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CHAPTER 6Jacob recounts Jewish history: Their Babylonian captivity and return; the ministry and crucifixion of the Holy One of Israel; the help received from the gentiles; and their latter-day restoration when they believe in the Messiah. [Between 559 and 545 B.C.] |
Nephi engravens some of the teachings of his anointed priest brother, Jacob—Jacob puts into perspective Jewish history, the Jew's Babylonian captivity and that they will eventually return; the coming ministry and crucifixion of the 'Holy One of Israel', Christ, the 'help' that will be recieved from the gentiles (the root of Israel/Jesse, Joseph/Ephraim's descendants of the covenant), and the latter-day restoration when they believe in the Messiah. [Between 559 and 545 B.C.] | Nephi had read the 49th chapter of Isaiah to the entire colony of Lehi prior to Lehi's death and Lehi's blessing of his children in 1 Nephi 21. Nephi gave a commentary upon the two Isaiah chapters he had read (Isaiah 48 & 49) in 1 Nephi 22. Now over a decade later, Jacob will again read the last four verses of Isaiah 49 to the people of Nephi and give his own commentary upon those four verses. These concern the latter day restoration via the Gentiles, the Second Coming and the Lord delivering his people from captivity. |
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1 THE awords of Jacob, the brother of Nephi,
which he spakea unto the people of
Nephi:
As for the Nephites, Nephi was God's prophet who became the King of the Nephites while the duties of the 'church', the Law of Moses was left in the hands of Jacob and Joseph to teach and administer to the people. We don't have the understanding as to the nature of each of the kings who followed Nephi until Mosiah leads the more righteous Nephites who would follow his word from God down north into Zarahemla. Thus Mosiah, Benjamin and Mosiah II became 'prophet-kings' in their day. But a clarification almost missed is made in the Words of Mormon when it is stated that their were other prophets and holy men in the days of King Benjamin and thus likely in conjunction with the building of the temple and the administration of the church in such as the days of Mosiah, Benjamin and Mosiah. Even wicked King Noah had his administering council of priest among whom was Alma the elder who would become the head of the Church directed toward Christ. Alma the younger would become both prophet and chief judge, as was Samuel of old, but the duties of running the church would weigh heavy and cause Alma to set aside the judgement seat and proceed to dedicate his life to the administration of the Church. Joseph Smith in his day passed through various interesting stages of Prophet of the Chruch to the leading 'Civil and Military leader' of his people as the early 'Mormons' of the church became persecuted by the organized society of his days. And some do speculate as to just how 'Church and State' will be governed when Christ comes to rule and reign during the Millennium, and to just how that will be deligated and administered within and without of the church. |
1a the brother of Nephi, which he spake Such a reference to the speaker is understandable when one comes to consider that this is Nephi engraving some of the words spoken by Jacob (2 Nephi 31:1), the priest of the temple, whom Nephi had anointed under the direction of God (2 Nephi 5:26). At this time the records were still being kept by Nephi the King of the Nephites and God's prophet, but the religious work of the temple and the teaching of the people was carried by Jacob and Joseph whom Nephi had ordained unto those offices. Nephi would not transfer the 'small plate' record to Jacob's care until a later date (Jacob 1:1-2), near the date of his death. And the 'Large Plates of Nephi' record and history of the people would still be maintained by the Kings, the descendants of Nephi. |
1a
2 Ne. 11:1;
Jacob 2:1
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2 Behold, my beloved brethren, I, Jacob, having been called of God,
and ordained after the manner of his holy aorder, and
having been consecrated by my brother Nephi, unto whom ye look as a
bking or a protector, and on whom ye depend for safety,
behold ye know that I have spoken unto you exceedingly many things.
3 Nevertheless, I speak unto you again; for I am desirous for the awelfare of your souls. Yea, mine anxiety is great for you; and ye yourselves know that it ever has been. For I have exhorted you with all diligence; and I have taught you the words of my father; and I have spoken unto you concerning all things which are bwritten, from the creation of the world. 4 And now, behold, I would speak unto you concerning things which are, and which are to come; wherefore, I will read you the words of aIsaiah. And they are the words which my brother has desired that I should speak unto you. And I speak unto you for your sakes, that ye may learn and glorify the name of your God. 5 And now, the words which I shall read are they which Isaiah spake concerning all the house of Israela; wherefore, they may be alikened unto you, for ye are of the house of Israel. And there are many things which have been spoken by Isaiah which may be likened unto you, because ye are of the house of Israel. |
5a the words which I shall read are they which Isaiah spake concerning all the house of Israel Though but a few verses of Isaiah are here 'read' from the scriptures by Jacob to the people, they are such words which concern the Gentiles and the remnant of Israel in the latter day, which is our day. |
2a
TG
Priesthood, Melchizedek b 2 Ne. 5:18; Jacob 1:9, 11, 15; Jarom 1:7, 14; Mosiah 1:10 3a Jacob 2:3; Mosiah 25:11 b TG Scriptures, Value of 4a 3 Ne. 23:1-3 5a IE applied
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6 And now these are the words:
aThus saith the Lord
God: Behold, I will lift up mine hand to the Gentiles, and set up my
bstandard to the people; and they shall bring thy sons in
their arms, and thy daughters shall be carried upon their shoulders.
