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The Book of Moses 6 All

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Moses 6:1-5

Home > The Pearl of Great Price > Moses > Chapter 5 / Verses 5:1-6:4
Previous page: Chapters 3-4 Next page: Chapters 6-8

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Summary

This section should be very brief. Click the link above and to the right to edit or add content to this heading. →

Relationship to Moses. The relationship of Chapter 5 to the rest of Moses is discussed at Moses.

Story.

Message. Themes, symbols, and doctrinal points emphasized in Chapter 5 include:

Moses 5 (Verses 5:1-6:4) is the Joseph Smith Translation of Genesis 4. This page is not intended, however, to address Genesis. It is intended only to address the Joseph Smith Translation of Genesis. It is therefore suggested that readers consult the page that does address Genesis 4 before viewing this page. Contributors are likewise asked to respect this distinction. The idea is that a reader should be able to find content about an original passage from Genesis on the wiki page addressing that passage.

Chapter 5 are the Joseph Smith Translation account of Cain and Lamech, the wicked non-birthright descendants of Adam and Eve. The relationship of this account to the rest of the book of Moses is discussed at Moses, and its relationship to the rest of Genesis is discussed at Genesis.

This account can be outlined as follows:

C. Non-birthright line: rejection of the gospel (Genesis 4 / Moses 5)

1. the atonement taught but rejected by many descendants (5:1-16a) (new content)

2. Cain and Abel born (5:16b-17)

3. Cain kills Abel and initiates secret combination (5:18-41)

a. Lord accepts Abel’s offering of sheep, but not Cain’s of produce (5:18-21)

c. Lord warns Cain not to sin (5:22-31) (5:24-31 new content)

d. Cain kills Abel (5:32-33)

c. where is Abel? Cain denies knowledge of his brother (5:34)

b. Cain cursed as a fugitive, ground cursed against him (5:35-37)

a. Cain driven from God and man, mark to prevent vengeance (5:38-41)

3. Lamech kills Irad to preserve secret combination (5:42-54)

• genealogical list of Lamech’s ancestors (5:42-43)

• genealogical list of Lamech’s descendants (5:44-46)

• Lamech kills and will be avenged even as Cain (5:47-54) (5:49-54 new content)

1. the atonement taught but rejected by most descendants (5:55-59) (new content)

2. Seth as a son in place of Abel, and Seth's son (6:1-4)

Discussion

This section is for detailed discussion such as the meaning of a symbol, how a doctrinal point is developed throughout a passage, or insights that can be further developed in the future. Contributions may range from polished paragraphs down to a single bullet point. The focus, however, should always be on understanding the scriptural text consistent with LDS doctrine. Click the link above and to the right to edit or add content to this heading. →

Moses 5:1-16a

Moses 5:1-16a. Verses 5:1-16a are new content added by the Joseph Smith Translation to the beginning of Genesis 4. This new material describes how the gospel of Christ was preached from the beginning of the world but was largely rejected. The relationship of this account to the rest of Moses is discussed at Moses, and it can also be helpful to consider where this material has been added to the account in Genesis.

Moses 5:5: The first commandment given to mortal man. The perennial temptation of humanity is to love and worship the world and the things of the world more than God. The first commandment given by God to mortal man protects humanity from that temptation. The commandment is to sacrifice the best of one's possessions to God. If we keep that commandment, the blessings of the world have their proper place. They bless us but are never our first priority. The things of the spirit and our connection to God remain our primary concern. If we refuse to make that sacrfice of the firstlings, our best, we will be separated from God by our love of the world. We will have to repent in order to be saved. And our ability to repent will depend on the willingness of another to make, contrary to his personal will (Mark 14:35-36; Luke 22:42; Matthew 26:39), of bearing the punishment for our sins. The sacrifice asked of humanity in this first mortal commandment symbolizes the sacrfice that ultimately provides the only path to salvation. This apt ritual signifies the truth that we must act to be saved by making the sacrifice but that it is not we but the lamb on the alter who most truly pays the price for our salvation.

Moses 5:7-9. The combination of verses 7-8 and verse 9 is very interesting. Adam learns about the Only Begotten, and then hears, “I am the Only Begotten…” First he learns that the sacrifice he has been making is in similitude to one that God’s Only Begotten will make, and that that means he should do all he does in the name of the Son and call upon God and repent. But it is only in the message of the Holy Ghost that he is told the Only Begotten becomes a redeemer – that His sacrifice somehow means Adam and all mankind may be redeemed! With these two messages combined, he has a “why” that could be given to an angel’s inquiry.

Moses 5:11. In verse 11 Eve tells us that were it not for her and Adam's transgression, they would never have had children, known good and evil or had eternal life. (See also 2 Ne 2:22-23.) One way to read this is that there was no way for Adam and Eve to have children, know good and evil and have eternal life, except by breaking a commandment given to them by God. Alternatively we could read Eve as saying that were it not for eating of the tree of life, which she did when God told her not to, Eve and Adam would not have received these blessings. That reading is consistent with the idea that were the same acts to happen under the direction of God, she would have received these blessings without transgressing God's commandments. Note that Moses 6:53 tells us that Adam had to be forgiven for this transgression. Presumably Eve did too. To some the fact that God forgave them suggests that they had done something God did not want them to do.

Moses 5:11: Transgression vs. sin. See RobertC's subpage on the fall for more links, discussion, and analysis of the distinction between a sin and transgression as it pertains to the fall.

Moses 5:10-11: Adam and Eve's words. Adam prophesies (v.10), then Eve hears and gladly proclaims (v.11). It is interesting how closely their words parallel:

Adam: “…for because of my transgression my eyes are opened

Eve: “Were it not for our transgression … we never should have known good and evil

Adam: in this life I shall have joy

Eve: and the joy of our redemption

Adam: and again in the flesh I shall see God.”

Eve: and the eternal life which God giveth unto all the obedient.”

The only real difference is that Eve mentions seed. They certainly were on the same page in their understanding of the gospel. Then they together bless God, and together teach their children.

Moses 5:16b-7

Moses 5:16b-17 is the Joseph Smith Translation of Gen 4:1-2. This page is not intended, however, to address Genesis. It is intended only to address the Joseph Smith Translation of Genesis. It is therefore suggested that readers consult the page that does address Gen 4:1-2 before viewing this page. Contributors are likewise asked to respect this distinction. The idea is that a reader should be able to find content about an original passage from Genesis on the wiki page addressing that passage.

Moses 5:16b-17. Verses 5:16b-17 relate the births of Abel, who will die physically, and Cain, who will die spiritually. These births are echoed at the end of the chapter in the births of Seth and his son.

Moses 5:18-41

Verses 5:18-41 are the Joseph Smith Translation of Gen 4:3-16, and it is again suggested that readers consult the page that addresses Gen 4:3-16 before viewing this page.

Moses 5:18-41. Verses 5:18-41 are the Joseph Smith Translation account of Cain and Abel. The most notable feature of the Joseph Smith Translation, as with the account of Lamech that follows, is the new content in Verses 5:24-31 explaining how Cain's wickedness is related to secret combinations. The relationship of this account to the rest of the book of Moses is discussed at Moses, and its relationship to the rest of Genesis is discussed at Genesis.

Moses 5:42-54

Verses 5:42-54 are the Joseph Smith Translation of Gen 4:17-24. This page is not intended, however, to address Genesis. It is intended only to address the Joseph Smith Translation of Genesis. It is therefore suggested that readers consult the page that does address Gen 4:17-24 before viewing this page. Contributors are likewise asked to respect this distinction. The idea is that a reader should be able to find content about an original passage from Genesis on the wiki page addressing that passage.

Verses 5:42-54 are the Joseph Smith Translation account of Lamech, Cain's wicked descendant in Generation 7. The most notable feature of the Joseph Smith Translation, as with the account of Cain, is the new content in Verses 5:49-54 explaining how Lamech's wickedness is related to secret combinations. The relationship of this account to the rest of the book of Moses is discussed at Moses, and its relationship to the rest of Genesis is discussed at Genesis.

Moses 5:55-59

Verses 5:55-59 are new content add by the Joseph Smith Translation at almost the very end of Genesis 4. This new material describes how the gospel of Christ was preached from the beginning of the world but was largely rejected. The relationship of this account to the rest of Moses is discussed at Moses, and it can also be helpful to consider where this material has been added to the account in Genesis.

Verses 5:59. Based on the commentary at Moses 6:7, there may be reason to think this "holy ordinance" was Adam's being baptized for the dead on Abel's behalf. Adam's own baptism is not mentioned at all in this account of his life, but is only related later by Enoch in Moses 6:64. While it may sound odd, it is possible piece these two narratives together in a way that would indicate that Adam's vicarious baptism for his dead son preceded his own baptism. Two verses might lend support to this reading.

When Enoch begins the story of Adam's baptism, it begins with Adam questioning the necessity of his own baptism: "And our father Adam spake unto the Lord, and said: Why is it that man must repent and be baptized in water?" (Moses 6:53). Adam's question is odd: he is apparently familiar enough with baptism to be discussing it, though he has as yet not been baptized, a situation perhaps explainable if Adam had been baptized for Abel but not yet for himself. Perhaps Adam had previously understood baptism to be an ordinance only for the dead (tied, as it is, to the resurrection). As for the timing of Adam's baptism, the verses immediately preceding Adam's question seems to place the event quite late after the death of Abel.

D&C 128:12 may also support this reading, as it clearly states that baptism for the living was instituted to form a relationship with baptism for the dead, suggesting perhaps that baptism for the dead came first, and that baptism for repentance came later.

Another possibility is that the "holy ordinance" mentioned here is the same ordination referred to in Alma 13, in which Adam and his righteous children are ordained "in a manner that thereby the people might know in what manner to look forward to his Son for redemption" (Alma 13:2).

Moses 6:1-4

Verses 6:1-4 are the Joseph Smith Translation of Gen 4:25-26. This page is not intended, however, to address Genesis. It is intended only to address the Joseph Smith Translation of Genesis. It is therefore suggested that readers consult the page that does address Gen 4:25-26 before viewing this page. Contributors are likewise asked to respect this distinction. The idea is that a reader should be able to find content about an original passage from Genesis on the wiki page addressing that passage.

Verses 6:1-4 are the Joseph Smith Translation account of the births of Seth and his son in place of the two lost sons Abel, who died physically, and Cain, who died spiritually. The relationship of this account to the rest of the book of Moses is discussed at Moses, and its relationship to the rest of Genesis is discussed at Genesis.

Verses 6:2. Adam's language might be read to suggest that Abel had been an "appointed seed," through whom Adam was to have posterity alive at the Second Coming of Christ (see D&C 107:42). How this should be read in terms of Moses 5 is not entirely clear, however.

