2 Nephi 13

(All of my own thoughts are in red type.5/20 Green 2/21 orange 5/22 Brown 2023

Chapter 13

Judah and Jerusalem will be punished for their disobedience—The Lord pleads for and judges His people—The daughters of Zion are cursed and tormented for their worldliness—Compare Isaiah 3. About 559–545 B.C.

  1 ^aFor behold, the Lord, the Lord of Hosts, doth take away from Jerusalem, and from Judah, the stay and the staff, the whole staff of bread, and the whole stay of water—Famine? Is there a difference between Judah and Jerusalem? Is one a people and one a place? Gileadi says they are codenames for the Lord's end-time people. I associate the staff to a shepherd/leader. Could this mean that He's not leading our leaders at this point? Gileadi - The covenant curses are coming upon his people. The basic necessities they have so long taken for granted peter out. Society spirals into anarchy and chaos.
  2 The ^amighty man, and the man of ^bwar, the judge, and the prophet, prophet? and the ^cprudent, and the ancient;
  3 The captain of fifty, and the honorable man, and the counselor, and the cunning artificer, and the eloquent orator. Is he taking away ALL of these? When the people who hold communities together, whose duty is to safeguard against corruption, become corrupt themselves, a nation disintegrates from within. Jehovah's people have forgotten their God. (Gileadi)
  4 And I will give children unto them to be their princes, and babes shall rule over them. These verses make clear that it doesn't matter what your position of power. Christ is the king and His 'princes' and 'babes' are the ones who he's given power to rule. Does 'princes' refer to priesthood power? What does 'babes' refer to? Will those in power seem as 'babes' to the above list of people? Too young and inexperienced to be over them? Gileadi says this refers to the "spiritually immature and the recklessly wasteful and wildly extravagant" who end up governing the people bringing the nation to ruin.  They rely on their own wisdom and their darkened minds can't foresee the end result of their extreme wickedness.   
  5 And the people shall be ^aoppressed, every one by another, and every one by his neighbor; the child shall behave himself ^bproudly against the ancient, and the base against the honorable. Lots of strife going on here and pride. People turn on each other when they no longer have confidence in their leaders. As Jehovah withdraws his Spirit, the spirits of demons overcome them.  The rising generation has turned dishonest and selfish and show know respect or honor to the older generation. (Gileadi)
  6 When a man shall take hold of his brother of the house of his father, and shall say: Thou hast clothing, be thou our ruler, and let not this ^aruin come under thy hand—This sounds like, because of 'want', people will be willing to go in to slavery to even their own family. As law and order become nonexistent, people band together into clans for self-protection. There is only chaos.  Out of desperation people take hold of a person who formerly held office ('clothing') - govt official, judge, police officer, soldier, clerk, or even a mailman - and pressure him to deliver them from their plight! (Gileadi)
  7 In that day shall he swear, saying: I will not be a healer; for in my house there is neither bread nor clothing; make me not a ruler of the people.
  8 For Jerusalem is ^aruined, and Judah is ^bfallen, because their ^ctongues and their doings have been against the Lord, to ^dprovoke the eyes of his glory. The wicked of Jehovah's people falter and stumble as they speak evil before God. (Gileadi)
  9 The show of their countenance doth witness against them, and doth declare their ^asin to be even as ^bSodom, and they cannot hide it. Wo unto their souls, for they have rewarded evil unto themselves! No one can save your from your sins. The punishment is affixed to the law. Only repentance can end your woes. Is having “evil rewarded unto themselves” mean the evil you sought is your reward? Isn't the sin of Sodom homosexuality? Are we being too accepting of this practice? I have great worries about this subject in our church today! Perverted sexual acts are widespread among Jehovah's people. It is flaunted openly and shows in his people's faces and behavior. "Wo" is a covenant curse that is pronounced upon both body and spirit. "Disaster" refers to Jehovah's Day of Judgment, when he commissions the King of Assyria/Babylon to wreak a Sodom-and-Gomorrah type destruction on the wicked of his people. (Gileadi)
  10 Say unto the righteous that it is ^awell with them; for they shall ^beat the fruit of their doings. Safety and security lies in obedience and righteousness. Hard to imagine with all this going on that it could be “well” with anyone... if you take this literally, that the righteous will eat the fruit of their doings, then those temporally prepared will not have their food stolen or taken from them. Not sure how that could work unless we were gathered to places of safety. The righteous who keep faith with Jehovah through troubled times are gathered to safety before calamity strikes. Covenant blessings come to those who have been faithful and laid up "the fruits of their own labors" for the evil day. They enjoy sufficiency even as others starve.  (Gileadi)
  11 Wo unto the wicked, for they shall perish; for the reward of their hands shall be upon them! You reap what you sow. This completes the chiasm of a. covenant curse b. covenant blessing a. covenant curse. Once the righteous are gathered out from among the wicked, the wicked suffer the "fruits of their own labors" - calamity (Gileadi)
