Hank Smith: 00:00:04 Hello, my friends. Welcome to a new episode of followHIM. My name’s Hank Smith. I’m your host. I’m here with my happy co-host, John Bytheway. John, you can’t disagree with that one. You are a happy co-host.

John Bytheway: 00:00:15 I’ll take it.

Hank Smith: 00:00:15 John, the reason I call you happy is because the title of this week’s Come, Follow Me lesson is We Lived After the Manner of Happiness. I’ve heard you reference 2 Nephi 4 multiple times over the last few years. What are you looking forward to today?

John Bytheway: 00:00:30 This is a time when Nephi has to move and Lehi dies and he laments that. I mean, Nephi calls himself wretched, which makes me think, “Ooh, can I be wretched like Nephi?” There’s some great things today. And then of course living after the manner of happiness, like you said.

Hank Smith: 00:00:46 Right, John. I know this is going to end almost our narrative portion of Nephi’s life. This is going to be kind of the end of our story and we’re going to get a lot of doctrine and Isaiah chapters after this one. I’m excited to see how his life plays out here. John, we are joined by our good friend, Dr. Jan Martin. She is a joy. Jan, what are we looking forward to in this lesson?

Dr. Jan Martin: 00:01:09 I really like to take a covenant perspective of these chapters. That’s not one that a lot of people take and it is so much fun. So I’m just looking forward to sharing with you a way to see what’s going on with Nephi, what’s on his mind, and how covenants is a big thing and how it helps him through all of these difficult transitions with losing his dad and becoming the person in charge of everything and then having to move to a new location and set up and how this covenant is really that stability for him and that helps them live after the matter of happiness. So I think it’s going to be really good.

Hank Smith: 00:01:49 I love these chapters. Jan is not new to our podcast. She’s given us some incredible episodes in the past John, but some people might be just joining us. So tell us about Jan.

John Bytheway: 00:02:00 We’re excited to have Dr. Jan J. Martin back. She’s an associate professor of ancient scripture at Brigham Young University. She specializes in the Book of Mormon, the New Testament, a PhD in 16th century religious reformers and Bible translation, which is so cool. So we’re really glad to have you back.

Hank Smith: 00:02:20 I look forward to everything that Jan does. She’s been on the Y Religion Podcast a couple of times. It’s the podcast of the Religious Education Department at BYU. Jan has given a couple of episodes there that for me, personally, had a complete paradigm shift on a couple of topics, especially the King James English in the Book of Mormon, wow. So we’d encourage everyone to go find the Y Religion Podcast and especially go find Jan over there.

  00:02:48 All right, Jan, where should we start? 2 Nephi 3, 4, and 5. We had a great experience last week with Dr. Anderson. Where should we go now?

Dr. Jan Martin: 00:02:57 Okay, well, I would like to do a little exercise with you guys that I do with my students when we hit this spot because it’s really just fun. And it’s about perspective. It’s about zooming out first before we zoom in. That’s one thing I like about the scriptures, is you can take the distant view of things if you’re willing to look at things kind of as a whole. And then as you learn, you zoom in really close and you start looking at the details.

  00:03:23 I just want to introduce this concept of covenants. Russell M. Nelson has said that one of the most important concepts of revealed religion is the sacred covenant. I’m going to have us just zoom all the way out. We’re going to take kind of a more wide approach of looking at Nephi’s writings for a minute and I’ll just have you guys have some fun with a little exercise. Then we can zoom in on chapters 3, 4, and 5 and then have a much clearer view of what we’re seeing because we took the broader perspective for a minute.

Hank Smith: 00:03:54 Jan, John’s always telling me I need to get more exercise, so I’m excited for this.

Dr. Jan Martin: 00:03:59 What I want you to do for just a minute, we’re just going to look at 1 Nephi as a whole for just a second. And what I have my students do is I’ll say, “Okay, in 1 Nephi, there are six big stories.” And they all know what they are. You’re leaving Jerusalem, you’re getting the plates. You’re convincing Ishmael’s family to come with you. You have that broken bow issue story there. Then you build the ship and then you cross the ocean. So those are our six major stories in 1 Nephi. So what I ask my students to do is talk amongst themselves and say, “If you had to pick one theme that runs through every story, what would it be?” So let me have you and John just do that. Just kind of remember those six stories and then pick something that you could identify as a common theme through every one of them. What would that be?

Hank Smith: 00:04:48 John, you get to go first, so it’ll give me time to think.

John Bytheway: 00:04:53 I think that God helped them, maybe. They needed help and they got help.

Dr. Jan Martin: 00:04:57 And that’s great because they need to leave Jerusalem and they need to get the plates, they have to convince Ishmael’s family, they got to solve the broken bow, they’ve got to build this ship and they got to across the ocean. So good. John, that’s a great theme. Hank, did that give you any little breather moment? It’s hard to do that on the spot, but anything coming to you that would be different than that?

Hank Smith: 00:05:17 Yeah, I think divine direction and kind of a stretch is something I don’t want to do or I don’t want to deal with. When I think of that broken bow, how we talked about with Dr. Griffin, I don’t like problems. I want to stay comfortable, and these are all uncomfortable things.

Dr. Jan Martin: 00:05:38 Okay. So I’m just going to put those two things together. John, you saw God’s side of it. And Hank, you’re seeing the human side of it. This is what I want to argue is, 1 Nephi is really about exercising faith that God will help you with uncomfortable situations. In other words, you’re in a covenant relationship that I can do hard things because I’m yoked with the divine. 1 Nephi, if you’d back out and look at it, you can see Nephi purposefully giving us these stories to help us see, “Well, how did we get to the new world?” We got here because we listened to God, we did hard things with his help and we kept that relationship. Does that make sense?

  00:06:26 So you see 1 Nephi as a story of faithful people and what happens when they keep their covenants or not, like Laman and Lemuel often are the foil of people who are struggling to have that faith. But when they do and when they are supportive with getting Ishmael’s family or building the ship, amazing things happen. We’ve got 1 Nephi kind of as our backdrop for 2 Nephi. And if we approach it through the covenant lens, we can see Nephi illustrating what happens when you keep your covenants.

  00:06:56 Then we hit 2 Nephi, which is our new world story. We’re now in the new world. We’ve arrived here. As most of you know, 2 Nephi is full of Isaiah, and you guys are going to get to that in the next episodes here. But what I want to say is you have Nephi showing what covenants happened and what things happened because I kept my covenants. And then he is going to jump into the larger view, which is Israel’s covenant destiny through the Isaiah teachings and where the Nephites fit into that. You have Jacob coming in as a teacher and his job is to teach why the Nephites need to feel like they haven’t been abandoned by God. And he uses Isaiah to show that the covenant is still there. God is still keeping his end even though you’ve been scattered over to this new world and even though you’ve been kicked out of the initial lands of inheritance, and here we are, but we’re going to use covenants to help us recognize that this is all okay and I don’t need to feel like God abandoned me.

Hank Smith: 00:07:59 I think it’s the, “Can a woman forget her baby?”

  00:08:01 “No, she cannot, and I will not forget you.”

Dr. Jan Martin: 00:08:05 Exactly. As we jump into 2 Nephi, chapters 3 through 5, that’s the backdrop of which I want to approach it, is Nephi is really occupied with covenants and he’s really shown we got here because of covenants, we’re now here and we’re able to deal with our adversity in the new world because of covenants. And I’m going to spend my whole 2 Nephi teaching you about Israel’s covenant destiny and that the Nephites fit in that. As we look at the narrative in 2 Nephi 3 through 5, it’s a really great lens that will help us deal with a lot of the narrative and the painful moments and then some of the things in 2 Nephi 5 that might be a little confusing or troubling or really helpful when we look at them through the covenant lens. I just want to set us up for that, that 1 and 2 Nephi are heavily saturated with covenants.

