Book of Mormon Commentary - Jacob 3

by Don R. Hender

Scriptural Text [& Editorial]	Commentary & Explanation	Footnotes ~ References ~ JST
CHAPTER 3 The pure in heart receive the pleasing word of God—Lamanite righteousness exceeds that of Nephites—Jacob warns against fornication, lasciviousness, and every sin. [Between 544 and 421 B.C.]	The pure in heart will readily receive the pleasing word of God—The Lamanites righteousness in its observance of the proper relationship of family, the basic unity of heaven, exceed the righteousness of the Nephites— Jacob warns against the sins which attack the sanctity of the family unit such as fornication, lasciviousness and such other sins and whoredoms which will the destory the family unit of husband and wife and children.	It's All About Family The point and purpose of it all revolves around the family, and the family unit, for thus is the order of the Kingdom of God.
1 BUT behold, I, Jacob, would speak unto you that are pure in heart. Look unto God with firmness of mind, and ^apray unto him with exceeding faith, and he will ^bconsole you in your ^cafflictions, and he will plead your cause, and send down ^djustice upon those who seek your destruction. 2 O all ye that are pure in heart, lift up your heads and receive the pleasing word of God, and feast upon his ^alove; for ye may, if your ^bminds are ^cfirm, forever.		1^a 2 Ne. 32:8 ^b TG Comfort; TG Consolation; TG Pure ^c TG Affliction ^d TG Deliverance; TG Protection, Divine 2^a TG God, Love of; ^b TG Steadfastness ^c Alma 57:27
3 But, wo, wo, unto you that are not pure in heart, that are filthy this day before God; for except ye repent the land is ^acursed for your sakes; and the Lamanites, which are not ^bfilthy like unto you, nevertheless they are ^ccursed with a sore cursing, shall scourge you even unto destruction. 4 And the time speedily cometh, that except ye repent they shall possess the land of your inheritance^a, and the Lord God will ^alead away the righteous out from among you.	4^a except ye repent they shall possess the land of your inheritance This of course did happen in the Book of Mormon. The land of the Nephites' inheritance was the land of Nephi and it was the Lamanites who did come to possess it. The Lord did lead the righteous, or more righteous Nephites out of the land of Nephi, those who would follow after Mosiah I. This left the wicked portion of the Nephites to destruction by the hand of the Lamanites which the small plates of Nephi does not give an account of other than implying it to have occured upon Mosiah's group departure.	3^a TG Earth, Curse of ^b TG Filthiness ^c 1 Ne. 12:23 4^a Omni 1:12 (5-7, 12-13)
5 Behold, the Lamanites^a 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 ^aforgotten the commandment of the Lord^a, which was given unto our father—that they should have save it were ^bone wife, and ^cconcubines they should have none^b, and there should not be ^dwhoredoms committed among them. 6 And now, this commandment they observe to keep; wherefore, because of this observance, in keeping this commandment, the Lord God will not destroy them^a, but will be ^amerciful unto them; and one day they shall ^bbecome a blessed people. 7 Behold, their ^ahusbands ^blove their ^cwives, and their wives love their husbands; and their husbands and their wives love their children; and their ^bunbelief and their hatred towards you is because of the iniquity of their fathers; wherefore, how much better are you than they, in the sight of your great Creator?	5^a the Lamanites ... are more righteous than you; for they have not forgotten the commandment of the Lord Though the Lamanites did not have the record and the 'gospel' as did the Nephites, yet because of one of the 'greatest of sins', that of unchasity, they were considered more righteous than the Nephites who had began to follow in their minds the way of this wickedness. The sin against the Holy Ghost, which is to deny Christ when once he has been revealed unto you is the greatest. Next is murder unto the knowingly shedding of innocent blood, for life is sacred and of prime concern unto God. And the third in the order of all sins is that of sexual sin, for that is the source of life and ought not be subject unto the carnal evils of man. The Nephites had raised there level of sin to that 3^rd great level of wickedness and though perhaps only in the stages of thought among many of them, it had entered into their heart and mind that they might so next do. And this is the extent of the evil thereof, for Christ so thaught that he that lusteth after a women hath committed adultry already in his heart and will so be judged least there is repentance performed. Thus the Lamanites were more 'family oriented' and more righteous in this thing than were the Nephites who began to seek after having more than one wife to satisfy the natural man. 5^b given unto our father—that they should have save it were one wife, and concubines