Doctrine and Covenants 117

Doctrine and Covenants 117

Historical Context

On Sunday, July 8, 1838, Joseph Smith received five revelations concerning Church leadership and finances. Four of these revelations now constitute sections 117, 118, 119, and 120 of the Doctrine and Covenants. Another revelation, given to William W. Phelps and Fredrick G. Williams, was also received on July 8 but was not canonized in the Doctrine and Covenants.1 All five revelations were apparently dictated by Joseph Smith in a leadership meeting held before Sunday services that same day.

Doctrine and Covenants 117 was directed to William Marks, Newel K. Whitney, and Oliver Granger. This revelation dealt with concerns in Kirtland, Ohio, following the departure of most Church leadership from there a few months earlier. William Marks had been directed to preside over the Church in Kirtland and to serve as a financial agent for Joseph Smith and Sidney Rigdon in settling their remaining debts in the area. Newel K. Whitney had been serving as the bishop of the Church in Kirtland. After settling their affairs, both Marks and Whitney were expected to relocate to Missouri, where the main body of the Church was now found. Oliver Granger, a member of the high council in Kirtland, was asked to stay in Ohio to act as an agent for the First Presidency in settling remaining Church business in the area.

Doctrine and Covenants 117 was included in a letter carried by Oliver Granger to Marks and Whitney from the First Presidency. Commenting on the revelation, the First Presidency told the two men, “By this you will understand the will of the Lord concerning you and will doubtless act accordingly—it would be wisdom for all the Saints that can come this Summer to come and make an effort to do so as it will be better for them.”2 The revelation was added to the 1876 edition of the Doctrine and Covenants under the direction of Brigham Young.3

See “Historical Introduction,” Revelation, 8 July 1838–E [D&C 117].

Verse-by-Verse Commentary

D&C 117:1–9

1 Verily thus saith the Lord unto my servant William Marks, and also unto my servant Newel K. Whitney, let them settle up their business speedily and journey from the land of Kirtland, before I, the Lord, send again the snows upon the earth.

2 Let them awake, and arise, and come forth, and not tarry, for I, the Lord, command it.

3 Therefore, if they tarry it shall not be well with them.

4 Let them repent of all their sins, and of all their covetous desires, before me, saith the Lord; for what is property unto me? saith the Lord.

5 Let the properties of Kirtland be turned out for debts, saith the Lord. Let them go, saith the Lord, and whatsoever remaineth, let it remain in your hands, saith the Lord.

6 For have I not the fowls of heaven, and also the fish of the sea, and the beasts of the mountains? Have I not made the earth? Do I not hold the destinies of all the armies of the nations of the earth?

7 Therefore, will I not make solitary places to bud and to blossom, and to bring forth in abundance? saith the Lord.

8 Is there not room enough on the mountains of Adam-ondi-Ahman, and on the plains of Olaha Shinehah, or the land where Adam dwelt, that you should covet that which is but the drop, and neglect the more weighty matters?

9 Therefore, come up hither unto the land of my people, even Zion.

William Marks and Newel K. Whitney were both important leaders among the Saints in Ohio, yet neither departed with the “Kirtland Camp,” a large group of remaining Saints who left Kirtland on July 6, 1838.4 The departure from Kirtland came at a considerable sacrifice to all the Saints who relocated to Missouri. The reason why William Marks and Newel K. Whitney did not leave earlier is clear from Doctrine and Covenants 117. The Lord pointedly asks the two men, “what is property unto me?” (D&C 117:4). The Savior counsels both men to give up their property for the sake of the gospel and gather with the Saints in Missouri. For Newel K. Whitney, whose businesses were the economic heart of the Church in Ohio, following this counsel came at a high cost. But the Lord often tests his disciples by requiring them to depart into the wilderness, which necessitates giving up familiarity and comfort. The sacrifice asked of Whitney and Marks was the same asked of Abraham, Jacob, Lehi, and, closer to our time, the Saints who gathered to Kirtland (D&C 37).

The Lord also references the “mountains of Adam-ondi-Ahman” and the “plains of Olaha Shinehah” (D&C 117:8). Both locations are listed alongside the “land where Adam dwelt” (D&C 117:8). We do not know the meaning of the words “Olaha Shinehah,” but we assume they are also part of the Adamic language. The word “Shinehah” appears in Abraham 3:13 as a word for the sun and “Olea” as a word for the moon. Janne M. Sjodahl and Hyrum M. Smith have speculated that “Olaha” might be a variant of “Olea.” If so, the plains of “Olaha Shinehah” would be the Plains of the Moon and the Sun.5 “Shinehah” might also be a reference to Kirtland itself since “Shinehah” was used as a codeword for Kirtland in early versions of several revelations found in the Doctrine and Covenants.6

D&C 117:10–11

10 Let my servant William Marks be faithful over a few things, and he shall be a ruler over many. Let him preside in the midst of my people in the city of Far West, and let him be blessed with the blessings of my people.

11 Let my servant Newel K. Whitney be ashamed of the Nicolaitane band and of all their secret abominations, and of all his littleness of soul before me, saith the Lord, and come up to the land of Adam-ondi-Ahman, and be a bishop unto my people, saith the Lord, not in name but in deed, saith the Lord.

