The contrast between the Lamanites and the Nephites continues, and is intensified. Jacob declares that Lamanite husbands love their wives and their wives and children love the fathers. There is an implicit statement that this is not the case for the Nephites practicing plural marriage. Indeed, Jacob already discussed the plight of the women in Jacob 2:32 and 33.
The assumed superiority of the Nephites over the Lamanites is again questioned. If the Lamanites have loving families and live the law given to Lehi, and the unstated declaration is that the Nephites do not, Jacob asks “how much better are you than they, in the sight of your great Creator?”
It was that Creator who had given the commandment that the Nephites were violating. Therefore, Jacob also declares “I fear that unless ye shall repent of your sins that their skins will be whiter than yours, when ye are brought with them before the throne of God.” Again we see the reference to white skins. In this case, it is obvious that the word white is being used in the sense of purity or righteousness. The skin is simply the metaphorical location of this aspect.
Many in the ancient world believed that what was inside a person could be seen on the surface. Hence, righteousness might be visibly manifest. That is the concept behind the metaphor that is expressed in Joel 2:6 and Nahum 2:10, where faces gather blackness. There is no assumption of a change in pigmentation, only that the pain would be metaphorically visible on their faces.