You can read the entire chapter at the following link:
https://www.lds.org/scriptures/bofm/jacob/2?lang=eng
This is truly a remarkable chapter. For the first
time, Jacob addresses the Nephites as their primary spiritual leader—their prophet—following
his brother Nephi’s death.
We can detect there is something different in how he
approaches his responsibility as a servant called and ordained by the Lord to
minister unto His people. He specifically refers to two responsibilities he holds:
(1) to magnify his duty with soberness, and (2) to rid his garments of the
people’s sins (verse 2).
Both of these references show that he takes very
seriously his new position as the Lord’s representative to this fledgling
branch of Israel, and that he has no doubts about what is at stake. As Nephi
said in the words he left in farewell, “you [meaning all the Nephite people] and I shall stand face to face
before [Christ’s judgment] bar” (2 Nephi 33:11). In the previous chapter, Jacob
has written that he and his brother Joseph are teaching their people at the
temple to prepare for the last day when they all will come before Christ.
Why does Jacob choose to instruct his people at the
temple? The obvious answer--that the temple is the place designated for worship because
of the practical advantages of a having a single gathering place--may sometimes
mask the primarily spiritual meaning that temples and meetinghouses should hold
for us. In these buildings, sacred ordinances take place that can help
reconcile those who receive the ordinances to Christ, through the process of
faith in Christ’s power to save and sincere repentance. For example, most
Christian congregations commemorate some form of the sacrament of the Last (or the Lord's) Supper, where bread and water, juice or wine are blessed and partaken of as a
sign that worshippers remember Jesus, are willing to represent Him in their
daily lives and to keep His commandments, and seek His Spirit (the Holy Ghost) to be with them.
Because of the real power of the ordinances and what
they represent, having the Lord’s ordained servants speak from the sacred
places where the ordinances take place carries special resonance. So that is
where we pick up with Jacob here.
And we witness Jacob striving to live up to what a
true leader of his flock should be. A warning voice for the people who also represents the Lord to them, knowing that what he says might not be very
popular. The key passage in the chapter is in verse 11, where we learn that
Jacob has sought to know what the Lord would have him say, and that the Lord
responded to Jacob’s inquiry by telling him to “get thou up into the temple on
the morrow, and declare the word which I shall give thee unto this people.” The
wording of the verse indicates that perhaps the Lord didn’t tell Jacob exactly
what He wanted him to say beforehand, but that He expected Jacob to act in
faith by going to the temple to speak, and that what the Lord wanted Jacob to
say would be revealed to him in the very moment he needed it.
And what is the message the Lord has Jacob share? It
is that the Lord’s servants play a powerful role for His people as discerners
of their thoughts, as inspired leaders who are capable of providing the people
an “early warning” before the temptations they are pondering in their minds
turn into actions they can’t take back. Here, we see that those who act as
prophets and witnesses of the Lord function as a kind of radar system to ensure
we are not forsaken. Certainly, each of us has access to our own early warnings
from the promptings of the Holy Ghost, but sometimes we may miss the messages
we are receiving—whether from distraction or inattention.
So the Lord, in His infinite genius, and more
importantly, His infinite love for us, has built in a redundancy to make sure we
are provided with as many chances as possible to recognize when we are inclining
ourselves toward ruinous sin. If we can catch ourselves in the “thought” phase
of sin, and repent at that point rather than at the “word” or “action” phase,
we are in a much better position, and with practice and fixed determination, we
can learn even to snuff out those thoughts as Jesus was able to when He
encountered different forms of temptation.
Some of the most painfully
honest and sensitive passages of scripture are found in this chapter. Jacob affirms
that the people have “as yet” remained obedient to the word of the Lord, but
tells them that the “all-powerful Creator of heaven and earth” has helped him
know they are beginning to “labor in sin” in their thoughts (verses 4-5). He
then laments that he must lay bare this “wickedness of your hearts” (verse 6)
and enlarge the wounds of wives and children instead of sharing the “pleasing
word of God, yea, the word which healeth the wounded soul” (verses 7-8). But
Jacob is duty-bound to do what the Lord wills, and he knows it is the only way forward.
He then proceeds to call
upon the people to lay aside the pride that comes with an attachment to material
things for their own sake, and to forsake the “grosser crime” of giving license
to their lustful temptations by using the examples of earlier kings of Israel
(David and Solomon, in particular) to justify having more than one wife.
Jacob preaches with great
directness in saying (from verses 18-19):
But
before ye seek for riches, seek ye for the kingdom of God.
And
after ye have obtained a hope in Christ ye shall obtain riches, if ye seek
them; and ye will seek them for the intent to do good—to clothe the naked, and
to feed the hungry, and to liberate the captive, and administer relief to the
sick and the afflicted.
It is a marvelous
principle that sets our priorities straight, and has special applicability to
our day, a day that features material well-being unimaginable to the
civilization Jacob was addressing in 545 B.C. They had no running water, electricity
or modern conveniences. Only after we seek for some understanding of the Lord
and his plan for us should we seek after riches, because only then will we be
able to know how to use those riches and (with the Lord’s help) not let them
corrupt us.
Then, turning to the more
grievous matter of lust and unchastity, Jacob reveals that the Lord’s primary
objective is to protect innocent women. In essence, he tells the men (in verses
31-35), “Whatever you are thinking, watch your step, because God saw the great
sorrow of his daughters in Israel when they were subjected to the lustful
desires of the men there, and he won’t stand for it in this covenant land. If
you follow these temptations, you’ll bring a curse upon everyone. And as it is,
can’t you see the consequences already? Your wives and children have suffered
broken hearts, and their cries to heaven speak out against you.”
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