2 Nephi 1: 19

19 O my sons, that these things might not come upon you, but that ye might be a choice and a favored people of the Lord. But behold, his will be done; for his ways are righteousness forever.

Lehi prays that his sons will make serious changes in their lives to avoid the consequences that will unavoidably be theirs otherwise. He, like our Heavenly Father, wants his sons to succeed. He wants them to be a favored and covenant people of the Lord. Unfortunately, there are natural consequences for sin. For example, Alma teaches Corianton that “wickedness never was happiness” (see Alma 41: 10). I think that is probably a principle that extends into the eternities. It’s a natural law that literally cannot be broken, like gravity. Another natural consequence for sin is that justice must claim the sinner. The rest of Alma’s correction of Corianton covers the relationship between justice and mercy (see Alma chapters 39–42). This law is so fundamental that there just is no way around it. If God were to break this law of justice, this principle, He “would cease to be God” (Alma 41: 25). So he could break the commandment, but the natural consequence of doing so is that He would cease to be God.

By way of contrast, consider the commandment we have against murder. The Lord has killed the mortal bodies of many people, both by his own hand (such as the Great Flood), and by the hands of his people (such as when Nephi was commanded to kill Laban to obtain the brass plates). He has even authorized genocide by the hands of the Israelites as they were led to inherit their Land of Promise. This commandment holds for us on of the stiffest penalties possible, yet it does not cause God to cease to be God. However, taking away the natural consequences for sin (i.e. justice) would strip Him of his Godhood. That is why the Atonement is so critical. This loving father, who does not want his children to suffer, literally cannot stop it from happening without some way to satisfy the demands of justice.

It’s kind of like Newton’s Third Law of Motion, which states, “For every action, there is an equal and opposite reaction.” Likewise, for every sin there has to be an equal and opposite consequence, in the form of punishment (justice). A price must be paid that is equal to the sin. If not, then justice would not be satisfied, and God would cease to be God. The punishment endured by Jesus Christ during the Atonement was so great as to potentially pay for all sins that had been or ever would be committed. The punishment was so great that it balanced out all those sins and satisfied the demand for justice in every case. If that were not the case, God would cease to be God, because he must keep the law of justice, or suffer the consequences.

Lehi states that the Lord’s ways “are righteous forever.” The commandments of a loving Father are designed to help us avoid the inevitable Law of Justice. The Atonement is necessary because we all too often rush into the teeth of justice and make ourselves miserable, like Satan. The misery is what Lehi wants his sons to avoid, but knows they can’t if they will not keep the commandments.

• Hosea 14: 9

2 Nephi 1: 18

18 Or, that a cursing should come upon you for the space of many generations; and ye are visited by sword, and by famine, and are hated, and are led according to the will and captivity of the devil.

This is the prophetic scripture that kind of sets the tone for the animosity between Nephites and Lamanites in the future. I’m sure Lehi had to know that his sons would split up and become two nations. That doesn’t mean that he should stop trying to prevent it from happening though. It was inevitable; the only thing really keeping the family together up until this point was Lehi and Sariah. In a few chapters, the Nephites will have to separate themselves for their survival. At that point the Lord curses the Lamanites. There is an outward manifestation of that in the dark skin, but the real curse goes much deeper and has much more eternal consequences than skin color. I’ll discuss that in greater detail when we get there, but for now, the worst part of the prophecy is the last part, the part about being led according to the will and captivity of the devil. If they could overcome that one, they can avoid the other consequences as a result.

