followHIM - Genesis 12-17, Abraham 1-2 -- Part 1 : Dr. Jennifer C. Lane

Episode Date: February 5, 2022

How is a covenant not like a contract? Dr. Jennifer Lane instructs how covenants are familial arrangements about family and belonging. We discuss what it means in the ancient Near East to be a kinsman-redeemer, how covenants create familial bonds, and how the need for redemption applies to us today.Show Notes (English, French, Spanish, Portuguese): https://followhim.co/episodesFacebook: https://www.facebook.com/followhimpodcastInstagram: https://www.instagram.com/followhimpodcastYouTube: https://www.youtube.com/c/FollowHimOfficialChannelThanks to the followHIM team:Steve & Shannon Sorensen: Executive Producers/SponsorsDavid & Verla Sorensen: SponsorsDr. Hank Smith: Co-hostJohn Bytheway: Co-hostDavid Perry: ProducerKyle Nelson: MarketingLisa Spice: Client Relations, Show Notes/TranscriptsJamie Neilson: Social Media, Graphic DesignWill Stoughton: Rough Video EditorAriel Cuadra: Spanish TranscriptsKrystal Roberts: French TranscriptsIgor Willians: Portuguese Transcripts"Let Zion in Her Beauty Rise" by Marshall McDonaldhttps://www.marshallmcdonaldmusic.com/products/let-zion-in-her-beauty-rise-pianoPlease rate and review the podcast.

Welcome to Follow Him, a weekly podcast dedicated to helping individuals and families with their Come Follow Me study. I'm Hank Smith. And I'm John, by the way. We love to learn. We love to laugh. We want to learn and laugh with you. As together, we follow Him. Hello, everyone. Welcome to another episode of Follow Him. My name is Hank Smith and I'm here with my covenant keeping co-host, John, by the way. John, we're talking about Abraham today and you're like Abraham. You're like Abraham to me. You're a covenant keeper. I thought you were going to say something about my age, but that's great.

Thank you. No, no. I'll take it. I'm talking about Abraham today and I figured you two were friends. No, no. We were roommates actually. We are excited to have with us Dr. Jennifer Lane today. And she is a Neal A. Maxwell Research Associate at the Maxwell Institute for Religious Scholarship and Professor Emerita at Brigham Young University, Hawaii. She received her PhD in religion with an emphasis in history of Christianity from Claremont Graduate University. She graduated with university honors in history at Brigham

Young University and completed her MA at BYU with an emphasis in ancient Near Eastern studies. Hank, every week I'm just blown away by the breadth of scholarship. And she served in the leadership both of the Society for Mormon Philosophy and Theology and the Latter-day Saints in the Bible section of the Society of Biblical Literature and is currently on the board of the Religious Studies Center. She served as the Dean of Religious Education and Associate Academic Vice President for Curriculum at BYU Hawaii. She has published over 25 articles and book chapters on context and analysis of Scripture, theology, and medieval studies. And I want to make sure we talk about this recent volume, Finding Christ in the Covenant Path, Ancient Insights for Modern Life. I'm so thankful that there's

people who know this stuff and who write about it so that we can go get it and read. And I think if my eyes don't deceive me, I see a copy of that behind you, Jennifer. Could you hold that up closer to the camera for us? I want people to be able to see it on the podcast, Hank. Don't we have some sources that we use? Aren't there notes about that? Yeah, over on the website. Yeah, followhim.co, followhim.co. You go over there and you'll be able to find a link to it. So that's a great title, Finding Christ in the Covenant Path,

a phrase that President Nelson has kind of made part of our everyday conversations. And we're so happy to have you, Dr. Lane. Thank you for joining us. You spent a lot of years in Hawaii and now you're in Provo. Yes. And I love being in Hawaii and now I'm delighted to be here. So it's just great to keep working and serving and learning. So this is great to be here with you all today. Thank you so much. Dr. Lane, I want to start out by just asking you as a teacher, how do you help your

students approach ancient scripture like the Bible to make sure they're using it appropriately in its context, right? Understanding its people. How do you help them approach it so they're not misapplying scripture? It's a challenge for all of us as Latter-day Saints. I've been teaching for almost 25 years, and I try to help students understand we want to hear the voice of the Lord, but we need to learn to hear the voice of the Lord both in our own lives, but we need to understand that when reading these scripture texts, he's speaking to them in their language, in their world. So we have to learn to hear the voice of the Lord in context. Unlike the Book of Mormon, which was written for our day, that prophets were inspired

to know what we needed to hear, the Old Testament and the New Testament were not written for our day. And so we have to kind of get back into the world. We always, beginning of any semester, spend time talking about what is the context? What would people in this world have, how they would have they understood things? And in some ways, it's a little easier for the New Testament because we're looking at a short period of time. But the Old Testament, it's hundreds of years. It's varied.

