Difference between revisions of "Jacob 3:1-5"

Revision as of 11:24, 1 October 2008

What does it mean to be pure in heart?
How might one "look unto God with firmness of mind"? What is the difference between having a firm mind and beginning to labor in sin through your thoughts (cf. Jacob 2:5)?
What does it mean to pray "with exceeding faith"? How is this different from normal prayer?
What does Jacob mean by promising that the Lord will "send down justice upon those who seek your destruction"? Is he speaking specifically about the current situation faced by the Nephites? Who might be seeking their destruction? Does this have anything to do with the threat of plural marriage leading "away captive the daughters of [the] people" (cf. Jacob 2:33)?

Why are the pure in heart told to "lift up" their heads? What is the difference between a bowed and a lifted up head?
How is one to "receive the pleasing word of God?" What is it that makes it pleasing?
What does it mean to "feast upon [God's] love"?
What does having a firm mind have to do with feasting upon God's love? What does it mean to have a "firm" mind?

How does not having a pure heart make one "filthy"?
Why are the Lamanites, who are cursed, promised as a scourge to wicked Nephites?

Is this a prophecy of Omni 1:12? If so, how can the intervening 2+ centuries be considered a time that "speedily cometh"?

Why do the Nephites "hate" the Lamanites? Is it because of their "filthiness" or their dark skin? Is this racism?
Apparently at this point, there are not "whoredoms" among the Lamanites, and they are not mentioned among the Lamanites until after the peaceful period after the coming of Christ. Why are they so prominently mentioned among the Nephites, but not among the Lamanites?

Whoredoms. In the Hebrew Old Testament, the term whoredom occurs only 26 times as a translation of the Hebrew verb zanah (=commit whoredom, whore, fornication). While it may be tempting to read this in light of modern practices of prostitution or sexual immorality, its use in the Book of Mormon may have more do do with sexual rites associated with the worship of fertility gods. If that is the case, the Nephites in their quest for riches and prosperity may be tempted to indulge in fertility rites involving sexual acts, perhaps with designated ritual prostitutes.

Click the edit link above and to the right to add exegesis

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 == Lexical notes ==
-* ''Click the edit link above and to the right to add lexical notes''
+* '''Whoredoms'''.  In the Hebrew Old Testament, the term whoredom occurs only 26 times as a translation of the Hebrew verb [http://bible.crosswalk.com/Lexicons/Hebrew/heb.cgi?number=02181&version=kjv zanah] (=commit whoredom, whore, fornication).  While it may be tempting to read this in light of modern practices of prostitution or sexual immorality, its use in the Book of Mormon may have more do do with sexual rites associated with the worship of fertility gods.  If that is the case, the Nephites in their quest for riches and prosperity may be tempted to indulge in fertility rites involving sexual acts, perhaps with designated ritual prostitutes.
 == Exegesis ==