1 because of the difficulty of engraving our words upon plates, and not just because there were few plates. Regarding inscriptions on the famous Copper Scroll found among the Dead Sea Scrolls, Hugh Nibley writes:
The business of writing on such plates was hard and distasteful work. The scribe, not without reason, appears to have tired toward the end [we think of Jacob here], and the last lines of writing were badly formed and rather small. One can almost hear his sigh of relief as he pushed out the last two words in the middle of the final line…Writing on plates requires a cramped and abbreviated script [Moroni explains that you have to have another script]…and writing on copper plates actually produces a new kind of writing that is peculiarly difficult to read, characterized by mixing forms of letters, ignoring proper space between words, running over from one line to the next in the middle of a word, and general neglect of vowels…the greater deficiency lies in ourselves; we simply do not possess sufficiently comprehensive, technical Hebrew vocabulary to deal with a text of this kind. So it’s a good thing we don’t have the Gold Plates. We would be fighting tooth and nail through the generations about them and never come to an agreement. They would cause nothing but trouble. Better still, you have an inspired translation here, and you can go by that.
Hugh Nibley, Teachings of the BofM
1-2 must remain…[not] perish and vanish away, the wise, even the worldly wise, take the long view—they think far, far ahead. Prophets are among the wise. This idea may also be a model for our personal scripture study. For the words to remain in us, we must ‘engrave’ them on “the fleshy tables of our hearts” (2 Cor 3:2-3; see also Mosiah 12:25-27), else, as Paul wrote, they will “vanish away” (1 Cor 13.8). As to writing in ancient America:
The first signs of writing in Mesoamerica occur between 700–400 B.C. The earliest examples are carved in stone…That most of the earliest surviving records are in stone is hardly surprising as it is a much more durable material than the amatle paper or lime-covered hides that were used by later scribes...While stone is similarly long-lasting, it is certainly better suited to massive display than for the type of record that Jacob was writing.
Brant Gardner, Second Witness
2-3 our children, and also our beloved brethren, referring to the Lamanites. Like his father Lehi (1 Ne 1:4) and his son Enos (Enos 1:9, 11) as well as all the prophets and preachers in the Book of Mormon (Mosiah 28:3), Jacob’s love extends beyond his nuclear family.
Love is one of the chief characteristics of Deity, and ought to be manifested by those who aspire to be the children of God. A woman filled with the love of God, is not content with blessing her family alone, but ranges through the whole world, anxious to bless the whole human race.
Joseph Smith, HC 4:227
3 that they may learn with joy and not with sorrow, neither with contempt, concerning their first parents, reminds me of when Moroni invites us not to condemn him or his father because of their imperfections, but that we might learn to be more wise than they and their people had been (Morm 9:31). Nephi says something similar (1 Ne 19:6). We should do the same with respect to our own parents, elders, ancestors, leaders, prophets, etc. Jacob is anxious to clarify to his descendants his good intentions (to teach of Christ) despite his and his generation’s failings. Unfortunately the very thing he feared later came to pass (Mosiah 10:11–17). We too seem all too anxious to condemn those who’ve gone before us as less inspired in some way, old-fashioned, not ‘woke.’
4 that they may know that we knew of Christ many hundred years before his coming, Hugh Nibley calls this at-one-ment, bringing time and space and doctrine together:
Here he ties everything together. I had completely ignored this fourth chapter [of Jacob] in all this stuff I have been doing on atonement, and it’s the best ongoing description I have seen of the Atonement anywhere. This holds the whole tradition together from the earliest times. So he says here in verse 4: This is why we have written these things, to tie all these things together and have this ongoing atonement, a perennial order of things.
