Lecture 3 verse 2 states, “that three things are necessary, in order that any rational and intelligent being may exercise faith in God unto life and salvation.”
Number 2 on that list is that a person must have, “A correct idea of his character, perfections and attributes.” (vs.4) and the Lectures give us a breakdown on what those characteristics, attributes, and perfections are.
While 12 characteristics and attributes are listed, I’ve thought for some time that there must be more and wondered what they might be.
My thoughts turned to the Book of Mormon and what new insights about God could be revealed through the text. Jacob’s sermon has drawn my attention over and over again due to it’s complexity and unique features.
As I examined the sermon I identified a potential characteristic of God that I’ll call “Advocate.” This is illustrated particularly in how God relates to his daughters. As a father of four daughters, a brother to three sisters, and brother-in-law to five sisters-in-law, with many nieces all across the board, Jacob’s sermon hits home for me.
With that in mind, I’m going to present eight different observations that align with the idea of God being an advocate. The word “advocate” can be defined as: “one who pleads the cause of another in a court of civil law.”
This fits since Jacob’s sermon is a covenant lawsuit (which is where the idea for the term came from). Ready? Let’s dig in.
1. God has sensory awareness of suffering
“I, the Lord, have seen the sorrow, and heard the mourning”
Jacob 3:31
This is not abstract knowledge or omniscient awareness at a distance. God uses sensory verbs:
- Seen – visual perception of their sorrow
- Heard – auditory perception of their mourning
What this reveals about God’s character:
- God perceives suffering directly through senses
- He doesn’t merely “know about” suffering; He witnesses it and listens to it
- This suggests God is attentive and observant, actively watching His people
- The suffering of these women has reached His awareness and has gotten His attention
This challenges purely philosophical notions of God as an unmoved mover or abstract principle. The Book of Mormon presents a God who experiences the world relationally, whose awareness includes something like seeing and hearing.
2. God comprehends non-articulated communication
“…the cries of the fair daughters… shall come up unto me against the men of my people […] the sobbings of their hearts ascend up to God against you…”
Jacob 2:32, 35
The women’s pain is described as communication directed at God about their oppressors.
What this reveals about God’s character:
- Their suffering itself is speech to God
- Their tears and broken hearts testify before Him
- God receives their pain as evidence or witness testimony
- The word “against” appears twice
- God positions Himself as receiving these complaints in what resembles a legal proceeding
The remarkable implication here God doesn’t need the women to articulate their suffering in words. Instead of articulated grief, their:
- Sorrow (emotional state)
- Mourning (expression of grief)
- Cries (vocal expressions)
- Sobbings (physical manifestations)
- Broken hearts (internal devastation)
All of these are as good as the spoken word to God.
He “hears” and “receives” what they may not even be able to articulate. So when we feel that we don’t have the words to express to God what is inside of us, God understands anyway.
3. God identifies specific qualities in the victims
“…feelings are exceedingly tender and chaste and delicate before God, which thing is pleasing unto God […] the fair daughters […] because of their tenderness […] your tender wives […] in the presence of the pure in heart”
Jacob 2:7, 32, 33, 35, 3:10
Note that God doesn’t just see suffering in the abstract, He perceives and names their specific qualities:
- Fair – beautiful, lovely
- Tender (used 3 times) – vulnerable, soft-hearted, sensitive
- Chaste – pure, virtuous
- Delicate – refined, easily wounded
- Pure in heart
What this reveals about God’s character:
- God sees character, not just suffering
- He values their virtues specifically
- Their tenderness is noted
- Their chastity pleases Him
- He recognizes they came to the temple expecting “the pleasing word of God, yea, the word which healeth the wounded soul”
What is particularly devastating here is that these women came expecting healing, and instead received public exposure of their private humiliation. God acknowledges this through Jacob:
- “to enlarge the wounds of those who are already wounded”
- “instead of consoling and healing their wounds”
- “daggers placed to pierce their souls and wound their delicate minds”
God names the cost of His necessary rebuke and hopefully, this has hit home to the men. God is saying, “Here’s exactly what I see, do you also see what it is that you are causing?”
This is a bit paradoxical at first. God is chastising the Nephite’s for afflicting their women, but God’s rebuke also afflicts them as well. Isn’t God principally against afflicting harm against the innocent? How can we justify this open rebuke that causes more harm?
Rather than being done privately to just the men, God’s condemnations are out in the open in front of everyone, men, women, and children. There are no more secrets and although God understands that this rebuke enlarges the wounds of the wounded, it must also have been refreshing in a way for them to know that God sees them and deeply feels their suffering and is holding the men to account and demanding a cease to the behavior.
Consider this scenario: You have a gunshot victim, the patient has already been wounded by an assailant. The bullet is inside the victim and must be removed or else they will die. The doctor who intervenes must further damage the patient to retrieve the bullet, but it is a necessary intervention to save them.
God’s words may enlarge the wounds of the wounded, but they are necessary for healing to occur and to ultimately save the patient.
4. God refuses to tolerate their victimization
“And I will not suffer, saith the Lord of Hosts, that the cries… shall come up unto me against the men […] For they shall not lead away captive the daughters of my people because of their tenderness, save I shall visit them with a sore curse, even unto destruction”
Jacob 2:32, 33,
The phrase “I will not suffer” means “I will not allow/tolerate/permit.”
