2 Ponder Upon...: 3 Nephi 11:1-2

June 5, 2012

3 Nephi 11:1-2

1 - And now it came to pass that there were a great multitude gathered together, of the people of Nephi, round about the temple which was in the land Bountiful; and they were marveling and wondering one with another, and were showing one to another the great and marvelous change which had taken place.

Could there have been more than one temple in the lands of the Nephites? Look at the scriptures in the footnote for "gathered".  Is the fact that there were more than one temple in the lands of the Nephites why the specific temple in the land Bountiful needed singled out? Why was everyone gathered at the temple? Remember, this was almost a year after the signs of the death and resurrection of Jesus (info here). Was there a yearly ceremony that took place at the temple? Could they have gathered for that and been discussing what had gone before? Hugh Nibley suggested that the reason that they gathered could have been for something like the Egyptian end of year ceremony. This ceremony in the Egyptian form had elements of death and resurrection of a deity in it.

2 - And they were also conversing about this Jesus Christ, of whom the sign had been given concerning his death.

So those gathered recognized that the experiences that they had experienced earlier that year fulfilled the prophecies about Jesus. Did they understand at this time that he was resurrected? Did they know what that meant? Even the apostles in Israel had a hard time understanding what that would mean. Was there a connection between their recognition that the signs had happened and the reason that they were gathered? Could there have been some confusion as to how they should proceed?

...Great things 2 ponder upon.

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