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...
For Chapters 9-22 of Mosiah, we take a long aside from the story of Ammon and the people of Limhi to learn the history of Limhi's people. These chapters explain how they split off from the Nephites, established their own society, and fell captive to the Lamanites. This history was recorded by a man named Zeniff, who was the founding father of the people of Limhi. Zeniff was "sent as a spy among the Lamanites that I might spy out their forces, that our army might come upon them and destroy them" (Mosiah 9:1). However, in the course of his espionage, his heart was softened toward the Lamanites. He records, " but when I saw that which was good among them I was desirous that they should not be destroyed" (Mosiah 9:1). How many of our vindictive and unkind intentions would evaporate if we had greater empathy for our enemies? Zeniff's experience reinforces Christ's instruction to "love your enemies, bless them that curse you,...