Book of Mormon Commentary - 1 Nephi 16

by Don R. Hender

Scriptural Text [& Editorial]
Commentary & Explanation
Footnotes ~ References ~ JST
            CHAPTER 16

The wicked take the truth to be hard—Lehi's sons marry the daughters of Ishmael—The Liahona guides their course in the wilderness—Messages from the Lord are written on the Liahona from time to time—Ishmael dies; his family murmur because of afflictions. [Between 600 and 592 B.C.]

Wicked take truth to be hard—Lehi's sons and Zoram marry the daughters of Ishmael—The Liahona guides the course relative to righteousness and works according to faith—Messages from God are written on the Liahona—Ishmael dies; and his family murmur along with Laman and Lemuel. [Between 592 and 584 B.C.]
1 AND now it came to pass that after I, Nephi, had made an end of speaking to my brethren, behold they said unto me: Thou hast declared unto us hard things, more than we are able to bear.
2 And it came to pass that I said unto them that I knew that I had spoken ahard things against the wicked, according to the truth; and the righteous have I justified, and testified that they should be lifted up at the last day; wherefore, the bguilty taketh the ctruth to be hard, for it dcutteth them to the very center.
3 And now my brethren, if ye were righteous and were willing to hearken to the truth, and give heed unto it, that ye might awalk uprightly before God, then ye would not murmur because of the truth, and say: Thou speakest hard things against us.

 2a Acts 7:54; 2 Ne. 33:5; Enos 1:23;
     W of M 1:17; TG Chastening
   b John 3:20 (19-21); John 7:7;
     Hel. 13:24-27
   c Prov. 15:10; 2 Ne. 1:26; 2 Ne. 9:40
   d Acts 5:33; Mosiah 13:7; Moses 6:37
 3a D&C 5:21; TG Walking with God
4 And it came to pass that I, Nephi, did exhort my brethren, with all diligence, to keep the commandments of the Lord.
5 And it came to pass that they did ahumble themselves before the Lord; insomuch that I had joy and great hopes of them, that they would walk in the paths of righteousness.
6 Now, all these things were said and done as my father dwelt in a tent in the avalley which he called Lemuela.

 6a all these things were said and done as my father dwelt in a tent in he valley which he called Lemuel When Nephi states that all these things took place, he does suggest that even after the obtaining of the family of Ishmael the group did not immediately depart into the wilderness again. But they did do various other things, likely the working the fields and the two families settling in and the processes of courtship did go forth.  5a 1 Ne. 15:20; 1 Ne. 16:24, 39;
     1 Ne. 18:4
 6a 1 Ne. 2:14 (8, 14); 1 Ne. 9:1

The Times of Settlement & Marriage
[592—593 B.C.]

Certainly after attaining and bringing the family of Ishmael from Jerusalem, the enlarged party of Lehi did not immediately just all of a sudden depart again into the further wilderness from the valley of Lemuel to where they would build the ship in that first land of Bountiful. I would suggest that there was at least one more season of planting and harvesting in the valley of Lemuel, at least one more visit to the international trade port 'city' of Elath to finalize such further needs from that source, and a general time for socialization and settlement as to such 'marriage arrangements and also to establish the high religious nature of their undertaking as to seeking after the things of God and advancement toward the land of promise. Thus during this interim period Lehi seems to have also had his great visionary experience of the 'dream-vision' of the Tree of Life. And the additional time elapsed for Nephi to also have a confirming experience of having recieved the same vision and the 'guided tour' of it particularly suited to Nephi's understanding. There were certainly times for discussions about the meanings of the great vision and what it meant and how it applied to the two families of Lehi and Ishmael and their undertakeings as so called of God to perform. Stretched out over one last planting, harvest and preparation period for their temporal needs of the up coming events, there was also the parallel on going spiritual preparations and meeting of their needs in that respect as well. And then of course in the mix was that of everyone's interests. It was the time of courtship and marriages to be performed as well. So as when those temporal, spiritual and even 'eternal' aspects were settled, it seems that the time did appropriately arrive after about another year's passage of time that 'on the marrow' the last 'object' of their preparation was supplied and their journey was commanded to commenced—onward to the promised land!

