Latest / Scripture Central / Jacob 5-7 | April 8-14 | John W. Welch and Lynne Hilton Wilson | Come Follow Me Book of Mormon

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Jacob 5-7 | April 8-14 | John W. Welch and Lynne Hilton Wilson | Come Follow Me Book of Mormon · Scripture Central

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Hello, welcome back to Scripture Central.
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We're so happy to be able to talk about the scriptures with
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you today. I'm Lynn Hilton Wilson and this
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is. I'm Jack Welch and very happy to
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be with you, especially on this day when we can talk about
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Jacob. Jacob chapter 5-6 and seven.
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And be sure to check out more videos about this topic on
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Scripture Central, such as an interview I recently did with
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David Seeley. Jacob chapter 5 is the longest
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book in the Book of Mormon, but there's so much more than length
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here. This is one of the greatest
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evidences of the Book of Mormon. It's one of the greatest
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messages. It's sprinkled off little bits
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of it. Ideas are all over the Old
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Testament, starting in Genesis, all the way down through
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Jeremiah, So we believe it was part of the brass plates.
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But it's not Jacob's allegory, it's Zenith's allegory, and
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that's why we see it so frequently there.
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The allegory of the Olive Tree has roots that go deep into
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Israelite literature. There are places in the Old
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Testament that talk about the olive tree and how it symbolizes
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Israel, but they're very brief. There are references in Ezekiel
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and in Jeremiah. Exodus 15 verse 17 talks about
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how God will plant this plant, a precious plant, and there's
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nothing more precious than an olive tree.
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It produces fruit, but it needs to be tended and the fruit is
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used for so many purposes. The oil of course is pressed and
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the first pressing the oil is very pure.
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It's used in the temple. It's used in the temple as
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anointing oil. It's used for food, cooking oil.
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Well, it's also used for an ointment and lotion.
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And after they've pressed the the oil pits and gotten as much
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out of the the the olives as you possibly can, they will even
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take the pits and make briquettes.
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And of course, they're filled with olives.
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But that's all in the ancient world.
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So the olive oil is not mentioned in this allegory.
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It's more about the fruit. But I think it's good to think
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of it in that light, because the olive oil for anointing and
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nourishment and and healing of the body and as our light are
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all types of Christ. I see the olive is such a
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beautiful imagery, not just for the House of Israel, but for our
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saviours influence in our life if we're going to look at the
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olive oil. The olive, I think can symbolize
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a lot of things. One is that an olive tree takes
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a lot of care. If you let an olive tree just
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grow, it reverts to its wild state.
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What we know from the genetics and botany of olive trees is
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that long, long ago olive trees simply grew wild and the fruit
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that they bear as wild trees is is as bitter.
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And it's not only bitter, but it's very pulpy and not much
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fruit. You really can't get much out of
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it. Not much oil or other food
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value. But you have to cultivate them
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in order to get the good fruit. Yeah.
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So it's a perfect image that the Lord wants to use here in.
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And not only do you have to cultivate, I mean just in
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general, but there's a science to when you cultivate.
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And we can talk more about this sort of thing, but it's very
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high value activity. And if you had an olive orchard,
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you would have servants and workers who would help you and
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you would go out and you would tend this.
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You don't want it to become too dry or too wet.
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You don't want weeds to grow you.
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You must prune it carefully. Well, in the allegory, who are
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the the those people you know, we've got the master, we've got
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the servant, we've got other servants.
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And then at the end, even more servants I.
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Think it's referring to the father and the son as the master
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of the vineyard and then the servant of the vineyard.
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Makes a natural way to understand that.
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And then the servants at the end, I think, are all who are
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willing to come and help gather the fruit and nurture and prune
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and pluck. That's right.
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Well, let's talk about it from Jacob's perspective.
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From Jacob's perspective, I think he knows the allegory of
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the olive tree in the writings of Zenus.
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Starts out by saying, I mean, I've got this prophet Zenus, He
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spoke of the House of Israel. He's not just speaking like in
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Genesis to all of God's children.
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Hearken, O ye House of Israel, hear the words of me, a prophet
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of the Lord, and like Nephi quoted, a prophet.
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Jacob now does the same thing and has a huge chunk of a
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prophet right in the middle of his text.
