December 11—2 Nephi 9-14
December 18—2 Nephi 15-19
December 25—No Class
Nephi’s Psalm
The five basic elements of an individual lament are as follows:
Invocation—2 Nephi 4:16-17
Complaint—2 Nephi 4:17-19
Confession of Trust—2 Nephi 4:20-30
Petition—2 Nephi 4:31-33
Vow of Praise—2 Nephi 4:34-35
“Nephi’s poignant complaint is a cry for forgiveness of sins. Nephi follows the standard pattern by making his confession very general, never specifying the exact nature or number of the transgressions that beset him. The feelings of remorse and the subsequent trust in the atonement are what is important. Thus Nephi leads penitent readers to “liken the scriptures unto themselves” so they might gain strength in their own battles against temptation and sin regardless of what each individual’s trial might be.”
“Nephi wrote with a clear understanding of the full plan of salvation as shown him in vision and taught by the Spirit of the Lord (1 Nephi 11). Such knowledge and testimony is never expressed by the psalmists of the Old Testament. The hope and strength manifested by the penitent Nephi hearkens back to that earlier divine instruction when the Spirit asked, “Knowest thou the condescension of God”? (1 Nephi 11:16). Nephi’s eloquence here is evidence of the depth of understanding he gained then.”
Matthew Nickerson (1997) "Nephi's Psalm: 2 Nephi 4:16-35 in the Light of Form-Critical Analysis," Journal of Book of Mormon Studies: Vol. 6 : No. 2 , Article 3.
Prosper in the Land
“One of the overarching themes in the Book of Mormon is captured in this remarkable promise the Lord made to Lehi and to all who come to the land of promise:
Inasmuch as ye shall keep my commandments ye shall prosper in the land; but inasmuch as ye will not keep my commandments ye shall be cut off from my presence.
In this verse the Lord teaches us that the opposite of prospering is to be cut off from His presence and, thus, from all of the blessings that flow from Him. To prosper in the land is to receive all the blessings that God has prepared for us.
Obedience connects us to the Savior and opens channels for His love and power to flow into us, much like life-giving nutrients flow from the trunk of a tree into its branches.
The Lord gives us commandments so that we might have His love, joy, and power in our lives. When we disobey those commandments, we weaken our connection to Him. If we do not repent, we become cut off from the source of divine power and joy in life. But the more we obey His commandments, the more we draw near to Him, the stronger the connection becomes, the greater the joy we experience, and the more we become like Him. We abide in Christ, and we prosper in the land.”
Kim B. Clark, “Deep Obedience,” April 19, 2011, BYU-Idaho
Jacob’s Speech
“The Servant speaks in the first person in this song. He acknowledges God’s hand in preparing for and supporting him in the work, giving him the “tongue of the learned,” wakening and opening his ears so that he could learn. The testimony reminds us of the boy Jesus’s remarkable ability to learn and understand his Father’s will, even to the point of astonishing the “doctors” as he heard and questioned them in the temple when he was just twelve years old (Luke 2:42–52). The Servant then speaks of the persecution he would endure as he would willingly allow himself to be smitten and spat upon foreshadowing the cruel treatment he would receive at the hands of Pilate and the Roman soldiers commissioned to scourge and crucify him (see Matthew 26:31). The Servant closes the song by testifying of his confidence that God would sustain and support him, while his adversaries would “wax old” and be eaten up, a prophecy fulfilled as the Roman Empire and the Jewish leaders who condemned him faded in infamy, while the redeeming work of the Servant is praised and persists through eternity.”
Terry B. Ball, “Isaiah’s ‘Other’ Servant Songs,” in The Gospel of Jesus Christ in the Old Testament, The 38th Annual BYU Sidney B. Sperry Symposium (Provo, UT: Religious Studies Center, Brigham Young University, 2009)
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