1 Nephi Chapter 22 Overview

Israel will be scattered upon all the face of the earth—The Gentiles will nurse and nourish Israel with the gospel in the last days—Israel will be gathered and saved, and the wicked will burn as stubble—The kingdom of the devil will be destroyed, and Satan will be bound. About 588–570 B.C.

One thing I like and appreciate about Nephi is that he delights in plainness (see 2 Nephi 25: 4). I like that he understands how difficult Isaiah can be to understand. And I like that he takes the time to interpret and make plain the prophecies and revelations, not only the revelations of others like Isaiah, but also his own. Nephi is the designated teacher for this clan of Lehi. He is the one who cares and has cared about the scriptures all along. And by this time they are safely in the Promised Land, Nephi has established himself as the successor to Lehi as prophet, and Lehi’s time is coming to an end. So Nephi is teaching in whatever place of worship has been established in the new land. He starts by reading scripture, and now we get the prophetic interpretation of that scripture.

1 Nephi 21: 26

26 And I will feed them that oppress thee with their own flesh; they shall be drunken with their own blood as with sweet wine; and all flesh shall know that I, the Lord, am thy Savior and thy Redeemer, the Mighty One of Jacob.

I wrote about a verse with a similar theme as this one back in 1 Nephi 14: 3, where Nephi sees in vision that the “great pit which hath been digged for the destruction of men shall be filled with those who digged it.” The Lord will punish the wicked by the wicked in many cases. This is a prophecy that can be found in a few places in the scriptures, so I believe it will happen; I believe it is happening today. How it will come about is an interesting thought. Obviously the wicked will not obey the Lord’s command to destroy the wicked, but I doubt He will need to command them. I think that if He simply removes His blessing or protection from a nation or a group of people who are already wicked, their own violent natures will take over. Remember that Satan will use you as a tool as long as you are effective, but as soon as you are not, he abandons you to your destruction, as he did with Korihor, for example (see Alma 30: 60). Left to their own devices, the wicked will destroy; that is their natural tendency. All the Lord needs to do is stop protecting the wicked, and they will turn on themselves. It doesn’t take too many righteous among the wicked for the Lord to grant His protection, however (see Alma 10: 23 and Genesis 18: 23–33 for examples). The nature of God is life and protection; the nature of Satan is death and destruction. When the protection of God is removed, all that is left is the death and destruction of Satan. So for the fulfillment of this prophecy the Lord doesn’t need to do anything. In fact, He just needs to stop doing something: protecting and defending.

• 1 Nephi 14: 3
• 1 Nephi 14: 17 (15–17)
• 1 Nephi 22: 13 (13–14)
• 2 Nephi 6: 14 (14–18)
• Alma 10: 23
• Mormon 4: 5

1 Nephi 21: 25

25 But thus saith the Lord, even the captives of the mighty shall be taken away, and the prey of the terrible shall be delivered; for I will contend with him that contendeth with thee, and I will save thy children.

Here is the Lord’s answer to Israel’s concerns, or the rhetorical question expressed in verse 24. The Lord will deliver captive Israel from bondage, even though those holding them are mighty, He will deliver the victims of tyranny, and He will fight Israel’s battles. Israel’s history is full of instances where the Lord has fought their battles and/or delivered them from enemies. This is one of the standing promises the Lord makes with his covenant people. As long as we live up to our side of the covenant, He will fight our battles. This is especially true on the macro scale, say in the case of nations. He often does this on a micro, or personal scale as well. However, on a personal level we may not notice His assistance as dramatically. Usually our biggest personal battle is against an unseen enemy: Satan. The covenant people of the Lord receive the gift of the Holy Ghost, which teaches us, strengthens us, and warns us against attacks on our spirit. At those times when it is just too much to resist any longer, we have been promised that the Lord would strengthen us to stand up to it, or remove the temptation from us. President Hinckley made that promise in a General Priesthood Meeting one time. I think his topic was pornography, but I don’t remember for sure. But I clearly remember the promise.

1 Nephi 21: 24

24 For shall the prey be taken from the mighty, or the lawful captives delivered?

This is another verse that makes more sense in my mind the way it is recorded in the Bible. And the only real difference is that the Bible leaves off the word “for” at the beginning of the verse. It also begins a new paragraph. The significance of this is that it now looks more like what I think it probably is, which is Israel’s response in this conversation with the Lord. From their perspective, all they see is oppression and captivity, yet they have just received some amazing promises. So they ask how this can come about, and the Lord answers their question in the next couple of verses.

The Book of Mormon version could also be understood that way, but the way it is written could take us a completely different, and harder to grasp direction. Including the word “for” at the beginning would indicate that this is a continuation of the thought in verse 23, which refers to those who are helping Israel, not their enemies. So it doesn’t make sense that the Lord would fight against His covenant people, or that those covenant people would oppress or hold captive the house of Israel. Or it could simply be a rhetorical question from the Lord, which would also make complete sense, and would have the same meaning as if Israel were to ask the question.