Stories of the Old Testament

This post is composed mostly of other posts on this blog and was written as a sacrament meeting talk to follow the ward primary program and given on September 11, 2022.

Although it was written thousands of years ago, the lessons of the Old Testament are as relevant for you and I today as they were for the people who lived upon its pages. Through these ancient writings we are privileged to observe the lives of the faithful in a very different time, a very different place, and a very different culture. Yet, in their experiences we can identify eternal principles that can guide us as we strive to be faithful in our time, in this place, and surrounded by the society that exists today.

For example, one of the first stories every primary child learns is about Noah and the ark. In Noah’s time, the sons of men were not honoring the covenants the Lord had given them, particularly the marriage covenant, and the “thoughts of [their] heart[s] [were] only evil continually” (Genesis 5:2, 5). Noah was righteous and “found grace in the eyes of the Lord” (Genesis 5:8). The Lord gave the people 120 years to repent and sent Noah to preach to them.

The people did not repent despite a lifetime of opportunity. What follows in the scriptures is a great chiasm describing the building of the ark, a promised covenant, gathering food and animals, a forty-day flood, waiting 150 days for the waters to subside (symbolic of the completion of a priestly blessing), then the abatement of the flood, the commandment to leave the ark, finding food in the new land, receiving a covenant with a token, and the end of the ark.

We often associate Noah’s experience with baptism. The earth was immersed in water and the Lord made a covenant with all of mankind in the process. Perhaps this is also why the story resonates so well with our children. It is fun to recount the many animals that gathered on the ark, but the spirit also testifies in its retelling of the baptism ordinance we all need to return to our eternal home.

The lesson that the author of Genesis most wanted us to learn, embedded in the very center of the chiasm, is this sentence: “And God remembered Noah, and every living thing” (Genesis 8:1).

Even when the Lord shut Noah and his family in the ark (Genesis 7:16), he did not leave them in the dark. The scriptures speak of a window, though some rabbis believe that the window was really a precious stone that shone in the ark. This insight reminds me that even when I feel like I am helpless and in the deepest of waters, the Lord will always send his light to comfort me. He will remember you and I and he is the in “the details of the details of the details of our lives” (Elder Chi Hong Wong, April 2021).

My favorite Old Testament biography is the account of Abraham. At the tender age of 75, Abraham found himself on an altar about to be sacrificed to an idol god. At the last moment, an angel appeared, untied him from the altar and helped him escape.

In perhaps the greatest understatement in scripture, Abraham reflected that he “saw that it was needful… to obtain another place of residence.” Abraham’s insight about preventing future abuse was also a resolve to spend more time seeking for the things of God. He had been faithful—that’s how he ended up on an altar in the first place—yet he reflected that he desired “greater happiness and peace and rest” that he knew he could receive by seeking “the blessings of the fathers.” These blessings included knowledge, a greater capacity to obey the commandments, being the father of many nations, and being a holder of the priesthood (Abraham 1:1-2).

With renewed resolve, and over many years of diligent preparation, Abraham’s search ultimately led him to the temple and the covenants that each of us can make in the House of the Lord. Along the way he made smaller covenants and his faith was tested and expanded. He moved his family several times, risked his life in Egypt, endured famines, knew prosperity, resisted the evils of Sodom and Gomorrah, rescued his nephew from a foreign army, paid tithing, experienced the disappointment of infertility, and dealt with many emotional and relationship challenges. Through it all, Abraham “believed in the Lord; and the Lord counted it unto him for righteousness” (JST Genesis 15:12).

It is important to note that Abraham’s covenant was not made in isolation. Genesis 17 clearly shows that Abraham’s wife, Sarah, also covenanted with the Lord. She also endured these many tribulations and was blessed, through her covenant, that she would be the mother of nations and kings. Her temple experience also included the very personal promise that, though she had been barren 100 years, she would yet have her desire to give birth to a son. It was her covenant, together with Abraham’s, that secured covenant blessings for her posterity who were born into that covenant.

