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Hidden not very deeply under those words is the avaricious rational behind the Jewish leaders’ determination that Jesus must die — the enormous wealth of the Temple along with their own cultural and political power.

45 Then many of the Jews which came to Mary, and had seen the things which Jesus did, believed on him.
46 But some of them went their ways to the Pharisees, and told them what things Jesus had done.
47 Then gathered the chief priests and the Pharisees a council, and said, What do we? for this man doeth many miracles.
48 If we let him thus alone, all men will believe on him: and the Romans shall come and take away both our place and nation (John 11:45-48).

Jesus’s genealogies in the gospels shows that he was the legitimate heir to the ancient Jewish throne (read that “king,” “Messiah,” or “anointed one”), but no member of that family had ruled since Zedekiah was captured and killed by Nebuchadnezzar, 600 years earlier. However, the regal line was remembered. The title by which Jesus was known, “Son of David,” and the celebration of his “triumphal entry” affirm that his royal heritage was both known and accepted by many of the people. At that time, Judea was ruled by the Romans, but the cultural and political power associated with the Temple were the dominion of the Jewish elite. If there were a popular uprising to put Jesus on the throne, all that would surely end.

But there was more at stake than cultural and political power. GOLD ! — lots and lots of gold, and it was all controlled by the High Priest and the Jewish hierarchy.

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On one of the stones in the Roman Colosseum there is a pattern of holes. Scholars believe the holes were where metal letters were attached to the stone, and that the holes can actually be read. Their conclusion is that the holes say that after A.D. 70, when Titus sacked Jerusalem, he used the fabulous treasures taken from the city and the temple to pay for building the Roman Colosseum.

Louis Feldman’s article “Financing the Colosseum” (Biblical Archaeology Review, July/August 2001), explains the way the holes on the stone were deciphered, but he also shows that the wealth taken from the temple and the city would have more than enough to pay for its construction.

Fildman reports that in 1995, Professor Gaza Alfoldy of the University of Heidelberg published a decipherment of the inscription based on these holes. As reconstructed by Professor Alfoldy, the inscription reads: “The Emperor Titus Caesar Vespasian Augustus ordered the new amphitheater to be made from the (proceeds from the sale of the) booty.” Fildman then asks where the booty came from, and concludes that of all the Roman wars fought at that time, only the sacking of Jerusalem could have produced such wealth.

Fildman’s article is fascinating, but what interests us here is his evidence that the Jewish treasure would have been more than sufficient to finance the construction of the Colosseum. The excerpts that follow describe that wealth.

By contrast [to other Roman wars], we know that the Romans acquired tremendous treasures in their conquest of Judea, especially in Jerusalem, and above all from the Temple, which Herod had renovated at extraordinary expense and which was still being reconstructed almost on the very eve of its destruction in 70 C.E.41 The Letter of Aristeas states that the Temple “was built with a lavishness and sumptuousness beyond all precedent. From the construction of the doorway and its fastenings to the door-posts and the solid nature of the lintel, it was obvious that no expense had been spared.”
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Josephus remarks that it lacked nothing that could astound either one’s soul or one’s eyes. “Being covered on all sides with massive plates of gold,” he adds, “the sun was no sooner up than it radiated so fiery a flash that persons straining to look at it were compelled to avert their eyes, as from solar rays.”
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We hear specifically of treasures that were delivered over to the victorious Romans by priests, including lampstands, tables, bowls and platters, all of solid gold and very massive, as well as many other treasures and sacred ornaments. In particular, Josephus asserts that the altar and lampstand, both made of gold, weighed no less than two talents (approximately 66 pounds). When the Temple was razed the Romans burnt the treasury chambers, “in which lay infinite [apeiron, `boundless] sums of money, infinite [again the word used is apeiroi] piles of raiment, and other valuables; for this, in short, was the general repository of Jewish wealth, to which the rich had consigned the contents of their dismanded houses.” The Romans presumably saved for themselves at least some of these valuables.

Many people donated houses and fields to the Temple, which were then sold and the proceeds deposited in the Temple treasury. Moreover, the Temple served as a bank for widows and orphans, who entrusted their deposits to it.
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When the Romans entered the Temple court, “so glutted with plunder were the troops, one and all, that throughout Syria the standard of gold was depreciated to half its former value.”

Moreover, according to Josephus, 97,000 Jews were taken prisoner during the war with the Romans (this may be the source of the tradition, otherwise unattested, that Jews actually built the Colosseum) [Human backs and hands were the machines that did the work, and slaves were as valuable as gold.]
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Josephus says that it is impossible to describe the diversity of riches that were displayed in the triumphal procession in Rome after Jerusalem was destroyed-silver and gold in masses flowing like a river. “The spoils in general,” he says, “were borne in promiscuous heaps; but conspicuous above all stood out those captured in the temple at Jerusalem.” The reliefs on the Arch of Titus apparently depict only a small portion of the spoil taken by the Romans. According to Josephus, Vespasian deposited the vessels of gold from the Temple in the Temple of Peace that he established in the Roman Forum, but almost nothing has remained of this building. Josephus adds that Vespasian deposited the Law (nomos), presumably a Torah scroll, of the Jews and the purple hangings of the sanctuary [veil] of the Temple in his palace.
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Moreover, the Colosseum was not the only structure built from the money of the spoils. According to a sixth-century Christian historian, John Malalas, out of the spoils from Judea Vespasian built in Antioch, outside the city gate, what are known as the Cherubim, so called because he placed there the cherubim that Titus had taken from the Temple in Jerusalem. He also built in Antioch the theater of Daphne, inscribing on it “Ex praeda Iudaea,” that is, “from the Judean booty,” having destroyed a synagogue that was located at the site, in order to insult the Jews. Malalas also notes that Vespasian built in Caesarea, likewise from the spoils from Judea, a very large odeum, or concert hall, the size of a large theater on a site of what had formerly been a synagogue.

Not only did the Temple treasury contain enormous wealth, but it was their never-ending source of a continually flowing river of more money. The Jewish leaders understood that they could buy anything with money and their control of the Temple gave them an unlimited perpetual income. Fildman explains:

According to Exodus 30:11-16, every male Jew over the age of 20 had to contribute a half shekel to the Temple each year. If, as there is good reason to believe, the number of Jews was somewhere between four and eight million, and if, as apparently was the case, the great majority of Jews faithfully contributed this amount, the total collected must have been enormous. Cicero mentions that in four cities of Asia Minor (a province that was admittedly wealthy but probably not the wealthiest) 220 pounds of gold intended for the Temple were seized by the Roman governor Flaccus in 59 B.C.E.

All this information creates an entirely new scenario. Jerusalem was not a little back-water provincial city that was just a thorn in the side of the Roman Empire. The Jews had wealth and they knew how to wield it to influence contemporary policy and events. That was what made Jesus’s life very expendable.

47 Then gathered the chief priests and the Pharisees a council, and said, What do we? for this man doeth many miracles.
48 If we let him thus alone, all men will believe on him: and the Romans shall come and take away both our place and nation (John 11:45-48).

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This is a story whose simple beauty makes it one of the most renowned in Christian literature. While its beauty is easy to grasp, its complex meaning seems to be so deeply buried that it cannot be excavated. John uses it as an introduction to a story he is about to tell—or else as the conclusion of that story he has not yet told. He identifies Mary as “It was that Mary which anointed the Lord with ointment, and wiped his feet with her hair.” It is important to him that we know that, even though, in the sequence of his narrative, it has not yet happened.

The message of all the gospels in the New Testament can be reduced to a single theme. That theme is the inclusiveness of Jesus’s love for everyone. It says he had compassion for those whom he forgave, or healed, and the 5,000 whom he fed. It says he loved the Twelve as a group. But there are only five individuals who are mentioned by name as persons whom Jesus loved. Those 5 are:

(1) John the Beloved— “the disciple whom Jesus loved” (John 13:23, 19:26, 21:7, 20:2, 21:20);

(2) The rich young ruler who asked “what shall I do that I may inherit eternal life?” (Matthew 19:16-22, Mark 10:17-22, Luke 18:18-27) Mark tells us, “Then Jesus beholding him loved him, and said unto him, One thing thou lackest… (Mark 10:21).” Circumstantial evidence suggests that this young man would become the apostle Paul.{1}

(3,4, & 5) Lazarus and his sisters, Martha and Mary. In telling the story, John mentions Jesus loved the sisters (Martha by name), but John focuses on the Savior’s love for Lazarus.
In the first five verses we learn:

1 Now a certain man was sick, named Lazarus, of Bethany, the town of Mary and her sister Martha.
2 (It was that Mary which anointed the Lord with ointment, and wiped his feet with her hair, whose brother Lazarus was sick.)
3 Therefore his sisters sent unto him, saying, Lord, behold, he whom thou lovest is sick.
4 When Jesus heard that, he said, This sickness is not unto death, but for the glory of God, that the Son of God might be glorified thereby.
5 Now Jesus loved Martha, and her sister, and Lazarus (John 11:1-5).

Later, as he approached Lazarus’s tomb, we see the depth of Jesus’s love for Lazarus.

35 Jesus wept.
36 Then said the Jews, Behold how he loved him! (John 11:36)

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The events of Lazarus’s being raised from the dead are only described by John, but we are introduced to the sisters by Luke. From him we learn that the house belonged to Martha, leaving us to surmise that Mary was a younger sister, and was either a guest or a resident in Martha’s home.

