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3 Nephi 12:10-12 — LeGrand Baker — persecution and persecuted

10 And blessed are all they who are persecuted for my name’s sake, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.
11 And blessed are ye when men shall revile you and persecute, and shall say all manner of evil against you falsely, for my sake;
12 For ye shall have great joy and be exceedingly glad, for great shall be your reward in heaven; for so persecuted they the prophets who were before you (3 Nephi 12:10-12).

The previous Beatitude read: “Blessed are the peacemakers.” The very antithesis of that are people who persecute others. The only reason for persecuting other people is to assert one’s own assumed moral or other superiority by taking pleasure in seeing someone else uncomfortable or worse.

The form of persecution is usually dictated by culture. For example, in the dark ages a woman was burned to the stake for hiding a few pages of the Bible under her floorboards. We don’t do stake burnings any more, so we have to use other more socially accepted ways of persecution. Bullying is common at schools. Adults do the same sorts of thing. We just don’t call it bullying if its done by an adult. Children, teenagers and adults dehumanize before they attack. Dehumanize is too strong a word, but I don’t know the right one. They define someone as an “other” which means he is “not like us.” Because they see themselves as the standard of goodness, wisdom, and virtue, then by defining someone else as different, as an “other,” they classify him as unworthy, inferior, or even evil. They do this because they cannot tolerate his differences. After they have defined him as an “other,” they can emotionally justify the conclusion that he does not deserve to be treated as an “us” (i.e. he is unnatural, something less than a real human) then their conscience is clear as they ostracize him from their society or deny him job opportunities, or do him social, mental, or physical harm. Persecution is inflicted on most everyone who is different—because being an “other” is a punishable cultural sin.

Intolerance for cultural sins is the most usual rational for persecution of “others.” Real sins rarely are. Real sins disqualify one from being in the presence of God; cultural sins usually only disqualify one from being comfortable in the presence of those whose sins are real.

Real sins are those that canker the human spirit. They begin in one’s mind. Some always stay there: sins like hate, covetousness, jealousy, contempt, bigotry. The Savior added adultery to that list. These sins infect our soul and will condemn us on judgement day if we do not repent. Sometimes these sins of the mind mature into actions that are contemptuous, dishonest, hurtful, or even brutal. There are laws that protect people from other’s illegal actions, but governments cannot legislate against the sins of the mind. Consequently, except for physical violence and theft, most of the real sins are tolerated by our culture.

The “sins” that evoke persecution are usually not the real sins. The “sins” that culture does not tolerate are the visible differences that define someone else as an “other.” Having the wrong colored skin is a simple example. Whether a black man in a white culture or a white man in a black culture, the “other” is not culturally correct, therefore not trustworthy, therefore, by definition the personification of sin. Another example from our not so distant past is the woman who’s dress exposed her ankles. She was a bad woman. However, at the same time a proper lady could have a neck line just as low as nature would permit and she was only “fashionable.” Examples among children and teenagers are the small or studious boys who do not play sports and are mercilessly bullied for just being who they are. Cultural sins are not sins for which one has to repent. Most are not sins for which it is possible to repent. But the punishment for such sins may cause immense emotional and sometimes physical pain. In the past, and in some places still in the present, by just being a Mormon we define oneself as an “other,” and therefore, manifestly as a cultural “sin.”

In religious cultures, it is usually their god who is given the credit for canonizing cultural sins. Self-defined righteous people know instinctively that their god would never make any good person different from themselves. Therefore, their god justifies the persecution of anyone who is “not like us” and can easily be identified as an “other.”

We Mormons also do that sometimes — but never to our credit. I suppose the correct response to cultural sins is summed up by the bumper sticker President Uchtdorf quoted in April Conference, 2012, “Don’t judge me because I sin differently than you.”

In our Beatitude, the Savior is talking about a specific group of “others.” It is those who are persecuted “for my name’s sake” As there is always a new name associated with a new covenant, “name” is often a code word for “covenant.” As, for example, when Isaiah quotes the Lord as saying, “for I will not suffer my name to be polluted, and I will not give my glory unto another (1 Nephi 20:11).” That can be understood as “ I will not suffer my covenant to be polluted.” Similarly the Beatitude might be understood as saying “blessed are all they who are persecuted for the sake of my covenant.”

The Savior has already described such people as “peacemakers,” so we can be assured that they are not boastful or obnoxious in presenting the gospel to others. They do not “deserve” to be treated with contempt except that their very being calls attention to the crudeness of their persecutors and makes the persecutors uncomfortable. That is the problem: The wicked are made uncomfortable by the very existence of the righteous, so the wicked persecute them to prove they are inferior and do not have the power to defend themselves. Thus the wicked find a perverse kind of self-importance and self-validation in the very act of persecuting the righteous.

The righteous, the peacemakers, are wise enough to leave it to God to execute judgement in his own time and his own way. Because the righteous have the hope that gives peace, they know everything will ultimately turn out just fine. But for the others, the people who do the persecuting, their actions are real sins, but the attitudes that produce the actions may be even more damning. For Latter-day Saints (as long as they feel no need to repent), such attitudes and actions virtually preclude even the possibility of the celestial resurrection which they anticipate for themselves, but which they would so vigorously deny to those who are burdened with the cultural sins that identify them as “others.”

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3 Nephi 12:9 

And blessed are all the peacemakers, for they shall be called the children of God (3 Nephi 12:9).

25 With the merciful [hesed – adj.] thou wilt shew thyself merciful [hesed – verb]; with an upright man thou wilt shew thyself upright (Psalms 18:25). {1}

The Savior was apparently paraphrasing that psalm when he said:

7 Blessed are the merciful for they shall obtain mercy (3 Nephi 12:7).

The Savior was probably paraphrasing Psalm 18 when he spoke those words. The Psalm reads:

25 With the merciful [hesed – adj.] thou wilt shew thyself merciful [hesed – verb]; with an upright man thou wilt shew thyself upright (Psalms 18:25). {A}

As observed elsewhere, Psalm 25 is set in the context of our premortal covenants. In it, words translated “lovingkindnesses” and “mercy” are from the Hebrew word hesed. {B} The psalm uses the Hebrew word hesed four times, and by so doing, it brings those covenants into a deeply personal friendship/relationship. The Theological Dictionary of the Old Testament shows the power of that friendship/relationship:

We may venture the conjecture that even in cases where the context does not suggest such mutuality it is nevertheless implicit, because we are dealing with the closest of human bonds. {C}

An explanation and clarification of their phrase, “dealing with the closest of human bonds,” is found in a new edition of Strong’s Concordance:

hesed, unfailing love, loyal love, devotion. kindness, often based on a prior relationship, especially a covenant relationship. {D}

There is a quality of personal power that transcends sorrow, pain, uncertainty, fear, and disappointment. The scriptures express it in two different ways. The first is “Hope” which means living as though the covenant is already fulfilled. Hope in the fulfillment of God’s covenants is the ultimate inner fortress against “the slings and arrows of outrageous fortune.”{1}

The other way is expressed by such words as peace, peacemaker and peaceable. Peace is a gift one may give or receive. When the peace is from God it gives us hope. For ourselves, while hope is the power one carries within one’s Self, peace is an outward expression of that inner hope, and is therefore the power one shares with others. Peacemaker and peaceable are words that describe those who have hope and give peace as a gift to other people. That is all explained very well in the first few verses of Moroni 7. Mormon’s sermon is an elaboration on our Beatitude. Like the Beatitude, it begins by addressing those who have hope and can give peace, and, like the Beatitude, it concludes, “… that ye may become the sons of God.”{2}

Mormon identifies his audience in terms of their having hope and their ability to give peace. He says:

3 Wherefore, I would speak unto you that are of the church, that are the peaceable followers of Christ, and that have obtained a sufficient hope by which ye can enter into the rest of the Lord, from this time henceforth until ye shall rest with him in heaven.
4 And now my brethren, I judge these things of you because of your peaceable walk with the children of men (Moroni 7:3-4).