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22 Thus saith the Lord GOD, Behold, I will lift up mine hand to the Gentiles, and set up my standard to the people: and they shall bring thy sons in their arms, and thy daughters shall be carried upon their shoulders. 23 And kings shall be thy nursing fathers, and their queens thy nursing mothers: they shall bow down to thee with their face toward the earth, and lick up the dust of thy feet; and thou shalt know that I am the LORD: for they shall not be ashamed that wait for me. 7a kings shall be thy nursing fathers, and their queens thy nursing mothers Now in the days of the Gentiles it had been said that there would be no king upon the land. So who are these kings and queens who are to be the nursing fathers and mothers of the children of Israel as applied to this land of Amereica? Are they not those who are so anointed to become kings and queens of the most high? Are they not those righteous in the gospel who will bring the good word of God to the children of Israel and then to the world? |
6a
Isa. 49:22-26;
2 Ne. 10:9 b TG Ensign 7a Isa. 60:16 b Isa. 44:8; Isa. 45:5-22; Isa. 46:9; 3 Ne. 24:6; Moses 1:6 c Lam. 3:25-26; D&C 133:45
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8 And now I, Jacob, would speak somewhat concerning these words.
For behold, the Lord has shown me that those who were at
aJerusalem, from whence we came, have been
bslain and ccarried away captive.
9 Nevertheless, the Lord has shown unto me that they should areturn again. And he also has shown unto me that the Lord God, the Holy One of Israel, should manifest himself unto them in the flesh; and after he should manifest himself they should bscourge him and ccrucify him, according to the words of the angel who spake it unto me. 10 And after they have ahardened their hearts and bstiffened their necks against the Holy One of Israel, behold the cjudgments of the Holy One of Israel shall come upon them. And the day cometh that they shall be smitten and afflicted. 11 Wherefore, after they are driven to and fro, for thus saith the angel, many shall be afflicted in the flesh, and shall not be suffered to aperish, because of the prayers of the faithful; they shall be scattered, and smitten, and hated; nevertheless, the Lord will be merciful unto them, that bwhen they shall come to the cknowledge of their Redeemer, they shall be dgathered together again to the lands of their inheritance. |
8a
Esth. 2:6;
1 Ne. 7:13;
1 Ne. 10:3; 2 Ne. 25:6, 10; Omni 1:15; Hel. 8:20-21 b Ezek. 23:25 (24-29) c 2 Kings 24:14 (10-16); 2 Kings 25:11 (1-12); Jer. 13:19, 24; TG Israel, Bondage of, in Other Lands 9a Jer. 29:10 (9-10); 1 Ne. 10:3 b TG Jesus Christ, Betrayal of c 1 Ne. 19:10, 13; Mosiah 3:9; 3 Ne. 11:14-15; TG Jesus Christ, Crucifixion of 10a TG Hardheartedness b TG Stiffneckedness c Matt. 27:25 (24-25) 11a Amos 9:8-9; 2 Ne. 20:20-21 b 1 Ne. 22:12 (11-12); 2 Ne. 9:2 (1-2) c Hosea 3:5; D&C 113:10; TG Israel, Restoration of d TG Israel, Gathering of e TG Lands of Inheritance
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12 And blessed are the aGentiles, they of whom the
prophet has written; for behold, if it so be that they shall repent and fight
not against Zion, and do not unite themselves to that great and
babominable church, they shall be saved; for the Lord God
will fulfil his ccovenants which he has made unto his
children; and for this cause the prophet has written these
thingsa.
13 Wherefore, they that fight against Zion and the covenant people of the Lord shall lick up the dust of their feet; and the people of the Lord shall not be aashamed. For the people of the Lord are they who bwait for him; for they still wait for the coming of the Messiaha. |
12a for this cause the prophet has written
these things This has reference back to verses 6 and 7 or Isaiah
49:22-23. Because the Lord would raise up the Gentiles who do accept him,
Isaiah did write concerning the nursing fathers and mothers, kings and queens,
of the Gentiles who would minister the gospel unto the house of Israel in the
latter days. This is in regard to the restoration of the gospel and its
administration by the 'Gentiles' to the house of Israel.