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And notice that there's one tree that is especially important.
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It's on a relatively high place because other branches will be
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grafted and taken off and planted in a lower part of the
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vineyard. So we know that as most olive
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orchards are, that's on a hillside of some kind and that
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promotes the drainage. And it says House of Israel is a
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tame olive tree. Yup, Some are tame, which means
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that they have been cultivated. They began as a wild tree, but
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by cutting them and pruning them and cultivating them properly,
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olive trees became productive and fruitful.
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Olive trees also live a very long time.
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And they don't produce fruit for a long time either.
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That's right, there's a saying. If you want to plant for
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yourself, plant a Grapevine. If you want to plant for your
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grandchildren, plant an olive. Oh, that's great.
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But the master of the vineyard is introduced right from the
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start, and in verse four it says the master of the vineyard went
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forth and he saw that his olive tree began to decay.
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He said. I'll prune it, I'll dig it, I'll
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nourish it, and perhaps it may shoot forth young and tender
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branches. Now, what's going on there?
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What does it mean when the the branches we've got the top
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branch and the top of the tree is starting to decay?
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So it's the new growth I guess, not the old growth?
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Well, it may have been beset by bugs.
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Olive trees are fragile and for some reason maybe it's not
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getting enough moisture. The roots have to be carefully
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balanced. If the top of the tree grows too
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fast, it will overpower the roots.
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And this is all good botanical gardening.
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And if it starts to get too lofty, it needs to be cut off.
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Otherwise it won't produce well. And if it begins to die, it will
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then rot and the tree will become infected and you'll get
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different disease and problems. I think he's here talking about
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the fact that our master will need to prune us and we will
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need to be nurtured and digged and and cut back and nourished.
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I I feel like this is so easy to apply to the gospel of Jesus
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Christ that we have to actively be participating.
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And if the Lord wants to correct us or give us some challenges,
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we trust him because he's the master of the vineyard.
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What I think we learn here is that this is a symbol that can
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represent, first of all, the whole House of Israel.
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Yeah, that's what he says in verse 2.
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It can also represent us individually.
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Ah, we may be like a family. May be one tree because there's
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an orchard here, and one other little botanical.
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Point is that olive trees can't live by themselves.
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Oh, they have to have cross. Pollination.
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For exactly. And so Israel, even though you
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may have a a House of Israel or a tribe of Israel, there have to
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be these other groups, other trees that are a part of the
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balancing and the cultivation process.
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So the tree can represent all of Israel.
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It can represent one tribe. It can represent an individual
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as well. Because our lives are much the
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same way. If we become too independent and
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aren't benefiting from the others, if we have to stay in
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balance, if, if we become too prideful, too lofty, there's a
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problem. So the vineyard begins by saying
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we've got a difficult situation here because the best tree, the
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prize tree, the one that had produced the best fruit.
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Is now going wild and they prune back and they burn it.
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In verse 7, they're beginning to wither away.
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They'll cast down the mountain and the fire is.
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So the clippings are going to be destroyed.
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Because of this wildness, some parts of the tree are going to
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be burned. Well, the.
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Clippings need to be destroyed, as I understand, because if you
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just leave them on the ground they will rot and that will
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create decay and and other problems that will then damage
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the roots. And so it's it's important to
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keep the, you know as as you've gone through olive Groves in the
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in Israel, you notice that they're kept real clean and that
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doesn't happen by accident. Lots of leaves fall and they
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have to go clean these out, so. And interestingly, the the most
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important part, I think, throughout the whole allegory is
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described in verse 8 for the first time, where the Lord says
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that he wants this tree to grow, so I may preserve the fruit
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thereof unto myself. And wherefore I will take these
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young and tender branches, and I will graft them with us, whoever
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I will. So he's after the fruit.
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He wants the fruit, he wants this.
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The branch is important, the tree's important, but what he
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really wants is the fruit. And all the wonderful uses that
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that fruit brings. Well, and as we liken that to
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ourselves, the gifts, the Spirit are not for our aggrandizement.
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They're to bless other people. And you know, the Lord needs our
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service to bless. That's why you're the salt of
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the earth. You're adding flavor to
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everything else. You know it's it's a beautiful
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imagery as we're looking at it at ourselves.
