D&C 106 – 108 (2020 repost)

[00:00:00] Speaker A: Foreign. Welcome to the weekly Deep Dive podcast on the Add On Education Network. The podcast where we take a look at the weekly Come follow me discussion and try to add a little insight and unique perspective. I am your host, Jason Lloyd, here in the studio with my friend and the show's producer, Nate. Broken ribs, Pifer. [00:00:33] Speaker B: Oh, man. What's up? [00:00:36] Speaker A: It's good you survived the fall, man. [00:00:39] Speaker B: Maybe you should be asking me that, right? What's up? [00:00:42] Speaker A: What's up, Nate? [00:00:43] Speaker B: My ribs are just jacked up. [00:00:45] Speaker A: Learn how to walk, Nate. [00:00:46] Speaker B: This had nothing to do with walking. [00:00:48] Speaker A: It's true. Don't. [00:00:49] Speaker B: Don't. Don't do me like that, Jason. [00:00:52] Speaker A: You're right. [00:00:55] Speaker B: Standing is really hard for me. That's what it has to do with. [00:00:58] Speaker A: Well, I think standing in slippery substance like oil is probably hard for most. [00:01:02] Speaker B: People on an angled flatbed. Yes. [00:01:05] Speaker A: When you're dealing with your car. [00:01:06] Speaker B: Yeah. Life goes on. [00:01:08] Speaker A: Rough week. [00:01:09] Speaker B: What are we talking about this week? [00:01:11] Speaker A: This week we're talking about Doctrine and covenants, sections 106 through108. 107 is kind of the meat of the episode. Well, maybe not the meat of the episode. We'll see. It's the meat of the sections. 107 is the longest section. [00:01:28] Speaker B: Okay. [00:01:28] Speaker A: But we'll start with 106. 107 is another dive into the priesthood. And I feel like we've talked about the priesthood quite a bit when we did Doctrine and covenants section 20, and again when we did doctrine and covenants section 84 with the oath and the covenant. Some things are worth repeating. We will look at some of the genealogies there and the priesthood handoffs, how maybe it differs from doctrine and Covenants 84. But let's start with 106. All right. Warren Cowdery, Oliver's older brother, gets appointed to be a presiding high priest over the area. He's called to preach and warn the people. And as I was reading this, what stood out to me was the word warn and this idea like, he who is warned, it's his duty to warn someone else. And what does it mean to warn somebody? And I think the connotation, in our day and age, at least, I think the idea to warn someone, particularly when it comes to the gospel, is like repent or you're going to hell. That's what comes to my mind. But I don't think that's what the Lord's asking him to do here. So I decided to do a little bit of research here. As we look at the word warn means to admonish, to exhort as to an action or conduct, to notify, advise or inform, to sell someone of danger or a problem that they need to know about. So you can see how it kind of has that sense. It comes from the same root word as to be wary. And this idea of to be wary, meaning to be aware of, so aware comes from the same root word of as warn. So be aware and beware literally means be aware. That's just a contraction. And it means to be in the know, to know about something that's going to happen or to be informed. And this idea, you know, we say this, you know, you should have warned me first, you should have given me a heads up. It's not necessarily saying like, oh, repent and go to hell. It's like, hey, let me know next time that's going to happen or tell me about that, or give me some knowledge, give me some forewarning or some information so I can make a better decision going into this. And I think that's the idea is we're not supposed to be building this wall up of criticism, of harsh, hey, go to hell or don't go. That's a bad way of saying it. Repent or you're going to hell. Or guess what, God's given us this land and so you say what you want now, but he's going to smite you. Just so you know, God told me to warn you, he's going to smite you. You're all smitten and gone and you're all going to hell. I do not think that is what the Lord meant by warn the people. I think what he is saying is these people need to know, they need to be aware, they need to be alert like the watchman on the tower. They need to be informed, tell them, teach them, so that they understand and that they are better informed to make the decisions that they need to make that are going to bring them happiness in their life. And I think that's a key difference. Let's not go out and build walls. Let's help other people understand our perspective. Let's not say we're super different. You talk about early Christians and the gladiator rings who were throwing themselves in there to the lions to be these martyrs, right? These saints, they almost prided themselves in being a little bit strange or a little bit weird or being super different from everybody else and how everybody else was damned. And this idea that you go and warn them, I don't know if I am making sense, but creating this contrast, this Division, this friction, when really what the Lord is saying is, hey, help these people to see things from my perspective. You guys aren't different. You're all my children. Help them to understand so that they can make the same decisions that you are. Help them be informed, to help drive those decisions. Anyways, that is a long dive into warning the people. But I think that was the sense that warning had back then. That doesn't necessarily carry that connotation as much today when we talk about warning people. Okay, next. And devote his whole time to this high and holy calling. So for him, this becomes a full time job. And some people, people are called to a full time job where they work for the church or they represent the church. And the idea that it's going to be a full time calling for him. It's echoed in the statement where he says the laborer is worthy of his hire. That's kind of a statement I really like because it stuck with me for the years when I was a young man, I worked at a countertop factory. And the guy there used to be my young men's leader. But he paid us a fair wage and he would tell us the laborer is worthy of the hire. He treated us well. And, and I thought it was neat. You have an opportunity to pay somebody. And understand sometimes in a working relationship you don't feel like you're wasting money on people. They are worthy of the hire. You do want to treat them as best you can. You do want to make sure that they're well taken care of. And the laborer in exchange feels like they're getting value from the relationship. They want to return that value in kind. And this idea of being worthy of the hire, I don't know, just kind of a phrase that's always kind of stood out to me in my mind. Okay, next he's talking about the coming of the Lord again, this idea of alerting the people, making them aware, teaching them, informing them. He says the coming of the Lord overtaketh the world as a thief in the night. But to the children of the light, it's not going to overtake them as a thief in the night because they'll know what to look for. But those