For Abraham, fulfilling the terms of his covenant required more than thirty years of additional tests and trials. He fought an uphill battle to save the wicked city of Sodom, experienced the loss of members of his family, and was compelled to exile his second wife and oldest son. Then Abraham, who had nearly been sacrificed to idols by his own father, who wanted posterity most of all and had worked for decades to have that blessing, was asked to do the unthinkable. He was asked to sacrifice Isaac, his son of miraculous birth, the symbol of his covenant posterity and the son Abraham called his “beloved.”

The Lord has said that, if we are to receive blessings and glory like Abraham, we must also “be chastened and tried, even as Abraham” (D&C 101:4-5). President John Taylor taught these words that he heard from the Prophet Joseph Smith:

You will have all kinds of trials to pass through. And it is quite as necessary for you to be tried as it was for Abraham and other men of God, and God will feel after you, and He will take hold of you and wrench your very heart strings, and if you cannot stand it you will not be fit for an inheritance in the Celestial Kingdom of God… If God had known any other way whereby he could have touched Abraham’s feelings more acutely and more keenly he would have done so (Journal of Discourses, 24:197; 24:264).

In giving his will to the Lord, and being refined by Him, Abraham found the blessings of happiness, peace, posterity, and priesthood that he desired. He undoubtedly learned about how to deal with family problems, how to follow spiritual promptings, and the importance of love, humility, sacrifice and obedience. He learned that there is not anything that is too hard for the Lord (Genesis 18:14) and that the Lord will keep His promises. I don’t often enjoy the trials in my life, but I hope that I can have the faith of Abraham to seek the blessings I desire, keep the covenants I have made, and learn to be a little better along the way.

Another temple experience, not unlike Abraham’s, begins in the ancient city of Babel, a predecessor to Babylon in modern-day Iraq. A play on the Hebrew balal, which means “to mix or confound,” ancient tradition states that Babel was known as “the gate of God.” Here at the symbolic gates of heaven, Nimrod, the power-hungry grandson of Ham and great-grandson of Noah, sought to build a tower to reach the heavens.

By virtue of its goal, Nimrod’s tower was likely some version of a temple. Aware of the floods that had previously destroyed the wicked, the Tower of Babel was built high and thick and from bricks and mortar so as to be watertight. Its construction was a mockery of God, to whom Nimrod preached it was cowardice to submit, and many traditions hold that it was Nimrod’s satanic desire to use the tower to break into heaven, dethrone God, avenge mankind of the flood that destroyed it, and place himself as the new ruler of the heavens and of earth.

It was in this wicked society that a man named Jared and his brother pleaded with the Lord for unity, or at-one-ment, for their family and a small band of believers. The Lord answered each prayer with compassion and, when the Brother of Jared had cried “this long time,” the Lord ultimately promised to go before the Brother of Jared’s face, deliver him and his friends from the evil around them, lead them to a promised land, and make Jared and his brother the heads of a great nation (Ether 1:33-43).

Of course, the story of the Jaredites is recorded in the Book of Mormon, but this story very much reflects the Old Testament time period in which it occurred. Intertwined with the Lord’s promises for temporal and political blessings for the Jaredites are the core elements of what we now call the Abrahamic Covenant: knowledge, priesthood, posterity, and a promised land. In other words, because the Jaredites had faithfully rejected the false doctrines of the world and its heretical temple, the Lord covenanted to reveal the doctrines of the gospel and bring them back into his presence through authorized temple ordinances.

Preparation to receive the promised blessings lasted for many years. The Jaredites were tested and refined as they wandered in the wilderness, built barges on several occasions to cross many waters, endured trials and chastisement, collected animals and seeds, and lived four years in tents on the seashore. As the Jaredites’ obedience and sacrifice increased, so did their privileges with the Lord.

