2 Nephi 29:1-5

Chapter 29

Many gentiles shall reject the Book of Mormon—They shall say: We need no more Bible—The Lord speaks to many nations—He will judge the world out of the books thus written. About 559–545 B.C.

1 But behold, there shall be many—at that day when I shall proceed to do a marvelous work among them, that I may remember my covenants which I have made unto the children of men, that I may set my hand again the second time to recover my people, which are of the house of Israel;

2 And also, that I may remember the promises which I have made unto thee, Nephi, and also unto thy father, that I would remember your seed; and that the words of your seed should proceed forth out of my mouth unto your seed; and my words shall hiss forth unto the ends of the earth, for a standard unto my people, which are of the house of Israel;

3 And because my words shall hiss forth—many of the Gentiles shall say: A Bible! A Bible! We have got a Bible, and there cannot be any more Bible.

4 But thus saith the Lord God: O fools, they shall have a Bible; and it shall proceed forth from the Jews, mine ancient covenant people. And what thank they the Jews for the Bible which they receive from them? Yea, what do the Gentiles mean? Do they remember the travails, and the labors, and the pains of the Jews, and their diligence unto me, in bringing forth salvation unto the Gentiles?

5 O ye Gentiles, have ye remembered the Jews, mine ancient covenant people? Nay; but ye have cursed them, and have hated them, and have not sought to recover them. But behold, I will return all these things upon your own heads; for I the Lord have not forgotten my people.

The words in this chapter are the words of the Lord and recorded by Nephi.  The Lord again reveals more to Nephi about the “marvelous work” He will do among men.  What is this marvelous work?  It will be the coming forth of the Book of Mormon.  Hugh Nibley asks the question, “Why the Book of Mormon?”. 

“The twenty-seventh and twenty-ninth chapters of the book of 2 Nephi explain the conditions under which the Lord has brought forth the Book of Mormon in modern times and his purpose in doing so:

·         “To show the human race the vanity of their wisdom and to show them ‘that I know all their works’ (2 Nephi 27:26—27).

·         “To teach the meek and correct ancient misunderstandings (2 Nephi 27:25, 30).

·         “To serve as a great central rallying point for the work of the last days: ‘a standard unto my people,’ recalling them to their covenants (2 Nephi 29:1—2).

·         “To stand beside the Bible as ‘the testimony of two nations ... a witness unto you that I am God, that I remember one nation like unto another’ (2 Nephi 29:8).

·         "That I may prove unto many that I am the same yesterday, today, and forever; ... for my work is not yet finished" (2 Nephi 29:9).

·         “It is ‘written to the Lamanites ... and also to Jew and Gentile ... —Which is to show unto the remnant of the House of Israel what great things the Lord hath done for their fathers; and that they may know the covenants of the Lord, that they are not cast off forever—And also to the convincing of the Jew and Gentile that JESUS is the CHRIST, the ETERNAL GOD, manifesting himself unto all nations’ (Title Page to the Book of Mormon).

·         “At a time when men ‘cast many things away which are written and esteem them as things of naught’ (2 Nephi 33:2), the Book of Mormon, containing ‘the fulness of the gospel of Jesus Christ to the Gentiles and to the Jews also; ... was given by inspiration, and is confirmed to others by the ministering of angels, and is declared unto the world by them—Proving to the world that the holy scriptures are true, and that God does inspire men and call them to his holy work in this age and generation, as well as in generations of old; Thereby showing that he is the same God yesterday, today, and forever. Amen’ (D&C 20:9—12).”[1]

When the Lord does his work, he will do it “that I may remember my covenants which I have made unto the children of men” (2 Nephi 29:1).  At this time, He will, for a second time, “recover my people which are of the house of Israel” (2 Nephi 29:1).

Jacob taught the Nephites about the second time the Lord will recover the house of Israel.  “And behold, according to the words of the prophet, the Messiah will set himself again the second time to recover them; wherefore, he will manifest himself unto them in power and great glory, unto the destruction of their enemies, when that day cometh when they shall believe in him; and none will he destroy that believe in him” (2 Nephi 6:14).

Hugh Nibley continues:

“[The appearance of the Book of Mormon] is not a triumphant one at all, but only marks the first step, the very beginning, of the latter-day work: ‘Therefore, when ye shall receive this record ye may know that the work of the Father has commenced upon all the face of the land’" (Ether 4:17). It shows ‘that I may set my hand again the second time to recover my people, which are of the house of Israel’ (2 Nephi 29:1). It is characteristic of adventist and millennialist sects to preach a hasty and spectacular consummation of all things. Not so the Book of Mormon, whose coming forth is depicted only as the opening scene of a long and eventful drama. With it, ‘the work of the Father’ has commenced, not ended (1 Nephi 14:17; 2 Nephi 3:13; 30:8; 3 Nephi 21:26—28; Mormon 3:17).”[2]

The Book of Mormon will go forth because the Lord promised both Nephi and Lehi that the words of Nephi’s seed would “proceed forth out of my moth unto your seed” (2 Nephi 29:2).  As he was writing his last comments on the plates, Moroni2 wrote, “I declare these things unto the fulfilling of the prophecies.  And behold, they shall proceed forth out of the mouth of the everlasting God; and his word shall hiss forth from generation to generation.  And God shall show unto you, that that which I have written is true” (Moroni 10:28 - 29).

The Book of Mormon will go forth along with other words of the Lord.  Hugh Nibley explains:

“Question: Do you feel that the Lord's hand was involved in the discovery of [the Dead Sea Scrolls]?

“Answer: Yes, he said he would bring these things out in his own way and in his own time, and it's really quite miraculous the way these things have happened, when you see the opposition to them. The Lord said he would send his words hissing forth from the dust (cf. 2 Nephi 29:2; Moroni 10:28), and none would be able to stop them…”[3]

The Lord’s words will go forth to the entire world, “a standard unto my people which are of the house of Israel” (2 Nephi 29:2).