who aren't looking, it will take them as a thief in the night. The night. And that's a common phrase, we've heard it before, this idea that the Lord comes as a thief in the night. And I wanted to. I know we've talked about this a little bit before in previous episodes, but I did want to take A minute to hit on this again. To me, if a thief is breaking in the night, it's because he doesn't want to be detected. And this idea that he's doing it stealthily or the thief is coming in so that nobody notices when he's there, it's not that he's going in an armed robbery, announcing his presence, it's that he's in and out and you didn't even know he came. And it depends on the intentions of the thief and what they are looking for. If they are just coming in and stealing some money that was laying around, you might not even know that the thief came even after the morning has come, because you're wondering, did I really place the money there or did I put it somewhere else? I can't remember where I set it, or if it's a tool or something that he took. Like did I lend that out to somebody or do I still have it? Or did I put it somewhere, or where did I set it? Did I leave it on a job somewhere? To where you're even wondering, was it a thief or was it just me? That was careless. You're not even sure. You're starting to doubt it. Depending on how careful the thief was. Of course, that's not going to be the case if a thief comes in and cleans you out, right? If the thief in the night comes through and steals everything down to the sheet that you're covering yourself with on your bed, you're going to know it was a thief in the night. Whether Christ is coming as the thief in the night that's going to rob you down to your pajamas, or whether he's coming to take a few things and you're not even going to know it until you start asking questions and thinking about it. And then you start thinking, wait a second, and realizing what happened. I am not 100% sure, but I kind of like to think of his coming as a thief in the night is almost this idea where you are even wondering if he came at all. Like, did I miss something? Did he come and you are not sure. Kind of like how the Messiah, the first time was that the Messiah. And there was some question there, did the Messiah come for Jews versus Christians and whatnot? And some thoughts along that line. I was reading an article published in 2013 and the article was titled Megatons to Megawatts. In the article it states that over the past two decades. So this would be 2000, let's see, 1993 to 2013. So over the past two decades 10% of all the electricity consumed in the United States has come from Russian nuclear warheads. [00:10:46] Speaker B: What? [00:10:48] Speaker A: 10% of all electricity in the United States from Russian nuclear warheads. Over 20,000 nuclear bombs converted into fuel for nuclear power plants. This was part of an agreement that Reagan and Gorbachev, if I'm not mistaken, made. And this idea that Russia had a huge surplus of nuclear weapons and the US Agreed to purchase the surplus and use it for fuel to power their power plants. And so as I look at this agreement, and it ended, 2013 was the last year they sold the last of the nuclear bombs. And I can't help but think of Isaiah's writings when he says, they shall beat their swords into plowshares and to pruning hooks. This idea that you're taking these instruments of war and using them for agriculture, using them to benefit and help the people. And how much more fitting the idea that the United States is taking these nuclear weapons, these swords, if you will, of the Soviets from an enemy, a combatant, and converting them into a peaceful instrument for their own people. [00:12:04] Speaker B: Killer. [00:12:05] Speaker A: Yeah. And I am not going to say that is the literal fulfillment of the scripture. And maybe something else happened, but what if some of these things are happening to us as a thief in the night? What if we did not even notice it and we look back and say, wait, what? When he talks about the lion laying down with the lamb. And I think we talked about this before. The idea that zoos didn't become a big thing until the 1800s. And this idea that you can go to a place and you can see these lions and these fierce beasts brought in from all around the world in the same place as you see lambs and goats and peaceful animals and a child playing on the hole of an asp. And you see that when I take my kids to the zoo and they're sitting there tapping on the glass of the rattlesnake or the cobra or whatever the case may be. And I know the signs say do not tap on the glass, but what kid can resist tapping on the glass of a. I don't know. Yeah, but the idea of a kid playing on the home of a poisonous serpent, maybe some of these things that we were waiting for in a millennial society, this idea of peace, this idea of things happening, maybe they hit us like a thief in the night. And it's not to say everything is going to be like a thief in the night. And it's not even to say that I. I do not know what is going to happen. How it is all going to happen. All I will say is, just as he said here, warn people in the idea of illuminate them, teach them to love the scriptures, to read the scriptures, to understand the scriptures, so that when they start seeing these things happen, it will resonate with them and they will understand it and it won't catch them by surprise. Okay, next, he says that Warren Cowdery bowed to my scepter. I thought that was kind of an interesting phrase, bowing to my scepter. And it's interesting. The scepter has been this status symbol, this image of power of the king. The pharaohs would have their scepter in Egypt. It was a big status thing. The Romans had their scepter with the eagle on it, a sign of kingship. [00:14:18] Speaker B: Dude. But Moses had his scepter. [00:14:20] Speaker A: Dude, with the snake, Moses had his scepter. He did. And I'm glad you brought that. Mentioning that Aaron, the rod of Aaron, when a signal that the priesthood should reside with him, the scepter. And so the scepter is this image of power. And as you look up the scepter in Greek, it's the same root as the. As the verb that means to prop oneself up with or to help them to stand, almost like a staff, like this cane, something they use as an aid to help them, to lift them up, to hold them. Right. So the scepter of Christ as the king, the ultimate king who is bound to his scepter, referring to God. Well, what lifted him up? The scepter is almost here. The cross and this imagery of this wooden beam that lifted him up. And you go back to this imagery of the tree of life or the tree of death. And you've got this imagery of Christ hanging on this tree or this scepter, this cross. Christ is referred to as the branch, a rod, the stem of Jesse, the idea that he shall go up as a tender root from this rod that comes from the ground. So I wonder where it all came from. And this idea, maybe at least anciently, the idea was that kingship always came from heaven, that God decided who was going to rule in God's place here on earth. And maybe that was the