"...and my father dwelt in a tent"

[ute4ever]

I tried asking this question on that other website, but the responses were primarily paranoid defenses of the legitimacy of the Book of Mormon.

So let me try this again.

Why do you suppose Nephi felt the need to write several times (at least 4 by one count) that his father dwelt in a tent? What is the significance? Is he pointing out that they left all of their wealth behind to go and do as the Lord commanded?

[Indy Coug]

If you're interested in getting a legitimate response on Cougarboard

1. Don't call yourself "AnnoyingHeathen"
2. Don't let them know you're a Ute fan. (bio page formerly known as "ute4ever")

[ChinoCoug]

Originally Posted by ute4ever

I tried asking this question on that other website, but the responses were primarily paranoid defenses of the legitimacy of the Book of Mormon.

So let me try this again.

Why do you suppose Nephi felt the need to write several times (at least 4 by one count) that his father dwelt in a tent? What is the significance? Is he pointing out that they left all of their wealth behind to go and do as the Lord commanded?

when i was a freshman a Near Eastern studies major said that that was a semitic expression that meant "exercising leadership."

[RockyBalboa]

Originally Posted by ute4ever

I tried asking this question on that other website, but the responses were primarily paranoid defenses of the legitimacy of the Book of Mormon.

So let me try this again.

Why do you suppose Nephi felt the need to write several times (at least 4 by one count) that his father dwelt in a tent? What is the significance? Is he pointing out that they left all of their wealth behind to go and do as the Lord commanded?

My serious response is that's probably where Lehi actually did rest, relax, study, ponder, pray. Not to mention it was probably hotter than hades where they were.

[Indy Coug]

If you note, it also says in 3 of those 4 verses about the tent being in the valley of Lemuel.

[pelagius]

Originally Posted by ChinoCoug

when i was a freshman a Near Eastern studies major said that that was a semitic expression that meant "exercising leadership."

Nibley, of course, argued for something quite similar in An Approach to the Book of Mormon, which may or may not have been the original source for the person you mention:

It is most significant how Nephi speaks of his father's tent; it is the official center of all administration and authority. First the dogged instance of Nephi on telling us again and again that 'my father dwelt in a tent' (1 Nephi 2:15; 9:1; 10:16; 16:6). So what? We ask, but to an Oriental that statement says everything. Since time immemorial the whole population of the Near East have been either tent-dwellers or house-dwellers, the people of the bait ash-sha'r or the bait at-tin, 'houses of hair or houses of clay.' It was Harmer who first pointed out that one and the same person may well alternate between the one way of life and the other, and he cites the case of Laban in Genesis 31, where 'one is surprised to find both parties so suddenly equipped with tents for their accommodation in traveling,' though they had all along been living in houses. Not only has it been the custom for herdsmen and traders to spend part of the year in tents and part in houses, but 'persons of distinction' in the East have always enjoyed spending part of the year in tents for the pure pleasure of a complete change.

.

I would further suggest that Nephi is making an allusion to the Exodus of Israel. The tent or the tabernacle was clearly a meaningful symbol of the Exodus. We see this reflected in the celebration of the Feast of the Tabernacles where the whole population lived in tents during the celebration to remind them of the Exodus. I see this a literary decision by Nephi to emphasize the similarities between the Lehite exodus to a promised land with the earlier Israelite Exodus to a promised land. I think it is a cool literary feature, and it suggests that Nephi wants the reader to understand the theological dimmensions of their journey so he emphasizes or alludes to the similarities.

[ute4ever]

Originally Posted by Indy Coug

If you note, it also says in 3 of those 4 verses about the tent being in the valley of Lemuel.

The valley that Lehi named after his second-born. What is the significance of that?

[Cali Coug]

Originally Posted by pelagius

Nibley, of course, argued for something quite similar in An Approach to the Book of Mormon, which may or may not have been the original source for the person you mention:

.

I would further suggest that Nephi is making an allusion to the Exodus of Israel. The tent or the tabernacle was clearly a meaningful symbol of the Exodus. We see this reflected in the celebration of the Feast of the Tabernacles where the whole population lived in tents during the celebration to remind them of the Exodus. I see this a literary decision by Nephi to emphasize the similarities between the Lehite exodus to a promised land with the earlier Israelite Exodus to a promised land. I think it is a cool literary feature, and it suggests that Nephi wants the reader to understand the theological dimmensions of their journey so he emphasizes or alludes to the similarities.

Or it could mean that he slept in a tent.

[pelagius]

Originally Posted by Cali Coug

Or it could mean that he slept in a tent.

Not possible. My readings never over-emphasize allusions or over-infer their sources.

[All-American]

Originally Posted by ute4ever

The valley that Lehi named after his second-born. What is the significance of that?

At least one significant aspect is that he references the camp to its location within the valley, and not at the river. This is in strict adherence, claims Nibley, to Arab custom; as is the fact that they flee from the mountains to the valley, rather than from the valley to the mountains. Lehi in the Desert is a good read for all of this stuff.