Comments on 2 Nephi 9 The primary subject of this chapter is the condescension of the Lord in providing both physical and spiritual salvation to his people. v1-3 Jacob states he has read these two chapters of Isaiah to them so they might know the Lord has covenanted with all of Israel (v. 1), and not just the Jews. The Lord has spoken to the Jews via His prophets from the beginning and will continue to work with them until they are restored to their lands and to Him (v. 2). So, if the Lord is going to keep working with the Jews no matter what, because they are Israel, then the Lord will keep working with the Lehites, because they are Israel. So, they should rejoice over this, knowing they are not cut off (v. 3). v2 "the true church", cp. 1 Ne. 14:10. v4-38 Jacob now changes shifts his focus away from the corporate salvation theme of covenant Israel to the individual salvation theme of the Messiah's ministry. His first subject is physical life though resurrection (v. 4-22), and the second is spiritual life through repentance (v. 23-38). v4-22 Jacob gives a rather lengthy review of the doctrine of resurrection by reviewing the Fall of man. He states it is necessary for the Lord to undergo incarnation and become subject to physical death so that He may bring about the resurrection, otherwise all will be cut off from the presence of God. v7 "infinite", i.e., eternal, not finite in the sense that mortals are finite beings. This does not mean infinite in the mathematical sense of the word, cf. D&C 19:4-12. "first judgement", i.e., physical death, as nobody would be worthy of resurrection. Without the atonement none would be resurrected. v9 "shut out", as it is the resurrection which brings us back into the presence of the Father (cf. v. 15, Alma 42:23), if none were resurrected then all would be out of His presence. v13-14 The resurrection unites a perfect body and the spirit in such a manner that the frailties of a mortal frame are gone. The result is the person can remember everything they have done and perceive the consequences of all of those actions, cp. Alma 10:42-43. I would assume at that point the individual would also recall their pre-mortal existence as well. v15 Resurrection precedes Judgement, and is what makes Judgement possible by pulling the individual back into God's presence. v16-19 form an interesting antithetical parallelism pitting punishment (v. 16) and justice (v. 17) opposite blessings (v. 18) and mercy (v. 19), as follows: 16 ...they who are filthy are the devil and his angels; and they shall go away into everlasting fire, prepared for them; and their torment is as a lake of fire and brimstone, whose flame ascendeth up forever and ever and has no end. 17 O the greatness and the justice of our God! For he executeth all his words, and they have gone forth out of his mouth, and his law must be fulfilled. 18 But, behold, the righteous, the saints of the Holy One of Israel, they who have believed in the Holy One of Israel, they who have endured the crosses of the world, and despised the shame of it, they shall inherit the kingdom of God, which was prepared for them from the foundation of the world, and their joy shall be full forever. 19 O the greatness of the mercy of our God, the Holy One of Israel! For he delivereth his saints from that awful monster the devil, and death, and hell, and that lake of fire and brimstone, which is endless torment. Many people cannot imagine God as being capable of punishing people, they see Him as being all-beneficent. Others see Him as being only capable of anger and punishment. Neither of these is the case. God is both just and merciful, just to the sinner and merciful to the repentant. He both punishes people and glorifies them. v16 This verse presents only two extremes, which seems to run contrary to LDS views concerning the afterlife regarding Terrestrial and Telestial glories. However, when speaking regarding resurrection, there are only two extremes when it comes to mortals, the First Resurrection and the Second Resurrection. The Second Resurrection is the resurrection of damnation and doesn't occur until after all of the sinners suffer 1000 years of agony in the "pit" along with Satan, cf. D&C 76:81-85. After this they are resurrected while Satan is cast into outer darkness, cf. Rev. 20:5-15. v18 "they who have endured the crosses of the world, and despised the shame of it", a surprisingly NT concept in OT times, cp. Jacob 1:8. As Jacob has seen in vision the NT ministry of the Messiah (cf. 2:4, 10:3), as has Nephi (cf. 