“This Thing Was Pleasing Unto Me Jacob”

We need to be very clear as to what "thing was pleasing unto me, Jacob." Is Jacob referring to the death of Sherem? No, he is referring to the return of his people. Note the language of verse 23: "peace and the love of God was restored again…", "they searched the scriptures." Even more importantly, "they hearkened no more to the words of this wicked man."

What Jacob is describing is a religious revival. With the tight connection between religion and society, this has tremendous implications for the nature of Nephite society.

Social Speculation: At this point in the story of Jacob, it is time to place some of the strands into a larger cloth. The first set of information is extracted from Jacob's sermons. The people of Nephi are very clearly moving away from the principles of the gospel. The move away from the gospel is concomitant with a move towards the social values and structures of the foreign peoples with whom they have been trading (according to the reconstruction I am presenting). It is again essential to remember that religion and society may not be easily separated, and the logical progression of events appears to have been on the order of the following outline:

• The Nephites have raw materials and the ability to turn them into desirable trade goods.
• They begin trading with others outside of their area.
• The process of trade brings wealth.
• The process of trade also brings contact with other cultural systems, and with them new definitions of what wealth is, and how it should be manifest.
• The traders/rich of the community begin to adopt customs from the outside areas (such as the exchange of wives) which Jacob condemns.
• Jacob condemns their actions as contrary to the will of God, but the wealthy prefer to continue.
• Jacob's preaching becomes bothersome, and Jacob is removed from office by the newly powerful in the community.
• Jacob's presence and private preaching still cause problems, and Sherem comes in to discredit Jacob.

In this scenario, what would have happened had Sherem succeeded? Clearly the Nephite people were on the highway to apostasy, and they would have traveled that road even faster without Jacob. The encounter between Sherem and Jacob was appropriated by the Lord as a means of revival of the gospel. The result is not only the redemption of public opinion about Jacob, but very likely his reinstatement to a position of authority, whether formal or informal at his advanced age.

We are about to enter a dim time for historical light on the Nephites during the remainder of the small plate writers, but when we emerge in Zarahemla, we have a reasonably faithful people. Up to this point, they were headed in a very different direction. The encounter with Sherem appears to have been a major turning point in the religious direction of the community of Nephi. They changed from the high road to apostasy back to the way of the Lord. The encounter with Sherem was key in that turnaround, and the principle means of the turnaround was Sherem's confession under the spirit. For this reason alone it would appear that God did use Sherem as a missionary. He may have been called a wicked man by Jacob, an appellation that was accurate prior to his confession, but he became an instrument of God to restore a wayward people to the right way.

Jacob understood the direction his people were taking, and therefore had prayed to God for a way to turn them. Jacob may not have understood that Sherem would be that means when he arrived, but Jacob clearly understood in the aftermath that Sherem had actually been an answer to prayer.