Category: Scripture Notes
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Reinforcement
I can’t help thinking about how much strength comes from being part of a community where everyone is committed to righteousness. You could more easily forgive your neighbor for mistakes because you trust that they are doing their best. You would have more patience to endure challenges because you trust that those around you are…
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His punishments are just
When I read King Benjamin talking about how we respond to the beggar my thoughts turn to Alex who expects me to meet his every need even if he doesn’t ask and I feel condemned because I’ve been waiting to abandon him to himself. I don’t believe I can keep carrying him and he is…
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Many dissentions
Mormon mentions that there were many dissentions to the Lamanites in the days of king Benjamin. I’ve never paid attention to that before but it makes me realize that there was a lot of mixing between the Nephites and the Lamanites over their history. In fact, when we add that fact with the recognition that…
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Loss and restoration
The series of writers in Omni continue the trend that was becoming apparent in Jarom where they kept the record as a family charge but seemed to be losing sight of the original purpose then with Amaleki as he ran out of room on the plates (and apparently posterity as well) we see a glimmer…
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Limited vision
It’s clear that Jarom did not have a particular understanding of the purpose of the plates he kept. He had a general understanding in recognizing that they were sacred and were not to be discarded or filled with writings of questionable importance but Unlike being and Jacob he had not had a vision of what…
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Why did Enos pray?
In Sunday School this last week Brother Perry opened the discussion by asking about the wrestle Enos had and I raised my hand to answer partly because nobody else was answering. I said that Enos was hungering for a remission of his sins but on further reflection I realize that while he received a remission…
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Social stability
Over the course of many years after Jacob had recorded his words of counsel to posterity there was only one incident that he felt deserved to be recorded in the sacred record. It’s no wonder that Nephi would declare shortly before the coming of Christ “oh that my day could have been in the days…
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A culmination
Most of what Benjamin says to his people here was not new to them. They had been taught before—and he knew they had been taught before—about being indebted to God and the need to keep his commandments. Some of the specifics such as the name of His mortal mother were new to them but this…
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Taught in advance
I never noticed before that Benjamin taught his sons about the importance of the sacred plates long before he called Mosiah in to counsel him before giving him the kingdom. In other words, he taught his sons and they had time to hopefully practice implementing his counsel. Later, when he began to be old, he…
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Last testimony
Like chapters 4 and 5, Jacob 6 is written to the reader, not a record of a live sermon. It’s clear that Jacob wrote all 3 as a final testimony. It was probably late in life when he expected to pass the record on. That actually makes the allegory of the olive tree recorded in…