But I think there are some patterns and some general concepts. And one of the things that drove a lot of my research during my teaching years was what can I do to help students understand better? And what I found is some concepts. I use word studies. So I did study Hebrew as a master's. I went on to do history of Christianity. So I left the biblical world and studied more how is the Bible understood by Christians through time. But a lot of my early work, both my honors thesis, my master's thesis, was rooted in key word studies. So looking at concepts, I think are going to help us a lot today as well, digging into what did a covenant mean in the ancient world? How did name work?

What was the meaning of a name? And then that's actually tied to redemption, which it comes up very lightly in the story of Abraham, but it's actually going to be the root of themes that run all throughout the Old Testament and actually throughout the Book of Mormon as well. So covenant, name, redemption, and even knowing, the idea of knowledge, what it means in the ancient world is different than in a modern sense. And I could talk about each of them in more depth, but just to give you an overview, those are some terms I try to introduce to students as we work through the material so that they can start to read and hear the voice of the Lord, hear the revelations as they were intended, a little bit more the people for whom they were given. So prophets speak for the Lord, hear the revelations as they were intended, a little bit more the people for whom

they were given. So prophets speak for the Lord, but they speak to different audiences. And so the prophets need to use the language as the Lord communicates to them that is going to make sense to the people that they're speaking to. And so we just have to learn new vocabulary. We have to find new ways of thinking and not just assume that because we use a word this way, it's going to mean the same thing in their world. I like that. Don't assume that when you read a word that it means what you think it means. We have to see it the way they would have seen it.

John Walton says, the Bible is an ancient document. It's not a document that was written to us. It wasn't written in our language. It wasn't written with our culture in mind or our culture in view. We need to try to enter their world. I like that idea. I think that's what you said right there is we need to enter their world. Hear it as their audience would have heard it and as their author would have meant it

and read it in those terms. I like that, Jennifer, because then we can be a little more careful in our application. Because if we don't come into it understanding their world, we could misapply what the Lord is saying, what they're saying, where we might read into it something that's really not there. Yeah. And this is absolutely something I feel strongly enough about that not only did it drive a lot of my research and writing, but it actually what led me, I had a sabbatical back in 2018 and I'd been in administration for about 11 years. And so I hadn't had a lot of time

for research and writing, but I had a little window of time. And that's what actually, part of what led me to write the book I did is to synthesize the work, to bring it together for a larger audience. And the first half of the book really is about these ancient words. And so each chapter takes a word and develops it. And that by understanding the word in its ancient context, it actually helps us understand the gospel so much better because these concepts of covenant, name, redemption, knowledge, worship, all of these are so deep and so rich. And once they unlock their keys to understand both what the Old Testament's teaching, but also in the New Testament and the Book of Mormon, all throughout

the Book of Mormon, because it's so deeply rooted in the Old Testament world that we can understand Old Testament covenants and concepts and terms better. We understand the gospel better with what's being taught because it's using that language. We need to learn that language. Well, I'm ready, John. You feel like we're, let's do it then. Yeah, I'm ready to learn that language. We've already used the word covenant so many times today. And I love that President Nelson has emphasized so much the gathering part of the covenant.

And I just don't remember as a youth knowing how important Abraham was in that. And so I'm glad we're talking about this today. And I'm glad President Nelson has emphasized it so much. He's used this language for quite a long time, the idea of being children of the covenant. And this is a powerful concept. Again, it's very deeply rooted in biblical thinking. Covenant, a lot of times in modern, when we explain it, we say, oh, it's like a contract. But in the ancient world, it's not like a contract.

It's not about business. It's not about a relationship that you can just walk away from, that you're really creating a new relationship. And that's part of why the image of marriage and the image of adoption both run throughout scripture is because you have parties that didn't used to be related and that then create a new relationship. So when you're adopted and you take a child into your family, you create a new relationship. When two people come together and marry, they create a new relationship. And that is really what covenant's talking about. So you'll see President Nelson using the language becoming children of the covenant, and that, it is absolutely biblically rooted. It is what's happening. And it also helps us understand why do

we see names? Why do we see new names? Because a name in the ancient world, it expresses a relationship. So part of it is you belong. So when someone's adopted, they'll take a new name. Sometimes when people marry, it's culturally dependent, of course, but often you'll have a shared family name. And so the name expresses the relationship, expresses a sense of belonging. Elder Gong has used the idea of covenant belonging, and that's a powerful image as well. And President Oaks has a beautiful book on this. But the idea of name, in its deepest sense in the ancient world, it talks about the nature. So when you enter into a covenant, you have a new relationship, but also there's a potential for

