Book of Mormon: Gospel Doctrine Teacher’s Manual, (1999),
61–65
1. Introduction
a) We
are coming to a unique place in the Book of Mormon
i)
End of the Small Plates and beginning of Large Plates
b) Refer
to chart
c) Our
first introduction to the prophet/editor of the Book of Mormon, Mormon
d) A
series of short books that cover about 450 years
i)
If the rest of the Book of Mormon were written as
briefly as this section, the entire book would be about 20 pages long instead
of 531 pages
e) Despite
the brevity of the 8 authors of these books, they include some important
lessons.
2. Enos
prays for himself, the Nephites, and the Lamanites
a) Reading
1 – Enos 1:1-2
1 Behold, it came to pass that I,
Enos, knowing my father that he was a
just man—for he taught me in
his language, and also in the
nurture and admonition of the Lord—and blessed be the name of my God
for it—
2 And I
will tell you of the wrestle which I had before God, before I received a remission of my sins.
i)
ASK – Who was Enos’ father? – Jacob
(1) In
the last verse of Jacob, Jacob turns the plates over to Enos
b) Reading
2 - President Harold B. Lee said: “If the time comes when you have done all
that you can to repent of your sins … and have made amends and restitution to
the best of your ability … , then you will want that confirming answer as to
whether or not the Lord has accepted of you. In your soul-searching, if you
seek for and you find that peace of conscience, by that token you may know that
the Lord has accepted of your repentance” (Stand Ye in Holy Places [1974],
185).
c) Reading
3 – The Book of Mormon Student Manual says: "The wrestle Enos had before
God was with himself. Sometimes the greatest effort is put forth when a person
contends with himself before the Lord. Such wrestling is the struggle to find
and express one's real desires which are sometimes hidden behind sin, evasion,
and cover-up. Wrestling with oneself involves deep thought, meditation, and
concentration. It means going beyond the cliché level of prayer to the point
that one truly pours his soul into words and offers them to God. Repetitions
cease to be vain, trite, or unfelt. Instead, each phrase is an expression of a
yearning desire to do God's will. Such prayers are assisted and guided by the
Holy Spirit, 'for we know not what we should pray for as we ought: but the
Spirit itself maketh intercession for us with groanings which cannot be
uttered' (Romans 8:26)." (Religion 121-122, Book of Mormon Student Manual,
p55)
d) Progression
of Enos’ Prayer
i)
Stage 1
(1) Reading
4 – Enos 1:3-8
3 Behold, I went to hunt beasts in
the forests; and the words which I
had often heard my father speak concerning eternal life, and the joy of the
saints, sunk deep into my heart.
4 And my
soul hungered; and I kneeled down before my Maker, and I cried unto him in mighty prayer and
supplication for mine own soul; and all the day long did I cry unto
him; yea, and when the night came I did still raise my voice high that it
reached the heavens.
5 And there came a voice unto me, saying: Enos, thy sins are forgiven thee, and
thou shalt be blessed.
6 And I, Enos, knew that God could not lie; wherefore, my guilt was swept away.
7 And I said: Lord, how is it done?
8 And he said unto me: Because of thy faith in Christ, whom thou hast never before heard
nor seen. And many years pass away before he shall manifest himself in
the flesh; wherefore, go to, thy
faith hath made thee whole.
(a) Reading
5 – Elder Boyd K. Packer said: “Sometimes you may struggle with a problem and
not get an answer. What could be wrong?
It may be that you are not doing
anything wrong. It may be that you have not done the right things long enough.
Remember, you cannot force spiritual things.
Sometimes we are confused simply
because we won’t take no for an answer. (Ensign, November 1979, p. 21.)
ii) Stage
2
(1) Reading
6 – Enos 1:9-10
9 Now, it came to pass that when I
had heard these words I began to feel
a desire for the welfare of my brethren, the Nephites; wherefore, I did pour
out my whole soul unto God for them.
10 And while I was thus struggling in the
spirit, behold, the voice of the Lord came into my mind again, saying: I will visit thy brethren according to
their diligence in keeping my commandments. I have given unto them this
land, and it is a holy land; and I curse it not save it be for the cause of
iniquity; wherefore, I will visit thy brethren according as I have said; and
their transgressions will I bring down with sorrow upon their own heads.
iii) Stage
3
(1) Reading
7 – Enos 1:11-16
11 And after I, Enos, had heard
these words, my faith began to be unshaken in the Lord; and I prayed unto him with many long
strugglings for my brethren, the Lamanites.
12 And it came to pass that after I had prayed
and labored with all diligence, the Lord said unto me: I will grant unto thee
according to thy desires, because of thy faith.
13 And now behold, this was the desire which I desired of him—that if it should so be,
that my people, the Nephites, should fall into transgression, and by any means
be destroyed, and the Lamanites should not be destroyed, that the Lord God
would preserve a record of my people, the Nephites; even if it so be by
the power of his holy arm, that it
might be brought forth at some future day unto the Lamanites, that,
perhaps, they might be brought unto salvation—
14 For at the present our strugglings were
vain in restoring them to the true faith. And they swore in their wrath that,
if it were possible, they would destroy our records and us, and also all the
traditions of our fathers.
15 Wherefore, I knowing that the Lord God was able to preserve our records, I
cried unto him continually, for he had said unto me: Whatsoever thing
ye shall ask in faith, believing that ye shall receive in the name of Christ,
ye shall receive it.
16 And I
had faith, and I did cry unto God that he would preserve the records;
and he covenanted with me that he
would bring them forth unto the Lamanites in his own due time.
iv) Enos
prayed for himself, his friends and his enemies
v) The
Lord impressed upon him the importance of the records to the salvation of the
Lamanites.