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And then he that's why he starts the grafting process.
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That's verse 9 for the first time.
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He grafts many times after this. That's right.
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And that's that's an interesting point that in order to
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strengthen an olive tree that is withering, you need to go and
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find a strong wild branch that you bring in.
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Not because that wild branch is going to produce good fruit, but
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you graft it in and that wild branch will grow vigorously and
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it will then strengthen the tree and strengthen the for a while
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will help the roots. Don't you see that with with the
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Church's growth? With converts, I mean, I just
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absolutely love hearing the testimony not only of our
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children but of our converts, and it strengthens you and you
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can see God's hand in the work. And no, I think if grafting is
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conversion, grafting in the wild ones really does help us.
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What you see in this allegory is a lot of pruning and caring for
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and wise management of these trees.
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A lot of work that goes into it. But God is totally involved in
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our lives in this allegory. He's not an absentee master.
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That's right. He he knows.
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He keeps track of what's happening.
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He does have his servant that goes down and reports back.
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And this servant has servants. That's an important part here.
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True, because running a big vineyard like this is a big
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enterprise, and for the ancient world this involved lots and
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lots of people and teamwork. Verse 17 The Lord of the
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vineyard looked, and behold, the tree in which the wild olive
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branches had been grafted, and it had sprung forth and began to
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bear fruit, and behold, that it was good, And the fruit thereof
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was like that of the natural fruit, you know.
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So you get this image of Again, the Creator is in his element of
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creating. Well here he wants to preserve
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the fruit. That's verse 20.
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Take it the fruit thereof, and lay it up against the season,
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that it may preserve it unto mine own self.
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He on to this purpose that he has a specific purpose and
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people are upset about it. In 21 it says it came to pass
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that the servant said unto him, How come you're putting him in
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the poorest part? He says in verse 22.
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Counsel me not. I knew that it was a poor spot
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of ground. Therefore I said unto thee, I
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have nourished it a long time. That's why I told you to work so
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hard. It's because I knew the ground
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wasn't very fertile, but he goes from taking the branch from a
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good place to a poor place and then he even goes to a poorer
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spot of land. And interestingly, just like it
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is in our lives, sometimes during the hardest times is when
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we are taken to our knees and our relationship with the Lord
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and our fruits of the Spirit can be born because we are in a
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place of need. So I think this is very easy to
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see. The Saviour.
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Here's another tie to Genesis, though.
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In 29 the servant is talking and he says come, let us go down
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into the vineyard and see that we may labor again.
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Does that sound like Genesis language?
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Yes, and and the book of Moses, even you know, this idea of of
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the creation theme of God going back and forth between the
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spiritual creation and the physical creation.
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But in in 41 is when we sort of get a change, and it seems like
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there's not as much hope it came to pass that the Lord of the
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Vineyard wept. So we have a weeping God in the
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Book of Moses. We had Nephi weeping in his
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pillow at the end of his second book, and we had Jacob weeping
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for his people earlier, and now we have the Lord of the
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Vineyard. Weeping This is a wonderful
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image that he cares so much. Our God has emotions.
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He cares. Our Heavenly Father cares about
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us and He repeatedly comes and checks on how things are going
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and then in this parable you have Him doing everything he
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possibly can do. What more could I have done for
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my vineyard is how verse 41 ends.
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Yeah, I have done everything. And yet some of you are going
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wild and they're cumbered and they say there's the fruit's
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bad, we're going to burn it again.
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What did we count here? There's something like 11 times
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we have and some fire mentioned. And of course, as just as a
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practical matter, you have to get rid of the prunings, of
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course, but from an emotional and a spiritual perspective.
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And the message there is that when we prune, we also need to
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be sure to eradicate from our lives things that are going to
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be destructive. You.
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The Lord knows what he has to do.
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Here. And it, you know, it may be
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hard, it may be something that you think is maybe
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counterproductive to do some of these things.
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Some of what the Lord is doing here doesn't really seem to make
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months that much sense. But he we know that.
