Moses 7
“The Lord Called His People Zion”
February 2 - February 8
scripture
commentary
Enoch’s Grand Vision: Enoch Weeps over His Brethren
<p><strong>7:41. “told Enoch all the doings of the children of men.”</strong> Compare 2 Enoch 53:2: “See how I have written down all the deeds of every person before the creation, and I am writing down what is done among all persons forever.”<a href="#_ftn1" name="_ftnref1">[1]</a></p> <p><strong>7:41. “Enoch . . . wept.”</strong> Enoch’s question about the weeping of the heavens in Moses 7:29 formed the opening of a powerful<em> inclusio</em> (verbal envelope) whose closing bookend is found in verse 40. Having concluded His answer to Enoch, God now reiterates His solidarity with the sorrowing of the heavens (“wherefore, for this shall the heavens weep”). In eloquent brevity He acknowledges that the bitter cup of weeping now also extends to include the earth and its creatures (“yea, and all the workmanship of my hands”). In verse 41 Enoch weeps. Only now does the realization of the depth of God’s empathy finally draw out Enoch’s full response, and “his heart swelled wide as eternity”—in other words, as wide as God’s heart.<a href="#_ftn2" name="_ftnref2">[2]</a> Now Enoch unites his own voice with the weeping heavenly chorus in a grand finale.</p> <p><strong>7:41. “shook.”</strong> In the scriptures, shaking and trembling are indicators of deep emotion, whether positive or negative. Sometimes such references are to individuals and nations; other times they describe a figurative shaking of heaven or earth resembling the shaking of all eternity that is pictured here.</p> <p><strong>7:42. “Enoch also saw Noah, and his family.”</strong> Compare 1 Enoch 106:16 where Enoch prophesied the destiny of Noah and his sons: “And this child that was born to you will be left upon the earth, and his three children will be saved with him, when all men on the earth die.”<a href="#_ftn3" name="_ftnref3">[3]</a></p> <p><strong>7:42. “the posterity of all the sons of Noah should be saved with a temporal salvation.”</strong> The verse speaks only of temporal salvation, implying that those who escape death will not necessarily evade the effects of sin.</p> <p><strong>7:43. “held it in his own hand.” </strong>Although the Bible does not explicitly describe God’s role during the Flood, <em>Book of Parables</em> 67:2 contains a similar description to the one in the book of Moses: “I will put my hand upon [the ark] and protect it.”<a href="#_ftn4" name="_ftnref4">[4]</a></p> <p><strong>7:44. “wept.”</strong> See <a class="ref_link">Moses 7:41</a>. Enoch first wept over humankind’s wickedness, then he wept over its destruction. Finally, he will weep over the complaints of the suffering earth (verse 48).</p> <p><strong>7:44. “I will refuse to be comforted.”</strong> Hugh Nibley commented, “Enoch is the great advocate, the champion of the human race, pleading with God to spare the wicked and ‘refusing to be comforted’ until he is shown just how that is to be done. He feels for all and is concerned for all. He is the passionate and compassionate, the magnanimous one who cannot rest knowing that others are miserable. He is the wise and obedient servant, the friend and helper of all, hence the perfect leader and ruler.”<a href="#_ftn5" name="_ftnref5">[5]</a></p> <p><strong>7:44. “Lift up your heart, and be glad; and look.”</strong> Terryl and Fiona Givens wrote, “In the midst of Enoch’s pain, God commands him to ‘Lift up your heart, and be glad; and look.’ Only then does he see ‘the day of the coming of the Son of Man.’ Recognizing in Christ’s advent the great work of healing and redemption, ‘his soul rejoiced.’”<a href="#_ftn6" name="_ftnref6">[6]</a></p> <p> </p> <p><a href="#_ftnref1" name="_ftn1">[1]</a> F. I. Andersen, “2 (Slavonic Apocalypse of) Enoch: A New Translation and Introduction,” in<em> The Old Testament Pseudepigrapha</em>, ed. James H. Charlesworth, 2 vols. (New York, NY: Doubleday, 1983), 1:180.</p> <p><a href="#_ftnref2" name="_ftn2">[2]</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), 24–25.</p> <p><a href="#_ftnref3" name="_ftn3">[3]</a> George W. E. Nickelsburg and James C. VanderKam, <em>1 Enoch 1: A Commentary on the Book of 1 Enoch, Chapters 1–36; 81–108</em>, ed. Klaus Baltzer (Minneapolis, MN: Fortress Press, 2001), 536.</p> <p><a href="#_ftnref4" name="_ftn4">[4]</a> George W. E. Nickelsburg and James C. VanderKam, <em>1 Enoch 2: A Commentary on the Book of 1 Enoch, Chapters 37–82</em>, ed. Klaus Baltzer (Minneapolis, MN: Fortress Press, 2012), 273.</p> <p><a href="#_ftnref5" name="_ftn5">[5]</a> 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), 21.</p> <p><a href="#_ftnref6" name="_ftn6">[6]</a> Givens and Givens, <em>God Who Weeps</em>, 106<em>.</em></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
Chiasmus in Moses 7
<p>Lynne Hilton Wilson, “The Chiasmus in Moses 7 (Come Follow Me: Moses 7) Week 4, Part 5/7,” Book of Mormon Central Video, 2022.</p>
Lynne Hilton Wilson
