7 And it came to pass that after I, Nephi, had been in the land of Bountiful for the space of many days, the voice of the Lord came unto me, saying: Arise, and get thee into the mountain. And it came to pass that I arose and went up into the mountain, and cried unto the Lord.
Obviously, if the Lord could talk to Nephi in this place to
tell him to go to the mountain, he could have told him everything he needed to
know about the ship right there. But the Lord talked to him just enough to tell
him to go into the mountain, where he would receive further instruction (light
and knowledge). Mountains have often represented the temple in the scriptures,
and that may be the case here. It also could be that the Lord needed to tell
Nephi things without the distractions of “civilization” competing for his
attention. This is similar to what happens in the temple as well. We leave the
world outside so we may more fully worship.
I find it interesting that the Lord is now working directly
with Nephi. We have seen a transition from Lehi telling Nephi what the Lord
wanted (return for the plates and again for wives), to Nephi taking initiative,
but asking Lehi what the Lord wanted (where to go hunting), to now the Lord is
working through Nephi directly. I doubt that Lehi is a fallen prophet or
anything like that, but maybe his health is not the greatest. This does become
an issue on the ship, and he dies shortly after they arrive in the Promised
Land. I just wonder if the mantle of the prophet hasn’t passed on to Nephi by
this time.
