BOOK OF MORMON
Jacob - Chapter 4 Critique
Setting: Jacob supposedly began his record in 544 BCE and continued to about 421 BCE in America. This would have been during the time of the captivity of the Jews under the Babylonians and Persians, their return from captivity, and the rebuilding of the walls of Jerusalem. The fictional book of Jacob would have been during the time period of the Biblical books of Daniel, Ezra, Esther, Nehemiah, Haggai, Zechariah, and Malachi.
Verse 1: NOW behold, it came to pass that I, Jacob, having ministered much unto my people in word, (and I cannot write but a little of my words, because of the difficulty of engraving our words upon plates) and we know that the things which we write upon plates must remain;
Note: Why did Nephi copy 15 chapters of Isaiah in 2 Nephi if it was difficult?
Verse 2: But whatsoever things we write upon anything save it be upon plates must perish and vanish away; but we can write a few words upon plates, which will give our children, and also our beloved brethren, a small degree of knowledge concerning us, or concerning their fathers--
Note: The Dead Sea Scrolls did not perish or vanish away.
Dead Sea Scrolls are among the oldest known manuscripts of any Biblical books. Most of them were discovered in or near dry riverbed caves along the western side of the Dead Sea in what are now Israel and the West Bank. The more than 800 scrolls that have been found date from as early as the 200's B.C. Because they were found miles apart and are dated to different centuries, all the scrolls cannot come from one source. 2002 World Book Encyclopedia.
Verse 3: Now in this thing we do rejoice; and we labor diligently to engraven these words upon plates, hoping that our beloved brethren and our children will receive them with thankful hearts, and look upon them that they may learn with joy and not with sorrow, neither with contempt, concerning their first parents.
Note: Jews wrote on scrolls of parchment not plates of brass.
Scholars of the ancient world wrote on leather--which is made from animal skins--when papyrus was not available. 2002 World Book Encyclopedia.
Verse 4: For, for this intent have we written these things, that they may know that we knew of Christ, and we had a hope of his glory many hundred years before his coming; and not only we ourselves had a hope of his glory, but also all the holy prophets which were before us.
Note: Jews were confused about who the Messiah was to be.
Matthew 11:2-3 And when John had heard in prison about the works of Christ, he sent two of his disciples and said to Him, "Are You the Coming One, or do we look for another?"
Verse 5: Behold, they believed in Christ and worshiped the Father in his name, and also we worship the Father in his name. And for this intent we keep the law of Moses, it pointing our souls to him; and for this cause it is sanctified unto us for righteousness, even as it was accounted unto Abraham in the wilderness to be obedient unto the commands of God in offering up his son Isaac, which is a similitude of God and his Only Begotten Son.
Note: These Jews were not practicing animal sacrifices per the law of Moses.
Leviticus 3:1 "When his offering is a sacrifice of a peace offering, if he offers it of the herd, whether male or female, he shall offer it without blemish before the LORD."
Verse 6: Wherefore, we search the prophets, and we have many revelations and the spirit of prophecy; and having all these witnesses we obtain a hope, and our faith becometh unshaken, insomuch that we truly can command in the name of Jesus and the very trees obey us, or the mountains, or the waves of the sea.
Note: The Greek language was not used by Jews until the 300's B.C.
JESUS from the Greek Iesous that is derived from the Hebrew Yeshua. Webster's Dictionary.
Verse 7: Nevertheless, the Lord God showeth us our weakness that we may know that it is by his grace, and his great condescensions unto the children of men, that we have power to do these things.
Note: Christians who have been touched by Jesus Christ are empowered by the Spirit.
Romans 2:28-29 For he is not a Jew who is one outwardly, nor is circumcision that which is outward in the flesh; but he is a Jew who is one inwardly; and circumcision is that of the heart, in the Spirit, not in the letter; whose praise is not from men but from God.
Verse 8: Behold, great and marvelous are the works of the Lord. How unsearchable are the depths of the mysteries of him; and it is impossible that man should find out all his ways. And no man knoweth of his ways save it be revealed unto him; wherefore, brethren, despise not the revelations of God.
Note: Sidney Rigdon plagiarized the New Testament that was originally written in Greek.
Romans 11:33 Oh, the depth of the riches both of the wisdom and knowledge of God! How unsearchable are His judgments and His ways past finding out!
Verse 9: For behold, by the power of his word man came upon the face of the earth, which earth was created by the power of his word. Wherefore, if God being able to speak and the world was, and to speak and man was created, O then, why not able to command the earth, or the workmanship of his hands upon the face of it, according to his will and pleasure?
Note: Sidney Rigdon forgot the creation details of Adam.
Genesis 2:7 And the LORD God formed man of the dust of the ground, and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life; and man became a living being.
Verse 10: Wherefore, brethren, seek not to counsel the Lord, but to take counsel from his hand. For behold, ye yourselves know that he counseleth in wisdom, and in justice, and in great mercy, over all his works.
Note: Christians should never take counsel from false prophets.
The women are entitled to salvation if they live according to the word that is given to them; and if their husbands are good men, and they are obedient to them, they are entitled to certain blessings, and they will have the privilege of receiving certain blessings that they cannot receive unless they are sealed to men who will be exalted. Now, where a man in this Church says, "I don't want but one wife, I will live my religion with one," he will perhaps be saved in the celestial kingdom; but when he gets there he will not find himself in possession of any wife at all. He has had a talent that he has hid up. He will come forward and say, "Here is that which thou gavest me, I have not wasted it, and here is the one talent," and he will not enjoy it, but it will be taken and given to those who have improved the talents they received, and he will find himself without any wife, and he will remain single for ever and ever. Journal of Discourses.
