Lynne's Old Testament Study Notes

 1/31/2022 – Moses 7:48-69 In v’s 48-49 Enoch “heard the earth mourn” over the “wickedness of my children” and the “filthiness which is gone forth out of me”. Elder Joseph Fielding Smith, then a member of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles, wrote: “The Lord here [in Doctrine and Covenants 88] informs us that the earth on which we dwell is a living thing, and that the time must come when it will be sanctified from all unrighteousness. In the Pearl of Great Price, when Enoch is conversing with the Lord, he hears the earth crying for deliverance from the iniquity upon her face. . . . It is not the fault of the earth that wickedness prevails upon her face, for she has been true to the law which she received and that law is the celestial law. Therefore the Lord says that the earth shall be sanctified from all unrighteousness”  Enoch sees the flood that Noah and his family survived, and Enoch pleads with the Lord to help and bless Noah and his children and their children. And then th...

  1/29/2022 - Moses 7:16-47 I didn’t realize I was repeating Moses 6 until I was finished with it the 2nd time. But what was beautiful to me is that studying the same scriptures a second time simply brought more thoughts and understanding and desires to be sure to return to my Father in Heaven….to finish my earthly life with the same goals that I started it. I LOVE studying the scriptures! There were now so many people on earth who had chosen not to follow the ways of the Lord. V 16: And from that time forth there were wars and bloodshed among them; but the Lord came and dwelt with his people, and they dwelt in righteousness.”  V 18: “And the Lord called his people Zion, because they were of one heart and one mind, and dwelt in righteousness; and there was no poor among them.” V 19: “And Enoch continued his preaching in righteousness unto the people of God. And it came to pass in his days that he built a city that was called the City of Holiness, even Zion.”  Zion was est...

 1/28/2022 – Moses 6:59-68 [I have finished Moses 6 for the second time and thoroughly enjoy it] In v 59 the Lord tells Enoch how he can come back to his Father and to “enjoy the words of eternal life in this world, and eternal life in the world to come, even immortal glory.” These verses are beautiful, but I wonder if I truly understand them all. The Bible Dictionary helped me with this: “The main idea of the word is divine means of help or strength, given through the bounteous mercy and love of Jesus Christ.  . . . It is likewise through the grace of the Lord that individuals, through faith in the atonement of Jesus Christ and repentance of their sins, receive strength and assistance to do good works that they otherwise would not be able to maintain if left to their own means. This grace is an enabling power that allows men and women to lay hold on eternal life and exaltation after they have expended their own best efforts.” In v 61, the Lord reminds us of all the ‘helps’ h...

 1/27/2022 – Moses 6:40-59 [I’m still in Moses 6—haven’t figure out I’m reading this again) Enoch has seen and spoken with the Lord, and he follows the Lord’s instructions no matter what they entail.  President Monson once said: “It’s not enough to wish, it’s not enough to dream, it’s not enough to promise. We must do.”  And that’s just what Enoch did! He is going into areas where there is much evil. When the people there ask about him, he tells simply and honestly: “I came out of the land of Cainan, the land of my fathers, a land of righteousness unto this day. And my father taught me all the ways of God.” (v 41) Enoch answers their questions, he teaches them many things about God, but he keeps the profound spiritual things the Lord has revealed unto him to himself. The people he is teaching, are not ready to receive a higher law or standard. In v 46 Enoch tells them that his people keep a “book of remembrance” that they have written, according to the pattern given by th...

 1/26/2022 – Moses 6:16-39   [By mistake, I went back to Moses 6 but I discovered more] We are given more genealogy of “the sons of Adam” as we read this part of the chapter, and then we are told that Adam was recognized as “the son of God, with whom God, himself, conversed”. (v22)    V 23 tells us that some of the men of the genealogy that had just been given “were preachers of righteousness, and spake and prophesied, and called upon all men everywhere to repent; and faith was taught unto the children of men.”  That is much like our time—except that Enoch’s city seems much different than the rest of the world of that time. That city had two names: “Zion” and “City of Holiness”. That second name becomes more meaningful when we are reminded in Moses 6:57 that Heavenly Father’s name in the language of Adam is “Man of Holiness”.  After learning that, I think we need to work harder to come closer to fully being ‘a person of holiness’.  Enoch has done ...

  1/24/2022 – Moses 7:1-15 Enoch is speaking to the people, telling them that at the very beginning (seven generations ago) that “Adam taught these things, and many have believed and become the sons of God, and many have believed not, and have perished in their sins.” From that explanation, our time is not all that different from their time.  But Enoch went forward, with great faith. He shares with us some of the reasons for that faith: In Mahujay he “cried unto the Lord, there came a voice out of heaven, saying, Turn ye, and get ye upon the mount Simeon.” (v2) Enoch did exactly as he was told, and in v’s 3-11 he tells us of what he learned upon that mountain. V 3: He ‘beheld the heavens open, and I was clothed upon with glory.” V4: “And I saw the Lord…and he talked with me, even as a man talketh one with another…and said unto me: Look, and I will show unto thee the world for the space of many generations.” After seeing into the future, the good and the bad, “…the Lord said un...