38 Now it came to pass, as they went, that he entered into a certain village: and a certain woman named Martha received him into her house.
39 And she had a sister called Mary, which also sat at Jesus’ feet, and heard his word.
40 But Martha was cumbered about much serving, and came to him, and said, Lord, dost thou not care that my sister hath left me to serve alone? bid her therefore that she help me.
41 And Jesus answered and said unto her, Martha, Martha, thou art careful and troubled about many things:
42 But one thing is needful: and Mary hath chosen that good part, which shall not be taken away from her (Luke 10:38 – 42).

The following is the story the way John tells it.

1 Now a certain man was sick, named Lazarus, of Bethany, the town of Mary and her sister Martha.
2 (It was that Mary which anointed the Lord with ointment, and wiped his feet with her hair, whose brother Lazarus was sick.)
3 Therefore his sisters sent unto him, saying, Lord, behold, he whom thou lovest is sick.
4 When Jesus heard that, he said, This sickness is not unto death, but for the glory of God, that the Son of God might be glorified thereby.
5 Now Jesus loved Martha, and her sister, and Lazarus.
6 When he had heard therefore that he was sick, he abode two days still in the same place where he was.
7 Then after that saith he to his disciples, Let us go into Judæa again.
8 His disciples say unto him, Master, the Jews of late sought to stone thee; and goest thou thither again?
9 Jesus answered, Are there not twelve hours in the day? If any man walk in the day, he stumbleth not, because he seeth the light of this world.
10 But if a man walk in the night, he stumbleth, because there is no light in him.
11 These things said he: and after that he saith unto them, Our friend Lazarus sleepeth; but I go, that I may awake him out of sleep.
12 Then said his disciples, Lord, if he sleep, he shall do well.
13 Howbeit Jesus spake of his death: but they thought that he had spoken of taking of rest in sleep.
14 Then said Jesus unto them plainly, Lazarus is dead.
15 And I am glad for your sakes that I was not there, to the intent ye may believe; nevertheless let us go unto him.
16 Then said Thomas, which is called Didymus, unto his fellowdisciples, Let us also go, that we may die with him.
17 Then when Jesus came, he found that he had lain in the grave four days already.
18 Now Bethany was nigh unto Jerusalem, about fifteen furlongs off:
19 And many of the Jews came to Martha and Mary, to comfort them concerning their brother.
20 Then Martha, as soon as she heard that Jesus was coming, went and met him: but Mary sat still in the house.
21 Then said Martha unto Jesus, Lord, if thou hadst been here, my brother had not died.
22 But I know, that even now, whatsoever thou wilt ask of God, God will give it thee.
23 Jesus saith unto her, Thy brother shall rise again.
24 Martha saith unto him, I know that he shall rise again in the resurrection at the last day.
25 Jesus said unto her, I am the resurrection, and the life: he that believet h in me, though he were dead, yet shall he live:
26 And whosoever liveth and believeth in me shall never die. Believest thou this?
27 She saith unto him, Yea, Lord: I believe that thou art the Christ, the Son of God, which should come into the world.
28 And when she had so said, she went her way, and called Mary her sister secretly, saying, The Master is come, and calleth for thee.
29 As soon as she heard that, she arose quickly, and came unto him.
30 Now Jesus was not yet come into the town, but was in that place where Martha met him.
31 The Jews then which were with her in the house, and comforted her, when they saw Mary, that she rose up hastily and went out, followed her, saying, She goeth unto the grave to weep there.
32 Then when Mary was come where Jesus was, and saw him, she fell down at his feet, saying unto him, Lord, if thou hadst been here, my brother had not died.
33 When Jesus therefore saw her weeping, and the Jews also weeping which came with her, he groaned in the spirit, and was troubled,
34 And said, Where have ye laid him? They said unto him, Lord, come and see.
35 Jesus wept.
36 Then said the Jews, Behold how he loved him!
37 And some of them said, Could not this man, which opened the eyes of the blind, have caused that even this man should not have died?
38 Jesus therefore again groaning in himself cometh to the grave. It was a cave, and a stone lay upon it.
39 Jesus said, Take ye away the stone. Martha, the sister of him that was dead, saith unto him, Lord, by this time he stinketh: for he hath been dead four days.
40 Jesus saith unto her, Said I not unto thee, that, if thou wouldest believe, thou shouldest see the glory of God?
41 Then they took away the stone from the place where the dead was laid. And Jesus lifted up his eyes, and said, Father, I thank thee that thou hast heard me.
42 And I knew that thou hearest me always: but because of the people which stand by I said it, that they may believe that thou hast sent me.
43 And when he thus had spoken, he cried with a loud voice, Lazarus, come forth.
44 And he that was dead came forth, bound hand and foot with graveclothes: and his face was bound about with a napkin. Jesus saith unto them, Loose him, and let him go.
45 Then many of the Jews which came to Mary, and had seen the things which Jesus did, believed on him. (John 11:1-45)
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FOOTNOTE

{1}The evidence that the rich young man is Paul is circumstantial but quite convincing.
(1) He was rich, as was Paul who was from a free Roman city and a wealthy tent maker.
(2) He was a young ruler, that is a member of the Sanhedrin, as was Paul.
(3) He was a “young man.” That phrase describes someone who was about 30 or 32, not old enough to be called an elder, but old enough that he could speak in the synagogue, or in his case, in the Sanhedrin. He and Paul were about the same age as Jesus,
(5) Paul was then in Jerusalem, so the geography works as well.
(6) He describes himself as being very devout, in much the same was as Paul did when he was before Agrippa (Acts 26:1-28).
(7) Most important, Jesus’s charge to the young man was an Apostolic call. He did not ask just anyone to sell all they had and follow him. Later, when the resurrected Savior confronted Paul on the road to Damascus, he did not reissue the call, but rather said, “it is hard for thee to kick against the pricks (Acts 9:1-15).” I read that to be something like, “Stop trying to fight it, and get on with what you are supposed to do.”

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Before we discuss the story of Lazarus, there is some background material we should examine.

These are the stories we will visit: (1) Lazarus coming from the tomb to have his burial clothes removed. (2) A young man (probably Mark) coming to Jesus at night, meeting soldiers and running away naked. (3) The young man in the Secret Gospel of Mark who, after being raised from the dead, came to Jesus to be initiated into the secrets of heaven, dressed, like Mark, only “having a linen cloth cast about his naked body.” (4) Enoch’s sode experience beginning with the necessity to remove his worldly clothing so he can be dressed in heavenly garments. (5) The Hymn of the Pearl which follows a boy from his premortal glory, through this world’s experience, to his returning to his Father. The entire story focuses on the importance of the clothes he wears during the different phases of his journey.

The crowning portion of the story of Lazarus is very brief.

43 And when he thus had spoken, he cried with a loud voice, Lazarus, come forth.
44 And he that was dead came forth, bound hand and foot with graveclothes: and his face was bound about with a napkin. Jesus saith unto them, Loose him, and let him go (John 11:43-44).

John’s gospel is a carefully crafted testimony that tends to give few details that are not necessary to what John wishes to teach. Here, he does not just tell us that Lazarus came out of the tomb alive, but that the Savior instructed the people to remove his burial clothes. It seems reasonable to suppose that John finds important symbolism in pointing out that removing those graveclothes was a necessary part of Lazarus’s entering his new life.
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In his gospel, Mark tells the very brief account of a young man who came to Jesus on the night he was arrested. The story seems to be a side issue to the reader, but the detail makes it clear that it was important to the writer. Since New Testament authors often mention themselves in third person, some scholars believe this may be about Mark himself. It uses the same language that is found in Mark’s Secret Gospel.

51 And there followed him a certain young man, having a linen cloth cast about his naked body; and the young men laid hold on him:
52 And he left the linen cloth, and fled from them naked (Mark 14:48-52).

What the young man was wearing—and not wearing—gives us an important insight into what may have happened that evening. In this and in the Secret Gospel, both young men are dressed the same: “wearing a linen cloth over his naked body”—not really a garment, perhaps something more like a sheet, an initiatory “shield.”
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The Secret Gospel of Mark brings together both the miracle of Lazarus and the hoped-for ordinances implicit in the story of Mark’s naked young man.

A copy of the following letter was found by Dr. Morton Smith in 1958. It was written on the endpaper of a 17th century printed edition of Ignatius. Professor Smith was cataloging the library of the Mar Saba monastery, southeast of Jerusalem, when he discovered it. The book is now lost, but he photographed it so it can still be examined by scholars. No other part of the Secret Gospel is known to exist. The letter is attributed to Clement, Bishop of Alexandria. Most scholars agree that the letter is authentic as to its time and language, but they question its content. Few Christian scholars accept the notion that Jesus would have participated in secret religious rites.