Verses 6:3. Seth's "acceptable sacrifice" is certainly interesting. On the one hand, the phrase clearly has reference to the difficulties between Cain and Abel: Seth, like Abel, offered sacrifice in the "acceptable" manner (the manner prescribed in Moses 5:5: blood sacrifice). This confirms the blessing of Adam in verse 2, as Seth takes up the place Abel had once occupied. On the other hand, one might read in the phrase a reference to Mal 3:1-3 or perhaps more especially to D&C 128:24: the "offering in righteousness" that the sons of Levi are eventually to make. If such a connection at first seems a little weak, it might be pointed out that D&C 128 reworks this phrase as referring to "a book containing the records of our dead, which shall be worthy of all acceptation." This is especially interesting in light of what is recorded here in verses 5-6: this acceptable sacrifice, accompanied by a truer order of prayer, results in the gift of writing, and of writing specifically "a book of remembrance." In fact, the connection is even stronger still, since the phrase "book of remembrance" appears in Mal 3:16.

Verses 6:4. It should be noted that it is only "then," that is, after three generations can stand together (Adam, Seth, and Enos) that these men "began ... to call upon the name of the Lord." Apparently what is being described here as calling upon the name of the Lord is some kind of truer order of prayer than any previous kind of praying in the Adam and Eve story. This seems to have important implications for how one should understand the "book of remembrance" in the next verse: it has something to do with this truer order of prayer. In fact, the next verse makes an explicit connection between calling upon God and being able to write in the book.

Unanswered questions

This section is for questions along the lines of "I still don't understand ..." Please do not be shy. The point of these questions is to identify things that still need to be addressed on this page. Click the link above and to the right to edit or add content to this heading. →

Prompts for life application

This section is for prompts that suggest ways in which a passage can influence a person's life. Prompts may be appropriate either for private self reflection or for a class discussion. Click the link above and to the right to edit or add content to this heading. →

Prompts for further study

This section is for prompts that invite us to think about a passage more deeply or in a new way. These are not necessarily questions that beg for answers, but rather prompts along the lines of "Have you ever thought about ..." Prompts are most helpful when they are developed individually, thoughtfully, and with enough background information to clearly indicate a particular direction for further study or thought. Click the link above and to the right to edit or add content to this heading. →

Moses 5:11. Can transgression be good? If the fall brought about all the good things that Eve mentions here, why did God prohibit partaking of the fruit of the tree of knowledge of good and evil (cf. Moses 3:17)?

Moses 5:11. Transgression vs. sin. Eve refers to the fall as a transgression--is this the same as sin? If not, what is the difference?

Moses 6:2. What does it mean that Adam "glorified the name of God" (vs. 2)? Is this different from giving thanks to God?

Moses 6:4. What does it mean that "these men" began to call upon the name of the Lord after Enos was born (vs. 4)? Didn't Adam and Seth call upon the name of the Lord before that? What is different about their calling upon the name of the Lord here?

Moses 6:4. What does it mean to "call upon the name of the Lord"? Is this different from just praying?

Resources

This section is for listing links and print resources, including those that are also cited elsewhere on this page. A short comment about the particular strengths of a resource can be helpful. Click the link above and to the right to edit or add content to this heading. →

Notes

Footnotes are not required but are encouraged for factual assertions that average readers cannot easily evaluate for themselves (such as the date of King Solomon’s death or the nuanced definition of a Greek word). In contrast, insights rarely benefit from footnoting, and the focus of this page should always remain on the scriptures themselves rather than what someone has said about them. Links are actively encouraged on all sections of this page, and links to authoritative sources (such as Strong's Bible Concordance or the Joseph Smith Papers) are preferable to footnotes.

Previous page: Chapters 3-4 Next page: Chapters 6-8

Moses 6:6-10

Home > The Pearl of Great Price > Moses > Chapters 6-8 > Verses 6:5-25
Previous page: Chapters 6-8 Next page: Verses 6:26-47

This page would ideally always be under construction. You are invited to contribute.

Summary

This section should be very brief. Click the link above and to the right to edit or add content to this heading. →

Relationship to Chapters 6-8. The relationship of Verses 6:5-25 to the rest of Chapters 6-8 is discussed at Chapters 6-8.

Story.

Message. Themes, symbols, and doctrinal points emphasized in Verses 6:5-25 include:

Moses 6:5-25 is the Joseph Smith Translation of Gen 5:1-21. This page is not intended, however, to address Genesis. It is intended only to address the Joseph Smith Translation of Genesis. It is therefore suggested that readers consult the page that does address Gen 5:1-21 before viewing this page. Contributors are likewise asked to respect this distinction. The idea is that a reader should be able to find content about an original passage from Genesis on the wiki page addressing that passage.

Genesis 5 is a genealogical listing of ten generations from Adam and Eve down to Noah. The Joseph Smith Translation relates this data for Generations 1-7, but then interrupts it in Gen 5:22/Moses 6:26 to add over a hundred verses of narrative about Enoch. The Joseph Smith Translation then concludes the list of genealogical data for Generations 7-10 in Moses 8:1-12.

Discussion

Moses 6:5. In light of the commentary on Moses 6:1-4, this verse should be read quite carefully. First of all, it is important to bring together the several references in scripture to the "book of remembrance." As it turns out, the phrase only appears five times in the scriptures. Besides this verse, it appears one other time in the book of Moses (Moses 6:46), where Enoch mentions the book while preaching. Two of the other references are connected with Malachi: Mal 3:16 and 3 Ne 24:16 (this latter being Jesus' quotation of Malachi to the Nephites). Finally, the phrase appears in the vital 85th section of the Doctrine and Covenants: "And all they who are not found written in the book of remembrance shall find none inheritance in that day, but they shall be cut asunder, and their portion shall be appointed them among unbelievers, where are wailing and gnashing of teeth" (D&C 85:9). Of the five references, this last provides the broadest and most interpretable context in which to think the nature of the book of remembrance: besides being called in that revelation by several other names/titles ("a history, and a general church record" in verse 1, "the book of the law of God" in verses 5 and 7, and "the book of the law" in verse 11), the contents and purpose of the book of remembrance are clarified. It is, apparently, a book that is associated primarily with what happens in Zion specifically, and contains records of inheritances of land according to (and apparently only according to) the law of consecration. Moreover, the genealogies (ancestry as well as descendency) of those who keep the law of consecration are kept in the book, since apparently one's "fathers" and one's "children" can be saved in and through the consecrated individual in Zion. This last point is vital, since it suggests that the book has something to do with the theme of sealing, and hence of priesthood and the temple (themes that are clearly at work in D&C 85: at Adam-Ondi-Ahman, "one mighty and strong" will come to "set in order the house of God," according to verse 7. This seems all the more important, since two of the references to the "book of remembrance" are to be found in Malachi and Jesus' quotation of Malachi (where it is clear that being written in the book has something to do with Elijah's return and the turning of the fathers to the children and the children to the fathers). Thus, if it is not inappropriate to bring all of this to bear on how one reads the present verse, the book of remembrance would probably best be understood as somehow connected with the temple/priesthood ordinances of sealing (something apparently only to be accomplished once there are three generations present).

All that said, it is certainly significant that a kind of truer order of prayer is at work here, and that it has something to do with receiving the ability—an endowment—"to write by the spirit of inspiration." (Curiously, Old Testament Manuscript 1 for the "New Translation" has "to write by the finger of inspiration," however that might be interpreted. At the very least, there seems to be a connection between "the finger of inspiration" in verse 5 here and the other Mosaic reference to the book of remembrance in Moses 6:46: "For a book of remembrance we have written among us, according to the pattern given by the finger of God." That Enoch goes on to add in the same verse, "and it is given in our own language," seems significant too, since this verse reports: "recorded, in the language of Adam.") But should this suddenly introduced gift be interpreted? It is perhaps commonly assumed that this gift amounts to two things: on the one hand, it is generally taken to have something to do with the "Adamic language" (whatever that means); on the other hand, the gift is commonly understood to be the ability to write scripture, the word of God. But is this all that is meant here?

Moses 6:6. This is a continuation of a series of thoughts beginning in verse 4 (note semicolons at the end of verses 4 and 5). As the chain of thoughts refers back to Seth and Enos, the pronouns here (them, their) also refer to Seth and Enos.

Moses 6:7-8: Adam's Prophecy. The form of this prophecy, as recorded here, is very similar to the form of the declaration given in Moses 5:59.

Considering that the priesthood is generally defined as being power given to man to act in God's name, we see in the run of thoughts (vv. 4-6) that are followed by verse 7 that Adam prophesied that an actual authority for men to act in the name of God, and specifically "to write by the spirit of inspiration" would never come to an end in the world. (Though clearly there have been intermittances.) As it has been the habit of men in all dispensations to refuse to accept the words of living prophets, claiming that the words of dead ones are final, and as even those within the church are not immune from this vain rationale, we must be on our guard to understand that the Lord can and will offer more, even up to the end of the world.

Moses 6:7: Priesthood Possibilities. The phrase "this same Priesthood" is curious here because it is not obvious what exactly is being referred to. A list of potential priesthood actions and themes described in this chapter include:

offering "an acceptable sacrifice" (v.3)
a "first presidency" of Adam, Seth, and Enos (vs.3-4)
calling upon the name of the Lord (v.4)
obtaining special blessings from the Lord (v.4)
the keeping of a "book of remembrance" (v. 5) also D&C 128:6-10
speaking "a language which was pure and undefiled" (v.6)
teaching "their children... to read and write" (v.6)
the power "to write by the spirit of inspiration" (v. 5)
the general patriarchal order
or possibly some special patriarchal order related to being an "appointed ... seed". Moses 6:1

Nowadays, in the restored Church, the Priesthood is frequently defined as the authority to act in the name of God. Based on this definition, it might be inappropriate to consider certain of the activities listed above as specifically pertaining to the Priesthood. For example, it seems that fathers who do not have the Priesthood are able to teach their children to read and write and everyone is given the right to "call upon the name of the Lord."

On the other hand, all of these actions may be viewed as the function of a father acting as a patriarch according to the patriarchal order of the priesthood. If so, then this list may provide an outline of patriarchal priesthood responsibilities which can only be fully performed by one given the authority to act in God's name. For example, while all can pray, calling upon the name of the Lord in the true order of prayer is only available through the priesthood. In this sense, familial relationship between father and son may be one type of priesthood relationship.

This verse also makes it clear that this patriarchal order of the priesthood that existed in Adam's family will be had again in the last days. We can see these same prieshood functions reflected in the themes outlined in D&C 128, where we read of

"an acceptable sacrifice" (cf. D&C 128:24)
the ability "to call upon the name of the Lord" (cf. D&C 128:11)
and an "appointed seed" (cf. D&C 128:15)
as well as the more obvious themes of records and remembrance (cf. D&C 128:8 especially).

