Jacob's personality -- Part 2

Having looked for Jacob's "distinct voice" in the Book of Mormon, I am trying to get under his skin. I showed some examples in part 1. Compared to other Book of Mormon writers and the relative proportion of his writings, Jacob seems very focused on

• His anxiety for the welfare of the Nephites
• Taking his duty to preach very seriously, to avoid his garments being stained with the blood of his listeners
• The awful endless torment of the damned, the "lake of fire and brimstone"

All these three seem related somehow and they help us understand the person, Jacob. He is an anxious person and his anxiety is related to the welfare of his people. He does everything in his power to help them understand and avoid "the consequences of sin" (2 Nephi 9:48), which he describes liberally in strong symbolic terms. That is why he also takes his duty to preach so seriously.

In general, Jacob comes across as a dramatic and even a bit poetic type of person. In addition to the trends from the quotes in part 1, this side of his personality I think is reflected in statements like these:

O how great the goodness of our God, who prepareth a way for our escape from the grasp of this awful monster (2 Nephi 9:10)

O that he would show you that he can pierce you, and with one glance of his eye he can smite you to the dust! (Jacob 2:15)

our lives passed away like as it were unto us a dream, we being a lonesome and a solemn people, wanderers, cast out from Jerusalem, born in tribulation, in a wilderness, and hated of our brethren, which caused wars and contentions; wherefore, we did mourn out our days (Jacob 7:26)

Add to that, Jacob is also quoting from the Book of Psalms several times in his book, which is not otherwise frequently quoted in the Book of Mormon. Perhaps Jacob was musically talented too?

There are of course too few clues to get a deep understanding of Jacob's personality and perhaps my analysis is a bit off. But I think it's an interesting exercise nonetheless. The Book of Mormon authors were real people with distinct personalities and character traits and I hope that I'm able to meet them some day and thank them for their invaluable contribution.

For more fact-based information about Jacob, this is what we know

• He was born in the wilderness after his family had fled Jerusalem, meaning he never lived in Jerusalem like his parents and older brothers. All he knew about Jerusalem was what he had heard and read
• He suffered much affliction and sorrow in his childhood because of the rudeness of his brothers (2 Nephi 2:1)
• He saw the Savior in his youth (2 Nephi 2:4 and 2 Nephi 11:3)
• After they separated from Laman, Lemuel and the others, Jacob was consecrated by Nephi a priest and teacher over the people
• The Book of Mormon says nothing about his age, but he might have lived to be very old, and possibly also had children at an old age (remarried?), since his son Enos was still alive 179 years after Lehi left Jerusalem (Enos 1:25), which would be a few years before Jacob's birth.