Monday, May 27, 2013

The Book of Mormon: 2 Nephi 10

As promised, today we’ll look at 2 Nephi 10.

As you might remember, Jacob has just spent the past several chapters talking about a few chapters in Isaiah and what their meanings are.  Then he closed up and told everyone to go home and come back tomorrow.  Today, his assigned topic is “this righteous branch of which I have spoken. (v1)”

In this chapter, Jacob shows why his brother made him a high priest over the church.  He has the gift of prophecy.  First of all, Jacob recalls his audience’s attention to the promises made to them.  These promises pertain to physical things.  He has been shown that many of their descendants will die lacking a belief in Christ.  However, thanks to the mercy of the Lord, they will, later, be restored to their parents, who will be given the opportunity to teach them about their Savior.  For this reason, Jacob points out, Christ must be born among the Jews, the only group of people who would crucify their God.  If Christ did his miracles for any other nation, Jacob tells us, they would repent and realize he was their God.  However, the existence of “priestcrafts and iniquities” among the Jews will result in such pride that they will crucify him.  Priestcrafts, according to the LDS Guide to the Scriptures, means people who preach solely for money or worldly praise.  As for “iniquity,” M-W defines it as “gross injustice: wickedness,” or “a wicked act or thing: sin.”  Because of their wickedness, let’s just say that the Jews are in for a world of hurt.  Still, the Lord promises they will, one day, believe that he is the Christ (Greek for “anointed one” or Messiah).  Then they will be restored to their lands and the Gentile nations will help this to happen.  The Americas, however, will be the inheritance of the children of Lehi.  Eventually, the Gentiles will arrive there and will be blessed.  What’s more, they won’t have any kings.  Anyone who tries to put a king on the Americas will die.  The Lord will be the American Gentiles’ only king.    Likewise, anyone who fights against the children of God, whoever they are.  The Gentiles will become a trial for the descendants of Lehi to bear, but the Lord will soften their hearts.  Eventually, they will become like fathers to the children of Lehi.  Because of this, the Gentiles will be adopted into the house of Israel and the Americas will be set aside as choice for all those who worship the Lord. 

Whew!

Now, reading all of that, we know that much of what Jacob mentioned this session, if not all of it, has taken place by the time we’re reading this.

  1. Many of the descendants of Lehi died without a belief in Christ, as seen in Mormon.
  2. Christ was born among the Jews who, due to their wickedness and their practice of preaching for the praise of their fellows, failed to believe he was who he said he was and put him to death by crucifixion, as recorded in the New Testament.
  3. Following this, the Jews underwent a series of horrible disasters, one of which involved the First Jewish-Roman War in 66 AD, about 33 years following the death of Christ, wherein the Jews revolted against the Romans, which revolt was quickly put down.  The Seige of Jerusalem in 70 AD resulted in the destruction of much of the temple and the plundering of many of the sacred items contained there, such as the Menorah.
  4. During the Jewish-Roman Wars (66-135 AD), more than 900 villages were destroyed along with much of the Jewish population, many of whom were either killed, sold into slavery or forced to flee.
  5. On 29 November 1947, the United Nations General Assembly recommended the adoption and implementation of the partition plan of Mandatory Palestine.  Shortly thereafter, in May of 1948, Medinat Yisrael or the State of Israel was officially created.
  6. Meanwhile, Europeans arrived in the Americas and proceeded to give the natives there a very hard time, as their ideas of land ownership by then were considerably different.
  7. No nation established on the American continents has yet been able to establish a king, not even Canada, which is technically is governed by Queen Elizabeth II, but she lives in England.

In any case, Jacob tells his people not to let any of this get them down, reminding them that they have the freedom to choose good or evil for themselves.  He suggests that they put themselves into harmony (reconcile) with the will of God rather than that of the devil or the flesh.  He reminds them that, after they do this, it is only by the grace of God that they are saved.  With this, Jacob closes with a sincere hope that, when they are resurrected, it will be to eternal life, where they will be allowed to praise God forevermore.  This, too, is my fervent hope and I leave it with you in the name of Jesus Christ.  Amen.

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