1 Nephi 2:21 - 3:1

1 Nephi 2:21 And inasmuch as thy brethren shall rebel against thee, they shall be cut off from the presence of the Lord.

Rebellion will put you in disfavor with the Lord. You can disagree with the program or the plan, but you can not rebel, by your actions. That is, you cannot activity go about and try to get others to not get involved with the program. When you take action as apposed to just not liking it in your heart, you are in rebellion. That will get you cut off from the inspiration of the Lord and the Holy Ghost.

If you have a problem with the program and don't like but will follow it, the Lord will try to work with you in helping you to overcome your objections. See the incident when Abraham was trying to talk the Lord down from the original number that had to be found in Sodom before he would not destroy it. Disagreements are not a problem, rebellion is.

1 Nephi 2:22 And inasmuch as thou shalt keep my commandments, thou shalt be made a ruler and a teacher over thy brethren.

Nephi is promised that if he will continue faithful that he will become a teacher to his older brothers. This would be a natural result because he would be the only faithful one when he father Lehi dies. And because he would know the will of the Lord he could give the proper advise to deal with the conditions they encounter. Whereas the two older boys would be on their own and would always make poor if not just plain wrong decisions.

1 Nephi 2:23 For behold, in that day that they shall rebel against me, I will curse them even with a sore curse, and they shall have no power over thy seed except they shall rebel against me also.

Nephi is told that when the older brothers actually begin to rebel, then the process of being cut off from inspiration will begin. Furthermore even if they should start to physically try to stop him with force, they will be unable to do so. But this promise is only good as long as Nephi and his descendents are righteous. If they should rebel as well, the protection is withdrawn and they will be cut off too.

This being cut off is referred to as “a sore curse.” Being cut off from the Lord is being left on your own and will we, as mortals, will always make poor choices without the Lord’s help. Therefore all sorts of results of your poor choices, you will fall victim. To be on your own is a curse.

1 Nephi 2:24 And if it so be that they rebel against me, they shall be a scourge unto thy seed, to stir them up in the ways of remembrance.

Nephi is told here that which he and his descendents will have to deal with from now on and the basic theme of the Book of Mormon The descendents of his older brothers will be a scourge to his descendents if his descendents are not faithful.

In other words, if Nephi’s descendents start acting like Laman’s and Lemuel’s descendents, then the natural result of competing for dominance will take place between the two groups. When the Lord’s influence is not wanted, the natural result is always competition for who is the stronger and the one who has command. We see this all over history.

The Lord is not interested as to who is in charge but that his children have all the tools to progress towards being good people. Becoming in charge is the natural result of being good and an example of being good. Leadership is acquired by righteousness not strength of arms. Further on we will learn that the strength of arms is really very weak as compared to the strength of righteousness.

1 Nephi 3:1 And it came to pass that I, Nephi, returned from speaking with the Lord, to the tent of my father.

All the above Nephi learned from speaking with the Lord. He must have been outside the camp a distance from the family so he could pray without interruption. A good activity for each of us. I suspect that he had a agenda and questions before he began his prayer. Something we should keep in mind.

Prayer should be more that just a duty. We should plan what we are going to say. I don’t do that hardly at all. I guess that’s why I don’t get much inspiration from my prayers I seem to get more from my scripture studies. As I am doing now with this journal. I am finding as I write that more and more stuff is coming to mind. It feels marvelous. I feel like a spectator.