The reign of the second king (v. 15) was the first one after Nephi, since Jacob’s speech in the temple was “after the death of Nephi” (Jacob 2:1). This supports the concept that Nephi was a king. Because of their riches, Jacob warns the people of two sins: immorality and pride. Perhaps the death of Nephi brought a relaxing of their moral standards, but more probably it was the result of prosperity that appears periodically in the Book of Mormon (see Alma 4:6–12; Helaman 3:36; 3 Nephi 6:4–13).
The temple must have been the one built by Nephi (see 2 Nephi 5:16). Although it says that Jacob was teaching them “in the temple,” it was probably on the temple grounds, since the “wives and your children” were present (Jacob 2:7). “Having first obtained his errand from the Lord” (Jacob 1:17), he was following the instructions given to him by the Lord. Jacob and Joseph had been consecrated priests and teachers (v. 18) when Nephi had led those who believed in revelation to another land, while the unbelievers remained behind. It was from that time that the two groups become known as Nephites and Lamanites (see 2 Nephi 5:5–26). According to President Joseph Fielding Smith, consecration as priests and teachers does not refer to offices in the Aaronic priesthood.
The Nephites were descendants of Joseph. Lehi discovered this when reading the brass plates. He was a descendant of Manasseh, and Ishmael, who accompanied him with his family, was of the tribe of Ephraim (Alma 10:3; Journal of Discourses, 23:184). Therefore there were no Levites who accompanied Lehi to the Western Hemisphere. Under these conditions the Nephites officiated by virtue of the Melchizedek Priesthood from the days of Lehi to the days of the appearance of our Savior among them. It is true that Nephi “consecrated Jacob and Joseph” that they should be priests and teachers over the land of the Nephites, but the fact that plural terms priests and teachers were used indicated that this was not a reference to the definite office in the priesthood in either case, but it was a general assignment to teach, direct, and admonish the people. Otherwise the terms priest and teacher would have been given in the singular.
An often used, but often misunderstood principle of the gospel, is the magnifyi ng of one’s priesthood or calling. The general definition of magnify is to enlarge or make look bigger. However, Jacob gives us a scriptural definition of magnifying the priesthood (Jacob 1:19). He and Joseph magnified their calling by taking the responsibility of warning the people of their sins. Jacob had taught this principle earlier. Near the conclusion of his great sermon on the Atonement, he said:
44 O, my beloved brethren, remember my words. Behold, I take off my garments, and I shake them before you; I pray the God of my salvation that he view me with his all-searching eye; wherefore, ye shall know at the last day, when all men shall be judged of their works, that the God of Israel did witness that I shook your iniquities from my soul, and that I stand with brightness before him, and am rid of your blood. [2 Nephi 9:44]
Failure to do so made them accountable also for the people’s sins. The Old Testament prophet Ezekiel taught this plainly:
When I say unto the wicked, Thou shalt surely die; and thou givest him not warning, nor speakest to warn the wicked from his wicked way, to save his life; the same wicked man shall die in his iniquity; but his blood will I require at thine hand. [Ezekiel 3:18]
Thus a bishop is accountable for every sin committed by a member of his ward unless he warns the people. Therefore, leadership is a weighty responsibility.
Why did Jacob select this sermon given in the temple for inclusion on the small plates? Was he magnifying his priesthood? The Lord had shown Moroni the “day when [the Book of Mormon] shall come forth among you” (Mormon 8:34). Jacob had also seen us. An angel spoke to him of the coming of Christ in the meridian of time, and of the Gentiles nursing the seed of the Lamanites in the latter days (see 2 Nephi 10:3–9, see also the remainder of the chapter). The Lord named all seven of the groups of descendants among the Nephites and Lamanites mentioned above, as those to whom his work (the Book of Mormon) was to go (see D&C 3:16–20). If Jacob had not seen us, he knew of us, and was inspired to include this warning to our day.
Immorality and pride, the subject of Jacob’s sermon that follows, are also sins of our day. President Spencer W. Kimball called immorality “the sins of the day.” President Ezra Taft Benson declared: “the sin of this generation is sexual immorality.” Pride also came among the Nephites because of riches. The Lord warned this dispensation. “And if ye seek the riches which it is the will of the Father to give unto you, ye shall be the richest of all people, for ye shall have the riches of eternity; and it must needs be that the riches of the earth are mine to give; but beware of pride, lest ye become as the Nephites of old” (D&C 38:39). President Benson also gave the Church a stern warning against pride. “ Pride is the great stumbling block to Zion. I repeat: Pride is the great stumbling block to Zion.” Thus, Jacob has two presidents of the Church magnifying their priesthood in support of his great sermon.