Old Testament - Genesis 10 & 11 - AND - Pearl of Great Price - Moses 8 - February 6, 2022

 2/6/2022 – Genesis 10-11 and Moses 8 (very busy week that I am making up for today)

The flood has abated, and once again there is only one family on earth. We read in chapter 9 that Noah and his sons-- Shem, Ham and Japheth and their wives-- are commanded to multiply and replenish the earth. Chapter 10 gives us their early genealogy. There is one in the long list of descendants that the scriptures give more information on. We are told that Nimrod “began to be a mighty hunter before the Lord, wherefore it is said, Even as Nimrod the mighty hunter….” The JST interprets that phrase “he was a mighty hunter in the land.”

The Bible commentary by Clarke, 1:86 has this to say about Nimrod: “Though the words are not definite, it is very likely he was a very bad man. His name Nimrod comes from … marad, he rebelled; and the Targum [ancient Jewish translations or paraphrases of the scriptures], on 1 Chron. i. 10, says: Nimrod began to be a mighty man in sin, a murderer of innocent men, and a rebel before the Lord. The Jerusalem Targum says: ‘He was mighty in hunting (or in prey) and in sin before God, for he was a hunter of the children of men in their languages; and he said unto them, Depart from the religion of Shem, and cleave to the institutes of Nimrod.’ The Targum of Jonathan ben Uzziel says: ‘From the foundation of the world none was ever found like Nimrod, powerful in hunting, and in rebellions against the Lord.’ The Syriac calls him a warlike giant. The word … tsayid, which we render hunter, signifies prey; and is applied in the Scriptures to the hunting of men by persecution, oppression, and tyranny. Hence it is likely that Nimrod, having acquired power, used it in tyranny and oppression; and by rapine and violence founded that domination which was the first distinguished by the name of a kingdom on the face of the earth.” (Clarke, Bible Commentary, 1:86.)

Hugh Nibley wrote: “…in the same patriarchal age, Melchizedek established a Zion after the pattern of Enoch, the prototype of the true city of God, the freest of all societies, and Nimrod established a Babylon that gave its name to the prototype of the kingdom of Satan, the antithesis of Zion.”

Just as was the case in our pre-mortal life, many of us chose to follow the Lord’s plan, but one third of us chose to follow Lucifer’s plan which would have made our earth life, not a time of learning and of growth, but a time of being living without agency. We would have returned from earth to our Father having only endured, rather than having also grown and developed.

This chapter continues on with the genealogy, and then in v 25 it simply says: And unto Eber were born two sons, the name of one was Peleg, for in his days was the earth divided…” 

In Answers to Gospel Questions, Joseph Fielding Smith wrote: “The dividing of the earth was not an act of division by the inhabitants of the earth by tribes and peoples, but a breaking asunder of the continents, thus dividing the land surface and creating the Eastern Hemisphere and Western Hemisphere. By looking at a wall map of the world, you will discover how the land surface along the northern and southern coast of the American Hemisphere and Europe and Africa has the appearance of having been together at one time. Of course, there have been many changes on the earth’s surface since the beginning. We are informed by revelation that the time will come when this condition will be changed and that the land surface of the earth will come back again as it was in the beginning and all be in one place. This is definitely stated in the Doctrine and Covenants 133.” 

The final verse in this chapter tells us “These are the families of the sons of Noah, after their generations, in their nations: and by these were the nations divided in the earth after the flood.”

Genesis 11 tells us about the Tower of Babel. My study manual says: “In addition to providing an explanation for the numerous languages now found on the earth, this account of the tower of Babel shows how quickly man forgot the lessons of the Flood and turned again from the Lord.”

V 1 tells us that up to this time “the whole earth was of one language, and of one speech”. V 4 then explains that the people of that time wanted to reach God, and the way they went about it was to “build a city and a tower, whose top may reach unto the heaven”. 

This turned so many from the simply following the commandments of God. V 6: “And the Lord said, Behold the people is one, and they have all one language, and this they begin to do: and now nothing will be restrained from them, which they have imagined to do.”  V 8: “So the Lord scatter them abroad from thence upon the face of all the earth: and they left off to build the city.” The name of it was called Babel. 

The Book of Mormon tells us of Jared, who lived at this time, and who pleaded with the Lord that he and his brother and their friends –who all followed the Lord’s commandments—would not have their language confounded. The Lord granted that request. [Ether 1:33-38)

Bible scholars tell us that these 11 chapters of Genesis, which cover the lives of the ancient patriarchs, are considered to be almost one-third of the total history of mankind. Fortunately for us Moses wrote his history. Moses tells us that from the time of the Fall the people of the world began moving in two opposite directions. One group followed the teachings of Adam and Eve and continually strived for increasing righteousness and perfection. The other group yielded to the deceitful enticings of Satan and his servants and moved deeper and deeper into wickedness.  I love the fact that we also have writings of Enoch and how he and his followers became so close to the Lord that they were taken up into the heavens. 

We knew from the time we were still living with Heavenly Father, that Lucifer would be working to pull us to his side, and we still were excited to come down for ‘our turn on earth’. 

Moses 8 is also about Noah’s time—one of the times when “the world was filled with wickedness” and also Enoch’s time. Enoch’s people were taken up to heaven, as they completely followed the teachings of Adam and Eve, and continually strived for increasing righteousness and perfection. They were all taken except for Methuselah, who prophesied to the people who remained. Noah, and his sons, also prophesied—for they ”hearkened unto the Lord, and gave heed, and they were called the sons of God.” (v 13) The Lord told Noah that if people would not repent “I will send in the floods upon them.” (v 17)

Noah continued to preach to the people, telling them that they must stop their wicked ways, “but they hearkened not unto his words” (v 20) continuing to live far from the principles the Lord had commanded to them to live up to. 

For years Moses preached and for years the people did not listen. By this time “the earth was corrupt before God, and it was filled with violence.” (v 28) The people sought to kill Noah. “And God looked upon the earth, and, behold, it was corrupt, for all flesh had corrupted its way upon the earth” (v 29) “And the Lord said: I will destroy man whom I have created from the face of the earth, both man and beast, and the creeping things, and the fowls of the air…” The Lord made a fresh start for the earth itself, and a new beginning for the souls who would now come to earth.

Elder Mark E Peterson: “Noah, who built the ark, was one of God’s greatest servants, chosen before he was born as were others of the prophets. He was no eccentric, as many have supposed. Neither was he a mythical figure created only in legend. Noah was real. . . . “Let no one downgrade the life and mission of this great prophet. Noah was so near perfect in his day that he literally walked and talked with God. . . . “Few men in any age were as great as Noah. In many respects he was like Adam, the first man. Both had served as ministering angels in the presence of God even after their mortal experience”

President Joseph Fielding Smith said: “So the Lord commanded Noah to build an ark into which he was to take his family and the animals of the earth to preserve seed after the flood, and all flesh that was not in the ark perished according to the Lord’s decree. Of course this story is not believed by the wise and the great among the children of men, any more than was Noah’s story in his day” 

President John Taylor taught: “God destroyed the wicked of that generation with a flood. Why did He destroy them? He destroyed them for their benefit, if you can comprehend it” (in Journal of Discourses, 24:291; see also 19:158–59 for President Taylor’s view of the Flood as an act of love).