The Secret Gospel of Mark, translation by Morton Smith: {1}

From the letters of the most holy Clement, the author of the Stromateis. To Theodore. You did well in silencing the unspeakable teachings of the Carpocratians. For these are the “wandering stars” referred to in the prophecy, who wander from the narrow road of the commandments into a boundless abyss of the carnal and bodily sins. For, priding themselves in knowledge, as they say, “of the deep things of Satan,” they do not know that they are casting themselves away into “the nether world of the darkness” of falsity, and, boasting that they are free, they have become slaves of servile desires. Such men are to be opposed in all ways and altogether. For, even if they should say something true, one who loves the truth should not, even so, agree with them. For not all true things are the truth, nor should that truth which merely seems true according to human opinions be preferred to the true truth, that according to the faith. Now of the things they keep saying about the divinely inspired Gospel according to Mark, some are altogether falsifications, and others, even if they do contain some true elements, nevertheless are not reported truly. For the true things being mixed with inventions, are falsified, so that, as the saying goes, even the salt loses its savor. As for Mark, then, during Peter’s stay in Rome he wrote an account of the Lord’s doings, not, however, declaring all of them, nor yet hinting at the secret ones, but selecting what he thought most useful for increasing the faith of those who were being instructed. But when Peter died a martyr, Mark came over to Alexandria, bringing both his own notes and those of Peter, from which he transferred to his former book the things suitable to whatever makes for progress toward knowledge. Thus he composed a more spiritual Gospel for the use of those who were being perfected. Nevertheless, he yet did not divulge the things not to be uttered, nor did he write down the hierophantic teaching of the Lord, but to the stories already written he added yet others and, moreover, brought in certain sayings of which he knew the interpretation would, as a mystagogue, lead the hearers into the innermost sanctuary of that truth hidden by seven veils. Thus, in sum, he prepared matters, neither grudgingly nor incautiously, in my opinion, and, dying, he left his composition to the church in Alexandria, where it even yet is most carefully guarded, being read only to those who are being initiated into the great mysteries.
But since the foul demons are always devising destruction for the race of men, Carpocrates, instructed by them and using deceitful arts, so enslaved a certain presbyter of the church in Alexandria that he got from him a copy of the secret Gospel, which he both interpreted according to his blasphemous and carnal doctrine and, moreover, polluted, mixing with the spotless and holy words utterly shameless lies. From this mixture is drawn off the teaching of the Carpocratians. To them, therefore, as I said above, one must never give way; nor, when they put forward their falsifications, should one concede that the secret Gospel is by Mark, but should even deny it on oath. For, “Not all true things are to be said to all men.” For this reason the Wisdom of God, through Solomon, advises, “Answer the fool from his folly,” teaching that the light of the truth should be hidden from those who are mentally blind. Again it says, “From him who has not shall be taken away,” and, “Let the fool walk in darkness.” But we are “children of light,” having been illuminated by “the dayspring” of the spirit of the Lord “from on high,” and “Where the Spirit of the Lord is,” it says, “there is liberty,” for “All things are pure to the pure.” To you, therefore, I shall not hesitate to answer the questions you have asked, refuting the falsifications by the very words of the Gospel. For example, after ,”And they were in the road going up to Jerusalem,” and what follows, until “After three days he shall arise,” the secret Gospel brings the following material word for word: “And they come into Bethany. And a certain woman whose brother had died was there. And, coming, she prostrated herself before Jesus and says to him, ‘Son of David, have mercy on me.’ But the disciples rebuked her. And Jesus, being angered, went off with her into the garden where the tomb was, and straightway a great cry was heard from the tomb. And going near Jesus rolled away the stone from the door of the tomb. And straightway, going in where the youth was, he stretched forth his hand and raised him, seizing his hand. But the youth, looking upon him, loved him and began to beseech him that he might be with him. And going out of the tomb they came into the house of the youth, for he was rich. And after six days Jesus told him what to do and in the evening the youth comes to him, wearing a linen cloth over his naked body. And he remained with him that night, for Jesus taught him the mystery of the kingdom of God. And thence, arising, he returned to the other side of the Jordan.”After these words follows the text, “And James and John come to him,” and all that section. But “naked man with naked man,” and the other things about which you wrote, are not found. And after the words, “And he comes into Jericho,” the secret Gospel adds only,
“And the sister of the youth whom Jesus loved and his mother and Salome were there, and Jesus did not receive them.” But the many other things about which you wrote both seem to be and are falsifications. Now the true explanation and that which accords with the true philosophy…

[Here the fragment ends]
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The nakedness of these young men seems to be both factual and symbolic, and the symbolism is no less important than the fact. One would expect them to come to Jesus in a near naked state if he were going to dress them in sacred clothing, as was an import part of the ancient Israelite temple drama coronation ceremony. One cannot put on that which is sacred without first removing the mundane this-world clothing. Their coming unclothed is perfectly consistent with two principles. One is the idea of replacing the ordinary clothing with the sacred. The other is being naked in oneself. That is being humble—not wearing masks or facades when coming before the Lord. Those who come before God dressed in their riches or emblems of authority will discover that God can see through their facade into their naked soul. Both John the Beloved and Alma described the consequences. John prophesied,

15 And the kings of the earth, and the great men, and the rich men, and the chief captains, and the mighty men, and every bondman, and every free man, hid themselves in the dens and in the rocks of the mountains;
16 And said to the mountains and rocks, Fall on us, and hide us from the face of him that sitteth on the throne, and from the wrath of the Lamb (Revelation 6:15-16).

And Alma warned,

13 Then if our hearts have been hardened, yea, if we have hardened our hearts against the word, insomuch that it has not been found in us, then will our state be awful, for then we shall be condemned.
14 For our words will condemn us, yea, all our works will condemn us; we shall not be found spotless; and our thoughts will also condemn us; and in this awful state we shall not dare to look up to our God; and we would fain be glad if we could command the rocks and the mountains to fall upon us to hide us from his presence.
15 But this cannot be; we must come forth and stand before him in his glory, and in his power, and in his might, majesty, and dominion, and acknowledge to our everlasting shame that all his judgments are just; that he is just in all his works, and that he is merciful unto the children of men, and that he has all power to save every man that believeth on his name and bringeth forth fruit meet for repentance (Alma 12:13-15).

A real and necessary kind of spiritual nakedness is to wear no masks but to simply be unabashedly one’s Self. So Alma asked, “Behold, are ye stripped of pride? I say unto you, if ye are not ye are not prepared to meet God (Alma 5:28).”

In sacred ordinances, one cannot be clothed in the robes of righteousness until one first removes the “filthy” clothing by which defines in this world, thus becoming “naked” before God. “Naked” does not necessarily mean nude. To be naked is to be stripped of the insignia by which one is defined, as when a court-martialed general is cashiered. He is stripped of medals that denoted his honors and rank, but he is not disrobed. He stands naked, but not nude. Similarly, when Alma instructed the Saints of his day that “they should impart of their substance of their own free will and good desires towards God, and to those priests that stood in need, yea, and to every needy, naked soul (Mosiah 18:27-30),” he was meaning those who were clothed poorly, but not nude.

An apocryphal writing reports that Jesus’s disciples asked,

“‘When will you become revealed to us and when shall we see you?’ Jesus said, ‘When you disrobe without being ashamed and take up your [clothes] and place them under your feet like little children and tread on them, then will you see the son of the living one, and you will not be afraid’” {2}
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The Secrets of Enoch describes that prophet’s sode experience. He arrived at the place where the Council in Heaven meets:

8 And the Lord said to Michael: Go and take Enoch from out of his earthly garments, and anoint him with my sweet ointment, and put him into the garments of My glory.
9 And Michael did thus, as the Lord told him. He anointed me, and dressed me, and the appearance of that ointment is more than the great light, and his ointment is like sweet dew, and its smell mild, shining like the sun’s ray, and I looked at myself, and I was like one of his glorious ones {3}

Enoch was dressed in a garment of light like those worn in the Garden by Adam and Eve. Jewish tradition holds that Adam and Eve were originally clothed in a garment of light, which Nibley suggests was the Shechinah. The loss of their garments meant the loss of all things—one’s personal relationship with God, the clothing that defined one as sacred space, food and drink that kept one’s body forever young—the loss of those things left humankind naked, vulnerable, hungry, and increasingly feeble until only death could release them from their infirmities. Yearning to return home and regaining the garment was the foundation principle of the ancient Israelite religion. The conclusion of their temple drama was an expression of hope that somehow they might regain access to the paradisiacal world, partake of the fruit, and participate in the society of the gods. {4}
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The Hymn of the Pearl is a most beautiful example pre-exilic writing. It follows the pattern of the ancient Israelite temple drama and is quoted in the New Testament apocrypha in the Acts of Thomas. The poem is unique in that it focuses on the clothing worn, not worn, then worn again by the young prince. As in the cosmic myth, the hero is required to leave his first home among the Gods but first he must remove his royal clothing. He comes to this world where he dresses in mundane clothing just as do the people here. He struggles in this world until he receives a message from his Father which is a renewal of the covenants he made before he left home (the ancient temple blessings). Then he regains his royal robes so he is enabled to return home again. At this place in the story, Nibley comments, “If the whole rest of the poem is applied to the garment only, it is full of strange anomalies, which become perfectly clear in terms of the well-known Veil of the Temple.”{5}

The poem is not named in the Acts of Thomas, but is now called The Hymn of the Pearl. Its first translation was titled, The Hymn of the Soul Contained in the Syriac Acts of St. Thomas, Re-edited with an English translation by Anthony Ashley Bevan. {6}

Bevan’s translation remains the basic English text, but more recent translators differ in some parts. The following is Bevan’s translation interspersed with the work of other scholars. Those differences are important because they often amplify the meaning and broaden the scope and significance of the poem. {7}
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The Hymn of the Pearl by Anthony Ashley Bevan.

1 When I was a little child,
And dwelling in my kingdom in my Father’s house,
2 And in the wealth and the glories
Of my nurturers had my pleasure,

“In my first primeval childhood I was nurtured in the royal house of my Father with loving care in the midst of abundance and glory” (Nibley, Message of the Joseph Smith Papyri, 267).

