1 Nephi 17:38 - 17:42

1 Nephi 17:38 And he leadeth away the righteous into precious lands, and the wicked he destroyeth, and curseth the land unto them for their sakes.

He will take the righteous from wherever they maybe and take them wherever He wants to put them for their benefit. And if necessary, He will curse the land that it might be a sign that they need to change behavior to conform with the requirements to stay in that land He lead them too.

1 Nephi 17:39 He ruleth high in the heavens, for it is his throne, and this earth is his footstool.

God is in the heavens and He knows what to do and when to do it so that it is of the most benefit for His children. The earth is His. He made it. And He knows just what is required to fulfill His purposes.

1 Nephi 17:40 And he loveth those who will have him to be their God. Behold, he loved our fathers, and he covenanted with them, yea, even Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob; and he remembered the covenants which he had made; wherefore, he did bring them out of the land of Egypt.

The Lord is loving towards those who are wanting to learn to be like Him. He loved Abraham, Isaac and Jacob. He covenanted with them to have lands of their own. To keep His covenant, He lead the descendents of Abraham out of Egypt and lead them to their land of promise which was Palestine.

I wonder why they had to stay in Egypt all this time? Was it to allow the people of Palestine to have time to repent which may they may have had the gospel preached to them by their own prophets who we know nothing about? In verse 35 it tells us that they had rejected the word of God. There must have been prophets in their mists.

Or was it that whatever they learned was to be a lesson not only to those who lived through it, but to us in the future. That it would be always in our minds as we think about the land of promise. That the land of promise was a gift from God to his children and that He brought them to it. Much like bring His children from mortality to immortality. Either way, God is the director and will show the way and open up the way when it the best time for us.

1 Nephi 17:41 And he did straiten them in the wilderness with his rod; for they hardened their hearts, even as ye have; and the Lord straitened them because of their iniquity. He sent fiery flying serpents among them; and after they were bitten he prepared a way that they might be healed; and the labor which they had to perform was to look; and because of the simpleness of the way, or the easiness of it, there were many who perished.

On the trip out of Egypt to the land of promise, the children of Israel required some character adjustments. They were now free of Egyptian taskmasters and were enjoying their freedom in wickedness. It is probably like spring break from college and the kids gathering together and just following their own lusts and wicked desires.

The Lord, to get them out of this attitude, sent ‘flying serpents’ to sting them. He then prepared a way to be healed. This was a demonstration to show that the only way to overcome wickedness was to look to God for help. Those who were bitten were told all they had to do was look at a pole with the snake on it and they would be healed. But because of how simple it was, they didn’t believe that it would help and many died.

Simpleness was the key word here. The Gospel is simple. There is nothing complicated about it. Live a few simple laws and do a few simple ordinances and you will be saved into the kingdom of heaven. It is not hard and anyone can do it. But unfortunate, many think you need to do more complicated things to be happy as exhibited by name earthy philosophies.

1 Nephi 17:42 And they did harden their hearts from time to time, and they did revile against Moses, and also against God; nevertheless, ye know that they were led forth by his matchless power into the land of promise.

The children of Israel scoffed at the way from time to time and against Moses himself. Just like Laman and Lemuel were doing against their father. In any case it was clear even to Laman and Lemuel that the Lord had lead the children of Israel out of Egypt. They knew it for themselves as there were strong traditions which attested to it.