Category: Scripture Notes
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The branches overcame the roots
The strong roots of the olive tree were able at first to bring natural fruit from the will branches but then the branches grew and took strength to themselves into they were stronger than the natural roots. In the church the Lord is busy picking only the most bitter of the wild branches while allowing…
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Dear reader…
I just realized that Jacob 4 (and 5) are not recordings of Jacob teaching the Nephites like Jacob 2 and 3 were. They are written to future readers who will receive this record that he is now keeping. He wants to ensure that the readers know why this record is being kept. It might also…
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“He will plead your cause”
I have often chuckled at the fact that when Jacob said he would speak to the pure in heart he only had 2 verses before he was talking again to those who were not pure in heart but today, rather than chuckling, I am considering how desirable his promises were to the pure in heart.…
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Grosser crimes
How painful was it for Jacob to have to publicly address the issue of some of their men beginning to take concubines or plural wives? We don’t actually know exactly what was going on, just that Jacob referenced the examples of David and Solomon who had both and then he explicitly forbade both practices. I’m…
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Losing focus
I started thinking that the time of the books of at least Jarom and Omni are like the latter part of the Old Testament where the writing is the prophets seem to be more spread out temporally and geographically. They are much less historically concentrated like 1 Nephi, 2 Nephi, and Jacob or like Exodus,…
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My soul hungered
This concept of a soul hungering is not necessarily a one time thing. Enos writes about this experience as if it is a single experience and that is possible but we need not expect that we must have a singular experience and besides that, Enos may be telling us about a single experience that was…
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Answering the sins of the people upon our own heads
As a parent there is naturally a certain amount of answering the sins of the children upon our own heads if we do not teach them what is right. The challenge is to keep in perspective when they choose wrong because they have not been sufficiently taught vs when they choose wrong even when they…
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Speaking by the power of the Holy Ghost
When a man speaketh by the power of the Holy Ghost the power of the Holy Ghost carrieth it unto the hearts of the children of men. 2 Nephi 33:1 I didn’t expect to get any answer to the question I was wrestling with in prayer this morning—whether and/or how to do anything to influence…
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No more doctrine until…
At the time of Nephi the doctrine of Christ was: faith in Christ, repentance, baptism, endure to the end. (Sounds familiar.) And Nephi declares that no more will be given until after Christ has come. He also declares that enduring to the end will necessitate praying so that we may be guided by the Holy…
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The manner of plainness
To paraphrase 2 Nephi 31:3: God worketh after the manner of plainness among the children of men—he speaketh unto men according to their language, unto their understanding. This is a stumbling block for Bex (and many others) because they take that to mean that an omniscient God can/will always articulate an answer that His children…