7 And it came to pass that I, Nephi, took one of the adaughters of Ishmael to bwife; and also, my brethren took of the cdaughters of Ishmael to wife; and also dZoram took the eldest daughter of Ishmael to wifea.
8 And thus my father had fulfilled all the acommandments of the Lord which had been given unto him. And also, I, Nephi, had been blessed of the Lord exceedingly.
9 And it came to pass that the voice of the Lord spake unto my father by night, and commanded him that on the morrow he should take his ajourney into the wilderness.

 7a Zoram took the eldest daughter of Ishmael to wife Ishmael also had two older sons who married Lehi's oldest 2 daughters who had already started families. Just how old Ishmael's oldest daughter was it would seem that Zoram matched her in his older age. Ishmael' aparant younger 4 daughters were matched to Lehi's four sons, Laman, Lemuel, Sam and Nephi. By this time Nephi could have advanced in age a number of years from his age at the time of obtaining the plates of brass. I would think 5 or more years to age 18 of so, a respectable age for marriage under the circumstances. As will be noted as the story progresses, they all have families over the next 8 years in the wilderness between the valley of Lemuel and the first Bountiful site. If one counts an average of 3 children per family, including Lehi and his wife who had at least two more named sons, Jacob and Joseph, and some implied added daughters(sisters), this would mean 20 some more people (children) added to the party now possibly numbering about 3 dozen plus people in Bountiful, with more on the way.  7a 1 Ne. 7:1, 19; 1 Ne. 18:19-20
   b TG Marriage
   c 1 Ne. 7:6
   d 1 Ne. 4:35; 2 Ne. 5:6 (5-6)
 8a 1 Ne. 3:18; 1 Ne. 5:21; 1 Ne. 7:2
 9a Omni 1:5

10 And it came to pass that as my father arose in the morning, and went forth to the tent door, to his great astonishment he beheld upon the ground a round aball of curious workmanship; and it was of fine brass. And within the ball were two spindles; and the one bpointed the way whither we should go into the wildernessa.
11 And it came to pass that we did gather together whatsoever things we should carry into the wilderness, and all the remainder of our provisions which the Lord had given unto us; and we did take aseed of every kind that we might carry into the wilderness.
12 And it came to pass that we did take our tents and depart into the wilderness, across the river Lamana.

The Liahona Compass 

Now if the Liahona's one spindle would point the direction Lehi's party should travel in the wilderness what did the other spindle do but indicate magnetic north so as to allow Lehi's party to maintain their directional bearings? And this it did as Nephi points out that the route they traveled from Nahom to the first Bountiful was in an eastward direction (1 Nephi 17:1). 		 10a within the ball were two spindles; and one pointed the way whither we should go into the wilderness In other references this 'ball' with two spindles is called a 'compass' (1 Nephi 18:12 & 21) and later it is further named by the name of Liahona (Alma 37:38). Anyone who has ever seen the workings of a simple compass know the function of its singlular spindle and that is to point to magnetic north. And from knowing which direction is 'north' the user of the compass then knows the cardinal directions of north, east, south and west as well as point between. Now as to the exact workings of the various features of the liahona we do not know but we may conclude that one one spindle was that like any regular compass which would point to magnetic north, thus they would know their relationship to the cardinal directions and perhaps when holding the 'ball' compass cupped in the palm of the hand according to one's faith and righteousness the effects would be that the other spindle would so accordingly work to 'point the way they should go'. Certainly from Nephi's own description as to their journey after leaving Nahom and on to the first Bountiful, we ought to understand that Nephi knew concerning the cardinal compass directions for he states that from Nahom 'they did travel nearly in an eastward direction from then on' (1 Nephi 17:1). Eastward in very simply determined when using a compass whose magnetic spindle will always point north.
  Now in passing it may be observed here that with such a 'compass' denoting the cardinal directions, north, east, south and west, and Nephi clearly knowing that from Nahom to Bountiful was an eastward direction, certainly the Nephites and the Book of Mormon writers as well as translators knew will that north was north, east was east, south was south and west was west. Those who attempt to alter the cardinal compass directions to make their personally preferred concept of the Book of Mormon geography fit may will consider that they did have a compass, Nephi knew well from its use which was was east and east was of course east and not north or some other contrived direction.
 12a across the river Laman Perhaps though of little significance, it is of interest to know that Lehi's home in the valley of Lemuel for the last eight or so years had been located on the presumed north of the river Laman in that valley. Thus any evidence to be found might well be further presumed to be primarily upon the north of any remaining river bed there today. 		 10a 1 Ne. 16:16; Alma 37:38-47
     b Ex. 13:21
 11a 1 Ne. 8:1; 1 Ne. 18:6; Ether 1:41
       Ether 2:3
13 And it came to pass that we traveled for the space of four daysa, nearly a south-southeast directionb, and we did pitch our tents again; and we did call the name of the place aShazer.
14 And it came to pass that we did take our bows and our arrows, and go forth into the wilderness to slay fooda for our families; and after we had slain food for our families we did return again to our families in the wilderness, to the place of Shazer. And we did go forth again in the wilderness, following the same direction, keeping in the most fertile parts of the wildernessb, which were in the borders near the aRed Seac.
15 And it came to pass that we did travel for the space of many days, aslaying food by the waya, with our bows and our arrows and our stones and our slings.

