Skip to main content

9 - 15 Mar - Learn With Joy and Not With Sorrow - Jacob 1 - 4

Jacob 1 - That We Might Persuade Them to Come Unto Christ I'm taking an online economics class right now, which prompted me to think of the definition of economics in the context of the scriptures. Economics is the study of the allocation of scarce resources. In the case of Nephi and his successor Jacob, the plates upon which they engraved their record was a scarce resource. They were costly to make and difficult to engrave, and instilling a tradition of passing them through generations was surely cumbersome.  Recognizing the great importance of spiritual things and the challenge of maintaining records, Nephi instructed Jacob to prioritize religious instruction saying, " if there were preaching which was sacred, or revelation which was great, or prophesying, that I should engraven the heads of them upon these plates, and touch upon them as much as it were possible, for Christ’s sake, and for the sake of our people" (Jacob 1:4).   This priority was not only reflecte...
1 comment

2 Nephi 19 - They Joy Before Thee According to the Joy in Harvest


Isaiah prophesies of the coming of the Lord in words famously set to music in Handel's Messiah, Unto Us a Child is Born (performed here by the London Symphony Orchestra). 

 "For unto us a child is born, unto us a son is given; and the government shall be upon his shoulder; and his name shall be called, Wonderful, Counselor, The Mighty God, The Everlasting Father, The Prince of Peace" (2 Nephi 19:6).

 This time reading this chapter, though, I decided to try to understand the first five verses, which I have glossed over in the past to get to the "good part." Many of the comments below are taken from Verse by Verse - The Book of Mormon (Ogden, Skinner. pg. 195), but I tried to add a few thoughts of my own, too (italicized below):

 1 Nevertheless, the dimness [captivity and apostasy] shall not be such as was in her [the tribes of Israel's] vexation, when at first he [the Lord] lightly afflicted [allowed the Assryian invasion] the land of Zebulun [Nazareth], and the land of Naphtali [sea of Galilee region], and afterwards did more grievously afflict by the way of the Red Sea beyond Jordan in Galilee of the nations.
2 The people that walked in darkness [the gentiles who displaced the Jews in in Nazareth and Galilee) have seen a great light [the coming of the Messiah]; they that dwell in the land of the shadow of death [literally, Galilee, which is covered in black volcanic stone from a dormant volcano; figuratively mortality], upon them hath the light [the Messiah] shined.
3 Thou hast multiplied the nation [expanded the kingdom of God, in terms of numbers and glory], and increased the joy—they joy before thee according to the joy in harvest [the peace and confidence found in righteousness; the righteous works of God's children are frequently referred to as wheat, olives, and fruit. The Messiah makes our righteousness or "the harvest" possible (Matthew 6:27), and increases our joy], and as men rejoice when they divide the spoil [enjoy the blessings of God].
4 For thou hast broken the yoke of his burden [freed from literal bondage and sin], and the staff of his shoulder, the rod of his oppressor [enemy armies and sin].
5 For every battle of the warrior [the hosts of Israel, God's people] is with confused noise, and garments rolled in blood; but this shall be with burning and fuel of fire. [This last phrase still confuses me. I get the sense that Isaiah is drawing a contrast between the battles fought by humans, e.g. the hosts of Israel, which are chaotic a tumultuous, and the cleansing fire of the Lord that will purge the world of sin, which is swift and powerful.  I also see personal application as the Spirit can cleanse and purify us through the baptism of fire in a way that is far more elegant and effective than our own efforts to change our attitudes and behavior] 

Image Credit: © 2017 Harvest Church Plainfield

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

1 Nephi 17 - That I May Find Ore to Molten, That I May Make Tools

Nephi is given the daunting task of constructing a ship to carry his family across the ocean. Like Nephi, the Lord asks us to do things that are beyond our current knowledge and ability with a promise that he will help us: "And if it so be that the children of men keep the commandments of God he doth nourish them, and strengthen them, and provide means whereby they can accomplish the thing which he has commanded them ( 1 Nephi 17:3 ) From the experience of Nephi and his family, we can also see that the Lord grants us joy in our trials and certainty in his direction when we follow his commandments. When Nephi and his family reached the seashore, a brief respite before crossing the ocean, they enjoyed the break and celebrated their progress: "Notwithstanding we had suffered many afflictions and much difficulty, yea, even so much that we cannot write them all, we were exceedingly rejoiced when we came to the seashore; and we called the place Bountiful, because of its m...
Post a Comment
Read more

Mosiah 16 - Speaking of Things to Come as Though They Had Already Come

Abinidi explains how Christ's atonement heals and redeems the righteous, while the wicked remain in their sins to be judged. The remarkable thing to me about Abinidi's teachings, and the teachings of all the Book of Mormon prophets who lived before Christ, is their level of conviction in what where, at the time, future events. Christ had not come yet. They looked forward to the ministry and atonement of Christ and were fully persuaded of its reality and the eternal impact it would have. It is hard enough to believe in Christ and follow His teachings after the fact, even with records of His life, and hundreds of millions of people who share a belief in Christ's divinity. But all that Abinidi and other prophets of his time had were their own revelations and inspiration from the Spirit.  Abinidi also alludes to Christ's own faith saying, "now if Christ had not come into the world, speaking of things to come as though they had already come, there coul...
Post a Comment
Read more

Matthew 6 - Consider the Lilies of the Field

They Have Their Reward I've alway been a pragmatist when it comes to serving others. My attitude is that regardless of the purity of our motivations, it is better to serve someone than to not. I don't think Christ's teaching in the sermon on the mount necessarily contradict that notion, but He does teach a higher, holier way of being. He warns the hypocrites who give alms, pray, and fast for public recognition that they will not receive the blessings they might otherwise merit. He doesn't condemn service with impure motives, but simply warns that those who hypocritically do good for impure motives "have their reward" (Matthew 6:2, 5, 16).  In so many instances, we get to choose the spiritual outcomes of our lives. Even in the final judgment, we will not be  assigned to glory or punishment as much as we will  self-select based on our level of comfort. If we have not been transformed by the power of Christ we will not desire to be in his presence. ...
Post a Comment
Read more