12 For the Lord had not hitherto suffered that we should make much fire, as we journeyed in the wilderness; for he said: I will make thy food become sweet, that ye cook it not;
(vs. 12–13) Nephi had learned early in this trip that when
the Lord gives a commandment He provides a way to keep it (1 Nephi 3:7). That’s
what the Lord was doing in this case. As to why the Lord limited their use of
fire, I can only speculate. Certainly, one of the answers is given in the next
verse, and that is for a testimony of the Lord. But I wonder if there wasn’t
also an element of safety from other nomadic groups. I’m sure that others
living in the wilderness would have seen a fire, maybe for miles. Just because
they were in the wilderness does not mean that they were necessarily alone.
Maybe one of the hardships of the journey was avoiding or defending from
others. So rather than draw attention to them, the Lord makes the uncooked meat
nutritious and flavorful so the Lehites don’t have to build fires. At any rate,
I’m sure it simplified their lives and their journey to not have to build fires
every time they stopped. Not to mention the possibly unsteady supply of fuel
for a fire.
As evidence that motive is most important (i.e. why we do something is often, if not
always, more important than what we
do, as important as that is), we can contrast this verse with the description
of the Lamanites given by Enos (Enos 1:20). The Lamanites in this description
also ate raw meat, which was part of the reason Enos called them wild,
ferocious, and bloodthirsty. What was right in one circumstance, due to the
Lord’s commandment, was not right in another. The same could be said for when
Nephi killed Laban to get the plates. Because it was a commandment from the
Lord, this was not counted as murder, as was Nehor’s murder of Gideon (Alma 1:9
(7–14)). There are many other examples of this concept in the scriptures.
- 1 Nephi 17:2
- 1 Nephi 17:30
- Enos 1:20 (for contrast)