 13a we traveled for the space of four days Perhaps this is the first misleading statement which those of the quick read mind preceives to indicated that the journey in the wilderness from the valley of Lemuel to that first land of Bountiful was just such a journey of short stops and short jaunts of a few days at a time over the course of merely only a couple of years. What is more likely the case is that this first timely stop at the place of Shazer was for a very particular reason. And that reason had to do with the obtaining of meat from where it was to be found plentifully for the journey to come. Certainly the valley of Lemuel having been inhabited by humans for such a space of time would have not been the best first hunting grounds wherein to obtain such a quantity of meat.
 13b nearly a south-east direction Lehi's route in the old world is generally agreed upon by most Book of Mormon scholars. The map at the right is representative of general concensus. What is of particular interest here is that all agree that Lehi traveled generally in a 'south-east' direction along and parallel to the boarders of the Red Sea exactly according to the cardinal directions of the standard north, south, east and west. That is, the Joseph Smith translation here has got it right according to the known compus directions as stated in the Book of Mormon. The question becomes, why when in the 'old world' the directions in the Book of Mormon DO coincide with the true cardinal directions of north, south, east and west, do the limited geographic model proponents of Mesoamerica deem it necessary to altar the compus directions just so the Book of Mormon is in agreement with their personal concept of what the Book of Mormon geography must be? Here again we have the actual known geography supporting the four cardinal directions as given in the Book of Mormon without alteration, and only in the 'unknown' theorized model of the new world is it necessary for such as the Mesoamerican theoriest to change north to west, east to north, south to east and west to south.
 14a we did take our bows and our arrows, and go forth into the wilderness to slay food In the true course of a real hunting trip of some days, the men left their families in Shazer and did go forth into the wilderness to slay food. How many days this first of many hunting expeditions did take is not a part of the highly abridged record. But this seems to be the primary purpose of this first stop to stock up on meat for the trip.
 14b keeping in the most fertile parts of the wilderness There is an obvious reason that sojourners with supplies of seeds would stay in the 'most fertile parts of the wilderness' and that is from time to time to spend a planting and harvesting season in growing a supply of various other foods other than just meats.
 14c which were in the borders near the Red Sea At least the first couple of growing season and at least two years was spent in traveling the borders of the Red Sea. This makes sense because the women would be with child from time to time, hopefully delivering during the growing seasons.
 15a we did travel for the space of many days, slaying food by the way This first year of travel did proceed with only momentary stops to hunt food along the way until the 'rainy' and planting season would come again. 		 13a HEB twisting, intertwining
 14a 1 Ne. 2:5; D&C 17:1
 15a Alma 17:7