After prophesying about the Book of Mormon going forth into the world, we are told the word of the Lord “shall hiss [to utter or whisper angrily or threateningly and with a hiss[4]] forth” (2 Nephi 29:3).  How will the Gentiles respond?  The Lord tells us, “A Bible!  A Bible!  We have got a Bible, and there cannot be any more Bible” (2 Nephi 29:3). 

Hugh Nibley explains:

“But does the world really need more than the Bible to do these things? Nephi predicted what the reaction of the world would be to the claims of the Book of Mormon: ‘Many of the Gentiles shall say: A Bible! A Bible! We have got a Bible, and there cannot be any more Bible’ (2 Nephi 29:3). The moment the book was presented for sale this prophecy began to be fulfilled, when the most eminent newspaper of the region, The Rochester Daily Advertiser of Rochester, New York, published the following opinion:

BLASPHEMY
Book of Mormon, Alias the Golden Bible
The Book of Mormon has been placed in our hands. A viler imposition was never practiced. It is an evidence of fraud, blasphemy, and credulity, shocking to both Christians and moralists.”[5]

This has been a cry against the Book of Mormon since its publication.  Many Christians accept that the Bible is all the scripture the Lord has given us and will give us no more. 

John Welch writes about developments in Biblical studies.

“[O]ne can now see that there were significant losses of text, and even of whole books, from the Bible. A significant stir of criticism is now afoot in Christian theology, asking why certain books were excluded from the Bible and wondering what makes a text scriptural. Thomas Hoffman writes of the theoretical possibility ‘that a lost epistle of an apostle could still be accepted into the canon.’ He remarks that the reasons why ‘such books as the Shepherd of Hermas, the First Epistle of Clement, or the Epistle of Barnabas . . . were eventually dropped from the canon are not that clear.’ Robert Detweiler sees it as ‘entirely conceivable’ that if the Latter-day Saints become more influential, people will ‘come to view the Book of Mormon with something of the same regard [as Christians now] give to the Pentateuch.’ The old cry, ‘A Bible! A Bible! We have got a Bible, and there cannot be any more Bible’ (2 Nephi 29:3), is giving way in some circles like scarcely before.”[6]

I find it surprising so many Christians reject additional records from the Lord.  Just looking through the New Testament, there are many things about which we know little.  A few examples demonstrate this.

·         Christ’s ministry lasted only three years.  Of that three-year ministry, we have only a fraction of His words.  It makes me wonder what teachings we don’t have.  For example, I don’t believe that the only parables Christ told are those we have in the Bible.  I would love to have a more complete record of His ministry.

·         On the Mount of Transfiguration, Christ commanded Peter, James, and John not to write or discuss those events until after His death.  We still don’t have a full account of what occurred.

·         After His resurrection, Christ taught his apostles for forty days.  We have no record of what was taught during that time.  Those teachings had to have been important for Christ to teach the apostles for such a long period.

·         We don’t have copies of letters that were sent to Paul.  We only have his responses.  It would be interesting to read the letter(s) to which he responded.

These are but a few examples of why the Lord might give us additional records and scriptures to go hand-in-hand with the Biblical record. 

The Lord calls these people fools.  The Bible comes to us from the Jews.  The angel guiding Nephi during his great vision told him:

“And he said: Behold it proceedeth out of the mouth of a Jew. And I, Nephi, beheld it; and he said unto me: The book that thou beholdest is a record of the Jews, which contains the covenants of the Lord, which he hath made unto the house of Israel; and it also containeth many of the prophecies of the holy prophets; and it is a record like unto the engravings which are upon the plates of brass, save there are not so many; nevertheless, they contain the covenants of the Lord, which he hath made unto the house of Israel; wherefore, they are of great worth unto the Gentiles.

“And the angel of the Lord said unto me: Thou hast beheld that the book proceeded forth from the mouth of a Jew; and when it proceeded forth from the mouth of a Jew it contained the fulness of the gospel of the Lord, of whom the twelve apostles bear record; and they bear record according to the truth which is in the Lamb of God.

“Wherefore, these things go forth from the Jews in purity unto the Gentiles, according to the truth which is in God” (1 Nephi 13:23-25).

In a revelation Joseph Smith received regarding the lost 116 manuscript pages, the Lord made it clear to Joseph, “Nevertheless, my work shall go forth, for inasmuch as the knowledge of a Savior has come unto the world, through the testimony of the Jews, even so shall the knowledge of a Savior come unto my people—“ (D&C 3:16).

When the world rejects the Book of Mormon because we have a Bible, the Lord asks a number of questions.  Do they thank the Jews for the Bible?  Do they remember, “the travails, and the labors, and the pains of the Jews, and their diligence unto me, in bringing forth salvation unto the Gentiles” (2 Nephi 29:4). 

The truth is that they have cursed and hated the Jews.  They “have not sought to recover them” (2 Nephi 29:5).  The Lord has not forgotten His chosen people.  “I will return all these things upon [their] own heads” (2 Nephi 29:5).

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[1] Introduction to an Unknown Book, Hugh Nibley, Maxwell Institute.

[2] Prophecy in the Book of Mormon: The Three Periods, Hugh Nibley, Maxwell Institute.

[3] Apocryphal Writings and Teachings of the Dead Sea Scrolls, Hugh W. Nibley, Maxwell Institute.

[4] Miriam-Webster on-line dictionary.

[5] Introduction to an Unknown Book, Hugh Nibley, Maxwell Institute.

[6] The Plain and Precious Parts, John W. Welch, Maxwell Institute.