Joseph in Egypt prophesies of Moses’ parentage

And I will make him great in mine eyes, for he shall do my work; and he shall be great like unto him whom I have said I would raise up unto you, to deliver my people, O house of Israel, out of the land of Egypt; for a seer will I raise up to deliver my people out of the land of Egypt; and he shall be called Moses. And by this name he shall know that he is of thy house; for he shall be nursed by the king’s daughter, and shall be called her son. (JST Genesis 50:29)

In JST Genesis 50:24-38 we have given to us Joseph Smith’s translation of words Joseph Smith said to his brothers about a prophecy the Lord said to Joseph (in Egypt) concerning Joseph Smith and Moses.

For a lot time I thought the above verse was saying that Moses was going to come out of Joseph’s lineage.  And of course we know from Exodus 2:1-10 that Moses was from the house of Levi, not Joseph.  So I wondered for a long time whether Joseph got carried away and made a false prophecy out of pride for his high status and thought that any son of a king’s daughter would have to come from his own family.

Recently I noticed in that verse Joseph addresses the house of Israel and he uses “house” again in that same verse to take about Moses’ birth origins.  Elsewhere when Joseph refers to his own descendants, speaking in the Lord’s words he calls them “the fruit of thy loins.”

So I realized that “thy house” was meant to refer to the house of Israel, not the house of Joseph.  And seen this way, the prophecy is definitely true; Moses was from the house of Israel.

This also helps the prophecy make more sense. because the name of Moses was meant to let Moses know he was an Israelite and not of the king’s family.  It may be this prophecy was instrumental in him learning about his real ancestry.  (We just assume he grew up knowing, but it may be that he didn’t and he had a major shock that the Bible gives us no clue about.)   

The cool thing is, no Israelite gave Moses his name; it was all the king’s daughter’s doing.  For Moses to come to prepare for his mission as prophet, it was most important for him to know that he was from Israelite stock in the first place and not Egyptian. 

Aminadi interprets the writing on the wall

We learn of Aminadi from Amulek when Amulek begins his message to the rebellious Ammoniha-ites

2 I am Amulek; I am the son of Giddonah, who was the son of Ishmael, who was a descendant of Aminadi; and it was that same Aminadi who interpreted the writing which was upon the wall of the temple, which was written by the finger of God.

3 And Aminadi was a descendant of Nephi, who was the son of Lehi, who came out of the land of Jerusalem…(Alma 10:2-3)

That little bit about Aminadi interpreting the writing upon the walls of the temple which was written by the finger of God is so fascinating. It is one of those places where I just want to shake Mormon for not putting in more detail, but at the same time, I know that adding more detail would have disrupted Amulek’s narrative flow.

It is fascinating how briefly Amulek refers to the story of his ancestor Aminadi. It suggests that Aminadi’s interpretation was so widely known to the people that it was an important part of their historical narrative of faith and could be referred to in a much abbreviated form, much as we speak of Joseph Smith’s first vision.

The finger of God writing on the wall of the temple would have been a great story to include, and I can’t imagine that it wasn’t included in the abridgement of the large plates of Nephi. I think it may have been a casualty of the 116 pages being lost. Yet we have just enough details for it to evoke our knowledge of the story of Daniel interpreting the writing on the palace wall for the king of Babylon. We can sort of piece together the story of Aminadi based on the story of Daniel.

In the Bible, the finger of the Lord wrote the message for the Babylonian king, but because the king didn’t understand it, Daniel was the one to interpret the writing. So, I suppose that in the Americas, the Lord wrote the message for someone or some people, but because they didn’t understand it, Aminadi was called to interpret (or came forward to interpret) the writing on the temple wall.

That the writing is on the temple wall is very intriguing. In Daniel’s story, the writing was on the palace wall where the king was. In the Book of Mormon, the writing was on the temple wall, suggesting that the priests (or a priest-king) administering in the temple were being condemned for idolatry and abominations, and a view of the writing finger of God was needed to convince them of the existence, power, and authority of God.

I think it was probably the highest-ranking priest (or possibly priest-king, since at that time kings often held the top religious authority as well) that was getting the message from the finger of God. If it had just been lower ranking priests, then the higher-ranking one(s) could admonish them. But when it is the highest ranking doing the bad stuff and leading the people astray, that would definitely be grounds for direct admonishment from God.

The writing comes to the place and person(s) who need(s) it. That the writing needs interpretation indicates that the person(s) to whom it comes is so out of tune that they don’t understand it. The person needing the interpretation must find an interpreter, so both the writing (and the subsequent interpretation) will become very publicly known. It seems to me that this is the way the Lord rebukes a person in power who should have known better; He does it in order to make sure everyone else knows not to do those same sins.

Why does Amulek mention this story of his ancestor at the beginning of his talk to the Ammonihah-ites? I think he is setting some context for his message of repentance by locating himself as a fitting person to deliver the message. Just as Aminadi interpreted a message from God to the people of his day who were out of tune with the Lord, Amulek will be interpreting a warning message from God (along with Alma) to the people of his day who are very much out of tune with God. I think Amulek drew strength from the story of his ancestor as he delivered the difficult message.

How does this little story help us today? I think knowing the valiant and righteous choices of our ancestors can help us make valiant and righteous choices in our own lives. Hearing how our parents and grandparents and great-grandparents and more distant ancestors sacrificed for the truth can encourage us when we find ourselves called upon to do it too. As a small example, I know that when my mom told me about how she worked to dress modestly in the ‘60s even when she was made fun of at high school, it helped give me strength to follow her good example and dress modestly.

How have the stories of your ancestors inspired you? Have there been times when you have found yourself doing something good that was very similar to what one of your ancestors did? How did it make you feel? How are you working to transmit those stories to your family?