a new nature. And then we're going to see that with Abraham as well. Covenant, name, tied together. And this is where my own research started 30 years ago, going into the Old Testament and thinking about redemption. Why was the Lord the Redeemer of Israel? That term is used over and over again, the Redeemer of Israel. But the more I studied, I realized this is actually, again, it's culturally rooted that in the ancient Near East, people would become slaves or they'd be in bondage. You see that language a lot in scripture, right? But people could be bought out of bondage because that's by the payment of a price. And that's such a powerful gospel concept that Christ pays a price for us to buy us out of bondage. But it also comes, again, comes from a real world that people,

either as prisoners of war could become slaves or put into bondage, or else people become so poor, they would actually sell their children. So there's the debt bondage. And this is what's so beautiful about the Hebrew, there's a general Semitic verb, pada, which means to redeem. But in Hebrew, there's a verb, it's only in Hebrew, it's gaal. And the noun form, the goel, is the redeemer. It could also be translated kinsman redeemer. So the oldest male member of a family would have a family obligation to buy back people that had become enslaved. And the kinsman redeemer, the goel, would be the one who, because of a family relationship, would bring people back.

When the prophets talk about the Lord as the Redeemer of Israel. So Jehovah, who we know, of course, is Jesus Christ, the God of the Old Testament, that this is a key part of his identity is that he, and this is again, what President Nelson keeps pushing us to understand is children of the covenant, that we have this relationship with the Lord. And part of what we can have confidence in is that as our kinsman Redeemer, he will come to get us. He will buy us out of bondage. And all of us, you know, we're in bondage in different ways. Usually it's to sin, some part of a fallen nature, a way of being that isn't as godly as it should be. And so bringing us from bondage to the world and moving us into a more godly way of being ultimately to

the presence of God, that's the image of redemption. So seeing how covenant and redemption tie together really helps scriptures come alive and you see connections and you can understand why is the Lord, why does he have this particular relationship to Israel? It's because of the covenants that were made. And actually the covenants that go back to Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, the covenants, the patriarchs were, and you see this in both Exodus, you see it in Deuteronomy, and even in 1 Nephi, the reason the Lord redeems Israel is because of the covenant to the patriarchs. He remembers that covenant. He knows this covenant relationship

and he's going to act to redeem. One thing that our previous guests have, have told us, I guess I didn't know before that these stories that we've read so far, Adam and Eve, uh, Noah and the tower, all of this is background. It's leading us up to these fathers, Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. It's all background information to what they really want to talk about, right? What the author really wants to talk about. I think it's absolutely right. As far as the way the Old Testament is structured, that everything else is prelude. And when you get to Abraham and you get to the covenant, then everything starts.

The story really starts. Right. And for a Latter-day Saint reader, you might just go, oh, they're just telling us the entire story. They wanted to, they start with Adam and Eve because they're the beginning. But it's like, well, here's the background you need in order to understand Abraham. I think it'd be helpful to start with Abraham 1. And right before we start with Abraham 1, I'll actually throw in a quote from Isaiah, which is fascinating. This is in Isaiah 29,

verse 22. And Isaiah refers to Jehovah, the God of Israel, as the Lord who redeemed Abraham. And so we think about redemption of the people, the children of Israel, but Isaiah has a sense that this is also on a personal level as well. And I think in the book of Abraham, we start to see how that's happening. One is on a personal level from the danger that he's in, he's being delivered. So there's a kind of redemption that's happening there. But the fact that he's leaving the world behind and moving to a holier place, a holier way of being, that that's redemption as well. And we definitely see that theme throughout the Book of Mormon. So to understand his story, I think is realizing that we're seeing our story, that the Lord wants to establish

covenants with each of his children. He wants us to be redeemed. Perhaps turn together to Abraham chapter one and start to see. One thing I think I've noticed in the Bible is that whenever there's a problem, a big problem, the Lord chooses kind of some nobody, just this person, right? And says, with with you i'm going to use you and we're going to fix the world see it with abraham i look at samuel he's just this kid mary just this girl from nazareth uh uses a fisherman uh uses uh joseph smith it's just to me i'm like wow he he doesn't go after doesn't go find a king or a prince. He goes and finds one citizen and you're my person. We're going to use you.

No, I think that that is a really important pattern to pay attention to. And it's incredibly important for us to feel the truth of in our own lives. For me, that passage in Exodus 3, where Jehovah is talking with Moses and he's telling him the mission he has for him. And Moses says, who am I? Who am I to do this great work to bring? And what I think is incredibly important is what the Lord says, because Moses might be looking for a pat on the back. He might be looking for a thumbs up. You're great. You can do it. You're amazing. But that's not what the Lord says. He says, I will be with thee. And I think when we can look for that answer, we can feel that answer. And that comes through covenant.