1 Ne. 11), his views are surprisingly NT. But, no more than are Isaiah's. v23-38 Jacob now addresses spiritual life through repentance. He gives the standard formula for salvation (v. 23-24), and then states those without the Law are not condemned (v. 25-26). However, his audience does not fall into this category, as they have the Law (v. 27). Jacob the lists a series of sins Israel has historically been prone to (v. 28-37), and states all those who do these things and die in their sins are condmened (v. 38). v28-37 This laundry list of sins is very much derivative of the kinds of sins contemporary prophets hurled at the Jews in Jerusalem. For example, compare v. 28 with Isa. 47:10, v. 31-32 with Isa. 6:10 and v. 33 with Jer. 9:26. My impression is Jacob is more warning them away from these things than identifying sins they have already committed. He is letting them know that if they don't get back on track then this is where it will lead. In support of this is the lack of specific citations in the present text, as occurs in Jacob 2-3. There, Jacob is addressing specific sins by explicitly identifying them and stating plainly what they are doing is wrong. Here, there is none of that, it is simply a list of the sorts of things people need to avoid, as though it were things they were at risk of as opposed to things they had done. This is especially the case with v. 35, where he states murders are subject to capital punishment. If there were people in the audience guilty of such things, he wouldn't be pleading with them to repent. As such, I would take the present text to be a case and point of the kind of speeches referenced in Jacob 1:5-8. Now, I am not saying they weren't sinners, as Jacob makes it plain they are in v. 47-48. I am only saying the list here is a list of where they are heading if they don't change their present direction, not a list of where they are already at. v39-54 Jacob then closes that day's sermon with a long and emphatic appeal for repentance. Notice the manner in which Jacob addresses the audience with "my beloved brethren" over and over again (cf. v. 39, 40, 41, 44, 45, 47, 50, 52, 54). As they are all related, they literally are his brothers and family. Jacob encourages them to be spiritually-minded (v. 39), to not harden themselves against what he has taught them (v. 40). He tells them the path the Lord would have us walk in is narrow and straight (v. 41), and those who don't walk in it will be rejected by Him (v. 42) while those who humble themselves before Him will obtain true wisdom and happiness (v. 43). He informs them he has done his duty as a priest in warning the people from sin, and has therefore got the responsibility for their sins off himself (v. 44). He follows on to this by pleading with the people to likewise divest themselves of their sins (v. 45) so they won't have to shrink in fear from God at Judgement (v. 46). Jacob then laments along with the people in having to perform this unpleasant task. He asks a series of rhetorical questions (v. 47) and then answers them to make it clear he had to sermonize them because the situation demanded it and he abhors sins among his people (v. 48). He turns the lament into a plea for them to abandon their sin and feast in the mercy of the Lord (v. 50, cp. Isa. 55:1-2). He encourages them not to labor for carnal and material things, but to labor for things which are eternal (v. 51). Jacob then closes by encouraging them to humble themselves in prayer to the Lord day and night (v. 52), to remember His condescensions for them, and to remember the covenant He has made with them to preserve their sons so He may bring forth a righteous branch (v. 52). He then tells them he will continue sermonizing tomorrow (v. 53). v44 The imagery of shaking the blood of one's cloak appears in the contemporary account of Ezekiel, cf. Ezek. 33. The original source of the imagery is probably that of the Levites and priests of Aaron getting the blood of the people's sacrifices upon themselves. v52-53 summarize the entire speech of ch. 6-9 into two verses and identify Jacob's main points: humble yourself before the Lord, recognize He is your Redeemer, know your children will be preserved because of the covenant with Israel. Copyright © 2001 by S. Kurt Neumiller . All rights reserved. No part of this text may be reproduced in any form or by any means for commercial gain without the express written consent of the author. Digital or printed copies may be freely made and distributed for personal and public non-commercial use.