Jacob 1

Nephi has passed his records to his brother Jacob who writes about his preaching. He confounds men who try to overthrow the doctrine of Christ and records some of the history of the people of Nephi.

In the first chapter, both Jacob and Joseph are mentioned. They are the two brothers of Nephi born after Lehi left Jerusalem and they were called to be priests and teachers way back in 2Ne 5:26. They are now preaching to persuade men to believe in Christ just as Nephi has done. Unfortunately, wickedness prevails among the Nephites and Nephi dies in this chapter.

It's been 55 years since Lehi's family left Jerusalem and Nephi tells Jacob precious things should be written in the small played and the history will be written in his other plates (v1-4). As leaders of the church in their day, Jacob and Nephi gave been shown what will happen to their people but they continue to labor diligently to persuade them to believe in Christ's goodness (v5-7). They love their people and have been commanded to spread the word of The Lord all their days which Nephi has done and as his last duty anoints a man to be king (v8-9).

The people loved Nephi because of the love he has shown then, and they showed their love back by being called his people and by naming their rulers after him (v10-12). It might be confusing to hear about the separate groups of people so Jacob only distinguish people by Lamanites or Nephites depending who people are friendly with (v13-14).  It's hard to say Nephi appointed a bad ruler but under him, the people began to be wicked and search for riches (v15-16).

Jacob continues to lead the church by calling priests and teachers to be on The Lord's errand and teach the people (v17-18). What I find interesting is the obligation to this task. Because they were called of God, they magnified their calling and taught so the sins of the people would not be upon them. If they did not teach the people, the sinning in ignorance would be a stain in their garments (v19).