It comes through making and keeping covenants. The Lord promises he'll be with us. And when we put our trust in him and don't worry about ourselves, then we can have the confidence that we can do whatever he asks us to do, because it's not about us. It's not about our capacity. It's about His capacity, and that's infinite. And so we don't need to be afraid. We can have the confidence to go forward if we put our trust in Him.

That's why, of course, faith in the Lord Jesus Christ is the first principle of the gospel. It's not faith in ourselves. It's not self-confidence. It's not self-confidence. It's trusting the Lord that he will be with us when we are true to him. We try to, when we make and keep covenants. I love in 3 Nephi where they're all, can you please stay? And he says, my time is at hand. And then 3 Nephi 18 comes, here's how you can always have my spirit to be with you. And he institutes the sacrament.

I'm glad you said that. It's a good way to think of it. It's not you can do it. spirit to be with you. And he institutes the sacrament. I'm glad you said that. It's a good way to think of it. It's not you can do it. It's we can do it because I'm going to be with you. And that's precisely what covenant's for is that so that we can have these covenant promise, having the Holy Ghost with us as we're faithful to our covenants, that that's how the Lord is with us. That that, and then likewise, you move on from baptism to endowment.

But he says he's going to be with us through his spirit, through his power, his enabling, his grace. He's going to be with us, and it's the covenant promises that give us that confidence that we're not alone, that he will be with us. The sacrament every week is a chance to remember precisely that. So, great connection. The world's gone a little bit wrong with the tower. And so, the Lord says, all right, Abram, you're my guy. And I've noticed Abraham's not perfect. No, no one is.

As you read through this, he makes some mistakes. And you would think the Lord might go, no, you're not my guy anymore. I'm going to go find someone else. But he sticks with him. He sticks with him in his imperfections. He tells him to be perfect at the beginning of Genesis 17, but the word could better be translated as whole or complete. And I think it is sort of what happens to us once we repent, because it's a process of coming into Christ. And so we're not making covenants and being on the covenant path doesn't mean we don't

make mistakes. It means we keep repenting. We keep looking to Christ. We have confidence that he can forgive us. He can heal us. He can make us right. And we can move. We can keep moving forward.

And so I think that's what Abraham had confidence is that he could keep moving forward. And so that brought him the wholeness and the completeness that he was with the Lord. If he slipped a little bit, he repented, he came back. And it's a daily pattern like President Nelson tells us. Repenting daily is the greatest privilege and blessing because of the atonement. And Abraham, he lived that. And that's part of how he lived a whole life and a complete life. Yeah, I was very comforted in that, that the Lord said, here, Abraham, you're my guy, and here's this land, and he goes to Egypt, right?

And the Lord's like, okay. And he could have given up on him, but he doesn't. Almost the message of Abraham to me as I was reading was, the Lord will keep his promise. He's not going to give up on you. If we're looking for him, he'll be there for us. And he respects our agency. He honors our agency. In fact, let's look, because I think Abraham chapter one is such a powerful way of understanding how does this story start? And so again, with the Pearl of Great Price, and I know you've had Kerry Muehlstein talked more about kind of how these fit together, we get some of the backstory. And it's, I love the first couple of verses of the Book of Abraham.

Because what it tells me, again, to me, it's so relatable. It's so personal because you have somebody in a culture, in a context where they realize this world is not going to make me happy. This world doesn't offer what I need. There's something missing. And so there's sort of a seeking soul. And so if you look in verse one, the land of Chaldeans, the residence of my fathers, I, Abraham, saw, and this is his realization, this isn't good enough. There's something more. And this is sort of what leads people towards Lehi's vision towards the tree, what leads people to get on the path, that there's more, there's something else. It was needful for me to obtain another place of residence. I don't want to be, this isn't the world I want to live in. This isn't

the kind of life I want to live. And so everyone has to take the journey. We have to recognize that we don't want to stay where we're at. And so if you look in verse two, Abraham really gets into explaining this very deep personal journey. It says, finding there was greater happiness and peace and rest for me. There's something more. The world is not giving me what I'm looking for. I sought for the blessings of the fathers, the fathers and the right whereunto I should be ordained to administer the same, having been myself a follower of righteousness. So this is, again, someone who's living up to all the light he has, or at least trying to, but not recognizing he doesn't have everything. And so he's seeking for more. And I

love what he says next. And this is always what it comes back to. You see that theme over and over again in the scripture, especially the Book of Mormon. What do we want? What we want is what we're going to do. So here he's desiring to be one who possessed greater knowledge, to be a greater follower of righteousness and to possess a greater knowledge. And here, this isn't knowledge in the sense, going back to this ancient concept, it's not knowledge in the sense of like he wanted to build a database. This is knowledge in the sense of he wants to come to know God. He wants to take on the attributes and the qualities of God. So being a greater follower of righteousness, greater knowledge, is his wanting to be more like God.