The Lord reproves Newel K. Whitney for his association with the “Nicolaitane band and all their secret abominations” (D&C 117:11). In the Book of Revelation, the Nicolaitans were an apostate group who “cast a stumblingblock before the children of Israel, to eat things sacrificed unto idols, and to commit fornication” (Revelation 2:14). This is likely a reference to the apostate members of the Church who remained behind in Kirtland. Whitney, earlier appointed as the bishop over the Church in Ohio (D&C 72:7–8), is commanded to gather to Adam-ondi-Ahman and serve as a bishop there (D&C 117:11). Marks is to “preside in the midst of my people in the city of Far West” (D&C 117:10), implying a call to serve in the presidency of the Far West stake. Both Whitney and Marks failed to gather to Missouri until the Fall of 1838. When they arrived in Missouri, they found the Saints in turmoil. Many Saints were forced to abandon their homes. As such, neither of these calls from the Lord were carried out.

However, following the expulsion from Missouri, Newel K. Whitney relocated with the Saints to Nauvoo. There he served as a bishop, an alderman, a member of the Council of Fifty, and a “trustee-in-trust” for the Church following Joseph Smith’s death. In October 1844 Whitney was appointed “first bishop,” or Presiding Bishop, and served faithfully in that calling until his death in Salt Lake City in 1849.7 William Marks also gathered to Nauvoo, where he was appointed stake president. He also served as a member of the Council of Fifty, but following Joseph Smith’s death, he allied himself with Sidney Rigdon. When Rigdon was rejected as the new leader of the Church, Marks left Nauvoo. He wandered through several different splinter movements over the next few years. He finally joined the Reorganized Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (now the Community of Christ) and died in Plano, Iowa in 1872.8

D&C 117:12–16

12 And again, I say unto you, I remember my servant Oliver Granger; behold, verily I say unto him that his name shall be had in sacred remembrance from generation to generation, forever and ever, saith the Lord.

13 Therefore, let him contend earnestly for the redemption of the First Presidency of my Church, saith the Lord; and when he falls he shall rise again, for his sacrifice shall be more sacred unto me than his increase, saith the Lord.

14 Therefore, let him come up hither speedily, unto the land of Zion; and in the due time he shall be made a merchant unto my name, saith the Lord, for the benefit of my people.

15 Therefore let no man despise my servant Oliver Granger, but let the blessings of my people be on him forever and ever.

16 And again, verily I say unto you, let all my servants in the land of Kirtland remember the Lord their God, and mine house also, to keep and preserve it holy, and to overthrow the moneychangers in mine own due time, saith the Lord. Even so. Amen.

In Ohio, next to the Kirtland Temple, there is a small headstone, pockmarked with age, that reads simply “Oliver Granger.” The stonemason who made the headstone failed to carefully carve the name and almost left the r off the end of the monument. This simple marker designates the final resting place of Oliver Granger. In Doctrine and Covenants 117, Oliver Granger is called to “contend earnestly for the redemption of the First Presidency of my Church” (D&C 117:13). Joseph Smith later wrote in his history, “As I was driven away from Kirtland without the privilege of settling my business, I had previous to this employed Colonel Oliver Granger as my agent to close all my affairs in the Eastern States; and as I have been accused of ‘running away, cheating my creditors’”9 As the Church left Kirtland, Granger was asked to return and settle the debts of the Church in the area.

Granger served faithfully in this calling, laboring diligently to pay off debts and to answer accusations that the leaders of the Church had fled from Kirtland to avoid paying their debts. In appreciation for his willingness to fulfill this difficult task, the First Presidency wrote a letter of commendation to Granger in May 1839, which reads: “We have always found President Oliver Granger to be a man of the most strict integrity and moral virtue, and in fine to be a man of God. We have had long experience and acquaintance with Br Granger, we have entrusted vast business concerns to him which have been managed skillfully to the support of our Characters and interest, as well as that of the Church.”10 The letter also contains a blessing for Granger written in revelatory language, which declares, “And again Verily thus saith the Lord, I will lift up my servant Oliver, And beget for him a great name on the earth and among my people, because of the integrity of his soul; therefore let all my Saints abound unto him with all liberality and long suffering, and it shall be a blessing on their heads.”11

Oliver Granger died in Kirtland under unknown conditions. But his name is still held “in sacred remembrance” (D&C 117:12) to this day for upholding the integrity of the Church and its leaders.

Footnotes

• 1. See Revelation, 8 July 1838–B, JSP.
• 2. Letter to William Marks and Newel K. Whitney, 8 July 1838, p. 2, JSP.
• 3. Robert J. Woodford, Historical Development of the Doctrine and Covenants, 1974, 1524.
• 4. Kirtland Camp, Journal, 6 July 1838, Church History Library; cited in “Historical Introduction,” Revelation, 8 July 1838–E [D&C 117], fn. 3, JSP.
• 5. Hyrum M. Smith and Janne M. Sjodahl, Doctrine and Covenants Commentary, 1951, 745.
• 6. See Doctrine and Covenants, 1835, p. 243, JSP.
• 7. Newel K. Whitney, biography, JSP.
• 8. William Marks, biography, JSP.
• 9. JS History, vol. B-1, p. 837, JSP.
• 10. Authorization for Oliver Granger, 13 May 1839, pp. 45–46, JSP.
• 11. Authorization for Oliver Granger, 13 May 1839, p. 46, JSP.