idea that God said, if you were going to rule in my place as a symbol, a status of that you hold a scepter. This idea that the staff that holds me up is what you're going to be using as a guide to help you, hold you up and sustain you as you help these people. So I don't know. Scepter is always Kind of an interesting thing for me. [00:16:15] Speaker B: Well, even in Catholicism, still don't the staffs that they walk around with have like the cross in them and stuff like that? [00:16:20] Speaker A: Yes. [00:16:22] Speaker B: I mean, I think that Catholicism still really leans into that. The scepter with the cross on it. [00:16:30] Speaker A: Yes. You see it in some cultures, some societies, even monarchies, even in England, the idea that scepter still has some permanence to it. I just think a lot of us in our society today, at least the Latter Day Saint community, it is a concept maybe we are a little bit more removed from, even though at one point was a very ingrained part. And in some sense we almost have a bit of that. When you think of holding to the rod and you know, those necklaces and you have a rod with a hand holding on to it, there's something there. Great thoughts. Let's. Let's go down to. Well, let's go into 107. That's about. I had for 106, 107. We're going to be talking about the priesthood. We're going to talk about this line of authority, and we're going to be talking about this mysterious figure named Melchizedek, the man, the myth, the legend, the legend who is Melchizedek? And maybe that's why he's so. [00:17:40] Speaker B: He was a great high priest. [00:17:42] Speaker A: That's it. I mean, that's all we know about him, right? [00:17:48] Speaker B: That's all I know about him. [00:17:49] Speaker A: And there's something mysterious about that. Yet he plays a prominent role in history. [00:17:58] Speaker B: How did Melchizedek get lost? [00:18:01] Speaker A: That's a good question. [00:18:02] Speaker B: Like, how on earth does somebody this important get lost? [00:18:06] Speaker A: It's a fascinating question. I've got here. The Book of the Bee. [00:18:14] Speaker B: The Book of the Bee. [00:18:15] Speaker A: The Book of the Bee. [00:18:16] Speaker B: Like B, E, E. Yes. B, E, E. Like honeybee. [00:18:19] Speaker A: That's it. [00:18:20] Speaker B: Like state insect of Utah. [00:18:22] Speaker A: That's it. This, this was written by Bishop Solomon. [00:18:28] Speaker B: Whoa, okay. [00:18:29] Speaker A: 1222 A.D. oh, wow. [00:18:32] Speaker B: Okay. [00:18:33] Speaker A: So this is, this is, this is a little while ago. And he's writing, he's writing this to try to present a full history of the Christian dispensation. And he's got here a section about Melchizedek. So this guy in the Bible that we know very little about, yet he shows up kind of this reverence for him in all sorts of these apocryphal texts. So I'm going to read Bishop Solomon's take on Melchizedek and give us maybe a little bit of context. And I can't Say that this is 100% accurate or what? Right. This is what he understood in 1222 AD and whatever sources he was referring from, I do not know. Here we go. Story time. [00:19:22] Speaker B: I love story time. [00:19:25] Speaker A: Neither the father nor mother of this Melchizedek were written down in the genealogies. No begats, no begats, no begats for Melchizedek. Not that he had no natural parents. This is a question that comes up in Latter Day Saint circles all the time. Who was Melchizedek? And I'm sure you've heard this before, the Shem Melchizedek theory. [00:19:53] Speaker B: I have never heard of this. [00:19:54] Speaker A: No, no. There are some people that believe Noah, son Shem. Noah's some Shem. They believe that Shem was Melchizedek. [00:20:06] Speaker B: Okay. I mean, is there some compelling evidence that would support this? [00:20:11] Speaker A: They take that from. Let me pull up Doctrine Covenants 84. Go back to the oath and covenant of priesthood. Because this whole theory lies in one scripture. Just a second. Trying to turn there without losing 107 at the same time. [00:20:33] Speaker B: Sorry to derail this, but this is interesting now. [00:20:36] Speaker A: Don't derail it. This is. I'm. No, I'm sorry. I didn't mean to say don't derail it. [00:20:39] Speaker B: Don't derail me, dog. [00:20:41] Speaker A: You're not derailing is what I meant to say. Okay, this, this is. This is perfect. Okay, so going back to 84, when they're talking about who received it from who, which is good because it almost seems like there's a little bit of disagreeance here when they're talking about where the priesthood comes from. Okay, so I'm in 84, 13. Abraham received the priesthood from Melchizedek, who received it through the lineage of his fathers, even till Noah. And so some people look at that and say, well, he received it from his fathers. Well, I think maybe that's not where the theory comes from. Maybe this is where people that say that he is not Shem are pointing to the Scripture and using it for an example of why he's not Shem. Because they're saying here Melchizedek received it through the lineage of his fathers, even till Noah. And so when they look at that and say. Because it says fathers plural. Yeah, Melchizedek had several fathers between him and Noah. But the people that believe that Shem and Noah are the same person, they. [00:21:44] Speaker B: Look at it and say, Shem and Melchizedek. [00:21:46] Speaker A: Oh, sorry. Thank you. Shem and Melchizedek. Those that think that Shem and Melchizedek are the same person. They look at the same verse and. And say they received it from their fathers, meaning Adam, Seth, going through all of the fathers all the way until you get to Noah. And that's where Melchizedek received it from his father, Noah. [00:22:06] Speaker B: Oh, interesting. Where do you come out on this? [00:22:11] Speaker A: I don't think he is Shem, but I'll go back to the story time. [00:22:19] Speaker B: Okay. [00:22:22] Speaker A: It's a good question. I know some people do think, hem, Melchizedek. By the way, melech is the Hebrew word for king, and zadok is righteous. So if you say Melchizedek, you could say, if it's melchi, it means my king is righteous. Or if it's just Melech, Zadok, then it could be King of righteousness. So it could be that he was a righteous king. And because he was a righteous king, his name was referred to as the righteous king, not that it was his actual name. And so some people think, okay, this could be Shem, and he was just a very righteous king, and so they referred to him as Melchizedek. That's kind of the name he earned. [00:23:07] Speaker B: But it's interesting because you said that the other way that that can be interpreted is my king is great. [00:23:14] Speaker A: My king is righteous. [00:23:16] Speaker B: Kind of like my God is a great God or whatever. [00:23:19] Speaker A: Exactly. [00:23:19] Speaker B: Which is what? Israel. Wait, is there a name I know that it talks a lot about in the Scriptures of the idea of my God is as great or my God is a great God. I don't know. [00:23:36] Speaker A: There is. Gadol is great. My God is