“And it came to pass that the Lord did go before them, and did talk with them as he stood in a cloud, and gave directions whither they should travel… being directed continually by the hand of the Lord” (Ether 2:5-6).

“And it came to pass… that the Lord came again unto the brother of Jared, and stood in a cloud and talked with him. And for the space of three hours did the Lord talk with the brother of Jared” (Ether 2:14).

Finally, the Jaredites were ready to construct the barges that would carry them across the ocean; and the Brother of Jared was prepared for the greater light and knowledge the Lord promised to give him. The Brother of Jared’s prayers led him to the top of a particularly high mountain, where he appealed for the Lord’s approval and redemption in the same way that a high priest entering an ancient temple symbolically was redeemed from the Fall in order to enter the presence of God. Once admitted, like Moses on Mount Sinai, the Brother of Jared asked the Lord to touch the stones with his finger that they may have light. I wonder where he got that idea.

The Lord grants the Brother of Jared’s request and then, the scripture records, “there never were greater things made manifest than those which were made manifest unto the brother of Jared” (Ether 4:4). Having received this instruction, “he could not be kept from beholding within the veil… and he had faith no longer, for he knew, nothing doubting” (Ether 3:19).

As the Lord inquired of the Brother of Jared, so he inquires of us: “What will ye that I should do that ye may have light in your vessels?” Are we willing to reject the false philosophies of the world, the secularism and selfishness and tribalism, to pursue unity and at-one-ment for our families and our small band of believers here in Mariposa?

If so, the Lord has promised that “inasmuch as you strip yourselves from jealousies and fears, and humble yourselves before me, for ye are not sufficiently humble, the veil shall be rent and you shall see me and know that I am—not with the carnal neither natural mind, but with the spiritual” (D&C 67:10).

Elder Bruce R. McConkie once taught that “a prophet is one who has the testimony of Jesus, who knows by the revelations of the Holy Ghost to his soul that Jesus Christ is the Son of God. In addition to this divine knowledge, many [Old Testament prophets] lived in special situations or did particular things that singled them out as types and patterns and shadows of that which was to be in the life of him who is our Lord” (The Promised Messiah, p. 448).

Abraham was asked to sacrifice his son. Moses was sent from the presence of the Lord to deliver his people. We also see a shadow of the Savior in the life and mission of the prophet Joseph.

Joseph was the favored son of his father. He was rejected by his brothers, the Israelites, and sold into the hands of the Gentiles for the average price of a slave his age. Judah, whose descendants would become the Jews, was the one who proposed the sale. In their very attempt to destroy Joseph, his brothers actually set up the conditions that would bring about their eventual temporal salvation.

Joseph began his mission to prepare salvation for Israel at age thirty and was eventually raised to an exalted position in Egypt where everyone bowed the knee to him. In the end, Joseph, by virtue of being sold—provided bread for Israel, forgave his brothers, and delivered them from death while returning their money to their sacks.

Likewise, Jesus Christ was and is the only begotten Son of God in the flesh. He was also rejected by the Israelites and sold into the hands of the Gentile-Romans for the average price of a slave his age. Judas, the Greek spelling of Judah, was the one who sold him.

Jesus began his ministry when he was thirty years old. He was raised by the Romans and crucified, whereby he completed the atoning sacrifice and became the Deliverer and Redeemer of all mankind.

Jesus taught: “I am the living bread which came down from heaven: if any man eat of this bread, he shall live forever: and the bread that I will give is my flesh, which I will give for the life of the world” (John 6:51). We are saved by his grace, after all we can do; yet he offers this forgiveness and salvation without money and without price.

Certainly there are many other examples we can learn from in the Old Testament. I wish that I could have the wisdom of Eve, Esther’s courage, Job’s willingness to consecrate, Elijah’s confidence in the Lord, Isaac’s patience, and Joshua’s loyalty. I want to reject sinful thoughts, philosophies and actions like Noah, Abraham, the Brother of Jared and Joseph.