they should have none This commandment of father Lehi given unto his children, his people would have been on the record of Lehi. The initial commandment did not make it into the small plates record of Nephi and Jacob but by this retrospective reference to it. It may have been a part of the large plates of Nephi and it may have made it into Mormon's abridgment and therefore may have been recorded on the lost 116 pages, but we do not know that for sure. What is to be recognized here is that there much going on which is not a part of the abridged record of the Book of Mormon and was upon the other Nephite records beginning with the record of father Lehi. 6^a because of this observance, in keeping this commandment, the Lord God will not destroy them The importance of family and the proper family relationships are of such great importance and are tied inseparably to the celestial kingdom where the family is the basic unit of heaven which is to have eternal increase which is the ultimate design of God, that the Lord blesses the Lamanites for maintaining the integrety of the family unit and states that in such a state of compliance to the eternal principles of 'family', the Lamanites are to be considered more righteous than the Nephites of that time and era as the Nephites had began on the path which did attack the family unit of society and threatened it proper continued existence. That is just how important the family and proper family relationships are in the sight of God.	5^a Jacob 2:35 ^b Jacob 2:27 ^c Mosiah 11:2-14; Ether 10:5 ^d TG Chastity 6^a 1 Ne. 13:31; 2 Ne. 4:7; 2 Ne. 10:18-19; Hel. 15:12 (10-17); Morm. 5:20-21 ^b 1 Ne. 15:14 (13-18); 1 Ne. 22:8 7^a TG Marriage, Husbands ^b TG Family, Love within; TG Marriage, Continuing Courtship in ^c TG Marriage, Wives ^d D&C 3:18; TG Unbelief, Unbelievers
8 O my brethren, I fear that unless ye shall repent of your sins that their skins will be ^awhiter than yours, when ye shall be brought with them before the throne of God. 9 Wherefore, a commandment I give unto you, which is the word of God, that ye ^arevile no more against them because of the darkness of their skins; neither shall ye revile against them because of their filthiness; but ye shall remember your own filthiness, and remember that their filthiness came because of their fathers.		8^a 3 Ne. 2:15 9^a TG Reviling
10 Wherefore, ye shall remember your ^achildren, how that ye have grieved their hearts because of the ^bexample 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^a. 11 O my brethren, hearken unto my words; ^aarouse the faculties of your souls; shake yourselves that ye may ^bawake from the slumber of death; and loose yourselves from the pains of ^chell that ye may not become ^dangels to the devil, to be cast into that lake of fire and brimstone which is the second ^edeath^a.	10^a because of your filthiness, [you] bring your children unto destruction, and their sins be heaped upon your heads at the last day When a generation has rippened in iniquity reay for destruction there is always the question about the 'younger generation' of their children, whether they are the inocent and unrippened being taken prematurely prior to their day of probation is complete. Such was the case with the people during the time of the universal flood of Noah, they had children and babies who were not so fully rippened and even innocent, yet they are destroyed along with and because of those who are rippened in their iniquity. Here Jacob states what their fate will be, that the sins of the children will be answered upon the head of their wicked parents and of course the innocent come directly under the atonement of Christ. 11^a that lake of fire and brimstone which is the second death We often hear and have visual representations of hell being a place of actual fire and brimstone. That phsyical image is a metaphorically applied application of a physical state to a mental reality. The fire and brimstone is that burning pain and sorrow within the inner soul and being of a person due to their separation from the presence of God. That is the second death. The spiritual death were the realm of God is lost and the person is consigned to be cast out of God's presence and influence. So left, the person and soul of that man is left to the buffetings of Satan and exposed to his enslavement and presences to be at his command.	10^a TG Family, Children, Responsibilities toward; TG Family, Love within ^b TG Example 11^a TG Apathy ^b 2 Ne. 28:21; Alma 5:7 (6-7) ^c TG Hell ^d 2 Ne. 9:9 (8-9); TG Spirits, Evil or Unclean ^d TG Death, Spiritual, Second
