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CHAPTER 10There is silence in the land for many hours—The voice of Christ promises to gather his people as a hen gathereth her chickens—The more righteous part of the people had been preserved. [A.D. 34] |
The Lord allows a needed period of silence—He then offers for the people to come unto Him if they will repent—The more righteous, or less wicked, were spared and they do procede to repent before the Lord. | |
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1 AND now behold, it came to pass that all
the people of the land did ahear these sayings, and did
witness of it. And after these sayings there was silence in the land
for the space of many hoursa;
2 For so great was the astonishment of the people that they did cease lamenting and howling for the loss of their kindred which had been slain; therefore there was silence in all the land for the space of many hours.
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1a silence in the land for the space of many hours A period of silence is often needful. In this case of great physical duress and stress one purpose is for those envolved to 'gather their wits about themselves'. The state of physical 'shock' was likely upon them. A reflective period of calm and silence would be the natural course of events in an occasion such as this. |
1a
1 Ne. 19:11
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3 And it came to pass that there came a voice again unto the
people, and all the people did hear, and did witness of it,
saying:
4 O ye people of these agreat cities which have fallen, who are descendants of Jacob, yea, who are of the house of Israel, how oft have I bgathered you as a hen gathereth her chickens under her wings, and have cnourished you. 5 And again, how oft would I have gathered you as a hen gathereth her chickens under her wings, yea, O aye people of the house of Israel, who have fallen; yea, O ye people of the house of Israel, ye that dwell at Jerusalema, as ye that have fallen; yea, how oft would I have gathered you as a hen gathereth her chickens, and ye would not. 6 O ye house of Israel whom I have aspared, how oft will I gather you as a hen gathereth her chickens under her wings, if ye will repent and breturn unto me with full purpose of heart.
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5a ye that dwell at Jerusalem Christ is speaking to all of the people of the house of Israel, those who dwell at Jerusalem as well as also those who have fallen in the promised lands of America. In terms of being of the blood of Israel, the Lord speaks to one as to another. He speaks to those of one land as to those of another. |
4a
3 Ne. 8:14 (8-16);
3 Ne. 9:12 (3-12) b Hel. 7:19 c Luke 16:29 (29-31); 1 Ne. 17:3; Jacob 5:25 5a Matt. 23:37; D&C 43:24-25 6a 3 Ne. 9:13 b 1 Sam. 7:3; Hel. 13:11; 3 Ne. 24:7 b Ezek. 36:26
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7 But if not, O house of
Israela, the places of your
dwellings shall become adesolate until the time of
the fulfilling of the bcovenant to your
fathersb.
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7a O house of Israel Though
Christ was speaking contemporialy to the Nephites in the Land of Bountiful,
the message is directed to and is applied to all the house of Israel. That is
if they do not repent and return (turn -
Zechariah 1:2) unto the Lord, their habitations will be desolate until
the latter days when the Lord will turn to them in the fulfilling of the
covenant of the fathers - the covenant of Abraham. 7b time of the fulfilling of the covenant to our fathers The time of the fulfilling of the covenant of the fathers is in the latter days. It is to what ends the gospel was restored and it is the work of the Church today to bring about the fulfilling of the covenants of the fathers. It was upon the head of Ephraim that the covenant was laid by the hand of Jacob. |
7a
Ezek. 26:19 b Enos 1:16 (12-18)
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8 And now it came to pass that after the people had heard these words,
behold, they began to weep and howl aagain because of the
loss of their kindred and friends.
9 And it came to pass that thus did the three days pass away. And it was in the morning, and the adarkness dispersed from off the face of the land, and the earth did cease to tremble, and the brocks did cease to rend, and the dreadful groanings did cease, and all the tumultuous noises did pass away. 10 And the earth did cleave together again, that it stood; and the amourning, and the weeping, and the wailing of the people who were spared alive did cease; and their mourning was turned into joy, and their lamentations into the bpraise and thanksgiving unto the Lord Jesus Christ, their Redeemer. 11 And thus far were the ascriptures bfulfilled which had been spoken by the prophets.
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8a
3 Ne. 8:23-25 9a 3 Ne. 8:19 (3, 19-23) b Hel. 14:21 10a TG Mourning b Acts 16:25 11a 1 Ne. 19:12 (10-12) b Acts 3:18-21
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12 And it was the amore righteous part of the
people who were saveda, and it was
they who received the prophets and stoned them not; and it was they who had
not shed the blood of the saints, who were spared—
13 And they were spared and were not sunk and buried up in the earth; and they were not drowned in the depths of the sea; and they were not burned by fire, neither were they fallen upon and crushed to death; and they were not carried away in the whirlwind; neither were they overpowered by the vapor of smoke and of darknessa.
