Lehi had a pretty good idea what was in the brass plates: a record of his people and his family’s genealogy. (See 1 Nephi 3:3.) Nevertheless, when his sons brought the plates back from Jerusalem, he got busy understanding their contents:
He did search them from the beginning.
And he beheld that they did contain the five books of Moses, which gave an account of the creation of the world, and also of Adam and Eve, who were our first parents.
And also a record of the Jews from the beginning, even down to the commencement of the reign of Zedekiah, king of Judah;
And also the prophecies of the holy prophets, from the beginning, even down to the commencement of the reign of Zedekiah, and also many prophecies which have been spoken by the mouth of Jeremiah.
1 Nephi 5:10-13
He also located his own genealogy and discovered that he was a descendant of Joseph.
His son Nephi concludes, “We had obtained the records which the Lord had commanded us, and searched them and found that they were desirable; yea, even of great worth unto us” (1 Nephi 5:21).
When we say that we’re searching, we generally mean that we’re looking for something in particular. Lehi had something he was looking for—”the genealogy of his fathers” (1 Nephi 5:14-16)—but his searching was not limited to that single topic. The bigger question was, “Why is this book so important? What does it say that the Lord wants me to know?”
The phrase “study the scriptures” doesn’t appear in the Book of Mormon, but we are told multiple times that it’s important to “search” them. For example:
- Jacob: “We search the prophets, and we have many revelations and the spirit of prophecy” (Jacob 4:6).
- King Benjamin: “I would that ye should remember to search them diligently, that ye may profit thereby” (Mosiah 1:7).
- The sons of Mosiah: “They were men of a sound understanding, and they had searched the scriptures diligently, that they might know the word of God” (Alma 17:2).
- Alma: “Ye ought to search the scriptures; if ye suppose that they have taught you this, ye do not understand them” (Alma 33:2).
- Mormon: “He that hath the scriptures, let him search them and behold if…all these things are not unto the fulfilling of the prophecies of many of the holy prophets” (3 Nephi 10:14).
- Jesus Christ: “Ye ought to search these things. Yea, a commandment I give unto you that ye search these things diligently; for great are the words of Isaiah” (3 Nephi 23:1; see also 3 Nephi 23:5).
As Alma highlights in the passage above, just because we’ve read the scriptures doesn’t mean that we understand them. We need to keep digging, keep working to understand them better.
Jesus reminded us that our scripture reading is really about drawing closer to Him:
You search the Scriptures because you think they give you eternal life. But the Scriptures point to me!
John 5:39, New Living Translation, italics added
Sometimes I bring a specific question to my study of the scriptures, but more often, my only question is, “What does God want me to learn today?” I don’t want to unnecessarily constrain my learning by putting too much structure around it.
Here are some of the ways I search:
- Sound bites: I watch for words and phrases that “pop out” at me. Then, I think about those phrases throughout the day and consider how they apply to me.
- Big picture: Sometimes, I try to understand the overall message of a sermon or narrative. When I’m doing this, it sometimes helps listen to the scriptures instead of reading them. Somehow, listening helps me assimilate the essence of the message instead of getting lost in the details.
- Connections: I look for other passages of scripture or from the words of modern prophets that remind me of what I’ve just read. I think about how my understanding of the concept is enriched by seeing it in different environments.
Today, I will follow Lehi’s example of searching the scriptures eagerly and diligently. I will look for the messages God wants me to receive. I will be particularly mindful of how the scriptures point me toward the Savior.
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