Comments on 1 Nephi 12 This chapter repeats the theme of ch. 11, but the setting is the Promised Land of the descendants of Lehi, or the New World. The main symbols from the previous chapter, the Lamb and the Building, are revisited and discussed in this new context. Note Nephi has not even left the Old World yet when he receives this revelation. It is safe to assume Lehi had a similar revelation from Nephi's recounting in ch. 10 of Lehi's comments on his dreams. Thus, both Lehi and Nephi know the importance of them making this trip before they embark upon it. They have about seven years of sojourning through a desert, and then Nephi had to build a ship. And the whole time they have to deal with Laman and Lemuel's rebellions. This is why they put up with it all, because they understand the Lord's plans for them. It also explains more fully why they have to tolerate Laman and Lemuel's presence rather than just sending them back to Jerusalem to be rid of them. The chapter is tightly structured with the Lamb and those spiritually cleansed by him (v. 6-12) being contrasted with those who are prideful and hard-hearted (v. 1-5, 13-23). More text is dedicated to describing the wicked, which ends up being an accurate prediction of what would become the history of the Lehites in the New World. The text is also chronological with v. 1-5 leading up to the destruction of the wicked and the resulting cleansed society of v. 6-12, and the gradual apostasy after three generations in v. 13-23. v1 "as the sand of the sea", a fulfilment of the prediction in Gen. 22:17. More importantly to us it indicates Nephi is making use of rhetoric and style of the Law of Moses in writing his account. Thus, we can interpret his writings in the light of these other texts. v3 "even that I did not number them", as in 15:27 where Nephi points out that Lehi was overwhelmed by other matters, Nephi here is overwhelmed by the sheer volume and detail of the revelation. So much so that he cannot keep track of it all. v4 is making reference to the destruction detailed in 3 Ne. 8-9. "mist of darkness", in Lehi's preceding vision the mists of darkness were symbolic of the vanity and pride of the world, as is explained in v. 17. However, here, the mist of darkness is literal and referring to the "vapor of darkness" (v. 5), presumably volcanic ash, that smothers people after the cataclysm, cf. 3 Ne. 8:3, 3 Ne. 8:19, 3 Ne. 10:13. In this case, those deceived by the figurative vapor of darkness are overcome by the literal vapor of darkness. v5 "I saw multitudes who had not fallen", the "not" was added in the 1981 edition of the BofM as a result of the LDS Church obtaining access from the RLDS Church of the original printer's manuscript of the BofM. It was present in the manuscript but not in the 1st Ed. BofM. The addition makes greater sense as the multitudes he would see would be those who had survived the destruction and therefore would be those who witness the manifestation of the Lamb spoken of in the next verse, cf. 3 Ne. 11:1. v8 is making reference to the events of 3 Ne. 12:1. v9 "rememberest the twelve apostles of the Lamb", Nephi saw them in 11:29. v10 "garments are made white in his blood", the imagery has its source in Lev. 17:11. v11-12 refers to the three generations composed of those who survived the cataclysm of 3 Ne. 8 living through the time of 4 Ne. 1:23. Verse 12 indicates that with the fourth generation things start going bad again, cf. 4 Ne. 1:24. v16-18 The angel explains four symbols from the vision in an A-B pattern similar to that employed in ch. 11, and concludes with a statement that the three things separate those who are caught up in them from God by Justice. The breakdown is as follows: A - (v. 16a-e) Fountain of filthy water B - (v. 16f) The depths of hell A - (v. 17a) Mists of darkness B - (v. 17b-e) Temptations of the devil A - (v. 18a-b) Large and spacious building B - (v. 18c) vain imaginations...pride A - (v. 18d) Great and terrible gulf B - (v. 18e-j) The word of justice v16 "fountain", i.e., the head of a river. v18 "and the Messiah who is the Lamb of God", the 1st Ed. BofM reads "and Jesus Christ which is the Lamb of God". It is unclear to me why this change was made, when it was made, and who made it. I consider the 1st Ed. reading to be the better reading of the two, for reasons stated below. I would speculate the change was made by someone other than Smith because of what is said by Jacob in 2 Ne. 10:3. There, Jacob states the name "Christ" is revealed to him by an angel, and he