Jacob 5

Jacob 5 is a very long chapter. It reads as a parable about olive trees and farmers, but is in fact an allegory representing the Israel and the Gentiles. It tells the story of Judaism, Christianity, and the development of all the churches and denominations, in “olive tree” form. Kind of like how the Book of Enoch tells the sequences of the Bible in “animal form”.


Written 9-8-14

Jacob 4

Verse 18:

“Behold, my beloved brethren, I will unfold this mystery unto you; if I do not, by any means, get shaken from my firmness in the Spirit, and stumble because of my over anxiety for you.”

 

Can a prophet be too anxious for his people? can he be too concerned? Can he get too excited to listen to God? This verse expresses these ideas affirmatively. I guess one’s devotion to God has not to do with how emotionally excited they get. Sometimes one’s own anxiety, even one’s own joy, can get in the way of God’s intention. This is why I like this verse. It expresses that a follower of God must have his emotions on check and under control. And just because you believe that you are chosen by God it does not mean that you have a right to speak your heart out without restrain or careful thought.

 

Jacob 3

Verse 5:
"Behold, the Lamanites your brethren, whom ye hate because of their filthiness and the cursing which hath come upon their skins, are more righteous than you; for they have not forgotten the commandment of the Lord, which was given unto our father -  that they should have save it were one wife, and concubines they should have none, and there should not be whoredomes committed among them."
The Book of Mormon speaks pretty strongly against polygamy. I am not sure how they have the reputation of being polygamists, I guess it is something I should ask.

This is also the case in the first chapter of Jacob, "And now it came to pass that the people of Nephi, under the reign of the second king, began to grow hard in their hearts, and indulge themselves somewhat in wicked practices, such as like unto David of old desiring may wives and concubines, and also Solomon, his son." (Jacob 1:15)


Written 9-4-14






Verse 10:

“Wherefore ye shall remember your children, how that ye have grieved their hearts because of the example that ye have set before them; and also, remember that ye may, because of your filthiness, bring your children unto destruction and their sins be heaped upon your heads at the last day.”

 

It is a common theme in the Bible to have, the sin of the parents affect their children. A prime example of this thinking is present in the Ten Commandments, “for I, the Lord your God, am a jealous God, punishing the children for the sin of the parents to the third and fourth generation of those who hate me, but showing love to a thousand generations of those who love me and keep my commandments.” (Exodus 20:5-6) In these verses it states that the curse of a parent may be passed on to the children. One can see how this works primarily through the principle of original sin, “sin entered the world through one man, and death through sin, and in this way death came to all people, because all sinned” (Romans 5:12). Another passage that exemplifies this idea as a common belief is in John, “His disciples asked him, “Rabbi, who sinned, this man or his parents, that he was born blind?” (John 9:2).

            Although it seems that God and the cosmic laws may work in this manner, God does command that justice should not be served (at least by humans) in this way; Parents are not to be put to death for their children, nor children put to death for their parents; each will die for their own sin. (Deuteronomy 24:16). Ezekiel 18 is an excellent example that not only regards but wrestles with this common thought.

 

What I find interesting about Jacob 3:10, is that although there is plenty of examples of the punishment of the parents being passed on to the children, there is not many examples of the punishment of the children being heaped on the parents. That is, the parents are being blamed for the sins of the children because of how they were influenced or raised; as if the parents are held accountable of the lives of the children. There is a sense of this theme in the New Testament as well, “It would be better for them to be thrown into the sea with a millstone tied around their neck than to cause one of these little ones to stumble” (Luke 17:2) But Jacob 3:10 connects the concept of accountability with inter-generational punishment.

Written 9-8-14

2 Nephi 10

Verse 11:

"And this land shall be a land of liberty unto the Gentiles, and there shall be no kings upon the land, who shall raise up unto the Gentiles."

