Robert, you make a good point. Reading the temple endowment as ending in 2 Ne., the “tongue of angels” fits nicely into the name/veil schematic. When I was rethinking on how Jacob might have extended the temple theme, I instead read being able to speak with the tongue of angels more in terms of being able to speak with and understand angels/messengers. To me, the endowment splits into two halves, the second of which begins with the implication of ongoing instruction received by angels/messengers. It then continues with the themes of chastity and consecration, as does Jacob. Does this make sense? I’m not sure it’s completely there textually, but I think enough of it is to warrant thinking about Jacob this way.

Thanks again for you thought-provoking post—I’m esp. hoping to get to the Nibley bit on Jacob 4 that you mentioned….

I like this reading of the veil extending beyond Nephi and into Jacob (and the implications you suggest about Jacob’s editorial hand in Nephi… something I would find wonderfully ironic, given Nephi’s editing of Jacob in 2 Nephi 6-10…), especially because of the points you mention in terms of chastity and consecration (the two undeniable themes of the Jacob 2-3 discourse). What is interesting, moreover, is that there is a clear shift from the oral to the written in Jacob’s book: while Jacob 1-3 is mostly an oral event that has been committed to textuality, Jacob 4-6 is clearly a textual event, apparently a consequence of Jacob’s retreat from his wicked people (and thus very closely related to, say, 2 Nephi 32:6-7). (I talk a bit about this retreat into textuality in my paper for the Abraham Seminar. I don’t know whether you have had access to that or not, Jenny.) Very rich possibilities for doing further thinking.

Thanks so much for your work!