first nephi chapters 1-11

These are just brief notes.. (lack of proper capitalization is not meant in any way shape or form to offend or show disrespect..)

1nephi 1:1 - right off the bat, nephi says, 'having been born of goodly parents i was taught somewhat in all the learning of my father....' it talks immediately about the importance of parents teaching their children, from languages, to the teachings of the gospel. how important is it now that we see how hard satan is working to destroy the family.

1neph1 1:8-10 - note the level of descenscion.. brightness of noon day and then brightness of the stars being the apostles.

1nephi 2:2-4 - lehi and family leave jerusalem. talks about what they left behind. they were a wealthy family. and lehi left it all. to go dwell in tents. how willing would we be to do the same? because lehi was obedient to the lord he dod what was commanded of him.

1 nephi 2:7 - they're out int he wilderness and lehi builds an altar and offers sacrifices of thanksgiving. they just left allth eir welath and worldly possessions back in jerusalem. and he's thankful? shows how humble he was, and how intune with the lord's will he was.

1nephi 2:15 dwelt in a tent. shows humility.

1 nephi 2:16 - nephi's heart was softened that he did believe in all the words of his father.... nephi had to pray for that, he had to work on that belief. he didn't have it from the get go. his heart was softened. could he have had doubts up until this point? nephi gaining a testimony.

1 neohi 3:5 lehi says, your brothers say it is a hard thing that i have required of them, but it is not i that require it, but the lord has commanded it.... how often do we look at our own bishopric or leaders and not necessarily think of them as instruments in the lord's hands.. but as joe the mailman, not as a servant of the lord. nephi's response is the epitome of sustaining our leaders, i will go and do..... do we support and sustain our leaders with the same dedication? or do we let the humanity the person whose dirty laundry we know get in the way?

1 nephi 3:19-20 the importance of the the plates is three fold: 1. geneolgy 2. scriptures 3. language of their fathers (a teaching tool)

1 nephi 3:31 - lack of faith, relying on the arm of man. how often do we have this same response?

1nephi 4:2 i just watched discovery channel's Ramses wrath of God or man program. it was very cool and interesting. in it is posed the question, did moses really part the red sea? it is suggested as an option that perhaps the Red sea is a mistranslation from the Reed sea, indicating some sort of marsh. thinking on this, i looked to the book of mormon, which has only been translated once, unlike the bible.... and in it nephi makes reference to moses parting the Red Sea, indicating that he (nephi) knew about it, or of the accounts. If it had been a mistranslation, it's a lot further back than anyone expected. but i dont think so. if it was meant to be the reed sea, it hink here would have been the place for it to be. and it's not. it's defintely the red sea. by a second and a third witness shall these things be made known?

1 nephi 4:6 - showing trust in the spirit to guide.

1nephi 4:10-18 even nephi had a hard time following the spirit and counsels of god sometimes.

1 nephi 4: 32-35 - shows the cultural importance of oaths.

1nephi 5"3-5 shows how to properly resolve a conflict. sariah was upst and murmuring.. and lehi said, yes i am a visionary man..... but the three steps he took to comfort her were: 1. agree with her (yes I am a visionary man) 2. to explain (he went into what was going on) 3. and then to teach and tesitify. he did all those things and helped to calm her.

1nephi 7:14 - here we find a direct reference to jeremiah, the prophet of the old testament, and a contemporary of lehi.

1 nephi 11:7 - after lehi's done the tree of life vision, nephi desires to see it as well and to understand it. so he prays and all of that. and the spirit of the lord speaks to him in the form of a man, but nephi says that he knows it is the spirit speaking to him... and the spirit mentions something in verse 7 this shall ye have for a sign, that after you see the tree, a man shall decend out of heaven.. and then shall you witness that it is the son of god.
then in vs 14, after nephi has seen the tree, a man descends and starts talking to nephi. the scripture refers to him as an angel. no name is ever given. but if you look at verse 7, this angel would line up with being jesus christ. this is the one that teaches nephi about the condescension of god, about the crucifixion.. all of that.... the vision goes on for a few chapters.
so the angel is christ. (because we know the spirit testifies of christ, and it is a truthful spirit.. it's not going to lie, it follows the pattern mentioned in verse 7....)