Since D&C 128 is a treatise on baptism for the dead, these common themes suggests that there is indeed some profound connection between the patriarchal priesthood and "the subject of the baptism for the dead" revealed to Joseph Smith in D&C 128. The return of a priesthood, "which was in the beginning," at the very "end of the world also" seems to be the precise concern of that section of the Doctrine and Covenants.

Unanswered questions

Prompts for life application

Prompts for further study

Moses 6:5. What is "the which" recorded in the book of remembrance (vs. 5)? Would it be the blessings of the Lord mentioned in vs. 4?

Moses 6:5. What is the relationship between calling upon God and writing "by the spirit of inspiration"?

Moses 6:7. Of what importance would it be that the same priesthood that was exercised here by Seth and Enos would exist at the end of the world also?

Moses 6:7. Might this prophecy already be fulfilled?

Moses 6:9: Body. This verse says our bodies are created in God's image. Are the scriptures silent on the question of whether our spirits were created in his image?

Moses 6:9: Footstool. Why does this verse make reference to God's footstool, if that term appears nowhere in the Pentateuch, but surfaces and is defined only later in the Old Testament?

Resources

See this subpage for Joseph Smith's "Before 8 August 1839" discourse, in which Joseph deals with many of the themes of the present passage.

Notes

Previous page: Chapters 6-8 Next page: Verses 6:26-47

Moses 6:11-15

Home > The Pearl of Great Price > Moses > Chapters 6-8 > Verses 6:5-25
Previous page: Chapters 6-8 Next page: Verses 6:26-47

This page would ideally always be under construction. You are invited to contribute.

Summary

This section should be very brief. Click the link above and to the right to edit or add content to this heading. →

Relationship to Chapters 6-8. The relationship of Verses 6:5-25 to the rest of Chapters 6-8 is discussed at Chapters 6-8.

Story.

Message. Themes, symbols, and doctrinal points emphasized in Verses 6:5-25 include:

Discussion

Moses 6:5. In light of the commentary on Moses 6:1-4, this verse should be read quite carefully. First of all, it is important to bring together the several references in scripture to the "book of remembrance." As it turns out, the phrase only appears five times in the scriptures. Besides this verse, it appears one other time in the book of Moses (Moses 6:46), where Enoch mentions the book while preaching. Two of the other references are connected with Malachi: Mal 3:16 and 3 Ne 24:16 (this latter being Jesus' quotation of Malachi to the Nephites). Finally, the phrase appears in the vital 85th section of the Doctrine and Covenants: "And all they who are not found written in the book of remembrance shall find none inheritance in that day, but they shall be cut asunder, and their portion shall be appointed them among unbelievers, where are wailing and gnashing of teeth" (D&C 85:9). Of the five references, this last provides the broadest and most interpretable context in which to think the nature of the book of remembrance: besides being called in that revelation by several other names/titles ("a history, and a general church record" in verse 1, "the book of the law of God" in verses 5 and 7, and "the book of the law" in verse 11), the contents and purpose of the book of remembrance are clarified. It is, apparently, a book that is associated primarily with what happens in Zion specifically, and contains records of inheritances of land according to (and apparently only according to) the law of consecration. Moreover, the genealogies (ancestry as well as descendency) of those who keep the law of consecration are kept in the book, since apparently one's "fathers" and one's "children" can be saved in and through the consecrated individual in Zion. This last point is vital, since it suggests that the book has something to do with the theme of sealing, and hence of priesthood and the temple (themes that are clearly at work in D&C 85: at Adam-Ondi-Ahman, "one mighty and strong" will come to "set in order the house of God," according to verse 7. This seems all the more important, since two of the references to the "book of remembrance" are to be found in Malachi and Jesus' quotation of Malachi (where it is clear that being written in the book has something to do with Elijah's return and the turning of the fathers to the children and the children to the fathers). Thus, if it is not inappropriate to bring all of this to bear on how one reads the present verse, the book of remembrance would probably best be understood as somehow connected with the temple/priesthood ordinances of sealing (something apparently only to be accomplished once there are three generations present).

Moses 6:6. This is a continuation of a series of thoughts beginning in verse 4 (note semicolons at the end of verses 4 and 5). As the chain of thoughts refers back to Seth and Enos, the pronouns here (them, their) also refer to Seth and Enos.

Moses 6:7-8: Adam's Prophecy. The form of this prophecy, as recorded here, is very similar to the form of the declaration given in Moses 5:59.

Moses 6:7: Priesthood Possibilities. The phrase "this same Priesthood" is curious here because it is not obvious what exactly is being referred to. A list of potential priesthood actions and themes described in this chapter include:

offering "an acceptable sacrifice" (v.3)
a "first presidency" of Adam, Seth, and Enos (vs.3-4)
calling upon the name of the Lord (v.4)
obtaining special blessings from the Lord (v.4)
the keeping of a "book of remembrance" (v. 5) also D&C 128:6-10
speaking "a language which was pure and undefiled" (v.6)
teaching "their children... to read and write" (v.6)
the power "to write by the spirit of inspiration" (v. 5)
the general patriarchal order
or possibly some special patriarchal order related to being an "appointed ... seed". Moses 6:1

"an acceptable sacrifice" (cf. D&C 128:24)
the ability "to call upon the name of the Lord" (cf. D&C 128:11)
and an "appointed seed" (cf. D&C 128:15)
as well as the more obvious themes of records and remembrance (cf. D&C 128:8 especially).

Unanswered questions

Prompts for life application

Prompts for further study

Moses 6:5. What is "the which" recorded in the book of remembrance (vs. 5)? Would it be the blessings of the Lord mentioned in vs. 4?

Moses 6:5. What is the relationship between calling upon God and writing "by the spirit of inspiration"?

Moses 6:7. Of what importance would it be that the same priesthood that was exercised here by Seth and Enos would exist at the end of the world also?

Moses 6:7. Might this prophecy already be fulfilled?

Moses 6:9: Body. This verse says our bodies are created in God's image. Are the scriptures silent on the question of whether our spirits were created in his image?

Moses 6:9: Footstool. Why does this verse make reference to God's footstool, if that term appears nowhere in the Pentateuch, but surfaces and is defined only later in the Old Testament?

Resources

See this subpage for Joseph Smith's "Before 8 August 1839" discourse, in which Joseph deals with many of the themes of the present passage.

Notes

Previous page: Chapters 6-8 Next page: Verses 6:26-47

Moses 6:16-20

Home > The Pearl of Great Price > Moses > Chapters 6-8 > Verses 6:5-25
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Summary

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Relationship to Chapters 6-8. The relationship of Verses 6:5-25 to the rest of Chapters 6-8 is discussed at Chapters 6-8.

Story.

Message. Themes, symbols, and doctrinal points emphasized in Verses 6:5-25 include:

Discussion

Moses 6:5. In light of the commentary on Moses 6:1-4, this verse should be read quite carefully. First of all, it is important to bring together the several references in scripture to the "book of remembrance." As it turns out, the phrase only appears five times in the scriptures. Besides this verse, it appears one other time in the book of Moses (Moses 6:46), where Enoch mentions the book while preaching. Two of the other references are connected with Malachi: Mal 3:16 and 3 Ne 24:16 (this latter being Jesus' quotation of Malachi to the Nephites). Finally, the phrase appears in the vital 85th section of the Doctrine and Covenants: "And all they who are not found written in the book of remembrance shall find none inheritance in that day, but they shall be cut asunder, and their portion shall be appointed them among unbelievers, where are wailing and gnashing of teeth" (D&C 85:9). Of the five references, this last provides the broadest and most interpretable context in which to think the nature of the book of remembrance: besides being called in that revelation by several other names/titles ("a history, and a general church record" in verse 1, "the book of the law of God" in verses 5 and 7, and "the book of the law" in verse 11), the contents and purpose of the book of remembrance are clarified. It is, apparently, a book that is associated primarily with what happens in Zion specifically, and contains records of inheritances of land according to (and apparently only according to) the law of consecration. Moreover, the genealogies (ancestry as well as descendency) of those who keep the law of consecration are kept in the book, since apparently one's "fathers" and one's "children" can be saved in and through the consecrated individual in Zion. This last point is vital, since it suggests that the book has something to do with the theme of sealing, and hence of priesthood and the temple (themes that are clearly at work in D&C 85: at Adam-Ondi-Ahman, "one mighty and strong" will come to "set in order the house of God," according to verse 7. This seems all the more important, since two of the references to the "book of remembrance" are to be found in Malachi and Jesus' quotation of Malachi (where it is clear that being written in the book has something to do with Elijah's return and the turning of the fathers to the children and the children to the fathers). Thus, if it is not inappropriate to bring all of this to bear on how one reads the present verse, the book of remembrance would probably best be understood as somehow connected with the temple/priesthood ordinances of sealing (something apparently only to be accomplished once there are three generations present).

Moses 6:6. This is a continuation of a series of thoughts beginning in verse 4 (note semicolons at the end of verses 4 and 5). As the chain of thoughts refers back to Seth and Enos, the pronouns here (them, their) also refer to Seth and Enos.

Moses 6:7-8: Adam's Prophecy. The form of this prophecy, as recorded here, is very similar to the form of the declaration given in Moses 5:59.

Moses 6:7: Priesthood Possibilities. The phrase "this same Priesthood" is curious here because it is not obvious what exactly is being referred to. A list of potential priesthood actions and themes described in this chapter include:

offering "an acceptable sacrifice" (v.3)
a "first presidency" of Adam, Seth, and Enos (vs.3-4)
calling upon the name of the Lord (v.4)
obtaining special blessings from the Lord (v.4)
the keeping of a "book of remembrance" (v. 5) also D&C 128:6-10
speaking "a language which was pure and undefiled" (v.6)
teaching "their children... to read and write" (v.6)
the power "to write by the spirit of inspiration" (v. 5)
the general patriarchal order
or possibly some special patriarchal order related to being an "appointed ... seed". Moses 6:1

"an acceptable sacrifice" (cf. D&C 128:24)
the ability "to call upon the name of the Lord" (cf. D&C 128:11)
and an "appointed seed" (cf. D&C 128:15)
as well as the more obvious themes of records and remembrance (cf. D&C 128:8 especially).

Unanswered questions

Prompts for life application

Prompts for further study

Moses 6:5. What is "the which" recorded in the book of remembrance (vs. 5)? Would it be the blessings of the Lord mentioned in vs. 4?

Moses 6:5. What is the relationship between calling upon God and writing "by the spirit of inspiration"?

Moses 6:7. Of what importance would it be that the same priesthood that was exercised here by Seth and Enos would exist at the end of the world also?

Moses 6:7. Might this prophecy already be fulfilled?

Moses 6:9: Body. This verse says our bodies are created in God's image. Are the scriptures silent on the question of whether our spirits were created in his image?

