Genesis 12-17; Abraham 1-2 - Abraham and Sarah

When the Son of Man comeeth shall he find faith on the earth. Lord, I believe, help thou mine unbelief. May our testimonies be as deep and as strong as that of Jacob. When confronted by one who sought to destroy his faith declared, I could not be shaken. [Music] Hello, my friends. All you wonderful, unshaken saints out there. I'm Jared Halverson and I'm glad to have you back from our scripture study. Today we have a ton of material to cover and it's all incredible. We get to hang out with Abraham and Sarah today. In fact, I was giving a fireside couple of days ago and somebody came up to me and said, "You better not skip Genesis 15." And so I thought, "Wow, okay, well, you know your stuff and now I'm feeling the pressure." Genesis 15 is a tricky chapter in today's material. But it's an incredible one, so yes, I'll do my best to do it justice. We have a lot. It's Genesis 12 through 17. It's Abraham chapter 1 and 2. This is actually our last real day in the Pearl of Great Price. We made jump back and give some nods to things later on. But for the most part, as far as the bulk of the Pearl of Great Price is concerned, this is it. So also, I know some of you have talked to me about wanting to share these videos with people of other faiths, Jewish and Christian, who are interested in the Hebrew Bible/Old Testament. So after today, of course, we'll still be bringing in restoration insights. I can't help myself with that. But if you want to start sharing these with an eye to building on common beliefs with your friends of other faiths, I always try to be sensitive to that and picture people in the audience that may not believe everything that we believe or share all the things that we hold dear. So I'll always try to be sensitive to that. But I also do want to be as welcoming as possible to anyone who wants to study Scripture together. So Abraham. Now, you know you've arrived when your name becomes an adjective. When you're not just Socrates, but there is a Socratic method. When you're not just an Aristotle, but there are Aristotelian appeals. It's one thing to be Shakespeare. It's another thing to have things that are Shakespearean named after you. In our day, perhaps the closest we get to is Elder Maxwell, who was famous for his Maxwellian turns of phrase. You know you've made it. I don't think any would thing will ever be referred to as Halversonian. And I'm totally okay with that. But when you take somebody like Abraham and form an adjective like Abrahamic, okay, there's something to this figure. And whenever we think of Abrahamic things, typically we talk about Abrahamic faith. That's a good thing. We'll see some of that today. We talk about the Abrahamic covenant that we'll get center stage today. We talk about Abrahamic sacrifices and Abrahamic tests. And that will consume next week's lesson, as well as we'll see some foreshadowing of that in today's lesson as well. So I hope that our Abrahamic lesson will teach us some things in how to become a little bit more Abrahamic ourselves. And Seric, if we can, if we can call it, gives Sarah her own adjective as well. Because she is incredible as we'll see this week and next. Now, there is a verse in Isaiah. And it's also repeated in Second Nephi. The context is important. By the time Isaiah mentions this, the northern tribes have been scattered. The southern kingdom is in danger as well. The House of Israel has its back against the wall. Hard things taking place. And a lot of period of suffering. A couple of that with the time that Jacob brings it up in the Book of Mormon and Second Nephi. And the Nephites have just separated from the Lamanites. They're trying to find a new place to establish themselves. And they've been further scattered from their original land of inheritance. And they're going through difficult trials and tests of faith as well. So in both of those shared contexts, and there's some overlap between them, Isaiah/Jakob says this. "Harken to me, ye that follow after righteousness, ye that seek the Lord. So he's focused on a righteous audience during a difficult time. And here's his advice. "Look unto the rock from whence you are hune, and to the whole of the pit whence you are digged." Now usually we think of Christ as the rock of Israel. And he is. But that's not the specific stone that Isaiah is referring to here. He says, "Look unto Abraham, your Father, and unto Sarah that bear you. For I called him alone and blessed him and increased him. Again, think about the context here. During these difficult days, why would Isaiah want his people, or why would Jacob want his people, or why would the Lord want us in our day to look to Abraham and Sarah? Because they provide Abrahamic examples of how to navigate Abrahamic trials with Abrahamic faith. In fact, going on with Isaiah's words, he says, "For the Lord shall comfort Zion. He will comfort all her waste places. He will make her wilderness like Eden and her desert like the garden of the Lord. Joy and gladness shall be found therein, thanksgiving and the voice of melody." If you're feeling scattered like ancient Israel was, if you're feeling uprooted and torn away from people you love, like the people in Jacob's day, if you are struggling with the tests that you face, then look to the rock that you've been huned from. You're carved out of the same kind of stone. And if we look back to Abraham and Sarah today and next week, what are we supposed to get from their examples? Isaiah's list was pretty incredible. Comfort, joy, gladness, thanksgiving. In spite of sorrow or loss, difficulty, challenge, trials, promises not yet kept. Oh, I'm looking forward to an Abrahamic lesson to learn today. And I pray that as we look to this rock, we will recognize that the same promises that were given to him apply to you and me. So where to begin? Let's start with Abraham chapter 1 in the Perlugate price. Now remember a couple weeks ago when we were talking creation accounts, we saw Abraham 3 and 4 and 5 already. This incredible astronomy lesson that he taught where Christ is colab, and then this creation account where he sees the counsel of the gods decided in advance what to do with planet earth. We've already studied creation, we've studied fall. And as I mentioned previously, creation fall atonement is the pillars of eternity or as the stages of faith that we go through. Well, we're on to atonement and I hope that we will have eyes to see it today as the Lord is taking Abram and Sarai soon to be Abraham and Sarah out of a fallen state moving them in the direction of atonement. In fact, you get that foreshadowing in chapter 1 verse 1, which to me is hilarious because it contains what I consider the understatement of that time period. He says, "In the land of the Caldians, at the residence of my fathers, I Abraham saw that it was needful for me to obtain another place of residence." That's an odd way to begin a book. Hi, my name is Abraham and I thought it was a good idea to move. Now as we're about to see later in this chapter, he was being sacrificed to pagan gods by his idolatrous father. Yeah, that's probably a good reason to pick up and move. But I just love how understated it is. It's needful to obtain another place of residence. And honestly, think how many figures in scripture could say something similar. It's amazing how much mileage God can get out of a move. And I don't just mean the geographic kind. When he uproots someone, when he scatters Israel, when he tells a Nephite to build a ship and cross the ocean or a brother of Jared to come to a new promised land. Here it's Abraham's turn. And it's interesting that with a move, a new place of residence, we get new beginnings and fresh starts and clean slates, alphas and omegas, beginnings and endings. And where will we go from here? Now as I mentioned, Abraham is trying to leave from something, but he's also going towards something else. You see it put beautifully in verse 2. Finding there was greater happiness and peace and rest for me. Think about what he just listed as far as what he is searching for. Happiness and peace and rest more of it for me. I can't think of a better list. In fact, if I could go back and do my mission all over again, I think that might be my new golden question as I knocked on people's doors. Have you ever wanted greater happiness, greater peace, or greater rest in your life? Because that is the promise of the message that we're bringing. That's the promise of what Abraham was searching for, knowing that there was greater happiness, peace and rest, what did he do? I sought for the blessings of the fathers and the right wherein to I should be ordained to administer the same. Notice the two halves of that whole? Yes, I know there's greater happiness, peace and rest out there for me, but I'm not alone in that search. And I know that they're found into blessings of the fathers. And so if I can somehow obtain those blessings for myself, but more than that, if I can be ordained to administer the same, we're already talking priesthood and we're only two verses into the story of Abraham. If there's a way for me to receive the authority whereby I can bless the world and help other people find greater happiness and peace and rest, that is the Abrahamic covenant. We're already seeing it. And Abraham choosing God and the greater blessings that only God can give, wanting to be chosen to receive those blessings, but also wanting to be chosen so he can go out and choose everybody else to receive them to. To be ordained to administer the same. And the better we get to know Abraham, the more clearly we'll see that selflessness as a core attribute. He goes on, having been myself a follower of righteousness. So so far so good. I've been trying to live the gospel as best I can, desiring also to be one who possessed great knowledge. But not to stop there. He wanted to be a greater follower of righteousness and to possess a greater knowledge. Here we're seeing eternal increase. We're seeing eternal progression. I'm good. I want to be better. I know I want to know more. Beyond that, he continues, he wanted to be a father of many nations, a prince of peace. Does that phrase ring a bell as far as who else it refers to? And desiring to receive instructions and to keep the commandments of God. I became a rightful heir, a high priest holding the right belonging to the fathers. Again, do you see the selflessness on the part of Abraham? I want to be a father of many nations, not because of what it does to exalt myself, but it puts me in a position to bless posterity, to bless the world. I want to be a prince of peace so that peace can extend. And how's he going to do it? He'll extend peace by extending priesthood. Notice the way he puts it. I want it to, I desired to receive instruction. I wanted to keep the commandments of God. Remember that verse in the Dr. Incavenants about being crowned with commandments, not a few? And with revelations in their time? That's what he's looking for. I want to learn more. Sometimes we talk about plausible deniability or ignorance being bliss. And I don't want to know what God expects of me because then I can't be held accountable for falling short of it. Please don't give me any extra commandments to break. Let alone to keep. That's not Abraham. I have great knowledge. I want greater knowledge. I want more commandments. I want to be crowned with commandments, not a few because I know that that greater commandment, greater obedience will open the door to greater happiness and peace and rest. Not just for me, but for everyone. That is the purpose behind the priesthood. And so as we exercise it, male and female, the authority of God, as we tap into the blessings and promises made to the fathers and the mothers. I hope that our heart is then turning to the people all around us to whom we can extend these greater blessings. Notice as we go forward the difference then between the fathers and my fathers when it comes to Abraham. Because it's going to help us understand where are these blessings coming from and how far are we supposed to be extending them. So he says in verse 3, it was conferred upon me from the fathers. It came down from the fathers from the beginning of time, even from the beginning or before the foundation of the earth down to the present time. Even the right of the first born or the first man who is Adam or first father through the fathers unto me. You get the same idea in verse 4, I sought for my appointment unto the priesthood according to the appointment of God unto the fathers concerning the seed. And then compare that to what he says in verse 5, "My fathers having turned from their righteousness and from the holy commandments which the Lord their God had given unto them unto the worshiping of the gods of the heathen, they utterly refused to harken to my voice." The same problem that Noah felt, right? A lack of harkening. Now like I said, there's a difference here between the fathers and my fathers. In verse 5, my fathers turned from their righteousness. Back in verse 1, I had to leave the land of my fathers. Why? Because I wanted the blessings of the fathers. Now when we think of the fathers, who would that be? Another word for fathers would be patriarchs. If we know our Latin roots there, potter or Padre. Patriarchs are fathers, matriarchs are mothers. And when we think of the patriarchs, we think of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob. Well, that's what we're beginning with today. But who would those patriarchs call the patriarchs? Well for them it would be people like Adam and Noah and Enic, people that we've been meeting the last couple of weeks. And so to see a father, Abraham, look to the fathers and want to tap into the sources of happiness and peace and rest that their priesthood authority allowed them to grant to their posterity. That is what Abraham is wanting. And he can compare those fathers to the immediate fathers that had turned from the faith. That is, we'll see in a moment we're trying to, we're trying to rob him of whatever happiness and peace and rest he might find. Now with that in mind, the words of Malachi 4 should mean something more to us. The words that Moroni repeated to that, that weary, I had 17 year old when Joseph Smith was praying. And Moroni appeared to him. It talks about promises being planted into the hearts of the children and the promises made to the fathers would then allow those children's hearts to turn to their fathers. Now again, you see the difference? The fathers versus their fathers? In Abraham's case, it was, I don't have a very good example to follow in my own dad at home and perhaps some of you feel the same. I'm so impressed when I meet students who are amazing, not because of their parents, but despite their parents. Other Maxwell used to talk that sometimes God sends very strong spirits into practically dysfunctional families in order to, to write the family tree, to bend the branch so that it grows back toward the light and to be able to help not just posterity, but help ancestry as well. That kind of pivot point person that God sometimes puts into difficult situations. That's Abraham. His fathers are turning away and it's going to be up to him to turn the family line back. No wonder I want to be a father of many nations and hopefully do a better job with Mike his, then my father did with his. Again, if that applies to you, you can make a huge difference in the chain of your generations, but more broadly going back to what Malachi and Morone I say. If God can plant within us, here's the spirit of Elijah, the promises made to the fathers, Abraham, Isaac and Jacob, Adam and Seth and Noah and Enic. If those promises of greater happiness and peace and rest can be planted within our hearts, then our hearts begin to turn naturally, instinctively, to our fathers. Because now we have something to offer them. Part of those blessings aren't just for us, it's to be, to administer in the same. It's all that we see right here and at the beginning of Abraham. Knowing now what God has promised the faithful and that he has opened the doors of the spirit world so that work can be done and we're building temples all across the earth so that we can enter and extend those blessings to our fathers. It's amazing how that works. If you're lacking in the spirit of Elijah, if your heart hasn't yet turned to your fathers, then think a little harder about the blessings promised, the fathers. And when you start to feel the happiness, peace and rest flow into your life because of the fullness of the gospel of Jesus Christ, how can you not want to share it with the living, missionary work and the dead, temple work, until all of God's children have the same blessings that he's promised to us. Now, like I said, that's exactly what Abraham wants, but he's up against something, namely his own fathers. We saw in verse 5 that their hearts were turned from their righteousness to talk about a counterfeit turning of the hearts of the fathers. In verse 6, we see that their hearts were set to do evil. I can interesting language and the focus is on the heart, turning away from what is good, setting themselves to do what is evil. They were wholly turned to the God of Elkina and Libna and Mamacra and Korosh and the gods of Pharaoh, the king of Egypt. And as a result, verse 7, "Therefore they turned their hearts to the sacrifice of the heven in offering up their children unto those dumb idols." Again, talk about a counterfeit. Instead of hearts turning so that fathers and children can be connected together eternally in righteousness, you have hearts turning away from God and away from their children to the point that they are sacrificing those children up to false gods. And that's exactly what Abraham's father is trying to do with Abraham. As he says in 7, "They harkened not unto my voice, so he is crying repentance, he is a preacher of righteousness just like the family line, the family business. They endeavored to take away my life by the hand of the priest of Elkina, who is also the priest of Pharaoh." Now in the next few verses it says, "This was tradition. That was the false religion, the pagan idolatry, the infanticide that was prevalent in Abraham's day. And unfortunately he wasn't the first to suffer this." In verse 11, "Now this priest had offered upon this altar three virgins at one time, who were the daughters of Onida. One of the royal descent directly from the loins of ham, these virgins were offered up because of their virtue. They would not bow down to worship gods of wood or of stone. Therefore they were killed upon this altar, and it was done after the manner of the Egyptians." I'm amazed by these three women. I wish that we knew more about them. That's the sum total of what we know about them. And they are embodiments of virtue against the odds of self-sacrifice because they would not lower their standards. I've taught women in the scriptures classes before at the institute. I love them. The women of scripture teach so much more than womanhood or motherhood. They teach discipleship. We see that from these daughters of Onida. We'll see it today from Sarah and from Hegar. It's incredible to watch God teach all of His children through His daughters. And as I've said in those kinds of classes, if you look hard enough, you will almost always find a female equivalent of the male heroes that we all seem to know and love from scripture. If you love Joseph of Egypt, look hard and you'll see that Esther is his female equivalent. If you love the story of Shadrach Mishak and Abednego in the book of Daniel, he's three Hebrew boys that are thrown in the fiery furnace. Well, here is the female equivalent. These three daughters of Onida. In fact, if you think about the story of Shadrach Mishak and Abednego, remember the two phrases that they give us side by side? When King Nebuchadnezzar says, "There's no God in earth or heaven that can free you from the fiery furnace," they say, "Okay, well, if it be so, our God can." In other words, we trust in God's power. We know He can deliver us if it's His will, if it be so. On the other hand, they say, "If He doesn't save us, we're still not going to worship your false gods." Their phrase is, "But if not." Those are the two phrases that we always seem to have staring us in the face. If it be so, there's our faith. "But if not, there's our submission." In the case of the three Hebrew boys, they got the, "If it be so," they were spared. And what amazes me about these three daughters of Onida is they got the but if not. They were not spared. But they didn't hold back their faith or their fortitude. They submitted to the will of God and sacrificed their lives as a result. Now in verse 12, when it says, "It came to pass that the priests laid violence upon me, that they might slay me also," and then this phrase, "As they did those virgins upon this altar," notice what Abraham just told us. "As He's being laid down upon this altar of human sacrifice, as He's being bound and laid upon the wood, as the priests, these false priests of false gods are ready to slay Him. Who's He thinking of?" The daughters of Onida, whenever I think of Abraham and Abrahamic sacrifices. In this case, His willingness to lie down upon the altar and offer His life as a sacrifice to standard of not lowering His commitment to the covenants that He's trying to make and keep. "Who is He holding on to as an example of faith and fortitude, the daughters of Onida? For anyone for whom Abraham is a personal hero, well, take it back another level and realize that some of Abraham's personal heroes were heroines. These unnamed daughters of Onida, that He looked to and thought, "I'm going to be laid down on this altar just like they were." In fact, it makes me realize that He probably assumed that of the two possibilities, if it be so, or but if not, He probably assumed that His was going to be a but if not or deal as well. God did not save the daughters of Onida, which means He's probably not going to save me either. But if they had the faith in the face of fear, staring down death itself, not to lower their standard, to hold on to their virtue and not bow down to gods of wood or stone. Then how can I do anything but follow that example? These were women of faith, that I can be a man of faith too. I love that we're looking to Him as a rock, while He was looking to them as rocks, solid stones of faith and fortitude. Verse 15, "As they lifted up their hands upon me, that they might offer me up and take away my life, behold, I lifted up my voice unto the Lord, my God. And the Lord harkened and heard. He filled me with the vision of the Almighty, and the angel of His presence stood by me. Now if you stopped right there, Abraham still doesn't know what it's about to happen. The verse ends, "He immediately unloosed my bands." So He was going to have an if it be so experience, instead of the but if not experience. But up to that last phrase, this could have simply been, "I am with you, Abraham." Not just to get you out of your trial, but to endure it alongside you. That's part