Here the phrase “sufficient hope” is the key to understanding these verses. It is also the key to understanding the entire sermon. A peacemaker is one who has “sufficient hope” to sustain his own peacefulness and thereby to sustain his “peaceable walk with the children of men.”

In that same sermon Mormon asks and then answers:

41 And what is it that ye shall hope for? Behold I say unto you that ye shall have hope through the atonement of Christ and the power of his resurrection, to be raised unto life eternal, and this because of your faith in him according to the promise (Moroni 7:41).

The Book of Mormon itself ends with a kind of crescendo of faith, hope and charity, repeated three times in Ether 12, Moroni 7, and Moroni 10.

Ether 12 teaches us about faith, hope, and charity, then in verse 39 it concludes with a personal visit between Moroni the Savior

Moroni 7 concludes by teaching us how we “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).

And in Moroni 10, Moroni teaches us that “Wherefore, there must be faith; and if there must be faith there must also be hope; and if there must be hope there must also be charity. And except ye have charity ye can in nowise be saved in the kingdom of God; neither can ye be saved in the kingdom of God if ye have not faith; neither can ye if ye have no hope (Moroni 10:20-21). Then Moroni concludes: “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 10:33).”

If what I have suggested is true, then the trilogy of faith, hope, and charity are also parts of pairings showing what one IS as related to what one DOES:

Faith (pistis) is made effectual by being faithful (pistos);{3} that is by keeping one’s covenants. Faith and being faithful are essentially the same. That is, they are two sides of the same coin, for when the covenants one makes with God dominate our sense of self, then our always remembering and keeping those covenants is the honest expression of our Self.

Hope is living as though God’s part of the covenants are already fulfilled. It is the power of our hope that enables us to help others experience peace. Hope is the power within one’s Self. Peace is our expression of that hope and is a gift to others. They are also the same, two sides of the same coin, for when hope defines what one is, then being peaceful and giving peace is what one does.

Charity is love that brings one to salvation. Charity is a power within one’s Self. It is manifested by living the law of consecration. In the Book of Mormon charity is the ultimate goal to which we reach. In the Doctrine and Covenants the law of consecration is that goal. They are also the same, two sides of the same coin, for when charity is what one IS, then consecration is what one DOES.

The threesome faith/faithful, hope/peace, and charity/consecration represent a sequence of progression. In the Beatitudes there are a lot of steps and much time between the first faith (actually “believe” {4} ) in verse 2 and peacemakers in verses 9-12, and it goes on to charity in verses 13-16. All those steps and the time it takes for us to achieve them is described in the phrase “endure to the end.”

The Beatitude says, “And blessed are all the peacemakers, for they shall be called the children of God.” The word “called” can be read “named.” It identifies a royal king name. The new name associated with “peacemakers” in verse 9 is “children of God.” It is similar to the king name in Psalm 2 {5}and denotes sonship, priesthood, and kingship, just as does the phrase “for theirs is the kingdom of heaven” in the next verse of the Beatitudes.

These references to priesthood and kingship brings to our memory another use of “peace” in one of the most frequently quoted scriptures in the scriptures.{6} In Isaiah that scripture is the acknowledgment of the kingship of Jehovah. But for Abinadi it is also a promise of inheritance as a child of God. The Isaiah passage reads:

6 Therefore my people shall know my name: therefore they shall know in that day that I am he that doth speak: behold, it is I.
7 How beautiful upon the mountains are the feet of him that bringeth good tidings, that publisheth peace; that bringeth good tidings of good, that publisheth salvation; that saith unto Zion, Thy God reigneth! (Isaiah 52:6-7).

But for Abinadi it is also a promise of inheritance as a child of God.

14 And these are they who have published peace, who have brought good tidings of good, who have published salvation; and said unto Zion: Thy God reigneth!
15 And O how beautiful upon the mountains were their feet!
16 And again, how beautiful upon the mountains are the feet of those that are still publishing peace!
17 And again, how beautiful upon the mountains are the feet of those who shall hereafter publish peace, yea, from this time henceforth and forever!
18 And behold, I say unto you, this is not all. For O how beautiful upon the mountains are the feet of him that bringeth good tidings, that is the founder of peace, yea, even the Lord, who has redeemed his people; yea, him who has granted salvation unto his people;
19 For were it not for the redemption which he hath made for his people, which was prepared from the foundation of the world, I say unto you, were it not for this, all mankind must have perished.
20 But behold, the bands of death shall be broken, and the Son reigneth, and hath power over the dead; therefore, he bringeth to pass the resurrection of the dead (Mosiah 15:14-20).

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ENDNOTES

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Footnotes within the footnote

{A} 25 With the merciful [hesed – adj, Strong # 2623 ] thou wilt shew thyself merciful [hesed – verb, Strong # 2616]; with an upright man thou wilt shew thyself upright (Psalms 18:25). {A}

{A} Katherine Doob Sakenfeld of Princeton University Seminary wrote a dissertation on “hesed” in which she argued that it meant “to do what is expected of one.” With regard to the covenant, God does what is expected (keep his covenant promises); man should also maintain “hesed” (keep his covenant promises).
Katherine Doob Sakenfeld, The Meaning of Hesed in the Hebrew Bible: A New Inquiry (Missoula, Montana; Scholars Press for the Harvard Semitic Museum, 1978).

{B} G. Johannes Botterweck and Helmer Ringgren, eds., trans. Davod E. Green, Theological Dictionary of the Old Testament, 15 vols. (Grand Rapids, Michigan: Eerdmans, 1986), article about hesed, 5:45-48). The Greek equivalent is Philadelphia, fraternal love, as explained in fn 905, p. 680.

{C} John R. Kohlenberger III and James A. Swanson, The Strongest Strong’s, Exhaustive Concordance of the Bible (Grand Rapids: Zondervan, 2001), Hebrew dictionary # 2617.

{1} Shakespeare, Hamlet: Act 3, Scene 1.
For a discussion of the meanings of faith, hope, and charity see Who Shall Ascend into the Hill of the Lord, first edition 1005-1043 , second edition 696-722.

{2} Who Shall Ascend into the Hill of the Lord, first edition 1005-1043 , second edition 696-722 is a discussion of Moroni 7, including “faith” as pistis.

{3} You know I don’t read either Greek or Hebrew so there isn’t much point in my trying to impress you by writing Greed words. But there is a point. “Faith” in our everyday language means something believing without evidence, or just wishing hard. Pistis, the Greek word that is translated “faith” in the New Testament, is about making a firm contract or covenant. Pistos is about keeping the terms of that contract or covenant. The words are so different from what our culture understands by “faith” that I put in the Greek words just to remind you I’m not talking about wishing hard or believing without any evidence to substantiate that belief.