Lehi's Trail Map 
As verse 13 states, Lehi's party would have traveled nearly south-southeast in a general parallel manner in the borders near the Red Sea (1 Nephi 16:14) as the map here indicates. And at some particular point they would have then 'traveled nearly eastward' (1 Nephi 17:1) to reach where Nephi's ship was to be built. This is also generally as the map indicates.
What seems to be significant is that these directions 'nearly south-southeast' and 'nearly eastward' are precisely as the traditional cardinal directions of the compus do indicate. And this is according to a KNOWN geography. Why then do various theoriest of Book of Mormon geography suddenly need to altar these cardinal directs to make their theorized model of the Book of Mormon fit?
16 And we did follow the adirections of the ball, which led us in the more fertile parts of the wildernessa.
17 And after we had traveled for the space of many days, we did pitch our tents for the space of a time, that we might again rest ourselves and obtain food for our familiesa.
18 And it came to pass that as I, Nephi, went forth to slay food, behold, I did break my bow, which was made of fine a steela; and after I did break my bow, behold, my brethren were angry with me because of the loss of my bow, for we did obtain no food.

Nephi's Steel Bow 
The substitution of metal/steel as the central core of a composite compound bow almost seems a natural concept in a community which smelters and produces various metals for various uses. Timna, a few miles north of what was Ezion-Geber or Elath would have been just such a community. One can almost picture such a composite bow being designed and made out of steel only to find that it was much to strong for the average man to draw and use, little alone to string the blasted thing in the first place. Perhaps just such a bow was a standing prize for anyone who could muster the strength to first string it on their own and then actually draw it to use it. One might just see a teenage Nephi, so large in stature, taunted into attempting the feat. And what to the surprise of the on lookers, first being able to string the bow and then secondly being able to draw it and accurately fire it. Regardless as to the origin of Nephi's steel bow, the metal producing smelters of Timna lie in the background as a three day journey from the Valley of Lemuel for supplies to be a possible ready source of Nephi's steel bow.

 16a led us in the more fertile parts of the wilderness Many presume that Lehi's party was mainly the 'hunter and gatherer' type of people. And to gather you would have to have various plants to gather from in 'fertile' parts of the land. But, if you also paused your journey during the 'rainy season' of planting and harvesting, you would also so need 'fertile' land to plant and grow your crops in. Not that the child baring could be so timed to also occur during the planting seasons, but certainly a journey of 8 years does allow for such elongated stays in the more fertile locations for such replenishing of the field crops of grains, vegetables and dried fruits and such.
 17a after we had traveled for the space of many days, we did pitch our tents for the space of a time, that we might again rest ourselves and obtain food for our families We should not think that the journey was one continuous caravan moving relentlessly across the wilderness until their destination was reached. This statement in verse 17 would seem to be the 'model' of their journeyings. They would advance and travel for 'many days' in the dry season, camping over night and weekends (Sunday) until the wet season. Then they would have been led to a 'fertile location' where they could fully 'pitch their tents' and set up an entire encampment for the 'space of time' for planting and havesting, to rest themselves from the constant travel days, and to obtain food from not only planting and harvesting but also hunting and gathering in the extended land round about. It was likely that every year the party would grow with the birth of children and the needs increase to so resupply and repair their little 'tent city' of families, people and, oh yes, their domestic animals of burden and milk etc.
 18a my bow, which was made of fine steel Nephi's bow made of or from fine steel gives rise to the question as to what type of bow could it have been. The Hyksos are said to have introduced to Egypt the compound or composite bow. A composite or compound bow, rather than being made to have a single 'spring' action of a continuous bending of the bow from tip to tip as is in a wood bow, it is a bow which has two springs. That is from the center of the bow, to each of the two tips there of are designed into two springs, an upper spring and a lower spring. This gives the bow a double spring and a great increase of power, accuracy and strength. As implied by its name, 'composite bow', it is not made from one single material. The article at the right will detail that construction. It would be an easy matter to substitute the 'spring' yielding component, the animal horn, with a like band of steel.

