10 And it came to pass that as my father arose in the morning, and went forth to the tent door, to his great astonishment he beheld upon the ground a round ball of curious workmanship; and it was of fine brass. And within the ball were two spindles; and the one pointed the way whither we should go into the wilderness.
In this verse we are introduced to the Liahona. I find a
couple of interesting thoughts about the Liahona. The first thought is that
this is an actual, physical object that was probably handed down from
generation to generation hereafter, my guess would be prophet to prophet, not
kind to king. However, after Nephi’s record it isn’t really mentioned, except
by Alma, which I will get to momentarily. In some ways, this ball resembles the
Urim and Thummim, with a different purpose. Where the Urim and Thummim was used
mostly for translating, etc., the Liahona seems to be mostly used for
day-to-day revelation, new revelation. So inasmuch as it was an actual object,
it could have been considered a sort of royal artifact, or a token of who the
prophet was, unless it was taken back to the Lord after they reached the
Promised Land.
As so often is the case, physical items or acts, such as
ordinances, have a deeper, spiritual symbolism in the Lord’s eyes. This fact
was not lost on Alma, who 500 years later noted that the Liahona worked
according to the faith and obedience of Lehi’s family, and it led them to the
Promised Land. Alma compared that to how following the word of Christ with
faith would lead us back to our Heavenly Father (Alma 37:38–46).
Alma interprets the word Liahona
to mean a compass (Alma 37:38). Some have suggested a more precise meaning of,
“To or of God is Light,” and is a word that is both Hebrew and Egyptian in
origin (Book of Mormon Student Manual, Religion 121–122, ©1979, p. 42). Of
course this makes it more than a mere compass. In fact there were two spindles.
One of those pointed the way they should go. We aren’t told what the other
spindle was for, but I imagine that it acted more like a regular compass, and
pointed north. Later on we’ll read that the Liahona also gave them written
instructions, which is way more involved than a simple compass. At any rate,
this director became very important to Lehi and his family.
- Alma 37:38 (38–47)