I want to have Joseph’s faith that the Lord will keep his promises even when it doesn’t seem possible. Like Abraham, I recognize that, though I have been pretty faithful, and have spent some time on metaphorical altars, I need to seek more diligently to keep my covenants and obtain the promises that I have been given. I hope that my life reflects, in some small way, the example of the Savior and that his image can be seen in my countenance.

The Old Testament challenges each of us to endure trials and wickedness to follow the Lord. It also shows us how keeping our covenants and following the prophet can help us with these challenges.

The prophet in our day, President Russell M. Nelson, has asked us to study every day in the scriptures. He has provided the Come, Follow Me curriculum and promised that it has “the potential to unleash the power of families” and, through our diligence, will decrease the influence of the adversary in our lives. He has warned that, “in the coming days it will not be possible to survive spiritually without the guiding, directing, comforting and constant influence of the Holy Ghost.”

If you have not yet begun studying the Old Testament with Come, Follow Me in your family, go home today and open it up. Start fresh with the new week and seek for the blessings and strength that is there for you. If you’re not sure if you have enough faith, start to act as if you do—especially studying in the scriptures and praying each day—and I promise there will be a power that will come into your life that will be undeniable. You can know, or know again, that God remembers you and has provided light for you in the darkness.

The Brother of Jared's Journey to the Temple

Readers of the Book of Mormon know well the story of the Brother of Jared. Like Noah, Lehi and others, the Brother of Jared was instructed to build barges to bring his family to a promised land. When challenges arose during the construction of the barges, the Brother of Jared turned to the Lord for answers. The Lord helped the Brother of Jared understand how to modify the water-tight vessels for air and explained that the wind would propel the barges in the right direction. When the Brother of Jared asked for light for the barges, the Lord responded with a question: "What will ye that I should do that ye may have light in your vessels?" (Ether 2:23).

While the Lord may have been asking for the Brother of Jared's effort and ideas to light the barges, his question was also an invitation for greater spiritual light amid the darkness of the world. Just as the Lord had volunteered the wind when the Brother of Jared asked for air, the Lord generously responds to the Brother of Jared's inquiry for light with a question that will lead him to the divine light and knowledge available through temple worship.

The story of the Brother of Jared begins in the ancient city of Babel, a predecessor to Babylon in modern-day Iraq. A play on the Hebrew balal, which means "to mix or confound," ancient tradition (Josephus, Antiquities, 1.4) states that Babel was known as "the gate of God." Here at the symbolic gates of heaven, Nimrod, the power-hungry grandson of Ham and great-grandson of Noah, sought to build a tower to reach the heavens.

By virtue of its goal, Nimrod's tower was likely some version of a temple. Aware of the floods that had previously destroyed the wicked, the Tower of Babel was built high and thick and from bricks and mortar so as to be water tight. Its construction was a mockery of God, to whom Nimrod preached it was cowardice to submit, and many traditions hold that it was Nimrod's desire to use the tower to break in to heaven, dethrone God, avenge mankind of the flood that destroyed it, and place himself as the new ruler of heavens and of earth.

It was in this wicked society that Jared and his brother pleaded with the Lord for unity (or at-one-ment) for their family and a small band of believers. The Lord answered each prayer with compassion and, when the Brother of Jared had cried "this long time," the Lord ultimately promised to go before the Brother of Jared's face, deliver him and his friends from the evil around them, lead them to a promised land, and make Jared and his brother the heads of a great nation (Ether 1:33-43).

Intertwined with the the Lord's promises for temporal and political blessings for the Jaredites are each of the core elements that would become known the Abrahamic Covenant in the succeeding generation: priesthood, posterity and a promised land. Because the Jaredites had faithfully rejected the false doctrines of the world and its heretical temple, the Lord covenanted to reveal the doctrines of the gospel and bring them back into his presence through authorized temple ordinances.

