Inspiration
    "All things denote there is a God" - Alma 30:44
    Trending Posts
    • Three: The Exploration of Archetypal Symbols Series
    • The Whole Book of Mormon in 15 Verses via gentlyhewstone.com
    • Review: The Book of Mormon, A Reader’s Edition
    Trending
    • 29 – Two versions of reality
    • #28 – Navigating the interfaith world
    • George MacDonald Quotes About Forgiveness
    • #27 – My God, my God, why have you deserted me?
    • The Four Agreements
    • Have you been baptized by fire?
    • 26 – What is the doctrine of Christ and the fulness of the gospel?
    • #25 – How Nephi leverages scriptures heroes to his advantage
    oneClimbs.comoneClimbs.com
    • Podcast
      • Apple Podcasts
      • Spotify
      • Anchor.fm
    • Topics
      • Atonement
      • Symbolism
      • Temple Prep
      • Temples
      • Notebook
      • Vlog
    • Study Tools
      • Etymology Dictionary
      • Lectures on Faith.com
      • LDSSymbols.com
      • LDS Architecture Blog
      • Number in Scripture
      • Interpreter Foundation
      • Isaiah Explorer
      • ScriptureNotes
      • Septuagint (English)
      • Strong’s Condordance
      • The Book of Isaiah (IIT)
      • Webster’s 1828 Dictionary
    • About
      • About oneClimbs
      • Contact
    oneClimbs.comoneClimbs.com
    Home»Articles»Nephi, Daniel, and the mysteries of God
    Articles February 20, 20225 Mins Read

    Nephi, Daniel, and the mysteries of God

    I kind of read the Book of Mormon on a loop. I get to the end and immediately start over again. Sometimes I feel a little like Forrest Gump running back and forth across the United States over and over just because.

    Sometimes I breeze through, other times it is like molasses because I’m digging deep and finding all kinds of things. It’s different every single time and I really enjoy all the things I find.

    Well, this time I found something really cool right at the beginning in verse one of chapter one. I read through the verse and then I read it again, and again even slower. I was looking for patterns, keywords, or anything I may not have noticed before.

    That’s when one word stuck out to me:

    …having had a great knowledge of the goodness and the mysteries of God, therefore I make a record of my proceedings in my days.

    1 Nephi 1:1

    The word “mystery” only appears in the New Testament and comes from the Greek word “musterion” which means several but related things. It relates to that which is hidden, a secret, such as religious secrets that are confided only to the initiated, and visions or dreams. (link)

    So what’s the big deal? Well, as I said, the word “mystery” (and “mysteries”) only appears in the New Testament and here we have Nephi, who didn’t speak Greek, talking about mysteries. How could he conceive of this idea in Hebrew, I wondered.

    Could there be a word in Hebrew that is the equivalent of the Greek word “musterion?” A quick search revealed that there was and the context around it juxtaposed with Nephi and his experiences kind of blew me away.

    The Hebrew equivalent of the Greek word musterion is the word rawz (רָז – Strong’s 7328) which is only used in the book of Daniel in regards to Nebuchadnezzar’s dream. Obviously, his dream was significant in history in that it laid out a master plan of sorts for the rise and fall of nations and the ultimate establishment of the Kingdom of God with Yeshua as its head. Nebuchadnezzar could not understand his own dream, but Daniel, a man who remained faithful to YHVH even in captivity, did understand it — at least in part. He understood the first fulfillment of that dream, but could not see beyond that, and Bible scholars today are only able to understand it in hindsight.

    https://web.archive.org/web/20210121030203/https://www.amiyisrael.org/articles/MysteryOfGospel/mystery-gospel.htm

    The word raz is Aramaic and means to attenuate (to reduce thickness, make thin) that is hide; a mystery:–secret. (Strong’s) The fact that it only occurs in the Book of Daniel, struck a chord with me because of these connections between him and Nephi.

    I recalled a connection between Daniel and Nephi made in the fictional book written by Chris Heimerdinger called “Daniel and Nephi.” I haven’t read the book but it has these two young men as contemporaries who go on an adventure together.

    Although Heimerdinger’s book is fiction, at the time this book came on my radar I had not considered that Daniel and Nephi did live in Israel during the same time period and may have been around the same age.

    According to the Book of Mormon, Nephi escaped from Jerusalem with his family to inherit a new promised land, while according to the Bible, Daniel survived the destruction of Jerusalem and went into Babylonian captivity.

    Both of these young men proved faithful to the Lord under their own unique circumstances, they delved into the mysteries of God and were each delivered through miraculous circumstances.

    Daniel interpreted the dream of King Nebuchadnezzar and Nephi received an interpretation of the tree that his father saw in his dream.

    This is the dream; and we will tell the interpretation thereof before the king.

    Daniel 2:36

    And [the Spirit of the Lord] said unto me: What desirest thou? And I said unto him: To know the interpretation thereof…

    1 Nephi 11:10-11

    Both Nebuchandnezzer’s and Nepih’s dreams/visions laid out a “master plan” of the rise and fall of nations and the establishment of various kingdoms. I have yet to analyze these two visions with each other so that may be something to look into further; maybe someone else has already done it.

    And in the days of these kings shall the God of heaven set up a kingdom, which shall never be destroyed: and the kingdom shall not be left to other people, but it shall break in pieces and consume all these kingdoms, and it shall stand for ever.