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He knows what he's doing, and in our own lives, sometimes we
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don't think we understand why things are being done the way
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they are. And yet we soon find that the
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Lord knows best. And in fact, in verse 50 it
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reads, Behold, the servant said unto the Lord of the vineyard,
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Spare it a little longer. So here we have the idea of our
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Saviour pleading our case as our Advocate to the Father.
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And the Father might have come to that decision himself.
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Of course. But it's so good when we can
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rally around and we're thinking, as he thinks, as our Savior does
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with his father. The Savior's role, of course, he
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says. I and my father are one.
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It's not like the Savior or the Servant is going to be
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recommending something that he doesn't think the Father will go
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along with. And so here this parable shows
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that the Servant is clearly in tune with the desires of the
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Lord of the vineyard. And that's, I think, an
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important point that I and my father are one.
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And in verse 60 we see them working together again with more
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people. This is actually verse 61 go to
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and call servants. It's plural that we may labor
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diligently with all our might in the vineyard, and that we may
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prepare the way that I may bring forth again the natural fruit,
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Which natural fruit is good and the most precious above other
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fruit. Jack, that sounds like Lehigh's
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dream. It sure does.
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He wants everyone to partake of the fruit of the tree of life,
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of the fruit of the love of Christ.
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And then he begins this crescendo for the last time, and
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he repeats it over and over. It's almost like anticipating
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something of great joy, he says in verse 71.
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Go to and labor in the vineyard with all your might, for behold,
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this is the last time that I shall nourish my vineyard.
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And what do you make of that? Are we talking about
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dispensations of the gospel here if if we begin with kind of the
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creation account? We've talked about the Genesis
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language, which is mostly in the early part of the the pair of
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the allegory when the servant comes down once by himself, when
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you have a few servants who come, other servants who come.
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It looks like this is happening kind of in stages and one of the
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things that is is obvious about olive trees and we've mentioned
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that they grow very slowly and take a long time is that this
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would be a good image for the House of Israel as it will exist
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for a multi generational growth and development.
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The Lord will take whatever time it needs, and it will, it will
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need a lot of different people and there but there will be a
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last time. Yeah.
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Oh, and that last time is going to be a time of joy in verse 71.
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If ye labor with all your might with me, ye shall have joy in
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the fruit, which I shall lay up for myself.
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And then we hear last time mentioned over and over again.
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But it's interesting. You have to labor, he says, with
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by obeying the commandments. So we aren't just in there to do
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it our way, you know, We've got to do it the Lord's way.
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And that's a good point. Because, again, just thinking
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practically about this, you can't just send people out into
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the vineyard and say we'll go do whatever you think will help you
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do. Have the master, the Lord of the
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vineyard, who knows all of his trees.
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He's old. He's been there before.
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He knows what to do to create the best result.
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And sometimes it means grafting things down into the nethermost
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part of the vineyard, where where people say, why are we
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doing this? But the Lord of the vineyard
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knows. And then it takes time and
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generations, and then finally the fruit will be born.
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The whole idea of God being a gardener, where it takes time to
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bear fruit is a better image, I think, than a Superman who flies
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in to solve the problem. You know, he is trying to
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nurture us, to become like him. And that's just what we see
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here. We're we're nurturing.
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But the parable ends or the allegory ends not just with the
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joyous fruit and that's being shared with all these servants,
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but the clippings have to be burned and it ends with the
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burning, which sounds to me like at the end of the the Millennium
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times. You know this is the Day of
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judgement as well. Once the fruit is ready, once
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the fruit is gathered and it that goes along with the Book of
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Revelation, the Second Coming can come as soon as the bride is
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ready. And here as soon as the fruit is
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prepared, then we can have the burning and the fruit has to be
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preserved. It has to be saved, it has to be
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used. I think of it also as the
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anointing has to have occurred because of the olive oils.
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This is one season that has ended.
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It doesn't necessarily mean it's the end of the world, because
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this will probably repeat itself in the next season or decade.
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Or life of this vineyard. Yeah, it could be the life of
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the world. It could be worlds without
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number. Or Worlds.
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That's exactly right where I was going with Worlds Without End,
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and the Lord knows how to produce the best result for all
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of us. And we have to trust him.
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As the vineyard is harvested where the full harvest has been
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gathered in, and it's interesting how the harvest
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takes place. You know you put big Nets
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underneath the olive trees. And you?