Hank Smith: 00:08:57 I like that. And as you’re talking, Jan, in the back of my mind, I’m thinking, “Hank, do you take your covenants as seriously as Nephi?”

Dr. Jan Martin: 00:09:03 As Nephi. Mm-hmm.

Hank Smith: 00:09:05 Because you can also do hard things with the Lord’s help when you focus on your covenants, when it’s not just words to you. These are real promises.

Dr. Jan Martin: 00:09:15 Yeah, as I started off with quoting President Nelson, let me carry on with that, he says, “Through the ages, God has made covenants with his children. His covenants occur through the entire plan of salvation and therefore are part of the fullness of the gospel.” And then he says, “The greatest compliment that can be earned here in this life is to be known as a covenant keeper.”

  00:09:37 If you just take 1 Nephi, you see Nephi is the ultimate covenant keeper. Then we’re moving to the new world, and the challenge is to maintain our perspective of that covenant and continue to be covenant keepers, which is why the Nephites are able to live after the manner of happiness. They’re doing the covenant things, keeping commandments and following the prophet and looking after each other. So that leads us to this happiness, even if we have to do hard things, like happiness isn’t always an absence of hard things.

Hank Smith: 00:10:10 I like that.

John Bytheway: 00:10:11 Sometimes when we initially hear the word covenant, we feel an obligation, this promise that I made. What I hear you saying and what I love about covenants is it’s a promise of togetherness. Of you have help. You’re not alone. And I hope we can look at it that way, like God wants to help me keep my covenants. What it really means is not an obligation, but I have help. In everything I need to do, I have help.

Dr. Jan Martin: 00:10:38 And I’m guaranteed the help. That’s the thing, is I can have  absolute confidence that God is going to play a role in all of this, and that’s that security that sometimes we’re missing in life. But when you have that relationship with God, you absolutely have no reason to believe he won’t help, because he will. He’s promised.

John Bytheway: 00:11:03 So rather than thinking of covenants, this obligation that I have, let’s think of it as I have so much help, I have constant help. And we talked before about the word comfort, how it means together strong. When I think about covenants, I think together we can do this. Together strong, I have help.

Hank Smith: 00:11:22 Nice. I’m going to quote from your Ezekiel interview, Jan, you said, “When you need to be revitalized and you need some hope, look at our promises. Keep focusing on the things the Lord has promised for the future.” It seems that this has been on your mind the last couple of years.

Dr. Jan Martin: 00:11:39 Because it’s been so well taught by President Nelson, like he’s really had a focus on covenants, on the covenant path, on staying on the covenant path. And I like to follow the lead of our prophets and try and take a similar focus to them as I’m approaching things. It’s a really great way to follow the prophet, is what is he saying and how can I learn to take those things into my own perspective? So I’ve really tried to say, “Okay, if covenants are on the mind of our prophet, then they need to be on my mind.” And then as I look in the scriptures, you see them everywhere.

John Bytheway: 00:12:15 Wonderful.

Hank Smith: 00:12:16 Wonderful. What you’ve said here really links well with the opening of the manual. It says, “Reading 1 Nephi, you might get the impression that Nephi was somehow larger than life. Large in stature both physically and spiritually. He seemed unshaken by the trials he faced.” Or at least that is what we might assume. “While Nephi’s faith was remarkable, his tender words in 2 Nephi 4 reveal that even faithful people sometimes feel wretched and easily beset by temptations.” Here we see someone who is trying, who wants to be joyful, and we might add who really wants to trust in the covenants, but whose heart groaneth because of his sins. “We can relate to this and to the hopeful determination that follows. Nevertheless, I know in whom I have trusted.” There’s those covenants again.

  00:13:05 “While Nephi and his people learn to live after the manner of happiness, they also learn that happiness does not come easily or without periods of sorrow.” And you referenced that earlier. “It ultimately comes from trusting the Lord.” And we might throw in there and his promises, the rock of our righteousness. All right, Jan, I think we’re ready to jump into these individual chapters. Where do we start?

Dr. Jan Martin: 00:13:27 What I’d like to do really quick is just remember what’s in chapter 1 and chapter 2, because when we jump into chapter 3, we’re kind of in the middle of the conversation that Lehi’s having with his family. Chapter 1, if you look at it through the covenant lens, what you see is Lehi reviewing the covenant that’s been made with his people. He’s in the middle of renewing and reviewing this covenant, and then part of that renewal ceremony is teaching doctrine. So you get to 2 Nephi 2, which you guys have already done, and you hear all these great divine laws, the agency, the opposition, the probationary state, the atonement.

  00:14:08 Now, as most of you know, Laman and Lemuel have complained about being on this journey the entire way, they never did understand why we had to leave Jerusalem and how come we had to go out here and suffer. And then you got little Joseph who’s born into the middle of this and all he’s ever known is traveling and adversity and moving and never being able to be settled in one place for very long. What an opportunity for a loving father to say, “Joseph, let me put this in perspective for you.”

  00:14:38 So then we look at verse 4 and we get the connection to his own ancestry. “I’m a descendant of Joseph of Egypt.” And then notice the end of verse four, here we go, “And great were the covenants of the Lord, which he made unto Joseph.” Lehi’s gonna explain Joseph’s life using an ancestor’s covenants. “Why are we out here, Joseph? Why did our family have to leave Jerusalem? Why? Well, let me explain it through the covenants that were made to our patriarch Joseph back in the day.” Again, how do I handle adversity? How do I explain adversity? I’m going to focus on the covenant part.

Hank Smith: 00:15:21 Well, this reminds me a little bit of my childhood, Jan, my mother saying, “In the days of my greatest sorrow, I did bear thee.” Poor Joseph, I can’t imagine. I’m kidding.

  00:15:33 “Well, thank you father.”

  00:15:34 “Oh really. No, it was really the worst. Yeah, no, let me just tell you, it was awful. It was bad.”

Dr. Jan Martin: 00:15:42 If you’re trying to explain why bad things are happening to these people who are trying to be good, and notice where he goes, I’m going to go back to this promise that was made to our ancestors, so have a look at verse 5 everyone. “For Joseph truly saw our day.” Little Joseph, our ancestor Joseph, saw us. Like how cool is that to know that, that somebody from the past saw our family? And he obtained a promise. There’s the covenant again of the Lord that out of the fruit of his loins, the Lord God would raise up a righteous branch unto the house of Israel.

  00:16:19 Now, not the Messiah, okay? We have all of those scriptures that talk about that, but a branch which was to be broken off, “Nevertheless to be remembered,” here we go again, “in the covenants of the Lord that the Messiah should be made manifest unto them in the latter days.” Joseph, the reason we’re out here in the wilderness is because our ancestor Joseph received a promise that there would be this branch of his family that would be led somewhere else, Messiah would come and visit, and we are fulfilling that. This is one of the reasons we’re out here, is to fulfill prophecy and to fulfill covenant. How cool is that, to have that perspective for your rough life that you’ve had?

Hank Smith: 00:17:06 Yeah, there is purpose in this suffering. This isn’t just suffering for suffering’s sake.