A Bow of Steel 
Many critics of the Book of Mormon, who are poorly schooled but fast to point their fingers, point out that 'steel' was not developed at the time of Nephi and that the Book of Mormon is in error for so referencing such a thing as a 'bow of steel'. Yet many of these same critics hold up the Bible to be the infallible word of God. This is ironic, for prior to the time of Nephi, the Bible mentions and references such a thing as a 'bow of steel' three times in 2 Samuel 22, in the book of Job chapter 20 and in Psalms 18. And in two of those references it speaks of the bow of steel being broken by the arm of the user in such a manner to indicate both that it did happened but at a rarity. (See 2 Samuel 22:35, Job 20:24, and Psalms 18:34) 		 16a 1 Ne. 16:10, 16, 26; 1 Ne. 18:12, 21;        2 Ne. 5:12; Alma 37:38-47; D&C 17:1
 18a 2 Sam. 22:35; Ps. 18:34

Compound Composite Bow 
The 'compound bow' is characterized by having 'two springs' operating across the distance of the bow instead of just one. That is from the center handle of the compound bow, the upper and lower halfs of the bow each has a separate spring component as the following example of a drawn compound bow illustrates. The Hyksos of
the time of Joseph of Egypt, introduced such a composite compound bow to the Egyptians. Such a bow was made of a composite of materials as the next illustration depicts.
The central core of which would provide the strength of the spring action, in this case the shaped horn of an animal. In the Egyptian Composite Compound bow's central core was made up of thin strips of buffalo horn which keeps it shape and gives the strength to the spring action. The strips of horn were attached to wood with a strong reisen and left to set for a month thus combining the wood and horn as one composite unit. Then to further bind the unit together and guard against a possible explosive breakage if the power of the bonded wood and horn should break, animal sinew was beaten into a fine strong fiber which was wound and bound around the structure of the compound bow horn and wood unit. These fibers were incredibly strong and would resist the tention which the horn bound to wood unit would produce. These fibers would be layered on giving the bow its structure. Then the whole of the bow structure would be bound together by another risen derived from fish. But this flexible strong resin would take a long time to set and stablize, up to 18 months to two years held in the desired bow shape and form. Today fiber glass and carbon element is used. These bows could result in a bow strength that often would take two men to string the bow and unlike its wood bow cousin, the composite bow could be strung ahead of time and left strung for the duration of the battle without loosing the tension strength in the bow. The drawn bow would release double the the strength per its two spring components and the distance and accuracy of the compound composite bow was multiply greater than a mere wooden bow. Its speed would be around 200 miles per hour and accurate at over 300 yards.
Now consider, just where could 'metal' -steal- be used to complament the structure of such a composite bow? Might metal 'fibers' work as 'sinew'? And would such shorten the actual time of the 18 months needed to set and stablize the bow structure? Or could it replace the 'hard wood' portions of such a bow? Somewhere in the construction of Nephi's specialized bow, which was perhaps made at the mills of Timnah, the construction of such a bow was enhanced by the use of a strong metal component to the extent that the bow was called 'a steal bow'.
19 And it came to pass that we did return without food to our families, and being much fatigued, because of their journeying, they did suffer much for the want of fooda.
20 And it came to pass that Laman and Lemuel and the sons of Ishmael did begin to murmur exceedingly, because of their sufferings and afflictions in the wilderness; and also my father began to murmur against the Lord his God; yea, and they were all exceedingly sorrowfula, even that they did amurmur against the Lord.