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Shake the trees and down come the fruits and and so on.
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But it's important at the end of each season to cut the tree way
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back, to prune it heavily, because the next year it will
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then grow vigorously and it's on the new branches that you will
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get the best fruit. Well, Jacob then describes what
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he wants his people to learn from chapter 5, or the allegory
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in chapter 6. Of course Jacob didn't have
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these chapters, but I appreciate in chapter six that he ties it
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again back to the Atonement of Jesus Christ.
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Again, because he's talking about the mercy of the Lord in
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verse 5. He says, Wherefore, my beloved
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brethren, I beseech you in the words of a soberness, that he
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would repent and come with full purpose of heart, and cleave
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unto God as he cleaveth unto you.
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And while his arm of mercy is extended towards you in the
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light of the day, harden not your hearts.
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You know He's using the whole allegory to say come unto Christ
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and be cleansed through His atonement.
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And be patient. And be patient with yourself
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and. And I think be interested in the
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generations that will come later.
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Yes. It's not about what's best for
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me now in my life. It's about.
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We have to have the House of Israel, the covenant people, in
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order for the Lord's purposes to be accomplished, that as many of
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his children can come and obtain a physical body as possible.
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And I think the allegory is a beautiful way of showing how
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concerned the master, the Lord of the vineyard, is now wise.
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He is like you say here we should not be impatient, but we
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must know that he remembers his House of Israel, both roots and
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branches, and stretches forth his hands unto them all the day
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long. And in this case they're
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merciful hands. In verse four it says merciful
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is our God. And then over in verse eight he
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says, Will you reject these words?
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Will you reject the words of the prophets?
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And will you reject all the words which have been spoken
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concerning Christ after so many have spoken concerning him, and
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deny the good word of Christ and the power of God and the gift of
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the Holy Ghost, and quenches the Spirit and make it a mock and a
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great plan of redemption which has been laid out for you?
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You know, I just think he's begging his his readers, his
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community, his multiple audiences, because I'm one of
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them. Don't throw away what you have
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this treasure here. When he asks them, will ye
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reject the words? No.
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They might have been scratching their heads, the audience here
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really wondering what's he talking about, And maybe some of
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our readers. We've just scratched the surface
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here how we aren't. We aren't good at raising olive
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trees, so some of this stuff doesn't sound very familiar to
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us. But to people who know how to
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raise olive trees, this allegory makes absolutely perfect sense.
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But to to Jacob's audience, when he says will you reject this, he
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may be expecting them to say we don't get this, what's happening
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here? And so he has to reassure them
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that, Look, to get to heaven, you don't need to know how to
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raise good olives, but you do need to know about the Lord's
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love, about the atonement, about the repentance and cleansing
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process. And he's called them to
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repentance in one of his sermons at the temple that we have now
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in chapter two and three. And and let me say, I like the
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fact that they would have known and understood that the olive
26:05
tree takes a long, long time to grow and that you are really, as
26:11
I've said, preparing your your planting and working for future
26:16
generations. And what did Jacob want more
26:20
than anything else back in Jacob Chapter 2?
26:22
You know, he wants people to have families and to build.
26:28
A righteous strong. Righteous family A.
26:30
Zion society, yeah. That and does need to encourage
26:34
them. Don't reject it.
26:36
I love in verse 9 know you not that if you will do these
26:40
things, that the power of the redemption and the resurrection
26:43
which is in Christ, will bring you to stand with shame and
26:48
awful guilt before the bar of God.
26:51
He he he's saying I don't want you to go through endless
26:54
torment. And then in 11 he's saying
26:55
repent. And then he ends with OB wise.
26:59
And what can more can I say? Finally, I bid you farewell
27:03
until I meet you at the pleasing bar of God.
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And it sounds as if that were a sermon.
27:09
And then we have a later message in Chapter 7.
27:12
But maybe he thought he was going to finish writing here
27:15
because he ends with Amen. And then a few years later he
27:18
says, well, sometime. Some years have passed, yeah.
27:21
Chapter 7 is sometime much later, so he he kind of thinks
27:25
OK, I've done what Nephi told me to do.
27:28
And he ends like Nephi did, Nephi said.
