Jacob Thwarts the Deceiver Sherem - Book of Jacob, Chapter Seven (Jacob 7)

You can read the entire chapter at the following link: https://www.lds.org/scriptures/bofm/jacob/7?lang=eng

The final chapter of Jacob is a curious thing. In some ways, it seems out of place. It seems like Jacob had already provided us his message of repentance, his testimony of the prophets and the the direct application to us of the parable of the vineyard, as we contemplate how to use Christ’s atoning sacrifice to obtain eternal life. He had even bid his audience farewell in chapter 6, promising to meet us in the next life.

But in another way, this chapter is the perfect end to Jacob’s record and the perfect transition for us to the records of the other Book of Mormon prophets. It provides us a picture of Jacob in action, and helps us understand why he is such an important leader to the Nephites. Indeed, it appears that the episode is pivotal to helping accomplish a return of a great part of the people to “peace and the love of God” (verse 23). We know Nephi first from his part in the larger story of his family’s journey to the promised land. Only after that does he focus on teaching principles and doctrine. But until this point, we had really only known Jacob from his famous sermons and writings.

The story of how Jacob vanquishes the deceiver Sherem by trusting in the Lord is also a perfect cautionary tale to reinforce what Jacob teaches in the previous chapters. In essence, he gets to put the exclamation point on his prophecy. “Guys, if you don’t heed me, if you don’t heed the other prophets from the scriptures, and if you don’t heed the Holy Ghost when we all point to Christ and His way of faith, repentance, and obedience, you’re going to make things needlessly difficult for yourself. And how tragic, when happiness is within your grasp!”

Sherem himself provides us with a very important example of the type of people we encounter in our day. He is a smooth talker, and knows how to appeal to people’s pride and egos through flattery. He is clever in that he takes something of sacred value to the people—the scriptures (plates of brass)—and instead of trying to completely undermine them, he looks to obscure their true meaning by planting seeds of doubt regarding the Savior’s coming. He actually wants them to overemphasize the law of Moses for its own sake, because anything that distracts from Christ distracts from salvation.

It makes me pause to think about how important it is that I am continually connecting my gospel study and my efforts to follow truth to the Savior Himself, because if I get casual in doing that, and if I neglect to pray with regularity and sincerity to Heavenly Father in Jesus’ name, I am slowly becoming a philosopher of the ways of men rather than a disciple of the living God.

Jacob’s composed and unassuming response to Sherem’s provocations also provides guidance and comfort. We don’t have to be the smartest person in the room to successfully fend off attacks on our faith. Don’t get caught in a tangle of words. Use the strength you have available to you, which is the testimony of the prophets from the scriptures and your own living testimony from the Holy Ghost. That will be enough. As Jacob says about his own experience, the Lord will “pour his Spirit into your soul” (verse 8).

Ultimately, we see from Sherem that a steady testimony based on true principles will outlast the self-destructiveness of flashy falsehood. Sherem leads himself into his own demise by thinking he could confound Jacob and the Lord by demanding a sign, only to learn that the Lord’s plan cannot be frustrated. In fact, His plan anticipates Sherem’s treachery, and it is used to great effect in proving God’s greatness to the Nephites. Poignantly, after the Lord smites Sherem in response to Jacob’s humble and straightforward entreaty, Sherem’s own testimony of the truth as he lies dying is what astonishes the Nephites and enables the power of God to transform their hearts back to righteousness (verses 17-21).

And not only did Jacob’s efforts help recover many of his people from the effects of Sherem’s false teachings, but it may have reclaimed Sherem himself for the Lord. Jacob doesn’t talk of being motivated by love for Sherem, but Jacob seems to have been such an effective instrument in God’s hands that what took place may have been a spiritual blessing to Sherem even though it killed him physically. By making some form of restitution for his wickedness, Sherem gives us cause for hope that his case might not be not beyond the grasp of Christ’s Atonement, even if Sherem fears that his sin is unpardonable (verse 19).

But the chapter doesn’t end there. Importantly, we learn that one result of the Nephites’ reconversion under Jacob is that they now seek to reclaim the Lamanites. Not since Nephi was able to continually help Laman and Lemuel to repent following their hard-hearted actions toward him had the record documented such Christlike overtures by the Nephites in response to Lamanite treachery, aggression and resentment. In the wilds of America, the previous Nephite impulse appears to have been to survive the Lamanites’ depredations and, when necessary, to vanquish them in battle with the Lord’s help. In 2 Nephi 30:3-6, Nephi points to a longer view (shown to Nephi in vision several years before, and explained to him by an angel in 1 Nephi 13:38) in which many of the Lamanites’ descendants (some of those descended from native American peoples, including those from Latin America) will receive the record of the Nephites (the Book of Mormon) and thus turn to the Lord after centuries in the “spiritual wilderness.”

We don’t know what means Jacob and the Nephites devised to reach out to the Lamanites (verse 24), but these efforts are an interesting precursor to the prayer of Jacob’s son Enos in the next book and to the miraculously successful efforts of the sons of Mosiah (in the book of Alma) in turning significant portions of the Lamanites back to Christ and His gospel. For now, however, we learn that the Nephites’ efforts were in vain, and Jacob reminds us of how strange and lonely it can be when you are only a generation or two removed from your ancestral homeland (verse 26):

…our lives passed away like as it were unto us a dream, we being a lonesome and a solemn people, wanderers, cast out from Jerusalem, born in tribulation, in a wilderness, and hated of our brethren, which caused wars and contentions; wherefore, we did mourn out our days.