A PERSPECTIVE

 

Many years ago when I was going through the darkest time of my life, I had a priesthood blessing from my Bishop during which he told me that my life was planned for me before I was born and that I agreed to that plan. Still, part of me did not fully accept that painful period or my life until a year ago when I gained a deeper perspective regarding the matter. It was revealed to me that because of the goal I had for myself in pre-earth life, an opportunity of self-sacrifice was offered to me as a means of becoming who I wanted to be and I took that choice. I agreed to a painful path for myself so that another can benefit from it.

I reflected on this yesterday because of the children of Israel who fell into Egyptian bondage  for 430 years. Before I expound on the relevance, here is how that servitude came about:

“And Joseph died, and all his brethren, and all that generation. And the children of Israel were fruitful, and increased abundantly, and multiplied, and waxed exceeding mighty; and the land was filled with them. Now there arose up a new king over Egypt, which knew not Joseph.” (Exodus 1:6-8)

This new king was no doubt Egyptian and not of the Hyksos dynasty of Semitic people that Joseph governed Egypt  under (Old Testament Student Manual 1 p 103). The Egyptians hated Semitic people in their land and erased all mention of Joseph from their history, but one piece of evidence remains. Apparently, “they exaggerated their ‘successes’ and immortalized them on a stone slab of Merneptah, which in listing conquered peoples claims proudly: “Israel is laid waste and his seed is not.” (Jewish Antiquities, “The New Complete Works of Josephus” p 95)

Josephus tells us when the children of Israel came into Egypt they numbered no more than seventy souls (see also Genesis 46:27). By the time Jacob and Joseph died and the Egyptian king came to power, they numbered above 600,000. This frightened the Egyptians to the point of severe affliction of the Hebrews in an attempt to eradicate them (see Exodus 1:9-14).

Imagine 430 years of bondage. Imagine being born into it and dying in it. Imagine all you know of life is slavery, for yourself, your family, your ancestors….and you cannot see the end. One would wonder why would God allow this to go on for so long. This is where my theory of sacrifice comes in…..because there is an explanation. It would seem their servitude was a sacrifice that helped tremendously in developing and preserving their identity for the future generations:

Palestine was a battleground for warring nations…and Israel needed stable conditions to become a ‘peculiar people’ and this is how:  Firstly, the hatred that existed between the Hebrews and the Egyptians and the length of their trying servitude fused Jacob’s children into a united people; and secondly, Israel had to remain a pure race and the hatred between these two nations prevented intermarriage (otherwise the validity of the priesthood would have been compromised as the Egyptians were descendants of Cain and did not have the right to the  priesthood…see Abraham 1:21-27) (Mark Petersen, “Moses” pp 27-30, “Old Testament Student Manual” 1 p 103)

Both James Talmage and Bruce R. McConkie claimed that valiant spirits earned the privilege of being chosen before they were born to come to earth as members of the House of Israel (see “Articles of Faith” pp 193-94; “The Mortal Messiah: From Bethlehem to Calvary”, 1:23)

I wondered if those valiant early members of the House of Israel chose to be born in Egypt for the purpose of building a strong House of Israel and its destiny. I rather think they understood the principle of self-sacrifice for the greater good of others and accepted this responsibility. I imagine the resilience and the survival of Israel over the course of history had its beginning in Egypt where the task masters of bondage built the strength of the tribe that could not be broken……the tribe that gave birth to the Lion of Judah…..and we know what HIS destiny was.

- CATHRYNE ALLEN 

(Art: Saviour and King by Greg Collins)

 

 

 

KNOW WHO YOU ARE

 

“Why did the Lord ask such things of Abraham? Because knowing what his future would be and that he would be the father of an innumerable posterity, He was determined to test him. God did not do this for His own sake for He knew by His foreknowledge what Abraham would do; but the purpose was to impress upon Abraham a lesson and to enable him to attain unto knowledge that he could not obtain in any other way.

“That is why God tries all of us. It is not for His own knowledge for He knows all things beforehand. He knows all your lives and everything you will do. But He tries us for our own good that we may know ourselves; for it is most important that a man should know himself.”  (George G. Cannon, “Gospel Truth”, comp. Jerreld L. Newquist, 2 Vols [1974] 1:113)

Years ago I read something I saved as a guide to my own personal development: “Someone who takes the time to understand their relationship with God, who actively seeks alignment with their broader perspective, who deliberately seeks and finds alignment with who they really are; is more charismatic, more attractive, and more powerful than a group of millions who have not achieved this alignment.”  (Abraham Hicks)

Think of what Abraham achieved in his life and how powerful he became….his obedience was unparalleled and his pursuit of righteousness and seeking the blessings of the fathers through the priesthood brought him into alignment with God and the revelations he received regarding the Plan of Salvation (Abraham 3:22-28).

