Jacob 1-4

Jacob – Lesson 1: Jacob 1-4
Note: Jacob 1 is a preview of what Jacob would address further in chapters 2 and 3, which comprise the text of a sermon he gave at the Nephite temple.
Day 1: Read Jacob 1:1-8; 1 Nephi 18:7; 2 Nephi 2:1-4
1. Review 1 Nephi 18:7 and 2 Nephi 2:1-4 to explain who Jacob was and why he was qualified to preach and to continue Nephi’s record.



2. When did Jacob begin his record? What did Nephi tell Jacob to write on the small plates?


3. What do you think it means to “view [Christ’s] death” (see D&C 6:36-37), “suffer his cross” (see Luke 9:23-25), and “bear the shame of the world (see Matt. 5:11-12). How can the sacrament help us remember these things?



Day 2: Read Jacob 1:9-19
4. How did Nephi’s people feel about him at his death? Choose one verse of scripture from Nephi’s writing that you would have liked to quote at his funeral.



5. What are the two grievous sins Jacob tells us his people began to practice after Nephi’s death?



6. How did Jacob and Joseph magnify their callings and ordinations in their service to God and their people?



Day 3: Read Jacob 2:1-19
7. How did Jacob know that his people, although outwardly obedient, were “beginning to labor in sin”?


8. Why was Jacob’s soul burdened by the subject of his discourse?



9. According to Jacob, what should we seek before we seek riches? How would this change our motivations?


BONUS: Jacob refers to the “eye” of God in 2 Nephi 9:44, Jacob 2:10 and 15. What three qualities does Jacob attribute to God’s eye?


Day 4: Read Jacob 2:20-35; D&C 132:34-39
10. According to Jacob, what is a “grosser crime” than pridefully seeking riches?


11. Why did the Lord constrain Jacob to address this particular sin?



12. Why do you think the Lord (through Jacob) said that the Nephites had “done greater iniquities than the Lamanites”? (see also Jacob 3:5-8.)



Day 5: Read Jacob 3
13. What are the promises to the pure in heart who look to God for comfort in affliction?



14. What was the cause of the Nephites’ filthiness? What was the cause of the Lamanites’ filthiness?




15. What does Jacob say will happen to those who do not repent of their lasciviousness?



Day 6: Read Jacob 4:1-9
16. Why did Jacob “labor diligently” to engrave his words on the plates? What is his hope regarding the effect of the plates on his posterity?



17. In Jacob 4:6-7, underline the words “search,” “revelations,” “prophecy,” “witness,” “hope,” and “grace.” How can we attain unshakable faith?



18. By what power was the earth and all in it created? (see also Moses 1:30-32.)



Day 7: Read Jacob 4:10-18
19. In what ways do we sometimes seek to counsel the Lord?



20. What are the promises to those who are “reconciled” unto Christ through his atonement?



21. What “mystery” will Jacob explain by quoting Zenos’ allegory of the wild and tame olive trees in chapter 5?