of the purpose of the Atonement of Jesus Christ. Not just to remove the burdens but to strengthen the backs by being equally yoked with us in the midst of that ordeal. For any of you who are struggling between and if it be so faith and a but if not submission, if you are in the midst of an Abrahamic trial, and you're trying to muster your Abrahamic faith, I do pray that you sense whenever you are calling upon the name of God, that He is harkening and hearing, that He is filling you with the vision of the Almighty, so that you can see your sufferings through His divine perspective. Whether He's about to release you from them or whether He's about to endure them with you. The angel of His presence can stand by you. Just like that angel was with Jesus, strengthening Him, bearing Him up when God could not remove His burden. In verse 16, the Lord continues, "Abraham, Abraham, behold, my name is Jehovah." How's that for introductions? "I know you, and you know me. I have heard thee. I have come down to deliver thee and to take thee away from Thy Father's house. You'll get a new Father. You'll get thee, Father's now. And from all Thy kin's folk, I'll give you a new family. In fact, you'll be the Father of the family of faith. Into a strange land which Thou knowest not of. So you'll have a new home. In a new promised land." Like I said, a lot of mileage out of moves. A new Father, a new family, a new home, a new land, a new beginning. With promises of greater happiness and peace and rest for you and for everyone. Now why would this promise come? For 17, this because they have turned their hearts away from me while you've been turning your heart towards me. So I've come down to visit them and deliver you to destroy Him who had lifted up His hand against thee. And to save you, Abraham, my Son, even as they're here trying to take away that life. In verse 18, He extends His promise, "Behold, I will lead thee by my hand. Some similar to Enix walk with me, I am you and you and me. I will take thee to put upon thee my name, even the priesthood of thy Father, wherein reality thee fathers, and my power shall be over thee." So it's my hand in yours. It's my name upon you. It's my priesthood I'm giving you, the ultimate source of every incredible blessing. Verse 19, "As it was with Noah, so shall it be with thee. Another flood of truth is about to take place, to overcome this flood of wickedness in order for people to avoid their flood of consequence." What we talked about last week. "Through thy ministry, my name shall be known in the earth forever, for I am thy God." A reconformation of that great promise He made to Enix and renewed with Noah, I will never again flood the earth with water. I will flood it with opportunities to repent. I will call upon my people. Abraham, you called upon me. I am calling upon you to call upon all others to point them back to me. That's the family business, and you are now a part of it. I'm renewing that covenant to you and through you to all the world. Now, he goes through the rest of Abraham chapter 1, some of the things we talked about last time about Egyptus and Pharaoh and so on. But he ends this chapter with verse 31, "With a nod to that book of remembrance that we talked about a few weeks ago." Again, this is Abraham stepping in to the blessings of the fathers. So, verse 31, "The records of the fathers, even the patriarchs concerning the right of priesthood, the Lord my God preserved in mine own hands." I think that's why Abraham is saying this on the heels of that quick aside about a lineage that did not have the priesthood. He's trying to tap into the true side of the family that does have the right of the priesthood. And that's exactly what he's given. Through these records of the fathers, through this ordination, God calling him here will see him ordained later. But as the verse ends, not only do these records of the fathers teach him about those priesthood promises, but they also give him a knowledge of the beginning of the creation and also of the planets and of the stars as they were made known unto the fathers. And I have kept them even unto this day, and I shall endeavor to write some of these things upon this record for the benefit of my posterity that shall come after me. This new father of the faithful, this father of many nations, wants to make sure that all of his children understand the same things. So no wonder as we remember what we already studied, no wonder he teaches the creation account in chapter 4 and 5. No wonder he gives the astronomy lesson to the Egyptians since he's learned from these records of the fathers about the planets and the stars and so on. I've heard some people refer to this as a nod to the Abrahamic endowment that creation and then fall and atonement are being taught. He's trying to help the Egyptians and everyone else get a sense of where they fit in God's eternal plan. He's going to teach it to everyone. And as we turn the page, you see him begin to teach it to us. So Abraham 2, the starting verse 3. Now the Lord had said unto me, Abraham, get the out of thy country and from thy kindred and from thy father's house unto a land that I will show thee. So it wasn't just his idea that, yeah, it will be wise to get a new place of residence since my dad is trying to kill me. This is the Lord directing him to a new land for a new beginning. Verse 4. "Therefore I left the land of Er of the Caldys to go into the land of Canaan and I took lot my brother's son and his wife and sarai my wife and also my father followed after me unto the land which we denominated, Iran." Now I can't help but laugh at the language there. He talks about lot and we'll see him more of him today and a lot more of him next week. But it says that he took lot and his wife and my own wife because I'm bringing my family out with me. As opposed to his own father that had tried to sacrifice him and my father also followed after me. We take some people, others just seem to tag along and I think there's some truth there. We can't always choose what seems to follow us. We can choose what we take with us through life. And Abraham is finding the importance of the family that he can try to influence for good. Now even his own father ends up being influenced in a good direction. Unfortunately it doesn't last that long. Back in Abraham 1 verse 30 it talks about a famine in the land. Remember there was famine in the days before Noah? Not enough rain and then too much rain. God's just trying to get everything he can to get them to change. Well this famine does change the heart of Tara whose Abraham's father says a famine prevailed throughout all the land of Caldys. And my father was sorely tormented because of the famine and he repented of the evil which he had determined against me to take away my life. Oh well kudos to you Tara. You've been brought down to borrow Almos phrase you have been compelled to be humble. You didn't choose to be humble but you were compelled to be by circumstance. But thankfully you let it work in you until you repented of your sins and changed. And then the famine abated. Unfortunately so did Tara's faithfulness. So chapter 2 verse 5 the famine abated and my father carried in heron and dwelt there. As there were many flocks in heron and my father turned again unto his idolatry. Therefore he continued in her own. Sounds a lot like Korahur when he's struck dumb and realizes that he's been wrong and and quote unquote repents. He wants to be changed and restored to his voice and Almos says no because it's not you didn't really change. You were compelled to be humble. And so you took the natural course to try to get out of it. But since you didn't choose to be humble since you didn't really change your heart. Then solving your circumstances isn't going to solve the problem. You're going to fall right back into it. And that's exactly what you see with Tara. Now we already saw the Lord appear to Abraham in freeing him as he's laid upon that altar. By the way I hope that we realize this as we talk next week about the sacrifice of Isaac that Abraham knows exactly what Isaac is feeling there. That there is an empathy born of personal experience where his heart would be breaking. He would feel and share the fear of his son of what am I facing? What is happening to me? Abraham won intensify as Genesis 22 incredibly. And we'll see more of that next week. But coming to know God through that extremity he now is reacquainted with him as he begins this journey to the new promised land. Chapter 2 of Abraham, verse 6, "The Lord appears again. But I Abraham and Lot, my brother's son, prayed unto the Lord, and the Lord appeared unto me. And said unto me arise, take lot with thee, for I have purposed to take thee away out of heron. And to make of thee a minister." I love that phrase. I'm going to make you a minister. "To bear my name in a strange land which I will give unto thy seed after thee for an everlasting possession when they harken to my voice." I notice that last caveat. The promised land depends on our keeping our promises to God. But it will be yours. It will be your posterities from this moment forward if they'll simply harken to my voice. Now what we're seeing there is the first "P" of the Abrahamic promise. The simplest way I've seen it summarized is with three "P"s. This first one is promised land. Some people call it prosperity. I'm going to give you this place to call your own. On verse 7 he says, "For I am the Lord thy God. I dwell in heaven. The earth is my footstool, so I can carve out this little chunk of ground for you. No problem. I stretch my hand over the sea, and it obeys my voice. I cause the wind and the fire to be my chariot. I say to the mountains to part hence, and behold, they're taken away by a whirlwind in an instant suddenly." Yet this sense, what did Abraham just leave? "Ear of the Caldys where he's been surrounded by idolatry, paganism, and entire pantheon of false gods that he's about to be sacrificed to. He's on his way to Egypt. He'll be there shortly. And there he'll be surrounded by another Egyptian pantheon where there's a God of the Nile or a God of the earth. There's a God of heaven. There's a God of the sea. There's gods and goddesses for practically everything under the sun. And unfortunately, they don't always get along very well together. We see that in Babylonian religion. We see it in Canaanite religion. We see it in Egyptian religion. We see it in Greek and Roman mythology. And what I love about God's self-introduction here is, "I'm the only one. We start to see monotheism emerge out of a context of polytheism. And what Abraham is being taught is heaven, it's mine. Earth, mine. See, mine. Wind, fire, mountains, whirlwinds. I'm the only one you need to look to. I am the God over all of these things. And I'm your God, Abraham. There's the infinite. Now here's the intimate. I am calling you, commissioning you, putting my name upon you, making you a minister. Because not only am I the God of all the elements, I'm also the God of all the people upon the earth. And I care about them. And through you, Abraham, I caret enough about you to save you. I caret enough about the daughters of Onita to bring them home to me. And whether it's a, if it be so or a but if not, I care about all of my children. And through your ministry, you can help them all come to know me as you have come to know me." So Abraham, just like I said to Enic, "Walk with me. Walk with me to this new promised land where we'll begin again." In verse 8, "My name is Jehovah." Again, introducing himself. And I know the end from the beginning. I know what you've left behind. I know what you're starting anew. "Therefore, my hand shall be overt thee." Verse 9, "I will make of thee a great nation. I will bless thee above measure. I'll make thy name great among all nations. And thou shall be a blessing unto thy seed after thee, that in their hands they shall bear this ministry and priesthood unto all nations." Now there we see the second P of these Abrahamic promises. That's the P of priesthood. And that's a broad umbrella because it includes everything that goes underneath it. It's Abraham, I will give you priesthood and all that it entails. Greater happiness and peace and rest. Greater knowledge and righteousness. The ability to gain revelations and commandments not a few. "I will make of you a minister. You will bear this ministry and priesthood unto all nations. Then verse 10, "I will bless them through thy name." So it's less about you and more about them. I said, "I'd bless you above measure. I wouldn't bless you above other people. I care about them all." Okay? That's why you're supposed to be a blessing to them. "For as many as receive this gospel, shall be called after thy name, and shall be accounted thy seed, and shall rise up and bless thee as their father." Now already we're seeing then that they can be adopted into the family. This father of many nations. Well as soon as they hear your message and accept it, they are adopted into that family. They will be accounted your seed. Now here's a question that's probably on Abraham's mind. It definitely will be later. So is this seed only symbolic then? Are you only referring to those who follow my teachings, who accept the fathers as I did? Or will I be a father more literally to some of them? I was going to make that crystal clear in the next verse. Verse 11, "I will bless them that bless thee and curse them that curse thee, and in the parentheses that is in thy priesthood." And in thy seed, and then again in parentheses, that is thy priesthood. Now pause for a second. Interesting that he would do that. You, Abraham. Well I mean you're priesthood. In your posterity, you're see. I mean you're priesthood. Now you see what he's doing? Now we've been corrected in terms of our church lingo not to refer to bearers of the priesthood as the priesthood. In sacramenting, we're not supposed to say, "Oh and we'd like to thank the priesthood for helping us renew our covenant." No, it's thank the bearers of the Aaronic priesthood for helping with that. It's not the priesthood and the release of society. No, it's the elders' quorum and the release of society. It's bearers of the priesthood. They aren't the priesthood itself. But I do love what God is doing here with Abraham as if to say, "Abraham, this isn't about you or about your posterity." It's about what you can do for the rest of the world. I mean he said that by him, "Berst them. I will bless them through thy name. It's less about you. It's more about them." So Abraham, I forgot you. It's priesthood. And you're poster it. I forget about that. It's their priesthood. It's the fact that I can use them to bless the rest of the world. We talked about this last year whenever we talked about priesthood. It's always about the recipients of its ordinances, not about the holder of that authority. I have laid my hands on countless people's heads. My head is not numbered among them. I have never blessed myself. I can't. And the purpose of priesthood is always for other people. So I love that God is establishing that very clearly for Abraham from the start. In thee, I mean your priesthood. In your posterity. I mean in the priesthood. It's God's power throughout all of this. But then he goes on. For I give unto thee a promise that this right shall continue in thee and in thy seed after thee. Now he keeps talking about that. But again, are we just talking symbolically those who accept the gospel and are adopted into my family? That's going to be wane on him later when no literal seed seems to be forthcoming. And that's why this next parenthetical insertion is so key. It's tricky to read Abraham 2 verse 11 because there's so many interruptions with these parentheses. This one needs to stop us in our tracks though. So he says in thy seed after thee, parentheses. That is to say the literal seed or the seed of the body close parentheses. So yes, Abraham, you will have flesh and blood posterity. And through that seed, that literal seed of the body shall all the families of the earth be blessed, even with the blessings of the gospel, which are the blessings of salvation, even of life eternal. You will be a literal father. And through you all humanity can receive the blessings of the fathers as soon as their hearts turn in the right direction. Now with those parentheses, like we've already discussed, we see the importance of priesthood. We see the importance of literal posterity. And with that, we see the third p of the Abrahamic covenant. And that p is posterity. Some symbolic, those who join the family of the faith, and some literal, the literal seed of Abraham's body. And that third p in some ways should be the first one. If we were to quick review the three p's of the Abrahamic covenant chronologically, it was promised land and then priesthood and then posterity. But but logically, the most important one is posterity because what good is the promised land if you don't have anyone to pass it on to? In fact, again, what good is priesthood if it's if it's blessings stop with you? There have to be those to pass these blessings on to. So in many ways, the whole Abrahamic covenant revolves around that all-important p, posterity, seed. By the way, we will see these promises renewed on Isaac. We'll see it renewed on Jacob. We'll see it renewed upon the whole of the house of Israel. I sometimes ask my students, when are those promises renewed upon us personally? And usually they'll say, "Well, baptism, right? That's when we make our own covenants with God." And so these blessings are renewed personally upon us. They'll say, "Well, good, good guess, but not quite. Yes, our baptismal covenants connect us to Christ, connect us to the family of the faithful." But in terms of the specific piece of the Abrahamic covenant, those are not renewed upon us personally until we are sealed in the temple. It's not baptism, it's not even endowment, it's temple sealant. It's not until we find our Sarah Abraham. It's not until we have find our, we have to find our Eve, Adam. So go look for your missing rib. It's only then that we can step into this kind of relationship with God because it's only then that we're most like Him, okay? Let most like our Heavenly Parents. Now think of it along these lines. So same three piece. There's posterity, there's promised land, and there's priesthood. And when I am sealed in the temple, and God can promise to me, I'm to my wife directly, the blessings of Abraham, and of Isaac, and of Jacob, the kinds of covenant promises God has made. Think about that first one. It's only through the ceiling that we can have the promise of eternal increase. Posterity, we'll see it later clarified as the sands of the sea and the stars of heaven. The only way that's possible is exaltation, a life not just with God, but a life like God's. And the only way to do that is through a temple ceiling. So that's where we receive the promise of posterity. Second one, promised land. Well, the highest degree of the celestial kingdom, that is the ultimate promised land. And that's only attainable through a temple ceiling. Third priesthood and all that it entails, well, it's only when we are sealed in the temple that we can emerge into this highest order of priesthood, namely a patriarchal priesthood, which requires a matriarchal priesthood right alongside. To rule with, as we talked about, to understand then when I am sealed in the temple, the blessings of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, that this patriarchal order, I have stepped into the promises God made to the fathers. Now that I have the promise of becoming a father or mother of faithfulness ourselves, I hope this is making sense. It's kind of mind blowing. We are born in the covenant that parents have made, or we are adopted into the house when we make covenants ourselves, but in terms of the Abrahamic covenant. And I hope this doesn't trouble or hurt anyone who has not yet made those promises. Through no fault of your own, as Joseph Smith and so many other prophets have reiterated, no promised blessing will be withheld you if you'll simply live a faithful life. If you are still single and are still waiting for that personal renewal of the Abrahamic covenant, whether you were born in or adopted in through your own belief, the blessings are still promised you. They are assured you and the day will come if you'll simply keep the gospel, keep the faith, keep your covenants that all those other blessings will come, including a personal renewal of the Abrahamic covenant. With all the posterity and promise land and priest of the blessings you could imagine. That is all inherent in the temple ceiling. It's all inherent in what we're seeing here in Scripture. And then one other detail, because again, if the water stops with you instead of getting to the end of the row, then we have damned ourselves, or at least damned the process. We've kinked the hose. And if there's one thing I know about God is that he doesn't send much water through a kink hose. It's not meant to just to bless and stop with you. It's meant to bless humanity. If you reread Abraham 2 verse 11 and take away all of those parentheses, avoid the interruptions, what do we see? In the and in thy seed shall all the families of the earth be blessed. Now that is such a powerful promise. I remember when I was living in Tennessee and it was during the Mitt Romney campaign, and people were all confused or curious about the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. And as a student at the Divinity School at Vanderbilt, everyone wanted, "Oh, there's a lot of these saints there. We can ask him." And so I was interviewed by radio and newspapers and went around to other churches to try to explain what the church was all about and so on. And I remember this one newspaper journalist. He said, "You know, one of the things that kind of rubs people wrong is from what I understand, you Latter-day Saints claim to be the only church." And I said, "Yeah, I am well aware of it." But don't you remember what God said to Abraham? And I quoted this verse. There's a version in the book of Genesis that's very similar to what we see here in Abraham chapter 2. That in thee shall all the families of the earth be blessed. And I pointed out to this newspaper reporter, in thee, or in thee and in thy seed, is a very exclusive statement. Abraham, I'm choosing you. This is going to be a chosen people. And Judaism talks about a chosen people. And Christianity talks about a chosen people. It all starts there with Abraham in thee. But then how does the verse end? "Shall all the families of the earth be blessed?" You know me. I'm always talking about proving countries. Well, this is an important one. And it is exclusivity and inclusivity. Society seems to have emerged from a time period where it was all exclusivity and no inclusivity. But as is typically the case, instead of correcting the problem, we have overcorrected the problem. And now it's all about inclusivity without a nod to exclusivity at all. And unfortunately, if you completely eliminate