Abraham’s faithfulness to God, however, through the trial of Isaac’s sacrifice, gave him the knowledge of his role as the father of all the faithful through the Abrahamic Covenant. This trial of his faithfulness to God truly taught Abraham who Abraham was.   

Now look at the Saviour. Repeatedly throughout His earthly ministry, He affirmed who He was:

-        I am the bread of life (John 6:31, 51)

-        I am the light of the world (John 8:12)

-        I am the door of the sheep (John 10:7,9)

-        I am the good shepherd (John 10:11,14)

-        I am the resurrection and life (John 11:25)

-        I am the way, the truth and the life (John 14:6)

-        I am the true vine (John 15:1,5)

The Saviour was not born with this knowledge. This knowledge was added to Him in increments as He grew and progressed through His obedience until His ministry began (D&C 93:12-14). No need to mention of what the Saviour achieved because He learnt who He was through His alignment with the Father and through the trials He suffered “even more than man can suffer” (Mosiah 3:7).

Could He ever have been the Christ if He didn’t know who He was destined to be???

We too can know our destiny….

-     CATHRYNE ALLEN

(Art: The Light by Land of Dreams)

THE WEAK THINGS OF THE WORLD

 I come from generations of European peasants. Poverty is ingrained in my family's consciousness.  My grandfather was raised to till the ground and farm the land he inherited from his family. To him, that was the way of life. The oldest of five sons, my father, was meant to inherit and carry on the family tradition. He, however, and four brothers that followed him were not interested in taking over the land. My father went into trade to become a bricklayer. His father was outraged and told him in very clear terms that he would not receive any support from him during his apprenticeship or ever after. All the sons went their separate ways and perpetuated the poverty consciousness they grew up with but the second youngest dared to break free from the family mold. Not surprisingly he was the only one that succeeded in his efforts to carve a successful life for himself.  This uncle of mine was born with certain talents that he would not deny. It became very evident early in his life that he had a talent for art. He loved drawing so much that he would secretly go to his friend's house after school and spend a considerable time there unrestrained, drawing to his heart's content. When he would eventually come home he would receive a beating from his father who thought drawing was foolishness and wanted to punish him for not being there to attend to family chores. When this uncle grew up he moved to the city, educated himself and became a very talented architect. He didn't stop there however. He proceeded to accomplish everything in his life that he wanted to do. Besides a lucrative career, he painted, he raced cars, invested himself in archeology, wrote books on his finds and opened a museum for gems and crystals. I am guessing he did all this because he knew who he was and chose to believe in himself. Whenever this uncle would visit us, he would be very respectful to my father who was the oldest brother in the family, but the differences between them were startling. My uncle lived in another city and he very much behaved like an educated city dweller that he was. He spoke with a city dialect and carried himself with dignity. My father, on the other hand, turned to drink to silence his fear of poverty which he could not break away from to his dying day. In other words, he remained a peasant.

I guess my uncle felt in his heart that he was not a peasant, even though he descended from generations of such before him. I am guessing that he recognized who he really was and sought to change the course of his destiny. I consider him exceptionally smart because he believed in the possibility of change. We know through Epigenetics that environmental factors such as diet and lifestyle can change gene activity in subsequent generations suggesting that DNA is not fixed, that DNA can be switched on or off and that we can change it by the choices we make: diet, lifestyle, thoughts, attitude, awareness and therapy. This means that we do not have to be poor, fat or sick like our progenitors. We do not have to follow those before us like blind sheep. Because we are all individuals, we all have different individual paths irrespective of our families before us. These paths are spiritually engineered and are individualized plans for mortality and beyond. The Saviour is a perfect example of this. Born into Jewish traditions and laws that His family had followed for centuries, He fulfilled the laws and changed the course of not only His family but the entire human race. The Saviour was true to who He was and to His mortal and spiritual destiny, no matter what the sacrifice.

We women of the free world have so much in this day and age. We have the ability and freedom to be whatever we want to be but more importantly than that, we have the freedom to be who we truly are. We are not stuffed into corsets, denied ownership of property or rights to an education. We have come a long way yet still many of us are forcing ourselves into molds created by others intent on proving that women are capable of anything and everything. The quest for equality has caused us to lose many womanly traits that are so badly needed in the world today. Many of us follow society's expectations at the risk of individuality and freedom to choose paths in mortality that will ensure our spiritual well being. Our ultimate destiny is to live with God forever. However, the path to eternal bliss begins here and now. It is our duty to perfect ourselves on this path of mortality employing our strongest capabilities and relying on God's assistance to get us to where we should be. There is a curse spoken by one tribe in Asia to their enemies that says "may you stay in one place for the rest of your life" or "may you stay where you are forever and may it torment you for the rest of your life". A life of regret would certainly be a curse we could carry upon us forever. We live in the most exciting and vibrant dispensation of all times. Joseph Smith stated once that "prophets, priests and kings have looked forward with joyful anticipation to the day in which we live; and fired with heavenly and joyful anticipations they have sung, written and prophesied of this our day...." (Teachings of the Prophet Joseph Smith, p 231). Never before has the human race had the opportunities and resources we now have to polish ourselves and prepare ourselves for the golden age of the Millenium. Never before have we been given so much to ensure our spiritual destiny is obtainable. We stand at the threshold of another whole year of opportunities to repent, overcome, subdue, improve, and achieve.