 19a being much fatigued, because of their journeying, they did suffer much for the want of food. According to Nephi's 'model' of their journeying, they would continuously journey from one fertile location to the next during the dry season, not stopping until they reached the next 'fertile' location of prolonged encampment to plant and harvest. It would have been at the very beginning of such a 'relocation' extended period of continuous 'journeying' that Lehi's party so arrived in their new location exhausted and the hunting bows all failed about the same time, Nephi's brothers' bows had all lost their 'spring' and some how Nephi's steal bow also broke. Hungry and unable to immediately 'hunt' successfully until the plants of harvest grew, they did suffer from want of food, likely from rationing what little remained.
 20a also my father began to murmur against the Lord his God; yea, and they were all exceedingly sorrowful There is nothing more unsettling than hungry children left to go without food. Lehi's murmuring likely was not so much for himself but for his extended family, his children and more particularly his grandchildren who were going hungry day to day. And often it is even much self consoling to murmur against something or someone 'else' when in hard times rather than to put the efforts into attempting to solve the problems with efforts that seem to have gone unproductive. Not to say that murmuring against the Lord is correct or proper, for certainly the more productive effort would have been what Nephi did. He put forth an extended effort of making a 'replacement bow' of wood of all things (remember they could all of had 'fancy' composite bows of various types). And Nephi then after doing what he could do, did the most productive thing of all, he had his murmuring father pray and ask the Lord where he might go to obtain food. 		 20a TG Murmuring
21 Now it came to pass that I, Nephi, having been afflicted with my brethren because of the loss of my bow, and their bows having lost their aspringsa, it began to be exceedingly difficult, yea, insomuch that we could obtain no food.
22 And it came to pass that I, Nephi, did speak much unto my brethren, because they had hardened their hearts again, even unto acomplaining against the Lord their God.
23 And it came to pass that I, Nephi, did amake out of wood a bow, and out of a straight stick, an arrowa; wherefore, I did arm myself with a bow and an arrow, with a sling and with stones. And I said unto my bfather: Whither shall I go to obtain food?

Spring Action 
  Sometimes we can become of a one track mind. To some a 'spring' is a wound piece of metal heavy round line into a shap which recoils and 'springs' back. The spring being spoken of in terms of Nephi's brothers' bows, is the spring action of the bow itself, that when pulled the bow springs back. In a compound bow there is a double spring action due to the bow being bent and curved in two direction, the overall forward curve and the two reverse curves at the ends of the bow. Now the statement that their bows had lost their springs could simply imply that when the bow was pulled the bow did not spring back in order to deliver the arrow with much force. It could also be specifically in reference to the two additional spring action ends of a composite bow whose two ends have lost their power enhancing reverse spring actions in the operation of the bows delivery. At any rate, all their bows were basically non-functional. At least the bows of the sons of Lehi. What status any such weapons of the sons of Ishmael may have been in is left out. Perhaps they were not sharing their 'kills' of meat? Nothing worse than seeing someone else eating a good piece of meat when you don't have any. 		 21a their bows having lost their springs In terms of a composite compound bow, this statement of the bows of his brethren having lost their 'springs' makes perfect sense. The very term 'spring' is used in respect to the two compound halfs of a compound bow, the upper and lower spring. It seems that all had obtained the use of compound bows. Of course the others would have been the more common type of being animal horn used to produce the spring mechanism. And once the spring has 'sprung' so to speak, the bow is useless. I suppose the irony of all the bows having failed over time up to this final point of even Nephi's steel bow actually being broken was the last straw. Nephi's bow, when compared to the other's common compound composite bows would have seemed almost indestructible. Yet at the same time, it was only Nephi who had such strength as could have broken the bow. They obviousely blamed Nephi for having so broken the steel bow because of his strength.
 23a I, Nephi, did make out of wood a bow, and out of a straight stick, an arrow Here we further gain the indication that the bows which Nephi and his brethren were using were not just merely bows made out of wood. In deed, after using a bow with the strength of a composite compound bow, a mere wooden bow would have almost been like a toy bow though much 'tall'(longer>. The short Egyptian compound bows were used by the Egyptian horsemen and chariot bow-men. Therein the shorter bow had the advantage over the more cumbersome long bow. And the arrows would have been shorter and easier to handle on horse or in the chariot. The fact that Nephi had to also make 'an' arrow further indicates that Nephi had made a long bow that used longer arrows, else Nephi would have just used some of the arrows they had for use with their compound bows. Why Nephi had to make a long bow here is not a matter of choice or not being able asemble and make a composite bow. The fact is that the length of time to construct a composite compound bow was prohibitive, as it could have taken up a year or two even if the needed materials were at had for the process of lamenating and curing was lengthy. And with the immediate need of meat, there was no other choice. The shorter composite bow arrows are shown here as an example. As seen the 'arrows' used by the compound bows, particularly the steel bow, may not have been just a long stick of wood type arrow. They were shorter and would not have worked well in a long bow as they would only allow a much shorter draw of that long bow. One even wonders if Nephi's composite bow was inlaid with 'steel' then perhaps the shorter arrows for that bow were also? 		 21a Gen. 49:24
 22a Ex. 16:8; Num. 11:1-2; D&C 29:19
 23a TG Initiative
     b TG Honoring Father and Mother
24 And it came to pass that he did ainquire of the Lord, for they had bhumbled themselves because of my words; for I did say many things unto them in the energy of my soul.
25 And it came to pass that the voice of the Lord came unto my father; and he was truly achastened because of his murmuring against the Lord, insomuch that he was brought down into the bdepths of sorrowa.

