Book of Mormon Commentary CofC - Odessa, Missouri Community ...

Book of Mormon Commentary
3 Nephi Chapter 2
"They knew. ..that Christ had come, because of the many signs which had been given, according
to the words of the prophets," therefore "they did forsake all their sins" (83, 85). They preached to
their prisoners, and those who repented and entered "into a covenant that they would murder no
more, were set at liberty." The rest were "punished according to the law" (86-88).
3 Ne 2:89 And thus they did put an end to all those wicked, and secret, and abominable combinations,
in the which there was so much wickedness, and so many murders committed.
Peace came to the Nephites, and for a period they enjoyed great blessings and prosperity. "Many
things transpired which, in the eyes of some, would be great and marvelous" (91). All of these
things could not be written in this book, not even the hundredth part of what had happened in the
twenty-five years since Christ was born (92).
At this point Mormon, the abridger of the records of Lehi' s posterity, broke through and revealed
his identity. He wrote on plates made with his own hands (95). He said he was named "after the
land of Mormon" where Alma had first established the church (96). "1 am a disciple of Jesus
Christ, the Son of God" (97). "1 am. ..a pure descendant of Lehi" (102). "Surely he [God] hath
blessed the house of Jacob, and hath been merciful unto the seed of Joseph" (104).
3 Ne 2:106 Yea, and surely shall he again bring a remnant of the seed of Joseph to the knowledge of the
Lord their God;
This prophecy needs to be placed in juxtaposition with that of Samuel, the Lamanite, that "1 will
utterly destroy them saith the Lord, because of their unbelief, notwithstanding the many mighty
works which I have done among them" (H.5:108). "Yea, I will visit them in my fierce anger, and
there shall be those of the fourth generation, who shall live, of your enemies, to behold your utter
destruction" (H. 5:12). (See also A. 21:12-15.)
However, a "remnant of the seed of Jacob" who are scattered "upon all the face of the earth" will
be gathered "unto their own lands, from whence they have been dispersed" (III N. 2:107- 109).
This includes Palestine as well as the Americas.