When Joseph Smith said that prophets, priests and kings have looked forward with joyful anticipation to our day, he added that we are "the favoured people that God has made choice of to bring about the Latter-day glory; it is left for us to see, participate in and help to roll forward the Latter-day glory, the dispensation of the fullness of times", for of whom much is given, much is required, therefore, the obligation is two fold: to perfect ourselves and to perfect others. Do you feel weak or strong when you reflect on this responsibility? If you feel weak cast your mind on the humble beginnings of this dispensation and those who were commanded to lay the foundation of 'the only true and living church upon the face of the whole earth' (D&C 1:30). In the words of one talented writer: "Who would lay the foundations of the Kingdom of God on the earth in the last Dispensation? Two simple farmers and a one-room school teacher would become the principle witnesses of the Book of Mormon. A potter, a glazer and simple carpenter would be called to stand firm by the Prophet Joseph. A twenty-three year old printer, who never joined the Church, would actually print and publish the Book of Mormon. A simple German farming family would provide a small 20 x 30 foot cabin as the first headquarters of the Church. A poor. unsuccessful homesteader who had never really been able to finish his payments on his land would be called off a canal boat to become of the great missionaries of these last days. The list could go on and on. And all of these led by a simple farm boy from western New York. And this would indeed be the stone cut out of the mountain without hands that will roll forth and fill the whole earth" (Scott Facer Proctor, "The Voice of Warning shall be Unto All People" Meridian Magazine).

How could such humble and weak men of the earth accomplish so great a work? The answer was given through Joseph F. Smith's vision of the spirit world where he saw Joseph Smith, his brother Hyrum and others. He observed that they were "among the noble and great ones who were chosen in the beginning to be rulers in the Church of God. Even before they were born, they, with many others received their first lessons in the world of spirits and were prepared to come forth in the due time of the Lord to labour in his vineyard for the salvation of the souls of men" (D&C 138:55,56). We are 'the others' who came to earth disguised as the weak and simple ones. We are the ones the Lord spoke of when he said 'the weak things of the world shall come forth and break down the mighty and strong ones...." (D&C 1:19). We are the ones crowned with nobility and greatness to accomplish the great work of bringing salvation to the souls of men.

Our destiny is our destination, being eternal life in the presence of God. May we strive to stay on the path that leads to this holy place, the place of our eternal home.

"Thou whom I have taken from the ends of the earth, 

and called thee from the chief men thereof, 

and said unto thee,

Thou art my servant; 

I have chosen thee, and not cast thee away.

Fear thou not; for I am with thee:

be not dismayed; for I am thy God:

I will strengthen thee; 

yea, I will help thee;

yea, I will uphold thee with the

right hand of my righteousness."

- Isaiah 41:9,10

IN THE HEART OF WILDERNESS

There lived on the fringes of Jerusalem in 600 BC a rich, bold and resourceful merchant, a God fearing man by the name of Lehi. This man, under God's direction prophesied of Jerusalem's demise and destruction, a city whose wickedness was so great that God did not only send one prophet to call them to repentance, but as many as seven, Lehi being among them as well as Jeremiah, Ezekiel, Nahum, Habukkuk, Zephaniah and Zechariah.

Lehi's prophetic calling came in 600 B.C., a time in history when Jerusalem was flourishing not only in prosperity but also in idolatry, immorality and corruption. And simmering below the pulse of the industrious and prosperous Jerusalem lay political unrest which would ultimately punish Israel and enslave those who stoned the prophets. In 600 B.C. Jerusalem was under Babylonian domination. Sitting on Judah's throne was Zedekiah, an appointed puppet king, who unwisely with most of Judah's leadership, formed an alliance with Egypt with plans to overthrow the Babylonian rule. Jeremiah warned against this alliance knowing full well that Egyptians could not back their show of power with physical resources but Zedekiah refused to listen. When Lehi brought his message of doom prophesying that Jerusalem will be destroyed and its inhabitants carried away to Babylon (1 Nephi 1:13,18), the people were outraged and considered him along with Jeremiah and other prophets unpatriotic and guilty of treason. Their solution to this offence was that Lehi had to die (1 Nephi 1:20).