the exclusivity side, you've eliminated your own identity and your own sense of purpose. The inclusivity, we want to bless everyone. But without the exclusivity, I don't really have anything unique to offer you. Even when you think about defining things or defining people, define FIN, finish the end of something. It's your limit. We define things by saying, "This is what it is as opposed to other things that it isn't." And you need to see the limits. I have a physical body and these are the limits of it. That I don't just kind of bleed off into the ether. I'm an individual. I have an identity. And with that, I have something, some way to define myself, but also something to offer those that aren't me. This is making sense. Without the exclusivity, I have nothing to give. But without the inclusivity, I'll never end up giving it. And that's why we have to prove this contrary. And I love that Abraham gets it from the very beginning. And I'm choosing you because you chose me. You were faithful and virtuous against the odds back in the ear of the Caldys. And because you chose me, I am choosing you. There's the exclusivity. But what am I choosing you to do? Go choose everyone else. I'm making you a minister. Bear these blessings to all the people of the earth in thee and in thy seed, exclusivity. Shall all the families of the earth be blessed, radical inclusivity. There's not a single person left out of that. We talked about it before with proclaiming the gospel. I'm covering all the living. And with redeem the dead, I'm covering all those who've already passed on. There's not a single child of God that's ever lived or ever will that falls outside the umbrella of the threefold mission of the church. But falls outside the redeeming reach of the gospel of Jesus Christ and the church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. If I weren't inclusive, I would be ashamed of my exclusivity. But because I will do everything in my power to include all of humanity and the blessings God has offered me, remember that was Abraham from the start. It's not just about me. I want to be ordained to be able to administer these blessings to everyone else. Now wonder God picked him. He was already in the mode of wanting to pick everyone else. That's key. And so as I tried to explain all this to this poor newspaper reporter, it was being bombarded with proving countries where only exclusive in order to be inclusive. And that's true of chosen people throughout scripture. Honestly, maybe can I say this as bluntly as I can. The moment we stop choosing everyone else is the moment we stop being chosen ourselves. God has only chosen us because we chose him and he's only chosen us in order for us to choose for everyone else to be chosen as well. We're the chosen because we're the choosers. And we're choosing them to be choosers themselves choosers of God and choosers of others choosing to keep the first great commandment, the vertical one choosing to keep the second great commandment, the horizontal one. That is what taking up our cross is for vertical horizontal. It's being a missionary. It is sharing the gospel. It's going to the temple. It's redeeming the dead. It's living the gospel of Jesus Christ. It's keeping our end of the Abrahamic covenant. Unkinking the hose and making sure the water gets to the end of the row, the living water of Jesus Christ. So I make a sense, I sure hope so. You have nothing to be ashamed of for your exclusivity as long as you balance it with inclusivity, just as God said with Abraham. Now keep going in verse 12. Now after the Lord had withdrawn from speaking to me and withdrawn his face from me. He wants to talk about a truly anthropomorphic God. This isn't just some kind of feeling that he has. This is the Lord appearing speaking his face face to face. Once the Lord withdraws Abraham said in his heart, "By servant has sought thee earnestly. Now I have found thee." I love that language. The verbs are incredible. "Sought and found?" We know that. I seek and ye shall find and here Abraham is living it. But not just the verbs, how about the adverb? It's not just that he sought. He sought earnestly. And I think if we're having a hard time finding something, perhaps it's not the verb we lack but the adverb. Maybe we need to be a little bit more earnest in those endeavors. In verse 13, Abraham continues, "Thou didst send thine angel to deliver me from the gods of al-Quna, and I will do well to harken unto thy voice. Therefore let thy servant rise up into pardon peace." Don't you love that? That realization on his part? You're the one that delivered me. Yeah, I think it's in my best interest to follow your counsel or your commandments. I will do well to harken to thy voice. I hope we've had enough experiences with God to trust him and to be able to say not just a fine al-Obey but a realization of, wow, I would do well to do that. This is the best way to gain greater happiness and peace and rest. These are the life hacks, the cheat codes, and gay. This is God telling me to follow. I want to be crowned with those commandments not a few. Verse 14, "So I Abraham departed as the Lord had said unto me, and lot with me, and I Abraham was sixty and two years old when I departed out of Haran." Now as we'll find out next week, Abraham is one hundred when Isaac is finally born, that literal seed of Abraham and Sarah. And here he's what? Only sixty-two. So thirty-eight more years until this promise is kept. Oh, for any of you who are still weighed in. Some maybe even more than thirty-eight years. Look to these rocks that we're human from and see the patience and faith that carry Abraham and Sarah through a very long delay in promised blessings. They will come. Now back in verse 15, "I took Sarai, whom I took to wife when I was in her in Caldria, and lot my brother son, and all our substance that we had gathered, and the souls that we had won in Haran." So his ministry has already begun. He's already adopting people into the family by sharing the gospel with them. That's the family business. I think it was an elder Bednar's second talk as an apostle. He said that, "Missionary work isn't just what we do; it's what we are. It's not just our work; it's our glory. It's who we have been sent to earth to be. And therefore the mission we're sent to accomplish. We are the seed of Abraham, and through that seed must all the families of the earth be blessed. And here's Abraham already doing it, already winning souls, and bringing them out of that wicked world into a promised land that he hasn't even yet discovered." I'll talk about a great example to follow. So the verse ends, "They came forth in the way to the land of Canaan, and dwelt in tents as we came on our way." Now living under tents might not sound like much, but read verse 16, "Therefore eternity was our covering, and our rock and our salvation, as we journeyed from Haran by the way of Jershan to come to the land of Canaan." As long as it's not raining, some of my favorite camping experiences is when there's no rain fly, and my tent is open to the covering of eternity. That's going to be the life and experience of Abraham and Sarah and their posterity. That I may only have a tent to cover me, but really, I don't need anything more substantial than that, because I have eternity itself. Look up and see those stars, and be reminded of all the promises that God has made to you. I love that He also calls eternity His rock and His salvation. Back with Enic, he saw that the rock beneath him was as wide as eternity. Well, here's now eternity above us. Oh, rock below, eternity above, either way it is just that broad. And like we can't roll off the bed, we can't come out from underneath the radini and reach of God's divine umbrella. It's incredible what Abraham and Sarah are learning here. And as evidence that they've learned a lesson, look at verse 17. Now, I Abraham built an altar in the land of Jershaw. Now, keep an eye out for altars throughout Abraham's experience. Here's the first thing that we see. I made an offering unto the Lord, and prayed that the famine might be turned away from my father's house, that they might not perish. So again, he's still thinking of others. Even those that had hurt him, they their struggles soften their heart, but not destroy them. Please abate the famine. In verse 18, he travels to the land of Canaan, and as soon as he gets there, I offered sacrifice there in the plains of Mora. And called on the Lord, here's another adverb, devoutly, because we had already come into the land of this idolatrous nation. So he'd left one land of idolatry just to come into another one? Wait a minute, I thought this was promised land. Well, it is. There's just some cleanup that has to be done. Remember, it's not just that Zion will be brought, Zion has to be built. So we've got to start somewhere. And Abraham, I'm starting with you. So go and help cry repentance. Go call upon them just as you did back in Harang. Win souls to me. Adopt them into the family. And with that in mind, no wonder Abraham is building an altar again and offering sacrifice again. I'm starting this mission. I'm going to need all the help that I can get. It's like what we saw with Enic when God promised that you won't be pierced again more than just physical persecution, but you won't be pierced ideologically by their false gods or false ideas. You won't be pierced emotionally by those that will not listen to you. Same blessings needed here for Abraham. And so let me build an altar to ground myself, to fix myself in solid soil so that as I go into the world, I won't become of the world. You get a sense of Abraham establishing his priorities here, stone by stone creating this altar. I remember reading when Mary and G. Romney was heading off to law school and beginning his legal practice. His family was so concerned that he was, oh, you're going to be a lawyer? Well, you've heard all those stereotypical lawyer jokes, right? How is your ethics going to turn out or your morality? Well, your standards be an Elder Romney decided knowing what he was up against that he would spend the first half an hour at the office every day. He'd get there early and before the work they began, he would spend a solid half an hour studying the Book of Mormon. And he said, that's what got him through his years of legal practice. I remember my brother in law as he was starting school at Harvard knowing what he was up against. He set a standard for himself. He built himself his own little altar metaphorically. I will sacrifice time every day and time every week for personal scripture study for church attendance and magnifying of a calling and I will do whatever it takes to sacrifice a part of myself now that I'm entering into this, this idolatrous nation, no offense Harvard. It's just true of higher education or in the world in any way. If you don't want to become of the world as you head into it, you better have an altar nearby. You have better, you better have decided on certain things that you will sacrifice, whether it's the promises of the world or it's, it's promises of posterity or prestige or position, sacrificing a portion of your time to make sure that you are grounded in the gospel. You're altar fixed in stone. That's what Abraham is doing from the very beginning. Now, verse 19, "The Lord appeared unto me in answer to my prayers, so another round of revelation, another personal experience with beauty. And he said unto me unto thy seed, will I give this land?" So we're time together, the peas of the Abrahamic promise again. I seed posterity, this land of promise and again priesthood is going to tie it all together throughout the generations. Verse 20, "I Abraham arose from the place of the altar which I had built unto the Lord, and I removed from vents unto a mountain on the east of Bethel and pitched my tent there. Bethel on the west and I on the east, and there I built another altar unto the Lord. And called again upon the name of the Lord. Now, I told you, keep an eye out for altars in Abraham's experience. Because honestly, it seems like no matter where he goes, one of the first things he does is build an altar there. I need a place to connect with God. And the further I get in the world, the more I need to be, oh, staunchly opposed to being of it. And so I'm going to need an altar ever closer. I remember a wise bishop of ours in Tennessee that always used to talk about running to the temple and how grateful he was when the Nashville temple was built that he didn't have to run to Atlanta anymore. It was a lot closer trip to be able to run to the temple whenever he needed that spiritual strength. I'd love that sense with Abraham that no matter where I go, I want an altar present, I want one close. And again, the symbolism of that altar, it is gospel ground. In some ways, it's a mini mountain of the Lord. If you stack stones together in a way, aren't you creating a mini mountain? And if mountain of the Lord is our temple site, then here the altar, the site of sacrifice. It is grounded. It is embedded. The wise man built his house upon the rock. I mean, just kind of let your mind go wild as far as the symbolism of an altar. And so to see this outcropping of bedrock, the earth, the land emerging from the sea of chaos. Here's this altar, this mini mountain. Here's this gospel ground that I'm fixing at the center of my life. I love that. There's one other detail here when he's very specific as far as his geography. I built this altar. I pitched my new tent and Bethel was on my west and I was on my east. Now, we're going to find out later just how important Bethel is, especially when we learned about Jacob's ladder. Bethel, the word itself means house, the fate of God. So there's some temple symbolism also. And Jacob's ladder will offer us that same symbol. But to think of Bethel on the west and then I on the east, I means ruin or heap of ruins. And again, I love this symbolism of imagine yourself in the middle, this valley with two mountains on the side, so to speak. We'll see that image later on in the Old Testament also. But here you are, pitched your tent with choices to make all around you. And on one side is the house of God, whereas the other side is this heap of ruin. In fact, the directions are interesting. Bethel's on the west. Remember with the fall of Adam and Eve, they went east of Eden. That great Steinbeck novel. Remember Cain that went to the east, further east of Eden. And so if we hope to get back to the tree of life, if we hope to get back to the presence of God, what do we have to do? We have to go west and up. Hmm, that's exactly what Abraham would have to do. Here I am, this place of altar, this site of sacrifice. And my choice from this moment forward is to head westward and upward. Bethel is my destination. Because the other option is ruin. And here we are, caught between these two poles. Light and darkness. God and Maman, Zion, Babylon, Bethel, I take your pick, my friends. Will we ascend the hill of the Lord? Whatever, we're going to sacrifice something to one decide or the other. And we are deciding where our allegiances will lie. Personally, I hope that we are choosing to go towards the house of God and away from a ruined world. We are fallen, don't fall further. Start the Ascent back to the Atonement. And then chapter 2 ends with this strange little story about Abraham and Sarah as they're headed down to Egypt. Remember, there's famine. You go to Egypt. I'm asked Joseph about that, right? As they're making this sojourn, there's this really strange story. It's in Abraham 2, the very last few verses, and it's in Genesis 12. In some way, it weighs. Abraham 2 is the inspired version of Genesis 12. It's not the JST per se because this was revelation that came through the Egyptian papyri that Joseph had. The book of Abraham is different from the book of Moses when it comes to that. The book of Moses, as you recall, is the Joseph's translation of the first chapters of Genesis? I wouldn't call Abraham 2 the JST of Genesis 12, but it's about as close as you can get. This is an inspired version of the kinds of things we see in Genesis 12, including the Abrahamic covenant, and including this strange story that you get at the end. Now, let me just summarize it for you because there's not a whole lot of language per se that we have to parse to get insight. At least not that I've seen. The story is this. As Abraham and Sarah, or in this case, still Abraham and Sarai, are headed down to Egypt, Abraham realizes, "Uh-oh, Sarah, you're beautiful, and unfortunately, I don't think I'm the only person that's going to recognize that." And so, as we head down into Egypt, here's the problem. Egyptians seem to have a problem with adultery, but they don't seem to have a problem with murder. Yikes. And so, if we go in and they know that you're my wife, they will want to take you into Pharaoh's harem. They won't do that if it's adultery, but they don't have any qualms about killing me to be able to then, "Oh, you're free, look, you're a widow, and I'll take care of you in the royal court, and that way they will bring you into the royal harem." So, here's the plan, honey. Will you please tell them that we're brother and sister instead of husband and wife? If anyone asks us, that's what we're going to say, "Brother sister." Because then, they're not in danger. Then they won't kill me to take you. Well, that sounds like an interesting solution. By the way, this technically isn't dishonest. There's some loopholes here. Because in the ancient world, and we'll see this later with Abraham and Lot, sister or brother was a far broader encompassing word. That if you were related, you could call them brother or sister. I always laugh at my wife because she always says, "Oh, our next door neighbor, and it's somebody that lives down the street." And I'm always like, "Honey, that's in the neighborhood, but it's not our next door neighbor." It's all the same thing. Actually, that's why we call it next door. It's really specific. We only have two next door neighbors. She's like, "Whatever." Well, she would have been a good ancient Hebrew. Because it's like brother, sister, next door neighbor. It's encompassing. If you're in the neighborhood, as far as I'm concerned, you're our next door neighbor. That's how much my wife loves people. They love her too. But in this case, "Oh, we're all brothers and sisters, aren't we?" And for Abraham and Sarah to say, "Well, brother, sister, close enough." They actually are related even before, even outside of the marriage covenant. They were related in other ways than that. So, they're trying to use this flexibility and the language for Abraham to protect himself. Now, we're going to see next week. It happens a second time, unfortunately. But this first one is fascinating thanks to something we see in Abraham 2 that we don't see in Genesis 12. Now, I just summarized the story. And that basic outline is the same in both places. But there is a major revision in the Abraham 2 account. Because in Genesis 12, it's Abraham's idea. In Abraham 2, it's God's idea. In Abraham 2, it's the Lord that says to Abraham, "Abraham, I have blessed you with an incredible wife. But that's going to put you in danger when you enter Egypt." And so, I am commanding you, tell Sarah to say that she is your sister instead of your wife. And that way you will survive. Now, what difference does that make? Well, a huge one if you really think about it. Because on the one hand, yes, Abraham will be safe. But what does that mean for Sarah? Because for Sarah to say, "Oh, this is just my brother. Oh, great. He'll live." But what's my future? I'm dragged away from my husband and brought into Pharaoh's harem to become one of his concubines. Wait a minute. Yes, Abraham gets to keep his physical life. But am I lose being asked to lose my spiritual life? His life is an endanger, but my virtue is my chastity because I am married. And if I'm taken into Pharaoh's harem to become a concubine of his, then I am laying on my own altar. That which is of most precious to me, as the Book of Mormon says, even your chastity and virtue. Well, what on earth is God doing here? Well, as the story unfolds in the Book of Genesis, since the story is cut short in the Book of Abraham, and you don't know what happens. In the Genesis account, as soon as he gets there, and Pharaoh is like, "Oh, wow. Who is this beautiful woman that I desire to take into my household?" And it's Sarah. I'm his sister. Oh, wonderful. Well, your mind now, thank you. And in fact, as dowry, I will give Abraham, "Oh, cattle and camels and riches and wealth beyond anything he's had before. I will bless him. And I will take you." Well, Sarah is brought into Pharaoh's harem, and Pharaoh is unable to do anything to consummate the marriage. God curses Pharaoh with plagues until he's like, "What is going on? Something's wrong here. I'm being cursed for some kind of wickedness. I can't think of anything I've done wrong." And as he's kind of exploring the options, and what could I possibly have done that is against God's will that he's punishing me for? That's when he discovers that he's been tricked, and that Abraham and Sarah are husband and wife, not brother and sister. And Genesis 12, Pharaoh asks Abraham, "Why say it's thou, she is my sister. So I might have taken her to me to wife." He's like, "What were you thinking, Abraham? I could have committed adultery. I was about to. No wonder God plagued me for as sin I was about to commit. But I didn't commit it. And nor would I. And so here is your wife back." He says, "Now therefore behold thy wife, take her, go thy way, and Pharaoh commanded his men concerning him, and they sent him away, and his wife, and all that he had." Now we start to see a couple of differences unfold. First off, if Abraham had just come in and tried to defend himself and said, "No, this is my wife. You can't do anything against her." Well, Pharaoh definitely outnumbers and outmans Abraham. And he could easily kill Abraham and take Sarah if that's what he wanted. Instead, by bringing her in and not only preserving Abraham's life, but enriching him, that puts Sarah in a tough situation, but she's protected, and in the process Pharaoh comes to know, not just Abraham and Sarah, but Abraham and Sarah's God. He comes to know God directly and sees that, "Whoa, these strangers, these wanderers coming into my kingdom, have divine protection." Wow. Now there's something about this couple and something about their God that he would reveal himself to me in order to protect them. There's something here. Does this open the door for Abraham to be able to give this Egyptian astronomy lesson? It definitely opens the door for him to start moving in the direction of the prosperity God had promised him. It's interesting that when God asks us to make a sacrifice, he's actually asking for an investment in our own future. That's not much of a sacrifice. When the returns on the investment are sky high, interesting to think what God is doing here. Abraham, I'm trying to move you forward. Even when I'm asking you to