3 From the East, our home,
My parents, having equipped me, sent me forth.
4 And of the wealth of our treasury
They had already tied up for me a load,
5 Large it was, yet light,
So that I might bear it unaided-
6 Gold of . …
And silver of Gazzak the great,
7 And rubies of India,
And agates (?) from the land of Kushan (?),
8 And they girded me with adamant [diamond ]
Which can crush iron.
9 And they took off from me the bright robe,
Which in their love they had wrought for me,

9. They removed from me the garment of light,
which they had made for me in love”
(Nibley, Message of the Joseph Smith Papyri, 268).

10 And my purple toga,
Which was measured (and) woven to my stature.
11 And they made a compact with me,
And wrote it in my heart that it should not
be forgotten:

11 And they made with me a covenant
And wrote it in my heart, that I might not forget”
(Hennecke, New Testament Apocrypha, 2: 499).
“Covenant” is also in: Nibley, Message of the Joseph Smith Papyri, 268; James, Apocryphal New Testament, 411.

12 “If thou goest down into Egypt,
And bringest the one pearl,
13 Which is in the midst of the sea
Hard by the loud-breathing serpent,
[devouring serpent, ]
I4 (Then) shalt thou put on thy bright robe
And thy toga, which is laid over it,
15 And with thy Brother, our next in rank,
Thou shalt be heir in our kingdom.”
16 I quitted the East (and) went down,
There being with me two messengers,
17 For the way was dangerous and difficult,
And I was very young to tread it.
18 I passed the borders of Maishin,
The meeting-place of the merchants of the East,
19 And I reached the land of Babel.
And entered the walls of … [Sarbug ]
20 I went down into Egypt,
And my companions parted from me.
21 I betook me straight to the serpent,
Hard by his dwelling I abode,
21 (Waiting) till he should slumber and sleep,
And I could take my pearl from him.
23 And when I was single and alone,
A stranger to those with whom I dwelt,
24 One of my race, a free-born man,
From among the Easterns, I beheld there-
25 A youth fair and well favored ….
26 …. and he came and attached himself to me.
27 And I made him my intimate,
A comrade with whom I shared my merchandise.
28 I warned him against the Egyptians
And against consorting with the unclean;

23 And since I was all aloneI was a stranger to my companions of my hostelry.
24 But one of my race I saw there, A nobleman out of the East,
25 A youth fair and lovable,
26 An anointed one, And he came and attached himself to me
27 And I made him my intimate friend, My companion to whom I communicated my business.
28 I (He ?) warned him (me ?) against the Egyptians
And against consorting with the unclean (Hennecke, New Testament Apocrypha, 2:499).

29 And I put on a garb like theirs,
Lest they should insult (?) me
because I had come from afar,

29 But I clothed myself in garments like theirs,
That they might not suspect that I was come from without”
(Hennecke, New Testament Apocrypha, 2:499).

30 To take away the pearl,
And (lest) they should arouse the serpent against me,
31 But in some way or other
They perceived that I was not their countryman;
32 So they dealt with me treacherously,
Moreover they gave me their food to eat.
33 I forgot that I was a son of kings.
And I served their king;
34 And I forgot the pearl,
For which my parents had sent me,
35 And by reason of the burden of their… [food]
I lay in a deep sleep,
36 But all these things that befell me
My parents perceived and were grieved for me;
37 And a proclamation was made in our kingdom,
That all should speed to our gate,
38 Kings and princes of Parthia
And all the nobles of the East
39 So they wove a plan on my behalf,
That I might not be left in Egypt,

36. Meanwhile the heavenly parents, aware of what has happened,
37. call a family council
38. of all the great and noble relatives,
39. who decide it is time to act
(Nibley, Message of the Joseph Smith Papyri, 269).

40 And they wrote to me a letter,
And every noble signed his name thereto:
41 “From thy Father, the King of kings,
And thy Mother, the mistress of the East,
42 And from thy Brother, our next in rank,
To thee our son, who art in Egypt, greeting!
43 Up and arise from thy sleep,
And listen to the words of our letter
44 Call to mind that thou art a son of kings!
See the slavery-whom thou servest!
45 Remember the pearl
For which thou didst speed to Egypt!
46 Think of thy bright robe,
And remember thy glorious toga,
47 Which thou shalt put on as thine adornment.
When thy name hath been read out
in the list of the valiant,
48 And with thy Brother, our. ..
Thou shalt be …in our kingdom.”

48 And thou with thy brother, our crown prince,
Be heir in our kingdom”
(Hennecke, New Testament Apocrypha, 2:501).

45 Remember the pearl for the which thou wast sent into Egypt
46 Remember thy garment spangled with gold,
47 and the glorious mantle which thou shouldest wear
and wherewith thou shouldest deck thyself.
Thy name is named in the book of life,
48 and with thy brother whom thou hast received (thou shalt
be) in our kingdom (James, Apocryphal New Testament, 413).

49 And my letter (was) a letter
Which the King sealed with his right hand,
50 (To keep it) from the wicked ones,
the children of Babel,
And from the savage demons of … [Sarburg]
51 It flew in the likeness of an eagle,
The king of all birds;
51 It flew and alighted beside me,
And became all speech.
53 At its voice and the sound of its rustling,
I started and arose from my sleep.

53 At its voice and the sound of its rustling
I awoke and stood up from my sleep,
54 I took it and kissed it,
Broke its seal and read.
55 And even as it was engraven in my heart
Were the words of my letter written
(Hennecke, New Testament Apocrypha, 2:501).

54 I took it up and kissed it,
And loosed its seal (?), (and) read;
55 And according to what was traced on my heart
Were the words of my letter written.
56 I remembered that I was a son of kings,
And my free soul longed for its natural state.

56 I remembered that I was a son of kings
And my noble birth asserted itself.
(Hennecke, New Testament Apocrypha, 2:501).

54 He kisses the letter, breaks the seal, and reads,
55 Lo, it is the same letter as that which he brought
with him from on high written in his heart.
56 He remembers that he is a King son,
and his royal nature asserts itself
(Nibley, Message of the Joseph Smith Papyri, 270).

57 I remembered the pearl,
For which I had been sent to Egypt,

56 I remembered that I was a son of kings,
And my freedom longed for its own nature.
57 I remembered the pearl,
For which I had been sent to Egypt
(Grant, Gnosticism, 119-20)

58 And I began to charm him,
The terrible loud-breathing serpent.
59 I hurried him to sleep and lulled him into slumber,
For my Father’s name I named over him,
60 And the name of our next in rank,
And of my Mother, the queen of the East;
61 And I snatched away the pearl,
And turned to go back to my Father’s house.
62 And their filthy and unclean garb
I stripped off, and left it in their country,

And I snatched the pearl,
and I turned to go to my father’s house.
I stripped off their dirty robe
and left it in their country
(Cartlidge and Dungan, Documents for the Study, 48).

63 And I took my way straight to come
To the light of our home, the East.

62 And I stripped off the filthy garment and left it in their 1and,
63 and directed my way forthwith to the light of my fatherland
in the East (James, Apocryphal New Testament, 413).

64 And my letter, my awakener,
I found before me on the road,
65 And as with its voice it had awakened me.
(So) too with its light it was leading me
66 … Shone before me with its form,
67 And with its voice and its guidance
It also encouraged me to speed,

66 For at times the royal garment of silk (shone) before mine eyes,
67 (and with its voice and its guidance it also encouraged me
to speed,) (James, Apocryphal New Testament, 414).

68 … And with his love was drawing me on.

65 And as with its voice it had awakened me
[So] too with its light it was leading me
66 For the royal garment of silk
Shone before me with its form,
67 And with its voice and its guidance
It also encouraged me to speed,
68 And with its love was drawing me on. (Grant, Gnosticism, 120).

69 I went forth, passed by …
I left Babel on my left hand,

68 And drawing me with its love.
69 I went forth, passed through Sarburg,
(Hennecke, New Testament Apocrypha, 2:502).

70 And reached Maishin the great,
The haven of the merchants,
71 That sitteth on the shore of the sea …
72 And my bright robe, which I had stripped off,
And the toga wherein it was wrapped,

72 His garment of light and his outer robe were waiting for him here
(Nibley, Message of the Joseph Smith Papyri, 270. Nibley adds, “Note that raiment is put on not only at the beginning of the journey and at the end, but is also donned at intermediate stages.”)

73 From the heights of Hyrcania (?)
My parents sent thither,
74 By the hand of their treasurers,
Who in their faithfulness could be trusted therewith.
75 And because I remembered not its fashion-
For in my childhood I had left it in my Father’s house
76 On a sudden, as I faced it,
The garment seemed to me like a mirror of myself.
77 I saw it all in my whole self,
Moreover I faced my whole self in (facing) it,
78 For we were two in distinction
And yet again one in one likeness.
79 And the treasurers also,
Who brought it to me, I saw in like manner,
80 That they were twain (yet) one likeness,
For one kingly sign was graven on them,

80 That they were two of a single form,
For one sign of the king was impressed upon them,
(Hennecke, New Testament Apocrypha, 2:502).

81 Of his hand that restored to me (?)
My treasure and my wealth by means of them,
82 My bright embroidered robe,
Which …with glorious colours;

78 For we were two in distinction
And yet again one in one likeness.
79 And the treasurers also,
Who brought it to me, I saw in like manner,
80 That they were twain [yet] one likeness,
For there was graven on them one sign of the King,
81 Whose hands [they were] “which restored to me [?]
My treasure and my wealth by means of them,
82 My bright embroidered robe,
which was decorated with glorious colours;
(Grant, Gnosticism, 121).

