Genesis 5; Moses 6
“Teach These Things Freely unto Your Children”
January 26 - February 1
scripture
quote
What is the Priesthood?
<p>President Joseph F. Smith described the priesthood as “the power of God delegated to man by which man can act in the earth for the salvation of the human family.” Other leaders have taught us that the priesthood “is the consummate power on this earth. It is the power by which the earth was created.” The scriptures teach that “this same Priesthood, which was in the beginning, shall be in the end of the world also” (Moses 6:7). Thus, the priesthood is the power by which we will be resurrected and proceed to eternal life.</p>
Dallin H. Oaks, “The Keys and Authority of the Priesthood,” April 2014 General Conference
commentary
Overview: The Righteous Family of Adam and Eve; Enoch the Seer and Preacher
<p>From the story of Lamech in Moses 5, Umberto Cassuto drew the lesson that</p> <blockquote> <p>material progress did not go hand in hand with moral advancement. Not only did violence prevail in the world, but it was precisely in deeds of violence that these generations gloried. The very qualities that are ethically reprehensible, and are hateful in the sight of the Lord, were esteemed in the eyes of men. In such circumstances, the Judge of the whole earth could not but execute judgment. All the achievements of material civilization are not worth anything without moral virtues, and cannot protect man from retribution. We have here a kind of prelude to the decree of the Flood.<a href="#_ftn1" name="_ftnref1"><sup>[1]</sup></a></p> </blockquote> <p>Mercifully postponing judgment, however, God first launched successive waves of an emergency missionary program to gather any that would hearken to the call of repentance—first to Adam-ondi-Ahman and later to Enoch’s city.<a href="#_ftn2" name="_ftnref2"><sup>[2]</sup></a> The absolute failure of the final ministry of the long-suffering Noah definitively confirmed that there were none but his immediate family who would listen and also demonstrated the inevitability of the sweeping destruction of the Flood.</p> <p>The first part of Moses 6 and Genesis 5 describes the final events in the life of Adam as a patriarch to the righteous branch of his posterity (compare Abraham 1:26). The focus of the account is on the birth of the righteous Seth and the beginning of the patriarchal line that will culminate, in the seventh generation from Adam, with the call of Enoch.</p> <p>The account of Enoch in the book of Moses has been called the “most remarkable religious document published in the nineteenth century.”<a href="#_ftn3" name="_ftnref3"><sup>[3]</sup></a> Writing the account of Enoch occupied part of the Prophet’s attention from November 30 to December 31, 1830. Additional references to Enoch appeared in several of the revelations collected in the Doctrine and Covenants.<a href="#_ftn4" name="_ftnref4"><sup>[4]</sup></a> Joseph Smith’s “Book of Enoch” provides “eighteen times as many column inches about Enoch . . . than we have in the few verses on him in the Bible. Those scriptures not only contain greater quantity [than the Bible] but also . . . contain . . . [abundant] new material about Enoch on which the Bible is silent.”<a href="#_ftn5" name="_ftnref5"><sup>[5]</sup></a> This material was not derived from deep study of scriptural references to Enoch or from exposure to the ancient Enoch literature, nor was it absorbed from Masonic or hermetic influences.</p> <p>While expressing “no judgment, one way or the other, upon the authenticity” of Latter-day Saint scripture, the eminent Yale professor and Jewish literary scholar Harold Bloom found “enormous validity” in these writings and could “only attribute to [the Prophet’s] genius or [divine mentor]” his ability to “recapture . . . crucial elements in the archaic Jewish religion . . . that had ceased to be available either to normative Judaism or to Christianity, and that survived only in esoteric traditions unlikely to have touched [Joseph] Smith directly.”