D&C 89
Doctrine & Covenants > Section 89
- Subpages: Verses 1-5, Verses 6-10, Verses 11-15, Verses 16-21
Contents
Historical setting
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Brief outline and summary
This revelation straightforwardly divides itself into five differentiable parts:
- Verses 1-3 - An introduction to the revelation.
- Verses 4-6 - Instructions regarding wine in (and out of) the sacrament.
- Verses 7-9 - A list of prohibitions for the Latter-day Saints.
- Verses 10-17 - Counsel concerning the consumption of plans and animals.
- Verses 18-21 - A postscript outlining promises (perhaps particularly associated with verses 10-17).
It has been suggested by at least one scholar that what is now D&C 89 began, actually, as three distinct revelations that were quickly assembled into a single document (though one might just as well assume that the revelation was originally a single communication that addressed three distinct concerns). Key to this interpretation is the triple indication of audience in verse 1: "for the benefit of [1] the council of high priests, assembled in Kirtland, [2] and the church, [3] and also the saints in Zion." There are good historical reasons to suspect that (1) what is now verses 4-6 was originally addressed to concerns raised by the Kirtland leaders about the continuing relevance of D&C 27:1-4, that (2) what is now verses 7-9 was originally addressed to the whole church in response to questions raised generally about the growing temperance movement and a variety of strange health practices then in vogue, and that (3) what is now verses 10-21 was originally addressed specifically to the saints in Zion, who had received very similar counsel regarding the good things of the earth in D&C 59:15-20.
Whether this is exactly right (see the details in the articled linked to below), it is probably best nonetheless to divide the revelation up into these several parts.
Detailed discussion
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Relation to other scriptures
Related sections and chapters
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Parallel passages
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Text transmission and circulation
- The oldest surviving copy of D&C 89 is hard to determine. There are three contenders: the handwritten copy Wilford Woodruff produced and inserted into his own copy of the Book of Commandments, the copy included in the manuscript Book of Commandments and Revelations see here, and the copy to be found in book B of the Book of Laws and Commandments.
- D&C 89 was first published in December 1833 or January 1834, in the form of a broadside.
- D&C 89 was first included in the Doctrine & Covenants in the 1835 edition.
- The text of D&C 89 in significant editions of the Doctrine & Covenants can be found at: <NEED TO UPDATE REFERENCES>
- Changes to the text of D&C 89:
Complete outline and pagemap
Items in blue or purple text indicate hyperlinked pages that address specific portions of this section.
Questions for further study and reflection
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Footnotes
Additional resources
- See Clyde Ford's essay on the historical origins of D&C 89 (pp. 129-154) for a most helpful contextualization of the several parts of the revelation.