3. The
Nephites prosper through continual repentance.
a) READ
– Jarom 1:1-2
1 Now behold, I, Jarom, write a few
words according to the commandment of
my father, Enos, that our genealogy may be kept.
2 And as these plates are small, and as these things are written for the intent
of the benefit of our brethren the Lamanites, wherefore, it must needs
be that I write a little; but I shall
not write the things of my prophesying, nor of my revelations. For what could I
write more than my fathers have written? For have not they revealed the plan of
salvation? I say unto you, Yea; and this sufficeth me.
b) Jarom
records many wars with the Lamanites
c) Jarom
describes how the Nephites are able to prevail in these wars.
i)
Reading 8: Jarom 1:11-12
11 Wherefore, the prophets, and
the priests, and the teachers, did labor diligently, exhorting with all
long-suffering the people to diligence; teaching
the law of Moses, and the intent for which it was given; persuading them to
look forward unto the Messiah, and believe in him to come as though he already
was. And after this manner did they teach them.
12 And it came to pass that by so doing they kept them from being
destroyed upon the face of the land; for they did prick their hearts with the word, continually stirring them
up unto repentance.
(1) During
times of great trial, the prophets persuaded the Nephites to repent and they
were spared.
4. Omni,
Amaron, Chemish, Abinadom, and Amaleki keep the records.
a) Omni
contains the records of 5 scribes
i)
Covers about 200 years
ii) The
population of both the Nephites and Lamanites had grown.
iii) Wars
between the Nephites and Lamanites
iv) Important
point is that each of these men kept and preserved the records. Even though, by
their own admission, some of them were not keeping the commandments, they
preserved the records.
b) Amaleki
wrote the secon half of the Book of Omni
i)
Amaleki shows us the consequences of not keeping
records
ii) King
Mosiah is warned to take his people and leave the land of Nephi
(1) Note
how often the Lord leads His righteous followers into wilderness places,
strange places, for their own safety and preservation.
(2) Reading
9 -- Omni 1:13-15
13 And it came to pass that he did
according as the Lord had commanded him. And they departed out of the land into
the wilderness, as many as would hearken unto the voice of the Lord; and they
were led by many preachings and prophesyings. And they were admonished
continually by the word of God; and they were led by the power of his arm,
through the wilderness until they came down into the land which is called the
land of Zarahemla.
14 And they
discovered a people, who were called the people of Zarahemla. Now,
there was great rejoicing among the people of Zarahemla; and also Zarahemla did rejoice exceedingly,
because the Lord had sent the people of Mosiah with the plates of brass which contained
the record of the Jews.
15 Behold, it came to pass that Mosiah
discovered that the people of
Zarahemla came out from Jerusalem at the time that Zedekiah, king of Judah, was
carried away captive into Babylon.
(a) This
people is commonly called the Mulekites because Mulek, the son of Zedekiah,
lead them out of Jerusalem.
(i) Mulekites
is not found in the Book of Mormon
(3) Reading
10 – Omni 1:17
17 And at the time that Mosiah
discovered them, they had become exceedingly numerous. Nevertheless, they had
had many wars and serious contentions, and had fallen by the sword from time to
time; and their language had become
corrupted; and they had
brought no records with them; and they
denied the being of their Creator; and Mosiah, nor the people of
Mosiah, could understand them.
(a) Without
records, they lost their religion and language
(4) By
interpreting an engraved stone kept by the Mulekites, Mosiah learned of another
civilization, the Jaredites,
that had existed in the land (Omni 1:20–22). The Jaredites came to the western
hemisphere at the time of the Tower of Babel.
(a) Jaredite
record is abridged by Moroni in the Book of Ether.
5. Mormon
adds the small plates of Nephi to his abridgment of the large plates
a) Now
we meet the great prophet/editor of the Book of Mormon – Mormon
b) So
far, everything in the Book of Mormon has been in chronological order
c) Words
of Mormon were written about 500 years after Amaleki and after Mormon had
completed his original abridgment which constituted the Book of Mormon and was
getting ready to give that to Moroni.
d) Mormon
describes his impression of the small plates:
i)
READ Words of Mormon 1:3-4,6-7
3 And now, I speak somewhat
concerning that which I have written; for after I had made an abridgment from
the plates of Nephi, down to the reign of this king Benjamin, of whom Amaleki
spake, I searched among the records
which had been delivered into my hands, and I found these plates, which
contained this small account of the prophets, from Jacob down to the reign of
this king Benjamin, and also many of the words of Nephi.
4 And the
things which are upon these plates pleasing me, because of the prophecies of
the coming of Christ; and my fathers knowing that many of them have been
fulfilled; yea, and I also know that as many things as have been
prophesied concerning us down to this day have been fulfilled, and as many as
go beyond this day must surely come to pass—
SKIP
6 But behold, I shall take these
plates, which contain these prophesyings and revelations, and put them with the
remainder of my record, for they are
choice unto me; and I know they will be choice unto my brethren.
7 And I
do this for a wise purpose; for thus
it whispereth me, according to the workings of the Spirit of the Lord which is
in me. And now, I do not know
all things; but the Lord knoweth all things which are to come; wherefore, he
worketh in me to do according to his will.
ii) The
Book of Lehi, which Mormon had already written to cover the time of Lehi, Nephi
and Jacob, would be translated into 116 pages by Joseph Smith, then lost by
Martin Harris.
iii) The
small plates that Nephi discovered that so impressed him would replace those
116 pages in the Book of Mormon.
Conclusion
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