{4} Actually “believe” is correct rather than “faith.” That was before Baptism, so no covenant had been made yet. Therefore, “believe” rather than pistis.

{5} See Who Shall Ascend into the Hill of the Lord, first edition 499-517, second edition 360-73.

{6} Other places where Isaiah 52:5-10 is either quoted or paraphrased are: Nahum 1:15, Romans 10:15, Mosiah 12:21-24, 3 Nephi 20:39-41, D&C 128:19.

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8 And blessed are all the pure in heart, for they shall see God (3 Nephi 12:8).

The Lord defined the phrase, “pure in heart” in a revelation to the Prophet Joseph Smith: “Therefore, verily, thus saith the Lord, let Zion rejoice, for this is Zion—THE PURE IN HEART (D&C 97:21).” (That’s the only place in the Doctrine and Covenants where the words are written out in full capitol letters.) Zion is a community of Saints who live the law of consecration. In Missouri it did not work because the people were not “pure in heart,” but there are successful examples in history: Enoch, Melchizedek, 4 Nephi. The world we live in is the very antithesis of that. Nevertheless, there are now among us people who truly do live the law of consecration. These faithful Latter-day Saints, collectively and individually, are modern-day Zion.

There is another use of the phrase “pure in heart” in the scriptures. It is similar, but not precisely the same as the definition in the Doctrine and Covenants. It was used by Jacob during a meeting attended by men, women and children. He lamented the assignment and said:

10 But, notwithstanding the greatness of the task, I must do according to the strict commands of God, and tell you concerning your wickedness and abominations, in the presence of the pure in heart, and the broken heart, and under the glance of the piercing eye of the Almighty God (Jacob 2:10).

Here and in the following chapter (Jacob 3:1-4), it is clear that by “pure in heart” Jacob is referring to abused women and children whose husbands are not keeping their covenants. In that usage, “pure in heart” seems to mean those who are innocent of — and therefore offended by — the sins committed by other people. In a Zion society like the City of Enoch, Jacob’s use of the phrase would not apply, because the only persons present would be those who are keeping all of God’s commandments and are living the law of consecration.

The object of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints is to educate and perfect its members, and to give them an opportunity to live the law of consecration, and thereby to establish Zion. Ultimately the center of that anticipated community will be the New Jerusalem where the Savior will reign as King. A characteristic of the inhabitants of Zion — whether the Zion of Enoch’s time or the Zion of the Millennial Reign — is that its inhabitants will be comfortable in the presence of God. Unfortunately, it will be a long time before the inhabitants of our present world will be qualified to feel that.

Fortunately, even though that is a great inconvenience, in reality of the condition of the world (unless it forcibly imposes itself upon us) it is of only marginal importance. This world/worldly condition need not be a deterrent to faithful Latter-day Saints because in our present society, living the law of consecration is an individual choice: a single person, a family, or many individuals scattered about in our non-Zion community may still constitute Zion. Being pure in heart, keeping all of one’s covenants, living the law of consecration, being a person of charity — all of that is entirely up to the individual. The society of Zion is made up of those individuals. In our world, each such individual constitutes a part of Zion and therefore each is the very personification of Zion.

With only a few exceptions, such people in our time are essentially invisible in their non-Zion environment. Isaiah described these latter-day individuals who are Zion in a prophecy about the restoration of Israel. He describes true Latter-day Saints this way:

2 And he hath made my mouth like a sharp sword; in the shadow of his hand hath he hid me, and made me a polished shaft; in his quiver hath he hid me (1 Nephi 21:2).

Let me help you decode it:

And he hath made my mouth like a sharp sword
[The sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God (Ephesians 6:17)];
in the shadow of his hand hath he hid me
[The hand above the head depicts an ordination to the priesthood],
and made me a polished shaft
[The shaft is an arrow kept in a quiver. In ancient times arrows were polished and then sealed against warping by anointing them with oil. This person who has the priesthood is described as having the power, speed and accuracy of an arrow.];
in his quiver hath he hid me
[The person is hidden in plain sight. That is, he is overlooked by the world that does not recognize his goodness or his priesthood power].”

Because such a person does not advertize his generosity, or flaunt his calling in the Church or his priesthood authority, the world does not recognize him for who he is. Yet, he is pure in heart. He lives the law of consecration because he is a person of charity. He is, even though only an individual, the very embodiment of “Zion.”

Why the Saints are hidden is explained in the Gospel of Philip where the Savior is quoted as saying,

The perfect man not only cannot be restrained, but also cannot be seen. For if he is seen he will be put under restraint.{1}

Hugh Nibley devoted his classic work, Approaching Zion, to the understanding what Zion is. He wrote:

I have presently covenanted and promised to observe most strictly certain instructions set forth with great clarity and simplicity in the Doctrine and Covenants. These are designated as the law of consecration, which are absolutely essential for the building up of the kingdom on earth and the ultimate establishment of Zion. {2}

Nibley later added:

This law, the consummation of the laws of obedience and sacrifice, is the threshold of the celestial kingdom, the last and hardest requirement made of men in this life.{3}

As Nibley observes, the pure in heart, living the law of consecration, being charity, being Zion, is “the threshold of the celestial kingdom.” Therefore, the second part of the Beatitude, “for they shall see God,” is the necessary conclusion to its beginning: “blessed are the pure in heart.”

Before the Savior’s death, he promised his Twelve Apostles:

15 If ye love me, keep my commandments.
16 And I will pray the Father, and he shall give you another Comforter, that he may abide with you for ever;
17 Even the Spirit of truth; whom the world cannot receive, because it seeth him not, neither knoweth him: but ye know him; for he dwelleth with you, and shall be in you.
18 I will not leave you comfortless: I will come to you.
19 Yet a little while, and the world seeth me no more; but ye see me: because I live, ye shall live also.
20 At that day ye shall know that I am in my Father, and ye in me, and I in you.
21 He that hath my commandments, and keepeth them, he it is that loveth me: and he that loveth me shall be loved of my Father, and I will love him, and will manifest myself to him (John 14:15-21).

The Prophet Joseph explained that passage this way:

Now what is this other Comforter? It is no more nor less that the Lord Jesus Christ Himself; and this is the sum and substance of the whole matter; that when any man obtains this last Comforter, he will have the personage of Jesus Christ to attend him, or appear unto him from time to time, and even He will manifest the Father unto him, and they will take up their abode with him, and the visions of the heavens will be opened unto him, and the Lord will teach him face to face, and he may have a perfect knowledge of the mysteries of the Kingdom of God; and this is the state and place the ancient Saints arrived at when they had such glorious visions—Isaiah, Ezekiel, John upon the Isle of Patmos, St. Paul in the three heavens, and all the Saints who held communion with the general assembly and Church of the First Born.{4}

The pure in heart who will see the Savior will not just see him from a distance. The relationships that are established between him and those who love him are described by him as being that of an eternal family. When he spoke to the brother of Jared he said:

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 3:14).

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ENDNOTES

{1} Gospel of Philip in Wilhelm Schneemelcher, ed., New Testament Apocrypha, Vol. 1, Gospels and Related Writings (Louisville, Kentucky, Westminster, 1991). p. 201, #106.

