Out in the desert they wander
Lately, I've been reading the Book of Mormon backwards. Moroni 10:33 to 1 Nephi 1:1. I don't know what brought me to do it, perhaps I needed to add little seasoning to my study. (I decided to read the individual verses the normal way, fyi. Reading every word backwards seemed ill-advised.) In today's reading, a few verses in Helaman 7 caught my attention. Nephi is on his tower calling Zarahemla to repentance. He bemoans their wicked state and asks, "Why has [God] forsaken you?" He subsequently answers this question himself: It is because ye have hardened your hearts; yea, ye will not hearken unto the voice of the good shepherd; yea, ye have provoked him to anger against you.¹ Nephi declares that the "good shepherd" is angry at the people of Zarahemla, who, by metaphorical implication, are His "sheep." Who is the good shepherd? Jesus Himself said, "I am the good shepherd, and know my sheep ."² Diving into the metaphor, we find these...