Jacob 6-7

(February 16, 2015)

                The striking thing to me is the similarities that exist between the record of Jacob’s confrontation with Sherem and Alma’s confrontation with Korihor.  It seems clear that the record on Korihor is informed by the record on Sherem, which is a great evidence of the validity of the Book of Mormon.  What many people don’t understand is that Jacob was one of the last parts of the book to be translated, and thus the record of Sherem was translated by Joseph Smith long after the record of Korihor was translated.  If Joseph Smith was writing this book, we would see fingerprints of Korihor on Sherem rather than seeing fingerprints of Sherem on Korihor.  But we see what we would expect -- Korihor presenting refinements of the arguments raised by Sherem and Alma responding with refinements of the arguments raised by Jacob.