31 And now I, Nephi, being a man large in stature, and also having received much strength of the Lord, therefore I did seize upon the servant of Laban, and held him, that he should not flee.
It is interesting to me that Nephi refers to himself in this verse as a man large in stature. Just before they left on this mission, Nephi described himself as being, “exceeding young, nevertheless being large in stature.” [1 Nephi 2:16] What happened between being exceedingly young and being a man? There’s not a lot of time passage, but the big difference seems to be Nephi’s level of self-confidence and spiritual maturity. In that short time span, Nephi had been converted [1 Nephi 2:16], heard the voice of the Lord [1 Nephi 2:19–24], stood up to his older brothers, and in the process received backup from an angel [1 Nephi 3:28–31; 4:1–4], had the experience of putting his complete and total trust in the Lord’s inspiration [4:6], in total faith that he was following that inspiration, beheaded a man as a result [4:18], impersonated that man successfully to his most trusted servant [4:19–28], and in the process of all this he took over the leadership of the expedition. After all that, Nephi had every right to call himself a man. Other places in the scriptures talk about manhood in terms of bravery and taking responsibility for your life. In 2 Nephi 1:21 Lehi encourages his older sons to “arise from the dust” and be men. He then goes on to describe how to be men. Manhood seems to have less to do with age than it does with bravery and maturity.
2 comments:
You know I have never realized that Nephi was a young boy when they started the "mission" and then he was a man. And yet how could he not turn into a man with this experience. I know that when I turn wholly to the Lord and give up my control, I know I feel like I have grown. Not aged but grown. I don't know how Nephi could have done all that he did, with out growing. Thank you for pointing that our, cause like I said, I never noticed that before.....very interesting, I must ponder on that more. :)
Of course, we don't know Nephi's age during t his mission for the plates, but even if he was a man in years, he clearly considered himself to be exceedingly young, and maybe he was just referring to his lack of experience. But I agree with you. When I have come through a particularly difficult trial, or even the opposite as well, where I have a terrifically spiritual experience, I feel like a grow and mature. I know that personally I felt uncomfortable referring to myself as a man for a lot of years, even after being married and having children. I just didn't feel like I had been tested or something. I still felt exceedingly young until after I had some years of experience in the Church with callings of trust, and in dealing with the world. I guess I can relate to Nephi pretty well.
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