“the
Lord commanded him…”
-Lehi had just prophesied, now the Lord will help that
righteous prophesy come to pass.
“should again return unto .. Jerusalem…”
-here we go again. Why?
The questions in reference to the
voyage back for the plates of brass are applicable here: i.e. Why didn’t the Lord accomplish this in a
more “convenient” manner (have them bring Ishmael’s family on one of the two
earlier departures or visit Ishmael in a vision and lead him down to Lehi? Perhaps the Spirit had tried to do so but
Ishmael was not listening… what a lesson this could teach us about being in
tune?!)?
-the first voyage back to Jerusalem had supposedly taught
different family members (Sariah, Laman and Lemuel, etc.) some lessons. Here was a chance to redeem themselves and
try again. Let’s see how much they’ve
grown. To fail is OK, the question then becomes: what degree of humility did we receive the
previous lesson with? Have we really
grown or was the experience for naught?
I suppose the nature of this mortal experience and our triumph over it
may be essentially broken down to an analysis of a similar kind/theme.
“should… bring down Ishmael and his
family into the wilderness.”
-a very curious commandment since it directly deals with
another’s agency. Often we feel that our
likelihood to succeed at some worthy endeavor is easily frustrated because of
another’s agency. Brigham Young was once
faced with a similar dilemma. Joseph
commanded him to go to Canada and convert a man and his family and bring them
back to Kirtland since it was determined that this man was the only one with
the ability to build a structure as grand as the House of the Lord should be
(Brigham was also commanded to bring back, with this man, a substantial amount
of money to fund the construction –upwards of $1,000). I suppose that there are at least two
principles that come to bear in these situations:
1. success will be determined to a large degree
on the amount of faith held by those engaged in the mission: Does Nephi believe that the Lord will move or
constrain Ishmael to come down into the wilderness; Did Brigham believe that Joseph’s command
held any degree or legitimacy or spark of divinity? The faith required to convince a person to
engage their agency in a direction they might not necessarily be inclined to go
naturally must needs require a monumental demonstration including fervent and
consistent prayer, great fasting, dedicated mental energy, unquestioned
righteousness and other things I don’t assume to know about.
2. The direct involvement of the hand of the
Lord as a convincing agent to those whose agency is the focus of the
efforts. After all we can do to persuade
others toward a desired course (short of physical coercion) the Lord must be
the catalyst for changing hearts. God is
perfectly educated and situated to
convince a man or woman as to the way they should move. When Alma the Younger would not be turned
from his wickedness by the preaching and payers of his father (although this is
not to say that his father’s efforts were not necessary or to no avail; on the
contrary, the Lord may never have intervened had Alma Sr. not performed the
sufficient preparatory sacrifice –in other words, step #1 above necessarily
precedes step #2) the Lord was well able to provide sufficient cause for Alma
to turn, even when that turning was the object Alma the Younger used his
freedom to fight against most.
-who
as Ismael and family? What was their
prior relationship to Lehi’s family?
Were they neighbors, attendees at the same social or religious events? Clearly this turn of events was known to God
years and decades earlier. The
association of the two families –Lehi and Ishmael- was set in place at some
time previous.
-this situation also provides an interesting comparison
to the object of the first journey back to Jerusalem (obtaining the
plates). It occurs to me that the Lord’s
command: “Bring down Ishmael… into the
wilderness” could be considered with the question, “how?” Should Ishmael be treated in the same manner
that Laban ultimately was? Which would result in something to the effect of him
being knocked out cold and drug as
captives down to Lehi?! No, Ishmael’s
circumstance would prove to be different.
He was to be convinced of the correctness of the proposition (unlike
Laban who would not be convinced –thus showing to us the ultimate end of those
who fight against God and those who align their lives to His design. His designs will ultimately be fulfilled, the
question is “where will we be when His will is accomplished”?).
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