Moses 6:9: Footstool. Why does this verse make reference to God's footstool, if that term appears nowhere in the Pentateuch, but surfaces and is defined only later in the Old Testament?

Resources

See this subpage for Joseph Smith's "Before 8 August 1839" discourse, in which Joseph deals with many of the themes of the present passage.

Notes

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Moses 6:21-25

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Summary

This section should be very brief. Click the link above and to the right to edit or add content to this heading. →

Relationship to Chapters 6-8. The relationship of Verses 6:5-25 to the rest of Chapters 6-8 is discussed at Chapters 6-8.

Story.

Message. Themes, symbols, and doctrinal points emphasized in Verses 6:5-25 include:

Discussion

Moses 6:5. In light of the commentary on Moses 6:1-4, this verse should be read quite carefully. First of all, it is important to bring together the several references in scripture to the "book of remembrance." As it turns out, the phrase only appears five times in the scriptures. Besides this verse, it appears one other time in the book of Moses (Moses 6:46), where Enoch mentions the book while preaching. Two of the other references are connected with Malachi: Mal 3:16 and 3 Ne 24:16 (this latter being Jesus' quotation of Malachi to the Nephites). Finally, the phrase appears in the vital 85th section of the Doctrine and Covenants: "And all they who are not found written in the book of remembrance shall find none inheritance in that day, but they shall be cut asunder, and their portion shall be appointed them among unbelievers, where are wailing and gnashing of teeth" (D&C 85:9). Of the five references, this last provides the broadest and most interpretable context in which to think the nature of the book of remembrance: besides being called in that revelation by several other names/titles ("a history, and a general church record" in verse 1, "the book of the law of God" in verses 5 and 7, and "the book of the law" in verse 11), the contents and purpose of the book of remembrance are clarified. It is, apparently, a book that is associated primarily with what happens in Zion specifically, and contains records of inheritances of land according to (and apparently only according to) the law of consecration. Moreover, the genealogies (ancestry as well as descendency) of those who keep the law of consecration are kept in the book, since apparently one's "fathers" and one's "children" can be saved in and through the consecrated individual in Zion. This last point is vital, since it suggests that the book has something to do with the theme of sealing, and hence of priesthood and the temple (themes that are clearly at work in D&C 85: at Adam-Ondi-Ahman, "one mighty and strong" will come to "set in order the house of God," according to verse 7. This seems all the more important, since two of the references to the "book of remembrance" are to be found in Malachi and Jesus' quotation of Malachi (where it is clear that being written in the book has something to do with Elijah's return and the turning of the fathers to the children and the children to the fathers). Thus, if it is not inappropriate to bring all of this to bear on how one reads the present verse, the book of remembrance would probably best be understood as somehow connected with the temple/priesthood ordinances of sealing (something apparently only to be accomplished once there are three generations present).

Moses 6:6. This is a continuation of a series of thoughts beginning in verse 4 (note semicolons at the end of verses 4 and 5). As the chain of thoughts refers back to Seth and Enos, the pronouns here (them, their) also refer to Seth and Enos.

Moses 6:7-8: Adam's Prophecy. The form of this prophecy, as recorded here, is very similar to the form of the declaration given in Moses 5:59.

Moses 6:7: Priesthood Possibilities. The phrase "this same Priesthood" is curious here because it is not obvious what exactly is being referred to. A list of potential priesthood actions and themes described in this chapter include:

offering "an acceptable sacrifice" (v.3)
a "first presidency" of Adam, Seth, and Enos (vs.3-4)
calling upon the name of the Lord (v.4)
obtaining special blessings from the Lord (v.4)
the keeping of a "book of remembrance" (v. 5) also D&C 128:6-10
speaking "a language which was pure and undefiled" (v.6)
teaching "their children... to read and write" (v.6)
the power "to write by the spirit of inspiration" (v. 5)
the general patriarchal order
or possibly some special patriarchal order related to being an "appointed ... seed". Moses 6:1

"an acceptable sacrifice" (cf. D&C 128:24)
the ability "to call upon the name of the Lord" (cf. D&C 128:11)
and an "appointed seed" (cf. D&C 128:15)
as well as the more obvious themes of records and remembrance (cf. D&C 128:8 especially).

Unanswered questions

Prompts for life application

Prompts for further study

Moses 6:5. What is "the which" recorded in the book of remembrance (vs. 5)? Would it be the blessings of the Lord mentioned in vs. 4?

Moses 6:5. What is the relationship between calling upon God and writing "by the spirit of inspiration"?

Moses 6:7. Of what importance would it be that the same priesthood that was exercised here by Seth and Enos would exist at the end of the world also?

Moses 6:7. Might this prophecy already be fulfilled?

Moses 6:9: Body. This verse says our bodies are created in God's image. Are the scriptures silent on the question of whether our spirits were created in his image?

Moses 6:9: Footstool. Why does this verse make reference to God's footstool, if that term appears nowhere in the Pentateuch, but surfaces and is defined only later in the Old Testament?

Resources

See this subpage for Joseph Smith's "Before 8 August 1839" discourse, in which Joseph deals with many of the themes of the present passage.

Notes

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Moses 6:26-30

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Summary

This section should be very brief. Click the link above and to the right to edit or add content to this heading. →

Relationship to Chapters 6-8. The relationship of Verses 6:26-47 to the rest of Chapters 6-8 is discussed at Chapters 6-8.

Story.

Message. Themes, symbols, and doctrinal points emphasized in Verses 6:26-47 include:

Discussion

Unanswered questions

Prompts for life application

Prompts for further study

Resources

Notes

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Moses 6:31-35

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Summary

This section should be very brief. Click the link above and to the right to edit or add content to this heading. →

Relationship to Chapters 6-8. The relationship of Verses 6:26-47 to the rest of Chapters 6-8 is discussed at Chapters 6-8.

Story.

Message. Themes, symbols, and doctrinal points emphasized in Verses 6:26-47 include:

Discussion

Unanswered questions

Prompts for life application

Prompts for further study

Resources

Notes

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Moses 6:36-40

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Summary

This section should be very brief. Click the link above and to the right to edit or add content to this heading. →

Relationship to Chapters 6-8. The relationship of Verses 6:26-47 to the rest of Chapters 6-8 is discussed at Chapters 6-8.

Story.

Message. Themes, symbols, and doctrinal points emphasized in Verses 6:26-47 include:

Discussion

Unanswered questions

Prompts for life application

Prompts for further study

Resources

Notes

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Moses 6:41-45

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Summary

This section should be very brief. Click the link above and to the right to edit or add content to this heading. →

Relationship to Chapters 6-8. The relationship of Verses 6:26-47 to the rest of Chapters 6-8 is discussed at Chapters 6-8.

Story.

Message. Themes, symbols, and doctrinal points emphasized in Verses 6:26-47 include:

Discussion

Unanswered questions

Prompts for life application

Prompts for further study

Resources

Notes

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Moses 6:46-50

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Summary

This section should be very brief. Click the link above and to the right to edit or add content to this heading. →

Relationship to Chapters 6-8. The relationship of Verses 6:26-47 to the rest of Chapters 6-8 is discussed at Chapters 6-8.

Story.

Message. Themes, symbols, and doctrinal points emphasized in Verses 6:26-47 include:

Discussion

Unanswered questions

Prompts for life application

Prompts for further study

Resources

Notes

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Moses 6:51-55

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Summary

This section should be very brief. Click the link above and to the right to edit or add content to this heading. →

Relationship to Chapters 6-8. The relationship of Verses 6:48-68 to the rest of Chapters 6-8 is discussed at Chapters 6-8.

Story.

Message. Themes, symbols, and doctrinal points emphasized in Verses 6:48-68 include:

Discussion

Moses 6:51-55. In the middle of a much longer sermon, Enoch here suddenly reports a conversation between God and Adam. Though he has, to this point in the sermon, already mentioned Adam several times (see verses 45 and 48), here he launches into a detailed discussion of an encounter between Adam and God, a discussion that runs to the end of the chapter. In the commentary that follows, attention will be paid to the original manuscripts from the New Translation, because a number of important variants can be found there. (There are, it should be noted, two surviving original manuscripts from the project of producing the New Translation. OT1—Old Testament Manuscript 1—represents the earliest dictated version of the text, though changes were made to the text right on the manuscript. The entirely of OT1 was subsequently copied, thus producing OT2—Old Testament Manuscript 2—which second manuscript copy was in turn altered. The references to these two manuscripts in the commentary on the remainder of Moses 6 should be understood in light of this explanation.)

It is curious that this story appears only in Enoch's sermon in the Book of Moses and not at all in the earlier, actual narrative concerning Adam. This is a point that deserves careful attention.

Moses 6:51. With this verse, Enoch turns from the "our fathers" in general of verse 50 to "our father Adam." The whole of verses 51-68 thus appear to be Enoch's explanation and expansion of his claim that "God hath made known unto our fathers that all men must repent." That he focuses specifically on Adam in his exposition suggests that he intended not only to justify his general claim, but that he desired to trace the original introduction of the idea of universally necessary repentance into the world.

Moses 6:51: And he called upon our father Adam by his own voice. The Book of Moses has a good deal to say about God's voice before this point in the text. It first appears in the Adam-and-Eve story in 4:14-16, just after Adam and Eve had eaten the fruit of the forbidden tree. There the voice leads Adam and Eve to hide themselves from the Lord. Later, in 5:4, reverse their relationship to the voice: by then they are outside the Garden, calling on the name of the Lord, but only hearing God's voice "from the way toward the Garden of Eden." Where the voice had before been an indication of God's presence, and so the very thing that drove their desire to hide, now the voice took the place of God's presence, and marked their definitive separation from the Garden. The importance of this voice—this singular tie to God after the loss of Eden—becomes strikingly visible when the difference between Cain and Abel becomes a question of whether each "hearken[s]" or "listen[s]" to "the voice of the Lord" (5:17 and 26). And this becomes especially dire when the children of Adam and Eve generally decide "not [to] hearken unto his voice, nor believe on his Only Begotten Son," bringing a curse on themselves (5:57). Despite this general situation, however, the narrative explains that God did speak in the meanwhile to Adam and Eve, because "the Gospel began to be preached, from the beginning, being declared by holy angels sent forth from the presence of God, and by his own voice, and by the gift of the Holy Ghost" (5:58). And Adam and Even, despite the disobedience of their children, did listen to that voice: "Adam hearkened unto the voice of God, and called upon his sons to repent" (6:1). Somewhere in the thick of these last passages, something like the story Enoch is telling seems to have taken place: Adam and Eve seem to have heard the voice of the Lord, and to have recognized that it enjoined them to call upon their children to repent.