When the call came to leave Jerusalem and establish a colony of higher moral standards than the apostate Jerusalem, Lehi, not needing time to prepare, did not hasitate. The Lord had been preparing him his whole life for such an experience, both temporally and spiritually. According to His foresight, the Lord had strategically placed Lehi in the tribe of Manasseh, which of all tribes lived the farthest out in the desert, on the outskirts of Jerusalem. Lehi, therefore became familiar with the dessert and as a merchant came to know the Egyptian culture. He had even given two of his sons Egyptian names and taught them to write in reformed Egyptian. Lehi was also spiritually sound. He knew full well what the God of Israel had done for his people and the wilderness they had to traverse to get to the promised land and he taught this to his children. Nephi often recounted Israel's wilderness experience to his brethren to bring them to the remembrance of their roots and to give them courage. : "Nephi consciously understood that his family was re-enacting a spiritual pattern....[and reminded his brethren of it frequently].....The Mormon pioneers, crossing the American wilderness, called themselves the Camp of Israel and were also aware they were following a pattern laid down before them....In spiritual history, the place of refuge is the wilderness, idealized by Israel as the place to commune with God. Certain profound lessons are learned in the wilderness, especially our complete dependence on God for it is a trackless, difficult place where our own resources prove not to be enough. The wilderness experiences in scripture are for cleansing and clarifying, and it is only after a people has experienced the marrow-deep challenges of the wilderness that they are ready to inherit a promised land" (Maurine Proctor, All Things According to His Will, Meridian Magazine).

Even though Lehi and his family were favoured of God and spared Jerusalem's destruction, they needed the experience of the wilderness to establish a righteous branch of Israel in another land. For this reason Lehi and his family travelled by the banks of the Red Sea for nine whole years before Nephi received instruction to build a ship. If the wilderness is a spiritual oasis where one finds God, this had to be true of this band of followers who had to be taught by what power they were inheriting the promised land. And they did find God in many ways but in one most extraordinary way. They found him in a tree.

Approximately a year before the command to build a ship, Lehi, had a very memorable dream in which he beheld an even more memorable tree, the tree of life. When Nephi, being the dutiful son that he was, inquired of God the meaning of the tree of life that his father had seen, an angel appeared to him to tutor him.  When the angel asked Nephi if he knew what the tree represented,  Nephi answered that it is the love of God, most desirable above all (2 Nephi 11:22,23). Immediately following his answer he was shown a vision of the Savior during his mortal ministry. It becomes very clear through Nephi's vision that the love of God is manifest to his children through the gift of His only begotten Son thus the tree becomes the symbol of Jesus Christ. Why a tree? Because a tree bears fruit and fruit is something you eat and something you eat becomes a part of you. In other words, you are what you eat. It transforms your very system. What we eat spiritually also transforms us, even to the point of rebirth. This rebirth places us on the path to eternal life. Alma claims that if we plant the word, which is compared to a seed, into our hearts and nurture it, it "shall take root; and behold it shall be a tree spring up into everlasting life" (Alma 32:41).

The symbol of the tree "converges all the meaning of the gospel. It was the tree of life that stood in the Garden of Eden and nourished Adam and Eve. This was a place of unity with each other and with the Lord. After they fell, eating the fruit of a forbidden tree, they came into a world of duality, division, separation from God. The only way to be at-one again with the Lord comes from the events that took place on another tree - the cross, through Christ's atonement and resurrection. Some legends even claim the cross was constructed from a branch of the tree of life. Symbolically, at least, this is true" ("The Vision of the Tree of Life, Meridian Magazine, December 14, 2015)

So it is with us. We all need a wilderness if we are to truly know God. The Lord wants us to find Him in the rough terrain, in the scorching desert, in the endless roads that we might know by whose hand we are led to 'the goodly land'. As prepared as Lehi was, his capacities were not enough. Hence the Liahona to point the way to the most fertile parts of the land where they could hunt for their survival (1 Nephi 16:14-30). It is good to be equipped with a bow but it is the hunt that the Lord provides that makes the hunter.

Every true disciple of Jesus Christ will experience 'a wilderness' before they get to their promised land. What promised land?: "Your promised land. Your new Jerusalem. Your own little acre flowing with milk and honey. Your future. Your dreams. Your destiny. I believe that in our own individual ways, God takes us to the grove or the mountain or the temple and there shows us the wonder of what His plan is for us" (Elder Jeffrey R. Holland, Cast Not Away Therefore Your Confidence, Ensign March 2000, p 10). We do not need to travel the rocky path to the land of milk and honey alone for the Lord has promised "....mine angels shall go up before you, and also my presence, and in time ye shall possess the goodly land" (D&C 103:17, 19-20). The barren landscape of our wilderness will serve as a testing ground that will refine us, change us and enoble us if all the lessons are learnt and all obstacles overcome with the help of Him who desires to see the journey completed to the end. And when the moments of doubt and uncertainty would question the worthiness of that journey, we must be like that faithful, bold and resourceful merchant from the outskirts of Jerusalem who stood on the banks of the Red Sea, with no ship in sight, proclaiming: "I have obtained a land of promise" (1 Nephi 5:5).

