13 And it came to pass
that he said unto me: Show me a sign by this power of the Holy Ghost, in the
which ye know so much.
14 And I said unto
him: What am I that I should tempt God to show unto thee a sign in the thing
which thou knowest to be true? Yet thou
wilt deny it, because thou art of the devil.
Nevertheless, not my will be done; but if God shall smite thee, let that
be a sign unto thee that he has power, both in heaven and in earth; and also,
that Christ shall come. And thy will, O
Lord, be done, and not mine.
15 And it came to pass
that when I, Jacob, had spoken these words, the power of the Lord came upon
him, insomuch that he fell to the earth.
And it came to pass that he was nourished for the space of many days.
Jacob 7:13-15
Sherem has confronted Jacob.
He stated clearly that he knows there would be no Christ. When asked by Jacob if he believes the
scriptures, Jacob tells him he doesn’t understand the scriptures. The scriptures testify of Christ.
Sherem then made his great mistake. “Show
me a sign by this power of the Holy Ghost, in the which ye know so much.” This is the same mistake that Korihor
would make when confronting Alma2.
“And now Korihor said unto Alma:
If thou wilt show me a sign, that I may be convinced that there is a God, yea,
show unto me that he hath power, and then will I be convinced of the truth of
thy words.” (Alma 30:43).
Sherem's response to Jacob's
rebuttal was ill-fated. He did not retract his allegations. A retreat would
have been hard for him to accomplish without exposing himself to the serious
charge of being a false accuser or false witness under Deuteronomy 19:16–21,
for the punishment imposed on those who falsely initiated lawsuits was
"then shall ye do unto him, as he had thought to have done unto his
brother" (v. 19). Instead of withdrawing his accusations, Sherem
challenged Jacob to produce divine evidence to support the testimony and answer
that Jacob had given (Jacob 7:13).[1]
In response to Sherem’s demand of a
sign, Jacob responds, “What am I that I should
tempt God to show unto thee a sign”?
Jacob told him he knew that he knew there would be a Christ. Abinadi, after testifying to King Noah and
his priests, told them, “Know ye not that
I speak the truth? Yea, ye know that I
speak the truth; and you ought to tremble before God” (Mosiah 12:30). Alma2 would tell Korihor…
But,
behold, I have all things as a testimony that these things are true; and ye
also have all things as a testimony unto you that they are true; and will ye
deny them? Believest thou that these
things are true?
Behold,
I know that thou believest, but thou art possessed with a lying spirit, and ye
have put off the Spirit of God that it may have no place in you; but the devil
has power over you, and he doth carry you about, working devices that he may
destroy the children of God.
Alma 30:41-42
John Tvedtnes explains:
The importance of looking forward
to Christ's coming is further strengthened by the fact that the major problem
with Nephite dissenters was that they did not believe that anyone could know in
advance of "things to come," and they therefore rejected Christ.1 Sherem
disputed with Jacob the validity of believing in "a being which ye say
shall come many hundred years hence," saying that no one can "tell of
things to come" (Jacob 7:7). Jacob responded by asking, "Deniest thou
the Christ who shall come?" (Jacob 7:9) and testified to him "that
Christ shall come" (Jacob 7:14).[2]
Jacob appears reluctant to give the sign.
Perhaps reluctantly, Jacob obliged
Sherem because he had pressed the issue. As the leading priest and prophet in
the city of Nephi, Jacob fashioned and administered the ordeal.56 He
was careful to declare his own neutrality in the procedure, so that God's
judgment (rather than Jacob's) could be manifested, and to call upon God to
show specifically that "he has power, both in heaven and in earth; and
also, that Christ shall come" (Jacob 7:14). By asking God to show that
Christ would come, Jacob made it clear that the explicit aim of the sign was to
refute Sherem's third charge, that of false prophecy; at the same time, he also
turned his defense into an accusation and called on God to settle the
controversy, a well-attested juridical strategy in the ancient sources.57
It is not common, of course, for a
prophet to comply with a request for a sign … Jacob showed his reluctance about
invoking any sign-seeking procedure when he expressed concern that he himself
might thereby be criticized for tempting or trying God (Jacob 7:14).[3]
Sherem, Jacob said, denied Christ because he is of the
devil. After being struck dumb, Korihor
confessed, “But behold, the devil hath
deceived me; for he appeared unto me in the form of an angel, and said unto me:
Go and reclaim this people, for they have all gone astray after an unknown
God. And he said unto me: There is no
God; yea, and he taught me that which I should say. And I have taught his words; and I taught
them because they were pleasing unto the carnal mind; and I taught them, even
until I had much success, insomuch that I verily believed that they were true; and
for this cause I withstood the truth, even until I have brought this great
curse upon me” (Alma 30:53).
Jacob informed Sherem that, if he received a sign it would
be the Lord’s will. “[I]f God should smite [him], let that be [your] sign … thy will, O Lord,
be done and not mine.”
No sooner had Jacob finished, than Sherem received his
sign. Jacob never tells us exactly what
happened except “he fell to the earth.” What ever happened, he was unable to take
care of himself. “He was nourished for the space of many days.”
Jacob could have been seen as
obstructing justice if he had refused to seek God's will in the matter. As the
case unfolded, of course, the requested sign was given; God smote Sherem (Jacob
7:15).
As Jacob asked that the will of the
Lord be done, "the power of the Lord came upon [Sherem], insomuch that he
fell to the earth" (Jacob 7:15). The record does not say exactly what had
happened to him. Sherem was not struck dumb; unlike Korihor64 he
continued to speak. He may have been paralyzed by God to prevent him from going
about among the people, or he may have been hit with such divinely inspired
astonishment that when he fell he was seriously injured. All we know is that
after falling to the ground, Sherem had to be nourished for "many
days" (v. 15) but never recovered.[4]
[1]
The
Case of Sherem, Maxwell Institute, accessed May 12, 2014.
[2]
Notes
and Communications: "That Which Is to Come," John Tvedtnes,
Maxwell Institute, accessed May 12, 2014
[3]
The
Case of Sherem, Maxwell Institute, accessed May 12, 2014.
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