Moses 6:51: Saying: I am God. The communication with Adam begins with the not entirely uncommon phrase "I am God." The phrase appears a number of times in scripture (both in Old and in New World scripture; both in ancient and in modern scripture), and it usually indicates God's sovereignty—a kind of reminder that God has power. The present text is no exception: God goes on to describe His own creative power, as well as His sovereign relationship to human beings. Of particular interest, though, is the fact that this same phrase appears two other times in the Book of Moses, first in Moses 2:2, and then in Moses 7:35. The result is that, in the course of eight chapters, one finds God saying "I am God" to Adam, Enoch, and Moses. This is likely of significance.

Moses 6:51: I made the world, and men before they were in the flesh. As already noted, there seems to be a strong emphasis on sovereignty here, perhaps particularly because the words God goes on to say in the following verse are separated or distinguished from these (by the phrase "And he also said unto him"), making this statement a kind of stand-alone announcement, an inaugural establishment of God's relationship to human beings. That relationship is one of unquestionable sovereignty. Not only did God make "the world," He also made "men before they were in the flesh." Interestingly, the phrase "in the flesh" did not appear in the originally dictated-and-transcribed version of this text, in OT1. The text was copied without the phrase into OT2, but the phrase was then added at some subsequent point above the line in OT2. Thus, the text "originally" read: "I made the world, and men before they were." At first, the change seems only meant to clarify. What else could the text have meant? But on closer inspection, things may be more complicated. If God "made men before they were," then a stronger sense of sovereignty is at work in this first word: that God can make things before they are is a bit surprising, and one can be forgiven for thinking that there is a hint here of a more traditional kind of theism in the earlier version. At any rate, the addition of "in the flesh" introduces the idea of a premortal existence into the text. To say that God "made men before they were" is to say that God has an absolute relationship to His creation; but to say that He "made men before they were in the flesh" is to say that He has created them twice, once in a premortal setting, and once in a mortal setting. Which of these readings is preferable remains an open question.

Moses 6:52: And he also said unto him. As already noted, this verse seems to turn from a kind of stand-alone announcement about the sovereign relationship God has to His creatures to a more dialogic communication. Here God's nature seems to have been established, and on that established ground, other questions can be addressed. There is also a sense of distance between this communication and the one in the preceding verse because only the preceding verse describes its communication as a question of God "call[ing] upon" Adam. Here it is only a question of saying.

Moses 6:52: If thou wilt turn unto me, and hearken unto my voice. Somewhat surprisingly, the "if thou wilt turn unto me" phrasing here is relatively unique in scripture. While the language of "if thou wilt turn away from me" is quite common, something like the present phrasing appears only six other times (Deut 4:30; 30:10; 2 Chr 30:9; Neh 1:9; Mosiah 7:33; and 3 Ne 16:15). Nonetheless, the verb "to turn" in especially the Hebrew tradition has a strong theological sense: it generally refers to repentance or conversion. Here it seems best to take it as a kind of inauguratory move, an initial moment of conversion of sorts, since it will be followed by faith, repentance, baptism, and the gift of the Holy Ghost. It thus appears first and foremost to refer to a kind of deliberate or intentional act of attunement: in "turning unto God," Adam orients himself and the whole of the world as he inhabits it to God.

That this attunement is followed by a "hearkening" is not at all surprising. Indeed, it is perhaps only possible to hearken once one has fully attuned oneself to the source of instruction. But what is striking is that Adam is told to "hearken unto my voice," that is, to the voice already mentioned and, indeed, highlighted in verse 51 ("And he called upon our father Adam by his own voice, saying"). God's "voice" here moves from its position in Enoch's narrative into the actual discourse between God and Adam. The effect is important. Adam is not only to orient himself to God and to obey what he learns after that attunement; he is to orient himself to the thing precisely that marks his privileged relationship to God.

Moses 6:52: And believe, and repent of all thy transgressions. Following the double call to attunement and orientation, faith and repentance become the focus: "and believe, and repent of all thy transgressions." Interestingly, the phrase "thy transgressions" appeared as "their transgressions" in the original manuscript. This is peculiar, given that the phrases immediately preceding are all in the second person ("If thou wilt turn unto me," etc.). One could, of course, play around with the possibility that "their" was meant to refer back to "men before they were [in the flesh]" in verse 51, but this seems unlikely. It seems most likely that "their" was simply a mistranscription, one that was corrected later.

It is perhaps peculiar that the Lord here speaks of "all thy transgressions" in the plural. The next verse goes on to record God as telling Adam he had been "forgiven" of his "transgression in the Garden of Eden." But peculiarly, the word "transgression" there was originally (in OT1) in the plural ("I have forgiven thee thy transgressions in the Garden of Eden"). Is there supposed to be some kind of a connection between "all thy transgressions" in the present verses and "thy transgressions in the Garden of Eden" in the next verse? The possibility is intriguing but problematic: the most straightforward interpretation would be that "all thy transgressions" would include all transgressions that had occurred after leaving the Garden. With the OT2 changes, the current text here seems to establish a contrast between a singular notion of transgression, that corresponds to the fall and "original guilt" in verse 54 which "the Son of God hath atoned for" (past tense!), and subsequent transgressions/sins which must be repented of. That is, it seems the initial transgression (singular) in the Garden is automatically forgiven, without the necessity of agentive acts of repentance, whereas subsequent transgressions (plural) must be actively repented of.

At any rate, the emphasis is clearly on total repentance ("all thy transgressions").

Moses 6:52: And be baptized, even in water, in the name of mine Only Begotten Son. Not surprisingly in light of the fourth article of faith (which would not be written until more than a decade after the translation of the present passage), faith and repentance are followed by water baptism. (The phrase "in water" appears in OT1 as "by water," and it was copied that way into OT2, though it was changed in OT2 at some subsequent point.) It is difficult to know how Adam would have responded to a commandment to be baptized. There is some evidence (in D&C 128 and the first verses of Moses 6) that the ordinance of baptism for the dead preceded the ordinance of baptism for the living. If that were the case—and it would seem to imply that Adam had been baptized for Abel before he was baptized for himself—then Adam may well have been shocked that he himself had to be baptized. Of course, the present passage does not record any such shock.

As for the phrase "mine Only Begotten Son," it should be noted how frequently it appears in the Book of Moses. While it appears only a total of thirty-six times in scripture, fully twenty-two of those are in this short book! (See, in addition to the present verse, Moses 1:6, 13, 16, 17, 32, 33; 2:1, 26, 27; 3:18; 4:1, 3, 28; 5:57; 6:57, 59, 52; 7:50, 59, 62.) Interestingly, it is only in the present passage that the Book of Moses has God speaking directly to Adam about the Only Begotten, though. Most often—at least apart from the prologue of Moses 1—the Only Begotten comes into the story only through the narration. Given the crucial role the term plays in Moses 1 (in Moses' encounter with God and Satan), it would seem to have come into the narration because of Moses' influence and interest.

At any rate, the Only Begotten clearly plays a significant role in the present passage, since it is in this name that Adam is to be baptized. The significance of this will have to be spelled out in the commentary on subsequent uses of the phrase further along.

Moses 6:52. "Ye shall receive the gift of the Holy Ghost" does not appear in OT1. The change was made to OT2.

"Asking all things in his name" appears as "& ye shall ask all things in his name" in OT1. The change was also made to OT2.

"Given you" appears simply as "given" in OT1. The change was also made to OT2.

Moses 6:53. Again, "in water" appears as "by water" in OT1. The change was made to OT2.

"Transgression" appears in the plural in OT1. The change was made in producing OT2.

Moses 6:54. "The Son of God" appears as "Christ" in OT1. The change was made to OT2.

Moses 6:56-60: In nowise. This adverb is unique to the restoration scriptures. And outside of the scriptures is it commonly used without the preceding preposition. Perhaps the uncharacteristic usage is reflective of the archaic origins of the word.

"all men, everywhere." This phrase occurs in four books of scripture, always immediately followed by the injunction to repent. It stems from the days of Adam and perhaps entered gospel idiom at that time. This fairly unique dual emphasis on number and place underscores that there is no way around this requirement for entrance into the kingdom of God.

"must . . . or . . . can." This is a subtle word play that switches between a word that signals a command and another that sometimes connotes permission. If the word "can" in this context refers to a person's capabilities, then in this instance the meaning is flipped because no individual, on their own, will have the skills, power, rights, ability, or privilege to enter God's kingdom.

Moses 6:57. "In the meridian of time" does not appear in OT1. The change was made to OT2.

OT2 originally read "the son of man even Jesus Christ a righteous Judge which shall come." It was changed in the ms to "the son a man a righteous Judge who shall come in the meridean of time."

Moses 6:58. "Therefore" does not appear in OT1.

Moses 6:59. "by reason of transgression cometh the fall" appears as "inasmuch as they were born into the world by the fall" in OT1.

"which fall" appears simply as "which" in OT1.

"and inasmuch as ye were born into the world" does not appear in OT1.

"blood and" is inserted only above the line in OT1.

"into the kingdom of heaven" does not appear in OT1.

The phrase "into the mysteries of the kingdom of Heaven" appears after "Only Begotten" in OT1.

The "corrected" version of OT1 was originally copied directly into OT2. "reason of" was then added after "born into the world by" above the line. Then the whole thing was crossed out and replaced by a pinned note that reads mostly like the current version. The differences: "the" appears crossed out before "transgression"; "ye were born" appears as "they were born"; "dust" was written originally as "death" and then corrected; "ye must be born again" appears as "ye must be born again," then as "they must be born again," then as "ye must be born again" and then simply as "must be born again"; "the" appears crossed out after "cleansed by"; "of" appears crossed out before "even the blood."

"Ye" in "ye might be sanctified" is changed to "they" and then back to "ye" in OT2.

Moses 6:61. "Therefore it is given to abide in you" appears as "that in you is given" in OT1. The changes were made to OT2.

"Peaceable things of immortal glory" is crossed out in OT2 and replaced with "keys of the kingdom of heaven."

"Justice" was only inserted above the line in OT1. It was copied into OT2.

Moses 6:62. The word "through" is not in OT1. The change was made to OT2.

Moses 6:63. "Beneath" appears crossed out after "on the earth" in OT2.

Moses 6:65: Inner man. This phrase occurs only once in the KJV Bible, in Eph 3:16, where it is the translation of the Greek eso (within, in) anthropos (human). In Rom 7:2 this same phrase is translated as "inward man".

Unanswered questions

Prompts for life application

Prompts for further study

Moses 6:53. Adam asks the Lord why we must repent and be baptized. The Lord's answer extends to 63. Why does the answer start by telling Adam that he has been forgiven of his transgression in the Garden of Eden?

Moses 6:65. What is the "inner man" mentioned in vs. 65?