 25a he was brought down into the depths of sorrow Prophets make mistakes. Jonah sought to hide and was eaten by a whale. Moses took the glory for producing the water from striking the rock and was denied entrance into the land of promise. Joseph Smith made mistakes and humbled himself before the Lord and recieved forgiveness. Lehi murmured against the Lord and was brought down into the depths of humility and sorrow before the Lord. I seem to recall there was one prophet that did not do as the Lord commanded and he was killed by a lion (1 Kings 20:36). That wasn't Daniel of course.  24a TG Guidance, Divine; TG Prayer
     b 1 Ne. 15:20; 1 Ne. 16:5
 25a Ether 2:14; TG Chastening;
       TG Repentance
     b 2 Ne. 3:1

Depths of Greatest Sorrow 
  There seems to be a coorelation between Lehi's depths of sorrow he suffered chastizement by the voice of God and Lehi's statement as to when his son Joseph was born. It would have been during the broken bow event, which puts an added diminsion to that time if Sariah was giving birth and caring for an infant under such circumstances. In 2 Nephi 2:1, the birth of Jacob is also associated with the days of Lehi's tribulation. When Lehi's sons remained longer than away retrieving the plates of brass than expected, Jacob being born would given Sariah all the more cause to complain against her husband Lehi as she did. And that would be days of Lehi's tribulation to have to withstand his child delivering wife's complaining against him as a 'visionary man' of failed leadership. If so, this sets out the times of the births of both Jacob and Joseph.
26 And it came to pass that the voice of the Lord said unto him: Look upon the ball, and behold the things which are written.
27 And it came to pass that when my father beheld the things which were awritten upon the ball, he did fear and tremble exceedingly, and also my brethren and the sons of Ishmael and our wives.
28 And it came to pass that I, Nephi, beheld the pointers which were in the ball, that they did work according to the afaith and diligence and heed which we did give unto them.
29 And there was also written upon them a new writing, which was plain to be read, which did give us aunderstanding concerning the ways of the Lord; and it was written and changed from time to time, according to the faith and diligence which we gave unto it. And thus we see that by bsmall means the Lord can bring about great things.

 27a TG Warnings
 28a Alma 37:40; TG Faith
 29a TG Understanding
     b 2 Kings 5:13; James 3:4;
       Alma 37:6-8, 41; D&C 123:16
30 And it came to pass that I, Nephi, did go forth up into the top of the mountain, according to the adirections which were given upon the ball.
31 And it came to pass that I did slay wild abeasts, insomuch that I did obtain food for our families.
32 And it came to pass that I did return to our tents, bearing the beasts which I had slain; and now when they beheld that I had obtained afood, how great was their joy! And it came to pass that they did humble themselves before the Lord, and did give thanks unto him.

 30a TG Guidance, Divine
 31a Gen. 9:3
 32a 2 Ne. 1:24; TG Food
       TG Thanksgiving

33 And it came to pass that we did again take our journey, traveling nearly the same course as in the beginning; and after we had traveled for the space of many days we did pitch our tents again, that we might tarry for the space of a timea.
34 And it came to pass that aIshmael died, and was buried in the place which was called bNahom.
35 And it came to pass that the daughters of Ishmael did amourn exceedingly, because of the loss of their father, and because of their bafflictions in the wilderness; and they did cmurmur against my father, because he had brought them out of the land of Jerusalem, saying: Our father is dead; yea, and we have wandered much in the wilderness, and we have suffered much affliction, hunger, thirst, and fatigue; and after all these sufferings we must perish in the wilderness with hunger.