13a for they still wait for the coming of the Messiah Of course the latter day Gentiles do still wait for the coming of Messiah in respect to the Lord's Second Coming. And this is what this has reference to, in respect to them, and not that they still wait for his first coming as do the Jews. And as to the rest of the house of Israel including the Jews who do not recognize his coming as Jesus Christ, to them it does mean that they indeed do still wait for the coming of the Lord not accepting that he has come already the first time. So in this all the people of the Lord do still wait for the coming of Messiah, whether it be his first or his second coming to which they do look unto. |
12a
1 Ne. 14:2 (1-5);
2 Ne. 10:10 (8-14, 18) b TG Devil, Church of c TG Abrahamic Covenant; BD Abraham, Covenant of 13a Joel 2:26-27; 3 Ne. 22:4; D&C 90:17 b Gen. 49:18; Ps. 25:5; Prov. 20:22; Prov. 27:18; Isa. 40:31; 1 Ne. 21:23; D&C 98:2; D&C 133:11, 45
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14 And behold, according to the words of the prophet, the Messiah
will set himself again the asecond time to recover them;
wherefore, he will bmanifest himself unto them in power and
great glory, unto the cdestruction of their enemies, when
that day cometh when they shall believe in him; and none will he destroy
that believe in him.
15 And they that believe not in him shall be adestroyed, both by bfire, and by tempest, and by earthquakes, and by cbloodsheds, and by dpestilence, and by efamine. And they shall know that the Lord is God, the Holy One of Israel. |
14a
2 Ne. 21:11;
2 Ne. 25:17;
2 Ne. 29:1 b 2 Ne. 3:5; D&C 3:18 (16-20) c 1 Ne. 21:26 (24-26); 1 Ne. 22:13-14 15a 1 Ne. 22:13-23; 2 Ne. 10:16 (15-16); 2 Ne. 28:15-32; 3 Ne. 16:8-15; Ether 2:9; TG Last Days b Joel 1:19-20; Jacob 5:77; Jacob 6:3 c TG Blood, Shedding of d Luke 21:11 (10-13); Mosiah 12:4; D&C 97:26 (22-26); TG Plague c TG Drought Isaiah 11:11 second time, Isaiah 29:6 destruction, Zechariah 14:4-5, Matthew 24:7, Mark 13:8, Luke 21:11, Mormon 8:29-31, D&C 87:6, Nahum 1:2-9 destruction second time |
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16 aFor shall the prey be taken from the mighty, or
the blawful captive delivered?
17 But thus saith the Lord: Even the captives of the mighty shall be taken away, and the prey of the terrible shall be delivered; afor the bMighty God shall cdeliver his covenant peoplea. For thus saith the Lord: I will contend with them that contendeth with thee-- 18 And I will feed them that oppress thee, with their own flesh; and they shall be drunken with their own blood as with sweet wine; and all flesh shall know that I the Lord am thy Savior and thy aRedeemer, the bMighty One of Jacob. 17a for the Mighty God shall deliver his covenant people This is an interesting added line which only appears in Jacob's reading here in 2 Nephi 6:17. It does not appear in Isaiah 49:25 or 1 Nephi 21:25. There are two possibilities here. Some have speculated that when Joseph Smith and whoever his transcriber was at the time, (likely Oliver Cowdery) realized that Nephi was engraving the words of Isaiah, they merely went to the Bible and basicly copied for the most part that which was already translated there. That would account for why Nephi 21 was missing this particular phrase, as it was not in Isaiah 49 either. There another possiblity is that Jacob has inserted a clarifying line according to the spirit that was within him, that this was indeed the fulfilling of the covenant of Abraham unto the people by the Almighty God. In either case the added line in 2 Nephi 6:17 in Jacob's reading/paraphrasing, does only add the significant fact that this all was indeed according to the covenant made to Abraham, that the Mighty God would so deliver his covenant people in the fulness of time. |
24 ¶ Shall the prey be taken from the mighty, or the lawful captive delivered? 25 But thus saith the LORD, Even the captives of the mighty shall be taken away, and the prey of the terrible shall be delivered: for I will contend with him that contendeth with thee, and I will save thy childrena. 26 And I will feed them that oppress thee with their own flesh; and they shall be drunken with their own blood, as with sweet wine: and all flesh shall know that I the LORD am thy Saviour and thy Redeemer, the mighty One of Jacob. 25a I will save thy children Again, Jacob's 'reading' of Isaiah does not include this phrase but does instead state 'the Mighty God shall deliver his covenant people' as pointed out at the left. 'saving Israel's children' and 'delivering his covenant people' is very much the same meaning with a little exception. The Jew's perception was that they were the literal children of the covenant and thus their concept of God delivering his covenant people in the latter days would to them be the same as God saving the literal children of Israel. However the more correct concept is that which is stated by Jacob, which may have returned the text back to its original. And that is in the latter day, those who have entered into the 'covenant', whether the liternal children of Israel of not, are they who would be delivered. This is the same concept which John the Baptist caught the Jews out on when he stated that 'even of these 'stones' -meaning gentiles could or would God raise up children of Abraham.' |
16a
Isa. 49:24-26;
2 Ne. 11:2 b HEB righteous captive; IE, the Covenant People of the Lord, as stated in v. 17 17a 1 Ne. 21:25 b TG Jesus Christ—Jehovah c 2 Kings 17:39; D&C 105:8; TG Jesus Christ, Prophecies about; TG Jesus Christ, Savior 18a TG Jesus Christ, Redeemer b Gen. 49:24; Ps. 132:2; Isa. 1:24; Isa. 60:16
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