4 And now I, Nephi, was grieved because of the hardness of their hearts, and also, because of the things which I had seen, and knew they must unavoidably come to pass because of the great wickedness of the children of men.
One of the many profound statements made in the book of Ecclesiastes in the Old Testament says, “he that increaseth knowledge increaseth sorrow” (ECL 1:18). Nephi is face to face with that concept in this verse. This is a telestial world filled with wickedness, and when it comes to wickedness, ignorance is bliss, as the saying goes. A person who is close to God knows there is wickedness in the world, of course, but it’s different when you put a face on it. When sin becomes personal instead of simply an understanding that it exists “out there,” when you know the person who is sinning and the nature of the sin, it hurts a lot more than when it is nameless and faceless. I think that comes from a genuine love for others. You can love a group of people, but that is different than the kind of personal experience you have when you love an individual. That person can hurt you much more than those people can. Nephi is grieved because of his love for his brothers. He is also grieved because he sees his own flesh and blood descendants destroyed because of their wickedness. And most likely, the wickedness hurts more than the destruction.
- Ecclesiastes 1:18
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