Lehi's Dream, or Vision--Rejoices Because of Nephi and Sam--Fears
Concerning Laman and Lemuel--His Entreaties to Them--Gathered Seeds
and Grain--Five Marriages--Lehi had Faithfully kept Commandments of
the Lord--Nephi's Development--Experience in Wilderness Necessary to
Prepare Colony for the Future--Lehi Commanded to Travel--Miraculous
Brass Ball, called Liahona--How it Operated--Travel in S. S. E.
Direction--Hunt for Game--Led Through most Fertile parts of the
Desert.
While they were still encamped in the valley of Lemuel, Lehi had a
very important dream, or vision, which caused him to rejoice because
of Nephi and Sam; for he had reason to suppose that they and many of
their posterity would be saved. He told Laman and Lemuel that he
feared exceedingly because of them. He related what he had seen to his
family, and he exhorted Laman and Lemuel, with all the feeling of a
father who loved his children and was anxious for their salvation, to
hearken to his words. He preached and prophesied unto them, and bade
them keep the commandments of the Lord, that they might not be cast
off from His presence. He also continued his conversation to his
family upon other subjects connected with the Jews and their future.
Nephi also about this time had remarkable manifestations given by the
Lord to him.
It is evident that they remained in this valley of Lemuel for some
time. Whether they cultivated the ground and raised crops we are not
informed; but we are informed by Nephi in his record, directly after
he and his brothers had returned accompanied by Ishmael and his
family, to his father's camp in the valley of Lemuel, that they "had
gathered together all manner of seeds of various kinds, both of grain
of every kind, and also of the seeds of fruit of every kind." While
they were yet in this valley of Lemuel five marriages were arranged
and consummated. Nephi and his three brothers took each a daughter of
Ishmael to wife, and Zoram married the eldest daughter. We may well
suppose that Nephi married the girl who plead so earnestly in his
behalf on the journey from Jerusalem, when his brothers were so
enraged as to desire to take his life. Such love and devotion as she
then exhibited would be likely to awaken feelings of admiration in him
for her, even if no more tender feeling had been in his breast before.
Thus far Lehi had faithfully fulfilled all the commandments of the
Lord which he had received. He had forsaken his home, had launched
into the wilderness with his family, had obtained the necessary
records to preserve the knowledge of God and all the prophecies of the
holy prophets, had his company strengthened by the addition of Ishmael
and his family, and now had the gratification of seeing his sons
united to wives. The Lord had been with him and blessed him, and he
was now in a better condition to cut loose from the rest of the world
and to fulfill the destiny the Lord had in store for him and his
people than when he first escaped from Jerusalem. His stay in the
valley of Lemuel had, therefore, been necessary to effect these
preparations. Nephi also during this period had emerged from boyhood
to manhood. Under the influence of the Spirit and revelations of the
Lord, his character had rapidly developed. Though young in years he
was now an experienced man, full of that confidence, self-reliance and
fearlessness which the consciousness of being a servant of the Lord,
of being acknowledged and sustained as such by Him, always brings.
However weak he might be himself, he knew that in the strength of the
Lord he could accomplish whatever might be required of him. His
energy, robust faith and willing obedience must have been a great
comfort and help to his father in those days. Nephi had this
advantage: he was young and vigorous, and could the more readily adapt
himself to the new methods of life which they had to adopt in the
wilderness; while Lehi, more advanced in years, would find traveling
in this wild and desert country, and enduring the hardships they had
to encounter, a very great change from the mode of life to which he
had been accustomed in Jerusalem. Though they were now in these
favorable circumstances for the prosecution of the enterprise required
of them by the Lord, they had yet to gain an experience, hard and
trying to their feelings and faith, without which they would not be
fully prepared for that which they had to do. Their forefathers, after
escaping from Egypt under the leadership of Moses, were not permitted
to enter into and possess the land at once. They had to wander in the
wilderness for forty years. It was not necessary that so much time
should be consumed by the children of Israel in going from Egypt to
Canaan; but it was necessary that, before entering into that land and
changing from a condition of slavery, such as they occupied in Egypt,
under the iron rule of Pharaoh, to that of a free people--rulers in
fact--with full power to enact and execute laws to govern themselves,
their land and the surrounding peoples, they should have experience.