Dr. Jan Martin: 00:17:11 And you remember Laman and Lemuel always telling their dad that he’s kind of this visionary man who’s making things up. The only reason we’re out here in the wilderness is because you’ve lost your mind, so why are you doing that? But here is Lehi saying, “I didn’t lose my mind. The reason we’re out here, the reason we came here is partly obviously to save our lives from the destruction of Jerusalem, but this is part of these ancient covenants and promises and prophecies, and we are fulfilling them.” I don’t know how you guys are, but when you recognize that what’s going on around you is part of the fulfillment of prophecies and covenants, you can really handle things better because you see that there’s a larger purpose. I’m not just suffering for the sake of it. God is really working here, and I can trust this. And the reason I’m out here is really great and grand, even though it’s hard.

Hank Smith: 00:18:05 Wonderful.

John Bytheway: 00:18:07 I’ve wondered if Lehi could have been saying, “You were a blessing in the middle of that great affliction that I had,” maybe. Because I have seen my children come into very clean, tidy, sanitary hospital rooms, and to imagine having children in the wilderness, that’s a whole other topic, what that must’ve been like. But I wanted to say that I love how often people are compared to trees in the scriptures. And we are a righteous branch, not just a branch that’s broken off and scattered, but a righteous branch. And I feel like usually, people get scattered when they’re wicked. They lose their testimony. Then they lose their real estate. But what he’s saying is actually, we were scattered to preserve us. We are a righteous branch, which is, like you said, Jan, a really positive way to look at this. Here’s what’s happening. The Lord is preserving us. We’re a righteous branch that he’s moving to a different place.

Dr. Jan Martin: 00:19:01 And sometimes we see our adversity. We have this typical natural man way of saying, “Well, something bad’s happening to me, so I must have done something wrong. What did I do? Why is God punishing me?” And I imagine Laman and Lemuel kind of took that approach as well. They weren’t happy of being out there, and they may have thrown those kind of comments, but here is Lehi is saying, there isn’t anything wrong. We were led out to protect us. And yes, it’s been hard, but these are all positive reasons we’re here. And we’re not being punished, and we’re righteous people, and God is leading us to these places where he can bless us more. So I don’t need to see my adversity as negative. It’s part of the growth that’s going to take place as he’s moving me somewhere else where he can bless me with more things. But we don’t need to take that negative approach. And I don’t think Lehi is, I think he’s really trying to orient everyone to the blessings of, yes, I know this was hard, but this is really cool to be part of this bigger picture.

Hank Smith: 00:20:03 Jan, I have, at the top of my page, written, “This is Joseph times four,” because we’ve mentioned two Josephs so far, but there’s more to come.

Dr. Jan Martin: 00:20:12 So if everyone wants to come to verse six, you’ll see more of this Josephness. Verse six is where you start with Joseph being able to talk for himself like Lehi’s kind of been summarizing some things, but now we’re going to look. So for Joseph of Egypt, in verse six, truly testified saying, “A seer shall the Lord, my God raise up who shall be a choice seer unto the fruit of thy loins.” In verse seven, Joseph truly said, “Thus saith the Lord unto me, a choice seer will I raise up out of the fruit of loins, and he shall be esteemed highly among the fruit of thy loins. And unto him, will I give commandment that he shall do a work for the fruit of the loins, his brethren, which shall be of great worth unto them,” here we go again, “even to the bringing of them to the knowledge of the covenants, which I’ve made with thy fathers.”

  00:21:05 Most of us know, as you read through the rest of chapter three, we’re going to name this seer after his father, and his name’s going to be after Joseph. So there’s your other two Josephs. You have Joseph Smith, the seer, but his father is Joseph. And then we’re connecting Joseph Smith to fulfilling part of this covenant that was made to Joseph of Egypt, that he would come and bring forth this record, this record of Lehi’s descendants that are going to be of great worth, and remind the people who read it that they can be part of the covenant people. Whether you’re a descendant of Abraham or whether you join in through baptism doesn’t matter. Everyone can be part of this covenant family. It can’t have been easy for Lehi to have done any of this. And he’s getting adversity from everyone around. They’re trying to kill him.

  00:21:54 And then from in his own family, you constantly have this pushback. Why are we out here? What are you doing? Are you sure you know what you’re doing? You’re a crazy guy. So for him to try and reconnect with his own ancestry and find meaning in the scriptures is really important. And then to name his kids after these two pivotal figures. And especially this youngest one after Joseph, when you start looking at what he knows about this covenant with Joseph of Egypt, it’s hard to think that that was random, that he’s naming these kids and just pulling names out of somewhere. I think that these names really represent teachings. Now that they’re in the new world, this is why we’re here. And it’s not a bad thing and you didn’t do anything wrong that you’ve suffered. This is all part of the covenant.

  00:22:46 Then we can come and look at verse 12, which is a really significant part of this prophecy that says here, “Wherefore the fruit of thy loins,” that’s Joseph of Egypt’s loins “shall write, and the fruit of the loins of Judah,” that’s the line of the Messiah, obviously, “shall write, and that which shall be written by the fruit of thy loins, and also that which shall be written by the fruit of the loins of Judah shall grow together unto the confounding of false doctrines and laying down of contentions and establishing peace among the fruit of thy loins and bringing them to the knowledge of their fathers in the latter days, and also,” here we go again, “to the knowledge of my covenants.” All those records they’re keeping, we know Lehi keeps a record, we know Nephi is keeping one, and these records are going to also be part of the fulfillment of Joseph of Egypt’s prophecies and promises, and to bring these two records together.

  00:23:41 We know Lehi’s family has the brass plates with the record of the Israelites, and now we’re going to bring these two records together and make those record keeping efforts really important. It’s important that they keep them and you see the Nephites being very protective of their records all the way through their Nephites history.

John Bytheway: 00:24:02 You’ve also got this footnote there as to the Ezekiel 37 idea of the stick of Joseph, stick of Judah being one in the hand. I like the way this says it a little bit even more because it talks about what that will do, confound false doctrines, lay down contentions and establish peace, and bring them to a knowledge of covenants.

Hank Smith: 00:24:22 John, if you remember, Dr. Sears, a couple of weeks ago, showed us, in Nephi’s vision, if you remember, the plain and precious truths which are taken away, First Nephi 13, verse 26, which are plain and most precious and many covenants of the Lord have they taken away. So it seems like what Jan just pointed out, and you, John, just pointed out is that one of the major purposes of the Book of Mormon, we’re coming back around to what we’ve been talking about, I think all year so far, is to make sure that the knowledge of the covenant is maintained and is recorded for the latter days. Knowing the book is going to come forth in the latter days, it needs to reestablish the covenant, these plain and precious truths. Does that kind of fit with verse 12?

Dr. Jan Martin: 00:25:10 Yeah, absolutely. When you think about us trying to make sense of our lives and where we fit in the eternal scheme of things, and to know that God has had a plan all along, and that from your Old Testament all the way through your Book of Mormon, you can see that plan, that he’s working with individual prophets and keeping those covenants, and that we all fit in to this is, again, like Lehi’s trying to do with his sons. This is positive. I don’t need to panic. I don’t need to abandon God because I feel like things aren’t going very well. I’m part of this larger purpose, and that helps me keep things in perspective when maybe it’s rough.

Hank Smith: 00:25:51 Yeah, Genesis. All the way back to Genesis 12, we’re going to bless all the families of the earth.

Dr. Jan Martin: 00:25:57 All the families of the earth.

Hank Smith: 00:25:58 So there’s great purpose in what you’re going through. It’s part of the plan of the Lord, to use the House of Israel to bless the earth.