Resources

Notes

Previous page: Verses 6:26-47 Next page: Verses 7:1-19

Moses 6:56-60

Home > The Pearl of Great Price > Moses > Chapters 6-8 > Verses 6:48-68
Previous page: Verses 6:26-47 Next page: Verses 7:1-19

This page would ideally always be under construction. You are invited to contribute.

Summary

This section should be very brief. Click the link above and to the right to edit or add content to this heading. →

Relationship to Chapters 6-8. The relationship of Verses 6:48-68 to the rest of Chapters 6-8 is discussed at Chapters 6-8.

Story.

Message. Themes, symbols, and doctrinal points emphasized in Verses 6:48-68 include:

Discussion

Moses 6:51-55. In the middle of a much longer sermon, Enoch here suddenly reports a conversation between God and Adam. Though he has, to this point in the sermon, already mentioned Adam several times (see verses 45 and 48), here he launches into a detailed discussion of an encounter between Adam and God, a discussion that runs to the end of the chapter. In the commentary that follows, attention will be paid to the original manuscripts from the New Translation, because a number of important variants can be found there. (There are, it should be noted, two surviving original manuscripts from the project of producing the New Translation. OT1—Old Testament Manuscript 1—represents the earliest dictated version of the text, though changes were made to the text right on the manuscript. The entirely of OT1 was subsequently copied, thus producing OT2—Old Testament Manuscript 2—which second manuscript copy was in turn altered. The references to these two manuscripts in the commentary on the remainder of Moses 6 should be understood in light of this explanation.)

It is curious that this story appears only in Enoch's sermon in the Book of Moses and not at all in the earlier, actual narrative concerning Adam. This is a point that deserves careful attention.

Moses 6:51. With this verse, Enoch turns from the "our fathers" in general of verse 50 to "our father Adam." The whole of verses 51-68 thus appear to be Enoch's explanation and expansion of his claim that "God hath made known unto our fathers that all men must repent." That he focuses specifically on Adam in his exposition suggests that he intended not only to justify his general claim, but that he desired to trace the original introduction of the idea of universally necessary repentance into the world.

Moses 6:51: And he called upon our father Adam by his own voice. The Book of Moses has a good deal to say about God's voice before this point in the text. It first appears in the Adam-and-Eve story in 4:14-16, just after Adam and Eve had eaten the fruit of the forbidden tree. There the voice leads Adam and Eve to hide themselves from the Lord. Later, in 5:4, reverse their relationship to the voice: by then they are outside the Garden, calling on the name of the Lord, but only hearing God's voice "from the way toward the Garden of Eden." Where the voice had before been an indication of God's presence, and so the very thing that drove their desire to hide, now the voice took the place of God's presence, and marked their definitive separation from the Garden. The importance of this voice—this singular tie to God after the loss of Eden—becomes strikingly visible when the difference between Cain and Abel becomes a question of whether each "hearken[s]" or "listen[s]" to "the voice of the Lord" (5:17 and 26). And this becomes especially dire when the children of Adam and Eve generally decide "not [to] hearken unto his voice, nor believe on his Only Begotten Son," bringing a curse on themselves (5:57). Despite this general situation, however, the narrative explains that God did speak in the meanwhile to Adam and Eve, because "the Gospel began to be preached, from the beginning, being declared by holy angels sent forth from the presence of God, and by his own voice, and by the gift of the Holy Ghost" (5:58). And Adam and Even, despite the disobedience of their children, did listen to that voice: "Adam hearkened unto the voice of God, and called upon his sons to repent" (6:1). Somewhere in the thick of these last passages, something like the story Enoch is telling seems to have taken place: Adam and Eve seem to have heard the voice of the Lord, and to have recognized that it enjoined them to call upon their children to repent.

Moses 6:51: Saying: I am God. The communication with Adam begins with the not entirely uncommon phrase "I am God." The phrase appears a number of times in scripture (both in Old and in New World scripture; both in ancient and in modern scripture), and it usually indicates God's sovereignty—a kind of reminder that God has power. The present text is no exception: God goes on to describe His own creative power, as well as His sovereign relationship to human beings. Of particular interest, though, is the fact that this same phrase appears two other times in the Book of Moses, first in Moses 2:2, and then in Moses 7:35. The result is that, in the course of eight chapters, one finds God saying "I am God" to Adam, Enoch, and Moses. This is likely of significance.

Moses 6:51: I made the world, and men before they were in the flesh. As already noted, there seems to be a strong emphasis on sovereignty here, perhaps particularly because the words God goes on to say in the following verse are separated or distinguished from these (by the phrase "And he also said unto him"), making this statement a kind of stand-alone announcement, an inaugural establishment of God's relationship to human beings. That relationship is one of unquestionable sovereignty. Not only did God make "the world," He also made "men before they were in the flesh." Interestingly, the phrase "in the flesh" did not appear in the originally dictated-and-transcribed version of this text, in OT1. The text was copied without the phrase into OT2, but the phrase was then added at some subsequent point above the line in OT2. Thus, the text "originally" read: "I made the world, and men before they were." At first, the change seems only meant to clarify. What else could the text have meant? But on closer inspection, things may be more complicated. If God "made men before they were," then a stronger sense of sovereignty is at work in this first word: that God can make things before they are is a bit surprising, and one can be forgiven for thinking that there is a hint here of a more traditional kind of theism in the earlier version. At any rate, the addition of "in the flesh" introduces the idea of a premortal existence into the text. To say that God "made men before they were" is to say that God has an absolute relationship to His creation; but to say that He "made men before they were in the flesh" is to say that He has created them twice, once in a premortal setting, and once in a mortal setting. Which of these readings is preferable remains an open question.

Moses 6:52: And he also said unto him. As already noted, this verse seems to turn from a kind of stand-alone announcement about the sovereign relationship God has to His creatures to a more dialogic communication. Here God's nature seems to have been established, and on that established ground, other questions can be addressed. There is also a sense of distance between this communication and the one in the preceding verse because only the preceding verse describes its communication as a question of God "call[ing] upon" Adam. Here it is only a question of saying.

Moses 6:52: If thou wilt turn unto me, and hearken unto my voice. Somewhat surprisingly, the "if thou wilt turn unto me" phrasing here is relatively unique in scripture. While the language of "if thou wilt turn away from me" is quite common, something like the present phrasing appears only six other times (Deut 4:30; 30:10; 2 Chr 30:9; Neh 1:9; Mosiah 7:33; and 3 Ne 16:15). Nonetheless, the verb "to turn" in especially the Hebrew tradition has a strong theological sense: it generally refers to repentance or conversion. Here it seems best to take it as a kind of inauguratory move, an initial moment of conversion of sorts, since it will be followed by faith, repentance, baptism, and the gift of the Holy Ghost. It thus appears first and foremost to refer to a kind of deliberate or intentional act of attunement: in "turning unto God," Adam orients himself and the whole of the world as he inhabits it to God.

Moses 6:52: And believe, and repent of all thy transgressions. Following the double call to attunement and orientation, faith and repentance become the focus: "and believe, and repent of all thy transgressions." Interestingly, the phrase "thy transgressions" appeared as "their transgressions" in the original manuscript. This is peculiar, given that the phrases immediately preceding are all in the second person ("If thou wilt turn unto me," etc.). One could, of course, play around with the possibility that "their" was meant to refer back to "men before they were [in the flesh]" in verse 51, but this seems unlikely. It seems most likely that "their" was simply a mistranscription, one that was corrected later.

At any rate, the emphasis is clearly on total repentance ("all thy transgressions").

Moses 6:52: And be baptized, even in water, in the name of mine Only Begotten Son. Not surprisingly in light of the fourth article of faith (which would not be written until more than a decade after the translation of the present passage), faith and repentance are followed by water baptism. (The phrase "in water" appears in OT1 as "by water," and it was copied that way into OT2, though it was changed in OT2 at some subsequent point.) It is difficult to know how Adam would have responded to a commandment to be baptized. There is some evidence (in D&C 128 and the first verses of Moses 6) that the ordinance of baptism for the dead preceded the ordinance of baptism for the living. If that were the case—and it would seem to imply that Adam had been baptized for Abel before he was baptized for himself—then Adam may well have been shocked that he himself had to be baptized. Of course, the present passage does not record any such shock.

Moses 6:52. "Ye shall receive the gift of the Holy Ghost" does not appear in OT1. The change was made to OT2.

"Asking all things in his name" appears as "& ye shall ask all things in his name" in OT1. The change was also made to OT2.

"Given you" appears simply as "given" in OT1. The change was also made to OT2.

Moses 6:53. Again, "in water" appears as "by water" in OT1. The change was made to OT2.

"Transgression" appears in the plural in OT1. The change was made in producing OT2.

Moses 6:54. "The Son of God" appears as "Christ" in OT1. The change was made to OT2.

Moses 6:56-60: In nowise. This adverb is unique to the restoration scriptures. And outside of the scriptures is it commonly used without the preceding preposition. Perhaps the uncharacteristic usage is reflective of the archaic origins of the word.

Moses 6:57. "In the meridian of time" does not appear in OT1. The change was made to OT2.

OT2 originally read "the son of man even Jesus Christ a righteous Judge which shall come." It was changed in the ms to "the son a man a righteous Judge who shall come in the meridean of time."

Moses 6:58. "Therefore" does not appear in OT1.

Moses 6:59. "by reason of transgression cometh the fall" appears as "inasmuch as they were born into the world by the fall" in OT1.

"which fall" appears simply as "which" in OT1.

"and inasmuch as ye were born into the world" does not appear in OT1.

"blood and" is inserted only above the line in OT1.

"into the kingdom of heaven" does not appear in OT1.

The phrase "into the mysteries of the kingdom of Heaven" appears after "Only Begotten" in OT1.

"Ye" in "ye might be sanctified" is changed to "they" and then back to "ye" in OT2.

Moses 6:61. "Therefore it is given to abide in you" appears as "that in you is given" in OT1. The changes were made to OT2.

"Peaceable things of immortal glory" is crossed out in OT2 and replaced with "keys of the kingdom of heaven."

"Justice" was only inserted above the line in OT1. It was copied into OT2.

Moses 6:62. The word "through" is not in OT1. The change was made to OT2.

Moses 6:63. "Beneath" appears crossed out after "on the earth" in OT2.

Moses 6:65: Inner man. This phrase occurs only once in the KJV Bible, in Eph 3:16, where it is the translation of the Greek eso (within, in) anthropos (human). In Rom 7:2 this same phrase is translated as "inward man".

Unanswered questions

Prompts for life application

Prompts for further study

Moses 6:53. Adam asks the Lord why we must repent and be baptized. The Lord's answer extends to 63. Why does the answer start by telling Adam that he has been forgiven of his transgression in the Garden of Eden?

Moses 6:65. What is the "inner man" mentioned in vs. 65?