When I first read this I thought it means that there would be no king on this land. This conception was reinforced when I read Nephi saying, "And it came to pass that they would that I should be their king, But I, Nephi, was desirous that they should have no king; nevertheless, I did for them according to that which was in my power." The way Nephi says this, makes me think that he acted like a king to his people by governing over them although he did not accept the status of kingship. But then I also read that "Nephi began to be old and he saw that he must soon die; wherefore, he anointed a man to be a king and a ruler over his people now, according to the reigns of the kings." (Jacob 1:9)
I realized that 2 Nephi 10:11 probably did not mean that there would be no kings in the land but only that this would be the case for the Gentiles.


Written 9-4-14

2 Nephi 5

Verse 20:
"Wherefore, the word of the Lord was fulfilled which he spake unto me, saying that: Inasmuch as they will not hearken unto thy words they shall be cut off from the presence of the Lord. And behold, they were cu off from his presence."

This is a funny/interesting verse because the way the story is described it seems like the ones that are doing the "cutting off" are the Lamanites. Although it seems that way to the Lamanites, this verse explains that it was the Lamanites who were cut off from the Lord... as they cut off the Nephites from their presence.

Verse 21: "And he had caused the curing to come upon them, yea, even a sore cursing, because of their iniquity. For behold, they had hardened their hearts against him, that they had become like unto a flint; wherefore, as they were white, and exceedingly fair and delightsome, that they might not be enticing unto my people the Lord God did cause a skin of blackness to come upon them."

I am familiar with the bad rap that Mormons get because of the things that their book says about "black skin". Some of them decide to interpret it differently saying that "skin" means something other than the flesh we wear. I have also read what Jacob says, "O my brethren, I fear that unless ye shall reprent of your sins that their skins will be whiter than yours, when ye shall be brought with them before the throne of God. Wherefore, a commandment I give unto you, which is the word of God, that ye revile no more against them because of the darkness of their skins; neither shall ye revile against them because of their filthiness, and remember that their filthiness came because of their fathers." (Jacob 3:8-9) This verse in Jacob is encouraging people to not revile against others because of the black skin, so it seems like it is a little more accepting and less racist. But I am not sure if Jews were that fair in the first place. Which is another reason why I think that this was probably written not by Jacob but by a Joseph Smith, this issue with the fairness of skin is something that he would be exposed to.
This also reminds me of the issue of slavery in America and how people used to use scripture to justify slavery; not only to say that slavery was okay, but that God created blacks to be slaves. People used Genesis 9:20-27 to say that the descendants of Ham, as they were cursed into slavery, they were also cursed with black skin. But the Bible says nothing about black skin; though the Book of Mormon may. Still the Book of Mormon does not say (as far as I have read) that the descendants of Ham (the slaves) were black, only the Lamanites. So thus far, there is nothing saying that blackness of skin necessitates a life of slavery.

But finally, I do believe that although Joseph Smith was exposed to this custom, his approach was a more accepting one. I believe this because of what I read in 2 Nephi 26:33 "For noe of these iniquities come of the Lord; for he doeth that which is good among the children of men; and he doeth nothing save it be plain unto the children of me; and he inviteth them all to come unto him and partake of his goodness; and he denieth none that come unto him, black and white, bond and free, male and female; and he remembereth the heathen; and all are alike unto God, both Jew and Gentile." (2 Nephi 26:33)

Written 9-4-2014

2 Nephi 2

Verse 11:
"For it must needs be, that there is an opposition in all things. If not so, my firstborn in the wilderness, righteous could not be brought to pass, neither wickedness, neither holiness not misery, neither good nor bad. Wherefore, all things must needs be a compound in one; wherefore, if iy should be one body it must needs remain as dead, having no life neither death, nor corruption nor incorruption, happiness nor misery, neither sense nor insensibility.'

One of the beliefs that I keep hearing (and that seems to be essential to the Mormon tradition), is that original sin was necessary for humanity to evolve out of the state of innocence. That life in Eden was not enough; it was not bad, but then it could not be good either. And so, it was necessary for them to obtain the knowledge of good and evil, so that they could practice their "agency" (agency is an essential concept in Mormonism) and thus grow in goodness towards God's perfection.
This idea is not quite dualistic by saying that life and world must always have good and evil, instead it admits goodness within a dualistic nature but goes on to explain that even though this dualism was necessary in the origin that the purpose of this dualism was to grow perfectly into goodness and eventually eradicate evil.