Dr. Jan Martin: 00:26:07 As we keep saying, just because I have adversity does not mean I’m being punished. And when I’m in that covenant relationship, I have absolute confidence that God’s going to help me. And I can go back and read these ancient stories and see God doing that, and then have confidence. So if we want to jump down and just look at verses 13 and 14, you’ll see Lehi doing that. Verse 13 is continuing to talk about this seer, this Joseph Smith we’re talking about and out of weakness, he shall be made strong. And those of you that know anything about Joseph’s life, plenty of weaknesses, plenty of things, and he becomes a really powerful instrument in the hands of the Lord over time. “And in that day, when my work shall commence among all my people unto restoring thee O house of Israel, saith the Lord.

  00:26:54 And thus prophesied Joseph of Egypt saying, Behold that seer,” that’s Joseph Smith, “will the Lord bless. And they that seek to destroy him shall be confounded for this promise,” and in that case, the word for means because of this promise, “which I have obtained of the Lord, of the fruit of my loins shall be fulfilled. Behold, I am sure of the fulfilling of this promise.” How great is this when we’re struggling, having a hard time, where do we look for the confidence? We’ll go back and look at the Lord’s promises for other people that he’s made in the past. And we can have absolute confidence because we can see him keeping his promises in the past, which means he is going to keep them in the future. And Lehi’s totally confident, like, I’m okay. I don’t always know how things are going to play out, but I know that they will.

John Bytheway: 00:27:52 One of the impressions I’ve had so far this year in the Book of Mormon, I keep thinking of this phrase that God has a long view. We have such short views that… And maybe covenants help us see a longer view instead of, “Oh no, this happened, oh no, this happened, oh no, this happened.” And the Lord’s saying, “I got you. I got this. And I have a long view, and I’m going to keep my covenant.” So I like that he would say, “I’m sure of this.” That’s a testimony that’s nice.

Dr. Jan Martin: 00:28:18 And again, when we looked back at 1 Nephi, how many times has the Lord come through for them in those six critical stories of helping them. And they’ve been able to grow. At least Lehi and Nephi and Sam at least have been able to grow in their confidence of God is in this and he will continue to help us. Even though we’re settling in this new place and we’ve had all this trouble, it’s going to work out. We can do it.

Hank Smith: 00:28:45 I feel badly for Joseph Smith as he’s translating these words going… Look, Joseph of Egypt had a very hard life of above and beyond because of the covenant. This Joseph, Lehi’s son, has had a very hard life because of the covenant. He might be thinking, “Oh no.” Right? “I think I’m going to have a very hard life because of this covenant.” There’s a pattern here.

Dr. Jan Martin: 00:29:11 Yeah. But how cool if you’re Joseph and you’re reading verse 14, “They that seek to destroy him shall be confounded.” Absolutely, in the end, I will come out on top, but I’m going to really maybe have some adventures on the way there. But that’s kind of the inheritance of covenant people, is adversity is part of it. Then we hit verse 15, which is… We’ve talked about this. This is the fun one with the names of the father and the son. And so we have Joseph Sr. there and Joseph Jr. there. And then you hit verse 16, and we’re continuing to let Joseph of Egypt speak for himself. So he says, “I am sure of this thing.” There it is again. “I’m sure of this thing, even as I am sure of the promise of Moses.” So when Joseph of Egypt’s learning all these, Moses hasn’t even come on the scene yet, but he’s sure of the promise of the seer being raised to the other house of Israel as he is about the one coming to his broken off branch.

  00:30:10 We have the Moses, and then we have Joseph Smith who’s likened to Moses often in the scriptures, and he’s very, very confident that this will be fine. Again, verse 17 continues on with that. “I’ll raise up a Moses.” So that’s our Joseph Smith and start talking to him about this record and how he’s going to help the Nephi prophets have a voice in translating their words and things. So that’s verse 18. Really fun stuff. But poor little Joseph maybe had a little simple question of, what’s up with my life? And you look at this amazing revelation that he’s being given to give him some confidence that it will all be okay. I just like to jump us over to verse 22 so we can bring this chapter to a close and have a look at the other two. But now we have Lehi taking back the conversation.

  00:30:59 He’s been quoting Joseph of Egypt the whole time. And now, he says, “And now behold, my son Joseph, after this manner did my father of old prophesy,” verse 23, “wherefore, because of this covenant, thou art blessed. For thy seed shall not be destroyed for they shall hearken unto the words of the book.” So again, Joseph, I know you’ve had a hard life. I know this hasn’t been very much fun, and you’ve been this nomad all of the time you’ve been on earth. And here we are having to rebuild in a new world, but the covenant is what we’re part of, and that is going to bless you in all these ways and bless your posterity. That book that we’ve been talking about will speak to your descendants at some point and bring them back into the covenant as well. Covenant, covenant, covenant all the way through chapter three.

Hank Smith: 00:31:52 Yeah, Jan, I think in the past as I’ve taught this and looked at this chapter, I’ve focused on the word Joseph, where actually you should focus on the word covenant. It comes up actually more than the word Joseph.

Dr. Jan Martin: 00:32:04 Yeah, and to help us place all these events inside that larger viewpoint that Joseph Smith’s activities is part of this larger picture. As important as he is, he is not the picture. He’s a player in the picture, and he’s a significant player. But this plan of God has been going on all along. We can’t wreck God’s plans, and we need to fit in that. And that’s really the message I think Lehi’s trying to give to little Joseph, is our family’s a player in this overarching plan. How cool, but there’s more to the plan that’ll be coming, the other people are going to play a role in, but we need to rejoice that we’re seeing the covenant, that we know we’re part of the covenant, and all of this is doable because we’re yoked to God.

John Bytheway: 00:32:52 For all the moms out there who are listening, they can share this with their children too. Did you know that we are part of this covenant family, and that even when we have ups and downs and trials, it’s okay because we’re part of this covenant family, and God’s made promises that we can bless all the families of the world. It’s so funny because here’s Lehi saying, “This has been really rough, but you have been so blessed.”

Dr. Jan Martin: 00:33:18 Yes.

John Bytheway: 00:33:19 He’s like, “Really? Is that what this is?” But you’ve been blessed because you’re part of this covenant, and we know how this is going to turn out.

Dr. Jan Martin: 00:33:29 Well, and how cool it would be for moms to remind their children of their baptismal covenants, and that’s how you join this family. And that because you’ve been baptized and because we have these other covenants as well, not every family that we’re having listen to our podcast has mom and a dad, but everybody can have a baptismal covenant that we can connect this to. Any mom could say, “Right, you’re having a hard time. How can your baptismal covenants give you this perspective because you’re part of this family.”

Dr. Jan Martin: 00:34:00 Let’s look at little Joseph or let’s look at Jacob in the previous chapter, both of whom had rough childhoods, and how is this covenant going to help you deal with something difficult at school or difficult at home or difficult at work? Yeah, I think there’s a lot of power in connecting your children to the overarching covenant and Lehi does it really well through here.

Hank Smith: 00:34:23 Jan, I know you taught us well here that the second Nephi three is let’s focus on the covenant and not necessarily the players in the covenant. You’re absolutely right on here. And also in addition, John, you talked about parents teaching their kids. This is an excellent opportunity, though he is a player in this story, to testify of the Prophet Joseph Smith. When I think about how others talk about Joseph Smith in this day and age, if I were him and I wanted you to know about me besides talking to me and my family, I want you to hear from my closest friends. And I was reading to prepare and I think most of us have heard Brigham Young’s quote, “I feel like shouting hallelujah all the time when I think that I ever knew Joseph Smith, the Prophet.” And I think most of us have heard the statement of John Taylor from section 1:35, “Joseph Smith, the prophet and seer of the Lord has done more save Jesus only for the salvation of men in this world than any other man that has lived in it.”