Hugh Nibley, Teachings of the BofM
and worshiped the Father in his name, several verses in the BM go even beyond this and refer to the efficacy of the atonement prior to its execution (Mosiah 16:6). See next verse about the people being sanctified because of their faith in Christ. The specificity of Christ and his atonement in the Book of Mormon goes infinitely beyond what the Old Testament contains. What would it have been like to worship Christ prior to his coming, practically speaking? In any event, Jacob here gets right to the point, the purpose of my record is to teach of Christ. (2 Ne 25:26; Morm 5:14).
also all the holy prophets that were before us, knew of Christ. See Jacob 7:11; Mosiah 13:33; Hel 8:16; D&C 20:26; Lk 24:25-27, 44-56; Acts 3:18, 21; 10:43.
5 for this intent we keep the law of Moses, it pointing our souls to him, one of the greatest additions of the Book of Mormon to Christianity. While there are veiled references to Jesus as the Messiah in the Old Testament, they obviously were not enough to convince an entire Jewish nation. Thus, the Book of Mormon is for Gentile and Jew alike, to bring them to Jesus, and specifically with verses like this. How did the Mosaic law point their souls to Christ? Largely in its symbolic feasts and sacrifices. Sacrifice –> Atonement <– Sacrament. Lev 6:1-9; 3 Ne 23; D&C 132:36; Mos 1:3-7. See Gal 3:24 where Paul says “the law was our schoolmaster to bring us unto Christ.” Thus, the law of Moses was a discipline, similar to the disciplines of obedience we have now—sabbath, sacrament, temple worship, consecration, etc.
Abraham…offering up his son Isaac, which is a similitude of God and his Only Begotten Son, Jacob saw it this way, as do Christians. For me, the important moment of the story is when the angel stops Abraham, for “God would provide himself a lamb” (Gen 22:8). And so some suggest it was Abraham’s own trauma from his youth (his father tried to sacrifice him) that may have caused this event, and that rather than being a command of God, God actually prevented it from happening. But the lesson is the same—God saves us through his Son—and Abraham’s faith (even if misguided) would save him (be accounted to him for righteousness), not his own sacrifice. I admit this is not a popular view among Christians, let alone Latter-day Saints 🙂
sanctified unto us for righteousness, even as it was accounted unto Abraham, see Gen 15.6. Paul uses the expression to teach that salvation comes by faith apart from the law of Moses (Rom 4:1–25; Gal 3.6–9), apart from sacrifice. As Abraham didn’t have to go through with it, his faith to do it was counted unto him as if he had done it. The Savior actually did the deed. So our efforts, though we often fail, can be counted unto us for righteousness as Christ steps in to do the rest (Alma 41).
6 we search the prophets, in order to find corroboration for Lehi’s and Nephi’s revelations of an Atoning Messiah in contradistinction to the Triumphant Messiah that the Jews believed in (1 Ne 22:30–31).
have many revelations and the spirit of prophecy…obtain a hope, if this verse does not motivate us to read scripture, to feast on the words of Christ, I don’t know what else can. What are other consequences of searching the scriptures? Jesus himself encouraged his disciples to search the scriptures (John 5:39 & 3 Ne 23:1). One wonders how the people of Jacob searched scripture? They must have been copied on parchment of some sort. Rev 19:10; Alma 17:2-3; Hel 10:5.
and our faith becometh unshaken, Nephi also speaks of unshaken faith (1 Ne 31:19) as does Enos (1:11). For Jacob this becomes important in his confrontation with Sherem (Jacob 7). How else can we develop unshaken faith?
and the very trees obey us, or the mountains, or the waves of the sea, hmm, how so? What is this all about? Several ideas. The first is that he is using hyperbole.
Notice he is using hyperbole here about the trees, the mountains, and the waves of the sea. Notice in verse 18 at the end of this chapter, he apologizes for having gone a little too far and got too excited about it. “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 overanxiety for you.” He is overanxious; he is pouring it on here. But these are more than figures of speech, you know.
