“This Stone Shall Become the Great, and the Last, and the Only Sure Foundation”: A Nephite Poetics in Jacob 5

Abstract: In this study, three intersecting images are traced through the small plates until Jacob 5, where they directly (or by implication) culminate in the final section of Zenos’s allegory. The three images appear fused together in Nephi’s and Jacob’s writings. Specifically, this literary study tracks the images of the olive vineyard, the sheepfold and pasture, and the cornerstone or rock foundation. These images can be understood best as representing not only Christ but a gospel-centered record to be revealed by him. Fundamental to this reading is the idea that the Good Shepherd gathers his sheep by means of a stone or rock comparable to the gospel of Christ. In making this case, it is helpful to compare related texts such as 2 Nephi 25 and 3 Nephi 27. This analysis is to demonstrate a unity amidst complexity in the aesthetic of the Book of Mormon and offers alternative readings of certain scriptures. Zenos’s allegory is read here as tragicomedy and as one locus for the aforementioned images.