Comments on 3 Nephi 10 v1-8 The voice of the Lord, as documented in the preceding chapter, was heard throughout all the land, and the people are astonished by it (v. 1). Silence prevails for many hours as the people stop lamenting over the destruction (v. 2), presumably to reflect on what the Lord has just told them. After some time, the voice of the Lord again speaks to them such that they all hear it (v. 3). The Lord tells the survivors they are of Israel and He gladly blesses them and gathers them (v. 4), but they refuse to follow Him (v. 5). How often will the Lord gather Israel? As often as they repent and return to Him (v. 6). And if they don't, then they will be left desolate until the covenant with the Patriarchs is fulfilled (v. 6). When the people hear this they take up their lamenting for the dead again (v. 7). It is plain to them the destruction they faced was a result of their own rebellion against the Lord. v4-7 These verses can be arranged as an inverted antithetical parallelism, as follows: A - 4 O ye people of these great cities which have fallen, who are descendants of Jacob, yea, who are of the house of Israel, B - how oft have I gathered you as a hen gathereth her chickens under her wings, and have nourished you. C - 5 And again, how oft would I have gathered you as a hen gathereth her chickens under her wings, yea, O ye people of the house of Israel, who have fallen; yea, O ye people of the house of Israel, ye that dwell at Jerusalem, as ye that have fallen; yea, how oft would I have gathered you as a hen gathereth her chickens, and ye would not. C - 6 O ye house of Israel whom I have spared, how oft will I gather you as a hen gathereth her chickens under her wings, if ye will repent and return unto me with full purpose of heart. B - 7 But if not, O house of Israel, the places of your dwellings shall become desolate A - until the time of the fulfilling of the covenant to your fathers. A distilled summary would be: A - Fallen people who are of the house of Israel B - I gathered and nourished you C - how oft would I gather you yet ye would not C - I will gather you if ye will repent and return B - If not, your dwellings shall become desolate A - until the fulfilling the covenant to your fathers This is classic covenant theology. As long as Israel rejects the Lord He will punish them, and when they repent He will gladly receive them. Note the ironic manner in which the B's are the opposite of the A's and C's. When the Lord blesses His people they tend to rebel against Him, and when the Lord punishes His people they tend to repent. v4-7 repeat the woe Jesus cast upon the Jews at Jerusalem in Matt. 23:37-38, but tailor it to the Nephite cities. v9-13 After three days the darkness disperses and the tremors cease (v. 9). The lamenting of the survivors ceases as well and it turns to joy in their Redeemer (v. 10), as they were spared the destruction. All things had happened just as the prophets of the Lord had predicted (v. 11). And it was those who did not reject and kill those prophets (v. 12) who survived the destruction (v. 13). v14-17 Mormon now parenthetically comments directly to the reader concerning all of the predictions of the prophets concerning the destruction (v. 14) at the coming of Christ (v. 15). Zenos, Zenock (v. 16) and Joseph all testified concerning the remnant of the seed of Joseph, which is what the Lehites are. All of their prophecies are written on the Brass Plates (v. 17). These verses read very much like Mormon is referring the reader to the Brass Plates, especially v. 17. While Mormon has access to them, unfortunately we do not at present. v18-19 At the end of that year those who survived the great destruction have the great blessing of seeing the resurrected Christ (v. 18) and having Him minister them personally (v. 19). v18 "in the ending of the thirty and fourth year", the great cataclysmic destruction occurred on the fourth day of the first month and Jesus' appearance to them occurs at the end of that year. This means there was almost a year between the destruction of ch. 8 and his appearance to the Lehites in ch. 11. The year probably spans from Passover to Passover. We know that Christ was crucified on Passover, and he appears to the Lehites almost a year later when a great multitude of them were gathered to the Temple in Zarahemla. As Passover was one of the great Biblically instituted Feasts of ingathering, the timing and the ingathering suggest it was that event. "soon after the ascension of Christ", this phrase leads readers to typically believe the period of time between Jesus' resurrection and appearance to the Nephites was short. What does "soon" mean though? It's use in the BofM and in the Bible ambiguous. Sometimes it means years (cf, 1 Ne. 7:14, Hela. 8:26) and sometimes it means immediately (Mosiah 8:6). In the case of an ambiguous term such as this it is better to rely on the unambiguous metric of 3 Ne. 8:5 and 3 Ne. 10:18. 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.