In April we read Jacob, Enos,
Jarom, Omni and Words of Mormon.
Even though these books had less
reading material to cover, the
the volume of doctrine,
principles and teachings could not be
adequately covered in our short
class time.
We spent a lot of time
discussing Jacob’s desire to impress upon
his people the importance of
chastity; of husbands especially,
honoring their marriages and
families. In today’s world we can
relate to his heartbroken plea to
“…not excuse [our]selves in
committing [sins]…which are abominable unto me…”
With pornography, and the other
trappings of our
day, many families can relate to
the destruction that occurs
when immorality of any kind is
brought into a home and a marriage.
Jacob implored them: “Ye have broken the hearts of your tender
wives,
and lost the confidence of your children, because of your bad
examples before them; and the sobbings of their hearts ascend
up to God against you. And because of the strictness of the
word of God, which cometh down against you, many hearts
died, pierced with deep wounds.” (Jacob 2:35) His counsel for them
(and for us), was to, “arouse
the faculties of [our] souls; shake [our]selves
that ye may awake from [our] slumber…”
It seems the message to us
all is to “Wake Up! Stand
Up! Come Unto Christ!”
We also spent a lot of time
discussing the Allegory of the Olive Tree
in Jacob 5 (taken directly from
the writings of Zenos on the Brass Plates).
This amazing account tells of
the Lord’s purposes in scattering
and gathering the house of
Israel. As you read this “story”, you
can
feel and see the Lord’s dealings
with all of His children throughout history.
The parable is an allegory of the relationship between Jesus Christ,
the world, and men. The master of the vineyard is Jesus, the servant is
(are)
His prophets, the vineyard is the world, and the olives represent the
lives and works of men. This parable is a metaphor for Israel's
relationship with Jesus Christ. Jeffrey
R Holland said of this amazing
parable: “There is much more here than simply the
unraveling of
convoluted Israelite history.
Of greater significance in this allegory is
the benevolent view of God
that it provides. He is portrayed here as
one who repeatedly, painstakingly, endlessly tries to save the work of
His hands and in moments of greatest disappointment holds His head
in His hands and weeps, ‘What could I have done more for my vineyard?’
(Jacob 5:41, 47, 49.) This
allegory is a declaration of divine love, of God’s
unceasing effort as a father
laboring on behalf of His children.”
It was a wonderful discussion of these books of scripture.
Discussing how they affect us individually, our testimonies have
been strengthened, and our love for our Savior increased.