He feels that call and that that is leading him onward. President Benson talked about this, and I love sharing this passage with students. Because sometimes people read it and say, oh, well, this is only for the men because it's about being ordained to a priesthood office. And President Benson says, no, this is what President Benson says. He says, I believe that a proper understanding or background will measurely help prepare our youth for the temple and will foster within them a desire to seek their priesthood blessings just as Abraham sought his. So what is Abraham looking for? He wants an endowment. He wants the priesthood blessings that come with making and

keeping covenants. And so when we understand that Abraham's seeking for his priesthood blessings, he's seeking for the blessing of the new and everlasting covenant, the blessings of the temple, then that puts everything in context. And this is, again, going back, we talked about President Nelson, and he spoke about this over and over again. This is just in the last general conference, powerful quote from him, where he just recently taught, in every age, the temple has underscored the precious truth that those who make covenants with God and keep them are the children of the covenant. So we just, we talked about that, right? So making covenants, keeping covenants, allow us to be children of the covenant. So we just, we talked about that, right? So making covenants, keeping covenants, allow us to be children of the covenant. And then he says, thus, in the house of the Lord,

we can make the same covenants with God that Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob made, and we can receive the same blessings. So everything that Abraham's seeking for on our best days, that's what we're seeking for as well. And the way we find that greater peace, the way we find the greater happiness and rest, the greater knowledge, the greater righteousness is through our priesthood blessings. It's through the covenant and receiving the endowment. And then, of course, Abraham's not just that, but then also temple marriage and the blessings. But these priesthood blessings are temple blessings. And so this is universally applicable. Can I ask a question here? I remember in seminary, there's really nothing humorous about on the previous page, the facsimile where Abraham is about to be sacrificed. But I remember our teacher saying, you know, look, here's the wicked priest of Elkanah,

however you say that, Abraham on that altar. And then reading verse one, which sounded like quite the understatement, Abraham says, you know, it's needful for me to obtain another place of residence. You know, I need to move because he's about to be sacrificed. This isn't working. Being sacrificed is not working for me. Yeah. But the thing I wanted to ask a question about, which I find so interesting, is usually when

we talk about the fathers, we're talking about Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. And there's Abraham himself in verse two saying, I sought for the blessings of the fathers. And it's like, wait a minute, you are the fathers, you and your son and your grandson. And so I've wondered, okay, that's what, Adam, Seth, Enoch? Yeah, exactly. And this is part of, again, insights we have because the restoration, we realize the new and everlasting covenant, it's a synonym for the Abrahamic covenant, but it didn't start with Abraham. And so, the way the Bible's structured, it all leads up to Abraham because it starts with Abraham. But we know through the restoration and you get insights in the book of Moses that Adam and Eve and all of the early fathers, they had that covenant relationship as well.

The blessings of the new and everlasting covenant were there from the beginning. They were restored again in Abraham's time. These were the blessings we actually know from section 84 of the Doctrine and Covenants. There was this new and everlasting covenant, these full priesthood, Melchizedek priesthood blessings of the temple that the Lord wanted to establish with the children of Israel, but they were afraid. And because, of course, faith leads us to make covenants. If we're afraid, we're not going to make covenants. And that's what we learn.

It's really sad and sobering. The Lord, they were willing to covenant, but it was a lesser covenant. It was the Levitical oronic priesthood covenant so law of moses okay you start high at all through adam and eve and all of the ancient patriarchs up to abraham isaac and jacob but then when you get to the lord re-establishing his covenant with moses and the children of israel at that time the people as a whole do not enter into the fullness of the new and everlasting covenant because they were afraid to do that. And as a part of just trusting the Lord enough to be willing to bind ourself to him and to

be willing to live in his ways to sanctify ourselves, it takes faith to leave the world behind. It takes faith to sanctify yourself. And that's what section 84 suggests is that they didn't have that faith so that they were willing to enter into this Levitical covenant, the law of Moses. So when we talk about the Abrahamic covenant, it sounds like some before Abraham were given similar promises of posterity and of the blessings of the gospel and even bearing the ministry.

And maybe we could say, but Abraham followed it so well. I'm kind of thinking of, well, we call it the Melchizedek priesthood because he was such a great high priest, but actually the name is, you know, and is this similar where we call the Abrahamic covenant, but others before him were made similar promises or God made similar covenants with them. I think it's a good way of understanding it. I mean, again, as Latter-day Saints, this isn't restoration understanding. It wouldn't be true.