JOSEPH, THE PURE IN HEART

"My life is but a weaving, between my God and me,
I do not choose the colours,  He worketh steadily.
Oftimes He worketh sorrow and I, in foolish pride,
Forget He sees the upper, and I the underside.
Not till the loom is silent, and the shuttles cease to fly, 
Will God unroll the canvas, and explain the reasons why
The dark threads were as needful in the skillful weaver's hand, 
As threads of gold and silver in the pattern He has planned."
- Anonymous

"The scriptures give us the opportunity to watch some great people come out of broken homes.  Abraham was one whose life was threatened by family members.  Joseph was another.  We are told of his brothers that 'they conspired against him to slay him' (Genesis 37:18).  And yet few men rose higher in life than these two.  It may be hard for people who suffer from imperfect families to convince the Father on judgement day that their lack of devotion and obedience ought to be excused because of what happened in their homes."
(Ted L. Gibbons, OT Lesson #11, "How Can I Do This Great Wickedness?")

We see in Joseph of Egypt a perfect study in commitment, dedication, determination, persistence, endurance and faithfulness to God under any circumstance. Joseph is a perfect example of someone 'willing to submit to all things which the Lord seeth fit to inflict upon him' (Mosiah 3:19), willing to endure valiantly through trials with faith unshaken, not knowing the reason why.  Father Lehi lamented over his son Lemuel by saying: "O that thou mightest be like unto this valley, firm and steadfast, and immovable in keeping the commandments of the Lord" (1 Nephi 2:10).  This is exactly what Joseph was like: firm, steadfast and immovable like a valley.  Jesus claimed if we had faith 'as a grain of mustard seed' we could move mountains (Matt 17:20). The brother of Jared did just that (Ether 12:30) and proved that even something as formidable as a mountain can be moved but the valley, however, is firm, steadfast and immovable.  This was Joseph of Egypt. Because he was steadfast and trusted God in all things, God made of him a mighty man, a prototype of the Saviour himself.

At the tender age of 17 Joseph was torn away from his family by the brothers who were supposed to love him and protect him and spent 13 years as a slave or a prisoner. You could say he had every reason to believe that the Lord had dealt with him unjustly despite his devotion to the God of his fathers.  Joseph, however, knew he had an important destiny which was revealed to him through his dreams, and he chose to continue to believe in God by recognising opportunities that could turn his tragedies into blessings.  He trusted the Lord at every turn throughout all his tribulations.  The scriptures are replete with the Lord's promises that He will prosper those who keep His commandments (1 Nephi 2:20, 1 Nephi  4:14, 2 Nephi 1:9, 2 Nephi 1:20, 2 Nephi 4:4, Jarom 1:9, Omni 1:6, Mosiah 1:7 etc)  As Joseph sat in prison, stripped of his position and livelihood and unjustly accused because he chose to resist evil,  he could have been excused for believing that this promise did not apply to him.  Joseph, however, proved that God keeps his promises under any circumstance.  Where ever Joseph was, he endeared people to him because 'the Lord was with him'.  We read in Genesis chapter 39:

"And the Lord was with Joseph, and he was a prosperous man, and he was in the house of his master the Egyptian.  And his master saw the the Lord was with him, and that the Lord made all that he did to prosper in his hand.  And Joseph found grace in his sight, and he served him; and he made him overseer over his house, and all that he had he put into his hand.  And it came to pass from the time he had made him overseer in his house, and over all that he had, that the Lord blessed the Egyptian's house for Joseph's sake; and the blessing of the Lord was upon all that he had in the house, and in the field.  And he left all that he had in Joseph's hand; and he knew not ought he had, save the bread which he did eat.  And Joseph was a goodly person and well favored." (Genesis 39:22-6)

Imagine having earned such respect and trust of someone that they put all their financial affairs in your hands, to the point that they don't even know how much money they have but trust that you would provide their next meal.  This is the kind of man that Joseph was.  This kind of trustworthy and good character can only come through obedience to God and his commandments.  Consider this:

"This blessing comes only by obedience, and in this case it came to a young man who had every excuse to be disobedient.  His faith in God had not seemed to help him avoid troubles.  His obedience to the commandments had not prevented tragedy.  He cannot ask the bishop for an interview nor seek a blessing from his father.  No thoughtful members of his priests' quorum will be by to offer support in his troubles. He is alone and utterly on his own.  He has no reason to keep the commandments unless he wants to. If he does not, other than God, who will ever know?"  (Ted L. Gibbons, OT Lesson #11)