 1/20/2022 - Moses 6:53-68 V 53 starts with Adam’s question: “Why is it that men must repent and be baptized in water.” That question led the Lord to then teach Adam about the importance of Christ’s atonement is to US!  Neal A Maxwell stated: “We are not haunted with an overhanging sense of ‘original sin’ about which we can do nothing. (Moses 6:54; Moroni 8:15–16.) By revelation, we know that the Lord told Adam: ‘Behold I have forgiven thee thy transgression in the Garden of Eden.’ (Moses 6:53.) Thus, we are accountable for our ‘own sins, and not for Adam’s transgression’ (Article of Faith 2.)” In v’s 55-56, that Lord tells us how our children can grow in knowing Him: “…when they begin to grow up, sin conceiveth in their hearts, and they taste the bitter, that they may know to prize the good. And it is given unto them to know good from evil; wherefore they are agents unto themselves, and I have given unto you another law and commandment Wherefore teach it unto your children, t...

 1/18/2022 – Moses 6:1-23 This is a long section, but the synopsis lets me know what to look for: “Adam’s seed keep a book of remembrance; His righteous posterity preach repentance; God reveals himself to Enoch; Enoch preaches the gospel; The plan of salvations was revealed to Adam; He received baptism and the priesthood”  V 1 lets us see how Adam is feeling about life outside the Garden of Eden: “And Adam hearkened unto the voice of God, and called upon his sons to repent.” That is a simple, but very important way for us all to live our lives, no matter what problems or successes have come into our lives. Adam and Eve continue to have children. Seth is the next child we learn of. “And God revealed himself unto Seth, and he rebelled not…” We also learn that Seth has a son named Enos. (v 3) “And then began these men to call upon the name of the Lord, and the Lord blessed them’ [with revelation]. (v 4) What better gift could the Lord have offered?  Then in v 5, we learn tha...

 1/17/2022 – Genesis 5 My study manual gives an interesting opening to Genesis 5: “Most of Genesis 5 is a list of the generations between Adam and Eve and Noah. We read a lot of names, but we don’t learn much about them. Then we read about Enoch, six generations from Adam, who is described with this intriguing but unexplained line: “And Enoch walked with God: and he was not; for God took him: (Genesis 5:24). Surely there’s a story behind that. But without further explanation, the list of generations resumes....Thankfully, Moses 6 reveals the details of Enoch’s story, and it’s quite a story, We learn of Enoch’s humility, his insecurities, the potential God saw in him, and the great work he performed as God’s prophet. WE also get a clearer picture of the family of Adam and Eve as it progressed through the generations. We read of Satan’s “great dominion” but also of parents who taught children “the ways of God” and of “preachers of righteousness” who “spake and prophesied. (Moses 6:15...

 11/14/2022 – Moses 5: 32-59 Cain has joined forces with Satan. His thoughts are only on himself and what he can gain. After he killed his brother Able, he “gloried in that which he had done, saying: I am free; surely the flocks of my brother falleth into my hands.” (v 33)   In 1885 the First Presidency of the Church made this statement about the righteous who are afflicted by the wicked: “For a wise purpose in [God’s] providence He permits the wicked, in the exercise of their agency, from time to time to afflict His followers. Since the days of our father Adam this has always been the case, and it will continue to be, so long as Satan has any power over the hearts of the children of men.” In v 34, the Lord comes to Cain questioning him as to where his brother Abel is. Cain’s answer shows his callousness: “I know not. Am I my brother’s keeper?”  Elder Dallin H Oaks spoke of Cain’s reasoning: “Are we our brothers’ keepers? In other words, are we responsible to look af...

 1/13/2022 – Moses 5: 1-31 Adam and Eve are now out of the Garden of Eden. They now have to labor for their food, and face the challenges of living in a non-perfect environment. And now their environment includes children. I feel sure that they followed what the Proclamation on the Family tells the parents of our day: “Husband and wife have a solemn responsibility to love and care for each other and for their children.” That proclamation goes on to tell us some of the things that will help us to build, and to live in, loving and helpful families: faith, prayer, repentance, forgiveness, respect, love, compassion, work and wholesome recreational activities.”  I think Adam and Eve followed similar principles, because they “called upon the name of the Lord, and they heard the voice of the Lord from the way toward the Garden of Eden, speaking unto them, and they saw him not; for they were shut out from his presence.” (v 4) Their worship and learning situation seems to be very much ...