{2} Hugh Nibley, Approaching Zion, edited by Don E. Norton (Salt Lake City and Provo: Deseret Book Co., Foundation for Ancient Research and Mormon Studies, 1989), 164.

{3} Hugh Nibley, Approaching Zion, 168.

{4} Joseph Smith, Teachings of the Prophet Joseph Smith, selected and arranged by Joseph Fielding Smith (Salt Lake City: Deseret Book Co., 1976),150-51.

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3 Nephi 12:6 — LeGrand Baker — ‘Filled with the Holy Ghost’

6 And blessed are all they who do hunger and thirst after righteousness, for they shall be filled with the Holy Ghost

Righteousness is the Hebrew zedek, and means priesthood and temple correctness: doing the right thing in the right way in the right place, dressed the right way, saying the right words, holding one’s hand the right way, and with the right authority. For a fuller discussion of zedek see Who Shall Ascend into the Hill of the Lord, first edition, 279-286; second edition (the one in this website under “published books), pages 189-201. This discussion of 3 Nephi 12:6 is also from that book.

To “hunger and thirst after righteousness [zedek]” is the chief characteristic of the meek—those who remember (or are re-taught by the Spirit) to keep the covenants they made at the Council in Heaven, as we discussed with 3 Nephi 12:5.

In Hebrew tradition, as Adam and Eve left their Garden home, Satan and his henchmen began to bring their plan into play. They planned to “cast men into great distractions and pains in life, so that their men should be preoccupied with life, and not have time to attend on the Holy Spirit.” {1} But the Lord sent angels to teach Adam about sacrifice and the Savior’s Atonement so that Adam and Eve would know how to come home again. Thereafter, the great desire of the righteous was to find the way to “return to the Garden” where they could regain their garments of light, again enjoy the company of God, and where they could eat freely of the fruit of the tree of life and drink of the waters of life.

That also became the ultimate promise to the faithful Saints in New Testament times. John the Beloved concludes his Revelation with this vision of the celestial world:

1 And I saw a new heaven and a new earth: for the first heaven and the first earth were passed away; and there was no more sea.
2 And I John saw the holy city, new Jerusalem, coming down from God out of heaven, prepared as a bride adorned for her husband. …
6 And he said unto me, It is done. I am Alpha and Omega, the beginning and the end. I will give unto him that is athirst of the fountain of the water of life freely.
7 He that overcometh shall inherit all things; and I will be his God, and he shall be my son. …

1 And he shewed me a pure river of water of life, clear as crystal, proceeding out of the throne of God and of the Lamb.
2 In the midst of the street of it, and on either side of the river, was there the tree of life, which bare twelve manner of fruits, and yielded her fruit every month: and the leaves of the tree were for the healing of the nations.
3 And there shall be no more curse: but the throne of God and of the Lamb shall be in it; and his servants shall serve him:
4 And they shall see his face; and his name shall be in their foreheads. …

13 I am Alpha and Omega, the beginning and the end, the first and the last.14 Blessed are they that do his commandments, that they may have right to the tree of life, and may enter in through the gates into the city. …

16 I Jesus have sent mine angel to testify unto you these things in the churches. I am the root and the offspring of David, and the bright and morning star.
17 And the Spirit and the bride say, Come. And let him that heareth say, Come. And let him that is athirst come. And whosoever will, let him take the water of life freely (Revelation 21:1-2, 6-7; 22:1-4, 13-14, 16-17).

Alma understood that the fruit of the tree of life and the waters of life were both the blessing to the righteous and the product of their own righteousness. He said:

40 And thus, if ye will not nourish the word, looking forward with an eye of faith to the fruit thereof, ye can never pluck of the fruit of the tree of life.
41 But if ye will nourish the word, yea, nourish the tree as it beginneth to grow, by your faith with great diligence, and with patience, looking forward to the fruit thereof, it shall take root; and behold it shall be a tree springing up unto everlasting life.
42 And because of your diligence and your faith and your patience with the word in nourishing it, that it may take root in you, behold, by and by ye shall pluck the fruit thereof, which is most precious, which is sweet above all that is sweet, and which is white above all that is white, yea, and pure above all that is pure; and ye shall feast upon this fruit even until ye are filled, that ye hunger not, neither shall ye thirst.
43 Then, my brethren, ye shall reap the rewards of your faith, and your diligence, and patience, and long-suffering, waiting for the tree to bring forth fruit unto you (Alma 32:40-43).

The Savior explained how that is so. He first taught it to the people in Jerusalem:

53 Then Jesus said unto them, Verily, verily, I say unto you, Except ye eat the flesh of the Son of man, and drink his blood, ye have no life in you.
54 Whoso eateth my flesh, and drinketh my blood, hath eternal life; and I will raise him up at the last day.
55 For my flesh is meat indeed, and my blood is drink indeed.
56 He that eateth my flesh, and drinketh my blood, dwelleth in me, and I in him.
57 As the living Father hath sent me, and I live by the Father: so he that eateth me, even he shall live by me.
58 This is that bread which came down from heaven: not as your fathers did eat manna, and are dead: he that eateth of this bread shall live for ever (John 6:53-58). {2}

And he taught it more fully to the Saints in America:

3 And it came to pass that he brake bread again and blessed it, and gave to the disciples to eat.
4 And when they had eaten he commanded them that they should break bread, and give unto the multitude.
5 And when they had given unto the multitude he also gave them wine to drink, and commanded them that they should give unto the multitude.
6 Now, there had been no bread, neither wine, brought by the disciples, neither by the multitude;
7 But he truly gave unto them bread to eat, and also wine to drink.
8 And he said unto them: He that eateth this bread eateth of my body to his soul; and he that drinketh of this wine drinketh of my blood to his soul; and his soul shall never hunger nor thirst, but shall be filled (3 Nephi 20:3-8). {3}

This doctrine was not unknown to ancient Israel. It is not expressed that explicitly in the psalms we now have, but the understanding is there. Psalm 143 is a prayer. Ancient Israelites prayed with their hands lifted toward heaven (“I stretch forth my hands unto thee”). Recalling the peace of the Council in Heaven (“I remember the days of old; I meditate on all thy works”), its author longs to be there again:

1 Hear my prayer, O Lord, give ear to my supplications: in thy faithfulness answer me, and in thy righteousness.
2 And enter not into judgment with thy servant: for in thy sight shall no man living be justified.
3 For the enemy hath persecuted my soul; he hath smitten my life down to the ground; he hath made me to dwell in darkness, as those that have been long dead.
4 Therefore is my spirit overwhelmed within me; my heart within me is desolate.
5 I remember the days of old; I meditate on all thy works;
I muse on the work of thy hands.
6 I stretch forth my hands unto thee: my soul thirsteth after thee, as a thirsty land.
7 Hear me speedily, O Lord: my spirit faileth: hide not thy face from me, lest I be like unto them that go down into the pit.
8 Cause me to hear thy lovingkindness in the morning; for in thee do I trust: cause me to know the way wherein I should walk; for I lift up my soul unto thee.
9 Deliver me, O Lord, from mine enemies: I flee unto thee to hide me.
10 Teach me to do thy will; for thou art my God: thy spirit is good; lead me into the land of uprightness.
11 Quicken me, O Lord, for thy name’s sake: for thy righteousness’ sake bring my soul out of trouble.
12 And of thy mercy cut off mine enemies, and destroy all them that afflict my soul: for I am thy servant (Psalm 143:1-12).