Verses 11-12: Wherefore, beloved brethren, be reconciled unto him through the atonement of Christ, his Only Begotten Son, and ye may obtain a resurrection, according to the power of the resurrection which is in Christ, and be presented as the first-fruits of Christ unto God, having faith, and obtained a good hope of glory in him before he manifesteth himself in the flesh. And now, beloved, marvel not that I tell you these things; for why not speak of the atonement of Christ, and attain to a perfect knowledge of him, as to attain to the knowledge of a resurrection and the world to come?
Note: The Greek language was not used by Jews until the 300's B.C.
CHRIST from the Greek word Christos defined anointed. Webster's Dictionary.
Verse 13: Behold, my brethren, he that prophesieth, let him prophesy to the understanding of men; for the Spirit speaketh the truth and lieth not. Wherefore, it speaketh of things as they really are, and of things as they really will be; wherefore, these things are manifested unto us plainly, for the salvation of our souls. But behold, we are not witnesses alone in these things; for God also spake them unto prophets of old.
Note: Christians should never take counsel from false prophets.
The principles of plural marriage were revealed for the benefit and exaltation of the children of men; but how much unhappiness has arisen through failure on the part of some who have contracted this order of marriage to conform to the laws that govern it. But does it arise through any defect in the order of the marriage system? O, no; but from ignorance and the folly and wickedness of those individuals who enter into it, who abuse rather than righteously obey it. So in regard to the principles of the United Order. Its principles also are sacred, and I assure you we will never go back to Jackson County, Missouri, there to build up the New Jerusalem of the latter days, until there is a perfect willingness on our part to conform to its rules and principles. Many years have transpired since we received the revelation of the United Order, and in one sense, that long period of time bespeaks negligence on our part in not more fully obeying it. The very principles of that Order, in my estimation, were given for our temporal and spiritual salvation. Smith, Eliza R. Snow. Biography and Family Record of Lorenzo Snow. Salt Lake City, Utah: Deseret News Company, 1884.
Verse 14: But behold, the Jews were a stiffnecked people; and they despised the words of plainness, and killed the prophets, and sought for things that they could not understand. Wherefore, because of their blindness, which blindness came by looking beyond the mark, they must needs fall; for God hath taken away his plainness from them, and delivered unto them many things which they cannot understand, because they desired it. And because they desired it God hath done it, that they may stumble.
Note: Are you stiffnecked like the founders of Mormonism?
Acts 7:51-53 "You stiffnecked and uncircumcised in heart and ears! You always resist the Holy Spirit; as your fathers did, so do you. Which of the prophets did your fathers not persecute? And they killed those who foretold the coming of the Just One, of whom you now have become the betrayers and murderers, who have received the law by the direction of angels and have not kept it."
Verse 15: And now I, Jacob, am led on by the Spirit unto prophesying; for I perceive by the workings of the Spirit which is in me, that by the stumbling of the Jews they will reject the stone upon which they might build and have safe foundation.
Note: Are you stumbling over the message of Christ crucified for your sins?
1 Corinthians 1:22-24 For Jews request a sign, and Greeks seek after wisdom; but we preach Christ crucified, to the Jews a stumbling block and to the Greeks foolishness, but to those who are called, both Jews and Greeks, Christ the power of God and the wisdom of God.
Note: Mormon buildings never have a cross displayed.
Verse 16: But behold, according to the scriptures, this stone shall become the great, and the last, and the only sure foundation, upon which the Jews can build.
Note: Jesus Christ is the sure foundation of salvation for everyone through faith in Him.
Galatians 3:28 There is neither Jew nor Greek, there is neither slave nor free, there is neither male nor female; for you are all one in Christ Jesus.
Verse 17: And now, my beloved, how is it possible that these, after having rejected the sure foundation, can ever build upon it, that it may become the head of their corner?
Note: Jesus Christ is the sure foundation of salvation for everyone through faith in Him.
Acts 4:11-12 "This is the 'stone which was rejected by you builders, which has become the chief cornerstone.' Nor is there salvation in any other, for there is no other name under heaven given among men by which we must be saved."
Verse 18: Behold, my beloved brethren, I will unfold this mystery unto you; if I do not, by any means, get shaken from my firmness in the Spirit, and stumble because of my over anxiety for you.
Note: Jesus Christ is the sure foundation of salvation for everyone through faith in Him.
Ephesians 3:1-7 For this reason I, Paul, the prisoner of Christ Jesus for you Gentiles; if indeed you have heard of the dispensation of the grace of God which was given to me for you, how that by revelation He made known to me the mystery (as I have briefly written already, by which, when you read, you may understand my knowledge in the mystery of Christ), which in other ages was not made known to the sons of men, as it has now been revealed by the Spirit to His holy apostles and prophets: that the Gentiles should be fellow heirs, of the same body, and partakers of His promise in Christ through the gospel, of which I became a minister according to the gift of the grace of God given to me by the effective working of His power.
Note: This mystery of Christ was not fully revealed before the time of the apostle Paul.