Category: Daily Scripture Notes
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Jacob 3 – Racism & Generational Legacy
Earlier Jacob had said he was going to record on the small plates “revelation which was great” (Jac 1:4). The revelation Jacob considered to be great may have been the Lamanites’ sexual fidelity, and that the Nephites must look to the Lamanites, whom they despised and considered inferior, to teach them how to keep their…
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Jacob 2 – Temple Sermon: Wounds, Wealth, & Sexual Agency
Jacob had the small plates for over 30 years, yet this is the only sermon he records. Why this one? Note what he addresses: pride, greed, social hierarchies, marriage inequality, and the sexual objectification and commodification of women. These are the issues Jacob believes will lead to the downfall of Nephite society and any society…
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Jacob 1 – Faith & Anxiety
Jacob The Man Jacob has a unique voice in the Book of Mormon. Born in tribulation (2 Ne 2:1), and a witness as well as a possible victim of physical abuse by his brothers, Jacob is attuned to the marginalized—women, children, the poor, those of lesser status, those who have no power in society, etc.…
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2 Nephi 4 – Nephi’s Psalm
Lehi follows the example of his forefather Jacob in blessing his children before his death (Genesis 49); but he also follows Moses’ lead. Several years before Lehi left Jerusalem, the book of Deuteronomy (Moses’ farewell address), long lost to the Israelites, was discovered in the temple and later read to the people (2 Kings 22-23;…
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2 Nephi 3 – Four Josephs
One way to read this chapter is as a model patriarchal blessing. How would knowing his lineage back to Joseph of Egypt affect young Joseph? There are “exceedingly great and precious promises” that can come from our heritage (1 Pet 1:2, 4). What does it mean to you to know, from your patriarchal blessing, that…
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2 Nephi 2 – Agency & Atonement
“Doubtless a spectator walking into the second act of Hamlet thinking it was the first would make very different sense of the action unfolding than the person who watched Act I, which set the stage for all that was to follow. As it stands, the Creation narrative of Genesis is a baffling story. The provocation…
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2 Nephi 1 – Arise From the Dust, My Sons, And Be Men
This is the only place in the Book of Mormon where we have two books named after one person. Why did Nephi divide his writings into two books? Likely because each had a different purpose and was poetically crafted as a distinct unit. 1 Nephi is the founding family story based in the Old World…
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1 Nephi 22 – In Him They Shall Find Pasture
1 What meaneth these things which ye have read, so we are not alone in finding Isaiah difficult to understand. And once again, we are Laman & Lemuel, not Nephi. The question is the same one they ask in 15:31, and it’s one of the most fundamental to scripture interpretation—is this literal (according to the flesh)…
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1 Nephi 21 (Isaiah 49) – I Will Lift Up Mine Hand to the Gentiles
1 Nephi 21 (along with Nephi’s subsequent explanation in ch 22) is one of the most important chapters in the Book of Mormon because it foretells the mission of Latter-day Saints and their destiny in connection with the house of Israel, or in President Russell M. Nelson’s words, their role in the gathering. 1 Listen, o…
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1 Nephi 20 (Isaiah 48)- Go Ye Forth Out of Babylon
Two notes about Isaiah. First, he speaks “messianically,” meaning from first person as if he were Jehovah/Messiah speaking. Second, some of the Book of Mormon quotations of Isaiah differ slightly from their corresponding King James passages. There are at least two explanations for this. First, the brass plates contained a variant text—authentic though different. Second, the…
Holy Envy 