do something that's counterintuitive, there's something else to this Abrahamic sacrifice also. We will see next week very clearly that God has asked Abraham to lay Isaac on the altar. But do you see the incredible difference when God commands Abraham and Sarah to say that your brother and sister instead of husband and wife? Knowing full well what this is going to mean, Abraham, I'm asking you to sacrifice your wife. Just like I will ask you to sacrifice your son. Talk about a gut wrenching situation. In order to have seed, the central promise of the Abrahamic covenant, you have to have at least two things. You have to have a wife and you have to have a child. Well, next week we will see him sacrifice child. Today we see him sacrifice spouse. Putting it all on the line, putting it all on the altar. Abraham, do you trust me that seed, literal seed can come through you? Even if I ask you to sacrifice that only son. And now if I ask you to sacrifice your own spouse, how much do you trust me? And this time it's a dual sacrifice because just as Abraham is being asked to sacrifice his wife, Sarah is asked to sacrifice her virtue. That which Abraham refused to give up, that which the daughters of O'Nida refused to give up. And yet now, Sarah is being asked to offer that on her own altar, not a lion couch this time, but Pharaoh's bed. She's being put in a horrible situation. And if it was just Abraham's idea, like it is according to the genesis version, then what does it make Abraham seem? This scared spouse that's using his wife as a human shield. Oh honey, please, please, I'm afraid. I don't want them to kill me. So please, will you offer your your your cast to your virtue as a sacrifice for my life? We'll see in a moment that that is not Abraham's personality. So I can't I find it hard to believe the genesis version just based on that alone, but especially once we see the Abrahamic version that it is God asking for sacrifices. And just like we'll see next week, it is God's stain, the hand. It's amazing. Abraham offer your wife. You will not lose her. Sarah, offer your virtue. You will not lose that either. Trust me. Eternity is your covering. I will be with thee. And if you will follow me even into Pharaoh's court, you'll come out unscathed. Your sacrifice will bring an eternal reward. And that's exactly what happens. This is a family who gets tested from every imaginable angle. And they always seem to pass. I hope the same can be said of you in me. Now that's the end of Genesis 12. And the end of Abraham 2, which then leads to Abraham 3, 4, 5 with the astronomy lesson and the creation accounts and so on. When Abraham and Sarah's time in Egypt ends though. And they return to the land that God had already promised though. There we pick up the story in Genesis chapter 13. And for the rest of what we'll see today, 13, 14, 15, 16, 17, those five chapters, each chapter includes a beautiful account. Some story that helps exemplify the ways that Abraham has been tested and the way he's passing those tests. As God moves him ever closer to the fulfillment of the promises he's given in them years and years before. Now Genesis 13 is a story about Abraham and locked. Again, his name's not yet Abraham. I'm sorry if I keep, if I'm confusing you. But Abraham and locked. Remember this. It's his nephew. He calls him his brother on occasion. Again, if your wife's your sister, then your nephew can be your brother. It's all close enough. Anyway, Abraham returns to Canaan. In fact, he goes back to that same spot where he pitched his tent and built his altar between Bethel and I. Verse 4 says, "He went unto the place of the altar." That's his focal point, which he had made there at the first and there, Abraham called on the name of the Lord. I'm back. First place I want to go is my temple, my mini mountain of the Lord. Go to the altar. Call upon the name of God. I'm returning to your land of promise. Having lived your promises even in enemy territory. What would you have me do from here? In verses 5 through 7 of chapter 13, you get some issues between, well, this is work. Like I said, the sacrifice is actually an investment. Well, in a way, maybe the blessing is a curse. Abraham gets blessed so much. Pharaoh gave him the down payment on the blessings that God had promised. But there's so much prosperity that Abraham is receiving. And Lot, being connected to the covenant keeper, is being prospered and blessed right alongside him. So here you have Abraham and his nephew Lot, and they're both becoming very wealthy in terms of their flocks and their herds. To the point that those flocks and herds start kind of getting too big for the territory that they're sharing. Kind of this land ain't big enough for the both of us sort of a thing. Now, the problems aren't between Abraham and Lot, per se, but they are between their herdsmen. And of course that trickles up. And so when Abraham hears about this and realizes, well, there's some conflict between our shepherds. He says to Lot in verse 8, "Let there be no strife, I pray thee, between me and thee, between my herdsmen and thy herdsmen, for we be brethren. Get this sense of treating family like family? Let there be no strife between brethren. Even if it's a few steps removed, your people and my people." "Can there be no contention between us?" Abraham considers Lot a brother, and Abraham considers himself his brother's keeper as we all should. So what are we going to do about this? Abraham's plan is an incredible one. It's an incredible one of self-sacrifice, because he says to Lot in verse 9, "Is not the whole land before thee, so separate thyself, I pray thee from me." Now that could sound a little harsh, like, "Hey, we got all this territory, could you just leave?" No, he's saying, "Look at all the space we have around us. Let's separate, but guess what? Little nephew, I'll give you first choice." He says, "If thou will take the left hand, then I will go to the right, or if thou depart to the right hand, then I will go to the left." Now what's amazing about that is this is the Abrahamic covenant. I don't even know what the adjective for Lot would be. A Lotite or Lotic covenant? There isn't one, okay? The whole land belongs to Abraham. And yet what's he saying? Lot, I am more than willing to share it with you. Now I often told my kids the best way to share is for one person, if there's two people trying to divide a cookie, for example, is one person cuts the cookie in half, and the other gets to pick which half there is theirs. You see, if the same person who cuts gets to choose, then it's really easy to make a big one and a little one, and then you pick the big one. But if I know the other person is going to choose, then I'm going to try to divide it as evenly as possible. Well, it's amazing about Abraham. It's like, "I'll let you pick. I'll let you divide." I mean, you want right hand, left hand, that's pretty vague, okay? What part of the territory would you prefer? Little Lot. I'll let you choose it. And what's interesting about Lot, if it were me, and I saw just how generous and magnanimous my uncle was being, it all belongs to him, and he's going to share with me. Wow, if he let me cut the cookie and pick the part, I would make a big side and a little side, and I would take the little side to make it as obvious as I can that you're the one being generous. You should be eating the entire cookie, and if there's any crumbs left, they still belong to you. But what's interesting about Lot, what he does, this says, something about his personality as opposed to Abraham's. Verse 10, "Lot lifted up his eyes and beheld all the plain of Jordan that it was well-watered everywhere before the Lord destroyed Sodom and Gomorrah, even as the garden of the Lord. Like the land of Egypt as thou comest unto Zor." Now, what Lot is looking at there is the good side. It is the well-watered Jordan River Valley. It's the eastern side of the Jordan. It's Jordan versus Israel today. And it's such a better territory. A well-watered plain, it's compared to the garden of the Lord. It's like this is Eden 2.0. He compares it to Egypt with its flooding nile, bringing the wealth and riches of the earth to the point that Pharaoh can enrich Abraham to begin with. Now, what's amazing is when Lot sees all that, lifts up his eyes and looks around and says, "Well, I know it half of the cookie I want. I want that side." And amazingly, Abraham lets him take it. Again, that says something negative about Lot, but something incredibly positive about Abraham. I have often called it being big enough to be small. Are we big enough to be small? Or if you want it to rhyme, you could say, "It's not fair, but I don't care." And are we big enough to say that? That I was the one trying to be kind. And you kind of used me. Well, oh well. That's okay. God will continue to bless me, and I hope he continues to bless you too. And that's the attitude of Abraham. It's incredible. Now, wonder, he can be trusted to be the father of the faithful. He cares more about others than he cares about himself. He will never kink his hose. It's all about getting the water out to the end of the row. God has chosen the right person to be exclusive with since that person will always be inclusive of others. And to be honest, what's amazing about this? Just like this act of self-sacrifice in Egypt ended up being a blessing to Abraham and to Sarah. This one would be as well. Not so much that he's stuck in the rocky hillsides of Judea. I always chuckle that of all the Middle East. The one part that doesn't have oil is also the part that's most fought over. Talk about ironic. Israel doesn't have all of the natural resources that the rest of the Middle East seems to have. But it's the territory that is most fought over to this day by the posterity of Abraham. They're taking that promise land seriously. Even though it doesn't seem very promising economically speaking, well, Abraham didn't care so much. So, in fact, there's that same irony. The fact that this promised land that was all promised to Abraham and to his seed forever, he was willing to part with, part of it at least, to keep the peace with his brother, his nephew. I do wish that the Israelis and Palestinians, having spent five months in Israel as a college student and falling in love with that part of the world and recognizing the humanity in both sides. I made Israeli friends. I made Palestinian friends. I saw Israel. I saw the West Bank. We saw it all. And whether it's the Palestinians or the Israelis, whether it's the Muslims or the Jews. Both sides claiming Abraham as their father. I wish they could take a page from Father Abraham's book. And which side would you want? Take it. May there not be strife between brethren. Sad, sad irony that a land that Abraham was willing to share is being fought over by descendants who are unwilling to. We've lost something since then. But like I said, it ended up being a blessing to Abraham. Sacrifices always are. In this case, not what he gained, but what he didn't lose. Because it's hinted at in that verse when a lot is looking around. Has this place is amazing. And what he focuses on, it's like Eden. It's like Egypt. Well, Egypt was good and bad, good economically, not so good spiritually. And what else do you like in it too? Oh, this is like that incredible garden of God before the Lord destroyed Sodom and Gomorrah. Since Sodom and Gomorrah were down in the Jordan River Valley also. I mean, you want to build a place of worldly prosperity. Well, it's a good place to do it. And that's exactly what Sodom and Gomorrah were all about. We'll see later what happens with Sodom and Gomorrah as far as lot is concerned. But by allowing lot to choose and by being content with the lesser part. It helped him avoid the kinds of challenges. Maybe that was part of setting that altar there. God, I'm willing to make sacrifices. I'm coming into the world. Please keep me from becoming of it. Okay, I will. If you'll simply trust me, be big enough to be small and let somebody else take what they think is the better portion. When in reality, it is putting them dangerously close to Sodom and Gomorrah, to Egypt, to the wrong version of Eden, the shortcut, further downhill, further fallen rather than ascending the hill of the Lord. Abraham, you did the right thing and it's going to put you in a better place. Abraham gets it. According to verse 12, Lot pitches his tent towards Sodom. Talk about the flip side of what's happening in King Benjamin's people, where they are pitching their tent facing the temple or Abraham facing Bethel. Well, here's Lot in what he thought was the superior territory, but his, I'm not in Sodom. I can be close enough to be able to benefit from it. I just go in on the weekends for fun. I can still live here and safe space. Well, careful. It's only a matter of time that facing Sodom will lead you into Sodom. We'll see that today and tomorrow. But meanwhile, as Lot is pitching his tent towards Sodom, notice what's happening with Abraham. Verse 14, "The Lord set unto Abram after that Lot was separated from him. Lift up now, divine eyes." Same phrase that we saw back in verse 10 about Lot. Lot lifted his eyes and was just drawn to the worldly wealth. Now Abraham lift up yours, and I will draw your eyes to the heavenly riches. Lift up now, divine eyes. Look from the place where thou art. Northward and southward and eastward and westward for all the land which thou seest. To thee will I give it, and to thy seed forever." Like I said, "No wonder Isaac's Jews and Ishmael's Muslims are still fighting over it this day." God continues, "I will make thy seed as the dust of the earth." And if you've seen anywhere in the Middle East, there's dust everywhere. And so good object lesson here. So that if a man can number the dust of the earth, then shall thy seed also be numbered. So arise. Walk through the land in the length of it and in the breadth of it, for I will give it unto thee." So what does Abraham do? Verse 18, "The chapter ends, "Abraham removed his tent and came and dwelt in the plain of Mamre, which is in Hebron. And first thing, he built there an altar unto the Lord." God, I trust your promises. In fact, even the way, like I said, like the dust of the earth in the Middle East, surrounded by sand, in the Abraham version there's a great scene when he's going off to Egypt. And it's again deserts and it's nighttime. Abraham makes a point of saying that. This is Abraham 3/14. It was in the nighttime when the Lord spiked these words unto me. "I will multiply thee and thy seed after thee, like unto these," as he's pointing to the stars. "And if thou canst count the number of sands, so shall be the number of thy seeds." I love that God is setting up his lesson with these incredible visual aids. Out in the desert between Israel and Egypt, nothing but dust and sand as far as the eye can see. And at night, with no light pollution, no sun to obscure the stars and look up, you'll see nothing but stars. Look down, you'll see nothing but sand. And Abraham, start counting. Because just as the stars and sands are innumerable unto men, though innumerable to me as we saw from Moses, so shall they posterity be. I mean, if Abraham is a visual learner, it doesn't get much better than that. Now those are the promises. We're seeing the three Ps of the Abrahamic covenant. Here's your promised land. Get on this mountain, look north, south, east, west, it's all yours. We're seeing prosperity, stars of the heaven, sands of the sea. What about priesthood and all those blessings that we're trying to extend? Well, there's going to be some obstacles you need to overcome along the way. And we'll see the first set here in verse, well, we're first set. We've already seen obstacles ever since we met Abraham, right? His very first verse. I had to move. Well, he keeps moving. And in verse chapter 14 of Genesis, we'll see another struggle that he's up against. This is a story I can, I'll try to summarize instead of reading verse by verse. In Abraham 14, it's more of Abraham and Lot, and we'll also meet Melchizedek by the end of the chapter. And that's really important. But first with Abraham and Lot. Now remember, they separate Abraham gets the short end of the stick, Lot gets the better end. But it wasn't just better in his eyes. It was better in a lot of other people's eyes too. And so what's happening during this time period is there had been a coalition of four kingdoms or little city states in Mesopotamia. And they had kind of conquered the world. It always seems to be people coming from in from Mesopotamia, the Caldians, the Babylonians, the Persians, the Assyrians, or Egypt as they're always trying to conquer the world. And poor little israel is caught in between. It's the scrawny kid that's caught between two bullies that are always fighting each other and you get some body blows and some some head punches in between. Well, at this point, this conglomeration of four kingdoms from Mesopotamia have been exacting tribute from five kingdoms throughout this Jordan River Valley and beyond. Well, they're sick of it. It's been 12 years that they've been paying off the bullies further north. And so five of these kingdoms decide, let's rebel. I mean, it's five on four. We can do this. And if we five will unite to fight against those four, we can defend ourselves. Among those five, by the way, are the kings of Sodom and Gomorrah and a few others that are less famous. Well, that was not a very good idea because the five did rebel and ended up getting destroyed by the four. The four were stronger all along. This is a bad bully. And what they ended up doing, and not just continuing to exact tribute, but to exact revenge, they came down and conquered, reconquered all these five kingdoms and ended up carrying their people and their possessions back home with them up north. And so now I've servant comes running and tells Abraham your nephew was caught up in all of that and ended up getting taken captive along with everybody else. See, there's an interesting verse in chapter 14 verse 12. They took lot Abrams brother's son, says nephew, who dwelt in Sodom. So it didn't last long with just pitching the tent towards it. So look at it long enough. The fruit becomes pleasant to the eye. We saw that right. So Sodom, it can't be that bad. And from safe distance within your tent, it becomes unsafe, non-distance and you're dwelling in Sodom itself. So there he was. He dwelt in Sodom and they took lot. They took his goods. They departed. So how is Abraham going to react? If it were me on one of my worst days, I'd probably kind of have this wicked grin and go, well, it serves him right. Since that's what he picked up his end of the stick and he got that into. And don't complain about losing your goods. Since basically all those goods belong to me to begin with. Well, that's me on a bad day. That's not Abraham ever. So verse 14, "When Abraham heard that his brother was taken captive, the servant says, 'It's your brother's son.' Abraham makes it much more close. Now it's my brother. And I am my brother's keeper." So when Abraham heard, here's that his brother is taken captive. He armed his trained servants, born in his own house, 318 and pursued them unto Dan. Well, he's got armed trained servants. 318 in his own house. Yeah, you want to talk about building prosperity. God has been incredibly generous to Abraham. He's souls that he has won. People within this extended metaphorical family. But if it's family, it's family. And we're coming together and we are going to go rescue locked. Now by that time it says they were already, he was pursuing the enemy all the way to Dan. Now hebron is in the southern end of Israel and Dan is at the northern tip of modern day Israel. Depending on how you measure it, this could be 200 miles or more that Abraham is bringing his commando mission. Now actually commando mission probably not the best way to describe it. Because a commando mission would suggest kind of sneak in undercover of darkness and grab lot and then book it back to friendly territory so that you're safe. Kind of an enter enemy lines and then extract to the person that we're trying to save. It didn't end up being that. It was a massive battle. And remember earlier it was five kingdoms, five city states trying to conquer these four and they failed. And here comes Abraham with 318 servants and they kind of divide out into smaller groups and then come charging into the enemy camp. And later on it will call it the slaughter of Cheddar, loam. He's one of the kings of this coalition slaughter. Abraham and his servants were able to do something that five city states, five little kingdoms weren't able to accomplish. You understand now why I would say, using Sarah as a human shield doesn't sound like the character of Abraham. No, I'm not like, oh, honey, please say that you're my wife so that I'm spared from Pharaoh. No, if it were if it were the real Abraham without God telling him to do this, he would be like over my dead body. And I don't care about my dead body. I'm not going to sacrifice my wife. If I'm willing to put my life on the line for my punk nephew who was bigger than his bridges, you better believe I'm going to put my life on the line for my sweet beloved wife. And the wonder it was a test of faith for God to give the commitment to Abraham to sacrifice his wife. Again, there's more reasons point into it that Joseph Smith got it right rather than just the version that we have in Genesis. But Abraham attacks and he, it's a route. In fact, it says that he pursued them all the way to Damascus. So not just chasing them down to Dan, that's where the battle begins, but these enemies are running, you know, flee, run away with their tail between their legs. As Abraham continues to chase them all the way back near Damascus itself. So add to the 200 miles all the other distance to keep chasing them down. Incredible. Again, Abraham's courage, his loyalty, his willingness to put his life on the line to protect a member of his family. Even one that might not fully deserve it. Actually, not only does that sound like God's chosen a good person to be the father of the faithful. But also he's chosen a good one to be a type and shadow of Christ himself. Someone willing, a person of high standing willing to lower himself and then willing to put his life on the line in order to rescue those that put themselves in harm's way to begin with. But doesn't chasing them for it instead goes and saves them and brings them back to try again. It's amazing, Abraham does that. Now by the end of chapter 14, he's returned with the people and the spoils of war. And what's interesting there is he meets two people as he returns to the promised land. And again, if we're looking at foils here, if we're trying to see opposites, whether it's Bethel and I, whether it's Cain and Abel, here it is Salem or Sodom, because two kings come out to meet Abraham. Here comes, but I hailed the conquering hero and he comes with all of their things and here comes the king of Sodom, followed by the king of Salem. Abraham