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12a it was the more righteous part of the
people who were saved Now this is a type of his Second Coming, for
great destructions will be upon the face of the whole earth. And surely only
the more righteous part of the people then will be those who will remain, the
wicked having been destroyed from off of the face of the earth. For the earth
need be cleansed in this degree in order to be enable to receive the Lord and
his presence. For the wicked will not enter into the presence of the Lord, but
the more righteous part of the people only.
13a neither were they overpowered by the vapor of smoke and of darkness Being overpowered by the vapor of smoke would seem to refer to smoke inhilation. And the vapor of darkness would have been from the clouds of dusk and particules cast up into the air from all the tumulteous goings on of the destruction. This would have been the cause of the darkening of the sun from view, all the vapors of smoke, gas and dabre which was cast up into the air, the atmosphere from the monumental events and destruction which did occur. |
12a
2 Ne. 26:8;
3 Ne. 9:13 (11-13); 3 Ne. 27:31
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14 And now, whoso readeth, let him understand; he that hath the
scriptures, let him asearch them, and see and behold if all
these deaths and destructions by fire, and by smoke, and by
btempests, and by whirlwinds, and by the
copening of the earth to receive them, and all these things
are not unto the fulfilling of the prophecies of many of the holy prophets.
15 Behold, I say unto you, Yea, many have testified of these things at the coming of Christ, and were aslain because they testified of these things.
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14a
TG
Scriptures, Study of b Hel. 14:23 c Num. 16:32; 1 Ne. 19:11; 2 Ne. 26:5 15a TG Martyrdom
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16 Yea, the prophet aZenos did testify of these
things, and also Zenock spake bconcerning these things,
because they testified particularly concerning us, who are the remnant
of their seeda.
17 Behold, our father Jacob also testified concerning a aremnant of the seed of Joseph. And behold, are not we a remnant of the seed of Joseph? And these things which testify of us, are they not written upon the plates of brass which our father Lehi brought out of Jerusalem?
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16a concerning us who are a remnant of their seed Here it does clarify that Zenos and Zenock were prophets particularly to and of the seed of Joseph, they being the ancestors of the people of Joseph, which the people of the Book of Mormon were of. And this would further indicate that their profecies were more particularly to the house of Joseph and why it would have been recorded and retained upon the plates of brass, which were kept by the house of Joseph, which house Laban and his ancestors were of (see 1 Nephi 5:16). |
16a
Hel. 8:20 (19-20) b 1 Ne. 19:21 17a Alma 46:24; 3 Ne. 5:23-24
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18 And it came to pass that in the ending of the thirty and fourth
yeara, behold, I will show unto you that
the people of Nephi who were spared, and also those who had been called
aLamanites, who had been spared, did have great favors shown unto
them, and great bblessings poured out upon their heads,
insomuch that soon after the cascension of Christ into heaven
he did truly manifest himself unto thema—
19 aShowing his body unto them, and ministering unto them; and an account of his ministry shall be given hereafter. Therefore for this time I make an end of my sayingsa.
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18a it came to pass that in the ending of the
thirty and fourth year . . . insomuch that soon after the ascension of Christ into
heaven he did truly manifest himself unto them For the time of almost a year did
Jesus spend working with his Apostles and followers in the land of Jerusalem. That
'time' came to an end with the Lord's recorded "ascension" into heaven (Acts 1:9-11).
So thus Jesus Christ completed his time spent with the 'Jews' and shortly after his
ascension, at the ending of the 34th year according to the times of the
Nephites, Jesus Christ would next come and manifest himself to the people in America
at the Temple in the Land Bountiful. So it was only after a year had passed from the
time of the destruction before Jesus in person did appear unto the people of Nephi.
It would again likely been at the time of the next 'passover' as the people began to
assemble themselves to the remaining statnding Temple. The temple of Zarahemla having
been burned an destroyed. This give the people time to exercise their faith unto
repentance and prepare themselves for the Lord's manifestation unto them. It would have
also given them time to repair the city of Bountiful and the Temple thereof before
Christ would visit them. 19a for this time I make an end of my sayings Not always obvious to a reader, but all to obvious to the engraver or writer of record accounts is the fact that it was not written as one continuous work without interuptions. Here Mormon closes off his engraving for a period and so indicates that he has so come to a stopping point in his engraving whether for a day, a week or some period of time for some occassion which had brought it currently to a stop. |
18a
4 Ne. 1:20 b TG Blessing c Acts 1:9-11 19a 3 Ne. 11:12-15
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