Hugh Nibley, Teachings of the BofM
And yet the Synoptic Gospels portray Jesus as commanding trees (Mt 21.18–22; Mk 11.12–24) and waves (Mt 8.23–27; Mk 4.35–41; Lk 8.22–25), with a promise that mountains would also obey the faithful (Mt 17.20; 21.21; Mk 11.23; cf. Ether 12.30). So there is certainly room for this exact kind of miracle-working. The later Nephi is given this very promise (Hel 10:5).
There’s also a third potential meaning. Jacob’s words can be symbolic—that prophets, and we ourselves, can move the mountains of doubt, sin, and resistance:
The everyday work of prophets is to move people into beloved community, to prod them toward repenting and changing their mindsets. This kind of internal work is just as challenging as moving boulders. Any kind of social justice work of asking people to let go of cultural constructs and internalized prejudice pushes back against the basic nature of human behavior. Moving people into repentance and into a life with God is miraculous.
Fatimeh & Salleh, The BofM For The Least of These
nevertheless, the Lord God showeth us our weakness that we know that is by his grace…that we have power to do these things, Ether 12:27. God constantly reminds us of our weaknesses to keep us humble, gracious, grateful, and honest in acknowledging His grace and condescension. Seeing our weaknesses is a gift, motivating us to seek grace to change, to move our personal “mountains” that hold us back.
8 great and marvelous are the works of the Lord…how unsearchable are the mysteries…despise not the revelations, how might we despise them? Treating them lightly, as in D&C 84:54-58? Also, what revelations? Canon? Conference? Other prophetic words? Personal revelation? What about revelation to others that seems unfamiliar to us; or more difficult still, those that reveal truth to us we do not want to hear, from friends or loved ones say? ‘Unsearchable’ here means we can never exhaust what they have to offer us. Thus, we should be constantly studying and feasting on the word—we will never be done!
no man knoweth of his ways save it be revealed unto him, here, after all that about searching, ultimately God’s ways come to us through revelation. It’s Peter being able to say to Jesus, “Thou are the Christ, the Son of the Living God” and the Savior responding “flesh and blood hath not revealed it unto thee, but my Father which is in heaven (Matt 16:17; see also D&C 50:13-21).
9 by the power of his word, the creation is an example of the power of the word of God. If God can command the earth, he has power to answer our prayers, to heal, to do all things. It’s unclear to me here, however, what specifically Jacob is addressing. We don’t know the context of what now looks like a portion of a sermon he gave.
10 seek not to counsel the Lord, but to take counsel from his hand, this is obviously true, but what Jacob doesn’t address is how one knows if an individual is speaking for God. It is so easy to abuse power, to convince ourselves we are speaking for the Lord when we are actually speaking from our own prejudice and biases. I suppose I’m more interested then in how the Lord speaks to us directly, through the Light of Christ, our consciences, as that is up to each of us to discern as we strive for integrity. Compare Jacob 5:22; Prov 21:30; Job 21:22. This injunction may be the corollary to Jacob’s teaching that we can command things through faith. In other words, faith must not be based on our counsel to him (I command you to heal this person), but his counsel to us (this may be my desire, but what would you have me do), and we then command accordingly.
he counseleth in wisdom, and in justice, and in great mercy, three legs of a stool. One cannot balance justice and mercy without wisdom. See Jacob 6:10. The point is that we can take comfort in knowing that God is motivated by love and mercy and wisdom in what he command us to do.
11 Wherefore, tied to the last phrase of the previous verse—in other words, because of God’s justice and mercy and wisdom, we can approach him, so approach him! See Rom 5:2, “by whom also we have access…”
11-12 beloved brethren, phrase never used in the OT, used 11x in the NT, and 74x in the Book of Mormon! Notably, Jacob and Nephi consistently use it, even when their people act terribly. They can simultaneously rebuke the people and yet still call them beloved. “Nor height, nor depth, nor any living creature, shall be able to separate us from the love of God” (Rom 8:39).
11 be reconciled unto him through the atonement of Christ, perfect explanation of constant repentance (2 Ne 25:23) and seeking relationship, of accessing and participating in atonement.