Eli, Eli, Elijah, Elijah. [00:23:46] Speaker B: Oh, interesting. Oh, there you go. [00:23:48] Speaker A: Eli means my God, and Jah means Jehovah. So my God is Jehovah. So the names that you see, Eli is my God, Adonai is Lord. So sometimes you have names that have the Adonai element, my Lord. The Jah means Jehovah. So you have names. Theophoric is what they're called. Theophoric names with that element. Yah is the same we've talked about Elijah. Let's see. And really, Elijah's full name, Eliyahu, My God is Yahoo. Is Jehovah. Yahu was another name. It's kind of interesting. Yahu was another name for Jehovah. [00:24:36] Speaker B: That's awesome. [00:24:36] Speaker A: Yeah. Trying to think of some other ones. Ab is father. So Avi is my father. So Abimelech, you've probably heard of that one. Abimelech means my dad is king. [00:24:48] Speaker B: So Israel is just God before us, right? [00:24:52] Speaker A: Israel, Yassar, is to prevail. El is God. And so to prevail with God, the idea that you fought with God and prevailed, and then President Nielsen takes that a little bit differently to prevail with God. And it can be interpreted either way. I like to interpret it. I like what President Nielsen says, but I also like to interpret it to prevail in the sense of he says he named him Israel because he fought God and prevailed because he would not let go. He persevered. He prevailed even though God was trying him. That's how I like to take it. [00:25:35] Speaker B: Cool. Let's get back to story time. [00:25:37] Speaker A: All right, back to Melchizedek. Let's see. Neither the father nor mother of this Melchizedek were written down in the genealogies. Not that he had no natural parents, but that they were not written down. The greater number of the doctors say that he was of the seed of Canaan, whom Noah cursed in the Book of Chronography. So that is a point here. There are people that say, if you remember, Noah had three sons, Ham, Shem and Japheth. And Ham got in trouble, dude, he got in trouble. And Canaan was cursed to the priesthood. And so right here, Bishop Solomon is making a note that a lot of doctors, a lot of the people that study the Bible back then in 1200 AD and you can see it, there's some other ancient texts, 300 AD, you've got these stories of Melchizedek that say he was a descendant of Ham. So he's making reference to that. And they say that it's significant that he was a descendant of Ham because his line was cursed. But the Lord took him out of a cursed line and gave him the priesthood, this idea that he would save him and restore him. And there's this whole idea of atonement that goes with Melchizedek in those stories. So that's what he's referencing. He says some see, where were doctors. A greater number of the doctors say that he was of the seed of Canaan, whom Noah cursed. In the Book of Chronography, however, the author affirms and says that he is of the seed of Shem, the son of Noah. So Solomon here is saying that the source that he is pulling from disagrees with most of the doctors and gives him the lineage to Shem. Shem begat Arphaxar. Arphaxar. [00:27:31] Speaker B: Are we just going to brush right by the Begat? [00:27:36] Speaker A: There's a couple more coming. [00:27:37] Speaker B: Let's go. [00:27:39] Speaker A: Shem begat Arphaxar. Arphaxar begat Canaan, and Canaan begat. I know you were waiting a long time for these begats. [00:27:47] Speaker B: Oh, my gosh, dude, you have no idea how long I've been waiting. [00:27:50] Speaker A: Canaan begat Shelah and Melah. Shelah was written down in the genealogies, but Melah was not, because his affairs were not sufficiently important to be written down in the genealogies. [00:28:03] Speaker B: We're going to do Malal like that. [00:28:05] Speaker A: I know. Isn't that sad? [00:28:06] Speaker B: Oh, dude, shout out to Mala, man, I'm sorry that your life was too boring. Oh, my gosh. That's so great. By the way, because he didn't do anything really that cool. [00:28:18] Speaker A: They were not sufficiently important to be written down. [00:28:21] Speaker B: Wow. [00:28:21] Speaker A: Yeah. That's a harsh criticism from history. [00:28:23] Speaker B: I've for real, like, now just taking that as like, a personal, like. Like, I don't know. It's. It's a bar now. I just need it to where when I die, no one would be able to say, and his affairs weren't sufficient enough to be or, like, sufficiently important enough to be written down, because that's a sad way to go out. [00:28:43] Speaker A: That's a sad way to go out. Somebody's got to remember him. [00:28:46] Speaker B: Well, we remember you, Mala. [00:28:48] Speaker A: We've got you, man. [00:28:50] Speaker B: All right. [00:28:50] Speaker A: When Noah died, he commanded Shem concerning the bones of Adam, for they were with them in the ark, which is an interesting thing. When we get into Old Testament next year and we talk about the ark and Noah and how the ark was made, there is some ark imagery as a temple. This idea that the ark served as a temple. We will get into that next year when we hit Old Testament. [00:29:14] Speaker B: I can't wait, dude. [00:29:15] Speaker A: Yeah. Old Testament is going to be fun times. Okay, so the bones of Adam were with them in the ark and were removed from the land of Eden to this earth. Which is kind of nice to hear them saying this idea that earth, where they were now, was removed from where Eden was, that this flood happened and relocated them to a new land. Which kind of goes with what Joseph Smith says about this idea that Eden was here in this new continent. And then everything got shifted over to the old world at the time of flood. Let's see. Then Shem entered the ark and. And sealed it with his father's seal and said to his brethren, my father commanded me to go and see the sources of the rivers and the seas and the structure of the earth and to return. And he said to me, the father of Melchizedek and to Yozadak, his mother, what kind of name is Yozadak for a mom? [00:30:10] Speaker B: I mean, dope? I don't know. [00:30:12] Speaker A: Yeah, well, going back. Zadok. Zadok means power and strength. Yo is probably theophoric for Jehovah, this idea. Jehovah is my strength. Jehovah kind of similar to what you were saying earlier. My God is strength. Eliezadik, his mother, give me your son that he may be with me. And behold, my wife and my children are with you. Melchizedek's parents said to him, my Lord, take thy servant, and may the angel of peace be with thee and protect thee from wild beasts and desolation of the earth. Shem went by night into the ark and took Adam's coffin, and he sealed up the ark, saying to his brethren, my father commanded me that no one should go into it. And he journeyed by night with the angel before him and Melchizedek with him, until they came and stood upon the spot where our Lord was crucified. So this idea of getting the bones and moving them to a sacred spot to be buried is a common thing that happens even afterwards. And it had to come from somewhere, because Abraham asks that he does not get. Not Abraham, Jacob, when they go to. Well, even Abraham asks that his