has a choice to make. In verse 17, the king of Sodom went out to meet him after his return from the slaughter of Cheddar Loamer, massive victory, not just some kind of command or rate. Now later you'll see that the king of Sodom says to Abraham, "Give me the persons and take the goods to thyself. So I only want my subjects. I can tax them to death later on, don't worry. I just want my subjects back. I want people to rule over. You can keep all the stuff. Believe me, we'll replace it and then some very shortly." So hold on to all of these riches. That's my payment for you. But Abrams' response is fascinating. He says to the king of Sodom, "I have lift up my hand unto the Lord, the most high God, the possessor of heaven and earth. So lifting up my hands, there's prayers, there's promises. I have made a covenant with my God and here's what it was, that I will not take from a thread even to a shoe latchet, that I will not take anything that is dine, less thou should say, I have made Abram rich." Fascinating statement by Abraham there. Why reject all of the wealth of Sodom? Because I don't want to owe Sodom anything. When he talks about, "I'm not going to take anything from a thread to a shoe latchet." There's something about taking the world's money. It never comes without strings attached. And there's something there about, "No, I don't want those threads, I don't want those strings. If I take your shoe latchets, they might end up moving my feet towards Sodom like they did for my porn nephew." Next we'll got him into this mess to begin with. So no threads, no shoe latchets, no owing you anything. I don't want the world to deserve any of the credit for what I have been given by God, because only God deserves the credit for what he's made of me. It's so beautiful how clearly Abraham sees all of this. And so he reckoned, I see the same thing in the church by the way. It's amazing how often the church refuses to take government assistance about things, or the church schools won't receive government federal funding on things. Why? Because there are strings attached. And we don't want it to have to follow the world's rules in order to keep the world's offerings. There's an interesting verse in the doctrine of Covenants that speaks of Zion being independent above any other earthly entity. And that's what the church of Jesus Christ is. It's amazing that we are independent, and independent above. It's an incredible thing. And to see Abraham as the example of this, I do not care for what the world has to offer. No wonder it was easy for me to let lot choose. And if he chooses the world fine, I didn't want it anyway. If he wants the better part, I'm okay with the lesser part, because as far as God is concerned, there's no lesser. All that the Father hath shall be given unto thee, that's the ultimate promise. And I can wait for that. So King of Sodom, I refuse to be your subject. You said that you wanted to keep all, take all the people back. Well, I refuse to be one of them. I will not be numbered among those that are beholden to Babylon, or that have strings attached to Sodom. I will be free. Actually, I'll be a chosen servant, but to a better king. I don't want to be beholden to Sodom, but I will be beholden to Salem. I will not honor the king of Sodom, but I will honor the king of Salem who is Melchizedek. And that's the second king who comes out to me, Abraham. It's incredible. I love the side by side here. So verse 18, Melchizedek, king of Salem, brought forth bread and wine. And he was the priest of the most high God. So he is a king and a priest. There's some symbolism for you. His name is Melchizedek. Melchizedek is king. Melchizedek is the eye there at the end is the suffix that means mine. So Melchizedek is my king. So Melchizedek means my king is righteousness. That's his name, which lets you know his loyalties. That as far as the Melchizedek is concerned, his God is Jehovah, his God, his king is righteousness. And as far as Abraham is concerned, well, my king is that king. Hey, that's the one I want to follow. So I don't get out of here. Okay, I go do whatever you want down in the valleys. I'm going to ascend the mountain of the Lord up to Jerusalem. Melchizedek, king of righteousness, king of Salem, Salem, like Shalom, peace. If I wanted to be a prince of peace, well, I should put my allegiance to the king of peace, the king of Salem, the king of righteousness. And so as this king and priest comes forth, he blesses Abraham and says to him, "Blessed be Abraham of the most high God." So it's not just my blessing. It's God's blessing. Possessor of heaven and earth, they are his and they are his to give. He's giving them to you, Abraham. And blessed be the most high God, which had delivered the enemies into thy hand. So Abraham don't take the credit. Oh, he wasn't going to. This victory belongs to God. And how does Abraham respond? He gave Melchizedek tithes of all. Now again, juxtapose those two. Ironically, Sodom comes and has something to give. Whereas Salem comes and it seems that it has, he has something to ask. Because if I go with, if I honor the king of Sodom, he's giving me all this wealth. If I honor the king of Salem, I have to give him tithes of all that I have. Well, I've learned something about sacrifice, right? That it's actually an investment with an incredible rate of return. It's a way for me to come to know God and allow others to come to know him too. That's what happened with Pharaoh. Maybe that'll happen with lot. It's definitely happening with me. And so king of Sodom, I'm not interested in taking king of Salem. I am interested in giving and in receiving all that the father hath to give me. Forget the thread. Here's my tithe. Forget the shoe latch. Here's my personal sacrifice. And to whom is he giving it to God's representative, Melchizedek. Now, this is another one of those places where the book of Genesis is how it leaves us wanting. Because it tells us it introduces us to Melchizedek and then this is all we get. Remember we saw this two weeks ago and three weeks ago with, with Enic? Oh, and he was where he walked with God and then he was not because God took him. It's like, wait, what? We talked then that of all the people Satan probably wouldn't want us to get to know from the Old Testament. Enic is at the top of the list. Well, just below him would be Melchizedek because in some ways Melchizedek is a second Enic. And just as Enic built a city of Zion, here's Melchizedek building the kingdom of Salem, places of peace. To think of Zion, Enics, Zion having no poor among them and Melchizedek's Salem receiving tithes of Abraham in order to bless other people are fascinating parallels here. And again, just like the Joseph's matranslation of Genesis gives us Moses 6 and 7 to introduce us to Enic. Well, so too, does the Joseph's matranslation of Genesis 14, restore to us an understanding of Melchizedek. They go so far beyond what we have here on the original page. And think about that. Why would the adversary not want us to know about Enic and not want us to know about Melchizedek? Why would God go out of his way to restore through a prophet understanding of these two great builders of Zion? We're supposed to be doing the same. In fact, the Book of Mormon helps us with this too. Alma 13, what's Alma teaches? Now this Melchizedek was a king over the land of Salem and his people had waxed strong in iniquity and abomination. That's what Enic had been up against. That's what Abraham had been up against back in the ear of the Caldys. Yay, they had all gone astray. They were full of all manner of wickedness. But Melchizedek having exercised mighty faith and received the office of the high priesthood according to the holy order of God did preach repentance unto his people. Just like Enic had, just like Abraham was doing so did Melchizedek. And behold, they did repent. And Melchizedek did establish peace in the land in his days. No under Salem, Shalom could be a place of peace. No wonder he could be called the king of righteousness. Therefore he was called the Prince of Peace for he was the king of Salem. And he did reign under his father. Now there were many before him and also there were many afterwards, but none were greater. Therefore of him they have more particularly made mention. You want to talk about high praise. There you get it. We see another hint in Dr. Incovenant section 84 as we trace the priesthood line back. And it says that Abraham received the priesthood from Melchizedek who received it through the lineage of his fathers even until Noah and from Noah till Enic through the lineage of their fathers. I was Abraham's hope all along, right? I'm looking for the blessings of the fathers. I want the right. I want to be ordained to be able to administer the same to others. Well, here it's happening. All these promises are starting to be fulfilled even though the promise came decades earlier. Promise land, you'll get there. Trust me. Priesthood, oh, it's on its way. And if you'll be willing to sacrifice self and sacrifice the stuff of Sodom, I will give you something infinitely greater. Tive, give to Melchizedek, he will ordain you. And so he receives that priesthood from the line and lineage of the fathers. Or how about this again from the JST of Genesis 14. This one's so long it won't fit in the footnotes. So again, you have to go to the appendix and see this incredible insertion whereby inspiration Joseph just parts the veil on this story of Melchizedek and says, oh, there's a whole lot more to this story than we get here. JST of Genesis 14. Now Melchizedek was a man of faith who wrought righteousness. So there we see both faith and works coming together in this great man. And when a child, so he's been doing this his entire life, he feared God and stopped the mouths of lions and quenched the violence of fire. Now is he up against similar things that Abraham was? To quench the violence of fire, to stop the mouths of lions, we see examples of others doing that later as they exercised faith similar to that of Melchizedek. Wait, if this has started in his own childhood, how talk about a mighty man of faith? The JST continues. And thus having been approved of God, just like Abraham would be. He was ordained and high priest after the order of the covenant, which God made with Enic. It being after the order of the Son of God, which order came not by man or the will of man, either by father nor mother, neither by beginning of days nor end of years, but of God. See, that's where priesthood comes from. It comes originally from God. As it's passed down through the fathers, we talk about the pre. the Melchizedek priesthood. Remember in DNC 107, it says the only reason we use that is to protect the sanctity of the name of deity, but it's not Melchizedek's priesthood. It's Christ's. Well, here we see an intermediary step that just like we say Melchizedek priesthood, they could have gone back and said, "Well, the priesthood of Enic, it came from that same covenant God made with him." But even that goes back again and you have to connect it back to Christ. You really see it spelled out in DNC 76, where it says after the order of Melchizedek, which was after the order of Enic, which was after the order of the only begotten Son. There you see all the two middlemen, Melchizedek and Enic, tying those two together again as builders of Zion, as they connect and point us back to Christ Himself. That's where this priesthood comes from. Well, keep going in the JST. And it was delivered unto men by the calling of his own voice, according to his own will, unto as many as believed on his name. Sound like that personal connection we've seen over and over between God and Abraham. For God having sworn unto Enic and unto His seed with an oath by Himself, like I swear in my own light, my own existence, that everyone being ordained after this order and calling, should have power by faith and then He begins this incredible list. Honestly, whenever I read it, as a bearer of the Melchizedek priesthood myself, when I read these passages, I realize just how far short I'm falling. From what God is, intense to do for others through me and through my ministry. We all know that statement from Brigham Young that we live beneath our privileges. And never do I feel that quite as much as when I read these verses. Because if we have faith sufficient to receive sufficient power from God, that's how we tap into the powers of heaven. While Nancy 121 lived the principles of righteousness as Melchizedek did tap into God's divine power as Melchizedek did. If we exercise that faith to receive that power, then what do we have the power to do? Keep reading and buckle up. Look upward to see what our privileges might be. To have power by faith, to break mountains, to divide the seas, to dry of waters, to turn them out of their course. We saw all that in the ministry of Enoch. Well, now we're seeing it promised to Melchizedek as well. The list goes on. To put at defiance the armies of nations as Abraham had just done with this conglomeration of city-stakes, to divide the earth, to break every band, to stand in the presence of God as Abraham had done repeatedly. To do all things according to his will, according to his command, can you imagine that? To prove that you are completely submissive to the will of God, to have the ability to do that, the power by faith, to say that will be done, that's Abraham to a T, that's Melchizedek, that's Enoch. It must be all of us. To subdue principalities and powers, and this by the will of the Son of God, which was from before the foundation of the world, that's the promise of Melchizedek priesthood. And remember, it's not just, it's never about the holders, it's about the recipients of its ordinances, as we receive the ordinances of the Melchizedek priesthood. As we are called upon and authorize to act in his name, and that's priesthood, and this President Oaks taught, if it's authority, it's priesthood authority, because what other authority is there? As Dnc107 says, if it's priesthood, it's Melchizedek priesthood, because that's all there is, everything else is just an appendage unto it. This is us he's speaking to, and we need to live up to these privileges. If we do, notice how the promise continues. And men having this faith, coming up unto this order of God, we're translated and taken up into heaven. Now obviously that includes the people of Enoch, that seems to suggest that similar things were happening to the people of Melchizedek, that his right just say it's as he is establishing Zion among him. His people are being translated and taken up to heaven as well. Now Melchizedek was a priest of this order, therefore he obtained peace in Salem, and was called the Prince of Peace, exactly what Abraham wanted to be. And his people wrought righteousness and obtained heaven and sought for the city of Enoch, which God had before taken, separated it from the earth, having reserved it unto the latter days or the end of the world. So again, you see over and over and over these connections between Salem and Zion, between Melchizedek and Enoch, and I wonder, Joseph Smith is trying to be both and combining them in our day, we're trying to obtain heaven too. So we better be seeking for the city of Enoch, and not just for God to bring it, for us to build it. Keep going, we're not done with the JSD, and have said and sworn with an oath, here's covenant language again, that the heavens and the earth should come together. There's the rainbow. The sons of God should be tried so as by fire. Maybe that's what provides the light that's required to see a rainbow to begin with. And this Melchizedek, having thus established righteousness, was called the King of Heaven by his people, when he brought heaven to earth. Or in other words, the King of Peace, no wonder Abraham wants to become a prince of peace under his direction. And he lifted up his voice, and he blessed Abram, being the high priest, and the keeper of the storehouse of God. Him whom God had appointed to receive tithes for the poor. Wherefore, Abram paid unto him tithes of all that he had, of all the riches which he possessed, which God had given him more than that which he had need. So now we're back to this story we've been studying. Abraham is giving tithes to Melchizedek. Why not to enrich Melchizedek? But so that Melchizedek, the keeper of the storehouse of God, can make sure the water gets to the end of the row, just like Abraham always wants. The JSD then ends, and it came to pass that God blessed Abram, and gave unto him riches and honor and lands for an everlasting possession, according to the covenant which he had given to him. And the covenant which he had made, and according to the blessing where with Melchizedek had blessed him, you see God reaching through this king of righteousness, trying to bless Abraham with the blessings he'd promised him decades before. The three peas will come through. They'll come through priesthood. They'll come through a prince of peace. Trust in him. Prefer him to anything the king of Sodom has to offer you. Now chapter 14 then turns into 15, that chapter that I was warned not to skip. Now this was tricky. Let's see if we can do justice to it. Verse 1, "After these things, this experience with Melchizedek, the word of the Lord came unto Abram in a vision saying, 'Fear not Abram.' I am thy shield, and I exceeding great reward." Interesting those two terms. I'm thy shield. How do you think you survived your experience in Egypt, and how do you think you overcame this alliance of mighty kings? I'm here to protect you, so nothing to fear. But I wonder if that's the fear that God had on his mind, because Abraham seems pretty fearless. I mean when it turn to you, you're covering you can afford to be. It's the other half. I am thy exceeding great reward. So maybe that's something Abraham is more fearful of. How will God ever come through for me in terms of the pea of posterity? I have promised land. I am here. I have priesthood now thanks to this ordination from the king of Salem, Melchizedek. But what about posterity? The seed of my body has not yet come. And so he says to God in verse 2, "Lord God, what will thou give me, seeing I go childless, and the steward of my house is this aliezer of Damascus?" Interesting response. God just said, "Don't be afraid, Abram. I'll be your shield, and I'll be your reward." And he's like, "Well, what reward could you possibly give me when I don't have children?" Again, that's why the promise is all boiled down to that one, all important pea of posterity. What could you possibly give me to make up for what I lack? Someone to pass down these blessings too. I have no children. In fact, the closest I can come is aliezer of Damascus, my household steward. But what's interesting when he mentions that, it's like Abraham is trying to think outside the box to help God out in a manner of speaking. It's like, "God, I obviously can't have children. You promised me that a long, long time ago, seed, and I can't have any." So how are you going to keep your promise? How are you going to keep your word? You did talk about my seed being priesthood. I have that now. You did talk about, you seem to suggest a symbolic possibility here. And so those that are adopted into the family become my seed, those that believe as I do. Well, is that how you're going to bless the world? You'll continue the covenant through this steward of mine. Not a son, but a steward. Not literal, but symbolic seed. I guess I'll take it. He says in three, "Behold to me thou hast given no seed, and low one born in my house is mine heir." Now the Lord responds pretty clearly. Verse four, "Behold the word of the Lord came unto him saying, 'This shall not be mine heir.'" It's like Abraham, thank you for trying to do me a favor and make it a little bit easier for me to keep my word. Do we sometimes do that and kind of water down our hopes and go, "Well, you don't have to bless me with that. I'll take this." Now sometimes that's necessary, right? We honor God's will. That was part of the Melchizedic promise we just saw in the GST also. But also it's to exercise faith. A good friend of mine just said, "That's an interesting contrary right there. It's one thing to just have the faith to say that I will be done, but it's another thing to have the faith to offer your will." And to say, "God, this is really what I would love to have. We have to be able to balance those two. But sometimes we err on the side of, I'll just take whatever God gives me. Instead of having the faith to say, 'God, this is a blessing I seek earnestly.'" Well, I think Abraham's trying to balance the two, but he's gone on the side of, "Well, if you'll take Eleazar, if he's good enough for you, he's good enough for me." But God says, "No, this shall not be thy name heir, but he that shall come forth out of thy own bowels shall be thy name heir." Remember the literal seed we talked about in Abraham too? Your own bowels. This is going to be blood relation. So fear not, Abraham. I'm more than your shield. I am your reward." And that reward is coming. Now verse 5, something strange starts to happen. It says, "He brought him forth a broad and said, 'Look now toward heaven, tell the stars if thou be able to number them.' And he said unto him, 'So shall thy seed be.'" So once again, there's that repetition. Live the great visual aid there in the darkness. Milk you way? Well, how's that Father Abraham? And then verse 6, "Such a beautiful verse, and he, Abraham, believed in the Lord. And he, God, counted it to him for righteousness." Abraham, I'll count that. I will count your faith as righteousness, and I will bless you abundantly. The windows of heaven are about to open. Thank you for trusting me. Thank you for believing in me. In fact, I was looking at the original of that. He believed in the Lord. The Hebrew word that's translated as believed there, it comes from the verb "amon." In fact, that kind of woke me up because in the doctrine of the word, we learn that that's one of God's name is "amon." And Christ is the sun "amon." Now, is that a dynamic? How does that relate to Hebrew? No idea. So I don't want to get too far ahead of myself here. But it is interesting that that verb of belief and trust and building upon that is "amon." And then what blew me away as I looked for other instances of that throughout the Old Testament, where else does he talk about that? It comes up so frequently when belief is spoken of, when trust in God is the issue. But it's also the same root word of a couple of verses that surprised me. For example, when Isaiah talks about kings, she'll be the nursing fathers and queens, the nursing mothers. They'll pick you up on their shoulders and bring you singing to Zion. That the word "nursing fathers" and "nursing mothers" comes from that same "amon." That belief, that trust, they will scoop you up. You can trust them. You picture God's divine embrace that God is our nursing father. It's incredible. And then later in Isaiah, when it talks about the nail in a sure place, that we can hang all of our