2 Nephi 9:37-39

Brant Gardner

The prohibition against worshipping idols is also in the ten commandments. Here, Jacob adds that the “devil of all devils” delights in the worship of idols. Jacob appears to be referencing a real possibility and temptation for his New World audience. Assuming that they followed the broad outlines of pan-Mesoamerican religion, they would have believed in a number of deities, all of whom are here classified as demons—much the same way early Christians similarly classified the gods of the peoples surrounding them. The devil of all devils is that personification of the opposite of God. Jacob is declaring that Jehovah is not only the God of all, but his personified opposite is also the head of the deities of the land.

Jacob now moves from referencing scripture—Isaiah, perhaps Leviticus, and the ten commandments—and references his own sermon. He has been speaking of the opposition between life and death, but spiritual and eternal life, as opposed to spiritual and eternal death. The summation is that those who do not do according to the law that they have been given will die in their sins, and remain without atonement.

The final opposition is between carnally minded and spiritually minded. Webster’s 1828 dictionary has an entry for carnally minded. It is worldly minded. The opposition reprises those who seek after the things of the world, versus those who seek after the things of God.

Book of Mormon Minute

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