bones be carried back to where his wife was buried, because he bought this lot in the land of Canaan, and he asked that his bones be placed there. And Jacob, when he goes down to the land of Egypt in the time of drought, asks that his bones that Israel takes them and takes them back to the place where he should be. And then Joseph, same thing, asks that his bones be brought out when the children leave Israel. And so when Moses goes out to take their bones to this sacred land. And where is this sacred land is this idea of Israel? And so even from here, Melchizedek is going with Shem to take Adam's bones into the land of Israel. And it says to the spot they stood upon, the spot where our Lord was crucified. When they had laid the coffin down there, the earth was rent in the form of a cross and swallowed up the coffin and was again sealed up and returned to its former condition. Shem laid his hand upon Melchizedek's head and blessed him and delivered him the priesthood and commanded him to dwell there until the end of his life. And he said to him, thou shalt not drink wine, nor any intoxicating liquor, neither shall a razor pass over thy head. Thou shalt not offer up to God an offering of beasts, but only fine flour and olive oil and wine. Thou shalt not build a house for thyself, and may the God of thy fathers be with thee. And Shem returned to his brethren. And Melchizedek's parents said to him, where is our son? Shem said, he died while he was with me on the way. And I buried him. And they mourned for him a month of days. But Melchizedek dwelt in the place until he died. When he was old, the kings of the earth heard his fame, and 11 of them gathered together and came to see him. And they entreated him to go with them, but he would not be persuaded. And when he did not conform to their wishes, they built the city for him there. And he called it Jerusalem. And the king said to one another, this is the king of all the earth and the Father of nations. When Abraham came back from the battle of the kings and the nations, he passed by the mount of Jerusalem, and Melchizedek came forth to meet him. And Abraham made obeisance to Melchizedek and gave him tithes of all that he had with him. And Melchizedek embraced him and blessed him and gave him bread and wine from which he was wont to offer up as an offering. So that's, that's a story about Melchizedek. Whether it's the story, whether the story is true or accurate, I don't know. I can't speak to that. But it is kind of an interesting story about Melchizedek. [00:34:15] Speaker B: Are there other religions that lean into Melchizedek? I mean, as much as we do, at least. [00:34:24] Speaker A: That's a good question. [00:34:26] Speaker B: I'm trying to just. I'm trying to. I'm trying to figure out where Joseph Smith would have heard about Melchizedek outside of, you know, his education from angels or whatever. Right. I'm just trying to figure out like. Like where Melchizedek would have been such a prominent character in anything worldly that he would have picked up on. [00:34:57] Speaker A: That's a good question. I know that Enoch and Melchizedek have this mythos about them. And even I believe right here in Doctrine Covenants, it states that it's written in the Book of Enoch all things that are going to happen. And it references the Book of Enoch. And now today we have three books of Enoch that have been translated that I'm not sure were available at Joseph Smith's time. Maybe they were, but the content in the Book of Enoch is very different from what we would expect from a Latter Day Saint perspective. This idea of watchers and these giants and these angels coming down and affairs with people. It's kind of a weird story, but there is something about Enoch and Melchizedek in these ancient texts, these apocryphal pseudepigraphal texts where they keep popping up. And Melchizedek is mentioned in a few of these. [00:36:11] Speaker B: That. [00:36:11] Speaker A: And one thing that's consistent about him is that he doesn't have a father and he doesn't have a mother, and he's the king of Jerusalem. And also that he's a wild man. [00:36:26] Speaker B: What? [00:36:28] Speaker A: Yeah, this idea that Melchizedek in another legend has Abraham being commanded by the Lord to go give Melchizedek a haircut, clip his nails and give him a bath, because this guy was pretty wild. Like, he just lived out in the wilderness. And this wild man plays a role throughout the Bible. This idea that John the Baptist. [00:36:52] Speaker B: Yeah, I was going to say that sounds very John the Baptisty. [00:36:54] Speaker A: Yeah, he went out and he had this hairy raiment, this camel's hair garment that he wore and lived on honey and locusts, this wild man. [00:37:02] Speaker B: Or like Samson. [00:37:04] Speaker A: Samson. And you have the same thing with Elijah and this hairy raiment that he had. [00:37:11] Speaker B: Wait, what about our boy Esau? [00:37:14] Speaker A: Esau fits into this mold and the story even goes into mythology. And I think we mentioned this in an earlier podcast, Gilgamesh and Yankee Do. [00:37:28] Speaker B: Oh, yeah, Yankee Do. [00:37:29] Speaker A: Yankee do was a wild man and he would jostle with the animals at the watering hole. And Gilgamesh's job was to tame him, make him not so wild. So this Gilgamesh and Yankee do is almost like this Abraham Melchizedek. So I don't know the full story behind Abraham or excuse Melchizedek, other than that this guy was a legend that stood apart from society and there was something neat and special about him and that no one knew who his parents were. And almost this mythic. He didn't have parents. He was almost like this idea of this Christ who didn't have earthly parents. He was a type of Christ that was to come. And he didn't follow convention, he didn't follow the norms, if you will. But he was great and revered as a priest forever. So he's a legend in ancient text. Awesome kind of this Hercules, if you will. I don't know, just. [00:38:29] Speaker B: Yeah, I always just wonder, like, where characters like this, again, like, I. I try to always, you know, kind of compare this to where you would try to poke holes or take shots at. At Joseph Smith as a Prophet or as the translator, you know, of the Book of Mormon. [00:38:49] Speaker A: Yeah. Why was he focused on Melchizedek? Where did that influence come from? [00:38:54] Speaker B: Because something you can. Some things like, like you can see. Oh, yeah, this is, this is very much quoted from Scripture. Like there's in the Book of Mormon, very much the quoting of. Of some various texts from the Old Testament or the New Testament. Right. Like, you know, things that, that you would be able to say. Oh, yeah, that's. That is for sure exactly where that came from. Right, right. But then with some of these things with Enoch and Melchizedek, where they play such a huge. They play such a huge part in a lot of LDS understanding, I guess. [00:39:41] Speaker A: Yeah. [00:39:42] Speaker B: I'm always just trying to go, okay, cool, like where, like that would have. Where on earth would that have come from, all of this, you