83 With gold and with beryls,
And rubies and agates (?)
84 And sardonyxes varied in color,
It also was made ready in its home on high (?).
85 And with stones of adamant
All its seams were fastened;

85 “Fastened everywhere with diamond clasps.” (Nibley, Message of the Joseph Smith Papyri, 271 . Nibley adds this note: “All its seams were sewn with diamonds” [Adam]. This indicates that the garment, though the same one, is now enhanced, gesteigert, the same garment, but a better one, enriched by earthly merits and victory [Hoffmann, p. 286]).”

86 And the image of the King of kings
Was depicted in full allover it,

86 And the likeness of the king of kings
Was completely embroidered all over it
(Hennecke, New Testament Apocrypha, 2:503).
———–
86 And the image of the King of Kings covered the whole thing. (Nibley, Message of the Joseph Smith Papyri, 271. Nibley adds this note: “If the whole rest of the poem is applied to the garment only, it is full of strange anomalies, which become perfectly clear in terms of the well-known Veil of the Temple.”)

87 And like the sapphire-stone also
Were its manifold hues.
88 Again I saw that all over it
The motions of knowledge were stirring,
89 And as if to speak
I saw it also making itself ready.
90 I heard the sound of its tones,
Which it uttered to those who brought it down (?)
91 Saying, “I …
Whom they reared for him (?)
in the presence of my father,
92 And I also perceived in myself
That my stature was growing according to his labors.”

89 And as if to speak
I saw it also making itself ready.
90 I heard the sound of its tones,
Which it uttered to those who brought it down [?]
91 Saying,” I am he who is mighty in deeds
I whom they reared for him in the presence of my father,
92 And I also perceived in myself (Grant, Gnosticism,121).

93 And in its kingly motions
It was spreading itself out towards me,
94 And in the hands of its givers
It hastened that I might take it.

91 “I belong to the most valiant servant,
For whom they reared me before my father,
92 And I perceived also in myself
That my stature grew according to his labours.”
93 And with its royal movements
It poured itself entirely toward me,
94 And in the hands of its bringers
It hastened, that I might take it;
(Hennecke, New Testament Apocrypha, 2:503).

95 And me too, my love urged on
That I should run to meet it and receive it,
96 And I stretched forth and received it,
With the beauty of its colors I adorned myself.
97 And my toga of brilliant colors
I cast around me, in its whole breadth.
98 I clothed myself therewith, and ascended
To the gate of salutation and homage;
99 I bowed my head, and did homage
To the Majesty of my Father, who had sent it to me,
100 For I had done his commandments,
And he too had done what he promised,
101 And at the gate of his princes
I mingled with his nobles;
102 For he rejoiced in me and received me,
And I was with him in his kingdom.
103 And With the voice of …
All his servants glorify him.
104 And he promised that also to the gate
Of the King of kings I should speed with him,
105 And bringing my gift and my pearl
I should appear with him before our King.

91 I am of him that is more valiant than all men,
for whose sake I was reared up with the Father himself.
92 And I also perceived his stature
(Greek reads, “I perceived in myself that my stature
grew in accordance with his working).
93 And all Its royal motions rested upon me as it grew toward
the impulse of it (And with its kingly motions it was spreading itself toward me).
94 And it hastened, reaching out from the hand of (him that
brought it) unto him that would receive it,
95 and me also did yearning arouse to start forth and meet it
and receive it.
96 And I stretched forth and received it, and adorned myself with
the beauty of the colours thereof,
97 and in my royal robe excelling in beauty I arrayed myself wholly.
98 And when I had put it on, I was lifted up unto the place of
peace (salutation) and homage,
99 and I bowed my head and worshipped the brightness of the
Father which had sent it unto me,
100 for I had performed his commandments, and he likewise
that which he had promised,
101 and at the doors of his palace which was from the beginning
I mingled among (his nobles),
102 and he rejoiced over me and received me with him into his palace,
103 and all his servants do praise him with sweet voices.
104 And he promised me that with him I shall be sent unto the
gates of the king,
105 that with my gifts and my pearl we may appear together
before the king (James, Apocryphal New Testament, 414-15).
————————–

FOOTNOTES

{1} For the full story of its finding and translation see, Morton Smith, The Secret Gospel, The Discovery and Interpretation of the Secret Gospel According to Mark (Clearlake, CA, Dawn Horse Press, 1982), 14-17.

{2} Gospel of Thomas in James M. Robinson, ed., The Nag Hammadi Library in English (San Francisco, Harper & Row, 1988), 130, 37.

{3} Book of the Secrets of Enoch, chapter 22:8-9, in The Apocrypha and Pseudepigrapha of the Old Testament in English, 2 vols., Translated and edited by R. H. Charles. (Oxford: Clarendon, 1976), 2: 431-69.

{4} Hugh Nibley, Abraham in Egypt (Salt Lake City: Deseret Book, 1981, 2000), 373; Nibley, Abraham in Egypt, in CWHN 14:373. See “Shechinah” in LDS Bible dictionary.
For a discussion of that garment of light and its significance, see Stephen Ricks, “The Garment of Adam in Jewish, Muslim, and Christian Tradition.” in Temples of the Ancient World, edited by Donald W. Parry. 705-39. Salt Lake City: Deseret Book, 1994.
For a discussion of the ancient Israelite temple drama see our Who Shall Ascend into the Hill of the Lord (the entire book).

{5}There is a careful discussion of the poem in Who Shall Ascend into the Hill of the Lord, first edition, 103-21; second (paperback) edition 83-98. The paperback edition is available on this website.

{6}Anthony Ashley Bevan, trans, Hymn of the Soul Contained in the Syriac Acts of St Thomas, Re-edited with an English Translation (Cambridge, University Press, 1897).

{7} The other translators are:

David R. Cartlidge, and David L. Dungan, Documents for the Study of the Gospels (Philadelphia, Fortress, 1980).

Robert M. Grant, Gnosticism (New York, Harper and Brothers, 1966).

Edgar Hennecke, New Testament Apocrypha, 2 vols., edited by Wilhelm Schneemelcher. Translated by R. McL. Wilson (Philadelphia, Westminster, 1963). (see “Schneemelcher,” for the revised edition.)

Hugh Nibley, The Message of the Joseph Smith Papyri: An Egyptian Endowment (Salt Lake City, Deseret Book, 1975).

Montague Rhodes James, The Apocryphal New Testament (Oxford, Clarendon, 1975).

<><><><><><><><><><><><>><><><>

It is difficult to know whether the Savior is talking about an abundant life here or hereafter. But that is probably a moot question, because this life and the next are a continuum. The experience we call death appears to us to be a break in life’s continuity, but in terms of our eternal Self, this world and the next are a package deal.

9 I am the door: by me if any man enter in, he shall be saved, and shall go in and out, and find pasture.
10 …. I am come that they might have life, and that they might have it more abundantly.
11 I am the good shepherd: the good shepherd giveth his life for the sheep.
….
14 I am the good shepherd, and know my sheep, and am known of mine.
15 As the Father knoweth me, even so know I the Father: and I lay down my life for the sheep.
16 And other sheep I have, which are not of this fold: them also I must bring, and they shall hear my voice; and there shall be one fold, and one shepherd.
17 Therefore doth my Father love me, because I lay down my life, that I might take it again.
18 No man taketh it from me, but I lay it down of myself. I have power to lay it down, and I have power to take it again. This commandment have I received of my Father (John 10:9-18).

The words that follow the Savior’s statement are about the power of his resurrection, so the context suggests that the “abundant life” he promises to the faithful is a quality of being that can only be experienced by those whom the scriptures call “the pure in heart” (3 Nephi 12:8; D&C 56:18, 97:15-21). We get to leave this body when it is no longer functional, but our spirits remain the same. Our memory of this world as well as our agency, personality, and integrity all remain intact. On the day we die, the person we have become, is the person we still are. Amulek’s famous words teach that principle very plainly.

32 For behold, this life is the time for men to prepare to meet God; yea, behold the day of this life is the day for men to perform their labors.
33 And now, as I said unto you before, as ye have had so many witnesses, therefore, I beseech of you that ye do not procrastinate the day of your repentance until the end; for after this day of life, which is given us to prepare for eternity, behold, if we do not improve our time while in this life, then cometh the night of darkness wherein there can be no labor performed.
34 Ye cannot say, when ye are brought to that awful crisis, that I will repent, that I will return to my God. Nay, ye cannot say this; for that same spirit which doth possess your bodies at the time that ye go out of this life, that same spirit will have power to possess your body in that eternal world. (Alma 34:32-34).

Modern revelation modifies Amulek’s teachings to show that people do have an opportunity to repent in the post-mortal spirit world. I believe he understood that, but his teaching the apostate Zoramites was neither the time nor the place to offer that as an option. {1}

It is often true that people in our time, like the Zoramites, worship a God that is patterned after themselves. When that is so, the God always hates the same people we hate and likes the people who are “on our side.” For example, when I was a boy I read (and history seemed to confirm) that “God is an Englishman.” A similar example is that during the first and second world wars, Christians on both sides prayed to the same God that he would destroy their enemies. Individually, we justify our prejudices by the belief that God shares those prejudices and condones our acts of bigotry. Unkind people worship a ridged and unkind God. People without standards feel justified by a God who also has none, just as Nephi said.

8 And there shall also be many which shall say: Eat, drink, and be merry; nevertheless, fear God—he will justify in committing a little sin; yea, lie a little, take the advantage of one because of his words, dig a pit for thy neighbor; there is no harm in this; and do all these things, for tomorrow we die; and if it so be that we are guilty, God will beat us with a few stripes, and at last we shall be saved in the kingdom of God (2 Nephi 28:8).