Joseph's ultimate test of faith came in the form of a woman.  This test of faith became the crowning glory of proof that he would never stray from his faith and commitment to live God's laws.  Joseph referred to Potiphar's wife's invitation as 'great wickedness' (Genesis 39:9).  The following insight into Joseph's character helps us have appreciation of Joseph's tenacity and his ability to overcome what could have been an overwhelming sense of hopelessness as his life took a turn for the worse:

"Young man, a thousand miles away from home, can you keep the standards of your mother and father?  One man changed the history of the world by taking into a foreign country these standards: He was good looking, he had personality; he was young.  Because of his physique and general carriage, he carried prestige.  She was a woman of importance - yes, I presume she was attractive. She tempted him once - she tempted him twice - yes, and many more times.  Each time he remembered the teachings of his folk at home.  He looked sin in the face and stood like a rock.  Yes, as the saying goes, he took it on the chin.  For just a moment what a price he paid to keep straight - and don't forget he was praying all the time. When she found herself unvictorious, she caught his garment as he fled.  The sample of the clothing was shown to her husband and if we can use our imagination, a remark from her treacherous lips went to her husband about as follows: "Well, here's the evidence. You thought he was lily-white, didn't you?"  Into a dark dungeon he went for two years.  And he was still praying.  And when he was sold into Egypt by his brothers for a few pieces of silver, he was praying.  Does the Lord really answer prayers? But let's shift to the last act of our play. The curtain goes up with an entirely different scene. "And they came from all nations to buy corn". Who was head of this great commissary department? Who was it that was next to the king of the land? Joseph, who was sold into Egypt, the boy who could say "no" - the lad who took the standards of his parents into a foreign land!  It was that boy who stood at the crossroads all alone". (Bisop Marvin O. Ashton, Improvement Era, Vol. XIviii, December, 1945, No. 12)

Joseph never failed to recognise that something good always comes out of something bad.  He believed that even his unjust imprisonment was a blessing.  The Testament of the Twelve Patriarchs quotes Joseph as saying "I gave thanks to the Lord and sang praise in the house of darkness, and how I rejoiced with cheerful voice, glorifying my God, because through her trumped-up charge I was set free from this Egyptian woman".
(James H. Charlesworth, The Testament of the Twelve Patriarchs, The Old Testament Pseudepigrapha, Apocalyptic Literature and Testaments)

It is staggering to think of what lay on the line when Joseph was tempted by his master's wife.  Had Joseph succumbed,  his destiny, the destiny of his family and the destiny of his descendants would have all been in peril. Had he chosen the life of sin, he would never have become the man that he became.  Joseph became the temporal saviour of his father's house by saving them from famine.  According to the dream he had where his brother's sheaves of grain bowed to his, Joseph was elevated to his position, not to be worshipped by his brothers, like they had supposed, but to serve them.  Their bowing 'was an act of receiving their brother's help, not meant to establish some kind of family pecking order'. (Phillip Allred, OT Lesson 11, Meridian Magazine)

Just as Joseph saved his family temporally, his progeny is to become spiritual saviours to their brethren of Israel and the rest of the Father's children.  The JST records the responsibility of Joseph's seed in our day:

"Wherefore thy brethren (the other tribes of Israel) shall bow down unto thee, from generation to generation, unto the fruit of thy loins (Ephraim and Manasseh) for ever; For thou shalt be a light unto my people, to deliver them in the days of their captivity, from bondage; and to bring salvation unto them, when they are altogether bowed down under sin". (JST Gen. 48:10-11)

"During this last dispensation, Joseph's descendants are charged with providing the covenants, ordinances, and saving truths of the gospel for the rest of the family.  With this in mind, it is exciting to see our modern temples as veritable spiritual granaries or storehouses where souls are literally delivered and saved while all around a famine seeks to lay waste precious mortal opportunities". (Phillip Allred, OT Lesson 11, Meridian Magazine)

"It is Ephraim who is building temples and performing the ordinances in them for both the living and for the dead. When the 'lost tribes' come, and it will be a most wonderful sight and a marvelous thing when they do come to Zion, in fulfillment of the promises made through Isaiah and Jeremiah, they will have to receive the crowning blessings from their brother Ephraim, the 'firstborn' in Israel".  (Joseph Fielding Smith, Doctrines of Salvation, 3:252)

What a glorious destiny Joseph stood to lose!  When his father Jacob gave Reuben, his first born, his final blessing he began the blessing with some powerful words, "Reuben, thou art my firstborn, my might, and the beginning of my strength, the excellency of dignity, and the excellency of power....".(Gen. 49:3)  What amazing words those are.  Reuben was the birthright son who stood to receive the priesthood blessings of the fathers and through whom the patriarchal line should have continued but Reuben did not abstain from temptation like Joseph did.  Reuben committed a terrible sin by committing adultery with one of his father's wives, Bilhah.  Because of this he lost everything.  What should have been an amazing blessing ended with:
"Unstable as water, thou shalt not excel; because thou wentest up to thy father's bed; then defiledst thou it..." (Gen. 49:3)

Because he was 'unstable as water' Reuben's birthright was inherited by Joseph who received a double portion for his sons.  If you poured water into different shape glasses, the water would take the shape of the glass that it is in.  If however, you tried to put a brick into three different containers, the brick would not change its' shape.  The containers would have to change their shape instead.  While water is changeable, variable, mutable, unsteady, uncertain, transitory and unstable; a brick is entirely opposite. While Reuben was 'weak as water',  Joseph was as strong as a brick and because of it, he in the end had it all.