hopes and fears on him, that sure place, that word, comes from "amon" also. Mind blowing. Like, wow, this, I believe in God. I haven't seen the promise yet. I have no literal seed. And boy, do I seem too old to answer, I seem too old to ever have one. But I trust God. He will nurse me into full spiritual help. He will carry us on his shoulders. We can hang our hopes on him. And if we'll believe like that, if we'll trust God like that, it will count as righteousness. God will see that. Is our faith that visible? Does it count for our righteousness? I did for Abraham. So in verse 7, God says to him, "I am the Lord that brought the out of her of the Caldys, to give thee this land to inherit it." I promised you that, "Pee, promise land, and you're living in it." I promised you, "Pee, have priested, and you just received it." Hold out hope. I'm giving you the promise again of posterity. It will come. And then Abraham asks an interesting question. Verse 8, "Lord God, whereby shall I know that I shall inherit it?" I don't think he's asking for a sign here. "Lord, I believe." He believes in the Lord. Help me, my unbelief. How do I know? Or how will I know that it's going to come? I trust you. I just want to fortify my faith. Please strengthen it. And then the story unfolds in a fascinating way. Verse 9 and 10, Abraham, or Abraham, takes a heifer, a she goat, a ram, a turtle dove, a pigeon. He takes all these animals. And as God commands him, he cuts them all in half. Well, the birds were too small, so he just keeps them whole. But all the larger animals, he cuts in half. And then he lays them out against one another. That's hard to understand. It seems like when you're laying out cones on the soccer field or something, or you're trying to create some kind of a path, and we're going to lay these cones out across from one another to establish the boundaries. And so what he's done is he's taken these sacrificial animals, alter wherever you go, right? This is Abraham. And he cuts them in half and then lays them out. Now, we're thinking, scratching our head, going, "What are you doing here?" I wonder this friend wanted me to cover Genesis 15. What's going on? Now, it's very important to Abraham. He gets something out of it, because later on that night, the birds of prey, the scavengers are coming down to start picking the meat off the bones of these animals. So there's vultures or whatever. And Abraham rushes out and shoes them away. It's like, "Get out of here. You're messing up my visual aid, my object lesson." It's like, "What? What's the object lesson?" Well, later that night, notice what happens. This is verse 17. It came to pass that when the sun went down and it was dark, behold a smoking furnace and a burning lamp that passed between those pieces. And then 18 says, "In the same day the Lord made a covenant with Abraham, saying unto thy seed, have I given this land?" Oh, what on earth? So this same day that he renews the covenant and promises him all over again, "I will be there. I'll be your shield. I'll be your reward. I will bless you in your own bowels with literal seed, and they will possess this land in perpetuity. Trust me." In fact, if you're wondering how you're going to know, here's these sacrificial animals. Offer them. Cut them in half and lay them out. And as he does and shoes away anything that's going to get in the way, that night, this burning lamp, this smoking furnace, passes between them. Now, we'll learn later in the book of Exodus that when you see a cloud of smoke and a pillar of fire, that's the presence of God. And you're supposed to follow it on your journey to the promised land. So, Abraham, follow me. And where am I going? I'm passing right down the middle of this path that you have laid out that's marked by these sacrificial animals, the ones you've cut in half. Now, here, a little Hebrew helps us as well. When we talk about covenants, the verb we make, we use is make. We make a covenant, okay? But if you were speaking Hebrew, you'd say you cut a covenant. That's what you do. We sometimes use it still in English about, "Well, I'm going to cut you a deal." Okay? A deal, we're making an agreement on the price, and I'm going to cut you a deal here. In Hebrew, it's to cut a covenant. And so, here's these sacrificial animals, and we're going to cut them. We're going to signify, we're going to reenact the covenant here. You asked, "How shall I know it?" Well, let's act it out, shall we? Cut the covenant all over again, and then lay them out as if to establish what I call the confines of covenant. And then I, God, am going to pass right down the center of that straight and narrow way. I will walk the covenant path. Abram, will you follow me? Because I promise you that the blessings you are waiting for lie within the confines of covenant. Thanks for thinking outside the box on my behalf. I don't need that help. You don't have to look outside the covenant to find the blessings you're seeking for. They will be within the covenant path, within the confines of covenant. They just might not be right here yet. You might have to keep following this pillar of fire and cloud of smoke. You might have to follow me a long way before the promises finally come, but they will come. Trust me. My heart breaks when I see people get a little impatient with the promises of God and to the point that they start looking outside the confines of covenant. I'm never going to find someone in the faith to make a covenant with. And so my only hope for relationships is to marry someone who doesn't care about the covenant of God. Or I don't have any friends within the faith, my only hope of finding companionship or friendship is to look outside. I'm not saying you can't hang out with nonmembers. That's no. We're inclusive here. But when it comes to making covenants, you need to find a covenant maker and a covenant keeper. Because Abraham has to have a Sarah and vice versa. So Abraham, trust me. It's interesting that in the middle of this, something else happens that's interesting. Right after he shoes away the birds of the scavengers. And before he sees this pillar of fire and cloud of smoke, he has a dream, better set a nightmare. In verse 12, it says, "When the sun was going down, a deep sleep fell upon Abraham and low and horror of great darkness fell upon him." Sounds like a nightmare to me. And then in verse 13 through 16, here's the nightmare. God says to Abram, "No of assurances that they see shall be a stranger in a land that is not theirs, and shall serve them, and they shall afflict them 400 years." So here we're seeing a prophecy of the Israelite bondage in Egypt before the days of Moses. No wonder he's giving him a preview of the Exodus as he passes through this covenant path. Verse 14, "Also that nation whom thou shalt serve will I judge, and afterward shall they come out with great substance." So Abraham, just like you came out of Egypt with great substance, since you were willing to sacrifice your spouse, thankfully the hand was stayed. The same will happen then. They will come out of Egypt with great abundance. Verse 15, "Thou shalt go to thy fathers in peace. Thou shalt be buried in a good old age." This isn't going to affect you. But, verse 16, "In the fourth generation, they shall come hither again, for the iniquity of the amurites is not yet full." Now that last line actually tells us something really important too. The iniquity of the amurites is not yet full. You see, this is your promised land, but guess what? There's other people living here. And yes, you're surrounded by aniquity. That's what Melchizedek was up against, as he was trying to establish his kingdom of peace. And here you are, crying repentance and so on, but some will listen, some will not. The challenge is, "I love you Abraham, and you love me, but I love the amurites too. I love the canonites. I love the Egyptians. I love everyone because I'm the father of all humanity." And for you to take over the promised land, if that comes at the expense of its previous occupants, then that's neither just nor merciful. And so what's going to happen? Your posterity will be off in the land of Egypt. For 400 years, it will be a time of bondage, but a time of hopefully purifying and preparing them to return to a land of promise where they will hopefully be able to keep the promises. Meanwhile, what's happening of those that are already living there? Living unpromising lives within a promised land? Well, according to verse 16 here, the iniquity of the amurites is not yet full, but that yet is foreboding. They're going to keep getting worse and worse until they are so far afield of the promises of God that they will be swept off the land of promise. And this is foreshadowing the conquest of Canaan in the days of Joshua. Now we'll get there in a couple of months, and it seems so unjust to just wipe out the previous inhabitants. We'll talk more about that when we get there, but here is this hint that I will not do it. I will not allow my people to do it until justice demands that they be replaced with a promised people worthy of the promised land. Actually, one of the best places to study this is 1 Nephi 17. As Nephi and his brothers are building the ship to be able to come to a new promised land themselves. And so promised lands on their mind, because technically for them we're leaving the promised land. Israel is the only land of promise we know. Well, how does it all work? And Nephi's emphasis here is it's only promised to those who keep the promises. You have to be righteous. Here the iniquity of the Amorites did get full, and they were displaced. They wouldn't have been if they had been faithful. The way Nephi says it to layman and Lemuel, 1 Nephi 17, 33, through 35. And now do you suppose that the children of this land who were in the land of promise, who were driven out by our fathers, do you suppose that they were righteous? Behold, I say unto you nay. Do you suppose that our fathers would have been more choice than they if they had been righteous? Again, I say unto you nay. Behold the Lord is steemeth all flesh in one. There's the inclusivity. He that is righteous is favored of God. But behold, this people, the Amorites and the other Canaanites that dwelt there, they had rejected every word of God, and they were ripe in iniquity. It was full. And that's not all it was full. The fullness of the wrath of God was upon them, and the Lord had cursed the land against them and blessed unto our fathers. Yay, he did curse it against them unto their destruction, and he did bless it unto our fathers unto their obtaining power over it. You catch the difference there? It's not genealogy alone, it's gotliness. It's not your family tree, it's your faith. And your righteousness, are you living up to this? What he says to Abraham here is so fascinating, and it's important for us to understand it as we move forward towards the conquest of Canaan. God is no respecter of persons. He's a father who loves all of his children. The question is, will you choose me so that I can choose you as he did with Abraham? Later on in that same story, in 1 Nephi 17, Nephi says that God loveth those who will have him to be their God, behold, he loved our fathers and he covenanted with them, yay, even Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. And he remembered the covenants which he had made, wherefore he did bring them out of the land of Egypt. You see how all of this ties together about love and covenant and chosenness, about balancing exclusivity and inclusivity, that there was nothing wrong with the Amarites or nothing inherently right about the Israelites? It's simply a matter of who do you choose? Caught between Salem and Sodom, caught between the King of righteousness and a world of wickedness, which way will you go? And at this point, the Amarites haven't yet made up their minds fully. And once they fully have, only then will God's promised people come in to possess their promised land. It's amazing to see the long suffering of God. Even as it entailed the long suffering of Israel, as they suffered through their bondage, in hopes that once they were set free physically, they would remain free spiritually. And actually deserve, I don't even know if that's the right word, but actually live up to the promises that were part of the promised land. I hope that will help guide some of our conversation in later weeks. But don't let that explanation of Abraham's nightmare get in the way of Abraham's dream come true. I think it's interesting that that dream of Egyptian bondage, 400 years, would come right in the middle of cutting the covenants and establishing its confines and then watching God lead the way through that straight Amaropath. I think it tells us something that just as the blessings are not outside the confines of covenant, there may be all kinds of obstacles along the way before you get there. So Abraham, follow this straight Amaropath. Stay within it. Don't lose patience and don't lose hope or faith. Just keep on following me. I promise the blessings will eventually come, even if it's 400 years later than what you expected. Now, thankfully, the blessing that is, that Abraham's most focused on isn't 400 years away. In fact, there's just a couple of chapters away. And that's the birth of an actual seed of his own loins, from his own bowels, literal descendant. So chapter 15 was about Abraham thinking outside the box. 16 is Sarah's turn to think outside the box. Now, the put in perspective just how self-sacrificial she's being here. We need to rewind and go all the way back to Genesis 11 when we first meet this family. And Abraham and Nahor took them wives. The name of Abrams wife was Sarai and the name of Nahor's wife Milka, the daughter of Haram, the father of Milka and the father of Iska. And then a new verse with only eight words in it. But Sarai was barren. She had no child. Now, this is the very first time we've met her. And what defines her is what she lacks. Now, you want to talk about the painful irony here that you are marrying into a covenant that is defined by posterity. And you are a woman who is defined by your barrenness. I'm stepping into a realm where children are everything and that's the one thing I can't have. So one thing I can't offer. Talk about feeling out of place. Talk about feeling like honestly, I wonder if Sarai feels like the weak link in the covenant chain. God promised Abraham in numeral posterity. Why on earth would he marry me when I can't give him that? He's starting to think outside the box. Is it my fault? Because I can't give him children. He's assuming that maybe the seed that God is talking about is this steward in our, that serving in our household. I, I will not get in God's way if he is trying to fulfill a promise to my husband. So what can I do? Now, just like within the culture of the time period, a steward kind of functioning as son, a sort of adoption into the family was, was a possibility. Well, what we see Sarai come up with in chapter 16 is a cultural possibility as well. And it's plural marriage. Now, I realize that plural marriage is something that is fraught with a lot of difficulty for Latter-day Saints because it's part of our more recent history. It's part of the church history of every Christian and Jew and Muslim. It's here in Genesis 16. Ours is just a lot more recent when it comes to the times of Joseph Smith and Brigham Yellow. And I know that that can be a very touchy subject. If you have a lot of extra time on your hands, you can go back and watch the lesson I gave on D.N.C. 132. And by the way, Abraham and Sarah factor in frequently in that revelation of plural marriage. It was trying to make sense of this chapter that God, Joseph Smith, even asking God, how is that even justifiable? Well, part of it, cultural constraints, it was allowed at that time. In Muslim countries, it still is. But also, as we learned in D.N.C. 132, it came as a command from God. So just like Abraham sacrificing Sarah was a commandment from God. Here, Sarah sacrificing self was another commandment as well. Now, the way it's presented in Genesis 16, it's Sarah's idea. But it's her thought of, if I'm the weakling in the chain, then replace me with my hand made. Abraham's thinking of his servant, well, I will be thinking of mine. And maybe this is a way for Abraham to have literal seed of the body through my hand made. Genesis 161, now Sarah, Abraham's wife, bear him no children. So again, to be defined by what you lack, that's painful. She had an hand made, an Egyptian whose name was Hegar. We don't know much about Hegar, other than this story. She's brought up in the New Testament by Paul to try to differentiate between the spirit of the law and the letter of the law or gospel versus mosaic law. Fascinating character, according to Jewish tradition, and again, take it all with a grain of salt because we don't have scriptural evidence for this. But it does say that she was an Egyptian, according to Jewish midrash, which is ancient commentary on the Old Testament. It suggested that Hegar was actually a daughter of Pharaoh, the Pharaoh that Abraham and Sarah had their run in with when they went down to Egypt. And when Pharaoh was stopped and the hand was stayed and he realized I'm getting plagued for something I don't even know what I'm doing wrong, then he realizes, wow, God has this much respect for Abraham and Sarah, then I do too. And depending on which commentary you're listening to, it was either Pharaoh's idea or it was Hegar's idea. The idea is that Hegar was Pharaoh's daughter, one of them, and that whether Pharaoh suggests it or Hegar suggests it, Hegar becomes a servant, a hand-made of Sarah. The thought being better to be a servant of that family than a princess in the court of Egypt itself. That's a fascinating commentary, interesting tradition. In fact, when you get the name Sarah or Sarah, Sarah, but they're both the same root and it means princess. And so it's really interesting in some ways, Sarah is a princess. And if that tradition holds any water, then Hegar is a princess too. But it's like Zion versus Babylon again, or Salem versus Sodom again, or Israel versus Egypt again. Where will you place, what, which kingdom is yours? Which kingdom are you trying to build? And if, to whatever degree that tradition might be substantiated, it's a beautiful thought to think of Hegar choosing better a servant in the House of God than a ruler in a worldly kingdom that will go nowhere. Ultimately. Well, in verse 2, "Sari says to Abram, 'Behold now the Lord hath restrained me from Bari. Notice she didn't blame herself. Instead of saying, 'I can't give you children,' it was, 'the Lord hath restrained me.' And don't think of that as blaming God, because it's not shaking her fist, heavenward, it's, 'This is what the Lord has done.' For whatever reason, I trust Him, I accept His will, the Lord hath restrained me from Bari. So here's the solution I have come up with. My very best intent. I pray thee go in unto my maid. It may be that I may obtain children by her. I've noticed that leap of faith. It may be. I don't even know for sure if this is going to work. But if you're supposed to have children and are the law of the time allows for plural marriage, then take my handmaid and her child can be your child. And in a way, it can be my child too. You see, again, if this covenant is defined by posterity, in fact this entire culture is defined by posterity. We will see this repeated later when Hannah wants a child and can't have one. When Rachel wants a child and can't have one, and there's this sibling rivalry between Rachel and Leah, we'll see it all in a couple of weeks. But childbirth and child rearing were everything. And to think of an inability to live into that, I hear sometimes from people that are single, that it's hard to be a single in a family church. Well, that's you have a taste, a tiny taste of what it's like to be barren in Israel. And so they came up with all kinds of possibilities to perpetuate the family name, because that's what they were afraid of losing, among other things. My line will cease to exist. I will be a tree with no branches. So what was the point of my growth if I cannot bear fruit with seed in the fruit? It's supposed to go on. And I can't. So what do we do? Again, plural marriage was one option. Adoption of a steward we see in 15 was an option. Later we'll see the law of leveraged marriage. Levere comes from a Latin word mean in law. And so this is a weird one where if a husband and wife don't have children and then the husband dies, the wife is supposed to marry the brother of law. That's where Levere comes in, leveraged marriage. And their first child will actually belong to the departed brother so that his name doesn't cease to exist in Israel. There is still posterity, even if it's kind of a roundabout sort of way. If that brother in law dies, she marries the next and the next. And it's it will talk more about it when we get to do to Genesis 38. But wow, they're really thinking outside the box as a culture. But the cultural constraint they were under was the all importance of family. It's all about posterity. It's all about the next generation in reality. That's still the purpose of marriage. And once we get past the thought of which is kind of selfish and postmodern that marriage is all about the self fulfillment or self satisfaction of the partners in the marriage. Once we get past that and realize that marriage is about the next generation, it's it changes everything. It puts in perspective the sacrifices of parents, for example. Anyway, there's more we could say about that. But here in 16, let's try this and maybe just maybe I can help God keep his promises this way. So what happens next? Abram harkened to the voice of Sarai. I love that he honored his spouse's best intentions. Just like God seemed to honor Abrams before reminding him, I didn't need your help. I have better ways of doing this. But for Abrams to harken to Sarai, it's actually interesting that you get a sense of that even in DNC 132. At the very end, it talks about the law of Sarah. And by the law of Sarah, it means a woman giving permission for her husband to take an additional wife. And that really was the ideal practice in the other days of the church. When when plural marriages were solemnized in the Utah period, interesting marriage ceremony where it would be the first wife that would take the hand of a plural wife and put it into the hand of her husband. That she was sanctioning this relationship. And that's what you see here in Genesis 16 in its first instance. Again, what we don't see is God behind all of this, but that comes out clearly in the DNC 132 also. It says God commanded Abraham and Sarah gave Hagar to Abraham to wife. And why did she do it? Because this was the law. And from Hagar, spring many people. This, therefore, was fulfilling among other things, the promises. It's amazing to see the Abrahamic obedience mirrored by Sarah. The Abrahamic faith mirrored by Sarah. The Abrahamic tests mirrored and participated in by Sarah. They are equal