The 63rd Psalm is also a prayer—one that is simply running over with ancient temple imagery:

1 O God, thou art my God; early will I seek thee: my soul thirsteth for thee, my flesh longeth for thee in a dry and thirsty land, where no water is;
2 To see thy power and thy glory, so as I have seen thee in the sanctuary.
3 Because thy lovingkindness is better than life, my lips shall praise thee.
4 Thus will I bless thee while I live: I will lift up my hands in thy name.
5 My soul shall be satisfied as with marrow and fatness; and my mouth shall praise thee with joyful lips:
6 When I remember thee upon my bed, and meditate on thee in the night watches.
7 Because thou hast been my help, therefore in the shadow of thy wings will I rejoice.
8 My soul followeth hard after thee: thy right hand upholdeth me.
9 But those th at seek my soul, to destroy it, shall go into the lower parts of the earth.
10 They shall fall by the sword: they shall be a portion for foxes.
11 But the king shall rejoice in God; every one that sweareth by him shall glory: but the mouth of them that speak lies shall be stopped (Psalm 63:1-11).

The blessing promised in the Beatitudes to “all they who do hunger and thirst after righteousness” is that “they shall be filled with the Holy Ghost.”
The classic—and probably the best known—LDS statement about the gift of the Holy Ghost was written by one of the Church’s foremost early poets, Parley P. Pratt:

The gift of the Holy Spirit adapts itself to all these organs or attributes. It quickens all the intellectual faculties, increases, enlarges, expands and purifies all the natural passions and affections; and adapts them, by the gift of wisdom, to their lawful use. It inspires, develops, cultivates and matures all the fine-toned sympathies, joys, tastes, kindred feelings and affections of our nature. It inspires virtue, kindness, goodness, tenderness, gentleness and charity. It develops beauty of person, form and features. It tends to health, vigor, animation and social feeling. It develops and invigorates all the faculties of the physical and intellectual man. It strengthens, invigorates, and gives tone to the nerves. In short, it is, as it were, marrow to the bone, joy to the heart, light to the eyes, music to the ears, and life to the whole being.

In the presence of such persons, one feels to enjoy the light of their countenances, as the genial rays of a sunbeam. Their very atmosphere diffuses a thrill, a warm glow of pure gladness and sympathy, to the heart and nerves of others who have kindred feelings, or sympathy of spirit. No matter if the parties are strangers, entirely unknown to each other in person or character; no matter if they have never spoken to each other, each will be apt to remark in his own mind, and perhaps exclaim, when referring to the interview—“O what an atmosphere encircles that stranger! How my heart thrilled with pure and holy feelings in his presence! What confidence and sympathy he inspired! His countenance and spirit gave me more assurance, than a thousand written recommendations, or introductory letters.” Such is the gift of the Holy Spirit, and such are its operations, when received through the lawful channel – the divine, eternal Priesthood. {4}

In the ancient Temple, hungering and thirsting after zedek ultimately focused on the coronation ordinances of sonship.

As the Holy Ghost comforts, {5} teaches, cleanses (Moroni 6:4), sanctifies (3 Nephi 27:20), and empowers us to transcend the sorrows of this world, its empowerment may imply a restoration and maturation of the garment of light. That seems consistent with the Lord’s words to the Prophet Joseph.

33 For whoso is faithful unto the obtaining these two priesthoods of which I have spoken, and the magnifying their calling, are sanctified by the Spirit unto the renewing of their bodies.
34 They become the sons of Moses and of Aaron and the seed of Abraham, and the church and kingdom, and the elect of God.
35 And also all they who receive this priesthood receive me, saith the Lord;
36 For he that receiveth my servants receiveth me;
37 And he that receiveth me receiveth my Father;
38 And he that receiveth my Father receiveth my Father’s kingdom; therefore all that my Father hath shall be given unto him.
39 And this is according to the oath and covenant which belongeth to the priesthood.
40 Therefore, all those who receive the priesthood, receive this oath and covenant of my Father, which he cannot break, neither can it be moved (D&C 84:33-40).

To “be filled with the Holy Ghost” is ultimately to fulfill the command to “receive the Holy Ghost.” It is the necessary prerequisite to accomplishing the next step in the Savior’s outline in the Beatitudes.

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ENDNOTES

{1} Hypostasis of the Archons, trans. Bullard, 29, lines 7-11.

{2} See Matthew 26:26-28. Mark 14:22-24, 1 Corinthians 11:24-25, Moroni 4-5, 3 Nephi 18:1-11. It is interesting that Mormon does not mention that Jesus also ate and drank with his disciples. His apparently not doing so may reflect what he told his apostles in Jerusalem: “Verily I say unto you, I will drink no more of the fruit of the vine, until that day that I drink it new in the kingdom of God” (Mark 14:25).

{3} According to a number of sources, some early Christians thought of the cross as a tree of life, and that the Savior’s body was the fruit of that tree, and his blood was the waters of life. See Griggs, “Tree of Life,” 29. The Gospel of Philip says the cross was made of olive wood, in The Nag Hammadi Library in English, ed. James M. Robinson,153.

{4} Parley P. Pratt, Key to the Science of Theology (Liverpool, F.D. Richards & London, L.D.S. Book Depot,1855), 98-99.

{5} For a discussion of two Comforters, see Smith, Teachings of the Prophet, 149.

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3 Nephi 12:3 — LeGrand Baker — The ancient endowment in a single verse

3 Yea, blessed are the poor in spirit who come unto me, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven (3 Nephi 12:3).

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In chapter that introduces the Beatitudes in Who Shall Ascend into the Hill of the Lord, we point out that the word “blessed” would better be translated as “enjoying the state of the gods.”

This Beatitude is easier to understand if one reads it backwards to discover first its object and then its method. The object is: “for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.” That does not say they shall be citizens of the kingdom, it says it is “theirs”—they shall own it. People who own kingdoms are called priests and kings. So, implicitly, the beatitude says, “Blessed are the poor in spirit who come unto me, for they are the priests and sacral kings of the kingdom of heaven.”{1}

To “come unto me” means precisely what the words say. It is not about just doing good things, it means one must go to the place where he is. The entire purpose of the drama of the New Year festival was to bring one behind the veil that separated the Holy of Holies from the rest of the world. Understood symbolically, the phrase “come unto me” happened when one had passed beyond the veil and entered the Holy of Holies of Solomon’s Temple—God’s earthly throne room—to be in the presence of Jehovah. Taken quite literally it meant one must come to the place where Christ is.{2}

Implicitly then, the Beatitude says, “Blessed are the poor in spirit who came through the veil of the ancient temple to the place where they may meet God, for they are the priests and kings of the kingdom of heaven.”

The question now is “Who are the ‘poor in spirit’?”