As I said, the word for atonement today is translated in the Revised Standard Version as reconciliation. They don’t use atonement anymore in the Revised Standard text. But reconciliation means the same thing, you see. Cilio is a seating or seating together. Concilio is a seating together in a council. Our word council comes from that. Reconciliation is to be called back to the council and sit down again. You are called to sit down with Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob-to return. Every term, every translation, every equivalent of atonement has the idea of coming back. Redemption means you will be bought back again. You must have been with him before if he buys you back again, after the Fall. Resurrection is to rise up again. After you have been in the flesh before, then you rise up again but now in a resurrected body. It all has to do with the return to a former state. You can’t get along without the preexistence here, which comes in very strongly.
Hugh Nibley, Teachings of the BofM
obtain a resurrection, morning of the first resurrection. Per D&C 88:95-102, there are four resurrections: morning & afternoon of the first, and morning & afternoon of the second, likely corresponding to the four categories of kingdoms described by Paul in the NT and in D&C 76 (Celestial, Terrestrial, Telestial, & Outer Darkness). Jacob invites his people to seek the Celestial.
and be presented as the first-fruits, offerings of the firstfruits, or the first agricultural produce of the season, were important in the Mosaic law (Ex 23.16; Lev 2.14–16; 23.9–14). Christ is referred to as the firstfruits in 1 Cor 15.20–23 with regard to his resurrection.
It was on the Day of Atonement that the Jews had to bring their first fruits, and they had to make an offering of the best thing they owned; it had to be the best of the first fruits, which was a symbol of the atonement of the Father who “so loved the world that he gave his Only Begotten Son,” just as Abraham was willing to do the same thing, and every Jew had to do the same. Everyone had to bring his sin offering on the Day of Atonement, and they were the first fruits
Hugh Nibley, Teachings of the BofM
a good hope, not just a hope, but a good hope. Possibly what Jacob is saying is that hope ought to be centered in something true, and that truth is Jesus Christ—a reasonable, actionable, and verifiable hope.
before he manifesteth himself in the flesh, Jacob’s people will be in the Spirit World at the time Jesus manifests himself in the flesh to the Nephites, so if they do as Jacob says and obtain the first resurrection, they will rise with the Savior at that time!
12 marvel not…why not speak of the atonement, why are they marveling that he speaks of the atonement? Is it because it hasn’t even happened yet? It may also be that the Nephites still hold on to the Josiah religious reforms prevalent in Israel when Lehi left—a reformation that focused inordinately on the Law of Moses as well as a triumphant Messiah and not on an atoning, self-sacrificing Messiah to which the law actually pointed. The atonement of Christ and the resurrection are the two main concepts that Nephite revelation added to the traditions of ancient Israel, and they are disputed throughout the Book of Mormon by religious dissenters such as Sherem (Jacob 7), Nehor (Alma 1), the people of Ammonihah (Alma 11–12), Korihor (Alma 30), the Zoramites (Alma 31), and doubted by Alma’s son Corianton (Alma 39–42). In any event, this verse is Jacob’s introduction to Jacob 5 and Zenos’ Allegory. If we miss this, we miss the Allegory’s primary theme and why Jacob is quoting it at all—to teach us about the Servant-Messiah and his Atonement! (The Allegory’s second theme is in vs. 17).
a resurrection and the world to come, they are two separate things.
Notice, there are two stages. The Atonement accomplishes two things; it accomplishes the Resurrection, and then it accomplishes the second resurrection, the second life or eternal life to come with the judgement. To accomplish our early career is a major gain, the first one, “as to attain to the knowledge of a resurrection.” Then to get back into the eternal order of things-that’s the important thing. That’s why you have to be baptized, etc., and that’s why we have to face the judgement to get back on track again after we have come here.