Those beliefs change nothing that is eternal. God, his love, his justice and mercy are all constants. Our rationalization does not change that. A morbid or greedy person cannot experience selfless joy or believe it is genuine when he sees it in other people. Similarly, a person whose life is dominated by evil, cannot tolerate righteousness in others.

But it is possible that we can tap into God’s reality to understand his nature, and when we do, our lives reflect what he is. Heber C. Kimball explained that very well.

I am perfectly satisfied that my God is a cheerful, pleasant, lively, and good-natured Being. Why? Because I am cheerful, pleasant, lively, and good-natured when I have His Spirit. That is one reason why I know; and another is the Lord said, through Joseph Smith, “I delight in a glad heart and a cheerful countenance.” That arises from the perfection of His attributes; He is a jovial, lively person, and a beautiful man. {2}

The kind of God we worship defines our character, and, as Hugh Nibley explained, our character defines our present and our future Self.

The essence of wickedness is meanness [selfishness]. There’s the passage from John Donne that John F. Kennedy used to like to quote: “A dog starved at his master’s gate portends the ruin of the state.” If a man lets his dog starve, he’s that kind of person. Or as Heraclitus would put it: “A man’s character is his fate.” You can tell what’s going to happen if you know who the man is and what kind of character he has. It’s going to lead to a tragic end or a happy end as the case may be. This is it; it’s the character. We read the passages. That’s the kind of people they were. That was what was wrong. It wasn’t the Babylonians or the Egyptians that worried them; it was the people themselves. As Solon said, “These people themselves have brought this ruin upon their state.” They are full of lust; they can never get enough. They rob each other and steal from the state like bandits, etc. It’s the same thing here in our world. It’s that kind of world. {3}

That says it all: “A man’s character is his fate.” The abundant life Jesus promised is a product of one’s character. The Prophet Joseph said essentially the same thing when he taught that we must be authorized to believe. {4} That authorization comes through adherence to validating covenants and ordinances, and living to qualify us to have Holy Ghost be our tutor and mentor. If we will permit it, the Savior’s Atonement will enable us to cleanse and purify our characters by the gift and power of the Holy Ghost. That qualifies us to know and live an abundant life, but only those who are faithful to their covenants are able to accept, appreciate, and be a part of that fellowship.

Moroni explained that a purpose of the Nephite church was to help its members achieve that end.

4 And after they had been received unto baptism, and were wrought upon and cleansed by the power of the Holy Ghost, they were numbered among the people of the church of Christ; and their names were taken, that they might be remembered and nourished by the good word of God, to keep them in the right way, to keep them continually watchful unto prayer, relying alone upon the merits of Christ, who was the author and the finisher of their faith (Moroni 6:3-4).

That cleansing authorizes us to believe and also authorizes us to know what to believe. The Prophet Joseph taught,

18 Whatever principle of intelligence we attain unto in this life, it will rise with us in the resurrection.
19 And if a person gains more knowledge and intelligence in this life through his diligence and obedience than another, he will have so much the advantage in the world to come (D&C 130:18-19).

I take it that the “principle of intelligence” means something very different from “street smarts” or even a college education. It has more to do with character and being qualified to know, to believe, and to do.

40 For intelligence cleaveth unto intelligence; wisdom receiveth wisdom; truth embraceth truth; virtue loveth virtue; light cleaveth unto light; mercy hath compassion on mercy and claimeth her own; justice continueth its course and claimeth its own; judgment goeth before the face of him who sitteth upon the throne and governeth and executeth all things (D&C 88:40).

In the most comprehensive sense, the principle of our intelligence is who/what we are. In this life, we live only in the moment. Our experiences in those moments are as fleeting as time. We can never re-live them again. If they were pleasant we can seek to recreate them in our memory or seek to replicate them in a different time, but once the moment is gone, it can never come back again. Past accomplishments and/or mistakes are who we were, but no longer who we are. The past events define and mold us, but only if we insist on pulling their ghost along with us into our present. The ghosts live only in our uncertain memories, but even our memory is a selective illusion. Notwithstanding the ghosts, we are no longer the person who once succeeded or failed. Rather, we are only the person we are just now.

Many ancient and modern philosophers believe that this whole life is an illusion. That belief is understandable because our past is as gone as a forgotten dream. And the future never will be.

When I was on my mission in England, the Archbishop of Canterbury published an Easter message that defined his belief in eternal life. He wrote that when we dream, the experience seems real even though there are no rules about time or place. He suggested that as we die and our body grows cold, we may dream a dream that seems to go on forever. He wrote that the advantage of living a good life would be to have a final pleasant dream as our minds fade into a blissful nothingness.

That is not the abundance of life the Savior promised, but neither is the abundance that our modern culture creates.

We can go to a movie, sit in the dark for a couple hours watching the product of someone else’s imagination, and can artificially stimulate virtually every emotion we can experience in the real world — love, hate; anxiety, security; fear, peace — all can be experienced there. Because those emotions are a counterfeit, we have a right to wonder what they really are. But there is one feeling that is outside those emotions and cannot be artificially created, not even within ourselves. That is the sure witness of the Holy Ghost that Jesus is the Christ. The quality of the pure joy that accompanies that assurance is different from any emotion we can self-generate. When one is acquainted with that joy, then one knows his soul has touched the purest form of eternal reality.

Only when we have nothing real to hang on to is life an illusion and the past an irretrievable dream. But when one knows with absolute certainty that Jesus is the Christ, then upon that rock one can build a superstructure of truth that will withstand the ages. I know that the Savior is real because his love defines my own reality. I love therefore I am. I love others and they reciprocate; therefore, I know they are real also.

Only those who have never experienced it will challenge the assertion that persons who know the gospel and live it fully have richer and more fulfilling lives than those who do not. The Savior’s metaphor is sheep grazing peacefully and securely under the watchful eye of their shepherd. It portends peace, security in one’s sense of Self, the assurance of belonging, and the ability to give and receive love. These are the qualities of an abundant life in this world and they surely are also the basic qualities of joy in the world to come.

An abundant life is a present and eternal fellowship with the Savior, our families and our friends. It is a forever intimate togetherness — a forever not-being-alone.
————————–

FOOTNOTES

{1} I think it is reasonable to assume he understood Isaiah 61, especially since the Savior referenced it in the Beatitudes.

{2} Journal of Discourses, February 8, 1857, 4:222.

{3} Hugh W. Nibley, Teachings of the Book of Mormon, Semester 1, Transcripts of lectures presented to an Honors Book of Mormon Classat Brigham Young University1988-1990, (Foundation for Ancient Research & Mormon Studies [F.A.R.M.S.], 1993), 74.

{4}George A. Smith, while serving in the First Presidency, reported: “Joseph Smith taught that every man and woman should seek the Lord for wisdom, that they might get knowledge from Him who is the fountain of knowledge; and the promises of the gospel, as revealed, were such as to authorize us to believe, that by taking this course we should gain the object of our pursuit.”

Teachings of Presidents of the Church: Joseph Smith, A Course of Study for the Melchizedek Priesthood Quorums of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, [Melchizedek Priesthood manual] (Salt Lake City: The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, 2007), 266.

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Tucked away in the parable of the Good Shepherd is a great deal of information about Jehovah/Jesus’s relationship with his Eternal Father, and also about our relationship with both of them. Within the parable, Jesus says:

10 I am come that they might have life, and that they might have it more abundantly.
………………..
15 As the Father knoweth me, even so know I the Father: and I lay down my life for the sheep.
……………………..
27 My sheep hear my voice, and I know them, and they follow me:
28 And I give unto them eternal life; and they shall never perish, neither shall any man pluck them out of my hand.
29 My Father, which gave them me, is greater than all; and no man is able to pluck them out of my Father’s hand.
30 I and my Father are one (John 10:1-42 ).

My old Strong’s definition for “one” in verse 30 reads “a prime number: one” (# 1520). However, the word is also translated as “first” in the phrase “the first day of the week” in Luke 24:1, John 20:1, and Acts 19:34. In the sentence, “I and my Father are one,” the “one” asks all sorts of questions. However, “first” would supply all sorts of answers. It would say the same thing that the Prophet Joseph dictated to his scribe when he and Sidney Rigdon saw the vision that is Section 76.

12 By the power of the Spirit our eyes were opened and our understandings were enlightened, so as to see and understand the things of God—
13 Even those things which were from the beginning before the world was, which were ordained of the Father, through his Only Begotten Son, who was in the bosom of the Father, even from the beginning;
14 Of whom we bear record; and the record which we bear is the fulness of the gospel of Jesus Christ, who is the Son, whom we saw and with whom we conversed in the heavenly vision (D&C 76:12-14).

That concept, that Christ was with the Father from the beginning, is what Heavenly Father explained to Moses. It is interesting to me that the Father applies the name/title Only Begotten to the Savior so very early on in the description of their relationship.

1 And it came to pass that the Lord spake unto Moses, saying: Behold, I reveal unto you concerning this heaven, and this earth; write the words which I speak. I am the Beginning and the End, the Almighty God; by mine Only Begotten I created these things; yea, in the beginning I created the heaven, and the earth upon which thou standest.
……………………..
26 And I, God, said unto mine Only Begotten, which was with me from the beginning: Let us make man in our image, after our likeness; and it was so. And I, God, said: Let them have dominion over the fishes of the sea, and over the fowl of the air, and over the cattle, and over all the earth, and over every creeping thing that creepeth upon the earth ( Moses 2:1, 26).

We find more about the Father’s relationship with the Savior, and his with us, in the Great Intercessory Prayer.

