2 Nephi 4-7
What would you say to your family on your death-bed?
2 Nephi 4:1-2
“The Book of Joseph”
Evidently the record of Joseph was translated by the
prophet, but perhaps the reason it was not published
was because the great prophecies were “to great” for
the people of this day (Daniel L. Ludlow, A Companion
to the Book of Mormon, 130-31).
Some Church Historians have said that Joseph never
translated the Book of Joseph.
2 Nephi 4:5
Proverbs 22:6
2 Nephi 4:6
“Be answered upon the heads of the parents”
(D&C 68:25-30)
(Proclamation #5)
Teach your children these eight things:
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
6.
7.
8.
Faith in Jesus Christ
Repentance (Atonement)
Baptism
Holy Ghost
Work
Observe the Sabbath Day
Pray
Be honest
2 Nephi 4:12
Lehi died!
To the very end Lehi and Sariah kept
their family together.
2 Nephi 4:15-35
“Psalm of Nephi”
Song of Praise
http://www.latterdayblog.com/files/BYU-Mens-Chorus-2-Nephi-4.mp3
v.17-18
“O Wretched Man that I am!”
The nearer man approaches perfection the clearer are
his views, and the greater his enjoyments, till he has
overcome the evils of his life and lost every desire for
sin, and the ancients, arrives at that point of faith
where he is wrapped in the power and the glory of his
maker and is caught up to dwell with him (Joseph
Smith, Teachings, 51).
The more spiritual and individual becomes, the more
sensitive he becomes to his imperfections. The better
he becomes, the worse he realizes he was.
Perhaps Nephi felt burdened by what we might
consider trivial weaknesses to the point where they
cause him sorrow, and he sought to be free from any
vestige of sin.
Elder M. Russell Ballard
"Recognize limitations; no one can do
everything. When you have done the best
you can, be satisfied and don’t look back
and second-guess, wondering how you
could have done more. Be at peace within
yourselves. Rather than berate yourself
for what you didn’t do, congratulate
yourself for what you did" (Ensign,
November, 95).
2 Nephi 4:17-19, 26-29
What kind of sins was Nephi guilty of?
“Nephi’s references to personal sins should not be taken to
imply any serious moral transgression on his part. No man
could have seen and known God as he did who was not pure in
heart.
“Rather, he is almost surely alluding to the ….
anger, impatience, and frustration he must have felt at times”
(Rodney Turner, in Monte S. Nyman and Charles D. Tate Jr.,
First Nephi, 93).
The more righteous a man becomes, the more clearly he
perceives things (Teachings, 51).
2 Nephi 4:27-29
Who struggles to overcome sin?
“The most noble of souls, the greatest of
prophets, need heaven’s help to endure in
faith to the end. Joseph Fielding Smith,
even in his ninety-fifth year,…frequently
said, ‘I pray that I may be true and faithful to
the end’” (Joseph Fielding McConkie and
Robert L. Millet, Doctrinal Commentary,
1:219).
2 Nephi 4:25
“Mountains”
Perhaps many times!
Don’t write it!
2 Nephi 4:35
Sound familiar?
James 1:5
Is James writing specifically to Joseph Smith?
(No James?)
King Follett Discourse
2 Nephi 5:6
(Nephi’s sisters)
I Nephi 7:6
2 Nephi 5:15
How is the phrase “to build buildings” evidence of the Book of
Mormon authenticity?
To “build buildings” (Mosiah 9:8; 11:13; 23:5), to have “dreamed
a dream” (I Nephi 3:2; 8:2), and to “vow a vow” (Numbers 30:2)
are all examples of a Hebrew literary construction called
“cognate accusative.” Though English syntax avoids using
such a construction, “Hebrew and other Semitic
languages…encourage it…
“…Therefore, in using the phrase ‘to build a building,’ the Book
of Mormon adheres to a Hebrew and Semitic practice that is not
common in English” (Paul Y. Hoskisson, in Monte S. Nyman
and Charles D. Tate, Jr., eds., First Nephi, 288).
2 Nephi 5:21
“Skin of blackness”
2 Nephi 5:26
The Priesthood held by Lehi?
President Joseph Fielding Smith wrote:
“The Nephites were descendants of Joseph. There
were no Levites who accompanied Lehi to the
Western Hemisphere. Under these conditions the
Nephites officiated by virtue of the Melchizedek
Priesthood from the days of Lehi to the days of the
appearance of our Savior among them (Answers to
Gospel Questions, 1:124-26).
2 Nephi 5:28-32
When were Nephi’s plates made?
“It is quite clear from 2 Nephi 5:28-33
that the small plates were not
prepared until thirty years after Lehi
left Jerusalem, or approximately 570
B.C.” (Daniel H. Ludlow, Companion,
134).
2 Nephi 6
Jacob began his writing. He taught from
Isaiah and testified of Christ.
2 Nephi 6:8-9
When were the Jews “carried away
captive,” and when were they to return?
“Bible scholars recognize two great
deportations. The first took place in the year
596 B.C….
“The second deportation took place in the year
586 B.C….
“They did return under Zerubbabel in 537 B.C.”
(George Reynolds and Janne M. Sjodahl,
Commentary on the Book of Mormon, 1:282).
2 Nephi 6:14
The Jews Are “Beginning to Believe”
“Not may of the Jews, I take it from my reading of the
scriptures, will believe in Christ before he comes. The Book of
Mormon tells us that they shall begin to believe in him (2 Nephi
30:7). They are now beginning to believe in him. The Jews
today look upon Christ as a great Rabbi. They have accepted
him as one of their great teachers; they have said that, ‘He is
Jew of Jew, the greatest Rabbi of them all,’ as one has stated
it. When the gospel was restored in 1830, if a Jew had
mentioned the name of Christ in one of the synagogues, he
would have been rebuked.
Had a rabbi referred to him, the congregation would
have arisen and left the building. And so, we see the
sentiment has changed. Now I state this on Jewish
authority that they are beginning to believe in Christ,
and some of them are accepting the gospel.
“But in the main they will gather to Jerusalem in their
unbelief; the gospel will be preached to them; some of
them will believe. Not all of the Gentiles have believed
when the gospel has been proclaimed to them, but the
great body of the Jews who are there assembled will
not receive Christ as their Redeemer until he comes
himself and makes himself manifest unto them”
(Joseph Fielding Smith, Doctrines of Salvation, 3:9).
2 Nephi 7:2
Christ asked, “Have I no power to deliver?”
“Save for the exception of the very few who
defect to perdition, there is no habit, no
addiction, no rebellion, no transgression, no
apostasy, no crime exempted from the promise
of complete forgiveness. That is the promise of
the Atonement of Christ” (Boyd K. Packer,
Ensign, November 1995, 20).
2 Nephi 7:6
“I gave…my cheeks to them that plucked off the
hair.”
“Plucking the hair of a man’s face or beard was
looked upon as a shameful way of degrading
him (2 Samuel 10:1-4)….It is descriptive of the
rude way in which (Christ) was treated by the
Jews and the Romans during His final hours”
(Hoyt W. Brewster Jr., Isaiah Plain & Simple,
211). (Matthew 26:67)
2 Nephi 7:11
What happens to those who walk in their own
light instead of the Lord’s?
“Those who kindle fires and gird themselves
with firebrands --- that is, those who conspire
evil and plan the destruction of the faithful or
who walk by their own lights --- shall be trapped
by their own snares. They shall come to a
sorrowful end” (Sidney B. Sperry, Book of
Mormon Compendium, 158). (D&C 133:71)