  00:35:25 I wanted to add two more because there’s two more Presidents of the church after Brigham Young and John Taylor who also knew Joseph Smith personally, Wilford Woodruff and Lorenzo Snow. And here’s what they say, Wilford Woodruff, “I want to say that I have traveled with Joseph Smith a good deal in my day. I associated with him more or less from the spring of 1834 to the day of his death.” That would be 10 years later. “I know as do my brethren who were associated with him, that he was a prophet of God, one of the greatest prophets God ever raised up on the earth. As I said yesterday,” he was talking, he was in general conference. “He received revelations upon every subject necessary for the organization of the church. He laid the foundation of a great work and this is the greatest dispensation God ever gave to man.”

  00:36:12 And then another friend of the prophet Lorenzo Snow, “Joseph Smith, the Prophet with whom I was intimately acquainted for years as well as I was with my brother, I know to have been a man of integrity, a man devoted to the interests of humanity and to the requirements of God, all the days in which he was permitted to live. There was never a man that possessed a higher degree of integrity and more devotedness to the interest of mankind than the Prophet Joseph Smith. I say this from a personal acquaintance with him.” So this is a great opportunity, don’t you both think, for parents to tell their children, look, Joseph Smith is going to have evil spoken of him, but there’s quite a few people who have spoken good about him. Let’s hear from them.

Dr. Jan Martin: 00:37:02 Yeah. And let’s add Lehi’s testimony, if we want to just go finish up with chapter three. If you look at verse 24, this is a brilliant testimony. He says, “There shall rise up one mighty among them,” Joseph’s posterity, “Who shall do much good both in word and in deed, being an instrument in the hands of God with exceeding faith to mighty works, wonders and do that thing which is great in the sight of God unto the bringing to pass of much restoration unto the house of Israel and unto the seed of thy brethren.” What a testimony. That’s Lehi’s testimony of Joseph. You’ve given us all these modern prophets. Let’s add an ancient prophet, and Joseph is certainly a significant contributor to this covenant plan that God has and we have every reason to testify of him, be grateful for what he’s done.

Hank Smith: 00:37:55 John and Jan, I had a student recently just a great girl, she said, “Brother Smith, I love the church. I love the gospel. It really is my world. I just don’t know what to think about Joseph Smith”, from all that she’d heard. And I thought, it’s interesting how maybe some of us have separated the church and the gospel that we enjoy and love from Joseph Smith.

John Bytheway: 00:38:21 It’s like you’re at a restaurant. Oh my goodness, I love this prime rib. So good. Oh, those green beans were perfection. Oh, this salad is so delicious, but I just don’t know if the chef is a good cook.

Dr. Jan Martin: 00:38:37 Yeah. Yeah, the gospel came through Joseph. You understand people who are wrestling with these kinds of questions, but honestly by their fruits shall you know them and if the fruits of the gospel you’re enjoying came through Joseph, there’s every reason to accept him and believe him to be the prophet.

Hank Smith: 00:38:58 Absolutely. If you rejoice in the Latter-day Church and in the gospel you are receiving, you automatically are rejoicing in Joseph Smith. Jan, are we ready to move into chapter four?

Dr. Jan Martin: 00:39:12 I think we are. You watch Lehi blessing all of the rest of his children. There he goes through and leaves his promises on Laman and Lemuel’s children, on sons of Ishmael, on Sam. I don’t want to lose our covenant focus because I introduced you to the idea that Lehi is conducting a covenant renewal ceremony here before he dies. And part of that ceremony is giving blessings to your children. This isn’t him going off on another tangent. This is part of a covenant renewal ceremony. And if you look in Deuteronomy, you’ll see Moses doing that same thing with the Tribes of Israel. We get over to verse 12 after all the blessings are given, and then you get the news that Lehi has died and now Nephi is going to be in charge and he’s going to have this rough time. And we all love second Nephi four.

  00:40:06 We know it as Nephi’s Psalm. Many authors have shown that it’s carefully and meticulously crafted, that he’s really working through his grief here. But what I want to do is show you the covenant structure of it. Second Nephi one gives you this suzerainty treaty structure of the Lehitic covenant, but second Nephi four gives you a look at Nephi using a covenant to walk himself through some of the worst times of his life.

  00:40:37 Before I show you that, let me read something Elder D. Todd Christofferson said. He said, “Making and keeping covenants with God gives us the power to smile through hardships, to convert tribulation into triumph, to be anxiously engaged in a good cause and to bring to pass much righteousness. Divine covenants make strong Christians.” I just want to show you how the covenant structure is here that you maybe have not seen, but it’s allowing Nephi to figure out how to smile through his hardships, how to convert this tribulation into a triumph. And he comes out on the other end in second Nephi 5:5 able to do some more hard things. He’s shown us the grieving and how covenants will help us with the grieving. So this is a fun thing to do.

Hank Smith: 00:41:25 I’m excited to walk through this. It reminds me of the first experience I had when I heard, maybe both of you have heard this, the hymn that was created by John Tanner from this Psalm. Anybody can look it up. It’s on YouTube. It’s called I Love the Lord by the BYU Men’s Chorus. It is pretty incredible. I would encourage everybody to go take a look. Have you both heard that? It is…

Dr. Jan Martin: 00:41:47 I haven’t. So I need to.

Hank Smith: 00:41:49 It’s really spectacular.

Dr. Jan Martin: 00:41:51 Okay. John, would you start in verse 15 and read from 15 through 18 and then I’ll show you how to start analyzing the rest through the covenant perspective.

John Bytheway: 00:42:02 Okay. Second Nephi four beginning in verse 15, “And upon these I write the things of my soul, and many of the scriptures which are engraven upon the plates of brass. For my soul delighteth in the scriptures, and my heart pondereth them, and writeth them for the learning and the profit of my children. Behold my soul delighteth in the things of the Lord and my heart pondereth continually upon the things which I have seen and heard. Nevertheless, notwithstanding the great goodness of the Lord in showing me his great and marvelous works my heart exclaimeth, O, wretched man that I am! Yea, my heart sorroweth because of my flesh, my soul grieveth because of my iniquities. I am encompassed about because of the temptations and the sins, which do so easily beset me.”

Dr. Jan Martin: 00:42:51 Thank you. Here’s Nephi in a dark place. His dad has died. So you have the grieving that comes from losing a close parent. One of the things I like to have my students do is really think about all the reasons Nephi has to be struggling here. And Lehi’s always been his ally and he’s gone. He’s having to put up with the adversity of his siblings all alone. And you can just imagine the grief and then the adversity and just that one. And there’s other reasons Nephi has to be feeling down. He’s taking over as the spiritual leader. He’s probably feeling inadequate. He’s probably feeling incapable. He’s got his weaknesses. Maybe his brothers push his buttons and he’s let some of that loose and he’s feeling repentant and sad about weaknesses. You can be drawn right in to a very dark time for Nephi, and we don’t always get a look at this. Nephi’s been pretty stalwart all the way through first Nephi, but here we get the look at the real person and not just the always faithful person, but somebody who’s just real and hurting right now.

Hank Smith: 00:44:00 As Nephi is looking back, this isn’t written at the exact time, but he’s looking back upon the death of Lehi. And I’ve wondered, and maybe both of you can comment on this and please point out where I might be flawed in my argument here, but I think there’s always a hope that people will change and repent and then perhaps as Lehi is in his dying days, that maybe there’s a hope that this family is going to stay together and that they’ll come through. And then as Nephi is looking back, I wonder if there’s that feeling of inadequacy. What if I would’ve done things differently? Did I fail my father? Here he is writing about his… Did I fail in keeping our family together? And that would rip you apart. I’m sure there’s probably, this is inevitably going to happen, but I hope it doesn’t. Right? There’s always that hope of things will turn around and I wonder if he, long past he’s looking back and thinking, oh, I’m sorry, dad. I’m sorry.

