A Study of the Book of Mormon

2 Nephi 10:3 Jacob, discoursing on the Savior, calls him for the first time in this record Christ. Parenthetically, Jacob explains that an angel had revealed His name to him the night previous. There is a footnote on the word " angel ". Jacob was one who enjoyed communion with angels. He had had visions of the Savior as early as in is youth. He was also able to hear the voice of the Lord from time to time. Such communications were critical for Jacob, who bore the weight of their civilization's spiritual well being. It was Jacob who moved forward as prophet after his father, Lehi, and older brother, Nephi, were gone. These evidences of divine communion allow me to understand how prophets are truly servants of the most high God.

2 Nephi 6:1-7 Near the beginning of what is the longest grouping of verses quoted from Isaiah in the Book of Mormom, we get just a brief taste of what is in to come. Jacob, the brother of Nephi, takes a few moments at the head of this chapter to define his authority in terms of his responsibilities and obligations to those that he teaches. It is interesting to note the repetitive nature of his message, which he acknowledges to those that he is addressing ( see vs 3 ). This is one pattern of leadership that I see to be similar in the modern church. Another such pattern is that he is on assignment from his brother, their prophet leader, to address a specific set of scripture taken from Isaiah. This too is common at all levels in the Church today, to receive instruction from their priesthood leaders to act accordingly. What impresses me about Jacob's approach, however, is how engrossed he was in the topic at hand. It seems that he only offers the remark that Nephi had requested this ...