"And now, behold, if Adam had not transgressed he would not have fallen, but he would have remained in the garden of Eden. And all things which were created must have remained in the same state in which they were after they were created; and  they must have remained forever, and had no end. And they would have had no children; wherefore they would have remained in a state of innocence, having no joy, for they knew no misery, doing no good, for they knew no sin."
- 2 Nephi 2:22-23

In a "Practical Theology" class I took I read about Niehbur and how he thought that the reason why man was prone to sin was because of his "dual" nature. Because man is both animal and spirit, both spiritual and physical, he ends up desiring things that he cannot have. This is a problem for man because he ends up resorting to inappropriate measure to obtain the impossible; what else would he resort to? In this sense, it is the conflicting nature of the way that God formed him, that forced man to sin. And through the same token, it makes sin not an unnecessary and negative element; but an unavoidable step in the process of the growth of man.
And so, it seems that we are still in our embryonic stage as mankind lives in the state of sin. God is still creating us, and he will only finalize his creation, we will only be born until we are resurrected into perfection. Then we will truly be able to say with God that what he created was indeed good. (Read Romans 8:19-29)

This reflects another common concept that without evil, good cannot be defined; without pain there would be no pleasure; and without tragedy there would be no success.
I may believe this common concept but I also believe that evil is unnecessary, and therefore it logically follows that I believe that good is also unnecessary. In other words, as the Mormons would put it, I would have preferred to have stayed in a state of innocence in Eden. But this is because, I think that good and evil are misconceptions of reality. The knowledge of good and evil really is a fall, because Adam and Eve fell from reality into an illusion, and I want to wake up out of that dream.

Written 9-4-2014



Verse 23:

"And they would have had no children; wherefore they would have remained in a state of innocence, having no joy, for they knew no misery, doing no good, for they knew no sin."
In one of the conversations I had with the missionaries, they pointed out that God gave Adam two certain commandments... 1: Thou shall not take of the fruit of the knowledge of good and evil and 2: be fruitful and multiply. Also, they always say that if Adam would have not transgressed he would not have had any children. So in conclusion, what God was giving them was an impossible ultimatum. Either they would not take the fruit of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil and not be fruitful and multiply, or they would be fruitful and multiply only after they took the tree of the knowledge of good and evil. You cannot follow one commandment without breaking the other.
According to them, God knew this and he had planned for it all along.

2 Nephi 1

Verse 8:
"And behold, it is wisdom that this land should be kept as yet from the knowledge of other nations; for behold, many nations would overrun the land, that there would be no place for an inheritance"

And apparently this is the reason why the Americas were not discovered until a long time afterwards.

Verse 26:

"And ye have murmured because he hath been plain unto you. Ye say that he hath used sharpness; ye say that he hath been angry with you; but behold, his sharpness was the sharpness of the power of the word of God, which was in him; and that which ye call anger was the truth, according to that which is in God, which he could not restrain, manifesting boldly concerning your iniquities."

"And ye have murmured because he hath been plain unto you."
This idea that the people dismiss plainness and that they even prefer cryptic messages is repeated other places in the Book of Mormon including in Jacob 4:14.
It says that the Jews despised plain words and searched for things they could not understand.
In a sense this reflects our natural intrigue towards the unknown.

"and that which ye call anger was the truth,"
It is interesting  to see how anger is compared to truth. This could be interpreted as righteous rage. But more likely, I think this verse is talking about that sense one gets when they encounter something that is not fair or is not true that makes them tick. In other words, it was the truth of the iniquity that was itching him from the inside, and his inability to hide it made it manifest into anger. This reminds me of the feeling Jeremiah had (Jeremiah 20:9).

Written: 9-4-2014