partners in this Abrahamic covenant. There is no Abrahamic covenant without Sarah. We'll see that clearly next week also. But at the end of verse two, Abraham harkened to the voice of Sarah. And Sarah, Abraham's wife took Hagar her maid the Egyptian after Abram had dwelt 10 years in the land of Cain. And gave her to her husband Abram to be his wife. You want to talk about patience, patiently waiting and waiting for a decade after that first P came through. And that came years and years after the promise was originally given. Oh, let patients have her perfect work. That's what Abraham and Sarah are being asked to do. Well, after a decade of waiting and decades and decades of waiting for their own children. It only took a verse for Hagar to have a child, which again must have been so incredibly painful for Sarah. Why is it so easy for some and so hard for others? When my wife and I were first married, we wanted to have children immediately because it took me forever to convince her to marry me. So we felt like we were starting late. And month after month was no after no and it really felt like no children were going to come in our way. My wife was released to say present at the time in a married student ward at BYU. And so everybody was having kids all around us. And at first, my wife was really happy for them. It's like, oh, you know, she's the release of the present. She's getting all the news and trying to get the meals organized and everything else to be able to support. And it's like, oh, you're pregnant. That's so exciting. And then a few more people would get pregnant. And she's like, oh, that's really good for you and not for me. And a few more people would get pregnant. She's like, and then I mean, people would say, oh, there's something in the water. Look how many pregnancies there are. She's like, give me the water. And we went to doctors and fertility specialists and surgeries and just hope that we would someday be able to have children of our own. It was hard for her. How come the blessings can't come to me? When I seem to come so easily to other people, even some who didn't seem to even want the blessing. Elder Max will used to say that irony is the hard crust on the bread of adversity. And Sarah has been eating the bread of adversity for a long time. And now she has to nod on the crust because one verse later, he went in unto Hagar and she conceived. It was easy as that. And then this. And when she saw that she had conceived, her mistress was despised in her eyes. Now you see what just happened there. President Benson used to talk about pride from above and pride from below. And you're definitely seeing some pride from below on Hagar's part. Oh, I'm just the handmade. Whether or not she was ever princess before, she is clearly a handmade, a servant girl here. And to think to feel like a second-class citizen in the household of Abraham, having to do whatever Sarah asks her to. But now, well, who's God blessing now, Sarah? And so she begins to despise her mistress. She looks down on the person she'd always been kind of forced to look up to. There's pride from below. Well, unfortunately pride from below is usually met with pride from above. And what ends up happening next when when Sarah realizes that she says to Abram, my wrong be upon the. Now, according to some other translations, it's a little clearer. The contemporary English version says it's all your fault. Okay. So she wasn't blaming herself or God about her first situation. But once it got even worse. And now Abraham does have literal posterity or at least he's about to within the next nine months. There is fault finding now. There is blame. And she's she's pointing it at Abraham. She goes on, I have given my maid into thibosum. And when she saw that she had conceived, I was despised in her eyes. The Lord judge between me and thee. Now, I would be the last to disparage Sarah here. Just like I would be the last to disparage Emma Smith for the way she responded to plural marriage. It was brutally difficult for pretty much everybody, but especially for Emma, who'd never felt she'd had anything of her own home, no life and now no husband to claim as solely hers. It's brutally difficult challenges and tests. And there were times that she accepted. And times she rejected times she submitted to the will of God and times that she just could not overcome her own will. And I think if we're honest with ourselves, we get it because we see the same struggle whenever we look in the mirror. One of the things I love about Genesis 16 is you see humanity here. And I think sometimes we want to whitewash every scriptural story or every episode of church history or and I don't, I'm not trying to shine lights on people's problems. But I'm grateful when people are open and vulnerable enough to say on my best days, I'm a saint and on my worst days, I'm a sinner. And thankfully, I'm a saint, which means I'm a sinner who keeps on trying Emma kept on trying. Joseph kept on trying Sarah keeps on trying. But there's some humanity here. And I'm grateful to be able to see it in someone I look up to or I'd have no hope for myself. In a way, we're seeing Sarah come down to her natural woman level. Have you ever, has this ever happened to you where you are kind of caught up to a level of Christ like attributes far above your normal range. And you find yourself doing something almost superhuman in its spirituality, something like you forgave someone you never thought you'd be able to or you gave a fast offering so generous that you were shocked that you could write the check. Well, have you ever come down from that and then wondered like what was I thinking? You know where the natural man or woman kicks back in and you're like, I forgave them. They never deserve that or I was a little too generous there. What was I thinking? I still have some, there was some other stuff I'd rather be spending that money on. You know what I mean? What I love about this story is that it's so true to form that in her best moment, Sarah thought not of herself at all and thought of God and the covenant and the promises that he'd made with Abraham. And I will get out of the way if I'm the one that's in it. And I will sacrifice myself for the greater good here takes take care. And then when the the spiritual confirmation that you've done an incredibly good thing when that passes since the spirit seems to come and go in our lives and our ups and downs in the low moment where what was I thinking. And we get angry at ourselves or at other people and it's exactly what happens here. Hey, guards pride from below is met with Sarah's pride from above. Now first she's getting after Abraham. Okay. Abraham is not going to have anything to do with that. He says to her in verse six, behold, I made his in thy hand due to her as it please. So don't pass the buck. Don't throw it at my feet. Honey, you're going to have to work through this yourself. Your handmade is in your hand. And I'm I trusted your advice, your counsel. And I'll trust your decision on what to do about it from here. I'm not saying we should never ask for help. But there does sometimes happen where we want somebody else to solve our problems for us. Even if we got ourselves into it in a way on our own. We need to take responsibility. We need to face the consequences of our decisions and we need to advocate for ourselves. If that's what needs to happen, we need to be able to deal with our relationships instead of just run away from them. We're going to see Heygar with that problem. And now it's it's Sarah's problem. She's trying to do the same thing. And let's let's somebody else deal with it. I don't want to have to I can never face her again. Abraham, you deal with it. And Abrams, no. If you're part of the problem, you have to be part of the solution. So I'm going to leave this with you, honey, when he does. Unfortunately, how does Sarah deal with it? It says that she dealt hardly with Heygar. And when she dealt hardly with her, Heygar fled from her face. Now it's interesting that Heygar, the name Heygar means flight or to flee. So she's living up to her name. It's interesting. She was running away from Sarah. Just like, as I said, Sarah had been trying to run away from her. He ever had those awkward conversations with a spouse or a sibling. If you dreaded a companionship inventory in the mission field. And we we turn and run instead of having hard conversations to be able to to come to understand one another. And instead we're content to hold on to our pride from whatever direction above or below. And it forces us away from each other when humility would allow us to come together and to reconcile. Well, too late for that opportunity because now Heygar flight herself has fled. What happens next verse seven, the angel of the Lord found Heygar by a fountain of water in the wilderness. And he said, Heygar, in other words, God knows your name. Surah is made. In other words, God also knows your responsibilities, the ones you're running from. When's came as thou and with their will thou go? Remember God's questions to Adam in the garden was he was when he was hiding. And according to Genesis, it's where art thou and according to Moses, it's where goest thou very similar here. Hey, Gar, what's your past and what's your future? Cause here you are standing in the present with decisions to make. And fleeing from your past is no way to decide upon your future. So where'd you come from? Where are you going? Let's make these decisions intentional. Shall we? She responded. I flee. Yeah, that's I'm leading up to my name. I flee from the face of my mistress, Sarai. Now verse nine, the angel says unto her, return to thy mistress and submit thyself under her hands. In other words, face the consequences of your behavior. It's partly your own doing in terms of that pride from below sparked that pride from above. If you can be submissive, then perhaps Sarai can remain submissive too. If you can rise to your best self, people will typically follow you in that ascension. Same with going down. It's so interesting to see I even read this. It was an article about customer service. Really interesting. And it said if things are going wrong and you go up to the customer and say, I'm so sorry that this is happening. Usually that apology leads to them feeling like, yeah, you owed me an apology. And I'm angry. And often their response in anger then respond leads to some more response in anger from the other person. It just keeps devolving lower and lower. Whereas often if the customer service rep comes and says, thank you so much for your patience. It's like, wow, you just paid me a compliment. I haven't wasn't even feeling very patient. But now that you mention it, I guess I probably should live up to that compliment. Oh, I understand. And and the kinder you are to them, the kinder they are to you. And and it's an ascending scale instead of a descending one. I love that the angel is telling is telling Hey, guard, don't give into your natural self either. Don't just run away because that's what that's what defines you turn around. In fact, those two words return and submit pretty good synonyms for repentance. Right. Pretty good indicators that she is coming back up to her better self in our own relationships, especially when there's friction and awkwardness. That's pretty good counsel to follow. Don't run away from those conflicts. Don't try to avoid the awkward conversation because the only way that you'll get to a better place. The two of you is by facing one another, returning and submitting and hopefully submitting to God as he tries to lift us above our natural manner, woman's self. Now, verse 10, the angel of the Lord says to her, I will multiply thy seed exceedingly that it shall not be numbered for multitude. No, I thought that promise was reserved for Abraham and Sarah. Well, no, you're a part of this too. And it's amazing that even Hey, guard gets adopted into this Abrahamic covenant and that she will be multiplied. And those that multiplication will be just as innumerable as that that would come from Sarah later on. And some ways the angel is answering his own questions. Whence came as thou and whether where goest thou? Well, what you came from is a household of faith. It's better than you think. Don't run away because it gets messy on occasion. I feel that way when I talk with people that are leaving the church. It's like, whence came as thou? Do you really know what you're leaving behind? And with her goest thou? Do you really have a plan on where you're going to head from here? What are you replacing the gospel with in your life? Maybe you misjudged where you came from or maybe you judged it well, but it was people that weren't quite living up to their privileges or their divine expectations. Go back, see it with new eyes and realize that the way forward is actually back to where you began. Do you have a bright, bright future? Right there, despite of everyone's humanity around you and your own humanity yourself, go back there is a bright future. I will multiply the seed. Verse 11, "The angel of the Lord said unto her, 'Behold thou art with child, and shall bear a son, and shall call his name Ishmael.'" Which means God hears. Don't run away from his voice. Listen to him because he's listening to you. He listened to your sorrow in feeling you were less than as a mere handmade of Sarah. He heard you in your own self-sacrifice. He heard you here at this fountain of water wondering what you were going to do with yourself and this unborn babe in your womb. God listens, and your son will be evidence of that fact. Every time you call him, he'll be the type that's wondering all over. He'll say, "He's going to be like a wild donkey, just wondering everywhere, a nomad. I'm sure you'll have to call the name of Ishmael frequently to get him to come back home." Well, when you do remember that God is calling you in similar ways. He hears you. Please hear him. So call his name Ishmael because the Lord hath heard thy affliction. He's aware of you. He knows the forgotten. He hears the voiceless. He sees the marginalized. And he has a plan for every one of us. In verse 13, she called the name of the Lord that's been speaking to her, "Thou God seest me." I'm going to name my son Ishmael because you hear me. But I also know now that you see me. God's ears and eyes are always fixed on us. What's Joseph's concern in Liberty Jail? How long will that eye see? How long will that ear be pierced? But he knows that God is watching and listening. It's just a matter of when, when he will come to a rescue. In fact, she names the well that she was the spring of water, that she was trying to find a way to sustain herself. I can leave this well because God will sustain me. I know that now. He hears and sees. So she names her son Ishmael. God hears. And names the well, "geer la hyroy," which means the well of him who liveth and seeeth me. And the chapter ends with her returning, as commanded, submitting to her mistress, giving birth to this son Ishmael, with Abraham now being 86 years old. By the way, it is interesting detail. Hegar Bear, Abraham a son, and Abram called his son's name, which Hegar Bear Ishmael, which proves that once again Abraham was willing to listen to his wife. This chapter started with him honoring the decision of Sarah. It ends with him honoring the decision of Hegar, because it was God who chose the name Ishmael. But it was Hegar that he told about it. So when the baby finally comes, and Abram names him Ishmael, well, Hegar must have told him, and he believed. He's trying to develop celestial relationships all across the board. Now chapter 17, then, is where we'll end today. And it's an incredible chapter. If you keep an eye out for the word covenant, especially everlasting covenant, you'll see it over and over and over. If you see, look for words like fruitful and multiply and seed, you'll see that the focus of this chapter, just like the focus of the Abrahamic covenant, boils down originally to the promise of post-examination. So verse 1, "When Abram was 90 years old and nine, so 13 years of past since we finished chapter 16, a lot more water under the bridge with Ishmael growing up, but Abraham and especially Sarah growing old." The Lord appeared to Abram, and said unto him, "I am the Almighty God. Walk before me. Be thou perfect." Now the focus on Almighty. Remember last time we talked to him, I'll be your shield and your reward. How can you do it? And how can I know it? Well, remember who I am. I'm the Almighty God. Nothing is too hard for me. So Abraham, trust in that, believe in me, and walk before me and be perfect. Now perfect doesn't mean sinless here. The Hebrew would suggest completeness and wholeness. To be as blameless as you possibly can, which as we've learned recently, worthiness is not flawlessness. But try to be as blameless as possible. By the way, it's the same word that's used for lambs without blemish. That's what God is hoping for. Okay, can we live into that? I'm Almighty. Will you be worthy of my use of divine power? Verse 2, "I will make my covenant," or key word for this chapter, "between me and thee, and will multiply thee exceedingly." There's the key promise. So reminders and renewals of the covenant. Here's the rainbow all over again. Verse 3, "And Abram fell on his face." And God talked with him, saying, "As for me, behold, my covenant is with thee. Thou shalt be a father of many nations." Just like you wanted way back when we started this lesson. Verse 5, "Neither shall thy name any more be called Abram, but thy name shall be Abraham, for a father of many nations have I made thee." Interesting use of the past tense there, by the way. A father of many nations have I made thee." What? I've got one kid. He's 13 years old. He wasn't even from the wife that I chose for myself. Oh, patience, son. If you remember, Abinionized language. Speaking of things to come, as though they already had come. There's faith in the future for you. Well, I'm calling you a father of many nations already, because I've made you that. Just like Eve was the mother of all living before she even had a child. Abram, in fact, you've outgrown that name. Like I said, I apologize. I keep switching back and forth between Abram and Abraham. Here is when we finally can leave Abram behind and know that we're with Abraham solely from this moment forward. Abram, like as in "Abba, father." Yeah, that Jesus says, "Ab means father, and Ram means high or lifted up." Abram then means a high or exalted father. By the way, somebody wants pointed out, isn't it interesting that in the book of Mormon where there is a high stand? It's called the Ram, the Umptom. Ram, Joseph didn't know any Hebrew when the book of Mormon was published. And it interesting that a high stand would include that Hebrew word for high or lifted or exalted. Interesting. Anyway, he is an exalted father, a high father. But more than that, if we're talking stars of heaven and sands of the sea, you are a father of multitudes. And so Abraham means the turn into Abraham. And Abraham means father of a multitude. You're going to live up to that name. Believe me. He keeps repeating the promise, verse 6, "I will make the exceeding fruitful. I will make nations of thee, and kings shall come out of thee." Verse 7, "I will establish my covenant between me and thee, and thy seed after thee in their generations, for an everlasting covenant, to be a God unto thee and to thy seed after thee." I'm choosing you because you chose me. Please raise your posterity to do likewise. In verse 8, "I will give unto thee and to thy seed after thee, the land wherein thou art a stranger, all the land of Canaan, for an everlasting possession, and I will be there, God." See all these peas coming together, posterity, and promised land that goes hand in hand. Now, verse 9, "God says to Abraham, thou shalt keep my covenant therefore. Thou, and I seed after thee in their generations." Remember, this is a covenant after all, which is a two-way promise. You do your part. I will do mine. Guaranteed. I the Lord embound when you do what I say. If you don't, you have no promise. So please keep your word, so I can keep mine. Now, verse 10, "This is my covenant, which ye shall keep. Between me and you and thy seed after thee, every man child among you shall be circumcised." Verse 11, "He explains what that is. You shall circumcise the flesh of your foreskin, and it shall be a token of the covenant betwixt me and you." Now, remember last week when we talked about a covenant God had made with Noah, and same one he'd made with Enoch, and that there was a token of the covenant to help both parties remember. That that would be the rainbow, the bow and the cloud, and the way God first said it was, "I will look upon it, and I will remember the covenant." That's what tokens are for, to remind us of things. And what's interesting about tokens of covenants is that the token is usually inherently connected to the covenant. Again, if it's supposed to be a reminder, it helps if the reminder actually seems to fit. So if part of the rainbow is connecting heaven and earth, well, what a good reminder that Zion connects heaven and earth and Zion went up, but it will also come down. Good reminder. Or the fact that it's a reminder God won't flood the earth again. Well, whenever it starts to rain, and you start getting a little PTSD, wait for the rainbow, and it will get. It's going to stop. Okay, he's not going to do that again. Well, in a similar way, the covenant here revolves around posterity, seed, having children. And what's interesting about circumcision is it's inherently connected to the powers of procreation, of being able to have posterity. Understand what I'm saying here? To think about circumcision itself. To me, it's funny. When I was on my mission, this sweet convert said, "Hey, elders, you guys do service, right?" Well, yeah, every week, what can we do? So will my sister need some help translating something? Can you guys translate? Like sure, yeah, I'm fluent in English and Spanish, that's fine. Said, "Wow, good." And she gave us a copy of the journal of the American Medical Association, and said, "Yeah, my sister's in med school, and she couldn't find this article in Spanish. Can you translate into Spanish for her?" And I'm like, "From the American Medical Association?" I looked at it, and it was this very technical, medical article about circumcision of all things. And I remember reading this going, "I never learned any of these words in the MTC." And so I remember having to go to the mission office and borrowing the unabridged Spanish English dictionary. So I could look up words like super squamous epithelium. Yeah, we didn't know that one. And we went through it, it took forever. But I probably know more about the medical side, the logistics of circumcision than any non-medical professional should. When my first son was born, and he was being circumcised, and they were like, "Are you sure you want to watch this?" You want to be part of my, "Oh, yeah, I know exactly what you're doing." I