Hugh Nibley, Teachings of the BofM
13 prophesy to the understanding of men…the Spirit speaketh the truth…things as they really are [and] will be, Jacob is telling his people that the atonement applies now, even prior to its happening. Truth is things as they really will be, and thus as they really are. Cool. See similar definitions of truth in D&C 93:24-25, 31-32; 2 Ne 31:3; D&C 1:24. Today, being open and aware to the reality of things might be called being “woke”—seeing more clearly what is happening around you, what the larger, longer consequences are.
God also spake unto prophets of old, 1 Ne 19:24; 22:30-31. So, It’s finally sinking in for me. Jacob’s people really are struggling with the idea of an atonement. They can scarcely believe it. It was not part of the Jew’s spiritual worldview. That is why Jacob is speaking the way he is.
14 Jews…despised the words of plainness…sought for things they could not understand…by looking beyond the mark…they stumble, see Isa 6:9–10 (2 Ne 16:9–10) and Is 44:18. The point of course is that the Nephites were doing the same (Jacob and his people were Jews after all). As to the ‘mark,’ the expression appears to be original to the BoM, the metaphor coming from archery, with the mark being a target, see 1 Sam 20.20. If the mark is like the center of a bull’s eye, everything else is peripheral. Apostle Neal A. Maxwell taught, “The mark is Christ.” (Ensign May ‘76, p26). Phil 3:14. Think also of the marks on the garment, including the scriptural phrase “the nail in the sure place” in Ezra 9:89 and Isaiah 22:23, 25. See also how the Jews looked beyond the simple symbol Moses raised in the wilderness, 1 Ne 17:41; Alma 33:19-21.
In the Book of Mormon, Jacob speaks of ancient Judah as having rejected the words of its prophets because individuals living then ‘despised the words of plainness’ and because they ‘sought for things that they could not understand.’ (Jacob 4:14.) Intellectual embroidery seems to have been preferred to the whole clothing of the gospel—the frills to the fabric. In fact, one can even surmise that complexity was preferred over plainness by some because in conceptual complexity there might somehow be escape, or excuse, for noncompliance and for failure. In any event, this incredible blindness which led to the rejection of those truths spoken by prophets and which prevented the recognition of Jesus for who he was, according to Jacob, came ‘by looking beyond the mark.’ Those who look beyond plainness, beyond the prophets, beyond Christ, and beyond his simple teachings waited in vain then, as they will wait in vain now. For only the gospel of Jesus Christ teaches us of things as they really are and as they really will be. There is more realism in the revelations than in reams of secular research, for secularism is congenitally shortsighted.”
Neal A. Maxwell, “On Being a Light,” address delivered at the Salt Lake Institute of Religion, 2 Jan. 1974, p. 1.
This is not a criticism against deep thought or wrestling with scripture or doctrine. Looking beyond the mark lies in our motivations—whether we see complexity as a way to understand God better or to avoid obedience to simple commandments.
Jacob, speaking in the past tense, explains how the Old World Jews have misunderstood the prophets. They were “looking beyond the mark”—looking for something different than that which they received: the Messiah’s mission. Jacob is saying that the Jews expected, and continued to expect, a different mission. Old World Israel retained a belief in the Triumphant Messiah, but its belief in the atoning mission faded into the background after Josiah. The Book of Mormon’s emphasis on the atonement attempts to reinstate that belief. The fact that Jacob must declare it so firmly appears to indicate that the tendency to dismiss atonement while concentrating on the eschatological mission also crossed the ocean with Lehi’s family. I have speculated that this belief was the doctrinal difference between Laman and Lemuel and the rest of the family, but Jacob would not need to articulate the concept so clearly if it were not also available among the Nephites.
Brant Gardner, Second Witness
God hath taken away his plainness…because they desired it, ask and ye shall receive I guess. See Isaiah’s warning about this in Matthew 13:13-19.
