Jacob is inspired by the words of Isaiah (see Isaiah 49:22–23) to discourse on the principle of the scattering and gathering of the house of Israel. Isaiah had prophesied some 200 years earlier concerning the coming of the Messiah and the eventual fulfillment of God’s covenant with His chosen people, who would be scattered and then gathered in the last days. As a prophet in his own right, Jacob is shown by the Lord that Jerusalem has been destroyed and its inhabitants scattered (i.e., through the Babylonian conquest around 587 b.c.).
Jacob is aware because of his own experience that divine scattering occurs both as a punishment and as a protection—a punishment for the wicked who ignore the warnings of the Lord (as in the case of his own brothers, Laman and Lemuel) and a preservation for the righteous (as in the case of his own community under the leadership of Nephi).
In addition, scattering by way of persecution supports the fulfillment of the Abrahamic covenant whereby the gospel is delivered abroad by spokespersons for the Lord, as in the Pauline persecution during the first century b.c. (“Therefore they that were scattered abroad went every where preaching the word”—Acts 8:4). In our day, “scattering” sends missionaries to convey the good news of the Restoration and invite all to come to Christ. Similarly, divine gathering in the dispensation of the fulness of times brings together countless faithful Saints into the protection of the stakes of Zion where all the blessings of the priesthood, including temple ordinances, are available.