THE EXAMPLE OF ABRAHAM

How would you feel if you were told that through you all the nations of the earth will be blessed?  Would it make a difference in how you view yourself, how you live your life and how you parent your children?  How much would such a promise strengthen your commitment to God and to living righteously?  This promise was given to Father Abraham after he had passed the ultimate test of being asked to sacrifice his son Isaac. Abraham's whole life was a life of righteousness and perfect example to us, his posterity. In his First Presidency Message in 1975,  President Kimball claimed that Abraham was such a model of righteousness that following his example will lead us to eternal life:

"As we follow Abraham's example, we will grow from grace to grace, we will find greater happiness and peace and rest, we will find favour with God and with man.  As we follow his example, we will confirm upon ourselves and our families joy and fulfillment in this life and for all eternity." (President Spencer W. Kimball, Ensign, June 1975, p 7)

From the very beginning of his life, Abraham had an acute spiritual sensitivity to the reality of the one true and living God.  Consider these insights from his early life:

"At just three years of age, as one source has it, the boy already 'began to understand the nature of God', so that the next year he resisted when his grandfather tried to teach him to worship idols.  Nor could Abraham's father, despite long and persistent effort, persuade his son to revere the statues.  Young Abraham 'was all alone with God', says Hugh Nibley, 'dependent on no man and no tradition, beginning as it were from scratch .... Having no human teachers, he must think things out for himself, until he receives light from above'."
(E. Douglas Clark, The Blessings of Abraham, Becoming A Zion People, p. 40)

"An ancient and widespread legend tells of bold action taken by the young Abraham.  The story is not found in the Bible, but it is the most oft-repeated Abrahamic narrative in the Qur'an, is found in numerous ancient Jewish sources, and was repeated by Brigham Young, John Taylor and Wilford Woodruff.  As recounted by Jewish sources, it began when the young Abraham found himself alone in a room full of idols.  But one important source, the Maaseh Avraham Avinu, specifies that this was not just any occasion and not just any room full of idols.  The event was a major religious festival called by King Nimrod himself and was centered at Nimrod's pagan temple.  Abraham had been urged to attend by his father but declined to go and was instructed to stay behind to guard the idols.

When Abraham was all alone, he acted boldly and decisively.  Some sources report that 'the Spirit of God came upon him'.  As recounted by the Maaseh Avraham Avinu, 'He took an axe in his hand, and as he saw the idols of the king sitting, he said, 'The Eternal, He is God', and he 'pushed them off their thrones to the ground, and he smote them mightily.  With the large ones he began, and with the small ones he finished.  He lopped off this one's hands, he cut off this one's head and blinded this one's eyes, and he broke that one's legs' until 'all of them were broken'.  Then, placing 'the axe in the hand of the largest idol', Abraham left.

When his father and the king returned and discovered the wreckage, they were wroth.  'The king commanded that Abraham be brought before him.  And they brought him.  The king and his ministers said to him, 'Why did you shatter our gods?'  He said to them, 'I didn't break them, no.  Rather, the large one of them smashed them.  Don't you see that the axe is in his hand? And if you won't believe it, ask him and he will tell'.  And as the king heard his words, he became angry to the point of killing him."  (E. Douglas Clark, The Blessings of Abraham, Becoming A Zion People, p. 47)

How appropriate then that the Lord would hear Abraham's cries for help whilst under the knife of the priest of Elkenah and honour Abraham's fortitude in destroying Nimrod's dumb idols.  Abraham had two admirable desires which God honoured by rescuing him from human sacrifice:  he desired to change his world by removing himself from a family and society that sought 'to do evil' (Abraham 1:6); and he sought for the blessings of the priesthood.  There would have been no more righteous desire than this that was in the heart of Abraham:

"......I sought for the blessings of the fathers, and the right whereunto I should be ordained to administer the same; having been myself a follower of righteousness, desiring also to be one who possessed great knowledge, and to be a greater follower of righteousness, and to possess a greater knowledge, and to be a father of many nations, a prince of peace, and desiring to receive instructions, and to keep the commandments of God...." (Abraham 1:2)