Resources

Notes

Previous page: Verses 6:26-47 Next page: Verses 7:1-19

Moses 6:61-65

Home > The Pearl of Great Price > Moses > Chapters 6-8 > Verses 6:48-68
Previous page: Verses 6:26-47 Next page: Verses 7:1-19

This page would ideally always be under construction. You are invited to contribute.

Summary

This section should be very brief. Click the link above and to the right to edit or add content to this heading. →

Relationship to Chapters 6-8. The relationship of Verses 6:48-68 to the rest of Chapters 6-8 is discussed at Chapters 6-8.

Story.

Message. Themes, symbols, and doctrinal points emphasized in Verses 6:48-68 include:

Discussion

Moses 6:51-55. In the middle of a much longer sermon, Enoch here suddenly reports a conversation between God and Adam. Though he has, to this point in the sermon, already mentioned Adam several times (see verses 45 and 48), here he launches into a detailed discussion of an encounter between Adam and God, a discussion that runs to the end of the chapter. In the commentary that follows, attention will be paid to the original manuscripts from the New Translation, because a number of important variants can be found there. (There are, it should be noted, two surviving original manuscripts from the project of producing the New Translation. OT1—Old Testament Manuscript 1—represents the earliest dictated version of the text, though changes were made to the text right on the manuscript. The entirely of OT1 was subsequently copied, thus producing OT2—Old Testament Manuscript 2—which second manuscript copy was in turn altered. The references to these two manuscripts in the commentary on the remainder of Moses 6 should be understood in light of this explanation.)

It is curious that this story appears only in Enoch's sermon in the Book of Moses and not at all in the earlier, actual narrative concerning Adam. This is a point that deserves careful attention.

Moses 6:51. With this verse, Enoch turns from the "our fathers" in general of verse 50 to "our father Adam." The whole of verses 51-68 thus appear to be Enoch's explanation and expansion of his claim that "God hath made known unto our fathers that all men must repent." That he focuses specifically on Adam in his exposition suggests that he intended not only to justify his general claim, but that he desired to trace the original introduction of the idea of universally necessary repentance into the world.

Moses 6:51: And he called upon our father Adam by his own voice. The Book of Moses has a good deal to say about God's voice before this point in the text. It first appears in the Adam-and-Eve story in 4:14-16, just after Adam and Eve had eaten the fruit of the forbidden tree. There the voice leads Adam and Eve to hide themselves from the Lord. Later, in 5:4, reverse their relationship to the voice: by then they are outside the Garden, calling on the name of the Lord, but only hearing God's voice "from the way toward the Garden of Eden." Where the voice had before been an indication of God's presence, and so the very thing that drove their desire to hide, now the voice took the place of God's presence, and marked their definitive separation from the Garden. The importance of this voice—this singular tie to God after the loss of Eden—becomes strikingly visible when the difference between Cain and Abel becomes a question of whether each "hearken[s]" or "listen[s]" to "the voice of the Lord" (5:17 and 26). And this becomes especially dire when the children of Adam and Eve generally decide "not [to] hearken unto his voice, nor believe on his Only Begotten Son," bringing a curse on themselves (5:57). Despite this general situation, however, the narrative explains that God did speak in the meanwhile to Adam and Eve, because "the Gospel began to be preached, from the beginning, being declared by holy angels sent forth from the presence of God, and by his own voice, and by the gift of the Holy Ghost" (5:58). And Adam and Even, despite the disobedience of their children, did listen to that voice: "Adam hearkened unto the voice of God, and called upon his sons to repent" (6:1). Somewhere in the thick of these last passages, something like the story Enoch is telling seems to have taken place: Adam and Eve seem to have heard the voice of the Lord, and to have recognized that it enjoined them to call upon their children to repent.

Moses 6:51: Saying: I am God. The communication with Adam begins with the not entirely uncommon phrase "I am God." The phrase appears a number of times in scripture (both in Old and in New World scripture; both in ancient and in modern scripture), and it usually indicates God's sovereignty—a kind of reminder that God has power. The present text is no exception: God goes on to describe His own creative power, as well as His sovereign relationship to human beings. Of particular interest, though, is the fact that this same phrase appears two other times in the Book of Moses, first in Moses 2:2, and then in Moses 7:35. The result is that, in the course of eight chapters, one finds God saying "I am God" to Adam, Enoch, and Moses. This is likely of significance.

Moses 6:51: I made the world, and men before they were in the flesh. As already noted, there seems to be a strong emphasis on sovereignty here, perhaps particularly because the words God goes on to say in the following verse are separated or distinguished from these (by the phrase "And he also said unto him"), making this statement a kind of stand-alone announcement, an inaugural establishment of God's relationship to human beings. That relationship is one of unquestionable sovereignty. Not only did God make "the world," He also made "men before they were in the flesh." Interestingly, the phrase "in the flesh" did not appear in the originally dictated-and-transcribed version of this text, in OT1. The text was copied without the phrase into OT2, but the phrase was then added at some subsequent point above the line in OT2. Thus, the text "originally" read: "I made the world, and men before they were." At first, the change seems only meant to clarify. What else could the text have meant? But on closer inspection, things may be more complicated. If God "made men before they were," then a stronger sense of sovereignty is at work in this first word: that God can make things before they are is a bit surprising, and one can be forgiven for thinking that there is a hint here of a more traditional kind of theism in the earlier version. At any rate, the addition of "in the flesh" introduces the idea of a premortal existence into the text. To say that God "made men before they were" is to say that God has an absolute relationship to His creation; but to say that He "made men before they were in the flesh" is to say that He has created them twice, once in a premortal setting, and once in a mortal setting. Which of these readings is preferable remains an open question.

Moses 6:52: And he also said unto him. As already noted, this verse seems to turn from a kind of stand-alone announcement about the sovereign relationship God has to His creatures to a more dialogic communication. Here God's nature seems to have been established, and on that established ground, other questions can be addressed. There is also a sense of distance between this communication and the one in the preceding verse because only the preceding verse describes its communication as a question of God "call[ing] upon" Adam. Here it is only a question of saying.

Moses 6:52: If thou wilt turn unto me, and hearken unto my voice. Somewhat surprisingly, the "if thou wilt turn unto me" phrasing here is relatively unique in scripture. While the language of "if thou wilt turn away from me" is quite common, something like the present phrasing appears only six other times (Deut 4:30; 30:10; 2 Chr 30:9; Neh 1:9; Mosiah 7:33; and 3 Ne 16:15). Nonetheless, the verb "to turn" in especially the Hebrew tradition has a strong theological sense: it generally refers to repentance or conversion. Here it seems best to take it as a kind of inauguratory move, an initial moment of conversion of sorts, since it will be followed by faith, repentance, baptism, and the gift of the Holy Ghost. It thus appears first and foremost to refer to a kind of deliberate or intentional act of attunement: in "turning unto God," Adam orients himself and the whole of the world as he inhabits it to God.

Moses 6:52: And believe, and repent of all thy transgressions. Following the double call to attunement and orientation, faith and repentance become the focus: "and believe, and repent of all thy transgressions." Interestingly, the phrase "thy transgressions" appeared as "their transgressions" in the original manuscript. This is peculiar, given that the phrases immediately preceding are all in the second person ("If thou wilt turn unto me," etc.). One could, of course, play around with the possibility that "their" was meant to refer back to "men before they were [in the flesh]" in verse 51, but this seems unlikely. It seems most likely that "their" was simply a mistranscription, one that was corrected later.

At any rate, the emphasis is clearly on total repentance ("all thy transgressions").

Moses 6:52: And be baptized, even in water, in the name of mine Only Begotten Son. Not surprisingly in light of the fourth article of faith (which would not be written until more than a decade after the translation of the present passage), faith and repentance are followed by water baptism. (The phrase "in water" appears in OT1 as "by water," and it was copied that way into OT2, though it was changed in OT2 at some subsequent point.) It is difficult to know how Adam would have responded to a commandment to be baptized. There is some evidence (in D&C 128 and the first verses of Moses 6) that the ordinance of baptism for the dead preceded the ordinance of baptism for the living. If that were the case—and it would seem to imply that Adam had been baptized for Abel before he was baptized for himself—then Adam may well have been shocked that he himself had to be baptized. Of course, the present passage does not record any such shock.

Moses 6:52. "Ye shall receive the gift of the Holy Ghost" does not appear in OT1. The change was made to OT2.

"Asking all things in his name" appears as "& ye shall ask all things in his name" in OT1. The change was also made to OT2.

"Given you" appears simply as "given" in OT1. The change was also made to OT2.

Moses 6:53. Again, "in water" appears as "by water" in OT1. The change was made to OT2.

"Transgression" appears in the plural in OT1. The change was made in producing OT2.

Moses 6:54. "The Son of God" appears as "Christ" in OT1. The change was made to OT2.

Moses 6:56-60: In nowise. This adverb is unique to the restoration scriptures. And outside of the scriptures is it commonly used without the preceding preposition. Perhaps the uncharacteristic usage is reflective of the archaic origins of the word.

Moses 6:57. "In the meridian of time" does not appear in OT1. The change was made to OT2.

OT2 originally read "the son of man even Jesus Christ a righteous Judge which shall come." It was changed in the ms to "the son a man a righteous Judge who shall come in the meridean of time."

Moses 6:58. "Therefore" does not appear in OT1.

Moses 6:59. "by reason of transgression cometh the fall" appears as "inasmuch as they were born into the world by the fall" in OT1.

"which fall" appears simply as "which" in OT1.

"and inasmuch as ye were born into the world" does not appear in OT1.

"blood and" is inserted only above the line in OT1.

"into the kingdom of heaven" does not appear in OT1.

The phrase "into the mysteries of the kingdom of Heaven" appears after "Only Begotten" in OT1.

"Ye" in "ye might be sanctified" is changed to "they" and then back to "ye" in OT2.

Moses 6:61. "Therefore it is given to abide in you" appears as "that in you is given" in OT1. The changes were made to OT2.

"Peaceable things of immortal glory" is crossed out in OT2 and replaced with "keys of the kingdom of heaven."

"Justice" was only inserted above the line in OT1. It was copied into OT2.

Moses 6:62. The word "through" is not in OT1. The change was made to OT2.

Moses 6:63. "Beneath" appears crossed out after "on the earth" in OT2.

Moses 6:65: Inner man. This phrase occurs only once in the KJV Bible, in Eph 3:16, where it is the translation of the Greek eso (within, in) anthropos (human). In Rom 7:2 this same phrase is translated as "inward man".

Unanswered questions

Prompts for life application

Prompts for further study

Moses 6:53. Adam asks the Lord why we must repent and be baptized. The Lord's answer extends to 63. Why does the answer start by telling Adam that he has been forgiven of his transgression in the Garden of Eden?

Moses 6:65. What is the "inner man" mentioned in vs. 65?