know, extra part of those guys stories? Or was it like, oh, no, this was new, awesome revealed information about these guys that, you know, isn't out there to be found outside of, you know. [00:40:12] Speaker A: And maybe somebody's done this study before, but for me, it would be worth it to look at all of these sources that talk about Melchizedek and find out when they were translated and made available to the public. Would Joseph Smith, would they have been talking about it in his time or would he not have had access to any of that information? When did this stuff start coming out? When did we see it? So I will take a dive into it and see what I can find as far as what information would he have had available at that time period. [00:40:44] Speaker B: Yeah, I think that's what I'm asking. [00:40:45] Speaker A: Yeah. Outside of just what we read in Genesis, because Genesis is very scarce in what it says. [00:40:51] Speaker B: Yes. [00:40:54] Speaker A: And same thing with Enoch. But as we are going to see here in 107, Joseph Smith is also pretty bold in talking about Adam's actions. And he is very specific, talking about who ordained who, and not only who ordained who, but when it happened and this specific information, he is really going out on a limb here to supply this. And maybe just one last note about Melchizedek before we dive into this different kind of genealogy. Will this priesthood genealogy is this idea that he was king of Salem or Jerusalem and Jerusalem, the beginning there, the Jeru part is city. And Salem means peace, so city of peace. And the idea that even before Israel conquered the land of Israel, Jerusalem existed as a fortress, a Zion, a stronghold for the people that lived there even before Jerusalem. This idea that Melchizedek's descendants or whoever was there still had this land, it was established long before Israel even came there. And David, because Saul had a capital somewhere else and David relocated the capital to this city that has this tie or this connection perhaps with Melchizedek. In another source, it also talks about Adam being buried here. So that when Christ was crucified, Adam's body being buried in Golgotha, the blood of Christ ran down the cross into the stone, down onto Adam's body, literally atoning for this connection between Adam and Christ. So you see that in a couple different places. Kind of an interesting story that ties Christ, Adam and Melchizedek with the Atonement all together in this neat little package, for what it's worth. Okay, going into these genealogies and we'll talk about some of these things here and maybe just focus on one aspect of this, touching on what you're talking about, Joseph Smith and, and his influence and how you would poke a hole or not be able to poke a hole. Let's see. Here we are. It's verse 42. I think we'll start from Adam to Seth, who was ordained by Adam at the age of 69 years. Being, I believe Seth was 69 years old when Adam ordained him, was blessed by him three years previous to Adam's death, and received the promise of God by his Father that his posterity should be the chosen of the Lord and that they should be preserved unto the end of the earth. Because he, Seth, was a perfect man and his likeness was the express likeness of his father. That's a detail I find interesting that Joseph Smith would put in here that Seth looked exactly like his dad. And it's interesting because Joseph Smith, one day as he was walking with a few of his friends, he said, come, let us have a vision. They stepped off the road, he laid down, he laid his arms out on the ground, one on the right, one on the left, and the two brethren with him laid down on his arms and the heavens were open. And they saw Adam and Eve sitting on a throne. And they described Eve as looking physically almost identical to Adam, very masculine in her features and very similar looking to Adam. And this idea that at the beginning, if you've got Eve that's created from the same genetic material as Adam, then their children would look very similar. There's not a lot of diversity there. And so scientifically speaking, that the beginning of the race, starting with Adam, there was not a lot of diversity going into Seth, and that you have these mutations or genetic changes that are introduced into this line over time. So I think From a science standpoint, it's kind of interesting. And mind you, the idea of inheritance and genetic traits. The father of modern genetics was Gregor Mendel in the 1800s alongside Joseph Smith. And as he was publishing the Modern, I say modern at his time, the leading botanist, the leading scientists rejected his work and thought he was crazy. So this idea of inheritance and inheriting traits and how this works was just a germ new at the same time as the restoration of the Gospel and took long after Joseph Smith's death to be accepted by people and expanded on. But yet here you have this idea that Joseph mentioning that small detail in here that Seth looked almost identical to his father, the express likeness of his father. And it's also interesting because Adam is created in the image of God and saying that we haven't gotten too far away from this as we go along, we start to distance ourselves from that. All right, Insomuch that he seemed to be likened to his Father in all things and could be distinguished from him only by his age. Enos was ordained at the age of 134 years and 4 months by the hand of Adam. I mean, think about Joseph Smith's not just telling us the years, but down to the month when he was ordained. That's thorough. How did he know? That is some detailed information and I love the detail. And God called upon Canaan in the wilderness in the 40th year of his age. And he met Adam in journeying to the place of shetalomach. He was 87 years old when he received his ordination. So these guys, they're getting ordained pretty old. 84 years old. And here's the thing. God called upon Canaan in the wilderness in the 40th year of his age. And yet he didn't meet Adam and get ordained until he was 87 years old. So it took him another 47 years from when God called him in the wilderness 47 years later before he gets his ordination from Adam. And I remember Adam is living an awful long time. Mahalaleel was 496 years old and 7 days, 496 years and 7 days old when he was ordained by the hand of Adam. That's some detailed records from wherever Joseph is getting his source or whatever revelation he is getting. I think it is cool, but that is a little bit more advanced in age, right? 