For most Christians reading, they're going to say it starts with Abraham. For us as Latter-day Saints, we say, no, it's there earlier. But it is clear that Abraham is special, and that the Lord tells him that it's going to be essentially after his name. We'll get into some of those texts a little bit more. Most of the Old Testament is sort of under the law of Moses, but the covenant promises are still there. They're still the children of the covenant. The blessings of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob are available for them.

Just like they were redeemed because of the covenant made to Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. That the Lord remembers his people and they were redeemed because of the covenant made to Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, that the Lord remembers his people. And they were still his people, but you have that passage in Jeremiah where he's going to bring back this new covenant. He'll establish a new covenant in the hearts. That's what Christ is coming. He's coming to restore the new and everlasting covenant that had been there with Abraham, had been there with the early saints. But yeah, we definitely use the term Abrahamic covenant because Abraham is special, but it's essentially a synonym for the new and everlasting covenant. So it's new every time it's restored, but it's

everlasting because it's the way home, but it refers to all of the gospel and all of the covenants involved in the gospel i like that it's new and everlasting it's new and old uh at the same time exactly and so it's new again with abraham everybody comes to a abraham chapter one verse one and two moment i think in life where they realize there's got to be more, than entertainment or money or. Do you remember that old video, John? Families can be together forever. I can't remember.

Anyway, they, they said, they asked people, what's the purpose of life? And one guy said, well, I'm just living to retirement, right? I'm just working to retirement. And I think everybody comes to these moments. Every human being comes to these moments. Every human being comes to these moments. I think I did. I remember being younger and kind of laying down at night going, there's got to be a purpose to all this.

There's got to be more than just entertainment. There's got to be more than just sports. Whatever it is that we're putting first in our life. Yeah. I hope all of us have Abraham chapter one, verse two moments where, you know, I need to be a greater follower. I need to have a greater knowledge. I've been surrounded by this, but you know, I want to do better. I want to have a greater knowledge. I want to have. I think about this chapter one, and it's really easy to treat the worship of these other gods and idol worship and sacrifices like, to think this is unique to the ancient world. President Kimball's statement about whatever we put our trust in is our God is a very sobering statement. And I think as we can make sort of liken unto ourself and we can make the experiences

well even though our father's friends aren't necessarily going to be putting us on a literal altar that that we might be in family situations or with friends that are where we're spiritually at risk, and we may decide, I can't stay here. This is not the world I want to be in anymore. And because what, whether it's family members or friends, what their worlds revolve around, what they're worshiping, we'd realize this is getting in the way of the kind of worship I want, the true worship. And this verse from the preface to the Doctrine and Covenants, you know, section one is the preface to the Doctrine and Covenants.

This passage in verse 16, to me, really speaks to me. And so what is going on here with Abraham is the same as going on with us and how we're being invited, as you said, Elder Uchtdorf used the phrase of a daily restoration, to come back to ourselves and to remember what is real. And in section 1, verse 16, this is really an explanation of why is the restoration here? Why are the covenants and priesthood blessings being restored? It's to help us reorient ourselves because this is the problem of the world. It says they seek not the Lord to establish his righteousness. So what makes Abraham different is he's seeking the Lord.

And that's what makes us different. We start to seek the Lord, but the world isn't seeking the Lord. They seek not the Lord to establish his righteousness, but every man walketh in his own way after the image of his own God, whose image is in the likeness of the world, and whose substance is that of an idol, which waxeth old and shall perish in Babylon, even Babylon the great, which shall fall. So we have Babylon as the symbol of the world. We have Egypt as symbol of the world. Whatever the symbol is, historical context we're in, we all have to choose to leave that. We have to want to say there's something better, something different, and to not try to hold on to it like Elder Maxwell warned us not to try to have

a summer cottage in Babylon. We have to decide, I really, really, I want to be like Abraham. I'm willing to leave this behind. I'm trusting that there's something better for me. And I think making covenants and keeping covenants is trusting that the kind of life that obedience and faithfulness and worshiping God gives us is better than what the world can offer us. It's a deep level, the kind of holiness is happiness. It's believing that, trusting that, and then walking in the Lord's ways. There's been days where I thought to myself, I don't want to be stuck on a screen anymore. I don't want to be staring at my phone anymore. I want something better than this, right? I want

something better than watching people fight on social media. I want something better than this, right? I want something better than watching people fight on social media. I want something better than this. And that is a form of idolatry, right? Putting all your confidence in your social media feed or putting all your confidence in what people are, who's liking my picture. Well, gosh, President Nelson, I mean, he said that at the last conference. If most of the information you get comes from social media, your ability to feel the Spirit will be diminished. I mean, it was really, wow, what a statement. And I wanted to mention something that's in the Come Follow Me manual because we're talking about our desires.