Dr. Jan Martin: 00:45:03 Yeah. Yeah, I don’t think there’s anything flawed in that thinking because by the time he’s writing about this, the family has split. They’re not living together. There’s probably been some wars and contentions. There’s probably maybe been a few more heated interactions. The population isn’t huge at this point. I think that Nephi carries that maybe heavy responsibility and maybe sometimes takes on, this is my fault. Had I been more patient or had I not lost my temper, because he has, he admits he has an issue with anger sometimes. Looking back, he can just be like, my dad would be disappointed maybe.

Hank Smith: 00:45:41 Yeah. I mean he wrote in verse 13 that not many days after his death, things go back to the way they were. They are angry with me. John, I’ve heard you talk about your father. It’s something that is so dear to your heart. Does that speak to you at all in second Nephi, four? He writes about the death of his father and those emotions all start coming up.

John Bytheway: 00:46:06 Yeah, I think what Jan just said a minute ago, this was a spiritual ally, and he was one of the younger siblings as his brothers continually reminded him, right?

Dr. Jan Martin: 00:46:15 Yeah.

John Bytheway: 00:46:16 But at least I’m seeing eye to eye with dad and then dad’s gone, like you said, and carries through the seemingly the rest of the Book of Mormon, the descendants of the older brothers should be ruling the younger brothers, and that seems to go on for hundreds of years. But anyway, that friendship he had with his dad, and I don’t want to discount, we don’t know much about Nephi’s wife, but I’m saying kind of what Jan did. This was his spiritual ally. He had seen things and Nephi had seen things and they were prophets together perhaps. And now he’s gone.

  00:46:49 I think you’re absolutely right, and I couldn’t keep the family together. But yeah, to answer your question, I just had a dear friend who lost his father. And even when you know it’s coming, when it really happens, it hits you and it’s sobering. Nephi’s got a lot going on right now with his fathers. And then as you said, verse 13, they’re angry with me. I’ve always thought how strange. They’re angry with me because of what God said. They’re angry with me because of the admonitions of the Lord.

Hank Smith: 00:47:21 My dad died about three years ago, but I find myself almost avoiding the topic sometimes of talking about my dad because I can see if I were to make a journal entry all about his death and what had happened since then, I could see all these emotions, these uncomfortable emotions, not bad emotions, but uncomfortable emotions coming up in writing the history.

Dr. Jan Martin: 00:47:48 Yeah, for sure.

Hank Smith: 00:47:50 He’s a real guy here. He’s a real human being. Yeah.

Dr. Jan Martin: 00:47:54 And as many of us know, who’ve lost loved ones, grieving sometimes takes years, years and years to work your way through the different layers. And as we’ve said, Nephi’s writing, looking back on this and writing about it. But I think you can still see some of that grieving just still. Sometimes you just miss people, like they’re gone and nobody can fill their place and they were unique. And even if you’ve been 10, 20, 30 years out from the loss of a loved one, you still miss them. It’s not the same. And I think you can see Nephi being able to be very real here of I’ve missed him ever since. I didn’t just miss him in the moment that he died, but I’ve had to do a lot of hard things all by myself since then. And I miss my dad.

Hank Smith: 00:48:42 I miss that pillar. I miss that support.

Dr. Jan Martin: 00:48:46 Yeah.

John Bytheway: 00:48:46 And how wonderful to know that part of this long view covenant we’re talking about is family, that that relationship will continue thankfully. And we all have that to look forward to, that those relationships will continue.

Dr. Jan Martin: 00:49:02 And if you don’t mind, I’m going to jump in and be a little personal here too, because I realize that we have a wide variety of people listening to the podcast. And family can be a really painful subject for a lot of people because not everyone has a happy family. Not everybody has a good relationship with their parents, and some of us, I’m one of these, doesn’t have a good relationship with my father. And the grief that I have is when my dad passes, there’s not a lot to say. I think the grief that I’m going to have is that I could never connect with him. I’ve tried.

  00:49:44 For those people out there who don’t have parents they can connect to, and they’re having that kind of grief that I have that this has been difficult, it has not worked out in this life, but there’s the covenant hope that it can work out in the future, that maybe in the next life I’ll be able to connect with my father in the way that I was never able to do here. And that these family problems that are so painful can be healed. As you’ve said, that’s the beauty of having that long view, is that all these messy things about families will ultimately be healed. So we want to speak to anyone who has grief, whether they’ve lost a loved parent or have never had a great relationship with a parent. There’s grief of both types, but the gospel can really keep us focused on healing and hope. And at some point it’s not over yet, and at some point it can be made maybe more of what we were hoping it to be.

John Bytheway: 00:50:46 Jan, I’m so glad you bring that up. I’m sure there’s a lot of folks out there nodding with you as they’re listening. And one of the things I love about the Book of Mormon is it isn’t a story of a long line of perfect families. It’s the story of a long line of families with problems. Hopefully that gives us some hope that God has this long view, these families went through struggles like we will.

Dr. Jan Martin: 00:51:16 And if you look at Nephi as well, I think he’s grieving over his dad, but I think there’s some grief over his brothers as well. And we can have really difficult relationships with siblings sometimes. Not everyone has great relationships with siblings. And that’s another great thing about the Book of Mormon is you actually see some really problematic sibling relationships all the way through Nephi’s story at least. And those continue into the Nephite Lamanite history as a nation.

  00:51:43 But again, how Nephi’s grieving, I know he loved his brothers. They were hard to get along with and they had personality issues, but I’m sure there’s grieving too over the loss of them. And then feeling responsible and then wondering if you’re ever going to be able to heal that breach that’s there. And a lot of our listeners may have those concerns about siblings and wonder if those gaps can ever be healed. It’s a place to be like, “We need to play the long game.” And remember that there’s things that can happen on the other side of the veil and that everything doesn’t have to be sorted in this life. There’ll be more changing.

Hank Smith: 00:52:24 Don’t assume you’re alone with your family situation.

John Bytheway: 00:52:27 I’m recalling, was it Elder Gary Stevenson that showed a family picture and talked about the backstory behind the picture? And just the idea that we sometimes get is we see everybody’s Facebook posts and we assume the hunky-doryness. Is that a word? That’s a new word I’d like to invent.

Hank Smith: 00:52:45 That’s a good adjective.

John Bytheway: 00:52:46 Of everybody’s life. And there’s a backstory. All of us are just struggling through this, so hang in there.

Dr. Jan Martin: 00:52:53 That’s a great segue now to, we’ve got Nephi in this dark place and anyone who’s struggling with family issues, Nephi is there with you, whether it’s parents or siblings or extended family. He’s got a lot to grieve about. And so how does he then smile through the hardship, as Elder Christofferson said, he’s going to utilize covenant. And so let me walk you through the beautiful covenant structure here that if you don’t know the suzerainty treaty that I’ve been talking about that the law of Moses is presented in, let me introduce you to it here. Because he follows the format as he is going through and talking himself through the positive side. And how am I going to deal with all the grief I’ve got? And so if everybody wants to come to verse 19.

Hank Smith: 00:53:39 Jan, I want to write this treaty at the top of my page. So how do I spell that?

