CFM - 3 Nephi 8-11 - Hear Him

[dprh]

As I was studying this weeks chapters, I noticed something I never have before.  After all the destruction, in chapters 9 and 10, the voice of the Lord is heard throughout the land, talking about the destruction, the persecution of the prophets and saints, and that they need to repent.  That wasn't new to me, but then I compared it to the voice the people heard in chapter 11.  I don't know how many talks and lessons it's been pointed out that it took the people three times to understand.  This didn't seem to be a problem in 9 and 10.  I wondered why. 

My first thought was that in the darkness, they didn't have any distractions. Not being able to see might have helped them be more open to listening.  Second, this voice wasn't described as small voice.  The Lord seemed to use a different volume, if not a whole different method, to communicate in the earlier chapters than in 11.  Third, having just gone through the destruction, they were shocked and probably looking to God very fervently for safety and relief.  A few years ago, I noticed something between chapters 8 and 10.  In 8:5, it says that the destruction all started in the first month, fourth day, the beginning of the 34th year.  In 10:18, Mormon says that he'll show us that at the end of the 34th year that the Nephites were spared and had great favor.  Usually, when people talk about Jesus visiting the Nephites, they seem to think it was within days of His ascension (40-43 days after the destruction).  But it seems to me that it would have been at least 9 months afterward.  So maybe the people, while looking weren't as in tune as they had been right after all the destruction.

[CV75]

Yes, my read is that it was a full year.

[estradling75]

On the subject of the voice... in Chapters 9 and 10 it seems to be the Voice of Christ.  Whereas in Chapter 11 it seems to be the Voice of the Father (Pretty much the only time we hear the Father is when he introduces the Son).  I am not sure why that would make a difference.  But if you are pondering why they hear it in 9 and 10 and did not really hear in 11 at first that should be added to the list of things to ponder.

On the subject of the Time Frame we read in Chapter 8 verses 1 and 2 that Mormon himself has questions about the timing.  He was 400 years after the events in question and we do not know why he had questions.  All we know is that he acknowledges a mistake could have been made and goes with what was written.

Contextually we have a jump of time at the end of Chapter 10.  Chapter 11 begins months after the destruction, with them gathering and remarking on the changes made.  One could understand the gathering and remarking right after but the more that time passes the more it becomes the New Normal.  To gather and remark on the changes many months later strikes me as some kind of memorial or anniversary, or maybe one of the High Holy Days (I do not know enough about Jewish Holidays to guess)

[laronius]

6 hours ago, estradling75 said:

Contextually we have a jump of time at the end of Chapter 10.  Chapter 11 begins months after the destruction, with them gathering and remarking on the changes made.  One could understand the gathering and remarking right after but the more that time passes the more it becomes the New Normal.  To gather and remark on the changes many months later strikes me as some kind of memorial or anniversary, or maybe one of the High Holy Days (I do not know enough about Jewish Holidays to guess)

My thought as I read it this morning was that the people had gathered from across the land. Maybe there was a "conference" or something that Nephi had called them together for and they were all conversing about what had taken place in their part of the land. This is a possible explanation as to why they still seemed amazed so many months after the fact.

You do make a good point about who was speaking. I hadn't considered that before. Was that the difference? I don't know but it's something interesting to think about.