Jacob 4

Jacob 4:2 But whatsoever things we write upon anything save it be upon plates must perish and vanish away; but we can write a few words upon plates, which will give our children, and also our beloved brethren, a small degree of knowledge concerning us, or concerning their fathers. they were very concerned that the things they wrote should be kept and presered. Remember Enos, when he had received a remission of his sins, he prayed that the records could be kept and used someday to bring their posterity back to a remembrance of the truth. I wonder if that is something that happens to all old people—this desire to have your words kept and handed down to your unknown posterity or if it was something particular to these Nephites. It's hard for me to imagine that among the first things I would pray for if I happened to have an amazing spiritual interaction with the voice of the lord, telling me my sins were forgiven and asking what I wanted would be that a thousand years from now, my words would still be around and be used to convert people to the truth.

Jacob 4:4 For, for this intent have we written these things, that they may know that we knew of Christ, and we had a hope of his glory many hundred years before his coming; and not only we ourselves had a hope of his glory, but also all the holy prophets which were before us. Did the Nephite prophets tell the general population why they were keeping the records on plates? Did the general population even know they were making a record? Are our prophets today making records that they intend for the benefit of people who will not see them for a thousand years? We have no idea what they are doing in relation to visions of the future they have received.

Jacob 3

Jacob 3:11 O my brethren, hearken unto my words; arouse the faculties of your souls. What are the faculties of your soul? He goes on to suggest that they awake from slumber, and loose themselves from chains, but it is unclear if those are illustrations of using the faculties of their souls or simply additional instruction.

Jacob 3

Jacob 3:4 And the time speedily cometh, that except ye repent they shall possess the land of your inheritance, and the Lord God will lead away the righteous out from among you. this concept of leading the righteous out from among the wicked is something that feels common in ancient times but disappeared at some point after Christ. Even though Peter says, But ye are a chosen generation, a royal priesthood, an holy nation, a peculiar people, God no longer tells people to isolate themselves by way of physical location. In the parable of the wheat and the tares, Chris makes it clear that in the last days, the righteous would grow up in the midst of the tares, and not be separated until the end. For some reason, the righteous are too tender to be separated from the tares, and I wonder if that is because we lack a tradition of the proper religion due to our amazing proseletyizing program. In biblical times, it was easy to say, you all are Jews, because you've been marrying each other for 400 years, and we're Egyptians, because, even though we've been living in the same country as you, we generally don't marry you, and you generally don't marry us, and we live isolated from each other, to help that continue. Oh, and by the way, you have a different religion. As long as you can maintain that kind of physical and spiritual separation, you can lead away the righteous out from among another group. As soon as those barriers dissolve, you lose distinct groups, as seen in the scattering of the 10 tribes. They had given up on the spiritual separation prior to being taken captive into Babylon, so that when they were settled among the Gentiles, they did not have any cohesion tying them either together or to Jehovah. In the case of modern Jewry, those who successfully maintain their Jewishness are those who cling to the Law of Moses. That way, they are able to exist in a geography separate from Israel and yet remain the children of Israel.

Jacob 3

Jacob 3:3 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 cursed for your sakes; and the Lamanites, which are not filthy like unto you, nevertheless they are cursed with a sore cursing, shall scourge you even unto destruction. this is an interesting theme throughout the bookof Mormon: the Nephites will be scourgedby the Lamanites because they sin, knowing the will of God, which is worse than just sinning. If there really were two constant groups of people throughout, one that knew the will of God and another that never knew it, this would be a solid and reliable theme. However, whe there is a fairly constant now ledge of God among the Nephites, there are period forays into knowledge made by the Lamanites, particularly as time progresses. E.g. Samuel was a Lamanites because at that time, the Lamanites were the righteous people. After Christ, everybody alive was a Nephite, and the curse was lifted. The trick, it would seem, to not having your children wiped off the face of the earth is not righteousness, but early adoption of wickedness. (I'm sure there's some reason why that is flawed, but it's not coming to me right now.)

Jacob 2

Jacob 2:34 And now behold, my brethren, ye know that these commandments were given to our father, Lehi; wherefore, ye have known them before. I don't believe I had realized that the specific commandment to eschew multiple wives had been given to Lehi, and hearing that, it makes me wonder at the comment that the only time the Lord would command polygamy would be when he wanted to raise up seed. Wouldn't sending the two families of Lehi and Ishmael into a new world be a time when he would want to raise up seed? Of course, if they were going to mix with indigenous people, he wouldn't need them reproducing like mad. Back to the original idea--this issue had come up before, requiring the specific revelation on multiple wives to be given to Lehi. Interestingly enough, it would appear that the issue was one that the Lamanites didn't struggle with. If you were to ask me which of Lehi's children were most likely to say, "Hey, dad, how's about I marry another one of Ishmael's daughters?", I would have had my money on Laman or Lemuel, not Nephi, Sam, Joseph, or Jacob. Of course, it may well have been one of their children that asked, and who knows, maybe it was part of why the records went to Jacob instead of Nephi's own children.

Jacob 2

Jacob 2:24 behold, David and Solomon truly had many wives and concubines, which thing was abominable before me, saith the Lord. I think it's important to note here, that it wasn't the multitude of wives, but the taking of them.

Recall Nathan's visit after David took Bathsheba, he said, thus saith the Lord God of Israel, I anointed thee king over Israel...And I gave thee thy master's house, and thy master's wives into thy bosom...and if that had been too little, I wold moreover have given thee such and such things. Nathan (and by extension, God) wasn't upset with David for having wives--he was upset with him for taking them when God had not given them.

Jacob 2

Jacob 2:21 And the one being is as precious in his sight as the other. And all flesh is of the dust. And for the selfsame end hath he created them, that they should keep his commandments and glorify him forever. Why did God create you? So that you would keep his commandments and glorify him, same reason he created me. I'm not sure this would have been my answer to why did God create me. Nephi said that Adam fell that men might be, and men are that they might have joy and I'm pretty sure he meant Adam fell that men might have a mortal existence, not an existence at all, but I think Jacob here is saying that our eternal existence is for the end that we might keep the commandments and thereby glorify God.