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. 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. 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.
“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 Korihor 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.
[2]
Notes and Communications: “That Which Is to Come,” John Tvedtnes, Maxwell
Institute.
[3]
The Case of Sherem, Maxwell Institute.
[4]
Ibid.
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