bones and completely decapitating the head from the body.  Then feeling the weight of the torso sloughing to the ground and holding a head by the hair until he had to drop it to the earth and hearing it hit the ground and then roll til it rested still.  This was not an easy command to keep!  There was not glory in it.  This, when we think about what it entailed, must have been as great a trial for Nephi to experience as any part of this endeavor to obtain the plates.

            -The killing of Laban still represents a question that provides food for thought:  The Lord could have accomplished the obtaining of the brass plates without commanding the death of Laban, why didn’t he?  What is he trying to teach us?  What is he trying to teach Nephi?  Think about it, it must be important… a man’s life was required (as was his opportunity for further mortal preparation in the days of his probation) of it.

     “with his own sword…”

            -My mind wants to rest on this phrase and understand  what the symbolism, that is too strong to ignore, means.  Yet, nothing comes to me now.