Enos, Jarom, Omni

Enos

The next few books are only 1 chapter each. In the book of Enos we learn the short story of Enos, the son of Jacob, who prayed all day and all night for forgiveness from his sins. It is worth reading his account in his own words:

 1 Behold, it came to pass that I, Enos, knowing my father that he was a just man—for he taught me in his language, and also in the nurture and admonition of the Lord—and blessed be the name of my God for it—

 2 And I will tell you of the wrestle which I had before God, before I received a remission of my sins.

 3 Behold, I went to hunt beasts in the forests; and the words which I had often heard my father speak concerning eternal life, and the joy of the saints, sunk deep into my heart.

 4 And my soul hungered; and I kneeled down before my Maker, and I cried unto him in mighty prayer and supplication for mine own soul; and all the day long did I cry unto him; yea, and when the night came I did still raise my voice high that it reached the heavens.

 5 And there came a voice unto me, saying: Enos, thy sins are forgiven thee, and thou shalt be blessed.

 6 And I, Enos, knew that God could not lie; wherefore, my guilt was swept away.

We don’t know what Enos needed to be forgiven of specifically. I think this is more a moment of spiritual “re-birth.” He was seeking forgiveness for being a man not very interested in God or eternal things, and this is now a turning point in his life. And it all started by “the words which [he] had often heard [his] father speak concerning eternal life, and the joy of the saints, [sinking] deep into his heart.” I love that, because so often parents think their children aren’t listening. But they usually are more than they show.

If you were to pray all day and all night, what would you say?

Enos is energized by his answer from the Lord and he feels driven to pray next for his people—the Nephites. After the Lord responds to that prayer, he feels a great desire to pray for his enemies, the Lamanites. I think we can learn from this pattern. Once we feel at peace with our own standing before God and have a forgiveness of our own sins, we feel a desire to look beyond ourselves and pray for others we love. And the next step is to feel a desire to love and pray for those who are our enemies.

Jarom

Jarom is Enos’s son, and he has even less to say than Enos did! He says up-front that he feels everything has been said about the “Plan of Salvation” by his forefathers (the record-keepers before him), so he writes only to record a piece of genealogy and history of the people. I do, however, love the spiritual insights he gives in this verse:

 4 And there are many among us who have many revelations, for they are not all stiffnecked. And as many as are not stiffnecked and have faith, have communion with the Holy Spirit, which maketh manifest unto the children of men, according to their faith.

Historically, these verses are the best summary of Jarom’s time. They also teach a primary spiritual theme of the Book of Mormon—“ Inasmuch as ye will keep my commandments ye shall prosper in the land.”

7 And it came to pass that they came many times against us, the Nephites, to battle. But our kings and our leaders were mighty men in the faith of the Lord; and they taught the people the ways of the Lord; wherefore, we withstood the Lamanites and swept them away out of our lands, and began to fortify our cities, or whatsoever place of our inheritance.

 8 And we multiplied exceedingly, and spread upon the face of the land, and became exceedingly rich in gold, and in silver, and in precious things, and in fine workmanship of wood, in buildings, and in machinery, and also in iron and copper, and brass and steel, making all manner of tools of every kind to till the ground, and weapons of war—yea, the sharp pointed arrow, and the quiver, and the dart, and the javelin, and all preparations for war.

 9 And thus being prepared to meet the Lamanites, they did not prosper against us. But the word of the Lord was verified, which he spake unto our fathers, saying that: Inasmuch as ye will keep my commandments ye shall prosper in the land.

Omni

There are 4 generations and 5 authors who write in this 1 chapter of 1 book. No other book in the Book of Mormon is quite like this. The first 4 authors—Omni, Amaron, Chemish, and Abinadom—only write a couple paragraphs and then pass it on to the next person. The main thing we learn from these men is that the Nephites have experienced a lot of war, and many of them have died. Amaron tells us the more wicked part of the Nephites were killed, which was the Lord’s way of bringing about His prophecy that the wicked would not prosper in the land.

Amaleki gives us more detail—important historical details. He tells us that the king in his day—Mosiah—is warned of the Lord to leave into the wilderness and take with him all the people who have faith in the Lord. They are led by the arm of the Lord until they discover a new people in a new land! They call them the people of Zarahemla and the land of Zarahemla. These people speak another language, but they are a peaceful people and Mosiah’s group unites with them. Mosiah becomes the king of all the people and has his language taught to the people of Zarahemla. Mosiah is also able to translate the ancient record of the people of Zarahemla and learns how they also were led to this “promised land” by the Lord from the land of Jerusalem. We will read more about these people much later in the Book of Mormon—in the book of Ether.

Amaleki also throws in another important piece of historical information. He says in v 27 that there were “a certain number who went up into the wilderness to return to the land of Nephi,” which is the land the Nephites used to be in before the Lord led Mosiah to the land of Zarahemla. He tells us a massive fight erupts among the group and everyone is killed except for 50 who return to Zarahemla. But later another group leaves to try to find the land of Nephi again, and Amaleki hasn’t heard from them since. I point this out because we will read what happened to these people in the book of Mosiah, coming up soon!

I like Amaleki’s words of farewell:

26 And now, my beloved brethren, I would that ye should come unto Christ, who is the Holy One of Israel, and partake of his salvation, and the power of his redemption. Yea, come unto him, and offer your whole souls as an offering unto him, and continue in fasting and praying, and endure to the end; and as the Lord liveth ye will be saved.