Enos 1:9-10

Brant Gardner

Enos had received atonement for his own sins. That allowed him to expand his understanding to his brethren. Perhaps it was initially to family, as that would make sense, but when he writes of the experience, it is the whole of the Nephite nation. He desires that they also feel the redemption that Enos had felt.

Jehovah speaks to him again. The nature of that message tells us much of what the Nephites were like at that time. Jehovah reminds Enos that Jehovah has given the Nephites a land with a promise. It would not be cursed save for iniquity. It is the next phrase that is interesting: “I will visit thy brethren according as I have said; and their transgressions will I bring down with sorrow upon their own heads.” One might read this as a reference to when Jehovah really would physically come to the Nephites, as recounted in 3 Nephi.

The final phrase tells us that the “visit” is not necessarily a friendly one. Jehovah states that their transgressions will bring down sorrow on their heads. Nephi had lamented his people’s transgressions at the end of his book. The book of Jacob was entirely concerned with a people wandering from the path of righteousness. While Enos does not say anything about the current Nephites, it is clear from Jehovah’s declaration that they have not sufficiently repented and are still wandering from the true path. The hope at the end of the book of Jacob appears to have waned by his son’s time.

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