Commentators on Matthew’s text insist the phrase has nothing to do with being impoverished. “Poor” does not mean lacking either spirit, spirituality, or worldly goods. There is nothing about poverty that precludes one’s coming to Christ. Similarly, there is nothing about emotional, spiritual, or worldly poverty that qualifies one to come to the place where the Savior is, or to be anointed to become a king or queen, unless that “poverty” is acquired in righteousness and according to eternal law. The “poor in spirit” are not spiritually impoverished, but “those living in uprightness, or ‘perfection.’”{3}

The only kind of poverty that fits those criterion is acquired through sacrifice. “Sacrifice” does not mean to lose something or to give it up; rather, it means to make it sacred—to set it apart. Throughout the scriptures—even while animal sacrifices were still performed under the Law of Moses—the sacrifice the Lord declared to be most acceptable was that of a broken heart and a contrite spirit. The Savior explained the meaning of this Beatitude a few moments later when he said:

19 And behold, I have given you the law and the commandments of my Father, that ye shall believe in me, and that ye shall repent of your sins, and come unto me with a broken heart and a contrite spirit. Behold, ye have the commandments before you, and the law is fulfilled.
20 Therefore come unto me and be ye saved; for verily I say unto you, that except ye shall keep my commandments, which I have commanded you at this time, ye shall in no case enter into the kingdom of heaven (3 Nephi 12:19-20).

Earlier, when the Lord spoke to the Nephites out of the darkness, he explained that a broken heart and a contrite spirit is the acceptable sacrifice:

18 I am the light and the life of the world. I am Alpha and Omega, the beginning and the end.
19 And ye shall offer up unto me no more the shedding of blood; yea, your sacrifices and your burnt offerings shall be done away, for I will accept none of your sacrifices and your burnt offerings.
20 And ye shall offer for a sacrifice unto me a broken heart and a contrite spirit. And whoso cometh unto me with a broken heart and a contrite spirit, him will I baptize with fire and with the Holy Ghost (3 Nephi 9:18-20a).

The Psalmist had promised:

34 The Lord is nigh unto them that are of a broken heart; and saveth such as be of a contrite spirit (Psalm 34:18).

16 For thou desirest not sacrifice; else would I give it: thou delightest not in burnt offering.
17 The sacrifices of God are a broken spirit: a broken and a contrite heart, O God, thou wilt not despise (Psalm 51:16-17).

The Lord reiterated the same principle to the Prophet Joseph:{4}

59 Thou shalt offer a sacrifice unto the Lord thy God in righteousness [zedek], even that of a broken heart and a contrite spirit (D&C 59:8).

It is apparent that the phrase “poor in spirit” is a reference to those who have made the sacrifice of a broken heart and a contrite spirit in the context of the ordinances of the ancient temple, and in preparation to entering the Lord’s presence there, and becoming priests and kings of the kingdom of heaven. Thus, one way of reading this Beatitude might be, “Blessed are those who make the sacrifice, who come to where I am, for they are the sacral kings of the kingdom of heaven.”

In the Beatitudes, the Savior will repeat the phrase “theirs is the kingdom of heaven” again. That repetition leads one to believe that the use of the phrase here in verse three represents the ancient tradition of first anointing one to become king, then later actually anointing him as king, which apparently is represented as occurring later on in verse 10.{5}

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ENDNOTES

{1} While many of the Beatitudes are clearly quotes or paraphrases from specific Old Testament sources, others cannot be identified as such—probably because our scriptures are not complete. Verse 3 is an example of that. The phrase “kingdom of heaven” does not appear in our Old Testament. Yet we know it was familiar to the Nephites because it is often found in the Old Testament portion of the Book of Mormon. An example is:

37 And I say unto you again that he cannot save them in their sins; for I cannot deny his word, and he hath said that no unclean thing can inherit the kingdom of heaven; therefore, how can ye be saved, except ye inherit the kingdom of heaven? Therefore, ye cannot be saved in your sins. (Alma 11:37)

{2} David A. Bednar, “Clean Hands and a Pure Heart.” Ensign 37, 11 (November 2007), 80-83.

{3} Albright and Mann did with “poor in spirit” the same sort of thing they did with “fortunate.” They translated it as “humble in spirit,” then in the footnote they suggested an altogether different and more powerful meaning: they wrote that it meant “Those living in uprightness, or ‘perfection.’” That idea is remarkably close to enjoying “the state of the gods.” ( Albright and Mann, Anchor Bible, Matthew, 45-46.)

{4} See also D&C 35:15; 56:17-20; 88:17-19. Twice Isaiah equates the poor and the meek with those who will embrace the gospel (Isaiah 11:1-7, 12; 29:18-19).

{5} For a discussion of the practice of anointing one to become king, then later as king, see the section in Who Shall Ascend into the Hill of the Lord, called, “The Mortal World,” the chapter called, “Act 2, Scene 2: Anointed to Become King.”

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3 Nephi 12:2 — LeGrand Baker — The Beatitudes and the Temple

The Beatitudes—as written in 3 Nephi—are among the most complete and succinct statements of the ideas—not the events, but the ideas—of the Feast of Tabernacles temple drama that one can find anywhere in the scriptures. Most of the Beatitudes are very short quotes or paraphrases from the Psalms or from Isaiah. It is apparent that the Savior quoted these passages in order to evoke his listeners’ memories of the entire passage to which he was referring. His speaking the Beatitudes would have only taken about three minutes. For his audience it must have been an overwhelming experience to hear the Savior run through that sequence of ideas so quickly—while their minds were filled to overflowing with the full intent of those passages of scripture. As the Spirit conveyed the message to his listeners, their minds would have been flooded with a quick succession of infinitely powerful ideas.

In Who Shall Ascend into the hill of the Lord, Stephen and I discussed each of the
Beatitudes. I shall use that as we go through them in the next several weeks, but I also want to add things that are not written there. Here is a brief overview of what they say. I will make no attempt to justify the conclusions here, but will simply say that on page 431 of the Book of Mormon one finds everything one needs to know in this lifetime to gain eternal life. One can say the same thing about the temple endowment. However in both cases, one has to know and do a lot of living and learning in order to know what is there. (I’m still working on it! ) The overview is as follows:

Follow the Brethren:

2 And again, more blessed are they who shall believe in your words because that ye shall testify that ye have seen me, and that ye know that I am.

First principles and ordinances:

2 Yea, blessed are they who shall believe in your words, and come down into the depths of humility and be baptized, for they shall be visited with fire and with the Holy Ghost, and shall receive a remission of their sins.

Endowment for the living:

3 Yea, blessed are the poor in spirit who come unto me, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.

Endowment for the dead:

4 And again, blessed are all they that mourn, for they shall be comforted.

Keep eternal covenants:

5 And blessed are the meek, for they shall inherit the earth.

Priesthood and temple correctness:

6 And blessed are all they who do hunger and thirst after righteousness,

“Filled” with the Holy Ghost:

for they shall be filled with the Holy Ghost.

How to be a sacral king and a priest:

7 And blessed are the merciful, for they shall obtain mercy.

Zion will see God:

8 And blessed are all the pure in heart, for they shall see God.

Peacemakers:

9 And blessed are all the peacemakers, for they shall be called [new name-title] the children of God.

Persecution and second coronation:

10 And blessed are all they who are persecuted for my name’s sake, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.
11 And blessed are ye when men shall revile you and persecute, and shall say all manner of evil against you falsely, for my sake;
12 For ye shall have great joy and be exceedingly glad, for great shall be your reward in heaven; for so persecuted they the prophets who were before you.

Responsibility: Missionary work:

13 Verily, verily, I say unto you, I give unto you to be the salt of the earth; but if the salt shall lose its savor wherewith shall the earth be salted? The salt shall be thenceforth good for nothing, but to be cast out and to be trodden under foot of men.

