“And
it came to pass that I, Jacob, began to be old; and the record of this people
being kept on the other plates of Nephi, wherefore, I conclude this record,
declaring that I have written according to the best of my knowledge, by saying
that the time passed away with us, and also our lives passed away like as it
were unto us a dream, we being a lonesome and a solemn people, wanderers, cast
out from Jerusalem, born in tribulation, in a wilderness, and hated of our
brethren, which caused wars and contentions; wherefore, we did mourn out our
days.”
This
is, very intentionally, a very lonely-feeling verse. It poetically conveys a
sense of abandonment by emphasizing, “time passed away with us”; with this
phrase it adds a temporal distance from their home to the special distance from
Jerusalem; it adds a sort of partial nostalgia to the sense of being far away.
I took note of this verse because of its poetic intent. But as I read on, I
found that this verse and its sentiment is actually more relevant in what follows
in the Book of Mormon. This feeling is sated when the Nephites find the people
of Zarahemla in “The Book of Omni”.
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