5 And now, O Father, glorify thou me with thine own self with the glory which I had with thee before the world was.
6 I have manifested thy name unto the men which thou gavest me out of the world: thine they were, and thou gavest them me; and they have kept thy word.
……………
9 I pray for them: I pray not for the world, but for them which thou hast given me; for they are thine.
10 And all mine are thine, and thine are mine; and I am glorified in them.
11 And now I am no more in the world, but these are in the world, and I come to thee. Holy Father, keep through thine own name those whom thou hast given me, that they may be one, as we are.
……………
21 That they all may be one; as thou, Father, art in me, and I in thee, that they also may be one in us: that the world may believe that thou hast sent me.
22 And the glory which thou gavest me I have given them; that they may be one, even as we are one:
23 I in them, and thou in me, that they may be made perfect in one; and that the world may know that thou hast sent me, and hast loved them, as thou hast loved me.
24 Father, I will that they also, whom thou hast given me, be with me where I am; that they may behold my glory, which thou hast given me: for thou lovedst me before the foundation of the world (John 17:5-24). {1}

Paul explains those relationships as our ultimate adoption to be children of the Father. “Ultimate” is the key word here, because we are initially adopted unto Christ when we embrace the Gospel and are baptized, taking upon us the name of Christ through the covenants and ordinances, becoming His Sons and His daughters, as he explained to the brother of Jared.

13 And when he had said these words, behold, the Lord showed himself unto him, and said: Because thou knowest these things ye are redeemed from the fall; therefore ye are brought back into my presence; therefore I show myself unto you.
14 Behold, I am he who was prepared from the foundation of the world to redeem my people. Behold, I am Jesus Christ. I am the Father and the Son. In me shall all mankind have life, and that eternally, even they who shall believe on my name; and they shall become my sons and my daughters (Ether 3:13-14).

But the ultimate reunion occurs when we enter the presence of our Father with Christ are adopted as children of the Father. Paul described that sequence, and it has been elaborated on by other prophets. Paul wrote,

3 Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who hath blessed us with all spiritual blessings in heavenly places in Christ:
4 According as he hath chosen us in him before the foundation of the world, that we should be holy and without blame before him in love:
5 Having predestinated [foreordained] us unto the adoption of children by Jesus Christ to himself [Heavenly Father], according to the good pleasure of his will,
6 To the praise of the glory of his [Heavenly Father’s]grace, wherein he hath made us accepted in the beloved [Christ](Ephesians 1:3-6).

As I understand it, the need for that adoption is this: We were Heavenly Father’s children before we came here. But we, like the prodical son, forfeited our birthright when we left home and came to this sin-bound world. Now, through the Atonement of the Savior, and by accepting correct covenants and ordinances, we are adopted back into the family with full rights of birthright as though we had never left. It is like Psalm 2 where the king is anointed king and adopted as a child and heir of Jehovah. Symbolically, all the men in the congregation are also anointed and adopted so they may claim their birthright blessings as priests and kings. {2}

Our premortal relationship with the Father and Jehovah are clearly shown in Lehi’s sode experience (1 Nephi 1:8-15). There we see the Father siting upon his throne, presiding. Jehovah conducts the meeting and gives Lehi his assignment. Other prophets who describe their sode experiences also report that it was “the LORD” (Jehovah) who made the assignments. Similarly, in the First Vision, the Father introduced his Son, and the Savior gave Joseph his assignment. When the Savior came to the Nephites in 3 Nephi we see that same pattern.

Apparently the Savior’s role as Advocate extends far beyond our accepting the initial blessings of the Atonement. The Savior explained, “unto as many as received me gave I power … to become the sons of God; and … power to obtain eternal life.” His full statement reads:

3 Listen to him who is the advocate with the Father, who is pleading your cause before him—
4 Saying: Father, behold the sufferings and death of him who did no sin, in whom thou wast well pleased; behold th e blood of thy Son which was shed, the blood of him whom thou gavest that thyself might be glorified;
5 Wherefore, Father, spare these my brethren that believe on my name, that they may come unto me and have everlasting life.
6 Hearken, O ye people of my church, and ye elders listen together, and hear my voice while it is called today, and harden not your hearts;
7 For verily I say unto you that I am Alpha and Omega, the beginning and the end, the light and the life of the world—a light that shineth in darkness and the darkness comprehendeth it not.
8 I came unto mine own, and mine own received me not; but unto as many as received me gave I power to do many miracles, and to become the sons of God; and even unto them that believed on my name gave I power to obtain eternal life (D&C 45:3-8).

John describes that very succinctly where he writes,

12 But as many as received him, to them gave he power to become the sons of God, even to them that believe on his name (John 1:12).

“Name” is often code for covenant because one always receives a new name when he makes a new covenant. So it would probably not change the meaning if it read, “even to them that believe on his covenant.”

The covenant is between us and the Father. For his part, the Savior is the terms, the validation and the fulfillment of that covenant. Moroni explained our part of the covenant in the last verses of the Book of Mormon.

32 Yea, come unto Christ, and be perfected in him, and deny yourselves of all ungodliness; and if ye shall deny yourselves of all ungodliness, and love God with all your might, mind and strength, then is his grace sufficient for you, that by his grace ye may be perfect in Christ; and if by the grace of God ye are perfect in Christ, ye can in nowise deny the power of God.
33 And again, if ye by the grace of God are perfect in Christ, and deny not his power, then are ye sanctified in Christ by the grace of God, through the shedding of the blood of Christ, which is in the covenant of the Father unto the remission of your sins, that ye become holy, without spot (Moroni 10:32-33).

The fellowships created by these covenants and validated by the ordinances are eternal. Through the Savior’s Atonement we may be adopted again as children and heirs of our Heavenly Father, but even then, our relationship with Savior never changes.

When this earthly experience is completed for all of us, the Savior will be triumphant.

107 When he shall deliver up the kingdom, and present it unto the Father, spotless, saying: I have overcome and have trodden the wine–press alone, even the wine–press of the fierceness of the wrath of Almighty God.
108 Then shall he be crowned with the crown of his glory, to sit on the throne of his power to reign forever and ever (D&C 76:106-07).

When he delivers his kingdom to his father, the Savior will be crowned with glory and sit upon his own throne as the Only Begotten of the Father. However the promise is that there will be a place for the righteous there as well. With very similar words both John and Mormon promised we would be with them.

1 Behold, what manner of love the Father hath bestowed upon us, that we should be called the sons of God: therefore the world knoweth us not, because it knew him not.
2 Beloved, now are we the sons of God, and it doth not yet appear what we shall be: but we know that, when he shall appear, we shall be like him; for we shall see him as he is.
3 And every man that hath this hope in him purifieth himself, even as he is pure (1 John 3:1-3).

48 Wherefore, my beloved brethren, pray unto the Father with all the energy of heart, that ye may be filled with this love, which he hath bestowed upon all who are true followers of his Son, Jesus Christ; that ye may become the sons of God; that when he shall appear we shall be like him, for we shall see him as he is; that we may have this hope; that we may be purified even as he is pure. Amen (Moroni 7:48).

For the just, the promise is, “all things are theirs … all are theirs and they are Christ’s, and Christ is God‘s.”

50 And again we bear record—for we saw and heard, and this is the testimony of the gospel of Christ concerning them who shall come forth in the resurrection of the just—
51 They are they who received the testimony of Jesus, and believed on his name and were baptized after the manner of his burial, being buried in the water in his name, and this according to the commandment which he has given—
52 That by keeping the commandments they might be washed and cleansed from all their sins, and receive the Holy Spirit by the laying on of the hands of him who is ordained and sealed unto this power;
53 And who overcome by faith, and are sealed by the Holy Spirit of promise, which the Father sheds forth upon all those who are just and true.
54 They are they who are the church of the Firstborn.
55 They are they into whose hands the Father has given all things—
56 They are they who are priests and kings, who have received of his fulness, and of his glory;
57 And are priests of the Most High, after the order of Melchizedek, which was after the order of Enoch, which was after the order of the Only Begotten Son.
58 Wherefore, as it is written, they are gods, even the sons of God—
59 Wherefore, all things are theirs, whether life or death, or things present, or things to come, all are theirs and they are Christ’s, and Christ is God’s.
60 And they shall overcome all things.
61 Wherefore, let no man glory in man, but rather let him glory in God, who shall subdue all enemies under his feet.
62 These shall dwell in the presence of God and his Christ forever and ever (D&C 76:50-62).

From eternity to eternity our relationships with the Savior and his Father has and will always be the same.
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FOOTNOTES

{1} The word “one” in verses 11, 21, and 22 are also Strong’s # 1520. It would read differently, but interestingly, if “first” were to go in some of those places.

2} For an explanation of Psalm 2 see “Psalm 2, The Ancient Israelite Royal King-name,” in Who Shall Ascend into the Hill of the Lord, first edition 499-517; second (paperback) edition, 360-373.

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The parable of the Good Shepherd is a beautiful, pastoral allegory about the relationship between the shepherd and his sheep, but it is also much more than that. In its subtext it is about the Savior’s eternal priesthood and kingship. The concept is taught by Jacob in the Book of Mormon in his review of the veil ceremony of the ancient Nephite temple drama. During his sermon at the temple Jacob said,

41 O then, my beloved brethren, come unto the Lord, the Holy One. Remember that his paths are righteous. Behold, the way for man is narrow, but it lieth in a straight course before him, and the keeper of the gate is the Holy One of Israel; and he employeth no servant there; and there is none other way save it be by the gate; for he cannot be deceived, for the Lord God is his name.
42 And whoso knocketh, to him will he open; and the wise, and the learned, and they that are rich, who are puffed up because of their learning, and their wisdom, and their riches—yea, they are they whom he despiseth; and save they shall cast these things away, and consider themselves fools before God, and come down in the depths of humility, he will not open unto them (2 N ephi 9:41-42).