John Bytheway: 00:53:44 So do I. I was just going to say, can you spell that? I need to see that word?

Dr. Jan Martin: 00:53:47 Suzerainty. So S-U-Z-E-R-A-I-N-T-Y.

John Bytheway: 00:53:55 Yeah, that’s how I was going to spell it.

Dr. Jan Martin: 00:53:59 Well, it’s a funny word. It is kind of spelled suzerainty treaty, but nobody says it like that. It’s just kind of this suzerainty treaty.

John Bytheway: 00:54:06 And what does it mean and what’s the etymology of that? Was there a Susie who ain’t coming or something?

Dr. Jan Martin: 00:54:14 Yeah, no, it’s the Middle Eastern style of covenants that they were making. And if you go back and look at Old Testament times, you’ll find loads of these suzerainty treaties evident in archeological texts. So we have lots of them from different nations all around the Mediterranean. The law of Moses is actually structured in this way, and so I didn’t want to go off on that, but you can see the structure in 2 Nephi 1, and you can see it again in 2 Nephi 4. So I’ll show it to you carefully in 2 Nephi 4. I do have a document we can put up on your notes for the listeners that will show it in 2 Nephi 1. And that way if they want to study it and mark it in their scriptures, they can go get that document. So I’ll make sure you guys get that. I came prepared with that.

Hank Smith: 00:55:01 We can put that on our show notes, followhim.co. Go over there and look for Jan’s episode. You can find those show notes.

Dr. Jan Martin: 00:55:07 And I can just introduce you to the six things that these suzerainty treaties always have. And Nephi has them all, and you watch him using this covenant to help him talk himself through the darkness. And he comes out a lot better on the other side. So verse 19 is the beginning of his use of the covenant. He says, “When I desire to rejoice, my heart groaneth because of my sins”, but this word nevertheless is really important. “In spite of all the darkness I know in whom I have trusted.” So in a suzerainty treaty, this is what we would call the preamble. The preamble always identifies the parties that are involved in the covenant. Nephi is there.

  00:55:52 I know in whom I’ve trusted, and that would be Jehovah. So we have our preamble and he’s starting off reminding himself that he and Jehovah are partners in a covenant. Then he moves from the preamble to what we would call a historical prologue. The historical prologue reviews the past relationship between the suzerain, which is Jehovah and the vassal, which is Nephi, and it emphasizes the benevolence of the suzerain. So let’s watch. Hank, if you want to be the reader. Let’s have you read. Start in verse 20, read if you don’t mind, all the way to 27 and watch how Nephi goes back through the history of his relationship with Jehovah. It’s really cool.

Hank Smith: 00:56:42 Okay, it seems, Jan, right in the there in verse 19 is where it switches. Right in the middle,

Dr. Jan Martin: 00:56:47 Right there. He’s going to go to the covenant. Yeah.

Hank Smith: 00:56:50 “Nevertheless, I know in whom I have trusted.” Now verse 20, “My God hath been my support. He has led me through my afflictions in the wilderness, and he has preserved me upon the waters of the great deep. He has filled me with his love, even unto the consuming of my flesh. He has confounded my enemies unto the causing of them to quake before me. Behold, He hath heard my cry by day and He hath given me knowledge by visions in the nighttime. And by day I have waxed bold in mighty prayer before Him. Yea, my voice have I sent up on high and angels came down and ministered unto me.”

  00:57:28 ” And upon the wings of his Spirit, hath my body been carried away upon exceedingly high mountains and my eyes have beheld great things. Yay, even too great for man. Therefore, I was forbidden that I should not write them. Oh, then if I have seen so great things, if the Lord in His condescension unto the children of men have visited men in so much mercy, why should my heart weep and my soul linger in the valley of sorrow and my flesh waste away and my strength slacken because of my afflictions? And why should I yield to sin because of my flesh? Yea, why should I give way to temptations that the evil one have place in my heart to destroy my peace and afflict my soul? Why am I angry because of mine enemy?”

Dr. Jan Martin: 00:58:19 So a good historical prologue always reviews the amazing things the suzerain has done, which you got all the way from verse 20 through verse 26. You get these beautiful reviews of the past, the miracles, and you can link every one of those verses to a story or an event that Nephi has experienced in 1 Nephi. It’s a brilliant historical prologue. But the other part of historical prologue is reminding yourself that you’re the weaker part, that you’re the vassal. And if there’s a problem here. It’s you, not the suzerain. The end of verse 26 and the end of all of verse 27 is that it’s showing Nephi’s weakness. There’s a reason he’s the vassal and not the suzerain. The suzerain is the more powerful person in the relationship. And you always want to humbly admit that you’re the one that’s at fault. And he does that.

  00:59:15 Why is my heart weeping? Why am I being depressed? Why am I yielding to my flesh? Why am I giving into temptations and why am I angry? So he’s humbly finishing that prologue with exactly what you need to have in it, which is I’m the fallen, weaker person in this relationship. It’s really neat to see the covenant prologue as he goes through it. And then what follows the historical prologue is the stipulations of the covenant, which establishes this reciprocal relationship for each party. John, if I could have you be a reader again and start in verse 28 and let me have you read 28, 29. Watch him reconnecting to his obedience part.

John Bytheway: 01:00:01 “Awake my soul, no longer droop in sin. Rejoice O my heart and give place no more for the enemy of my soul. Do not anger again because of my enemies. Do not slacken my strength because of my afflictions.”

Dr. Jan Martin: 01:00:16 This is the stipulation section where he reminds himself of his part in the covenant. Awake my soul. I shouldn’t be drooping in sin. I need to be rejoicing. Get a handle on your anger and do not lay around in your tent feeling sorry for yourself. Let’s recommit to the obedience part. I have a part in this. And then we hit verse 30, which I’ll read, and it says, “Rejoice O my heart and cry unto the Lord and say, O Lord, I will praise you forever. Yea, my soul will rejoice in thee my God and the rock of my salvation.” Verse 31 says, “O Lord, wilt thou redeem my soul? Wilt thou deliver me out of the hands of mine enemies? Wilt thou make me that I may shake at the appearance of sin?” He finishes his side of the agreement and then he launches into what he needs from the suzerain.

  01:01:08 Jehovah, I need you to do the covenant part and I’m going to remind you of what I need. I need you to redeem me from my weaknesses, and I need you to deliver me out of the hands of my enemies. And I need you to help me be stronger in dealing with my enemies and not cave into some of these maybe button pushing issues that I have with my siblings. So this stipulation section is what you have in a covenant. I’ll do this. God does this, and I have every right to call on Him to do his part when I’m committed to doing my part. And you see that there. And then the final part of one of these covenants is what we call a blessing and a cursing section. The blessing section is there to motivate you to keep your covenants. It gives you all the positive consequences for being a covenant keeper.

  01:02:01 And then the cursing section always outlines the negative things that will come to you if you don’t keep the covenant. And that’s just what a good covenant is about. It lets you know what will happen when you’re doing the right thing and educates you on what will happen if you don’t keep it. If you will all jump over to verse 34 and 35, you’ll see that little blessing and cursing section. Verse 34, “I have trusted in thee, I will trust in thee forever. I will not put my trust in the arm of the flesh. Why? Because I know that cursed is he that put his trust in the arm of the flesh.” There’s the cursing part. Accursed is he that put his trust in man or make flesh his arm. Then here’s the blessing part.