Why is the salvation of the dead necessary for my salvation?

And now, my dearly beloved brethren and sisters, let me assure you that these are principles in relation to the dead and the living that cannot be lightly passed over, as pertaining to our salvation. For their salvation is necessary and essential to our salvation, as Paul says concerning the fathers—that they without us cannot be made perfect—neither can we without our dead be made perfect. (D&C 128:15)

I’ve read over this verse a number of times and I have always wondered why Joseph Smith said that the salvation of the dead is necessary for our salvation and why the dead can’t be made perfect without us and we can’t be made perfect without them. I wonder about this because I am used to thinking of salvation as an individual affair subject to the grace of God and the willing agency of each person. I can’t control other people and what they do, so why is it that my salvation hinges upon someone else long dead receiving salvation? And why does their salvation hinge upon me receiving mine? And why and how does our attainment of perfection depend upon each other?

I read over these verses:

17 And again, in connection with this quotation I will give you a quotation from one of the prophets, who had his eye fixed on the restoration of the priesthood, the glories to be revealed in the last days, and in an especial manner this most glorious of all subjects belonging to the everlasting gospel, namely, the baptism for the dead; for Malachi says, last chapter, verses 5th and 6th: Behold, I will send you Elijah the prophet before the coming of the great and dreadful day of the Lord: And he shall turn the heart of the fathers to the children, and the heart of the children to their fathers, lest I come and smite the earth with a curse.
18 I might have rendered a plainer translation to this, but it is sufficiently plain to suit my purpose as it stands. It is sufficient to know, in this case, that the earth will be smitten with a curse unless there is a welding link of some kind or other between the fathers and the children, upon some subject or other—and behold what is that subject? It is the baptism for the dead. For we without them cannot be made perfect; neither can they without us be made perfect. Neither can they nor we be made perfect without those who have died in the gospel also; for it is necessary in the ushering in of the dispensation of the fulness of times, which dispensation is now beginning to usher in, that a whole and complete and perfect union, and welding together of dispensations, and keys, and powers, and glories should take place, and be revealed from the days of Adam even to the present time. And not only this, but those things which never have been revealed from the foundation of the world, but have been kept hid from the wise and prudent, shall be revealed unto babes and sucklings in this, the dispensation of the fulness of times. (D&C 128:17-18)

I found the answer in verse 18:

…for it is necessary…that a whole and complete and perfect union, and welding together of dispensations, and keys, and powers, and glories should take place, and be revealed from the days of Adam even to the present time.

This suddenly suggested to me that the work for the dead is about welding together the various gospel dispensations that were separated from each other by the unbelief, apostasy, and ignorance of the various generations of children (or parents) throughout the history of the earth.

And then again, in verse 18 I read it again:

It is sufficient to know, in this case, that the earth will be smitten with a curse unless there is a welding link of some kind or other between the fathers and the children, upon some subject or other… For we without them cannot be made perfect; neither can they without us be made perfect.

I realized that it isn’t just the perfection of individuals we are seeking. As Heavenly Father and Heavenly Mother want us to become like them, exalted fatherhood and motherhood is the pinnacle of celestial attainment and perfection. We’re also seeking perfect marriage so that we can have a perfect family (or rather a perfected family). Neither the woman without the man, nor the man without the woman in the Lord.

We know this, yes?

But along with this, you can’t have a perfect family without children. You also can’t have a perfect family without parents. Neither the parents without the children, nor the children without the parents in the Lord. There has to be a welding link between generations, otherwise the earth would suffer the eternal curse of having some without parents and others without children. There must be a complete establishment of the patriarchal order so that those who are worthy to have righteous parents (whose parents may have broken their covenants or refused them) can have the satisfaction of being sealed to righteous and worthy grandparents or other ancestors. And those with wayward children can receive to themselves their worthy grandchildren and great-grandchildren while the wayward children stand as ministering angels. And those who suffered childlessness can receive the spiritually orphaned through adoptive sealing.

Conclusion: The family is of God. The full family.

Talents and Divine Nature

I was thinking about how I managed to build all the talents I have. What drove me to do it? What caused me to feel that I could try and succeed?

One thing that encouraged me was when my Mom would say to me every so often, “You’ve inherited this talent from your grandmother.” Or “You’ve gotten this talent from your father.” Or “You’ve gotten this talent from your great great grandfather on your Dad’s side.”

I never questioned her statements, but I began to wonder recently, Can talents be passed along in our genes? This does not seem to me to be quite possible, yet I have to admit that what my mother said was in effect a self-fulfilling prophecy, because no sooner did she note that my abilities were inherited, than I began to try to develop them, partly because I subconsciously wished to strengthen my personal connection with the relatives whose abilities Mom said I inherited, and mostly because Mom said those abilities were in me.

My Mom was very clever, perhaps without knowing it. It is hard to try new things without knowing if you have a talent for them, but it is easy to try new things after you’ve been told you have inherited a special talent for it. It causes you to go into it with a confidence you will succeed eventually. That confidence is particularly helpful in the beginning stages when it is difficult. Mom made it easy for me to try new things.

But back to the question... Is talent really inherited from our parents and ancestors? I haven’t reached any conclusion on this, but in thinking about it, I DID realize that because I am a spirit daughter of God, I have the potential to become as He is. That means I have inherited all His talents and they are in embryo in me. This empowers me much more, because every good talent is one He possesses, which means I also possess them too, in embryo. I just have to develop them.

Ah, I finally understand divine potential better! And it has freed me! I have a talent for everything good! And so do you! We just have to develop them! It’s a good thing I have eternity after this life to do this, because otherwise I’d feel like there was too little time, and that would be depressing.