    Daniel 2:44

    And it came to pass that the angel spake unto me, saying: Look! And I looked and beheld many nations and kingdoms. […] And blessed are they who shall seek to bring forth my Zion at that day, for they shall have the gift and the power of the Holy Ghost; and if they endure unto the end they shall be lifted up at the last day, and shall be saved in the everlasting kingdom of the Lamb;

    1 Nephi 13:1,37

    There are likely many other parallels that I have yet to discover, but I just love finding out things like this thanks to how easy technology makes it to have such great information at your fingertips. The scriptures are just sitting upon a wealth of information that we are likely only scratching the surface of.

    Well, that’s just one little facet of the first verse in the Book of Mormon; on we go.

    Book of Mormon Daniel Dreams Nephi Old Testament Visions
    Previous ArticleThe original order of books on the gold plates
    Next Article #19 – Nephi ponders to weigh the consequences
    Steve Reed

      I created oneClimbs as a place to organize my thoughts and share my observations with anyone who might find the information useful. Though I may speak passionately or convincingly in some of this content, PLEASE don't simply take my word alone on anything. Always seek the truth of all things through study and prayer in the name of Jesus Christ.

      2 Comments

      1. Linda on November 2, 2022 2:10 pm

        As we’re studying Daniel this week, I also have noticed similarities btwn he and Nephi. Went on a Google search to see if others see it too and found your post. Thank you for what you learned and shared about the mysteries and their visions/interpretations. I’m excited to dig in more.

        Reply
        • Steve Reed on November 2, 2022 5:17 pm

          Awesome! Just the other day I was talking with my daughter about how Nephi used various scripture heroes as models for his own actions. Your comment made me go revisit that and I discovered many more connections. I’m going to go through all of them in my next podcast. There are roughly 7-9 in total that I think are in the text. I think two are a little of a stretch but I feel like they should be included and I’ll explain why.

          Reply

      Leave A Reply Cancel Reply

      Inspiration

      "By controlling our reactions, being calm and temperate and avoiding contention, we will begin to qualify for the gift of meekness." - Ulisses Soares

      New Post Email Notifications

      You can subscribe any time, and I will ONLY use your email to send you new post updates.

      Trending Posts
      • Articles , Symbolism
        Three: The Exploration of Archetypal Symbols Series

        Third times the charm, three strikes and you're out, three-part harmony...t...

      • Reviews
        Review: The Book of Mormon, A Reader’s Edition

        So I'm in love with my new "Reader's Edition" of the Book of Mormon and I'l...

      • Quotes , Symbolism , Temples
        Why President McKay was “Disappointed in the Temple”

        President David O. McKay once said that he was "disappointed" when he first...

      • Articles
        The Sacrament and Covenant Renewal

        "The title “renewing our baptismal covenants” is not found in the scripture...

      • Articles
        Joseph Smith on Truth

        Receiving truth "One of the grand fundamental principles of Mormonism is to...

      Recent Comments
      • Steve Reed on A Proposed Reinterpretation of Jacob 2:30: “No, you’re good, I think my response may have been unclear. I was looking at the situation with you and…”
      • Buffy Cordelia on A Proposed Reinterpretation of Jacob 2:30: “I think maybe I didn’t explain myself well enough 😅… I still agree with your assessment and wasn’t trying to…”
      • Steve Reed on A Proposed Reinterpretation of Jacob 2:30: “So even if you took away the punctuation, the placement of the word otherwise in the verse is how you…”
      • Buffy Cordelia on A Proposed Reinterpretation of Jacob 2:30: “That all made perfect sense and was a really great explanation! I personally agree with all of it too. But…”
      • Donna Toney on A Visit to the Decalogue Stone at Hidden Mountain: “There was a study done by Pastor Arnold Murray that gives additional insight. https://youtu.be/bv5ua3RPEQU”
      Blogroll
      • Academy for Temple Studies
      • Bruce Charlton's Notions
      • Conner's Connundrums
      • Gently Hew Stone
      • Hemlock Knots
      • Interpreter Foundation
      • Isaiah Explained
      • Isaiah Explorer
      • Junior Ganymede
      • Latter-day Saint Architecture Blog
      • Latter-day Saint Temples
      • LDSSymbols.com
      • Leading Saints
      • Number in Scripture by E. W. Bullinger
      • Sixty Symbols
      • Spiritual Arson Podcast
      • Strongs Concordance
      • TempleStudy
      • The Ancient Context of Joseph Smith's Egyptian Alphabet and Grammar
      • Webster's 1828 Dictionary
      New Post Email Notifications

      You can subscribe any time, and I will ONLY use your email to send you new post updates.

      Inspiration
      For every expert there is an equal and opposite expert. - Arthur C. Clarke
      About this Site

      I created oneClimbs as a place to organize my thoughts and share my observations with anyone who might find the information useful. All content on this site is considered a work in progress that is often updated when new insights are obtained.

      oneClimbs.com

      LecturesOnFaith.com  //  LDSSymbols.com

      © 2023 oneClimbs. All content unique to oneClimbs is fair use. All other content is property of the respective copyright owner. oneClimbs.com is not owned, controlled, or affiliated with The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. All views and opinions are of the authors here who are solely responsible for their content and should not be interpreted as official statements of Church doctrine, belief, or practice, unless specifically stated and correctly referenced.

      Type above and press Enter to search. Press Esc to cancel.

       

      Loading Comments...