1 Nephi 17:52-EoC

Nephi continues over the next many days to confound his brethren and he also had the power from the Lord that they could not touch him, and Laman and Lemuel knew it. In the next verse, the Lord commands Nephi to stretch forth his hand and show them His power. He said that He would shock them so that they knew that He was their Lord. Nephi does this and the Lord shakes them, but does not cause them to wither.

This is really interesting language. I have an idea of what happened, but because "shock" and "shake" were both used to describe what the Lord did to Laman and Lemuel, there could be different ways to think about what that was like. Take the Book of Mormon Movie, for example, this part portrayed there was really kind of weird.

Finally, in the last verse of the chapter, Laman and Lemuel confess that the knew that it was the power of the Lord that had done this to them. We can have an insight into their spirituality level with what they do next. They fall down before Nephi and were about to worship him. He tells them that he is their brother, even their younger brother, and to worship the Lord their God. Also, he admonished them to honor their father and mother that their days might be long upon the land that the Lord God would give unto them.

I think that this is great advice for anyone. Esteem Heavenly Father over all things. Honor your parents. It is fascinating that this is the recipe for long life on the earth, because one might think that other things would be the sole contributors. Chapter 17 was a big chapter, and it was very rich, too, as it is with the previous chapters in 1 Nephi. I am excited to see what is in store for chapter 18. : )