I’ve recently been assigned to teach the 13-15 year-olds in Sunday School. I didn’t really want to spend a lot of time talking about divinely ordained homicide or speculating on the exact population of the “great and spacious building”. The former is a morbid edge case scenario, and the latter is done to death (i believe the youths say “tired”) and probably counter-productive to building Zion. I wasn’t entirely successful, but I tried.
One of my favorite themes in The Book of Mormon is the use of the term “deliverance”. In the first 7 chapters of The Book of Mormon some form of deliver is used at least 5 times. (1:20, 4:2-3, 5:4-6, 7:11, and 7:17) Alma is also big on this usage. In these contexts, the word is always used in the “save, rescue, or set someone or something free from” sense of the word. LDS belief, and in my experience Christianity as a whole, tends toward the word “salvation” when discussing divine rescue. I don’t have quantified data to back-up the assertion, it just seems to me to be this way. Why is the vocabulary different?
One reasonable explanation is that Nephi is generally referring to physical relief from real life situations. In fact in these same chapters (6:4) when referring to spiritual proximity to divinity Nephi’s words are in fact translated as “saved”. So there’s that. Since we have no actual source material to examine the cultural meanings and alternate translation I could drop it there and simply say “deliverance = physical and saved = spiritual”. Fortunately (1) we don’t have original source material to examine for original word usage, (2) I’m not gonna let a lack of evidence ruin some fun speculation, and (3) The Doctrine and Covenants teaches there is no real distinction between matter and spirit so I consider this discussion ending observation foiled, and I’ll go on speculating on Nephi’s love of deliverance.
Another reason Nephi might be big on equating The LORD with deliverance is his cultural heritage. Nephi is a 6th century BC Jew living in interesting times. The ebb and flow of geopolitics in the Levant have overrun the kingdom of Israel and Judah exists as a client state alternating alignment with the Assyrians, Egyptians and Babylonians. Zedekiah was installed by the Babylonians after his brother was killed and his nephew captured after a siege of Jerusalem. If we are to believe Lehi had spent all his days in or near Jerusalem one would have to believe Nephi would see the benefits of a delivering God. A Messiah who would physically lead, and protect people is not an unreasonable thing to hope for. This history raises some interesting questions about the characterization of the citizens of Jerusalem and Laman and Lemuel. I mean, the city has been under siege. Your sister Kingdom has been carried away captive, and your king serves at the pleasure of a foreign power and you’re somehow skeptical of the idea Jerusalem could be destroyed? What could inspire a person to such dissonance with physical reality? I’m not going to pretend to be an Old Testament scholar, or have any real ideas about the psyche of the citizens of 6th century Judah, but Nephi’s language may let us know what he was thinking. He, and other Book of Mormon Prophets frequently refer to a single, fairly obvious event. Deliverance from bondage in Egypt (4:2-3).
If the story of your nation’s founding is the story of your God striking down the great nation of Egypt to free you from slavery, then maybe you think your nation can weather this back and forth dance of Gentile nations. Nephi may not believe that, he believes his father when Lehi says Jerusalem will be destroyed, but if God can do that then Laban (an authority figure standing between you and your goal unmoved by gentle persuasion) and the basic concerns of a group traveling in the desert at his direction are bound to be with his wheelhouse. If your national identity is a chosen group separated from the wicked and powerful, purified by desert wandering before settling in a land promised to you by God, then it might not be so very hard to see yourself recapitulating that journey in your family group. We Mormons were quick to do this without our entire calendar revolving around this moment, so I don’t see why Nephi wouldn’t.
Returning to the broader population. If the only Temple to your God happens to be in your city, then you might be tempted to believe that no matter how tough The One God (language NT Wright uses which I really like) talks about your wickedness of not taking care of the widows, orphans, and other poor, he’s not gonna let that or a bit of idol worship anger him enough to destroy the one place he can be worshiped. Basic self-preservation. Destruction is not an option.
Here’s the thing about deliverance as done by The One God. It can be, and historically is, a violent affair. The first born (both children and animals) of everyone who didn’t have lamb’s blood on their door died. Pharaoh’s armies were drowned in the Red Sea. God ordered genocide of the citizens of the lands you now occupy. Nephi pauses when he is impressed to kill Laban, but not for long. I feel like I’m as skeptical of the merits of divinely justified war and aware of the dangers of religio-nationalism as most. Like I said this encounter is an edge case scenario, not a generally applicable principle. That said, Nephi is in a very different situation and there is pretty obvious precedent for this sort of thing in the stories he’s known his entire life. Why is tonight different from all other nights?
Where was I going with this? That’s right. To Nephi deliverance from real and present danger and harm are part and parcel of being in the favor of The One God. The safety and peace of your people is secured not by crafty diplomacy, or even physical strength, but by obedience coupled with divine intervention. It implies that salvation doesn’t happen at or after death, but here and now, and for groups, not just individuals. Nephi, and the Book of Mormon, Christian theology, and Mormon doctrine are not bound to this view exclusively, but if we dig deep, and examine our eschatology carefully it shouldn’t be a foreign concept to us either. It is the only conceivable path to Zion. Zion is a people, not a person.
I think its noteworthy the allegory of The Tree of Life limits itself to the individual journey. When holds tight to the word of God, and walks a straight and narrow path one can survive the mists of darkness, avoid the river of filth, and ignore the mocking of the denizens of the fancy floating building to arrive at and enjoy the love of God, but Zion is not yet established. Nephi and Nephite culture will learn this in due course. Violence will plague, and will ultimately be the ruin of his people. I think this serves as a fine counter-point and illustrates how rarely violence really is a righteous act. There will be fits and starts and abject failure over the next 600+ years, but they will get there. For awhile at least. We are a nation that seems to equate violence with righteous causes: independence, emancipation, and preservation, but I think some are beginning to see the truth about war as a tool of oppression. Our focus on individual freedom and righteousness, while both are good and admirable, are a stumbling block to collective action and righteousness. Nephi’s concept of here and now deliverance and its manifestation in the Book of Mormon give me some hope for us.
MaximumKungFu 
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