Resources

Notes

Previous page: Verses 6:26-47 Next page: Verses 7:1-19

Moses 6:66-68

Home > The Pearl of Great Price > Moses > Chapters 6-8 > Verses 6:48-68
Previous page: Verses 6:26-47 Next page: Verses 7:1-19

This page would ideally always be under construction. You are invited to contribute.

Summary

This section should be very brief. Click the link above and to the right to edit or add content to this heading. →

Relationship to Chapters 6-8. The relationship of Verses 6:48-68 to the rest of Chapters 6-8 is discussed at Chapters 6-8.

Story.

Message. Themes, symbols, and doctrinal points emphasized in Verses 6:48-68 include:

Discussion

Moses 6:51-55. In the middle of a much longer sermon, Enoch here suddenly reports a conversation between God and Adam. Though he has, to this point in the sermon, already mentioned Adam several times (see verses 45 and 48), here he launches into a detailed discussion of an encounter between Adam and God, a discussion that runs to the end of the chapter. In the commentary that follows, attention will be paid to the original manuscripts from the New Translation, because a number of important variants can be found there. (There are, it should be noted, two surviving original manuscripts from the project of producing the New Translation. OT1—Old Testament Manuscript 1—represents the earliest dictated version of the text, though changes were made to the text right on the manuscript. The entirely of OT1 was subsequently copied, thus producing OT2—Old Testament Manuscript 2—which second manuscript copy was in turn altered. The references to these two manuscripts in the commentary on the remainder of Moses 6 should be understood in light of this explanation.)

It is curious that this story appears only in Enoch's sermon in the Book of Moses and not at all in the earlier, actual narrative concerning Adam. This is a point that deserves careful attention.

Moses 6:51. With this verse, Enoch turns from the "our fathers" in general of verse 50 to "our father Adam." The whole of verses 51-68 thus appear to be Enoch's explanation and expansion of his claim that "God hath made known unto our fathers that all men must repent." That he focuses specifically on Adam in his exposition suggests that he intended not only to justify his general claim, but that he desired to trace the original introduction of the idea of universally necessary repentance into the world.

Moses 6:51: And he called upon our father Adam by his own voice. The Book of Moses has a good deal to say about God's voice before this point in the text. It first appears in the Adam-and-Eve story in 4:14-16, just after Adam and Eve had eaten the fruit of the forbidden tree. There the voice leads Adam and Eve to hide themselves from the Lord. Later, in 5:4, reverse their relationship to the voice: by then they are outside the Garden, calling on the name of the Lord, but only hearing God's voice "from the way toward the Garden of Eden." Where the voice had before been an indication of God's presence, and so the very thing that drove their desire to hide, now the voice took the place of God's presence, and marked their definitive separation from the Garden. The importance of this voice—this singular tie to God after the loss of Eden—becomes strikingly visible when the difference between Cain and Abel becomes a question of whether each "hearken[s]" or "listen[s]" to "the voice of the Lord" (5:17 and 26). And this becomes especially dire when the children of Adam and Eve generally decide "not [to] hearken unto his voice, nor believe on his Only Begotten Son," bringing a curse on themselves (5:57). Despite this general situation, however, the narrative explains that God did speak in the meanwhile to Adam and Eve, because "the Gospel began to be preached, from the beginning, being declared by holy angels sent forth from the presence of God, and by his own voice, and by the gift of the Holy Ghost" (5:58). And Adam and Even, despite the disobedience of their children, did listen to that voice: "Adam hearkened unto the voice of God, and called upon his sons to repent" (6:1). Somewhere in the thick of these last passages, something like the story Enoch is telling seems to have taken place: Adam and Eve seem to have heard the voice of the Lord, and to have recognized that it enjoined them to call upon their children to repent.

Moses 6:51: Saying: I am God. The communication with Adam begins with the not entirely uncommon phrase "I am God." The phrase appears a number of times in scripture (both in Old and in New World scripture; both in ancient and in modern scripture), and it usually indicates God's sovereignty—a kind of reminder that God has power. The present text is no exception: God goes on to describe His own creative power, as well as His sovereign relationship to human beings. Of particular interest, though, is the fact that this same phrase appears two other times in the Book of Moses, first in Moses 2:2, and then in Moses 7:35. The result is that, in the course of eight chapters, one finds God saying "I am God" to Adam, Enoch, and Moses. This is likely of significance.

Moses 6:51: I made the world, and men before they were in the flesh. As already noted, there seems to be a strong emphasis on sovereignty here, perhaps particularly because the words God goes on to say in the following verse are separated or distinguished from these (by the phrase "And he also said unto him"), making this statement a kind of stand-alone announcement, an inaugural establishment of God's relationship to human beings. That relationship is one of unquestionable sovereignty. Not only did God make "the world," He also made "men before they were in the flesh." Interestingly, the phrase "in the flesh" did not appear in the originally dictated-and-transcribed version of this text, in OT1. The text was copied without the phrase into OT2, but the phrase was then added at some subsequent point above the line in OT2. Thus, the text "originally" read: "I made the world, and men before they were." At first, the change seems only meant to clarify. What else could the text have meant? But on closer inspection, things may be more complicated. If God "made men before they were," then a stronger sense of sovereignty is at work in this first word: that God can make things before they are is a bit surprising, and one can be forgiven for thinking that there is a hint here of a more traditional kind of theism in the earlier version. At any rate, the addition of "in the flesh" introduces the idea of a premortal existence into the text. To say that God "made men before they were" is to say that God has an absolute relationship to His creation; but to say that He "made men before they were in the flesh" is to say that He has created them twice, once in a premortal setting, and once in a mortal setting. Which of these readings is preferable remains an open question.

Moses 6:52: And he also said unto him. As already noted, this verse seems to turn from a kind of stand-alone announcement about the sovereign relationship God has to His creatures to a more dialogic communication. Here God's nature seems to have been established, and on that established ground, other questions can be addressed. There is also a sense of distance between this communication and the one in the preceding verse because only the preceding verse describes its communication as a question of God "call[ing] upon" Adam. Here it is only a question of saying.

Moses 6:52: If thou wilt turn unto me, and hearken unto my voice. Somewhat surprisingly, the "if thou wilt turn unto me" phrasing here is relatively unique in scripture. While the language of "if thou wilt turn away from me" is quite common, something like the present phrasing appears only six other times (Deut 4:30; 30:10; 2 Chr 30:9; Neh 1:9; Mosiah 7:33; and 3 Ne 16:15). Nonetheless, the verb "to turn" in especially the Hebrew tradition has a strong theological sense: it generally refers to repentance or conversion. Here it seems best to take it as a kind of inauguratory move, an initial moment of conversion of sorts, since it will be followed by faith, repentance, baptism, and the gift of the Holy Ghost. It thus appears first and foremost to refer to a kind of deliberate or intentional act of attunement: in "turning unto God," Adam orients himself and the whole of the world as he inhabits it to God.

Moses 6:52: And believe, and repent of all thy transgressions. Following the double call to attunement and orientation, faith and repentance become the focus: "and believe, and repent of all thy transgressions." Interestingly, the phrase "thy transgressions" appeared as "their transgressions" in the original manuscript. This is peculiar, given that the phrases immediately preceding are all in the second person ("If thou wilt turn unto me," etc.). One could, of course, play around with the possibility that "their" was meant to refer back to "men before they were [in the flesh]" in verse 51, but this seems unlikely. It seems most likely that "their" was simply a mistranscription, one that was corrected later.

At any rate, the emphasis is clearly on total repentance ("all thy transgressions").

Moses 6:52: And be baptized, even in water, in the name of mine Only Begotten Son. Not surprisingly in light of the fourth article of faith (which would not be written until more than a decade after the translation of the present passage), faith and repentance are followed by water baptism. (The phrase "in water" appears in OT1 as "by water," and it was copied that way into OT2, though it was changed in OT2 at some subsequent point.) It is difficult to know how Adam would have responded to a commandment to be baptized. There is some evidence (in D&C 128 and the first verses of Moses 6) that the ordinance of baptism for the dead preceded the ordinance of baptism for the living. If that were the case—and it would seem to imply that Adam had been baptized for Abel before he was baptized for himself—then Adam may well have been shocked that he himself had to be baptized. Of course, the present passage does not record any such shock.

Moses 6:52. "Ye shall receive the gift of the Holy Ghost" does not appear in OT1. The change was made to OT2.

"Asking all things in his name" appears as "& ye shall ask all things in his name" in OT1. The change was also made to OT2.

"Given you" appears simply as "given" in OT1. The change was also made to OT2.

Moses 6:53. Again, "in water" appears as "by water" in OT1. The change was made to OT2.

"Transgression" appears in the plural in OT1. The change was made in producing OT2.

Moses 6:54. "The Son of God" appears as "Christ" in OT1. The change was made to OT2.

Moses 6:56-60: In nowise. This adverb is unique to the restoration scriptures. And outside of the scriptures is it commonly used without the preceding preposition. Perhaps the uncharacteristic usage is reflective of the archaic origins of the word.

Moses 6:57. "In the meridian of time" does not appear in OT1. The change was made to OT2.

OT2 originally read "the son of man even Jesus Christ a righteous Judge which shall come." It was changed in the ms to "the son a man a righteous Judge who shall come in the meridean of time."

Moses 6:58. "Therefore" does not appear in OT1.

Moses 6:59. "by reason of transgression cometh the fall" appears as "inasmuch as they were born into the world by the fall" in OT1.

"which fall" appears simply as "which" in OT1.

"and inasmuch as ye were born into the world" does not appear in OT1.

"blood and" is inserted only above the line in OT1.

"into the kingdom of heaven" does not appear in OT1.

The phrase "into the mysteries of the kingdom of Heaven" appears after "Only Begotten" in OT1.

"Ye" in "ye might be sanctified" is changed to "they" and then back to "ye" in OT2.

Moses 6:61. "Therefore it is given to abide in you" appears as "that in you is given" in OT1. The changes were made to OT2.

"Peaceable things of immortal glory" is crossed out in OT2 and replaced with "keys of the kingdom of heaven."

"Justice" was only inserted above the line in OT1. It was copied into OT2.

Moses 6:62. The word "through" is not in OT1. The change was made to OT2.

Moses 6:63. "Beneath" appears crossed out after "on the earth" in OT2.

Moses 6:65: Inner man. This phrase occurs only once in the KJV Bible, in Eph 3:16, where it is the translation of the Greek eso (within, in) anthropos (human). In Rom 7:2 this same phrase is translated as "inward man".

Unanswered questions

Prompts for life application

Prompts for further study

Moses 6:53. Adam asks the Lord why we must repent and be baptized. The Lord's answer extends to 63. Why does the answer start by telling Adam that he has been forgiven of his transgression in the Garden of Eden?

Moses 6:65. What is the "inner man" mentioned in vs. 65?

Resources

Notes

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