1 Nephi 21:15-16


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15 For can a woman forget her sucking child, that she should not have compassion on the son of her womb? Yea, they may forget, yet will I not forget thee, O house of Israel.

16 Behold, I have graven thee upon the palms of my hands; thy walls are continually before me.

Quotes for Discussion

Eve’s experience as a mother opens our understanding of the Atonement’s developmental nature. She found that the Lord heals our separation to make us “at one” with him, not by returning us magically to Eden but by leading us through a process of learning and growing day by day toward spiritual maturity. The Lord also draws on our understanding of a woman’s perspective when he teaches us that he feels toward us the way a mother feels for her child: “For can a woman forget her sucking child, that she should not have compassion on the son of her womb?” Just as a mother could never forget her child, he said, “Yet will I not forget thee.” And just as a mother’s body may be permanently marked with the signs of pregnancy and childbirth, he said, “I have graven thee upon the palms of my hands.” (1 Nephi 21:15-16.) For both a mother and the Savior, those marks memorialize a wrenching sacrifice, the sacrifice of begetting life—for her, physical birth; for him, spiritual rebirth.

Bruce C. Hafen, Women in the Covenant of Grace: Talks Selected from the 1993 Women’s Conference, ed. Dawn Hall Anderson and Susette Fletcher Green [salt Lake City: Deseret Book, 1994], 28-29<?xml:namespace prefix = o ns = "urn:schemas-microsoft-com:office:office" /><o:p></o:p>

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</TD></TR></TBODY></TABLE>Graven upon the Palms<o:p></o:p>

The clause is an allusion to the ancient practice of tattooing the palm with a symbol of the temple or some other sacred emblem to show devotion so that it might serve as a reminder of one’s commitment. This is an idiomatic and graphic way for the Lord to say: “You are constantly before me; I have not forgotten my covenant with you.”

R. Millet and J.F. McConkie, Doctrinal Commentary on the Book of Mormon, 1:165

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</TD></TR></TBODY></TABLE> Christ will not forget the children he has redeemed….The painful reminders…are the marks of the Roman nails graven upon the palms of his hands.

Jeffrey R. Holland, Christ and the New Covenant, 84

<o:p><v:shapetype id=_x0000_t202 coordsize="21600,21600" path="m,l,21600r21600,l21600,xe" o:spt="202"><v:stroke joinstyle="miter"></v:stroke><v:path o:connecttype="rect" gradientshapeok="t"></v:path></v:shapetype><v:shape id=_x0000_s1026 style="MARGIN-TOP: 9.7pt; Z-INDEX: 251661312; MARGIN-LEFT: -37.05pt; WIDTH: 36pt; POSITION: absolute; HEIGHT: 27pt" type="#_x0000_t202" stroked="f" filled="f"></v:shape><TABLE cellSpacing=0 cellPadding=0 width="100%"><TBODY><TR><TD style="BORDER-RIGHT: #f0f0f0; BORDER-TOP: #f0f0f0; BORDER-LEFT: #f0f0f0; BORDER-BOTTOM: #f0f0f0; BACKGROUND-COLOR: transparent">

</TD></TR></TBODY></TABLE>The modern state of <?xml:namespace prefix = st1 ns = "urn:schemas-microsoft-com:office:smarttags" /><st1:place w:st="on"><st1:country-region w:st="on">Israel</st1:country-region></st1:place> could be a partial fulfillment of the gathering.<o:p></o:p>

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<TABLE class=MsoTableGrid style="BORDER-RIGHT: medium none; BORDER-TOP: medium none; BORDER-LEFT: medium none; BORDER-BOTTOM: medium none; BORDER-COLLAPSE: collapse; mso-yfti-tbllook: 480; mso-padding-alt: 0in 5.4pt 0in 5.4pt; mso-border-insideh: none; mso-border-insidev: none" cellSpacing=0 cellPadding=0 border=0><TBODY><TR style="mso-yfti-irow: 0; mso-yfti-firstrow: yes"><TD style="BORDER-RIGHT: #f0f0f0; PADDING-RIGHT: 5.4pt; BORDER-TOP: #f0f0f0; PADDING-LEFT: 5.4pt; PADDING-BOTTOM: 0in; BORDER-LEFT: #f0f0f0; WIDTH: 3in; PADDING-TOP: 0in; BORDER-BOTTOM: windowtext 1pt solid; BACKGROUND-COLOR: transparent; mso-border-bottom-alt: solid windowtext .5pt" width=288>Prophecy<o:p></o:p>

</TD><TD style="BORDER-RIGHT: #f0f0f0; PADDING-RIGHT: 5.4pt; BORDER-TOP: #f0f0f0; PADDING-LEFT: 5.4pt; PADDING-BOTTOM: 0in; BORDER-LEFT: #f0f0f0; WIDTH: 3in; PADDING-TOP: 0in; BORDER-BOTTOM: windowtext 1pt solid; BACKGROUND-COLOR: transparent; mso-border-bottom-alt: solid windowtext .5pt" width=288>Modern Fulfillment<o:p></o:p>