27:29
I'm going to see you at the pleasing bar of God.
27:31
And now. That does sound like a very
27:33
final word, but but he needs to attach.
27:36
He needs to attach that appendix, that final episode in
27:41
his life, which is really very important.
27:49
Many. Years have passed, it sounds
27:51
like. Or some years have passed and a
27:53
fellow named Cherum is trying to find E Nos.
27:56
Now if it were just the descendants of these seven or
28:01
four or five tribes that were part of the Nephites, I don't
28:04
think he would be able to say I've been trying really hard to
28:07
find you, but he says I've been really trying hard to find you.
28:12
So I really think they are a much larger civilization now
28:15
because they've intermarried with other people or made
28:17
treaties with other people. It sounds as if Sharon does not
28:21
think the Law of Moses points to Jesus Christ and Jacob wants to
28:25
defend himself to say the Law of Moses does point to Jesus
28:30
Christ. And so Sharon comes wrong, and
28:33
it says that Cherum is really good at speaking.
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That's verse 4, perfect knowledge of the language he
28:38
uses. A lot of flattery it says could
28:40
fit into some of our Antichrist in our world right now.
28:44
But he is pretty mad at Jacob. Wherever Cherum comes from, he
28:50
raises 3 accusations against Jacob that can be understood
28:56
just as general things that are troubling to Cherum.
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But if you look at them carefully in their cultural
29:05
context, he's actually bringing up three things that would have
29:11
been crimes under their law, I think.
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You're talking about Jacob 7/7? He accuses Jacob of leading away
29:19
many people, that they pervert the right way of God.
29:23
This is a way of saying you have led people into apostasy.
29:28
And that's against the law of Moses.
29:29
It is Deuteronomy chapter 13. The whole chapter talks about
29:34
prophets and other people who might try to lead people in
29:38
Israel to worship in some other way or to pervert the way of the
29:43
Lord. So he's using the Law of Moses
29:46
to attack Jacob. And Jacob earlier in his first
29:50
sermon in chapter 2 that we read last week said you have
29:54
misunderstood the scriptures and you're quoting them wrong.
29:58
And here we have an example of that.
30:00
Verse seven also gives a couple of other points.
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Well, he says, you keep not the Law of Moses, which is the right
30:05
way. We don't know exactly what it
30:07
was that Sharon would have produced as evidence that Jacob
30:12
had done that, but that's a serious allegation now.
30:17
So we do know the Nephites did keep the Law of Moses.
30:21
We saw lots of examples. And they make big points of
30:23
that. But they may not have kept all
30:26
of the Law of Moses exactly the way it was done in under some
30:31
readings of the Law. And what they do say, and Nephi
30:36
had said that the Law of Moses just points you to Christ.
30:40
They are emphasizing Christ in a way that might be thought of as
30:46
marginalizing parts of the Law of Moses, and you can see he
30:51
says what he thinks this amounts to.
30:53
Next they that he thinks that Jacob has converted the Law of
30:57
Moses into the worship of a being, which you say shall come
31:02
many 100 years hence. So giving priority to the
31:06
worship of Christ even though he hasn't come, seems to maybe have
31:11
taken some precedence, some importance.
31:15
I think you're referring back to Jacob chapter 4, verse five,
31:18
when he talks about we live the Law of Moses for the intent to
31:23
point our souls to Christ. Now Sharon is coming and saying
31:27
you're leading us to a being that we don't think is actually
31:31
part of the Law of Moses. I can see how that sermon and
31:35
his stories about that and explanations are now being
31:39
attacked. Now there's another thing.
31:41
If you are going to be worshipping instead of the old
31:46
Jehovah who appeared to Moses but now looking forward to
31:49
Christ, maybe not understanding that the two are the same,
31:54
Sharam now says that this is blasphemy.
31:57
And so that's the second thing. The the idea of blasphemy can
32:02
mean several different things. One is misusing or speaking the
32:06
name of God improperly, or not giving God as much power as he
32:11
should be given. And maybe by preaching of the
32:14
Messiah, preaching of Christ, you're now diminishing.
32:18
Which is exactly what the time of the New Testament was
32:22
interpreting our Savior's arrival.
32:24
That's right. And but if you say that Jesus is
32:28
Jehovah. That was blasphemy.