15 I perceive…they will reject the stone, Jacob already knows this, so what does he mean?
15-16 the stone upon which they might build and have safe foundation…the great, and the last, and the only sure foundation, the wise man. Hel 5:12. Two similar metaphors were shared during April 2024 General Conference. Psalm 118:22-23; Ephesians 2:20; Isaiah 28:16. The great and the last is perhaps an allusion to Christ’s “great and last sacrifice,” mentioned four times in Alma 34:10–14.
The juxtaposition of Jewish intransigence and the word stumble reminds Jacob of scriptural precedents of cornerstones and rejected stones (Isa 28.16; Ps 118.22 [quoted at Mt 21.42]), perhaps by way of Isa 8.14 (quoted at 2 Ne 18.14), where the Lord is compared to a “stone of stumbling” (all three verses are quoted at 1 Pet 2.4–8). Yet even if the Jews have rejected the sure foundation, Jacob will explain—by reproducing a lengthy allegory of Zenos—how they can nevertheless be saved, if Jacob himself does not “stumble” in the telling of it.
Grant Hardy, The Annotated BofM
17 how…having rejected…can they ever build upon it, that it may become the head of their corner, he will discuss the gathering of Israel. The cornerstone of course is Christ. He is quoting Ps 118:22-23; see also Mt 21:42-46; Acts 4:11. See verse 12 notes above. This is the question. How can it happen that the Jews reject Christ and then build upon him? And this is the theme of Jacob 5.
The headstone of the corner or pyramidion is the top of the pyramid. It is the headstone and the corner from which all of the others descend. It’s a very interesting principle, and the Egyptians were aware of this. Where does the pyramid begin? On the top was a pyramidion that was usually capped or plated with gold. The sun would strike that first. It represented the king and always had the name of Re on it. Where does the pyramidion end and the pyramid begin? There’s nothing. If you are in the foundation here, you are just as much a part of the pyramid as the king is. There is just one structure. It all culminates in the king here, but these other people belong to it just as much. There is no point at which you can say, “The pyramid stops,” except where it reaches the ground, and there’s the point where it culminates in the king. He’s absolutely dependent on the others; he wouldn’t be there at all without them. They support him, and they are the same structure. It’s an identical structure. There’s this idea that we are all blended into a single structure and form a single body with the king at the head. He is the headstone of the corner. The four corners meet there, and the headstone meets the four corners. He is the headstone of the corner. It’s an enigmatic statement, but that is usually the way the wisdom behind that interesting expression goes. In the Pastor of Hermas there’s a very good allegory on this thing where the church is built of precious stones and there’s the headstone of the corner. Everybody is a stone in the building that has its place. No stone can be dispensed with. If you took one stone out of the pyramid, the whole structure would be spoiled. It’s all necessary.
Hugh Nibley, Teachings of the BofM
18 unfold this mystery, I think the “mysteries of godliness” (1 Tim 3:16; D&C 19:10; 76:114-116) are best defined simply as spiritual truths known only through the spirit of revelation. The mystery Jacob is about to reveal is that God is not distant, but seeking us. He is a tender nurturer in the vineyards of our lives. Rom 11:25; 16:25; Eph 3:3.
get shaken from this firmness, and stumble, because of my over anxiety for you, I do this as a teacher quite often actually. I get it. Jacob is trying to follow his own counsel to be “firm of mind” (3:2). As one author put it, Jacob, always close to his emotions, “experiences anxiety about his anxiety,” but trusts in the Lord’s grace.
The question Jacob asks in verse 17 is the theme of Jacob 5–6. How could someone who would be denigrated and rejected be so important? For the Israel of Jesus’s time, the mortal Messiah was a contradiction. Here was a king who was born in a stable, a God who ate with unclean publicans and sinners, a God executed as a criminal who would judge all humankind. The Nephite prophetic understanding of the Messiah presented many of those contradictions (1 Ne. 11:27–33). Jacob is answering one of these contradictions.
Brant Gardner, Second Witness
Holy Envy 