Rel A 121 Reading Questions

for Wednesday, February 3

The Small Plates (Nephi1’s abridgment of his own record on the Large Plates)
1 Nephi V [16:1–19:21]

1. Given the immediate context, when Nephi1 says “I … had been blessed of the Lord
exceedingly” (1 Nephi 16:8) what (or whom) is he referring to?

As you follow Lehi1’s family through their wilderness journey, you may want to refer to the map
on page 599 in the MISE. It’s very simple, but it’s based on extensive research that people have
done tracking Lehi1’s movement through Jordan, Saudi Arabia, Yemen, and Oman.

2. Lehi1 discovers a “round ball of curious workmanship” outside his tent. It pointed the
way to go in the wilderness, but Nephi1 observes that the pointers only work according to
what two factors?

3. Usually when Lehi1’s family makes a stop, they invent a name for the place; the only
exception is when they stop “in the place which was [already] called Nahom” (1 Nephi
16:34; cf. 1 Nephi 2:8; 16:6, 13; 17:5). Watch the one-minute video available at
https://knowhy.bookofmormoncentral.org/knowhy/who-called-ishmaels-burial-place-
nahom. Why has Nahom become famous for students of the Book of Mormon?

4. How many years did Lehi1’s family sojourn in the wilderness?

5. Laman1 and Lemuel claim that “the people who were in the land of Jerusalem were a
righteous people.” What do they provide as evidence for that claim? What does this show
about Laman1 and Lemuel’s religious views?

6. Nephi1 makes the argument that “the Lord esteemeth all flesh in one; he that is righteous
is favored of God.” (In other words, it doesn’t matter what your genealogy is, the Lord
 blesses you based on your obedience to divine commandments.) What stories does he use
to highlight this point?

7. Nephi1 tells the story of Moses raising a brass serpent for the Israelites to look at. What
detail do we learn from Nephi1’s telling that we don’t find in the biblical version
(Numbers 21:4–9)?

8. While sailing on the ship, what finally persuaded Laman1 and Lemuel to untie Nephi1?

9. Nephi1 admits there might be errors in the account he has made. How does he account for
this?

10. Remember that Nephi-the-narrator here in 1 Nephi is not Nephi-the-teenager in the desert
or even young-adult-Nephi newly arrived in the Promised Land, but Old-King-Nephi
writing retrospectively decades later. In 1 Nephi 19, this older Nephi1 takes a break from
the story to reflect on Christ, drawing upon prophecies from an angel and three prophets
from the brass plates, Zenock [‘Zenoch’ in the Original Manuscript], Neum, and Zenos.
Unlike his teenage self, who did not understand “the condescension of God,” this mature
Nephi1 now fully understands that Jehovah, “the God of our fathers, … yea, the God of
Abraham, and of Isaac, and the God of Jacob, [will yield] himself … as a __________.”