32:30
Now you're. Saying that he will have to die
32:33
and he will suffer and do all of those things you, you might
32:36
think unbecoming. And so, and finally, finally,
32:42
Cherum says that no man can know these things that you're talking
32:46
about Jacob, for he cannot tell of such things of things to
32:50
come. So what he's now accusing Jacob
32:55
of is prophesying falsely and being a false prophet.
33:00
That's huge. You can be stoned for that.
33:02
That's right. And again in Deuteronomy chapter
33:06
18, we have a law that talks about if you prophecy falsely
33:13
and if the thing that you prophecy doesn't come to pass,
33:17
then the prophet shall be stoned.
33:19
And Sherem's logic here, I think is, well, if you prophecy about
33:23
something that's going to happen in 500 years, how can we know
33:26
whether it's going to come to pass or not?
33:28
But what you're saying is Sherem is attacking him legally, saying
33:33
your life's at stake because you are leading this people astray.
33:35
So Sherem is making a legal statement against the Prophet
33:39
Jacob. Well, whether he's actually
33:41
bringing a lawsuit or not, we don't know because it doesn't
33:45
get to that point. But he's certainly raising
33:47
arguments that sound aggressive. But Jacob answers those
33:52
arguments. And how does Jacob answer?
33:54
I think it's just a few verses later, Verse 9.
33:58
Deniest thou the Christ Who shall Come?
34:01
And then he pushes back. Do you believe the scriptures?
34:03
And then he argues that you don't understand the scriptures.
34:07
And then it came to pass that Cherum says, if you think this
34:12
is the way things should be, then show me a sign by this
34:16
power of the Holy Ghost in which you know so much.
34:19
Jacob resists that. Yet you don't tempt God.
34:23
Don't tempt God. That's 14 And he says, However,
34:27
if God will smite thee, let that be a sign unto thee.
34:30
That's right. So now what happens in a lot of
34:34
ancient legal matters where you end up like they have now at a
34:40
kind of deadlock. Jacob has given his reasons,
34:45
Cherum has given his the the issues are clearly on the table
34:50
and we don't have a judge here. It's not like there's an actual
34:54
courtroom that's been convened to handle this.
35:00
But what would happen normally at this stage in a in a court is
35:06
that the accuser would be asked to go through what is called an
35:12
ordeal. And the the accuser, in order to
35:16
validate his accusation, would need to submit to something like
35:22
the river Ordeal in Mesopotamia, where they take you and throw
35:26
you in the river. And if you drowned, you were a
35:29
false accuser and if you were able to be.
35:33
Then you were you live? Then the gods, the river God
35:37
anyway, is supporting you. And there are other ways in
35:41
which ordeals like that could be undertaken once the next stage,
35:48
once you have been asked to OK you have brought this
35:53
accusation. You now need to validate this by
35:55
getting oracular support for your allegations.
36:00
The accuser has a choice. The accuser can say I withdraw
36:07
or the accuser can say lay it on me.
36:10
Jacob is not going to lay withdraw.
36:13
But what happens in the meantime is that Cherum is smitten.
36:17
Yeah, Oh yeah. He fell down and a few days
36:19
later he dies. We don't know what happened to
36:21
him, but for many days they had to nourish him.
36:25
This is verse 15. In order to just keep him alive,
36:30
he has. We don't know who's nourishing
36:32
him. Someone is.
36:34
Maybe Jacob is nourishing him, hoping that by bringing him back
36:39
to life or to health, Jacob will be able to convert Cherum and
36:45
bring peace. He finally does come back and
36:49
says gather people together. I want to speak to everybody and
36:55
at that point Jacob probably didn't know what's he going to
36:58
say. But Jacob says, fine, I will let
37:02
you speak. And the multitude comes.
37:07
And he spoke, spoke plainly. It says that he gathers all the
37:11
people and confesses that Christ was there.
37:14
That's in verse 17. Well, and the other reason why
37:16
this is powerful to me is when he does speak here in verse 19,
37:21
it's formulated in a chiastic structure.
37:24
So you know this was intentional, and you can tell
37:28
exactly what he's trying to say. And go back to the very
37:31
beginning of the chapter for just a minute.