 33a after we had traveled for the space of many days we did pitch our tents again, that we might tarry for the space of time Again, here is the patern of their journeyings. They would travel condintuously, just 'camping' at nights and 'Sundays' for many days, likely for an entire 'dry season'. And then they would again 'pitch' their tents for a lengthy encampment so as to tarry for 'the' space of a time. I suggest that that 'space of time' was the wet season for planting, harvesting, building back up their food supplies, reparing their tents, resting, hunting and gathering, etc. If so, they would have likely journeyed for at least 2 years before Ishmael's death at Nahom/Naham.  34a 1 Ne. 7:2-6, 19
     b HEB probably "consolation," from
       naham, "be sorry, console oneself"
 35a TG Mourning
     b TG Affliction
     c TG Murmuring
36 And thus they did murmur against my father, and also against me; and they were desirous to areturn again to Jerusalem.
37 And Laman said unto Lemuel and also unto the sons of Ishmael: Behold, let us aslay our father, and also our brother Nephi, who has taken it upon him to be our bruler and our teacher, who are his elder brethren.
38 Now, he says that the Lord has talked with him, and also that aangels have ministered unto him. But behold, we know that he lies unto us; and he tells us these things, and he worketh many things by his cunning arts, that he may deceive our eyesa, thinking, perhaps, that he may lead us away into some strange wilderness; and after he has led us away, he has thought to make himself a king and a ruler over us, that he may do with us according to his will and pleasure. And after this manner did my brother Laman bstir up their hearts to canger.

 38a and he worketh many things by his cunning arts, that he may deceive our eyes There is some evidence that over the duration of being 'exceedingly young' at the onset of departing Jerusalem, over the 8 years at the valley of Lemuel and the likely 'tours' to 'Elath', that Nephi had come to have learned many 'skills' and 'arts'. Why weren't his brothers able to make themselves 'worthy bows' just out of wood? Who taught Nephi to take raw ore and smelter it and form it into tools? Where had Nephi been to have learned to judge what was the difference between man's manner of ship building compared to the Lord's instruction to Nephi how to build their ship? When they arrived in the land of promise Nephi knew how to smelter and work with various metal ores and how to be industrious and build builtings and form a society. Certainly in comparison, Laman did fool himself into contriving that Nephi's obtained 'talents' were 'arts to deceive', for Nephi, once the youngest of the four brohter, had come to learn much. This shows that Nephi was 'industrious' to learn and improve, while Laman and Lemuel were not. Many non-Mormons had just such an opinion and jealousy of their industrious Mormon neighbors in Missouri.  36a Num. 14:4 (1-5)
 37a 1 Ne. 17:44; 2 Ne. 1:24; TG Murder
     b Gen. 37:10 (9-11); Num. 16:13;
       1 Ne. 2:22; 1 Ne. 18:10
 38a 1 Ne. 3:30-31; 1 Ne. 4:3
     b TG Provoking
     c TG Anger
39 And it came to pass that the Lord was with us, yea, even the voice of the Lord came and did speak many words unto thema, and did achasten them exceedingly; and after they were chastened by the voice of the Lorda they did turn away their anger, and did repent of their sins, insomuch that the Lord did bless us again with food, that we did not perish.

 39a the voice of the Lord came and did speak many words unto them ... they were chastened by the voice of the Lord Laman and Lemuel had see an angel of the Lord, they had seen the power of the Lord at word in a number of instances and now they would hear the 'voice of God'. Physical experience and evidence alone does not result in lasting conversion. The children of Israel had heard the voice of God in the wilderness, yet they did murmur and failed to follow God's commands continually. On the other hand such as Saul or Paul the apostle did hear the voice of God and was converted. Alma the younger did see an angel and he was converted. Personal acceptance followed by repentance and then a continued effort in the Lord combined by lasting spiritual conversion is required. Some say show me the pysical sign. But that alone is not enough. Though through this experience the remain years of travel in the wilderness would run somewhat smoother, by the time of the place called Bountiful the old habits of Laman and Lemuel would have returned and the experience of being called to repentance by the very voice of God would have faded.  39a TG Chastening
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