Priesthood

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Esau and Jacob

January 23, 2010 in Priesthood by Greg | 10 comments

Recently, a friend pointed me to an interesting account of how the birthright blessings of the patriarchal priesthood were given to Jacob, and not Esau. According to the biblical account,

Esau and Jacob by Matthias Stom And Isaac intreated the Lord for his wife, because she was barren: and the Lord was intreated of him, and Rebekah his wife conceived. And the children struggled together within her; and she said, If it be so, why am I thus? And she went to enquire of the Lord. And the Lord said unto her, Two nations are in thy womb, and two manner of people shall be separated from thy bowels; and the one people shall be stronger than the other people; and the elder shall serve the younger. And when her days to be delivered were fulfilled, behold, there were twins in her womb. And the first came out red, all over like an hairy garment; and they called his name Esau. And after that came his brother out, and his hand took hold on Esau’s heel; and his name was called Jacob: and Isaac was threescore years old when she bare them. (Genesis 25:21-26).

Commenting, Bruce H. Porter wrote:

The mother of the twins learned that “two nations” were within her, and that “the elder shall serve the younger.” It must be noted that the revelation concerning the birthright came to Rebekah, and not to Isaac the father of the children. Rebekah, knowing that Jacob was the chosen one of the Lord and the one who should receive the birthright blessing from Isaac, began the preparations.

Twice Rebekah commanded Jacob; “. . . obey my voice . . .” (Gen. 27:8, 13). Holding a position of authority, the matriarch directed her son in the arrangements that were to be made and the information that would be given to Isaac during the ritual blessing. She appeared not only to be fully acquainted with the liturgy, but also played a key role in the blessing itself. Jacob’s fears are manifested in his concern that he might appear to be the “deceiver” (vs. 12) and that there would be “a curse…and not a blessing.” This foreboding of Jacob was quickly silenced when “his mother said unto him, Upon me be thy curse, my son: only obey my voice . . .” Only in a position of authority may one be responsible for the actions of another, as Rebekah promised she would be. Had this been a deception, Rebekah as well as her son Jacob would be held accountable. Yet neither are reprimanded in the scriptural text by Isaac or the Lord. Jacob’s mother accepted full responsibility for the correct or incorrect (as it seemed) performance and acceptability of this priesthood ordinance as executed by the patriarch.

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Spiritual Knowledge

October 11, 2009 in Education by Greg | No comments

In 1993, Richard G. Scott spoke about acquiring spiritual knowledge at BYU’s Campus Education Week. In beginning his talk, Elder Scott asked, “Why center on spiritual knowledge?” to which he responded by quoting Spencer W. Kimball:

Olive_Tree Spiritual learning takes precedence. The secular without the foundation of the spiritual is but like the foam upon the milk, the fleeting shadow.

Do not be deceived! One need not choose between the two . . . for there is opportunity to get both simultaneously; . . .

Secular knowledge, important as it may be, can never save a soul nor open the celestial kingdom nor create a world nor make a man a god, but it can be most helpful to that man who, placing first things first, has found the way to eternal life and who can now bring into play all knowledge to be his tool and servant. (Teachings of Spencer W. Kimball, p. 390.)

He also quoted others:

President J. Reuben Clark observed:

There is spiritual learning just as there is material learning, and the one without the other is not complete; yet, speaking for myself, if I could have only one sort of learning, that which I would take would be the learning of the spirit, because in the hereafter I shall have opportunity in the eternities which are to come to get the other, and without spiritual learning here my handicaps in the hereafter would be all but overwhelming. (CR, April 1934, p. 94.)

President Gordon B. Hinckley stated:

This restored gospel brings not only spiritual strength, but also intellectual curiosity and growth. Truth is truth. There is no clearly defined line of demarcation between the spiritual and the intellectual when the intellectual is cultivated and pursued in balance with the pursuit of spiritual knowledge and strength.

The Lord Almighty, through revelation, has laid a mandate upon this people in these words:

“Seek ye out of the best books words of wisdom; seek learning, even by study and also by faith” (D&C 88:118). (CR, April 1986, p. 63; also, “Come and Partake,” Ensign, May 1986, p. 48.) . . .

As knowledge unfolds it must be understood, valued, used, remembered, and expanded.

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Endowment Ceremony

August 23, 2009 in Temple by Greg | 8 comments

Writing in a book heralding the richness of women’s heritage in helping lay the foundation of the latter-day kingdom, Carol Cornwall Madsen quoted John A. Widtsoe who provided one of the most “explicit descriptions” of the LDS temple endowment ceremony.1 She wrote:

Carol Cornwall Madsen As the message of the temple became clearer, the Saints came to understand that it was not enough to live Christ-like lives and to develop their own private relationship with the Savior. As meritorius as this life pattern might be, it alone could not assure them a place in the celestial kingdom, the dwelling place of the Father. However, accompanied by the saving ordinances of the gospel, it promised a meaningful life here and eternal life hereafter. Thus in Mormon doctrine the temple is the heart and core of the gospel, and all else derives meaning and purpose from it. Yet not all were ready to receive this saving knowledge. “There are a great many wise men and women too in our midst,” Joseph Smith lamented, “who are too wise to be taught; therefore they must die in their ignorance, and in the resurrection they will find their mistake. Many seal up the door to heaven by saying, So far God may reveal and I will believe.”2 Had the Saints been more spiritually prepared, Joseph explained, he could have revealed more to them sooner than he did.3