<a href="#_ftn6" name="_ftnref6"><sup>[6]</sup></a></p> <p>Studies by Latter-day Saint scholars confirm Bloom’s observations, beginning with the pioneering research of Hugh Nibley.<a href="#_ftn7" name="_ftnref7">[7]</a> These studies show how ancient Enoch traditions confirm and complement the book of Moses,<a href="#_ftn8" name="_ftnref8">[8]</a> specifically documenting</p> <ul> <li>a Mesopotamian social background and geographic setting for Enoch’s mission;</li> <li>historic plausibility for the name and role of Mahijah/Mahujah, the only other character besides Enoch mentioned by name in Moses 6–7;</li> <li>strong resemblances in specific themes, rare expressions, and storyline sequence to Enoch manuscripts that Joseph Smith could not have known;</li> <li>echoes of book of Moses titles and teachings about the prophesied Son of Man in Enoch books found among the Dead Sea Scrolls and in other relevant Jewish traditions; and</li> <li>evidence from ancient Enoch texts, in general agreement with the book of Moses, that a righteous faction of Enoch’s people was gathered to divinely prepared cities and later ascended to the presence of God. <a href="#_ftn9" name="_ftnref9">[9]</a></li> </ul> <p> </p> <p><a href="#_ftnref1" name="_ftn1">[1]</a> Umberto Cassuto, <em>A Commentary on the Book of Genesis</em>, vol. 1, <em>From Adam to Noah</em>, trans. Israel Abrahams (Jerusalem, Israel: Magnes Press, 1998), 244.</p> <p><a href="#_ftnref2" name="_ftn2">[2]</a> Hugh W. Nibley, <em>Teachings of the Pearl of Great Price</em> (Provo, UT: Foundation for Ancient Research and Mormon Studies [FARMS], 2004), 262, 263.</p> <p><a href="#_ftnref3" name="_ftn3">[3]</a> Terryl L. Givens and Fiona Givens, <em>The God Who Weeps: How Mormonism Makes Sense of Life</em> (Salt Lake City, UT: Ensign Peak, 2012), 24.</p> <p><a href="#_ftnref4" name="_ftn4">[4]</a> See Doctrine and Covenants 38:4; 45:11; 76:57, 67, 100; 84:15–16; 107:48, 53, 57; 133:54. See also Kerry Muhlestein, “The Doctrine and Covenants and the Book of Moses: An Outpouring of Revelations and the Beginning of Joseph Smith’s ‘New Translation’ of the Bible,” in<em> Tracing Ancient Threads in the Book of Moses: Inspired Origins, Temple Contexts, and Literary Qualities, </em>ed. Jeffrey M. Bradshaw, David R. Seely, John W. Welch, and Scott Gordon (Orem, UT: Interpreter Foundation; Springville, UT: Book of Mormon Central; Redding, CA: FAIR; Salt Lake City, UT: Eborn Books, 2021).</p> <p><a href="#_ftnref5" name="_ftn5">[5]</a> Neal A. Maxwell, <em>A Wonderful Flood of Light</em> (Salt Lake City, UT: Bookcraft, 1990), 31.</p> <p><a href="#_ftnref6" name="_ftn6">[6]</a> Harold Bloom, <em>The American Religion: The Emergence of the Post-Christian Nation</em> (New York, NY: Simon and Schuster, 1992), 98–101.</p> <p><a href="#_ftnref7" name="_ftn7">[7]</a> See Hugh W. Nibley, <em>Enoch the Prophet</em>, ed. Stephen D. Ricks, The Collected Works of Hugh Nibley 2 (Salt Lake City, UT: Deseret Book, 1986).</p> <p><a href="#_ftnref8" name="_ftn8">[8]</a> See Jeffrey M. Bradshaw, “Moses 6–7 and the <em>Book of Giants</em>: Remarkable Witnesses of Enoch’s Ministry,” in<em> Tracing Ancient Threads</em>, 1041–1256.</p> <p><a href="#_ftnref9" name="_ftn9">[9]</a> See S. Kent Brown and Jeffrey M. Bradshaw, “Man and Son of Man: Probing Theology and Christology in the Book of Moses and in Jewish and Christian Tradition,” in<em> Tracing Ancient Threads</em>, 1257–1331.</p> <p> </p> <p><strong>Author:</strong> Jeffrey M. Bradshaw<br /><strong>General Editor:</strong> Taylor Halverson<br /><strong>Associate Editor:</strong> Morgan Tanner<br /><strong>Senior Editor:</strong> Sarah Whitney Johnson<br /><strong>Assistant Editor:</strong> Verlanne Johnson</p>
Old Testament Minute: Genesis by BMC
video
How Did Adam Teach Us to Remember God? (Moses 6:1-9)
<p>Marianna Richardson, “Come, Follow Me (Genesis 5; Moses 6 | Jan 17 - 23) Week 4, Part 1/7,” Book of Mormon Central Video, 2022.</p>
Marianna Richardson