37:35
What do we know about Cherum? Not much.
37:38
Oh, it says. He was talented with language,
37:41
but speaking he knew his language.
37:44
He's a good English major, or whatever they were speaking in
37:46
those days. He spoke many flattering things
37:51
under the people, and so we know that he is and verse four he was
37:56
learned. He had a perfect language,
37:59
knowledge of the language of the people, and could use much
38:03
flattery and power of speech. So in his confession we know
38:10
that Cherum was good at speaking.
38:13
Now why would Cherum He? He knows now that he was wrong,
38:18
and he hopes he says, I fear that my case will be awful.
38:24
So I confess to God, and he has given this confession in the
38:30
most eloquent and appropriate way to give his best effort to
38:37
try to make things better for his eternal soul.
38:41
So I think that this is a wonderful chapter and you wonder
38:47
why would Jacob have included this?
38:50
Well. This is now justifying his whole
38:53
mission, right? Because the Lord is showing that
38:55
he is a true prophet because he is living.
38:58
That's a nice way to end, isn't it, Jacob?
39:01
Jacob needs to tell this story. There were people who were
39:04
pushing back against what he had said and whoever Cherum was and
39:10
wherever he's come from, we don't know.
39:12
But this was obviously the most serious challenge and Jacob and
39:18
the Lord met it. And so for for Jacob to validate
39:25
his, you know, the fact that he won isn't what Jacob says, very
39:30
humble, very self deprecating, and God has helped him and
39:34
delivered him. What this chapter does is it
39:39
sets a model for future generations in dealing with
39:44
people who will come and will argue against the gospel that's
39:51
being preached. We we will have Nahor.
39:54
We will have Korahor. Future Antichrist.
39:58
And those cases are all very different.
40:01
The facts are different, The legal problems are different.
40:04
The way they proceed, the way they turn out are, are
40:07
different. Cherum's case, though, becomes
40:12
for the faithful a very strong vindication that the Lord has
40:20
protected Jacob even against. The the most articulate advocate
40:27
and opponent that you can imagine.
40:30
And Jacob continues talking about other trials.
40:34
In verse 25. The people of Nephi did fortify
40:38
against them, meaning their enemies with their arms and with
40:42
all their might trusting in the Lord, the rock of their
40:46
salvation. I love this.
40:47
They're 40, covering themselves not just with their arms, but
40:49
they're fortifying themselves with their faith in the
40:52
salvation of the Lord. And then it's just this sad, sad
40:55
ending. In verse 26.
40:58
The time passed away with us and also our lives passed away like
41:03
as if it were unto us, a dream. We being a lonesome and solemn
41:07
people, Wanderers cast out from Jerusalem, born in tribulation.
41:12
We get a little autobiographical touch here and in the wilderness
41:16
and hated of our brethren, which caused wars and contentions,
41:21
wherefore we did mourn out our days.
41:24
And I saw that I'm going to die, and so I give my plates to Enos,
41:28
and he ends, just like Nephi did with this beautiful passing down
41:33
the plate so. We mentioned last time the last
41:35
words and the importance of the last words and and I I think
41:40
that even though Jacob was happy that he had won this little
41:47
encounter with Cherum, obviously that didn't solve all the
41:52
problems, but still it was a clear indication that God was on
41:58
their side. But I've done what I was told to
42:02
do what Nephi had commanded me, and he promised obedience unto
42:07
the commands. Which sounds like Nephi does it
42:10
not. I will go and do.
42:13
And then he just says, how does he end?
42:16
I make an end of my writing upon these plates.
42:19
And to the reader I bid farewell, hoping that many of my
42:23
brethren may read my words. Brethren.
42:27
Hey, do yeah. Oh, you can feel for Jacob.
42:30
Oh, you can feel for him. He's such a human prophet, such
42:35
a tender person. Oh, yes.
42:38
May we all search the scriptures daily, daily.
42:41
Feast on these words so that we can feast on the love of Christ
42:45
as Jacob encourages us, because the love of Christ is the
42:50
greatest of all the fruits, and we receive it through repentance
42:54
and revealing the forgiveness of our Lord.
42:57
In the name of Jesus Christ, Amen.
42:59
Amen.