</TD></TR><TR style="mso-yfti-irow: 1"><TD style="BORDER-RIGHT: #f0f0f0; PADDING-RIGHT: 5.4pt; BORDER-TOP: #f0f0f0; PADDING-LEFT: 5.4pt; PADDING-BOTTOM: 0in; BORDER-LEFT: #f0f0f0; WIDTH: 3in; PADDING-TOP: 0in; BORDER-BOTTOM: #f0f0f0; BACKGROUND-COLOR: transparent; mso-border-top-alt: solid windowtext .5pt" width=288>“The land of…destruction, shall…be too narrow by reason of the inhabitants” (v. 19)

</TD><TD style="BORDER-RIGHT: #f0f0f0; PADDING-RIGHT: 5.4pt; BORDER-TOP: #f0f0f0; PADDING-LEFT: 5.4pt; PADDING-BOTTOM: 0in; BORDER-LEFT: #f0f0f0; WIDTH: 3in; PADDING-TOP: 0in; BORDER-BOTTOM: #f0f0f0; BACKGROUND-COLOR: transparent; mso-border-top-alt: solid windowtext .5pt" width=288>The post-1948 state of <st1:country-region w:st="on"><st1:place w:st="on">Israel</st1:place></st1:country-region> was a narrow strip of land—from 15 to 20 miles wide—because of the Palestinians, who already lived there.

</TD></TR><TR style="mso-yfti-irow: 2"><TD style="BORDER-RIGHT: #f0f0f0; PADDING-RIGHT: 5.4pt; BORDER-TOP: #f0f0f0; PADDING-LEFT: 5.4pt; PADDING-BOTTOM: 0in; BORDER-LEFT: #f0f0f0; WIDTH: 3in; PADDING-TOP: 0in; BORDER-BOTTOM: #f0f0f0; BACKGROUND-COLOR: transparent" width=288>“The children whom thou shalt have, after thou hast lost the first, shall…say: The place is too strait [or narrow]…give place to me that I may dwell” (v. 20)

</TD><TD style="BORDER-RIGHT: #f0f0f0; PADDING-RIGHT: 5.4pt; BORDER-TOP: #f0f0f0; PADDING-LEFT: 5.4pt; PADDING-BOTTOM: 0in; BORDER-LEFT: #f0f0f0; WIDTH: 3in; PADDING-TOP: 0in; BORDER-BOTTOM: #f0f0f0; BACKGROUND-COLOR: transparent" width=288>The lost children could be the six million killed in the holocaust. The new children need more room to live. <st1:country-region w:st="on"><st1:place w:st="on">Israel</st1:place></st1:country-region>’s borders were enlarged in 1967 after the Six Day War.

</TD></TR><TR style="mso-yfti-irow: 3"><TD style="BORDER-RIGHT: #f0f0f0; PADDING-RIGHT: 5.4pt; BORDER-TOP: #f0f0f0; PADDING-LEFT: 5.4pt; PADDING-BOTTOM: 0in; BORDER-LEFT: #f0f0f0; WIDTH: 3in; PADDING-TOP: 0in; BORDER-BOTTOM: #f0f0f0; BACKGROUND-COLOR: transparent" width=288><st1:place w:st="on"><st1:country-region w:st="on">Israel</st1:country-region></st1:place> will lament being “desolate, a captive, and removing to and fro” (v. 21)

</TD><TD style="BORDER-RIGHT: #f0f0f0; PADDING-RIGHT: 5.4pt; BORDER-TOP: #f0f0f0; PADDING-LEFT: 5.4pt; PADDING-BOTTOM: 0in; BORDER-LEFT: #f0f0f0; WIDTH: 3in; PADDING-TOP: 0in; BORDER-BOTTOM: #f0f0f0; BACKGROUND-COLOR: transparent" width=288>The Jews for centuries (see insight for 1 Nephi 19:13-14) have been desolate—without a place to stay, moving from place to place.

</TD></TR><TR style="mso-yfti-irow: 4; mso-yfti-lastrow: yes"><TD style="BORDER-RIGHT: #f0f0f0; PADDING-RIGHT: 5.4pt; BORDER-TOP: #f0f0f0; PADDING-LEFT: 5.4pt; PADDING-BOTTOM: 0in; BORDER-LEFT: #f0f0f0; WIDTH: 3in; PADDING-TOP: 0in; BORDER-BOTTOM: #f0f0f0; BACKGROUND-COLOR: transparent" width=288>“The Gentiles…shall bring” them and “be [their] nursing fathers, and…nursing mothers” (v. 22-23)

</TD><TD style="BORDER-RIGHT: #f0f0f0; PADDING-RIGHT: 5.4pt; BORDER-TOP: #f0f0f0; PADDING-LEFT: 5.4pt; PADDING-BOTTOM: 0in; BORDER-LEFT: #f0f0f0; WIDTH: 3in; PADDING-TOP: 0in; BORDER-BOTTOM: #f0f0f0; BACKGROUND-COLOR: transparent" width=288>It was only with the help of the United Nations, <st1:country-region w:st="on">Great Britain</st1:country-region>, and the Balfour Declaration that a state of <st1:country-region w:st="on"><st1:place w:st="on">Israel</st1:place></st1:country-region> was formed.

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David O. Garner, Search These Things Diligently, p. 40<o:p></o:p>

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