What this reveals about God’s character:
- God has a threshold of tolerance for how His children may be treated
- When the cries of the victimized reach Him, He acts
- He will “visit them with a sore curse, even unto destruction” which is the strongest possible language
- God threatens the destruction of the men to protect the women
The severity of God’s response:
- The punishment for breaking women’s hearts due to forcefully inflicted whoredoms is potentially national destruction
- This is more severe than punishment for many other sins
- God says the Nephites have done “greater iniquities than the Lamanites” specifically because of how they’ve treated their women
What this reveals about God’s justice:
- God weighs harm to the vulnerable extremely heavily
- Domestic/marital abuse is treated as among the gravest sins
- God’s protection of the vulnerable is fierce and uncompromising
There is a difference between men and women and their traditional roles; that difference is more pronounced anciently than it is in modern times. In Nephite civilization, the men were in charge here, they were making the justifications, and they were the primary inflictors of gross crimes and unrighteous dominion upon their women and children.
They had taken the virtuous, chaste, and tender into whoredoms, something that God considers an abomination.
5. God takes personal responsibility for the women
“the daughters of my people” (repeated three times) “this people, which I have led out of the land of Jerusalem”
Jacob 2:31, 25
God uses possessive language repeatedly:
- my people (five times)
- I have led them
What this reveals about God’s character:
- God claims responsibility for the women
- They are not just abstract suffering humans; he claims them as HIS daughters
- He led them out of Jerusalem – He has a historical investment in them
- Their suffering is therefore a personal offense to Him
The covenant language:
- God repeatedly uses His formal name: “saith the Lord of Hosts” (6 times in 5 verses)
- This is covenant enforcement language – God speaking in His official capacity
- He’s not making a suggestion; He’s declaring judgment
The men have corrupted their responsibility to be the protectors of their women to the degree that God is threatening to destroy them, if necessary, to protect His daughters.
God inserts himself between the men and their women as a shield while offering the men the opportunity to take back their responsibility by abandoning their wicked practices.
6. God actively advocates for the victims
“he will console you in your afflictions, and he will plead your cause“
Jacob 3:1
Jacob promises the women that God will:
- Console – provide emotional comfort
- Plead their cause – serve as their legal advocate
What this reveals about God’s character:
- God doesn’t just judge the oppressor; He represents the victim
- The phrase “plead your cause” is legal terminology
- God functions as their attorney/advocate in a cosmic courtroom
- He sides with them against their oppressors
God is not a neutral judge weighing both sides equally. When there is abuse and victimization, God takes sides. He becomes not only the legal representative of the powerless, but the judge, jury, and executioner.
7. God perceives multi-generational harm
“…ye have broken the hearts of your tender wives, and lost the confidence of your children, because of your bad examples before them […] ye may, because of your filthiness, bring your children unto destruction, and their sins be heaped upon your heads at the last day…”
Jacob 2:35, 3:10
God sees the harm extends beyond the wives to:
- Children losing confidence in their fathers
- Children’s destruction due to bad examples
- Future sins that will result from current abuse
What this reveals about God’s character:
- God’s justice operates on generational timescales
- He sees the ripple effects of domestic abuse
- The breaking of mothers’ hearts affects children’s spiritual development
- God holds fathers accountable for indirect spiritual harm to children through abuse of mothers
You have a stewardship issue here. The men are responsible for the protection of their families, and in this case, they are the primary source of danger to their families. What is being implemented among them, the amassing of gold and silver, and the amassing of many wives and concubines will create generational damage that will result in destruction.
8. God’s anger is protective, not vindictive
The entire rebuke to the Nephites serves to:
- Stop the abuse (“I will not suffer”)
- Protect the vulnerable (because of their “tenderness”)
- Preserve the victims (will not let them be “led away captive”)
- Console the afflicted (he will console you)
What this reveals about God’s character:
- God’s wrath is defensive rather than punitive
- His anger serves protection
- The severity of His threatened judgment reflects the severity of the harm
- God’s justice is restorative – aimed at consoling victims and stopping abusers
When He threatens the Nephite men with destruction, it is because He “will not suffer” the cries of broken-hearted women to continue ascending against their abusers.
His wrath is defensive: it stops abuse, protects the vulnerable, and consoles the afflicted. The severity of His judgment reflects the severity of the harm.
This reveals that God’s justice is restorative, aimed at protecting victims and stopping oppressors, not merely punishing sin. His anger serves protection; it is the fierce response of a God who refuses to remain neutral when the vulnerable are victimized.
Conclusion
We learn that God actively represents the cause of the vulnerable and oppressed, receiving their suffering as testimony against their abusers and intervening on their behalf to secure justice and provide comfort.
God perceives suffering through sensory awareness, receives it as legal testimony, claims personal relationship with victims, refuses to tolerate oppression, actively represents their interests before demanding justice, and provides comfort alongside vindication.
This goes beyond justice and mercy to advocacy and active championing. It reveals a God who is not neutral in the face of abuse, but who becomes the legal representative and fierce protector of the broken-hearted.
God hears the sobbings of the broken-hearted, receives their suffering as testimony against their oppressors, and actively pleads their cause before executing justice on their behalf.