mean, the word circumcision, "sision is cut like an incision," "circum is around like circumference." And so circumcision is a cutting around. And it's interesting later, Paul will talk about the circumcision of the heart. That's what really God is after. To cut off the outward covering of the heart, I mean, remember the problem, "Enic was up against." Their hearts have waxed hard. You need to cut off the outward shell so that, so that God can reach you, you need to remove the outer covering so that you are truly exposed to the all-seeing eye of God. Now, take that concept of circumcising the heart, and then couple it with the focus of the covenant, which is on procreation. So that one circumcision becomes such a fascinating, a powerful symbol, and reminder, therefore a powerful token of the covenant. So that hopefully every son of Abraham is reminded frequently, "I've made promises with God, and they affect more than myself. They affect my posterity, and so I will be as virtuous as the daughters of Onida. I will be as obedient as Abraham himself. I will be as self-sacrificial as Sarah was. I will be as willing to establish peace as Melchizedek, the King of Salem himself. There is so much bound up in this token of the covenant, and it's meant to be a frequent reminder of promises made in hopes they become promises kept. Now, verse 12, "He that is eight days old shall be circumcised among you, every man child in your generations, he that is born in the house, picture born in the covenant, or bought with money of any stranger which is not of thy seed, picture those that are adopted into the house of Israel, every male circumcised on the eighth day." "Earth day, by the way, if the first week lasts for seven, then what does that make the eighth day?" Ah, a new beginning, a new creation, and to see this new born child, get born again through circumcision. In fact, the JST of that verse says, "I will establish a covenant of circumcision with thee, and it shall be my covenant between me and thee, and thy seed after thee in their generations." Here's the addition, "That thou mayest know forever that children are not accountable before me, until they are eight years old." Interesting parallel. So circumcision on the eighth day is supposed to point us towards a necessary rebirth on the eighth year, that you can be covered by the Atomina of Christ automatically those first seven days before you are uncovered in a circumcision. You are covered those first eight years of life until at the eighth year, having arrived at the years of accountability. You are now exposed to the demands of justice, and you will have to be covered by the Atomina of Christ if you hope to stay clean. And there's something beautiful about the number eight as a symbol of new beginnings, a new week, a new creation. So let me repeat it in verse 13, "He that is born in thy house, he that is bought with thy money must needs be circumcised, and my covenant shall be in your flesh for an everlasting covenant." Remember we talked about cutting covenants? Is the verb they used? Oh, to cut this covenant within the flesh, it's something you wear, it's something you bear, it's something you are. And to think of just the physical nature of these spiritual truths, how tokens of covenants are amazing like that. So far that's the male side. Verse 15, "The female side, God said unto Abraham, as for Sarai thy wife, thou shalt not call her name Sarai, but Sarai shall her name be." Now this one is a little trickier because in realities, there's not a significant difference between Sarai and Sarai, they both mean princess. I've read some commentators suggest that, "Well, Sarai is more a personal because I is the ending that means mine. So Sarai is more my princess, whereas Sarai is more princess in general." Which might speak to the reality here that it's not just your little princess, Abraham, this is the princess of the world. If you're the prince of peace, she's the princess of peace. And the covenant is meant to bless all nations. It's kind of like, "Hey, Gar, if she was a princess, well, here's Sarai as the ultimate princess, a daughter of the king." And so just like my name is upon you, Abraham, you father of the multitudes, my name is upon my daughter, Sarai. She is my princess, not just yours. Now there's no female token of the covenant to mirror this male token of the covenant. And maybe part of that has to do with, if it's in the flesh, then how do you do that? I can't speak to that. What's interesting though is a symbol that we will see later through Scripture. Because again, if seed is the focus, picture, fruit, bearing seed. Picture in terms of biology and anatomy, male, seed, female, seed. I'll put it this way. It will get to this at the end of Exodus when we see the high-prestly robes and their symbolism. And around the hem of the robe were these woven pomegranates, which seems really weird. Now again, we'll talk more about it then, but a pomegranate is actually an incredible symbol or token of the covenant if you want to call it that for seed because open up a pomegranate. I mean, it's one thing to cut into an apple, and yeah, there's some seeds there. But you really want to have seeds take pride of place in the fruit, open up a pomegranate. It's amazing. And so pomegranates have become symbolic of fertility and the ability to have posterity and seed. Some, according to Jewish tradition, that might have even been the forbidden fruit. We always refer to it as the apple, but it doesn't say what the forbidden fruit was. Actually, if you think of the word pomegranate, it comes from the words meaning apple and seed. Or grains. It really is an amazing word. And to picture the pomegranate as this promise, this token, this reminder that there is seed within you Abraham and Sarah. And I will bring forth that seed miraculously until we fill the earth with posterity just as the stars of heaven and the sands of the seed. God promises in verse 16, "I will bless her and give thee a son also of her." Yay, I will bless her. She shall be a mother of nations. Kings of people shall be of her. You picture Abraham going, "Wait, are we still talking about Sarah?" Or did you switch back to that other princess? Did you switch back to Hegar? Because that ship has sailed. Just like I was thinking outside the box, that's why she was thinking outside the box. And the miracle came. We are so grateful for Ishmael. And yeah, it was tricky with pride from above and pride from below, but they've worked through it. And I think we're good. So we're content with that. He says that in 18, "Abraham said unto God, 'O that Ishmael might live before thee.'" It's almost like again he's giving God an easier out. "Hey, all we needed was a wife and a child, and I'm good to go. We've got Ishmael, and you promised Hegar that you would multiply Him, and you can keep your word that way." I love the thought of God suggesting to Abraham here. My word wasn't just to you. It was to Sarah also. So just like you wondered, "Well, is it metaphorical?" No, Abraham. It's literal. And then when Sarah wondered, "Well, is it just through Abraham?" No, it's through you, too. So yes, I will multiply Ishmael, but there is an Isaac on the way. And like Ishmael means God hears, Isaac means rejoicing. It even means laughing. Because sometimes it's hard to tell the difference between laughing and rejoicing. Well, the one often is exhibited by the other. In fact, I skipped that verse, verse 17. "As soon as he hears that promise from God." No, it's Sarah. It's her. It's her. It's her. He fell upon his face and laughed. He Isaaced. He said in his heart, "Shall it child be born into him that is a hundred years old?" Are you kidding? And she'll Sarah that is 90 years old, bear. And there he is laughing to himself. That's the best one I've heard in a long time, God. There's no way that's possible. We'll see some more laughter next week on Sarah's part. They're both yet sucking. They're both Isaacan and Isaac will come as a result of their shared rejoicing. In verse 19, God said, "Sara, thy wife shall bear thee a son. Indeed. Here's my guarantee. Let me reassure you." "Thou shall call his name Isaac. He's going to live up to his name just like Ishmael does to his. And I will establish my covenant with him for an everlasting covenant and with his seed after him." Again, repeated over and over through this great chapter. Verse 20, "As for Ishmael since I know you care about him too, and I care about him, like I care about the amurites and the Egyptians and everyone else. As for him, I have heard thee. Behold, I have blessed him, and I will make him fruitful and will multiply him exceedingly. 12 princes shall he be get, and I will make him a great nation. Just as there would be the 12 tribes of Israel, a few generations away, there will be the 12 tribes of Ishmael. And one Isaac will bring the house of Israel into existence, and the Arab nations will come through Abraham and Ishmael. Amazing these parallels. In fact, it's interesting to see how much repetition there is, even on the ones that we set tend to think of as the nonchosen. God has blessings for everyone. He is inclusive, even with his exclusivity. And so we see today I'm going to bless Hegar abundantly. Even though Sarah is the one I've chosen, I'm going to bless Ishmael abundantly with 12 tribes of his own, even though Isaac, and then Jacob/Israel, is where the birthright will go. We'll see it between Jacob and Issa, that Issa lost the birthright, but he didn't lose blessing. And so many of the blessings God promised Jacob. He also promised Issa, just not the responsibility to make you a minister and make sure that you bring the rest of the family home. We got to keep that in mind, especially if there's any sense of pride from above on our part, because like I said, it'll only spawn pride from below from someone else. He loves them all. He only chooses those who choose Him and chooses them to choose everyone else. Never lose sight of that. Now, verse 21, "My covenant will I establish with Isaac?" So I'm going to bless and multiply Ishmael, but my covenant is with Isaac, which Sarah shall bear unto thee at this set time in the next year. And then 22, he left off talking with him, and God went up from Abraham. Interesting, what a short conversation that seemed to be. And just how abrupt, okay, here it is, this is a blessing, and laugh what you will. But there it is, I'm going to do it indeed, and then he leaves off talking, and Abraham left to himself. I love that God doesn't be labor at the point and doesn't keep trying to convince Abraham that this is really the case. It's like, "Nope, here's my word, and I'm going to leave you to believe it or disbelieve it at your blessing or your peril." Choices yours. The Scriptures tend to leave us with that. Here it is. Take it or leave it. Judge for yourself. Well, Abraham believes he trusts. That's the nail in the sheer place. There's the nursing father that will raise, "Oh, these children of promise. I believe that." And God counts it to him for righteousness. He believes and he acts upon it. In fact, the way the chapter ends, 23, Abraham took Ishmael his son and all that were born in his house and all that were bought with his money, every male among the men of Abraham's house, and circumcised the flesh of their foreskin in the self same day as God had said unto him. Now remember, Ishmael's 13 years old and the other male members of Abraham's households are going to be a huge spectrum of ages. And circumcision is best performed on an infant that doesn't know what's happening. That's amazing to think, "Wow, are we really going to do this? This token of the covenant is. " Are we sure there's no other rainbow options? That seems to be simpler. But it's amazing that Abraham obeys immediately. The same day you asked, "I will enter into that covenant. I do believe you. I trust you. And although I might have to wait for the fulfillment of the covenant, I'm not going to make you wait on me keeping my part of it." And so that very self same day. And then later in verse 26, "In the self same day was Abraham circumcised and Ishmael his son. I love that he didn't hold his son or his servants to any standard he wasn't willing to live up to himself." This commandment applies to all of us. It especially applies to me. So I'm not just asking you to do it. I will lead by example here. The father walked the covenant path before me at pillar of fire and cloud of smoke. I am walking right after him and you're welcome to join me. I pray that you will. Now, as we conclude today's lesson, I wanted to share one last thought with everybody. I received an interesting email recently by one of you wonderful viewers out there. With a really personal and vulnerable question, it was more personal than doctrinal, although it was doctrinal too. And the question was about the Abrahamic covenant. Not so much what is it, but rather why is that so important? The way that this woman phrased the question was interesting. She said, "I just don't get the draw of the promise as God gives to Abraham. I've never really understood why I would want posterity as the sands of the sea. An eternal increase and to become a ruler and have angel subject to me. Every time I read about the Abrahamic covenant in the Old Testament or doctrine and covenants, I'm left feeling pretty uninterested in that future that's promised, or at best neutral." She went on and then later encapsulated her questions in this way. Number one, "Is there some historical context as to why a promise like this may have hit Abraham, another's differently, a few millennia ago? Then this kind of promise hits us differently in a super crowded, busy post-industrial, first world culture, where having a large posterity isn't necessarily a clear survival necessity. I mean, kudos to you for thinking about context, okay? That's important to do. And yes, in a hunter-gatherer or a gradian society, boy, is it necessary to have a lot of field hands, so to speak? But is that all it is? Abraham had plenty of servants. Remember, he armed 318 of them to go on this commando mission? No, it's not that. Like we've talked about before, it's your. It's living up to the measure, fulfilling the measure of your creation. It's passing on life to the next generation. Now, I understand where you're coming from here in terms of. Oh, I mean, I've got a few kids. That feels enough for me. In fact, certain days it feels like more than enough. I get that. It is. It's heavy lifting parenting these days, right? Family is a blessing and a burden. They're supposed to be both, okay? Now, that's what we call it, a sacrifice, even though there's an incredible rate of return on the investment. It takes work here. And maybe part of it goes back to the concept of marriage in our day has become more focused on the couple rather than the children. Maybe I think you're wise to wonder not just about culture in Abraham's day, but also to wonder about culture in our own. We sometimes just assume that it's everybody else that's colored by their culture, when in reality, oh, yikes. We're looking through a. It's not a rose color set of glasses either. It's a darker, a darker hue. But to think about, what is it that God is promising me? It's more than just having a house full of kids. Because, again, if we're thinking stars of heaven and sands of seashore, Abraham and Sarah are going to get nowhere near that in this life. This is a promise of things to come. And that is divinity itself as defined by deity. This is my work and my glory. This is what we do. And to think, that's what I'm looking forward to. A friend of mine just became a grandpa for the first time. And in fact, my brother-in-law, I'm really close to, just became a grandpa a few days ago too. His daughter, I held when she was like a day old when I was dating my wife. It's her niece. Then I almost felt like I was. I don't know, invading this family because I wasn't officially a part of it. But just to hold this sweet little girl and think, "Whoa." And kind of pray inside. "Haven't you father? Please let her be my niece too." You can drop some subtle hints on this girlfriend of mine. Please let her agree to marry me someday. Well, it worked. But that little girl that I got to hold, the first niece I ever got to meet, is now a mother, which is kind of weird. I don't have any grandkids of my own, but seeing hearing about it, do you have grandkids? You've heard the old saying that they're the reward that you get for not killing your kids. In some ways, it's, "Wow, this is what family life is for." So I wonder if I'm too premature to even answer your question, or if you're too young enough to even to know the answer yet. I think it'll hit us both. Eventually, when we realize, "Wow." The work happened in that first generation and the reward really kicks in. I don't want to throw kids under the bus. I love mine. But man, there are a lot of work. And I'm grateful I look forward to the reward. I'm getting rewards already, but great rewards on their way when grandparenthood and great-grandparenthood and so on comes on. And there's just something about that kind of posterity. In terms of extending relationships and love and purpose, this is what it's all for. And I think in our best days, in our best moments, the Holy Ghost can confirm that truth to us. Also, in terms of if that's the posterity side, don't forget the promised land. And again, that's not the nation of Israel. That's the highest degree of the Celestial Kingdom. I want that. Because this is described in Scripture. A place of paradise. Oh, sin or sorrow or suffering or death? Yeah, I want that. That's a blessing worth living for. And that other p of priesthood and all that goes with it. How to be. to feel like you're an instrument in God's hands. That's a blessing worth living up to and living up for as well. Those are my favorite times as a missionary. It's my favorite times as a teacher. It's my favorite times as a parent or a servant of God. I'm feeling that p rest down upon my heart. We'll keep talking about this as time goes on. Whenever we see a Rachel or Sarah or a Hannah or an Elizabeth next year, whenever we see someone that feels like they're not yet living into that, we'll see it with the unix of Israel in Isaiah 56. We'll see it all over the place. People that feel like they're on the outside of that covenant looking in, dream of it. And wish it were intended for them to which it is. Perhaps we don't fully appreciate the blessing of the Abrahamic covenant because we already have it. And without fully realizing it or without lacking it long enough to really miss it and wish they they were ours. Oh, I don't know completely how to answer your questions in all the ways that the Holy Ghost can. So I guess I'll leave you with him. But a few other statements from Joseph Smith that I just was thinking about as I pondered your question. Listen to this one. The nearer we get to our Heavenly Father, the more we are disposed to look with compassion on parishing souls. We feel that we want to take them upon our shoulders and cast their sins behind our backs. That sounds like what Abraham is living into. Or this one from Joseph. A man filled with the love of God is not content with blessing his family only, but ranges through the whole world anxious to bless the whole human race. And that's part of this Abrahamic covenant too. Making sure God's exclusivity doesn't backfire, but leads to an all-encompassing inclusivity, including all of his children. Once we taste that, oh, we can't get enough of it. When I thought I was thinking about the Maslow's hierarchy of needs, it's kind of pyramid of the basic things we have to have just to feel like we're making it in life. The bottom one, the the basis of needs is the physiological kind. I got to eat. I got to be able to sleep. I have to be able to take care of myself along those lines. The second level up is safety. To be able to hold on to those things. I'm even willing to gamble away my safety if it's about survival. But once I'm surviving, I do want security too. I want to feel safe. The next level up is love and belonging. And now we're starting to deal with relationships. It's not just every man for himself, but I want to be loved. I want to be connected with people. And then above that is esteem. We do tend to care what people think of us. Hopefully not in a selfish way, but how to be to be looked at as someone worth connecting to. I mean, that's definitely something God wants to to shower down upon us. But then the highest level of this hierarchy of needs is what Maslow calls self-actualization. And that's the sense of fulfilling the measure of your creation. It's interesting because those first four levels, they call them deficiency needs. That it's something you usually tend to notice when they're missing. You're deficient in that. But the more you get, the less of it you need, because it's filling the tank, so to speak. I'm no longer deficient. But that top level, the one of self-actualization, is called a growth need. And the more I grow into it, the more of it I want. So on the bottom side, my motivation decreases the more of it I get. Once I'm full, I'm not scrambling for food anymore. Once I'm loved, I'm not desperate for it. But the irony of the top level is the motivation increases the more of it we have. And that's fascinating. That the more actualized I feel, the more I'm living into the purpose of my existence, the more motivated I am to be, to be even better at it, and to continue to grow. I'm grateful that life tends to work that way. And that's honestly is where I see the Abrahamic covenant point in us. The prosperity side of things as far as a promised land is concerned. I go, I guess those are the lower levels. We start getting closer when we hit seed and posterity. The here's connections now in relationships and love and esteem and so on. It propels us up into the self-aculization stage where it's, and the more we live into it, the more we want to continue doing. So like, wow, this is what I'm here for. I found like purpose. But that's also where priesthood kicks in. I'm here to bless the whole human race, to pick people up and cast their sins behind my back. I'm here to be an Abraham, to be a Sarah. And so my friends, wherever you happen to be on the hierarchy of needs, wherever you happen to feel on the spectrum of how drawn you are to these things or not quite yet, wherever you are in your journey along the covenant path. Can I end where we began and just repeat the words of Isaiah? Look to the rock from once you are human. Look to the whole of the pit that you were dug out of. Look to Abraham your father. And to Sarah who bear you. I testify of their glorious examples and pray that we can make of our lives something a little closer to theirs. May we become a little more Abrahamic ourselves in the way we approach our tests and trials in the way that we seek the blessings and promises of God in the way that we keep our covenants and the way that we exercise our faith. We have the examples. May we follow them.