496. So he is about 500 years old when he gets ordained. Jared was 200 years old when he was ordained under the hand of Adam, who also blessed him. And then we have Enoch, he is going to break the trend here a little bit. Enoch was 25 years old when he was ordained under the hand of Adam. Okay? And this is significant because you go back to the book of Moses and the Lord calls Enoch to go and testify to the people. And Enoch's protest is, they will hate me because I am a lad. I am but a lad. I mean, you look at these guys that have their ordination 496 years old. And then Enoch's ordained at 25 and he is like, yeah, no, no one is going to listen to me. I am only 25 and he was 65. And Adam blessed him. So this idea that Adam blessed him. Go back again. Adam says three years before his death, he blessed Seth. And this idea that Adam blessed him is separate from the ordination is going to be important. And he saw the Lord and he walked with him and it was before his face continually. And he walked with God 365 years, making him 430 years old when he was translated. It is kind of interesting that the number of years he walked with them is the same number of days that we have in a year. Methuselah was 100 years old when he was ordained under the hand of Adam. Lamech was 32 years old when he was ordained under the hand of Seth. So now we're getting away from Adam. Noah was 10 years old when he was ordained under the hands of Methuselah. Yeah, 10 years old. And I'm excited to talk about Noah. When we talk about him, I mean, it's a testament to who he was. Kind of reminds you of Joseph Smith getting a calling because he was sober at a young age. He saw some powerful things. Mormon, same type of thing from the Book of Mormon. We've got for whatever he's prepared for a special time when the whole world sits in darkness. And that seems to be the case. When you have somebody called at a very young age, it's because the rest of the world is sitting in darkness. You don't have this. You need to call somebody young because everybody else has kind of fallen away. The case with Enoch, who has to go preach to apostatized world. [00:50:20] Speaker B: The case. [00:50:21] Speaker A: The case with Noah, obviously, with the flood. Mormon, we know what was going on at that time. And Joseph Smith and darkness and bringing the gospel back, called it again at a very young age. Three years previous to the death of Adam. He called Seth, Enos, Canaan, Mahalaleel, Jared, Enoch and Methuselah, who were all high priests with the residue of his posterity. Who were righteous into the valley of Adam on diamond. And and there bestowed upon them his last blessing. And the Lord appeared unto them, and they rose up and blessed Adam and called him Michael the Prince, the archangel. And the Lord administered comfort unto Adam and said unto him, I have set thee to be at the head. A multitude of nations shall come of thee, and thou art a prince unto them forever. And Adam stood up in the midst of the congregation. And notwithstanding he was bound down with age, being full of the Holy Ghost predicting did whatsoever should befall his posterity unto the latest generation. These things were all written in the book of Enoch and are to be testified in of due time. So this idea going back to what you said, I love the question, where would Joseph Smith get an influence like this? That Adam stood up before he died to his posterity, gathered them all together, the valley of Adam on diamond, and blessed them. And not only blessed them, but prophesied all things that were going to happen all the way to the end of Earth. It is a cool story. And not only is it a cool story, but it is a story that we have record of having happened after Joseph Smith died with these new translations that are coming up from these extra biblical sources. And we read from the Testament of Adam. And I want to take just a minute to read from it again because it is literally telling what Joseph Smith said happened. It is confirming it from a third party source here that has nothing to do with the church and that didn't exist at the time that Joseph Smith was prophet. Adam said, this is the testament of Adam. Adam said to Seth, his son. You have heard, my son, that God is going to come into the world after a long time. He will be conceived of a virgin and put on a body, be born like a human being and grow up as a child. He will perform signs and wonders on the earth. He will walk on the waves of the sea. He will rebuke the winds and they will be silenced. He will motion to the waves and they will stand still. He will open the eyes of the blind and cleanse the lepers. He will cause the deaf to hear and the mute to speak. He will straighten the hunchbacks, strengthen the paralyzed, find the lost, drive out evil spirits and cast out demons. He spoke to me about this in paradise after I picked some of the fruit in which death was hiding. Adam, Adam, do not fear. You wanted to be a God. I will make you a God. Not right now, but after a space of many years. I am consigning you to death and the Maggot and the worm will eat your body. And I answered and said unto him, why, my Lord? And he said to me, because you listened to the words of the serpent, you and your posterity will be food for the serpent. But after a short time, there will be mercy on you because you were created in my image. And I will not leave you to waste away in Sheol. Sheol is the Hebrew word for the spirit world. For your sake, I will be born of the Virgin Mary. For your sake, I will taste of death and enter the house of the dead. For your sake, I will make a new heaven, and I will be established over your posterity. And after three days, while I am in the tomb, I will raise up the body I received from you, and I will set you at the right hand of my divinity. And I will make you a God, just like you wanted. And I will receive favor from God. And I will restore to you and to your posterity that which is the justice of heaven. And all of these sources, you have all sorts of sources about Adam and his life. This idea that he started to get sick and worried because he knew that he was going to die. So he sent Seth to try to go back and get that fruit from the Tree of Life and bring it back to him to restore his health. And this idea that he knew he was going to die. He called his posterity together and he pronounced a blessing on them, and he told them all about life and what God told them after he had partaken the fruit. And he prophesied and predicted everything that was going to happen. So they knew everything from the beginning. And that's what Joseph Smith wrote about without any of these sources available to them, and yet we're seeing them confirmed over and over again from all of these extra biblical sources, which I just. I just find amazing. [00:55:26] Speaker B: It's incredible. [00:55:28] Speaker A: Incredible. [00:55:29] Speaker B: I can. I think. Sorry. You're good for me, a lot of this. Why again, I love doing these podcasts with you and just kind of going through this stuff is because, you know, each little thing like this, right? It's just a small piece of so much bigger of a picture. Like little things like this. It's like, yeah, on its own. This is just. Can be. I feel like, not discarded, but looked past, right? That, like, yeah, why would Joseph Smith have spent so much time getting into some of these things that, like you said, are being confirmed now, you know, decades later, through more modern, you know, translations of stuff. Not. Not LDS stuff, just biblical texts, but all of these things. What I just love is that they paint kind of the bigger picture, which is all of these things can't be coincidental. You know, at some