12 And now I, Jacob, spake many more things unto the people of Nephi, ^awarning them against ^bfornication and ^clasciviousness, and every kind of sin, telling them the awful consequences of them. 13 And a hundredth part of the proceedings of this people, which now began to be numerous, cannot be written upon ^athese plates^a; but many of their proceedings are written upon the ^blarger plates, and their wars, and their contentions, and the reigns of their kings. 14 ^aThese plates are called the plates of Jacob^a, and they were ^bmade by the hand of Nephi. And I make an end of speaking these words. A Hundredth Part When it states 'a hundredth part ... cannont be written' it is the same as to say 'less than 1%' is written. But even than is not a precise measure but a 'metaphor' of expression. Certainly a purely unabridged history or account is literly impossible and every historical account is but an abridgement to begin with. What is to be understood from this remark ought to be to understand 1) that this IS NOT a history and only a bare historical fragment is given in order to tie the record together. What the small plates really are is a set of considered significant spiritual or doctrinal truths obtains by revelations from God much of which is reliant upon what was received by Nephi and from the plates of brass as referenced. And 2), the Book of Mormon was never intended to be a detailed history, for even when Mormon writes the record, it too is but a 'less than a hundredth part abridgement'; that is it is less than a 1% account figuratively and even less actually. Thus no grand historical perspective of the people ought to be deduced and even more significantly, it ought to be always remembered that this is but a highly condensed account and those who attempt to built full blown models of maps, locations and historical settings are to be considered to be over 99% lacking as to their 'greater' details. That is any model attempted directly from the Book of Mormon record is significantly overly limited and but a fraction of the actual sizes of the lands being spoken of upon which the whole of the people were living. This ought to warn people from so readily accepting the more popular 'limited land models' of such as the central American, south American or north American arena alone models. And it ought to point the true student which makes the objective effort to 'reconstitute' the condensed less than 1% picture back to its true full both American Continents model.	13^a a hundredth part of the proceedings of this people which now began to be numerous, cannot be written upon these plates Two notions of importance should be emphasised here. First that the Book of Mormon record is an extremely condensed and abridged record. Not even a hundredth part of the proceedings of the people is given. Here Jacob so states this concerning his record, the small plates of Nephi, and Mormon will also use the same expression later in respect to his abridgement. Now those that preclude various conclusions based on such a limited record source of a people ought to be well aware that they do venture into the realm of the 'errors of condesation' where many presumptions, assumptions and conclusions based upon such a limited record are most likely to be erroneous. Second, even during Jacob's lifetime he clearly states that the people began to be numerous. One cannot base the population explosion of the Book of Mormon people in a land of unlimited resources with no major bariers to population increase upon such modern tables of population growth which have evolved out of a world of limited resources and many major obstacles to such population increase. The population of the Book of Mormon peoples just took off by leaps and bounds which a number of quick study scientific minded learned men refuse to accept based on their worldly learning of such related precepts of man. 13^a the plates of Jacob Although they did not retain this name, during the lifetime of Jacob, to distinguish the small plated of Nephi from the large plates of Nephi, the small plates of Nephi were called and referred to 'the plates of Jacob'. Thus it must be understood that Jacob did not create a new set of plates but that there are the same set of plates which Nephi made by the commandment of the Lord as recorded in 2 Nephi 5;30. That second set of plates made by Nephi were the small plates of Nephi reserved for the recording of the 'ministry of the gospel' to the people and therefore recorded the more precious and spiritually associated matters and was never intended to be a complete history of the people. Such secular history was recorde on the large plates of Nephi which was maintained by the kings of the Nephites. This 'ministarial' set of plates was maintianed by the religious leaders of the people and they only kept the matters of God and the gospel ministry upon them. One way to keep it clear is to think of them as the diference between Church and State. The small record is a Church record and is not a history of the poeple. The large record is the State record and is the history of the people.	12^a TG Warnings ^b TG Fornication ^c TG Lust 13^a Jacob 1:1-4; Jacob 4:1-4 ^b Jarom 1:14 14^a Jarom 1:2 (1-2) ^b 1 Ne. 19:2-3

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