Chapter 10
Jews shall crucify
their God—They shall be scattered until they begin to believe in him—America
shall be a land of liberty where no king shall rule—Be reconciled to God and
gain salvation through his grace. About 559–545 B.C.
Jacob ended his sermon for the day and began again the next
day (see 2 Nephi 10:3). He again speaks
about their relationship to Joseph and Jacob.
In this, he no doubt referred to Nephi’s words, “Behold, I say unto you, that the house of Israel was compared unto an
olive-tree, by the Spirit of the Lord which was in our father; and behold are
we not broken off from the house of Israel, and are we not a branch of the
house of Israel” (1 Nephi 15:12).
Jacob was most likely influence by the teachings of
Lehi. “Wherefore, Joseph truly saw our day.
And he obtained a promise of the Lord, that out of the fruit of his
loins the Lord God would raise up a righteous branch unto the house of Israel;
not the Messiah, but a branch which was to be broken off, nevertheless, to be
remembered in the covenants of the Lord that the Messiah should be made manifest
unto them in the latter days, in the spirit of power, unto the bringing of them
out of darkness unto light—yea, out of hidden darkness and out of captivity
unto freedom” (2 Nephi 3:5).
This teaching was also used by General Moroni when he was
recruiting his army to defend the Nephites.
Yea,
let us preserve our liberty as a remnant of Joseph; yea, let us remember the
words of Jacob, before his death, for behold, he saw that a part of the remnant
of the coat of Joseph was preserved and had not decayed. And he said—Even as this remnant of garment
of my son hath been preserved, so shall a remnant of the seed of my son be
preserved by the hand of God, and be taken unto himself, while the remainder of
the seed of Joseph shall perish, even as the remnant of his garment.
Now
behold, this giveth my soul sorrow; nevertheless, my soul hath joy in my son,
because of that part of his seed which shall be taken unto God.
Alma 46:24- 25
What promises they have received were received by the
flesh. It had been revealed to Jacob
that “many of our children” (2 Nephi
10:2) will perish because of their lack of belief. However, many will be restored through
receiving a “true knowledge of their
Redeemer” (2 Nephi 10:2).
Jacob reveals to his congregation that their Redeemer’s name
would be Christ. “[F]or in the last night the angel spake unto me that this should be
his name” (2 Nephi 10:3). Nephi
testified to the truthfulness of Jacob’s words.
“And my brother, Jacob, also has seen
him as I have seen him; wherefore, I will send their words forth unto my
children to prove unto them that my words are true. Wherefore, by the words of three, God hath
said, I will establish my word. Nevertheless, God sendeth more witnesses, and
he proveth all his words” (2 Nephi 11:3).
Mormon, writing to his son Moroni, said, “For behold, God knowing all things, being from everlasting to
everlasting, behold, he sent angels to minister unto the children of men, to
make manifest concerning the coming of Christ; and in Christ there should come
every good thing” (Moroni 7:22).
Without question, Jacob, like
Nephi, paid dearly for his faith. The text also affirms that he was beloved of
the Lord, for even when Nephi was alive, Jacob was visited by Christ and by
angels. Moreover, Jacob was first among the Nephites to learn—from an angel—that
the name of the Holy One of Israel would be Christ (see 2
Nephi 10:3). And anyone uninitiated to Jacob's rhetorical gifts need only study
in detail the sermon fragment that Nephi elects to copy into his own chronicle.[1]
Christ would come to the Jews. He will preach to a people “who are the more wicked part of the world” (2
Nephi 10:3). Among all the people on
Earth, the Jews were the only “nation on
earth that would crucify their God” (2 Nephi 10:3).
As he was recording his record on the small plates, Nephi
would write:
For
the things which some men esteem to be of great worth, both to the body and
soul, others set at naught and trample under their feet. Yea, even the very God of Israel do men trample
under their feet; I say, trample under their feet but I would speak in other
words—they set him at naught, and hearken not to the voice of his counsels.
And
the God of our fathers, who were led out of Egypt, out of bondage, and also
were preserved in the wilderness by him, yea, the God of Abraham, and of Isaac,
and the God of Jacob, yieldeth himself, according to the words of the angel, as
a man, into the hands of wicked men, to be lifted up, according to the words of
Zenock, and to be crucified, according to the words of Neum, and to be buried
in a sepulchre, according to the words of Zenos, which he spake concerning the
three days of darkness, which should be a sign given of his death unto those
who should inhabit the isles of the sea, more especially given unto those who
are of the house of Israel.
1 Nephi 19:7, 10
[1] Unlocking
the Sacred Text, Marilyn Arnold, Provo, Utah: Maxwell
Institute, accessed September 21, 2013.
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