point, you just have to, you know, or don't. At some point. It's a nice reconfirmation of like, yeah, I believe this. I'm in. And it's nice to see all of these little details paint that bigger picture to support what it is that I believe. [00:56:54] Speaker A: Yeah. And a lot of these sources, I mean, the first time they're published in English is early 1900s, 1906. When you start to see these. These extra sources, the Book of Enoch come out and a second book and a third book of Enoch and all of this work being done. Yet it's after Joseph Smith saw what he saw and said what he said. [00:57:18] Speaker B: Yep, I love it. [00:57:21] Speaker A: Okay. And we're probably running close on time, aren't we? [00:57:26] Speaker B: Getting pretty close. Yeah. [00:57:27] Speaker A: Well, we've got maybe a few things to talk about then. Real quick. Cool. [00:57:30] Speaker B: Let's knock them out. [00:57:31] Speaker A: So they also talk about the role of a high priest here. And I like the way that they said this in verse 91. And again, the duty of the president of the high priest, the president of the office of the high priesthood is to preside over the whole church and be like unto Moses. And I think it's cool, he makes this correlation that he is to be like unto Moses. And how was Moses? Moses had two counselors in Caleb and Joshua, who supported his arms and held them up when Israel went to battle. He had 12, one prince from each tribe that he relied on and sent out to go scout the land. The order of this presidency and this 12 with Israel was based off of the patriarchal order in that you have Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob as these three patriarchs that presided over the family, and then the 12 sons of Jacob as each one of these houses of Israel. And this idea that this church has existed from primitive times, not just that Christ would call His 12 apostles to follow him in the New Testament, but it's the same church, the same order, going back to even before Abraham. This idea of Melchizedek and these patriarchs and that this is a very old religion, the oldest religion, in fact, it's the beginning. This has ties to ancient times and God and his relationship. And we've talked about the keys of the priesthood, and they say that the power and the authority of the higher priests of the Melchizedek priesthood, we've talked about this. The ability to enter into the presence of God, to know God, to have the mysteries of God, unfolded to you. And something I wanted to hit on as we're talking about that is that the Melchizedek priesthood, holding these keys is not a key that the Melchizedek priesthood holders used to enlighten themselves. These are keys, and this priesthood is there that all might, through the administration of the priesthood, receive the blessings of the priesthood. The idea that all of Israel was supposed to enter into the presence of God through the power of the priesthood. The priesthood is not a male only thing in that the priesthood is meant for all people to enter into these covenants, to be able to enter into these ordinances, to be able to enter into the presence of God. A priesthood holder never puts their hand on their own head and blesses themselves and takes themselves into the presence of God. The priesthood was meant, excuse me, to bless everyone else dying here. [01:00:22] Speaker B: You all right? [01:00:23] Speaker A: Yeah. [01:00:25] Speaker B: Take a sip of your beverage. [01:00:26] Speaker A: Where did it go? It's gone. Did you dust the whole thing? Oh, yeah. [01:00:32] Speaker B: Glad you liked it. [01:00:35] Speaker A: All right, I'm back. [01:00:37] Speaker B: He's back. [01:00:38] Speaker A: He's back. Yeah. And I don't know, there's a whole lot we could say about priesthood power and authority, who it blesses and who it's for, and even the administration of the priesthood, the Aaronic priesthood, holding the keys to the ministration of angels. And I know we've talked about this before, where the bishop holds the keys of the Aaronic priesthood in the ward and the ministration of angels is the callings that he is calling people that are sent, that are ordained to go and perform a task or a calling, calling for God, and they're on God's errand. And so those that are called, whether it be in the young woman's presidency or whether it be a teacher or whether it be in the primary or whether they're the elders quorum. Well, the elders quorum is usually a state calling, but in the ward, as you have these callings, they are through their priesthood callings. You are called through this priesthood authority. And you do your calling, whether it's a primary teacher, a primary president, a relief society, whatever the calling may be, or even speaking in church, it's priesthood authority that you're using, that even women are exercising priesthood authority as they fill these calls. And I guess one last little tidbit on this, as they talk about the Aaronic priesthood and says that nobody has a legal right to the Aaronic priesthood, to this office, this idea of the office of a bishop, unless he be a literal descendant of Aaron. And I know that has caused Some confusion. And this idea that if you are a Levite today or a descendant of Aaron, then you can go and be a bishop automatically. And I just wanted to compare that to the legal right to be President of the United States. If you are a natural born citizen, if you've been a resident for 14 years and you are at least 35 years of age, then you have a legal right to be President of the United States. If you don't meet those conditions, you cannot legally be president. You have no legal right to fill that office. Just because you have a legal right that you are qualified to be in that position doesn't mean you are called to fill that position. And the reason we have bishops today that are not literal descendants of Aaron is because it explains it very well here in the section as they are talking about Melchizedek priesthood and the Aaronic priesthood being an appendage. And the Melchizedek priesthood has the authority to officiate. In the Aaronic priesthood ordinances, all things are done in order. Even Aaron wasn't called to be a priest except by Moses, who was acting under a higher authority. So just because we have Levites doesn't necessarily mean that they can start officiating in the priesthood without being called and set apart to do so. They do meet the legal requirements, but that doesn't mean that they are legally authorized to do that. [01:03:52] Speaker B: Cool. [01:03:53] Speaker A: All right. I think that should about COVID it. [01:03:58] Speaker B: Killer. What are we talking about next week? [01:03:59] Speaker A: Next week we're diving into doctrine and covenants 109 through 110, which gets to the dedicatory prayer of the Kirtlandtown. This is one of my favorite sections to read when I'm sitting in the temple. It's nice to read that dedicatory prayer and just quietly reflect in that good atmosphere like the temple. [01:04:18] Speaker B: Awesome. Great job, Jace. Until next week. [01:04:21] Speaker A: See ya. [01:04:32] Speaker B: It.