Responsibility: Menorah in the temple:

14 Verily, verily, I say unto you, I give unto you to be the light of this people. A city that is set on a hill cannot be hid.
15 Behold, do men light a candle and put it under a bushel? Nay, but on a candlestick, and it giveth light to all that are in the house;
16 Therefore let your light so shine before this people, that they may see your good works and glorify your Father who is in heaven (3 Nephi 12:1-16).

Each of those assertions will require a good deal of explaining, but I think that as I deal with them one at a time, you will conclude, as I have, that the Beatitudes really do encapsulate all that we must do in this life and the next of obtain eternal life.

One cannot readily find those idea in Matthew 5. One of the reasons is that each of the verses in Matthew begin with a new idea introduced by the word “blessed.” Consequently many scholars believe that they are simply an editor’s gathering of some of Jesus’s sayings. However, in the Book of Mormon, they begin with the conjunction “and,” creating one long sentence that can easily be seen as a sequence. The word “blessed” is itself an assertion of the importance of the sequence and the power of its conclusion.

One of the most interesting examples of Joseph Smith’s statement, “We believe the Bible to be the word of God so far as it is translated correctly,” is found in the Anchor Bible’s very scholarly where a whole volume or more is devoted to each biblical book. The book of Matthew, which contains many quotes from the Old Testament, has two author/translators, W. F. Albright, a distinguished Old Testament scholar, and C. S. Mann, an equally distinguished New Testament scholar. This is the way they translated the Beatitudes:

3 Fortunate are the humble in spirit, for theirs is the Kingdom of heaven. 4 Fortunate are those who mourn, for they shall be consoled. 5 Fortunate are the meek, for they shall inherit the earth. 6 Fortunate are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness, for they shall he satisfied. 7 Fortunate are the merciful, [and so on].

In a footnote, they explain why they chose the word fortunate:

3.Fortunate. The word in Greek was used in classical times [to mean] of the state of the gods in contrast to men. The usual English “blessed” has more and more come to have liturgical or ecclesiastical overtones, and we have chosen “fortunate” as being the best translation available to us. {W. F. Albright and C. S. Mann, The Anchor Bible, Matthew (Garden City, New York: Doubleday, 1971), 45.}

Third Nephi uses the same language as the King James Version: “Blessed are all the meek for they shall inherit the earth.” It does not jar its first-time readers with language that stretches their understanding too far. It is important that Joseph used the same word in the Book of Mormon that is in the King James Matthew, because it lets us compare the Bible and the Book of Mormon with confidence and know that the Book of Mormon carries the same understanding as the Bible. It is also important that these two scholars have clarified what the Bible actually says—and therefore what the Savior said to the people at Bountiful. The thing that is so interesting about the clarification in their footnote is that these world-class scholars knew what the Greek word means—“in the state of the gods”—but they did not believe Jesus could have meant that, so they came up with a watered-down word—“fortunate” —because that made more sense to them. Then, consistent with their training as scholars, they put the real meaning in a footnote, leaving LDS readers of the Book of Mormon free to pursue the limits of the meaning if they wish to, but without imposing it on them:
The Beatitudes—as written in 3 Nephi—are among the most complete and succinct statements of the ideas—not the events, but the ideas—of the Feast of Tabernacles temple drama that one can find anywhere in the scriptures. Most of the Beatitudes are very short quotes or paraphrases from the Psalms or from Isaiah. It is apparent that the Savior quoted these passages in order to evoke his listeners’ memories of the entire passage to which he was referring. His speaking the Beatitudes would have only taken about three minutes. For his audience it must have been an overwhelming experience to hear the Savior run through that sequence of ideas so quickly—while their minds were filled to overflowing with the full intent of those passages of scripture. As the Spirit conveyed the message to his listeners, their minds would have been flooded with a quick succession of infinitely powerful ideas.

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3 Nephi 12:1 – LeGrand Baker – Beatitudes, an Introduction

There are few passages in the Bible that can be applied to more diverse human experiences than the Beatitudes, and consequently there are few scriptures more universally appreciated, or more often quoted. Everyone loves the Beatitudes because every one can interpret them in their own way, and can find solace in that interpretation. Strangely enough, one of the reasons that is true is because the biblical Beatitudes have been edited at some point in their history to make their meanings more ambiguous than they were when Christ originally spoke them. We can say that with certainty because a more accurate version is found in the Book of Mormon.

On first reading, the Beatitudes in Third Nephi seem to be substantially the same as those in the Bible. But on closer examination, one finds nuances of meaning which the Matthew version does not give. Even though the Book of Mormon adds considerably to the original meaning of the Beatitudes, the multi-faceted truths they contain also remain, and their beauty as individual statements of consolation is not diminished.

It is occasionally true that seemingly casual remarks by Mormon are not only very important to understand what is happening – providing a context in which one can place the teachings of the prophets – and of subtext of the Book of Mormon. Mormon’s introduction to the Beatitudes is one of those.

And it came to pass that when Jesus had spoken these words unto Nephi, and to those who had been called, (now the number of them who had been called, and received power and authority to baptize, was twelve), and he stretched forth his hand unto the multitude, and cried unto them, saying: (3 Nephi 12:1)

It is very significant that Jesus had been speaking to the Twelve about their relationships with himself and his Father, but now he speaks to the entire “multitude.” In only those few words, Mormon has given us the same message that the blessings of sacral kingship and priesthood are not reserved exclusively to the leaders, but are available to all the Saints.

The point here is that even though Jesus had been giving specific instructions to the Twelve, when he reviewed the entire enthronement/endowment coronation ceremonies, he now addressed the entire multitude.

As Stephen Ricks and I discussed in Who Shall Ascend into the Hill of the Lord, the Beatitudes are a complete summary of the covenants and ordinances connected with the ancient Israelite temple drama and coronation rites. Because I believe the Beatitudes in the Book of Mormon focus of the powers and responsibilities of kingship, sonship, and priesthood. The following explanation of the nature of kingship in pre-exilic Old Testament and in the Book of Mormon is a necessary introduction to understanding the Beatitudes in that way.
KINGSHIP AND PRIESTHOOD IN ANCIENT ISRAEL

It is significant in light of Mormon’s introduction in Third Nephi, that some Old Testament scholars have observed that the king’s coronation ceremony was probably much more than just the enthronement of the king. Some scholars believe that while the people were watching the ceremonies in which the king participated, symbolically each of them was participating in those same ceremonies as well. So the covenants between Jehovah and the king were also covenants between Jehovah and his people.

What is more, it is clear from the outset that the king is both dependent upon and responsible to Yahweh for the right exercise of his power; for his subjects, whatever their status in society, are one and all Yahweh’s people. {Aubrey R. Johnson, Sacral Kingship in Ancient Israel, Cardiff, University of Wales Press, 1967, p. 8.}

Several scholars who have written most extensively about the nature of Israelite kingship, have suggested that the coronation of the earthly king was both real and symbolic. It was real in that the king really was enthroned. It was symbolic because all the people who watched the drama were also initiated into the mysteries of kingship and priesthood, and, vicariously as they watched, where also made sons and daughters of God. The implications stemming from the notion that ordinary men and women who watched the ceremonies were also participating in the ordinances and covenants, goes far beyond the notion of a vague universal royalty, for the king of Israel was the adopted son and heir of Jehovah. So if the people were being engaged in participatory rites, in which they also were made sacral kings and queens – then they also were also made covenant sons and daughters – children and heirs – of God.