 1/12/2022 – Moses 4 The scriptures we have in the Pearl of Great Price add so much to the scriptures we have in Genesis. I don’t think I visit the Pearl of Great Price enough. V’s 1-6 cover just how Lucifer became the devil. The Lord is speaking to Moses AFTER Moses has banished Satan by having “commanded in the name of mine Only Begotten” (v 1) And then the Lord goes further to explain and compare and contrast the plans that both Lucifer and Jesus offered. Lucifer’s plan would have eliminated our independence, and thus our growth…or lack there of. Christ speaks of the importance of our independence in D&C 30: “All truth is independent in that sphere in which God has placed it, to act for itself, as all intelligence also, otherwise there is not existence.”  President Joseph Fielding Smith spoke of what God had planned us to learn from our earthly experience. He explained how the Lord wanted us to “be tried and proved to see if we, by trial, would prepare ourselves for exa...

 1/11/2022 – Genesis 4 Adam and Eve, now out of the Garden of Eden, are now given an opportunity to grow. They  are now working for their sustenance, facing opposition, making mistakes, learning to repent, and learning to trust God’s commandments. They have children. Abel is “a keeper of sheep” & Cain is “a tiller of the ground” AND they are working to keep the commandments of God---one of which was to give offerings to the Lord. Abel gave “the firstlings of his flock” and Cain gave “the fruit of the ground”. The Lord accepts Abel’s sacrifice, but not Cain’s sacrifice, which causes Cain to become “very wroth and his countenance fell” (v5)   As I see it, the Lord wants to teach us how to draw closer to Him. Cain’s giving up the fruit of his labors was certainly a sacrifice, but it was not a thing that would bring an understanding of God’s laws. Abel’s bringing the ‘firstlings of his flock, to give up its life, acted as a precursor, and teaching for them to underst...

 1/10/2022 – Genesis 3 Joseph Field Smith explained: “When Adam and Eve were place in Eden they were not subject to the power of death and could have lived, in the state of innocence in which they were, forever had they not violated the law given them in the Garden….By partaking of the forbidden fruit, and thus violating the law under which he (Adam) was placed, his nature was changed, and he became subject to (1) spiritual death, which is banishment from the presence of God; (2) temporal death, which is separation of spirit and body….to defeat the power which death had gained it became necessary that an infinite atonement be offered to pay the debt and thereby restore Adam and Eve and all their posterity, and all things, to immortal life through the resurrection” (Man, His Origin and Destiny, pp 50-51). For me, it is simpler to explain that before the fall, Adam & Eve were not subject to death; they were in the presence of God; they could have no posterity; they were without k...

 1/19/2022 – Moses 6:24-52 The Old Testament tells us just a little about Enoch, but the Book of Moses greatly increases our understanding of his life, his ministry and his teachings. Enoch was the seventh generation from Adam. In those seven generations, many had left the teachings of the Lord. It was when Enoch “journeyed in the land among the people” (v 26) that “He heard a voice from heaven, saying, Enoch, my son, prophesy unto this people, and say unto them—Repent, for thus saith the Lord: I am angry with this people, and my fierce anger is kindled against them; for their hearts have waxed hard, and their ears are dull of hearing, and their eyes cannot see afar off.” (v 27). I read this and I feel the warning to us that we are not to rely only on our ‘earthly vision’. The Lords rewards are not always immediate. But if we keep the commandments, keeping our eyes focused on the ultimate reward that the Lord holds in store for us, THEN we will be able to “see afar off”.  In v...

  1/8/2022 - Abraham 5 The synopsis for this chapter tells us of how “the Gods finish their planning of the creation of all things”. V 3: On the seventh period of their ‘organizing’ the earth for us, the Gods determined that they would “rest from all their works” and they “sanctified it”. That’s the very way we need to treat OUR sabbath day: we need to sanctify it, which means to make it holy.  V 7 tells us that “the Gods formed man from the dust of the ground, and took his spirit (that is the man’s spirit), and put it into him; and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life, and man became a living soul.”  This helps us to understand that “the breath of life” is our spirit body. (Teachings of the prophet Joseph Smith, 301) President Spencer W Kimball tells of this same sequence of events in the language of our time: “Before this earth was created the Lord made a blueprint, as any great contractor will do before constructing. He drew up the plans, wrote the specificati...

