“Thou Shalt Have Place with Us”

According to Hugh Nibley, when Nephi urged the frightened Zoram to join the party in the desert, he said: "If thou wilt go down into the wilderness to my father thou shalt have place with us" (1 Nephi 4:34). The correctness of the proposal is attested not only by the proper role of Lehi in receiving members and guests into the tribe but also in the highly characteristic expression, "thou shalt have place with us." For since time immemorial the proper word of welcome to the stranger who enters one's tent has been ahlan wa sahlan wa marhaban, literally [perhaps], "a family, a smooth place, and a wide place!" [Hugh Nibley, Lehi in the Desert, F.A.R.M.S., p. 52] [See the commentary on 1 Nephi 4:20; 5:13]

“If Thou Zoram Wilt Go Down into the Wilderness to My Father Thou Shall Have Place with Us”

According to Hugh Nibley, when you are fleeing from the enemy and you go to a great skeikh's tent, you go in and kneel and put the Kaf (hem) of his garment on your shoulder (a figure we find very clear in the Book of Mormon), and you say, "Ana dakhiluka, I am your suppliant." He is obliged then to say, "Have a place; have a family; have a share in our tent." You are taken in. People move over so you have a place to sit down, and then you are a member. Nephi says the same thing in verse 34: "Therefore if thou wilt go down into the wilderness to my father thou shalt have place with us." [Hugh W. Nibley, Teachings of the Book of Mormon, Semester 1, p. 162] [See the commentary on 2 Nephi 1:15 for the idea of the Lord wrapping us in his robes of righteousness and saying in essence, "I have a place for you." See also the commentary on Alma 5:25]