Category: Scripture Notes

  • A promised land

    I have always thought of this land as promised for the seed of Lehi and for the settlers of the new world. Today I realized that the promise of the land was for all that were brought here by the Lord which would seem to include every migration of significance (and undoubtedly we don’t know…

  • The people of the land

    I never before thought about Nephi’s assertion that the people in the land promised to Abraham had rejected the gospel before they were driven out by the Jews.

  • The death of Ishmael

    Tonight I wondered for the first time if Ishmael died due to the stress of going without food not long before.

  • Questions

    Why was Nephi taken to a mountain he had never been to? Was it just to get him alone or was there something significant about that mountain? I never before considered that the fountain of living water was a representation of the love of God and yet he also clearly stated that the river of…

  • Spiritual laws, temporal matters

    Over and over the Lord points the spiritual direction for the leaders of His church (the directions may be generally applied but the specific calling are for those leaders). At the same time He consistently promised that their temporal needs will be met.

  • An expensive vision

    It is clear from the full extent of what Lehi said from his vision that, like Nephi later, he saw more than the tree of life. He saw John the Baptist and the ministry of Jesus. He saw the scattering and gathering of Israel. I wouldn’t be surprised if he saw his seed like Nephi…

  • Not knowing beforehand

    Neigh days that they were desirous that stream should come with them lest the Jews become aware of their departure. I wonder when he decided that Zoram should come. Obviously by the time Zoram started to flee but did he think it back when he invited Zoram to carry the plates? Did he think it…

  • The intervening years

    I wonder what it was like for Joseph Smith during the time between visits to the Hill Cumorah. Did he ponder often in the things that Moroni had taught him in his prior visit so that he returned at the end of each year with greater understanding of what he was being engaged to do?…

  • A solid beginning

    I am constantly amazed at how straightforward and powerful the opening of the Book of Mormon is as it lays out what it is and how it came to be along with testaments to those claims. Men may choose to disbelieve but they can’t imagine that the book was intended as anything other than a…

  • The name of the church

    The fact that I read the section where the Lord clearly stated what His church would be called in the latter days is interesting in light of the things I read about offshoot organizations this morning. It became clear to me that the term “Mormon” had become synonymous with anything linked to the church—as much…