  1/7/2022 – Abraham 4  Abraham 4: This is about God’s creation of our earth. I find it very interesting that the word ‘create’ is from a Hebrew word that means “to organize”.   The synopsis of this chapter speaks of “the Gods plan of creation”. And then v 1 tells us that “the Lord said: Let us go down. And they went down at the beginning and they, that is the Gods, organized and formed the heavens and the earth.”  V 3 begins with the words: “And they (the Gods) said: Let there be light; and there was light.”  The phrase “and the Gods” are in almost every one of the 31 verses of this chapter. Bruce R McConkie once wrote: “In the ultimate and final sense of the word, the Father is the Creator of all things. That he used the Son and others to perform many of the creative acts, delegating to them his creative power, and he simply chooses others to act for him in many of his creative enterprises.” V 2 speaks of the empty and desolate earth the Gods were worki...

 1/6/2022 – Moses 2-3 Once again, I love the synopsis of chapter 2: “God creates the heavens and the earth—All forms of life created—God makes man and gives him dominion over all else” In v 1, the Lord asks Moses to “write the words I speak” concerning our earth and our heavens.  He did this by starting with an earth that was “without form, and void”, “empty and desolate”. I love the way the Come Follow Me study manual said it: “One thing the Creation story teaches us is that God can make something magnificent out of something unorganized. That’s helpful to remember when life seems chaotic. Heavenly Father and Jesus Christ are Creators, and can make light shine in dark moments in our lives. They can form solid ground in the midst of life’s stormy seas. They can command the elements, and if we obey their word like the elements did, they can transform us into the beautiful creations we were meant to be.” He did this all for us, and yet the creating the bodies for the spirits of ...

 1/5/2022 – Genesis 2 This chapter starts just after the Lord’s work of creating the earth and it’s heavens was completed. This was after six of the Lord’s days of work, “and he rested on the seventh day from all his work which he had made.” (v2)  In v 3, the Lord goes on to describe just what he does in this proclaimed day of rest: “…God blessed the seventh day, and sanctified it”. [to sanctify means to make holy]  The Lord’s next step was to put Adam on the earth, and give him instructions (commandments) of how he was to live and flourish on this earth. In the Doctrines of Salvation, it tells us that Adam had a spiritual body—a body that is “quickened by spirit and not by blood”, and that body placed within his physical body became his soul. Joseph Fielding Smith: “Adam did not come to this earth until it was prepared for him.…when was all ready for Adam he was placed upon the earth”. Once the Lord had taught Adam about his new surroundings, and the do’s and don’ts that...

 1/4/2022 – Genesis 1 I loved this statement from my study manual: “Adam and Eve were the crowning point of the Creation, but pause for a moment to think of the Creation itself. It was the Father directing the creation of a home for His children.”  I think of all the magnificent and beautiful areas of this world—they can overwhelm us with wonder. But He considered His ‘crowning point’ as US…the spirits who were ready to progress to obtaining, and protecting, a physical body. Every child that is born is yet another ‘crowning point’. In Teachings of the Prophet Joseph Smith, he tells us that in the first sentence of Genesis, the word created in actuality means ‘organized’. To me, that makes the creation even more difficult and amazing, and yes, the individuals who are placed on this magnificent creation are His “crowning point”---that’s me, and you, and all the people around us. We should treat each other as precious and amazing wonders. Every one of us is significantly importan...

  1/3/2022 – Abraham 3 I discovered some interesting facts about the four mummies and the papyri that Joseph Smith had purchased. As he translated, Joseph would publish a few excerpts at a time in the Times and Seasons. His plan was to publish more of the book later, but he was martyred before he was able to do so. Oliver Cowdery was speaking of the writings that were on the mummies and the papyri, when he said that “volumes would be necessary to contain it (Messenger and Advocate, Dec 1835, 236).  We know that after Joseph’s death, four mummies and the papyri became the property of Joseph’s mother, Lucy Mack Smith. After Lucy’s death in 1856, Emma Smith sold the collection to Mr. A. Combs. Several theories have been offered regarding what then happened to the mummies and the papyri. It appears that at least two of the mummies were burned in the great Chicago fire of 1871. In 1966 Dr Aziz S Atiya, a University of Utah professor, discovered several fragments of the book of Abra...

January 2, 2022 – Moses 1 The book of Moses contains scripture not found in the Old Testament. V’s 1-22 are Heavenly Father’s teachings given to Moses, followed by Satan’s conversation with Moses.  All of those verses are then followed by the explanation in v 23 “And now of this thing Moses bore record; but because of the wickedness it is not had among the children of men.” Dieter F Uchtdorf: “Much of the confusion we experience in this life comes from simply not understanding who we are”. But beginning with verse 1 in chapter 1 of Moses, the Lord takes care of that. The vision that is recorded here took place after Jehovah spoke to Moses at the burning bush, but before Moses led the children of Israel out of Egypt via the Red Sea. Heavenly Father begins this conversation by confirming He is “the Lord God Almighty, and Endless is my name”. (v 3) He then confirms that Moses IS His son (v 4), and that Christ is His “only Begotten…and shall be the Savior” (v 6) Heavenly Father has a g...