Jacob's Sadness

I have thought a lot of about Jacob 7:26 over the years and what Jacob was really trying to say.  He told us in very somber terms: "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." His sadness expressed in this verse seems somewhat uncharacteristic considering his joyful declarations of 2 Nephi 9 such as "O how great the plan of God!", or even his statement in the previous chapter: "And how blessed are they who have labored diligently in his vineyard!" (Jacob 6:3).  It seems in his statement as he closed his record in the Book of Mormon that there were two things causing his sorrowful words: the fact that they were no longer in Jerusalem, and the great animosity between the Nephites and the Lamanites.  Perhaps he had a great longing to see and be a part of Jerusalem, the land of his fathers, and was saddened that he was born in the wilderness nearby but could never see it.  Knowing that this was the land where the Messiah would walk may have been part of the reason he longed to be there.  I think the greatest sorrow, though, stemed from the fact that his brothers had rejected the gospel and seemed to be continually fighting against the Nephites. Jacob knew that his brothers and much of their posterity would be lost and reject Christ, and surely that caused great sorrow to him.  For their culture especially, family meant everything.  The separation of Lehi's family was a cause of great pain among the righteous Nephites for many generations.