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  1. Madsen, Carol Cornwall in Maureen Ursenbach Beecher and Lavina Fiedling Anderson, eds. Sisters in Spirit: Mormon Women in Historical and Cultural Perspective. University of Illinois Press, 1987. 89.↩
  2. Smith, ed., Teachings of the Prophet Joseph Smith, p. 309.↩
  3. History of the Church, 2:309-10, 426. George A. Smith told a congregation of Saints in Salt Lake City in 1855 that, at the time of the completion of the Kirtland Temple, had the Lord “revealed one single sentiment more, or went one step further to reveal more fully the law of redemption, I believe He would have upset the whole of us. The fact was, He dare not, on that very account, reveal to us a single principle further than He had done, for He had tried, over and over again, to do it.” 18 March 1855, Journal of Discourses 1:215. Note: For a more complete explanation, see Elder George A. Smith’s comments in the post O Jerusalem – Ed.↩

Holy Order in the Book of Mormon

August 20, 2009 in Priesthood by Greg | No comments

The Book of Mormon contains a number of references to the holy order – or the Holy Priesthood, after the Order of the Son of God -1, many of which are found in the book of Alma. In “The Holy Order of God”, Robert L. Millet wrote:

Priest entering the Holy of Holies To the wayward people of Ammonihah, Amulek had delivered a poignant testimony of Christ as God, had borne witness of the necessity of repentance, and had held out the hope of redemption from sin and death through the merits and mercy of the coming Messiah (see Alma 11:26-46). Alma then delivered a companion and confirming witness of the reality of the Savior and the manner in which men and women can, through faith, pass from death unto eternal life. “Therefore,” he said, quoting the Lord to the ancients, “whosoever repenteth, and hardeneth not his heart, he shall have claim on mercy through mine Only Begotten Son, unto a remission of his sins; and these shall enter into my rest.” Alma then pleaded: “And now, my brethren, seeing we know these things, and they are true, let us repent, and harden not our hearts, . . . but let us enter into the rest of God, which is prepared according to his word” (Alma 12:34, 37). It is in the context of Alma’s discussion of how the Saints can, through applying the atoning blood of Christ, enter into the rest of God, that Alma begins a discussion of the holy order of God. His discussion is a deep and ponderous and insightful prophetic declaration as to how, through the blessings of the priesthood—those called and prepared from the foundation of the world—the people of God may be sanctified from sin and enjoy the “words of eternal life” in this mortal sphere, all in preparation for eternal life with God and holy beings hereafter (see Moses 6:59).2

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  1. See D&C 107:3; for a more thorough review of the priesthood and its orders, see Ellsworth, Richard G. “Priesthood”. 1992. Encyclopedia of Mormonism. 2009.↩
  2. Millet, Robert L. “The Holy Order of God”. Monte S. Nyman and Charles D. Tate, Jr., eds. Alma, The Testimony of the Word. Provo, Utah: BYU Religious Studies Center, 1992. 61-86.↩

Like the Love of Jonathan for David

August 2, 2009 in Religion by Greg | No comments

The Bible records the great love that Jonathan had for David:

David_and_Jonathan_by_Rembrandt_1642 And it came to pass, when he had made an end of speaking unto Saul, that the soul of Jonathan was knit with the soul of David, and Jonathan loved him as his own soul. And Saul took him that day, and would let him go no more home to his father’s house. Then Jonathan and David made a covenant, because he loved him as his own soul. And Jonathan stripped himself of the robe that was upon him, and gave it to David, and his garments, even to his sword, and to his bow, and to his girdle.1

In 1890, George Q. Cannon elaborated upon one of the meanings of this scriptural passage:

But in addition to this, there is this remarkable union to which I have referred. How wonderfully God has manifested this spirit among the Latter-day Saints. As soon as men and women have been baptized in water and had hands laid upon them for the reception of the Holy Ghost a new spirit has descended upon them. They left their parents, their brothers and sisters; they left their children; they left their friends with whom they had associated; they left those whom they loved with an intense love; and I have known men and women who, before joining this Church, would as soon have thought of committing suicide as of leaving their homes and gathering with the Saints of God, the very thought being exceedingly repugnant to them, especially to go to a distant land and among strange people; but no sooner have they been baptized and had hands laid upon them for the reception of the Holy Ghost than a change has taken place. A new spirit has taken possession of them. Instead of that overpowering love for kindred which they formerly possessed, another love took its place–a love for those who were formerly strangers to them. Men and women who had entered into covenant with God then became to them the dearest friends on earth. And if their fathers and their mothers, and their brothers and sisters would not receive the Gospel, instead of that having the effect to wean them from the Gospel and destroy their love for it, it only had the effect to intensify their affection for the truth and for those who had entered into covenant with God. When men receive the everlasting Gospel and the Priesthood, there is a love begotten in their hearts for their fellowmen such as they never have felt before. Like the love of Jonathan for David, it is “passing the love of women.” It is stronger than the love of women. It overpowers it. Not that it quenches the love of women or makes it improper; but it is a greater love, it surpasses it. This is the love that enters into the hearts of women who embrace the Gospel, and causes them to love the Elders of this Church as they never loved any one before. And it is a pure love. They love them as they would angels from heaven. It is not an unvirtuous love. It is a love that comes from God. It is the love of the Holy Ghost, the love of purity, the love of truth, the love that we would have for holy beings—a part of the love that we have for God Himself, and for our Lord and Savior Jesus. This love unites them together with a bond and strength of affection that was never known before. The restoration of this Gospel to the earth has begotten a new love among mankind. It is a love that comes from God Himself, and it is poured out upon His children, and it makes us one, when we cherish it as we should do. It makes us love one another as no other beings upon the face of the earth can love, because, as I say, it is the love of God.2

This explanation reminded me of Lorenzo Snow’s account of the Holy Ghost.

Sources:

  1. 1 Samuel 18:1-4.↩
  2. Cannon, George Q. Collected Discourses. 3 August 1890: Vol. 2.↩

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