  12 And my people, children are their oppressors, and women rule over them. O my people, they who ^alead thee cause thee to err and destroy the way of thy paths. Who are "my people"? Members of the church? the house of Israel? the Gentiles of this land? I don't think the "people who lead thee" is referring to the prophet. It could just be referring to anyone we let lead us instead of the Lord. Who are the women that rule over them? Is it women in government? Pelosi? Hillary? Our Vice President is Kamala Harris...Who are the children? Young leaders like OCC? Lots of younger people get caught up in protests and riots Clearly seeing that our government is leading us down paths of destruction. I even think that our church leaders are mistakenly causing us to err. I don’t think it is deliberate, but I feel it is clearly a mistake to encourage people to take this new vaccine. My using the covenant formula "my people...my people" Jehovah shows he seeks to reclaim his people to the very last from their corrupt condition.  "Babes" and "women" probably refer to the spiritually immature or less than men in their personal lives.  Their oppressive leadership in "misleading" Jehovah's people - "abolishing" well-proven principles and established guidelines - causes society to disintegrate, leaving them vulnerable to disaster. (Gileadi)  
  13 The Lord standeth up to ^aplead, and standeth to judge the people. Another chiasm - a. "leaders" of "my people, b. the "nations" a. the "elders" and "rulers" of "his people" - tells us Jehovah's people, with their leaders are dispersed among all nations.  Jehovah is coming like a judge to put them on trial, to condemn those who serve themselves instead of his people. (Gileadi)
  14 The Lord will enter into ^ajudgment with the ancients of his people and the princes thereof; for ye have eaten up the ^bvineyard and the spoil of the ^cpoor in your houses. Is he talking about 'his people' as those who are not of the church, but worship Him through other faiths...who use their contributions to build up their own wealth. Our leaders don't do that... The "ancients of his people" does sound like the prophet and apostles. The "princes" could be the younger general authorities. Maybe this is a condemnation of the use of the tithes of the people. We know they have invested billions of dollars in the stock market and many of those companies are engaged in corrupt practices. Could that not have been used to help the poor? We do spend millions helping the poor, but there are still more poor to help. Maybe we aren't to spend so much on our temples? Jehovah shows his intent to care for his people in spite of their leaders' lack of care.  The "needy" are "his people".  The wealthy and powerful fall prey to pride while the needy's lowlly circumstances keep them humble.  The leaders feed on the taxes and tithes of the poor or represent Jehovah's covenant people. (Gileadi) It makes me wonder if the government confiscates the tithes (billions) of the members. 
  15 What mean ye? Ye ^abeat my people to pieces, and grind the faces of the poor, saith the Lord God of Hosts.
 16 Moreover, the Lord saith: Because the daughters of Zion are ^ahaughty, and ^bwalk with stretched-forth necks and wanton eyes, walking and mincing as they go, and making a tinkling with their feet—daughters of Zion seems pretty specific to members of the church. Women have sacrificed their feminine virtue and natural dignity and obsess on the physical at the expense of the spiritual.  In their attempts to please men, they contrive ways to attract their attention instead of placing their confidence in God.  They once were faithful, but instead of ascending further, they have spiritually descended. (Gileadi)
  17 Therefore the Lord will smite with a ^ascab the crown of the head of the daughters of Zion, and the Lord will ^bdiscover their secret parts. Have we become too worldly? What are our 'secret parts'? Is this still future? 
  18 In that ^aday the Lord will take away the bravery of their tinkling ornaments, and cauls, and round tires like the moon; We get a false sense of confidence from outward clothing. 
  19 The chains and the bracelets, and the mufflers;
  20 The bonnets, and the ornaments of the legs, and the headbands, and the tablets, and the ear-rings;
  21 The rings, and nose jewels;
  22 The changeable suits of apparel, and the mantles, and the wimples, and the crisping-pins;
  23 The glasses, and the fine linen, and hoods, and the veils.
  24 And it shall come to pass, instead of sweet smell there shall be stink; and instead of a girdle, a rent; and instead of well set hair, ^abaldness; from nuclear fallout? and instead of a stomacher, a girding of sackcloth; ^bburning instead of ^cbeauty. To press home the extremes to which Zion's women go to beautify themselves, Isaiah gives an entire inventory of ways the wealthy women beautify themselves. But it all turn to utter deprivation and they are confronted on relying solely on Jehovah.  He humbles those who exalt themselves and exalts those who humble themselves, whose lives the rich might have blessed. (Gileadi)
  25 Thy men shall fall by the sword and thy mighty in the war. Zion's women lose their men to war.  Jehovah warned them if they didn't repent they would be "eaten by the sword" but they ignored him. (Gileadi)
  26 And her ^agates shall lament and ^bmourn; and she shall be desolate, infertile? and shall ^csit upon the ground. Not a pretty picture! We don't want to say these things are talking about US...but Nephi likened these words to his own people...if the shoe fits, wear it! We should do the same... Jehovah's wife who has pled the harlot finds herself bereft of her divine provider and protector.  Self-centered instead of God-centered, she is left destitute - a covenant curse - Jehovan's people must learn the hard way from whence their blessings come.