Jacob’s words might serve as a key to understanding what Jesus intended his faithful followers to hear.

1 Verily, verily, I say unto you, He that entereth not by the door into the sheepfold, but climbeth up some other way, the same is a thief and a robber.
2 But he that entereth in by the door is the shepherd of the sheep.
3 To him the porter openeth; and the sheep hear his voice: and he calleth his own sheep by name, and leadeth them out.
4 And when he putteth forth his own sheep, he goeth before them, and the sheep follow him: for they know his voice.
5 And a stranger will they not follow, but will flee from him: for they know not the voice of strangers.
6 This parable spake Jesus unto them: but they understood not what things they were which he spake unto them.
7 Then said Jesus unto them again, Verily, verily, I say unto you, I am the door of the sheep.
8 All that ever came before me are thieves and robbers: but the sheep did not hear them.
9 I am the door: by me if any man enter in, he shall be saved, and shall go in and out, and find pasture.
10 The thief cometh not, but for to steal, and to kill, and to destroy: I am come that they might have life, and that they might have it more abundantly (John 10:1-10).

In other scriptures, the concept of the Good Shepherd is a reference to the Savior’s premortal priesthood and kingship. In its classic overview of the ancient Israelite temple drama, the 23rd Psalm focuses its first act on Jehovah’s premortal role. {1}

1 The LORD is my shepherd; I shall not want.
2 He maketh me to lie down in green pastures: he leadeth me beside the still waters.
3 He restoreth my soul: he leadeth me in the paths of righteousness for his name’s sake (Psalms 23:1-3).

In Psalm 80 the term “Shepherd of Israel” is used to describe Jehovah as he sits upon his throne in Solomon’s Temple. The throne in the Holy of Holies was flanked on each side by two great cherubim. Their wings overshadowed the throne like a golden canopy. The phrase, “dwellest between the cheribims” is about God is sitting upon his throne in the temple.

1 Give ear, O Shepherd of Israel, thou that leadest Joseph like a flock; thou that dwellest between the cherubims, shine forth ( Psalms 80:1). {2}

Old Testament prophets also used “shepherd” as a title to denote the kings and priests of Israel. For example, Ezekiel uses the phrase “shepherds of Israel” to refer to the temple priests in Jerusalem. This was at the time of apostasy just before Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon destroyed the city and its temple. Ezekiel’s accusations against the priests paint a vivid picture of the situation in Jerusalem at about the time Lehi and his family left there.

1 And the word of the LORD came unto me, saying,
2 Son of man, prophesy against the shepherds of Israel, prophesy, and say unto them, Thus saith the Lord GOD unto the shepherds; Woe be to the shepherds of Israel that do feed themselves! should not the shepherds feed the flocks?
3 Ye eat the fat, and ye clothe you with the wool, ye kill them that are fed: but ye feed not the flock.
4 The diseased have ye not strengthened, neither have ye healed that which was sick, neither have ye bound up that which was broken, neither have ye brought again that which was driven away, neither have ye sought that which was lost; but with force and with cruelty have ye ruled them (Ezekiel 34:1-4).

Jeremiah, who was also a contemporary of Ezekiel and Lehi, made the same accusations, but it is difficult to tell if he was talking about the king or the priests, or both.

34 Howl, ye shepherds, and cry; and wallow yourselves in the ashes, ye principal of the flock: for the days of your slaughter and of your dispersions are accomplished; and ye shall fall like a pleasant vessel.
35 And the shepherds shall have no way to flee, nor the principal of the flock to escape.
36 A voice of the cry of the shepherds, and an howling of the principal of the flock, shall be heard: for the LORD hath spoiled their pasture (Jeremiah 25:34-36).

Another example is the authors of that part of Isaiah which perported to transfer  the kinship of Judah from the house of David to Cyrus the Persian. They represent God as saying,

28 That saith of Cyrus, He is my shepherd, and shall perform all my pleasure: even saying to Jerusalem, Thou shalt be built; and to the temple, Thy foundation shall be laid (Isaiah 44:28). {3}

Even so, Ezekiel promised that non-Israelites would not always rule Israel. His famous prophecy about the Bible and the Book of Mormon coming together as a single testimony begins,

19 Say unto them, Thus saith the Lord GOD; Behold, I will take the stick of Joseph, which is in the hand of Ephraim, and the tribes of Israel his fellows, and will put them with him, even with the stick of Judah, and make them one stick, and they shall be one in mine hand (Ezekiel 37:19).

He then teaches about the gathering of Israel, including a restoration of its kingship to the house of David.

24 And David my servant shall be king over them; and they all shall have one shepherd: they shall also walk in my judgments, and observe my statutes, and do them (Ezekiel 37:24).

When the Savior referred to himself as “the Good Shepherd,” he was making a sharp contrast between himself and the crocked, apostate “shepherds of Israel” the earlier prophets had bemoaned. Jesus said,

11 I am the good shepherd: the good shepherd giveth his life for the sheep.
12 But he that is an hireling, and not the shepherd, whose own the sheep are not, seeth the wolf coming, and leaveth the sheep, and fleeth: and the wolf catcheth them, and scattereth the sheep.
13 The hireling fleeth, because he is an hireling, and careth not for the sheep.
14 I am the good shepherd, and know my sheep, and am known of mine.
15 As the Father knoweth me, even so know I the Father: and I lay down my life for the sheep.
16 And other sheep I have, which are not of this fold: them also I must bring, and they shall hear my voice; and there shall be one fold, and one shepherd.
17 Therefore doth my Father love me, because I lay down my life, that I might take it again.
18 No man taketh it from me, but I lay it down of myself. I have power to lay it down, and I have power to take it again. This commandment have I received of my Father (John 10:11-18).

Paul understood what Jesus meant that he would lay down his life for his sheep. After the Savior’s resurrection, Paul described him as “the great shepherd.” His letter to the Hebrews concludes,

20 Now the God of peace, that brought again from the dead our Lord Jesus, that great shepherd of the sheep, through the blood of the everlasting covenant,
21 Make you perfect in every good work to do his will, working in you that which is wellpleasing in his sight, through Jesus Christ; to whom be glory for ever and ever. Amen (Hebrews 13:20-21).

Alma had a clear understanding of the principle that Christians must follow the Savior of their own accord, only because they chose to. Much of his sermon to the people of Zarahemla is about that principle and an admonition to hear the voice of the Good Shepherd and follow him.

38 Behold, I say unto you, that the good shepherd doth call you; yea, and in his own name he doth call you, which is the name of Christ; and if ye will not hearken unto the voice of the good shepherd, to the name by which ye are called, behold, ye are not the sheep of the good shepherd.
39 And now if ye are not the sheep of the good shepherd, of what fold are ye? Behold, I say unto you, that the devil is your shepherd, and ye are of his fold; and now, who can deny this? Behold, I say unto you, whosoever denieth this is a liar and a child of the devil.
40 For I say unto you that whatsoever is good cometh from God, and whatsoever is evil cometh from the devil.
41 Therefore, if a man bringeth forth good works he hearkeneth unto the voice of the good shepherd, and he doth follow him; but whosoever bringeth forth evil works, the same becometh a child of the devil, for he hearkeneth unto his voice, and doth follow him.
…….
60 And now I say unto you that the good shepherd doth call after you; and if you will hearken unto his voice he will bring you into his fold, and ye are his sheep; and he commandeth you that ye suffer no ravenous wolf to enter among you, that ye may not be destroyed.
61 And now I, Alma, do command you in the language of him who hath commanded me, that ye observe to do the words which I have spoken unto you (Alma 5:33, 60-61).

And finally, in this last dispensation the Savior explained what it meant that he was the Good Shepherd in the triangular relationship between himself, his Father, and us. To us he says, “fear not little children, for ye are mine.”

40 Behold, ye are little children and ye cannot bear all things now; ye must grow in grace and in the knowledge of the truth.
41 Fear not, little children, for you are mine, and I have overcome the world, and you are of them that my Father hath given me;
42 And none of them that my Father hath given me shall be lost.
43 And the Father and I are one. I am in the Father and the Father in me; and inasmuch as ye have received me, ye are in me and I in you.
44 Wherefore, I am in your midst, and I am the good shepherd, and the stone of Israel. He that buildeth upon this rock shall never fall.
45 And the day cometh that you shall hear my voice and see me, and know that I am.
46 Watch, therefore, that ye may be ready. Even so. Amen (D&C 50:40-46).

The parable of the Good Shepherd is no so much an allegory as it is a declaration to the Savior’s eternal priesthood and kingship.

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FOOTNOTES

{1} For a discussion of Psalm 23 as an ancient temple text see Who Shall Ascend into the Hill of the Lord, first edition, 619-40; second (paperback) edition, 441-57. (You can read or download the second edition from this website.)

{2} For a discussion of the throne and cherubim in Solomon’s temple, see Who Shall Ascend into the Hill of the Lord, the chapter called, “Act 2, Scene 11: The King Enters the Holy of Holies of Solomon’s Temple,” first edition 557-62; second (paperback) edition, 400-403.

{3} I am convinced that this part of Isaiah is a forgery created by the Jewish leaders during the Babylonian captivity. For an explanation of why I believe that, use the search engine in this website to find “2 Nephi 20, introduction.”

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