• 2 Nephi 5: 20–24

2 Nephi 1: 17

17 My heart hath been weighed down with sorrow from time to time, for I have feared, lest for the hardness of your hearts the Lord your God should come out in the fulness of his wrath upon you, that ye be cut off and destroyed forever;

God is extremely patient with us, by our standards especially. But even He has limits, and when a population gets so wicked that there is no chance of them turning back to him he removes them. This is what happened when the children of Israel completely destroyed the nations occupying their land of inheritance. We often say that the children of Israel were bad or unfaithful, but they replaced people who were even worse than the Israelites (see 1 Nephi 17: 32–38). This is what Lehi was afraid would happen to the generations of Laman and Lemuel.  They would eventually be cut off and destroyed forever. So he pleads with his sons to repent and be righteous. Of course, one generation’s righteousness does not guarantee the safety of each subsequent generation. We don’t need to look any further than the Book of Mormon for evidence of that. After all, it was the Nephites who eventually were destroyed by the Lamanites. Of course, by that time the actual bloodlines were mixed, and the Nephite/Lamanite designation was more political than familial. That being said, Lehi doesn’t want his sons, his next generation, to be the ones who are cut off and destroyed. So he calls them to repent and be righteous.

• Genesis 6: 13
• 1 Nephi 17: 32–38
• Mosiah 12: 8
• 3 Nephi 9: 9

2 Nephi 1: 16

16 And I desire that ye should remember to observe the statutes and the judgments of the Lord; behold, this hath been the anxiety of my soul from the beginning.

In all the hardships and dangerous experiences Lehi and his family have been through since they left Jerusalem, the thing that has been Lehi’s anxiety, the thing that has concerned him from the beginning is that his children, and especially these wayward ones, that they keep the commandments of God. All of the physical harm that could come to them was not as dangerous as breaking the commandments. The term used here is “statutes,” which means, or at least implies, established laws of God in this case. In other words, he’s referring to the Ten Commandments. This was the established law of God at the time. Then of course there is the rest of the Law of Moses, which came from God. How could they keep these statutes if they didn’t know them? Of course they had been taught from their early childhood, but it was obvious that they didn’t love the law or the scriptures, as Nephi did. Lehi’s dream of the Tree of Life showed him that these wayward sons wanted a different path for themselves other than the one next to the iron rod. I suppose the anxiety of every righteous parent is that their children keep the commandments. Mortal life and death are not as weighty as eternal life and death.

2 Nephi 1: 15

15 But behold, the Lord hath redeemed my soul from hell; I have beheld his glory, and I am encircled about eternally in the arms of his love.

The image of being “encircled about eternally in the arms of [the Lord’s] love” is comforting on a couple of levels. First, it just feels good to get a hug. And to get that expression of love from the Savior must be amazing. The other thing being encircled about does is protect. It’s a protection against the demands or punishments of justice, which must be satisfied. This is the sense of being encircled about eternally in the Lord’s arms that Lehi refers to here. It takes faith and obedience to the Lord’s commandments, but the result or reward of that is the Atonement. God loves all His children, even those who are disobedient, which is why he extends the offer of the Atonement to all his children equally. All have an equal chance to partake, but only those who actually do accept the Atonement are “encircled about eternally in the arms of his love.” Only those who accept the Atonement and repent receive the benefit of the protection afforded by those arms of the Lord’s love. The others must face the demands of justice on their own, as described in D&C 19: 16–19. Lehi’s faith in the Lord and His Atonement, coupled with his obedience to the Lord’s commandments make this confidence possible, as expressed so matter-of-factly by Lehi. It’s something we must strive for throughout our lives.

• Romans 8: 39 (34–39)
• Jacob 6: 5
• Alma 5: 33
• Alma 34: 16 (15–16)
• 3 Nephi 9: 14
• Ether 12: 6 (6–18)
• D&C 6: 20

2 Nephi 1: 14

14 Awake! and arise from the dust, and hear the words of a trembling parent, whose limbs ye must soon lay down in the cold and silent grave, from whence no traveler can return; a few more days and I go the way of all the earth.

The dying wish of a loving father is that his rebellious sons repent and come unto Christ. It’s interesting to note that the expressions Lehi uses to tell of his impending death are most likely either straight from the plates of brass, or they are evidence of Lehi’s Israelite heritage and tradition. The cross references at the bottom of the page are evidence of that. These expressions of death could just be cultural expressions that are common among Israelites at that time (see particularly Job 10: 21; Joshua 23: 14; 1 Kings 2: 2 for examples of this language in the old testament).