subsequently makes that name public. I would assume whoever made the change to this verse concluded that 2 Ne. 10:3 was the first revelation of that word to any of the Nephites and therefore the preceding usage of "Christ" here in v. 18 must have been a translation anomaly by Smith due to the synonymous usages of the terms "Christ" and "Messiah". If this is the case, then the assumption is wrong. There is no indication Nephi made public the details of his various revelations while he was alive. In ch. 15 he omitted a considerable amount of detail in his statements to Laman and Lemuel, and did not even explicitly tell them he had revelations similar to Lehi. Jacob, at the present time of Nephi's vision, either hasn't been born yet or is an infant (cf. 2 Ne. 2:1). Jacob clearly couldn't have been present for or aware of Nephi's vision and the subsequent conversation between Nephi and Laman and Lemuel, even if there was additional discussion concerning the Messiah undocumented in ch. 15 or 16. There is nothing suggesting Nephi told anyone else of the visions he had, as he had done previously with Sam in 2:17. Jacob did not obtain the small plates until just before Nephi's death. So, Jacob's revelation from the angel concerning the name "Christ" would have been the first he and the Nephites heard of it, but not the first Nephi heard of it. Thus, I would conclude the statement in 2 Ne. 10:3 by Jacob should have no bearing whatsoever on how the present v. 18 is rendered. Regarding the 1st Ed. reading on this verse, let us consult a related text. In 2 Ne. 25:19 Nephi states: For according to the words of the prophets, the Messiah cometh in six hundred years from the time that my father left Jerusalem; and according to the words of the prophets, and also the word of the angel of God, his name shall be Jesus Christ, the Son of God. Footnote c on "angel" in the 1981 edition BofM refers the reader to 2 Ne. 10:3. However, in 2 Ne. 10:3, the name "Jesus" is not given, only the name "Christ" is given. Where then did Nephi get "Jesus" from? He said it was from "the word of the angel of God", and the 1st Ed. BofM version of v. 18 has the angel identifying the Messiah as "Jesus Christ...the Lamb of God". Thus, I 2 Ne. 25:19 Nephi is referring to the present verse and not Jacob's angelic revelation of 2 Ne. 10:3. I would therefore conclude the 1st Ed. BofM reading on this verse to be the correct reading. If it was Smith who changed the reading on this verse, then I cannot understand why he did it. Aside from this, it is worthwhile noting that Nephi consistently uses the title "Messiah" and not Christ whenever he is speaking on his own. The only exception occurs here in v. 18, which is in fact a quotation of an angel, and later in 2 Ne. 25 wherein Nephi explicitly identifies "Jesus Christ, the Son of God" after didactically equating him with the Messiah. After 2 Ne. 25, Nephi generally favors the title "Christ" instead of "Messiah", and the title only gets used four more times in the entire BofM (cf. 2 Ne. 26:3, Jarom 1:11, Mosiah 13:33, Hela. 8:13) whereas "Christ" appears just over three hundreds times. From this, I would assume the Nephites linguistically distinguished between the titles "Messiah" and "Christ" (note the Mosiah 13:33 and Hela. 8:13 references combine the usage of "Messiah" with explicit references to the Law of Moses, which original copy on the brass plates was probably in Hebrew and obviously antedated 2 Ne. 10:3). v19-23 As the angel explains the symbols in v. 16-18 Nephi sees the practical application of those symbols. He sees terrible wars between his descendant and his brother's descendants with his descendants being destroyed because of pride and rebellion (v. 19-21) and his brother's descendants becoming a wicked and filthy people (v. 22-23). v22-23 While their resorting to wickedness and filthiness is a bad thing, the manner in which they do it is what preserves the lineage. Where the Nephites deliberately rebel and are annihilated as a race, through war or assimilation, the Lamanites slouch their way into apostasy with the children raised in ignorance. As the children are ignorant, they are spared the utter destruction the rebellious Nephites face, cf. 2 Ne. 4:5-7. Copyright © 2001 by S. Kurt Neumiller . All rights reserved. No part of this text may be reproduced in any form or by any means for commercial gain without the express written consent of the author. Digital or printed copies may be freely made and distributed for personal and public non-commercial use.