Monday, November 23, 2015

1 Nephi 15-16 - The Incense Trail

If you’ve ever wondered how Lehi obtained his wealth, these chapters give a powerful clue. He was likely a Frankincense trader. In the first millennium BC two routes were used transporting spices to the Mediterranean nations. The later was by boat sailing from India along the southern coasts of the Arabian peninsula then up the Red Sea and the Nile river. The other earlier one was via camel caravan following the same route down to Yemen and then to a region in Oman which produced Frankincense.

One of the interesting aspects of the trail is it passed through Marib, Yemen, which two and a half thousand years ago was known as Nahom or Nihim. There it turned East across the barren quarter of Arabia until it hit Wadi Al Sayq which Nephi and Lehi named, “Bountiful.”

Critics of the Book of Mormon's authenticity resort to calling these alignments of archeology with the book, random, lucky guesses. Yet, fifty years ago they scoffed at the preposterous idea of the narrative’s course and way points. Today, the preponderance solid archeological evidence can't be swept away.

While Lehi had the Liahona, he also had the knowledge of how to survive in the desert from years of experience. It still must have been a daunting task to lead a caravan of women and children into some of the most desolate stretches of land on this planet. But that’s what he did.

The other thought I have about this is Nephi’s explanation to his brothers not of the vision but of how to get the information for themselves. By the time he wrote this, his brothers were long gone… left behind when he fled from them. Written for us, it explains how we can learn and experience for ourselves the things he saw and learned.

Included in 1 Nephi 14:27 is Nephi’s observation that his father didn’t notice all the things he did because he was distracted by other things. It’s telling to us because it shows while God may give us great things in visions, it’s still up to us to observe, think and analyze what we see. Lehi missed things Nephi didn’t. I suspect Lehi saw some things Nephi didn’t see, but we don’t have his account. It’s a valuable insight into how revelation works.

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