What do we want? And you said that, Jennifer, beautifully. But the first paragraph in the lesson manual quotes President Dallin H. Oaks. He said, And so I like this Abraham. And if some of us aren't desiring that, it sounds like President Oaks is saying, pray for the desire to desire that, you know, and to have our desires refined by God. Which is, I think, the gospel message that's, you know, to Alma 32, if you can know more than desire, but part of it's believe, but part of it's believing that this is a way of being that's going to make you happy.

That like, I think it might, but I'm going to give it a try. And so the experiment on the word is really having faith in Christ to live his way, to do things his way, and then to feel that influence, what's growing up in a swelling, that's the Holy Ghost working in us, helping to change our heart. The Lord won't change our heart without our permission because we're agents. But when we want that, when we're starting to seek it, when we're starting to ask for it, then he can help us. He can change us. And I love, we're still here in Abraham 1.

So here Abraham has been delivered from the immediate threat of physical danger. And the Lord is speaking to him and he introduces himself and I've heard thy name. My name is Jehovah. So I've heard thee. I've come down to deliver thee and to take thee away, to bring you to a new place. But you go to verse 18 and I love this because, again, this I think goes to help us understand covenant. When we want to be different, we have enough faith to make covenants. And whether it's being baptized or being willing to go to the temple to receive our endowment

or having the faith to get married and to say eternity with you, I don't know, but I'm going to give it a try because, not because I trust you, but because I trust the Lord and the Lord's going to help me become more celestial and the Lord's going to help me become more celestial, and the Lord's going to help you become more celestial, and that he's going to be with us. That the confidence is in him. And I love this in verse 18. He says, this is the Lord speaking to Abraham about this new life he's starting. I will lead thee by my hand, and I will take thee to put upon thee my name, even the priesthood of thy father, and my power shall be over thee. So to me, this is, he's talking about the temple blessings,

talking about priesthood blessings, and that this is universal. It applies to men and women. Again, another quote from President Nelson, where he says, this is back in October of 2019. He's speaking to women, but he's just trying to make it clear that having the Lord's name put upon us, this is what starts at baptism, but we know it happens more fully in the temple, that he will be with us more fully because of the endowment.

So this is President Nelson. Because the Melchizedek priest has been restored, both covenant-keeping women and men have access to all the spiritual blessings of the church, or we might say to all the spiritual treasures the Lord has for his children, that he's going to be with us and give us his name is surely among the greatest spiritual treasures we could ask for. And he continues, every woman and every man who makes covenants with God and keeps those covenants and who participates worthily in priesthood ordinances has direct access to

the power of God. So what is he saying here? My power shall be over thee. And then President Nelson, again, those who are endowed in the house of the Lord receive a gift of God's priesthood power by virtue of their covenant, along with a gift of knowledge to know how to draw upon that power. And you look in 19, you can see this is we were talking about before. It didn't start with Abraham.

As it was with Noah, so shall it be with thee. So this is a pattern. And the Lord wants to make the same covenant with us that he made with Abraham so we can have the same power in our lives that he was willing to give Abraham. Oh, I see. And I love that because now we're talking because here's Abraham saying, I sought for blessings of the fathers, and here's the Lord mentioning Noah, somebody that came before Abraham. And as it was with Noah, so shall serve him, right? That through thy ministry, when we make covenants, we're then under obligation to serve and to bless others. That through thy ministry, my name shall be known in the earth forever, for I am by God. And in verse 18, to put upon thee my name, when we are baptized, we take upon us the name of Christ. There's also a new name later. I mean,

this is so interesting to me. I remember learning about King Tut and seeing that he had a pre-Noman in a cartouche. And then when his name became Tutankhamen, however you say it, he got a new cartouche and that the name of God is always in their name somewhere. And the hieroglyphics don't read in the order you might think because the name of God is always put on the top. Am I remembering that right? But I love how often the name of God is in the name of prophets in the Old Testament. Daniel, Ezekiel, there's the L or Yah, the Jehovah in putting God's name on them. I don't know if that's what this is talking about,

but I think when we take upon us the name of Christ, I will put upon thee my name. Yeah, actually, there's a great passage in section 109, dedicatory prayer to the Kirtland Temple. And this helps us understand, again, what are temples for? And both President Oaks, then Elder Oaks, and Elder Bednar have spoken about this, that the baptism is the start of receiving the name of the Lord. It's pointing ahead to a time where we're going to more fully take upon ourselves, and that's with a temple. And in

