CFM Week 1: Book of Mormon Introduction

I taught CFM Week 1: Intro to the Book of Mormon today.
I started by mentioning that the Title Page is scripture and we talked about some of the covenants mentioned in the BoM.  I then quoted 1 Nephi 2: 20-21

20 And inasmuch as ye shall keep my commandments, ye (Nephi) shall prosper, and shall be led to a land of promise; yea, even a land which I have prepared for you; yea, a land which is choice above all other lands.

21 And inasmuch as thy brethren shall rebel against thee, they (Laman and Lemuel) shall be cut off from the presence of the Lord.

I noted that this is sometimes summarized as : If you are righteous, you will prosper; if you are wicked, you will be cut off.

Which is a restatement of the covenant offered to Israel at Sinai : Leviticus 26.

Leviticus 26:1 . . . I am the Lord your God.

2 Ye shall keep my sabbaths, and reverence my sanctuary: I am the Lord.

3 If ye walk in my statutes, and keep my commandments, and do them;

4 Then I will give you rain in due season, and the land shall yield her increase, and the trees of the field shall yield their fruit. . . .

6 And I will give peace in the land, and ye shall lie down, and none shall make you afraid: and I will rid evil beasts out of the land, neither shall the sword go through your land.

7 And ye shall chase your enemies, and they shall fall before you by the sword.

9 For I will have respect unto you, and make you fruitful, and multiply you, and establish my covenant with you.

11 And I set my tabernacle among you:. . .

12 And I will walk among you, and will be your God, and ye shall be my people.

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14 But if ye will not hearken unto me, and will not do all these commandments;

15  . . . but that ye break my covenant:

16 I also will do this unto you; I will even appoint over you terror, consumption, and the burning ague, that shall consume the eyes, and cause sorrow of heart: and ye shall sow your seed in vain, for your enemies shall eat it.

17 And I will set my face against you, and ye shall be slain before your enemies: they that hate you shall reign over you; and ye shall flee when none pursueth you. . . .

21 And if ye walk contrary unto me, and will not hearken unto me; I will bring seven times more plagues upon you according to your sins.

22 I will also send wild beasts among you, which shall rob you of your children, and destroy your cattle, and make you few in number; and your high ways shall be desolate. . . .

25 And I will bring a sword upon you, that shall avenge the quarrel of my covenant: and when ye are gathered together within your cities, I will send the pestilence among you; and ye shall be delivered into the hand of the enemy.

26 And when I have broken the staff of your bread, . . . : and ye shall eat, and not be satisfied (famine).

30 And I will destroy your high places, and cut down your images, and cast your carcases upon the carcases of your idols, and my soul shall abhor you.

31 And I will make your cities waste, and bring your sanctuaries unto desolation, and I will not smell the savour of your sweet odours.

32 And I will bring the land into desolation:  . . .

Covenant Curse:  Famine, pestilence and the sword; carcases will lie on the ground; land made desolate; cut off from the presence of the LORD

Watch for this covenant throughout the Book of Mormon.

Next we discussed the various plates, using visual aids: here is my outline to talk about the various plates. (Good Luck!)

After losing the 116 pages, Joseph began translating where he had left off in Mormon's abridgement of the large plates of Lehi/Nephi.

Then the spirit told him to now translate the small plates of Nephi which contained more sacred writings covering the same time period as the lost 116 pages.

These plates begin with in the first year of the reign of King Zedekiah, so we went back and talked about the history of the northern kingdom of Israel, where Lehi and Ishmael's ancestors lived (tribes of Ephraim and Manasseh).  How the words of Isaiah prompted their grandparents to leave their lands in the north and travel as refugees to Jerusalem, which saved their lives.  Then Babylon attacks and occupies Judah and Jerusalem, removing and killing the king, taking 1000's into captivity and putting a puppet king, Zedekiah, on the throne.  So when the Book of Mormon opens in 1 Nephi, Judah is an occupied country, with Babylonian soldiers on the street corners.

Deuteronomy found in Temple in days of Josiah (when Lehi was a young man), who institutes reforms in religious belief and practice, replacing the older Israelite religion.

Lehi escapes Jerusalem then sends his sons back to get the brass plates.  I didn't have brass plates, only a brass bowl, so what was in there?

Genealogy back to Joseph of Egypt

Much of our current Old Testament up to the writings of Jeremiah, but also writings that never made it in to the bible of Judah.

I think that when the boys returned with the plates from Jerusalem, Lehi read the Psalms, beginning with Ps 1, 2 and 3.

Psalm 1 Blessed is the man that walketh not in the counsel of the ungodly, nor standeth in the way of sinners, nor sitteth in the seat of the scornful.

2 But his delight is in the law of the Lord; and in his law doth he meditate day and night.

3 And he shall be like a tree planted by the rivers of water, that bringeth forth his fruit in his season; his leaf also shall not wither; and whatsoever he doeth shall prosper.

4 The ungodly are not so: but are like the chaff which the wind driveth away.

5 Therefore the ungodly shall not stand in the judgment, nor sinners in the congregation of the righteous.

6 For the Lord knoweth the way of the righteous: but the way of the ungodly shall perish.

Psalm 2: . . . 8 Ask of me, and I shall give thee the heathen for thine inheritance, and the uttermost parts of the earth for thy possession.

9 Thou shalt break them with a rod of iron; thou shalt dash them in pieces like a potter's vessel.

Notice any ideas or themes that occur in Lehi's dreams?

Psalm 3 describes exactly what Lehi just experienced in Jerusalem: 

Psalm 3 Lord, how are they increased that trouble me! many are they that rise up against me.

2 Many there be which say of my soul, There is no help for him in God. Selah.

3 But thou, O Lord, art a shield for me; my glory, and the lifter up of mine head.

4 I cried unto the Lord with my voice, and he heard me out of his holy hill. Selah.

5 I laid me down and slept; I awaked; for the Lord sustained me.

6 I will not be afraid of ten thousands of people, that have set themselves against me round about.

7 Arise, O Lord; save me, O my God: for thou hast smitten all mine enemies upon the cheek bone; thou hast broken the teeth of the ungodly.

8 Salvation belongeth unto the Lord: thy blessing is upon thy people. Selah.

The Hebrew word for Cheek Bone is LEHI.

Then there are the other 2/3 of the plates, which are sealed.
Wouldn't we love to read them?