Difference between revisions of "Abraham 1-2"

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The Pearl of Great Price > Abraham > Chapters 1-2

Subpages: Verses 1:1-4, Verses 1:5-20, Verses 1:21-27, Verses 1:28-31, Verses 2:1-16, Verses 2:17-25

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Summary

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■ Abraham seeks the priesthood (Abraham 1-2 / Genesis 11:27-12:13)

● Abraham in Ur (Chapter 1)

• Abraham as a seeker of appointment to the priesthood (1:1-4)

• Abraham delivered from the priest of Pharoah (1:5-20)

• Pharoah's false priesthood (1:21-27)

• Abraham as a transmitter of knowledge from the patriarchs to his posterity (1:28-31)

● Abraham travels to Haran, Canaan, Egypt (Chapter 2)

• Abraham appointed to the priesthood (2:1-16)

• Abraham taught protection from the Egyptians (2:17-25)

At this point the book of Abraham account of Abraham's travels ends, though the Genesis account continues.

Discussion

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Chapter 1

The importance of this first chapter to a general understanding of the Book of Abraham cannot be overemphasized. Not only does this first chapter explain how it is that Abraham finds himself a wanderer in foreign lands, it also provides the reader with some preliminary details concerning the patriarchal order and its perversion in Egypt. The connection between these two themes underlies every single verse in this chapter: the apostasy in Chaldea, from which Abraham is to take his leave, is directly tied to the patriarchal perversion that is at work in Egypt. The two themes cannot be separated.

Though the Book of Abraham is, for now at least, an incomplete text, it is clear from what is had of it that it traces broadly a movement from Chaldea to Egypt. (If the text was written, as it is claimed, while Abraham was still in Egypt, that movement is not countered, undone, or altered at all in the complete text. It remains, apparently, a text about Abraham's approach to Egypt.) Even as the majority (?) of the text is not to be had as of yet, the broad meaning of the whole of the Book of Abraham seems to be contained within the first chapter, which traces in miniature Abraham's concerns in Chaldea to his broader concerns in Egypt. That movement as it written out in this first chapter may be the most important thing one is to learn from the Book of Abraham.

That said, the best approach to this first chapter of Abraham would seem to be one that reads carefully the relation between Egypt and Chaldea. While a short reading of the whole chapter provides a broad sense of that relation, it is only with a most detailed reading of the Chaldean material that one can ultimately approach the content concerning Egypt that concludes the chapter. In other words and more plainly: issues concerning the patriarchal government of Egypt, concerning bloodlines and genealogies, concerning the rise of the Egyptian power, must be considered from the standpoint of the nationalistic rituals at play in the first part of the chapter. Modern presuppositions concerning the nature of Egypt can only be uprooted by careful study of Abraham's awful situation.

Verses 2:8-11: Abrahamic Covenant

Genesis 12:1-3; 13:14-17; 15:18 (1-21); 17:11, 13 (1-27); 18:18; 22:18; 26:3-5; 28:10-14; Exo 2:24; 6:2-5; Lev 26:42-45; 2 Kgs 13:23; 17:15, 35, 38; 18:12; 23:2-3, 21; 1 Chron 16:15-17; Psalm 105:9; Acts 3:25; 7:8 - circumcision

In Gen 12:1-3 God promised Abraham a place, a people, and the presence of God. I am with you. Treated as a third starting point (after Adam and Noah) for the family of believers and for blessing all mankind.

Renewed in Gen 24:60; 26:1-4, 24; 28; 35:9-13; 48:3-4

The Lord will again establish this covenant with Israel when he sets his hand the second time to recover them - Isa 11; Rom 11:25-27; Jer 31:31-33. The Gentiles have now broken the covenant - Isa 24:5.

Blessings.

1. Land of inheritance.

• Canaan - Gen 13:14-15. This inheritance is eternal, not immediate or temporal - Gen 17:18; Acts 7:5; Heb 11:8-10. The Jews will eventually gather to Canaan. Jer 31; Ezek 36-39; 47-48 (esp 47:13); Zech 14; Rev 7.

• Joseph is given a double portion in America, the "utmost bound" - Gen 49:22, 26.

2. Innumerable seed.

• in the world - literal descendants - Gen 17:20; Heb 11:8-12; Deut 4; 32

• in the world - adoption

• Gentiles to be adopted - Abr 2:8-11; Gal 3:7-29; D&C 132:29-33; D&C 84:33-41; 2 Ne 30:2

• Unrighteous Israel rejected - John 8:31-47; Rom 9:6; 2 Ne 30:2

• in eternity - eternal increase - D&C 132:30; Gen 13:16; 15:5; 17:4; 22:16-18; 26:4; 28:14; sealed into the lineage of Abraham

3. Bless friends, curse enemies.

4. Descendants to inherit these same blessings.

descendants entitled to have the covenant offered to them - D&C 86:8-11; 132:30 (29-50); Abr 2:9-11; Rom 9:4; Gal 3-4

5. All nations blessed through his seed.

• descendants to minister

• Christ - Acts 3:25-26; 3 Ne 20:25-27

• many other great ones - missionaries

• scattering among the nations, or leavening - Hosea "cake mixed?"

Conditions.

• do the works of Abraham - John 8:39; D&C 132:31-32

• teach children - Gen 18:19; D&C 93:40; 68:25

• will gather and restore when repent

• circumcision

Renewals.

Isaac

Jacob

Joseph. He did not just inherit, but shared with his brothers.

Points to ponder

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I have a question

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Resources

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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 are preferable to footnotes.

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