The Book of Mormon substantiates their findings about the nature of the pre-exilic Israelite religion – not only in the stories of King Benjamin and of Abinadi, who expressly addresses the question of how one may become a child of God – but throughout the entire book, especially in the teachings of the Saviour in Third Nephi.

The distinguished biblical scholar Sigmund Mowinckel was the first to point out that the king’s anointing was an “endowment of the Spirit.” His use of the word “endowment” was appropriate. An endowment is a gift which grows in value with time. For example, when BYU receives an endowment of money, it invests the principle and spends only the accrued interest. Thus the original gift remains permanently intact while the interest provides a perpetual source of income to support university programs or scholarships. Mowinckel is using the word “endowment” in that same way – a perpetual and ever increasing gift. He wrote:

[The king’s] anointing was related to his endowment with the spirit. The later tradition says explicitly that when David was anointed, ‘the spirit of Yahweh leaped upon him’.
In virtue of his endowment with the divine spirit, the king is filled with superhuman power. He receives ‘a new heart’; he is changed into a new man (1 Sam. x, 6, 9)….He receives a new disposition expressed, according to oriental custom, in giving to him a new name which indicates his new, intimate relationship with the god who has chosen him, and whom he represents.
Through his anointing and endowment with the divine spirit, the king also receives superhuman wisdom. {Sigmund Mowinckel, He that Cometh (New York: Abingdon Press, 1954), 66. For a related discussion on the power of new covenant names see, Hermann Gunkel, (Michael D. Rutter, trans.) The Folktale in the Old Testament (Sheffield, England, Almond Press, 1987), 87.}

Other scholars have gone further, and have recognized this Old Testament concept that during the kingship endowment/coronation rites, the men and women in the audience may well have made the same covenants and symbolically performed all the ordinances as the king, queen, and others who participated on the stage or in the throne-room in the ceremonies. Again, there is actually more concrete evidence of that in the Book of Mormon than there is in the Old Testament, but even so, several biblical scholars have affirmed that this was the Israelite practice during the period when Solomon’s Temple was in use. The most obvious expression of that principle is the underlying theme of the entire Old Testament – not just the king, but the entire nation of Israel were “chosen,” and the choosing was an was by covenant. The power of the covenant was ultimately made visible in both the royal authority of the king and the covenant relationship between the king, the people, and Jehovah.

Even though there is little remaining evidence of this egalitarianism of the kingship, priesthood, and salvation rites remaining in the Old Testament, one may have a glimpse at what appears to be part of those ceremonies in pre-exilic times in the 23rd chapter of Second Kings. The people had come to the temple where king Josiah read from what was purported to be a newly discovered manuscript of the Law. At the conclusion of his reading:

3 And the king stood by a pillar, and made a covenant before the Lord, to walk after the Lord, and to keep his commandments and his testimonies and his statutes with all their heart and all their soul, to perform the words of this covenant that were written in this book. And all the people stood to the covenant (2 Kings 23:3).

This is not evidence that the people also made all of the other covenants that the king may have made during the ceremonies, but it is evidence that on that occasion they made at least one – that evidence not only precludes the argument that they made none, but it also opens the likelihood that they made others as well.

It is apparent to some scholars that the ancient Israelites temple drama and coronation rites of the king were enacted because it was important that the people be able to participate. They were an indispensable part of the ceremonies. And their covenants were as important as the king’s because the covenant between the king and Jehovah was sustained by a similar covenant between the people, the king and Jehovah. The kingship represented as much a blessing as a power, for the people of Israel were an “elect” and “chosen” people. Mowinckel explains:

But election is bound up with the making of the covenant, which is maybe the most important innovation on the basis of the historical orientation of Yahwesm [worship of Jehovah]. The idea in itself is not new….To Israel after the time of Moses, ‘covenant’ means the historical covenant which Yahweh in his goodness ‘granted’ to his elected people. {Sigmund Mowinckel, translated by A.P. Thomas, The Psalms in Israel’s Worship, 2 Vols.(Nashville, Abingdon, 1962), vol. 1: 155.}

The King’s authority was not only political and ecclesiastical, it was apparently a legitimate priesthood power as well. Mowinckel and others have suggested that the king’s Melchizedek priesthood came through the religious leaders of the Jebusites in Jerusalem after David took that city from them and made it his own. Writing of David and Solomon as the nation’s religious leaders, Mowinckel observed,

This transition becomes still more easily comprehensible if, as certain things indicate, David’s new priest in Jerusalem, Zadok, was descended from the ancient race of priest kings, of whom Melchizedek was a representative. David and his successors were professedly ‘priests’ after the order of Melchizedek (‘for the sake of Melchizedek’), as we hear in Ps. 110. {Sigmund Mowinckel, translated by A.P. Thomas, The Psalms in Israel’s Worship, 2 Vols.(Nashville, Abingdon, 1962), vol. 1:133.}

Thus the coronation rites re-affirmed the king as the personification and upholder of the Law, the epitome of justice and mercy, and the ultimate earthly priesthood authority. In one or all of those roles, throughout the coronation ceremonies, the king was the focal point of all of the temple activities. That does not imply that he was exclusively the focal point, but rather that his person represented the connecting place between the events on earth and the events in heaven, as Gordon C. Thomasson, observes:

Every people required connection with the divine, and that connection was embodied in the king….It was in his presence or on his person that the most sacred rituals and the highest mysteries had to be performed, and the divine king became the gnostic par excellence, holding the knowledge, power, and authority upon which the welfare and salvation of his subjects depended.” {Gordon C. Thomasson, “Togetherness Is Sharing an Umbrella: Divine Kingship, the Gnosis, and Religious Syncretism,” in John M. Lundquist and Stephen D. Ricks, eds., By Study and Also By Faith, 2 vols. Deseret Book Company, Salt Lake City, Utah, 1990, vol. 1. p. 533-534.}

KINGSHIP AND PRIESTHOOD IN THE BOOK OF MORMON

Not long after Lehi’s colony arrived in America, the Nephites built a temple which was as nearly like Solomon’s as they could make it. Nephi, Jacob had seen God, and that requires one’s having the Melchizedek priesthood. Therefore, we cannot doubt that they had the necessary Melchizedek priesthood authority to conduct proper temple services, and there is no reason to suppose that the rites and ordinances they conducted were different from those of the Temple in Jerusalem (see Who Shall Ascend into the Hill of the Lord for a discussion of those kingship rites). The Israelite temple rites centered around the person of the king. So the Nephites needed a king as much for religious as for temporal purposes. Therefore, it was necessary that at about the same time the Nephites built their temple they also insisted that Nephi become their king.

In 3 Nephi, the Savior establishes a new government with himself as King. We have described his coronation in Who Shall Ascend into the Hill of the Lord. As a part of the coronation ceremony he gage a lecture. (3 Nephi 12-14) The beginning of that sermon (the Beatitudes) is a temple text that summarizes the steps to exaltation. The remainder of the sermon is also a temple text. It addresses many of the same principles as the Beatitudes, except it gives practical instruction about how to do what the Beatitudes say must be done.

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