  01:02:45 “Yea. I know that God will give liberally to him that asketh. Yea, my God will give me if I ask not amiss. Therefore, I will lift up my voice unto thee. Yea, I will cry unto thee, my God, the rock of my righteousness.” And so forth. You have this whole treaty structure that he walks himself through, which allows him to come out on the other side of this dark place and recognize I’m not alone. I have confidence in calling on Jehovah. He will help me. And he uses the covenant to get through it. And this is a great way to apply when I’m having a dark time how can I review my covenants the way Nephi did and use them to help me smile through the hard times and find joy in the difficulties. So it’s brilliant what he’s got here.

Hank Smith: 01:03:36 Jan, this has been fantastic. Not only learning about the treaty itself and its place here in the Book of Mormon and how incredible that is, but also how Nephi uses it to get himself out of this really dark place, which again, is not a bad place to be. Sometimes we think that negative emotions are… We want to get rid of those, let’s push those off. I should be happy all the time. Why am I not happy? And it’s okay to sit in grief for a little while, but you can’t stay there. You’ve got to find a way out.

Dr. Jan Martin: 01:04:10 Yeah. So let me share another comment from our President Nelson. He says, “Committed children of the covenant remain steadfast even in the midst of adversity. When that doctrine, the covenant doctrine, is deeply implanted in our hearts, even the sting of death is soothed and our spiritual stamina is strengthened.” Watch Nephi sitting in this dark place, and then he decides to get out of it by reviewing the covenant-

Hank Smith: 01:04:40 I noticed how the daughters of Ishmael reacted to their father’s death in 1 Nephi 16 and how they don’t seem to come out of it, they mourn exceedingly because of the death of their father. Then they start thinking of all their past problems. They’ve been brought out of Jerusalem. They’ve wandered in the wilderness, they have suffered a lot of things. Then they start predicting the future. “We must perish in the wilderness with hunger.” Nephi’s way seems much more effective. Wouldn’t you say that perhaps another way to put this, which I think you’ve walked us through, is Nephi is experiencing the Fall and in order to really appreciate the Atonement you have to experience the Fall? The light doesn’t mean as much if you’re not sitting in the dark. And that’s something we’ve seen throughout the Book of Mormon so far is people experiencing the hardship of the Fall creates in them a need, a longing for restoration for the light.

Dr. Jan Martin: 01:05:42 Yeah. And when you are talking about the Fall and the things that you need to experience, it’s always you need to taste the bitter that you know the sweet. It’s not taste the sweet so you know the bitter and that’s an important order that you don’t realize that things are good until they’re not. And then when you’re sitting in the darkness like Nephi is doing, you have a desire to get back to the light that maybe you took for granted. So that then is a motivation to have you do something to get out of the dark and then back to the light. But because it was dark, you now appreciate the light more and can really value that. It’s an important thing.

  01:06:24 One thing I was going to say about the daughters of Ishmael in their mourning, if you compare what they are focused on, it’s all the negative compared to what Nephi focuses on in that historical prologue. He goes and looks at all the good things God did. That’s really important. We need to acknowledge that negative things happen, but you also, even in the dark places, there’s good things happening. We need to emphasize that and as we emphasize the light, the light can then have more power to help bring us out of the dark place. The daughters of Ishmael would’ve maybe had a better experience had they utilized that historical prologue and not just looked at the hard things, but also looked at the good things that God did to help them with that. And that seems to be what’s missing in their review of the past is, well, God was actually there helping as well.

Hank Smith: 01:07:15 Yeah, I’ve often told friends, when you’re really in a hard, difficult, dark place, it’s probably not a good time to predict the future. It’s probably not a good place to go.

Dr. Jan Martin: 01:07:26 Yeah, because everything looks bad.

Hank Smith: 01:07:28 Yeah, everything looks bad.

Dr. Jan Martin: 01:07:30 But when you do it the way Nephi did it and you go back and look at the way God was involved in your past in a positive way, then you have more grounding and then you can see, well, the future’s not as dark as I think it is. I have a God I can call on and I can have this confidence and He’s going to help me with this.

Hank Smith: 01:07:49 It reminds me of the way the Liberty Jail sections start with Section 121 verse one, God, where are you?

John Bytheway: 01:07:58 How long?

Dr. Jan Martin: 01:07:58 Where art thou?

Hank Smith: 01:07:59 Yeah. And then 123 finishes with, “Let us cheerfully do all things that lie in our power.” And you’re going-

Dr. Jan Martin: 01:08:08 Yeah. Even if he maybe isn’t as aware of the structure as Nephi is, Nephi is perfectly aware of this and seems to be deliberately using it. I’ll do this and when I have my students walk through 2 Nephi 4, even if they don’t know the suzerainty structure, they can see that he’s grateful. He starts out with the grateful and even though they don’t always know it’s a historical prologue and that’s what you do, they can see the progression from I’m being grateful and then I’m acknowledging my weaknesses and then I’m coming up with a plan to strengthen them, and then I’m going to rely on the Lord. And they can see all of that even if you don’t know what to call it, and it’s a great way of working through dark times.

Hank Smith: 01:08:48 I really enjoy watching this switch from sadness and heartache to almost excitement about the future.

Dr. Jan Martin: 01:08:57 When you look at verse 35, he’s just rejoicing right there by the end like, I know that it’s going to be fine. My future’s going to be brighter than I was looking a few verses ago.

John Bytheway: 01:09:09 I’m imagining that we could sit down with our kids and say, “You know what God did for Nephi, he can do for us. God will support us through our trials. He’ll lead us through our afflictions. He’ll preserve us. He’ll fill us with love. He’ll confound our enemies and hear our prayers and give us knowledge.” Just trying to think of a way to apply this that we can share with our families separate from the really amazing structure you’ve showed us that’s true, but we can tell our kids, “Look, these are the kinds of things God can do for us when we strive to keep our covenants.”

Dr. Jan Martin: 01:09:41 Yeah. You could even take it deeper than that and say, “Okay, in the past, when has God filled you with his love? When in the past has He confounded your enemies? When has He heard your prayers?” Of course He’s going to do that, but sometimes children need to have that active remembrance and go back and remember their past spiritual experiences and that God has really been part and then they can tell you about them and that’s a bearing of testimony and I don’t know anyone that feels sad after you start bearing a testimony of truth, the Spirit just can really lighten things. If parents are looking for some application, this is a great chapter to get out and then start asking your kids those questions when they’re having a hard time and see if they can start testifying of the way that God has been part of their lives already.

Hank Smith: 01:10:32 Yeah, it’s much easier to remember those experiences if you’ve written them down.

John Bytheway: 01:10:36 Amen.

Dr. Jan Martin: 01:10:38 Gratitude journals or spiritual experience journals, I think we all remember Henry B. Eyring talking about that in General Conference, that miracle journal, and that might be a fun way for families to start applying this too, is to sit down on a family home evening and start a miracle journal. Start a family journal or an individual journal and encourage them to write down their spiritual experiences so they can go get them out and read them if they can’t remember.

Hank Smith: 01:11:02 I think of prepping a son for a mission or anyone who’s serving a mission and you’re going to have dark days. It comes with the territory. You can follow the same pattern that Jan has taught us here of sit in that emotion, feel it, and then start remembering all the good things the Lord has done. Even list them, start listing them and watch your feelings change.

John Bytheway: 01:11:30 And it will surprise you what the Lord has done. Right?

Dr. Jan Martin: 01:11:32 Great chapter, chapter 4, love that.

Hank Smith: 01:11:35 Chapter 4 is one of those I’ve heard many people say, “When I’m feeling down or I’m struggling, I go back to 2 Nephi 4.” It’s one of those chapters that you say, “If that’s the only one Joseph Smith gives us, if this is the only chapter, you’d feel like he gave you enough.”