Not only did Abraham desire to be a father of many nations but he ensured he was a father that could be followed in righteousness and example in all things.  One Jewish tradition records that Abraham's deliverance from human sacrifice was so marvelous that many onlookers who witnessed it came to believe in God and bore witness to others of God's power and that Abraham was his servant (Gorion, Mimekor Yisrael, 1:45-46).  In addition, 'many followed Abraham home, and brought their children to him, and said, 'Now we see that the God in whom thou trustest, is the only true God: teach our children the truth, that they may serve Him in righteousness (Baring-Gould, Legends of the Patriarchs, 160). (E. Douglas Clark, The Blessings of Abraham, p. 58

Abraham was all a good father should be.  The available Jewish writings portray him as a man full of loving-kindness, humility, submission and gentleness.  A man who loved righteousness, was clean of heart and pure from sin and who sought to establish Zion wherever he went.  He is remembered among his Jewish descendants as 'the embodiment of hesed (loving-kindness), 'for the decisive factor in Abraham's personality was the unceasing urge to help others'.  It is remarkable to note that the three messengers who came to announce the promise of a long awaited son, were 'found' by Abraham whilst he was searching for someone who might be in need of help.

"....Abraham 'was sitting at the entrance of the tent as the day grew hot' (JPST Gen 18:2).  It was the hottest part of a very hot day, say the rabbis, with the sun beating down mercilessly.  As one writer recounts, 'Abraham sits in his tent door enjoying its grateful shade, and looking out on the plain of Mamre, from which the sun's fiery beams have driven men, birds and panting beasts to such shelter as rocks and trees and tents can afford'.

Abraham, however, was not focused on himself and his discomfort, compounded by his recent circumcision, but was worrying for travelers who might need assistance on a day like that.  'Notwithstanding the intense heat and his own sickness he still sat there to invite any stray passer-by'.  When no one came, he sent his servant to go in search of anyone needing help, even though Abraham had planted trees for the benefit of travelers - rest stops along the way.  When the servant returned without success, Abraham determined to go himself.  It was then, says rabbinic tradition, that Abraham discovered the three travelers.

Abraham might easily have remained seated, and simply directed a servant or subordinate to attend to these travelers. Or, says one writers, 'he may wait their approach, leaving them to solicit his hospitality.  Not he - Abraham arose and despite the scorching heat, and 'although he was in great pain from his wound, ran forward to meet them'.  Genesis tells that upon reaching them he 'bowed himself towards the ground' (Gen. 18:2)." (E. Douglas Clark, The Blessings of Abraham, p. 172)

It is then that he received the promise of Isaac.

The sacrifice the Lord asked of him which followed some years later is just unimaginable in my mind. Through his willingness to offer this sacrifice Abraham proved that he loved God above all else.  Is it any wonder then that the Lord was willing to make a covenant with him that would grant him the blessings he most desired?  This covenant is known to us as the Abrahamic Covenant, a covenant with which we should make ourselves very familiar because by virtue of being of Abraham's seed, we are entitled to every blessing that comes under its' promise.  Not only are direct descendants of Abraham counted as his seed but all who accept Christ's gospel and are baptised into his Church become his 'adopted' children.  Looking at the diversity of the members of the Church, we can easily see how Abraham becomes 'a father of many nations'.

"The covenant that the Lord first made with Abraham and reaffirmed with Isaac and Jacob is of transcendent significance.  It contained several promises:

• Abraham's posterity would be numerous,
• and will bear the priesthood;
• He would become a father of many nations;
• Christ and kings would come through Abraham's lineage;
• Certain lands would be inherited;
• All nations of the earth would be blessed by his seed.

That covenant would be everlasting - even through 'a thousand generations."

(Elder Russell M Nelson, Ensign, May 1995, p 33)

These promises came to Abraham only after he married Sarah for without her he could not obtain them.  The blessings promised could not be obtained unless Abraham entered into the 'Order of the Priesthood' and this order could not be entered into without a legal wife. But not just any wife.  Sarah was in every way Abraham's equal.  She was devoted, righteous and submissive.  Together they were a perfect example of what a marriage union should be; he lead in righteousness and she followed in righteousness. "Together Abraham and Sarah were, in the words of Erastus Snow, 'models of noble character, purity of purpose' and 'superior integrity to God', whom they 'hesitated not to obey....at all hazards even to the sacrifice of that which was nearest and dearest unto them". (E. Douglas Clark, The Blessings of Abraham, Becoming a Zion People, p. 107)

We cannot have ancestral parents of more noble character than Sarah and Abraham.  Because of their exceedingly righteous example, God commands us to look to them for understanding of our origin and our destiny.  In Isaiah chapter 51, we read:

"Hearken to me, ye that follow after righteousness, ye that seek the Lord: look unto the rock from whence ye are hewn, and to the hole of the pit from whence ye are digged.  Look unto Abraham, your father, and unto Sarah that bare you: for I called him alone, and blessed him, and increased him.  For the Lord shall comfort Zion. (Isaiah 51:1-3)