Thou hast beheld in thy youth his glory – 2 Nephi 2:4 – Come, Follow Me Ponderize

Thou hast beheld in thy youth his glory – 2 Nephi 2:4 – Come, Follow Me Ponderize

And thou hast beheld in thy youth his glory; wherefore, thou art blessed even as they unto whom he shall minister in the flesh; for the Spirit is the same, yesterday, today, and forever. And the way is prepared from the fall of man, and salvation is free.

Looking at the dates that the church has approximated, which are listed in the chapter headings, we can get a rough idea of what “youth” might mean in terms of how old Jacob was when he beheld the glory of God.

About 600 B.C.
1 Nephi 2:2
And it came to pass that the Lord commanded my father, even in a dream, that he should take his family and depart into the wilderness.

About 591–589 B.C.
1 Nephi 18:4-6 The boat was finished and “we did all go down into the ship, with our wives and our children.”

1 Nephi 18:7
And now, my father had begat two sons in the wilderness; the elder was called Jacob and the younger Joseph.

Doing the simple math, that is roughly 9-11 years since the time they went into the wilderness and the time that Nephi mentioned that his brothers were born. That is still way too big of a gap of time to really narrow down when they were born. Personally, I know how excited my children were to tell the world that they had a new brother or sister, and after 10 kids, I have seen it a few times. With that in mind, I would like to think that Nephi also had to be fairly excited as well to somehow weave into his writings that he had two younger brothers that were born into his family. This is when I remembered about verse 19 that provides a few more important clues that helps us narrow that gap.

1 Nephi 18:19
And Jacob and Joseph also, being young, having need of much nourishment, were grieved because of the afflictions of their mother; and also my wife with her tears and prayers, and also my children, did not soften the hearts of my brethren that they would loose me.

I believe that this verse indicates that Jacob and Joseph were younger than Nephi’s children. First he specified that they were young needing nourishment, which is a very interesting choice of words, because that could possibly mean that they were still being nursed or at least young enough to need to be fed. Also, they were “grieved because of the afflictions of their mother; and also my wife with her tears and prayers.” They were young enough to be sad that their mother was not happy and to be sensitive to tears, but not old enough to fully understand why or to do anything about it. On the other hand though, he said that his children did not soften the hearts of Laman and Lemuel, indicating that they were old enough that they could vocalize their concerns and plead for mercy for their father, where as Jacob and Joseph were not of that age or capacity yet.

The question is, at what age do children still need nourishment, can be sad that people are being mean and making people cry, and yet not old enough to fully understand why people are being mean and not able to really do anything about it? I estimate that a child around 3-5 years old would meet this criteria. And considering that there is 2 of them, my guess is that Joseph was nursing and Jacob would be around 3-5 years old at the time of the incident on the boat. This would fit perfectly together with the other dates. If Nephi and his brothers “took of the daughters of Ishmael to wife” (1 Nephi 16:7), around 600 B.C., and Nephi started having kids right away. Potentially, he could have a couple kids with approximate ages between 5-10 years old, which is a good age to vocalize their concerns and plead for mercy for their father and also young enough to potentially soften the heart of a grown man.

So, if Jacob was approximately 3-5 years old around the year of 591 B.C. and if 2 Nephi 2:4 took place around 588–570 B.C., that would put Jacob between the ages of 6-24 years old when he beheld the glory of God.

The footnote for beheld takes us to Nephi testifying that Jacob has seen Christ as he has seen him.

2 Nephi 11:3
And my brother, Jacob, also has seen him as I have seen him; wherefore, I will send their words forth unto my children to prove unto them that my words are true. Wherefore, by the words of three, God hath said, I will establish my word. Nevertheless, God sendeth more witnesses, and he proveth all his words.

I love how the Lord works. He always provides witnesses to first help us believe in them and what they experienced and second for us to believe in ourselves, knowing that we too can obtain such a witness for ourselves if we will desire it and qualify ourselves for such a witness.

In verse 3 we see that Jacob beheld “that in the fulness of time he cometh to bring salvation unto men.” And then in verse 4, we see that he beheld His glory and is “blessed even as they unto whom he shall minister in the flesh.” Remember that Jacob beheld all of this when he was between 6-24 years old. How more prepared would our youth be, if at such a young age they knew these great things for themselves and were witnesses of Christ?

Ezra Taft Benson in his talk “Teach While in Their Youth” made this profound statement: “At what age do we begin teaching our sons these gospel truths? Alma taught his son Helaman while he was in his youth. Our youth ought not to wait until the mission field to get a grasp of the scriptures and a closeness to the Lord. Lehi said that his son Jacob beheld the glory of the Lord in his youth. Imagine what would happen to missionary work if we sent out that kind of young men.”

Lehi then shares with us this important truth, that “the Spirit is the same, yesterday, today, and forever.” We all have the same access to the Spirit, even the spirit of Christ. This really comes down to belief. Satan does not want us to believe that we have access to Christ, and one of his greatest tools and biggest lies that he tells us, is summed up in the words of Laman and Lemuel, “the Lord maketh no such thing known unto us” (1 Nephi 15:9). We must cast that lie out of our minds immediately and fill that space with greater faith and immediate action toward Christ.

Lastly we learn from this scripture that “the way is prepared from the fall of man, and salvation is free.” Jesus said, “I am the way, the truth, and the life: no man cometh unto the Father, but by me (John 14:6).” Christ was prepared from the fall of Adam and we are free to choose Him, His way, His truth, His life, or to choose another master and all that comes with him. I will close with the words of Joshua, “as for me and my house, we will serve[/choose] the Lord (Joshua 24:15).”

Craig