section 109, verse 22, part of the praying is that thy servants may go forth from this house armed with thy power and that thy name may be upon them. Again, Abraham was seeking for his temple blessings and that that's why the Lord wants temple blessings, it's so abundantly clear with the urgency that President Nelson's feeling to make sure that everyone has a chance to receive their endowment, to receive their temple blessings, be able to be married in the temple, but also to attend as often as possible. Because as we remember what these blessings are, as we perform the work for others vicariously, that we are able to receive additional power, that we can go forth from his house armed with his power. And that's what the Lord wanted for Abraham, but he wants for every single one of us. And so I think Abraham, he's the beginning, but he also is a type of what does the Lord want to

give each of us? And that's what the restoration's for, is to make that possible. I've noticed also, Jennifer, it's, I want to give you my name, and then you have responsibilities to take this to the world. It's not just about you now. Verse 19, through thy ministry, my name shall be known to the earth forever. So, Abraham, we're going to use you and your family. We're going to bless everybody. I think about what you said. I remember President Oaks, you mentioned, he talked about

in the sacrament prayer, we say that we're willing to take upon us his name, but it becomes stronger in the temple. I can't remember exactly how he worded it, but I think about a literal way of my daughter's on a mission in Tahiti right now, where she has taken the name of Christ. It's on our name tag. We literally put it on us. And I think that's a fun application, an interesting application of that, to put his name on us and to show the world, this is who I stand with. This is

who I represent. I love that. That's a great privilege that missionaries have to do that. And the rest of us, it's not as visible. We have to live in such a way people can see it, but it is certainly a privilege. And it's a privilege that part of being to live up to that responsibility to live for him and that this idea we belong to him, but they're also becoming like him. And as we try to live that out, we can and will be of service to minister, to bless in his name, to do what we do for him. There's something I don't want to miss because I think it's so interesting, and that is the daughters of Oneita in verse 11 and 12. I heard one of our previous scholars that we interviewed,

Brother S. Michael Wilcox, once talked about the Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego, and kind of a parallel of their story with these three females, these daughters of Oneida. And Hank, you've said you know the names of Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego, the other names they had. Oh, I forgot what those were. Well, yeah. They were taken by Babylon, given new names. And maybe there's a symbol in that too, Jennifer, the idea of Babylon will take us and give us a new name. It tells us who we are, because the name tells you who you are, your identity. And so who you let name you does matter. Yeah. So Babylon takes these three Jewish boys and names them Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego, but their names were Hananiah, Mishael, and Azariah. I do think there's a parallel here, John, to that Abraham 111. These girls, these virgins were offered up because of their virtue. They refused. They refused to worship other gods. And this is powerful, that language right there. And again, it goes back to the root in Hebrew.

Two words get translated worship, and one is to bow down and the other is to serve. And so it says here they would not bow down to worship gods of wood or stone. They were killed. So this sort of I will worship Jehovah, the putting the Lord first, being true is sometimes comes at a cost. And, you know, the Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego, they're rescued. Here they're not. These are not. Yeah, they're not.

It's like Abinadi. Shadrach, Meshach, Abednego saved from the flames. Abinadi wasn't. These daughters were not. They're heroes for their virtue. Wow, that's a sobering story about those daughters of Oneida. So, Jennifer, I am so intrigued by this. We get worship from two Hebrew words, to bow down and to serve.

Right. Can you elaborate? Absolutely. So, there's two verbs that are most often translated worship. So we see worship we're reading through. It's either going to be Havah or Abad. And one of them means to bow down literally, and the other is to serve. And so when we're bowing down, that's going to be service and sort of that relationship we have with God, worshiping and being in right relationship with Him, and then to serve and to bless other people.

And also, temple work, church work is service, and service is worship. So, I think it helps us understand more fully. Pete It's really helpful, because I think when people think of worshiping, they think of doing the, you know, we're not worthy or something. And just like, but these are action words, you know, I love that. So how do I worship? I not only I acknowledge God, I give reverence, but I go serve people that that's really helpful. Thank you.

And maybe to what what I give my discretionary time to. Yeah is my God, because that's what I'm serving, right? And that's kind of a scary thought. It's kind of a sobering thought. I think that's a prophetic invitation in every age is to keep coming back, to turn our hearts, to remember the Lord our God and to worship him and to put him first. And so it's a blessing. Give Him your time. Yeah, give Him your time. So the things we put first, why we pay tithing first, why we have the Sabbath,

all the things that we can do to orient our lives, to put the Lord first, help us stay and live in a condition, in a state of worship. And that's a great blessing. Please join us for part two of this podcast.