1 Nephi 7:5 - 7:9

1 Nephi 7:5 And it came to pass that the Lord did soften the heart of Ishmael, and also his household, insomuch that they took their journey with us down into the wilderness to the tent of our father.

The Lord softens Ishmael’s heart and his family. They are receptive to Nephi’s claims or at least Ishmael is and they all start the trip into the desert to join Lehi.

I can only wonder what it took to get Ishmael to see the truthfulness of what Nephi was telling them. However, I think, that Ishmael must have know the desperate situation that Jerusalem was in and maybe, he was thinking how he was going to keep his family safe and Nephi gives him a solution. Saying that it is the will of the Lord that the family join up with them in the desert which will get them out of harms way may have been what Ishmael was contemplated.

I feel sure that Ishmael had been listening or at least heard what the prophets had been saying about Jerusalem’s present political situation and it’s future. Lehi may have also been talking to him and telling him what the future would hold. Ishmael may have not necessarily have had as much concern as Lehi had for Jerusalem, but at least he knew what was going on.

It specifically says that the Lord “softened” Ishmael’s heart. It was not the words of Nephi that convinced Ishmael to leave town, but the direct intervention of the Spirit. A great lesson on how the Lord is directly involved in our lives. We sometimes think that the good fortune we experience is of our own making but oft times, if not all the time, it is the Lord opening up the way for us to get the things we want and desire. I know I do not know just how involved He is in our lives, but sometimes I get a glimpse very now and then.

1 Nephi 7:6 And it came to pass that as we journeyed in the wilderness, behold Laman and Lemuel, and two of the daughters of Ishmael, and the two sons of Ishmael and their families, did rebel against us; yea, against me, Nephi, and Sam, and their father, Ishmael, and his wife, and his three other daughters.

So the boys and Ishmael’s family begin the journey into the desert to join up with Lehi’s family. There must have dissention within Ishmael’s family and as they start on this trip into the wilderness, some of the family start rebelling. They like Laman and Lemuel, think that the leaving town was dumb and they want to return home. I’m sure that Laman and Lemuel were stirring them up to rebel.

Since it was two daughters involved in the rebellion, they had paired off with Laman and Lemuel and had been convinced by them to the craziness of this trip and the leaving of their comfortable life back in Jerusalem. There are three daughters that are in sympathy with Nephi and Sam which matches up with those two boys and that leaves one daughter for Zoram back in camp. Interesting just how well the Lord can plan and have in place at just the right time the people necessary to get the job done. All part of the plan of happiness.

1 Nephi 7:7 And it came to pass in the which rebellion, they were desirous to return unto the land of Jerusalem.

The rebels wanted to return to Jerusalem. They were getting a taste of what it was going to be like being in the desert during this trip down to Lehi’s camp. I don’t really blame them for not being very happy or enthusiastic about leaving their homes, family and friends back in Jerusalem. They may have not had a testimony of what Nephi was telling them about Jerusalem’s fate and they may have thought like Laman and Lemuel that the people of Jerusalem were good people. That the Lord would not allow the city to be destroyed. In someway, He would preserve it as He had always done in the past.

1 Nephi 7:8 And now I, Nephi, being grieved for the hardness of their hearts, therefore I spake unto them, saying, yea, even unto Laman and unto Lemuel: Behold ye are mine elder brethren, and how is it that ye are so hard in your hearts, and so blind in your minds, that ye have need that I, your younger brother, should speak unto you, yea, and set an example for you?

Nephi was, or course, very frustrated at their not believing what they were told about the fate of Jerusalem. He was even more upset at his older brothers who I think were leading the rebelling and now thought with more individuals agreeing with them, they could stop this madness, as they thought, and return to their homes. Who knows how long they would have to live like Bedouins, subsisting in the harsh conditions of the dry and arid desert of Arabia?

Well Nephi has a testimony and now steps in to trying put down the rebellion. He tries to belittle the older boys by pointing out that why is it that the younger brother has to step in to turn the situation around. It should have been the Laman that should have shown leadership here.

Nephi points out the reason for the rebellion is that they are so corrupt and so caught up in their own wants and needs that they cannot see that the Lord is trying to save them from death. It should be obvious to any people that Jerusalem is domed, but they are blind to what is going on.

1 Nephi 7:9 How is it that ye have not hearkened unto the word of the Lord?

Nephi asked why they find it so difficult to believe what the Lord is telling them through their father and now Nephi. They should have felt the testimony that they had felt, if only briefly, and been loyal to it.