Stubborn and rebellious as they were, it required forty years to give
them the necessary schooling, during which period all who, at the time
they left Egypt, were over twenty years of age--with two notable
exceptions, Caleb and Joshua--passed off and a new generation took
their places. So in the case of Lehi and family and company, they
needed training, though not for so long a period as their forefathers.
While they were inexperienced, trifles annoyed and worried them; they
had not learned to patiently endure and submit to privations and
hardships. Their previous lives had been passed, doubtless, in
circumstances of ease and plenty; want had been unknown to them; but
they now had to lead a new life; the comforts to which they had been
accustomed they had to dispense with and not complain at their loss.
In the beginning of their experience in the wilderness many things
were viewed as afflictions and dreadful to bear which, after a few
years of such life, they scarcely noticed; so easy is it for people,
especially if sustained by the Spirit of the Lord and the knowledge
that they are obeying His requirements, to accommodate themselves to
new circumstances and conditions of life.
After all these preparations had been made in the valley of Lemuel,
the voice of the Lord came to Lehi in the night, and commanded him to
take his journey into the wilderness the next day. When he arose in
the morning and went to the door of his tent, to his great
astonishment he saw, lying upon the ground, a fine brass ball of
curious workmanship. Within the ball were two spindles; one of these
pointed the way they should go in the wilderness. This ball, or
director, was called Liahona, the interpretation of which is, a
compass. But it differed in several respects from what are known as
compasses.[A]
[Footnote A: In this connection it may be of interest to say a few
words about what is known as the mariner's compass. It is claimed that
the Chinese used the compass at a very early period; and it is thought
probably that Marco Polo, the traveler, introduced it to Europe from
China, about 1290 A. D., twelve years before Gioja, of Amalfi, its
supposed inventor.
"Some people contend that the compass is no new invention; but that
the ancients were acquainted with it. They say that it was impossible
for Solomon to have sent ships to Ophir, Tarshish and Parvaim, without
this useful instrument. They insist that it was impossible for the
ancients to be acquainted with the attractive virtue of the magnet,
and to be ignorant of its polarity; nay, they affirm that this
property of the magnet is plainly mentioned in the book of Job, where
the loadstone is mentioned by the name of _topaz_, or _the stone that
turns itself_." Ency. Brit.]
We are told by Alma the prophet that "there cannot any man work after
the manner of so curious a workmanship." It was prepared by the Lord
to show unto Lehi and his company the course which they should travel
in the wilderness. And it worked for them according to their faith in
the Lord--the pointers moving according to the faith, and diligence
and heed which they gave unto them. There was another peculiarity
about this curious instrument: there was written upon these pointers a
writing plain to be read, which gave them understanding concerning the
ways of the Lord; and this was written and changed from time to time,
according to the faith and diligence which they gave unto it. Had they
always paid strict attention to this writing, and not been slothful
and careless, they would have traveled a direct course, and made
greater progress in the wilderness, and would not have been so much
afflicted by hunger and thirst; but Laman and Lemuel and their
brothers-in-law, the sons of Ishmael, were frequently in
transgression. The children of Israel were led through the wilderness
in the days of Moses "by the pillar of cloud by day and the pillar of
fire by night." We are told that "God went before them by day in a
pillar of cloud to lead them the way." In like manner the Lord
designed that Lehi and his company should be led by the compass which
had been so wonderfully given them.
After receiving the compass they gathered up all that they could carry
with them, and the remainder of the provisions which the Lord had
given them, and seed of every kind, and their tents, and crossing the
river Laman, they traveled for four days, in nearly a south by
south-east direction until they came to a place which they called
Shazer. Here they camped until they could hunt for game to sustain
their families. We suppose that in the wilderness in this neighborhood
wild animals were numerous, and they, therefore selected it as a
temporary stopping place. Their method of hunting was with bows and
arrows, stones and slings. After collecting what they had killed they
returned to their families at Shazer. From this place they traveled in
the same course--S.S.E--following the direction of the compass, which
led in the most fertile parts of the desert, and which were near the
Red Sea.