Preparation to receive the promised blessings lasted for many years. The Jaredites were tested and refined as they wandered in the wilderness, built barges on several occasions to cross many waters, endured trials and chastisement, collected animals and seeds, and lived four years in tents on the seashore. As the Jaredites' obedience and sacrifice increased, so did their privileges with the Lord.

"And it came to pass that the Lord did go before them, and did talk with them as he stood in a cloud, and gave directions whither they should travel... being directed continually by the hand of the Lord" (Ether 2:5-6).

"And it came to pass... that the Lord came again unto the brother of Jared, and stood in a cloud and talked with him. And for the space of three hours did the Lord talk with the brother of Jared" (Ether 2:14).

Finally, the Jaredites were ready to construct the barges that would carry them across the ocean; and the Brother of Jared was prepared for the greater light and knowledge the Lord promised to give him. With water-tight barges now modified for greater air flow, the Brother of Jared prays, "O Lord, behold I have done even as thou hast commanded me; and I have prepared the vessels for my people, and behold there is no light in them. Behold, O Lord, wilt thou suffer that we shall cross this great water in darkness?" (Ether 2:22).

After many years of preparation, the Brother of Jared's word choice, as relayed by Moroni, is intentional. Water is associated with life: it is present at our birth and when we are born again through baptism. Christ turned water into wine at the beginning of his ministry, a symbol of his transcendence of the earthly condition. Nimrod had also been keenly aware that water could be used to destroy corruption and refresh the life on earth.

The depth of the Brother of Jared's question, asked with emotion and perhaps some fatigue, includes the veiled plea, "Must we go our entire lives without the full light and blessings of the gospel and the at-one-ment we first desired?" The omniscient Lord responds with the same compassion noted frequently in these verses: "What will ye that I should do that ye may have light in your vessels?" (Ether 2:23). 

The Brother of Jared must have recognized the invitation in the Lord's reply, because he seems to know what to do next. Though the Lord had been speaking to him from a cloud, the Brother of Jared, like others in the Old Testament who sought to commune with the Lord, climbed a particularly high mountain, Mount Shelem, to seek further light and knowledge.

"Shelem," like "shalom," refers to peace with God and, more specifically, the peace offering and priestly atoning that was part of the law of sacrifice and a significant part of ancient temple worship. For such an offering the priest would enter the temple wearing a breastplate with sixteen stones. The number of stones-- sixteen-- was symbolic of the eye or bringing to light. An ancient priest entering the temple would also carry incense or coals in his hands that would be used to perform the sacrifice.

Prior to climbing Mount Shelem, the Brother of Jared, "did molten out of a rock sixteen small stones; and they were white and clear, even as transparent glass; and he did carry them in his hands upon the top of the mount, and cried again unto the Lord" (Ether 3:1, emphasis added). It is worth noting that some ancient rabbis believed that Noah used precious stones that shone in the ark rather than windows (Genesis 6:16, footnote a) and the Brother of Jared may have ventured this solution based on what he knew of his priestly ancestor's dealings with the Lord. Whether inspired by Noah, or an ancient temple, or in some other way, the search for physical and spiritual light brought the Brother of Jared to the precipice of a mountain-temple with sixteen white, clear stones that he had molten from a rock.

As he enters the temple environment, the Brother of Jared repeats the Lord's instructions that the Jaredites, "must be encompassed about by the floods". The first stop in an ancient temple was the "Molten Sea" that represented the great flood that covered the whole earth.

Elder Bruce R. McConkie once explained:

In Solomon's Temple a large molten sea of brass was placed on the backs of 12 brazen oxen, these oxen being symbolical of the 12 tribes of Israel. This brazen sea was used for performing baptisms for the living... In describing the molten sea the Old Testament record says, 'The sea was for the priests to wash in' (2 Chron 4:2-6). This is tantamount to saying that the priests performed baptisms in it (Mormon Doctrine, pp. 103-104).

In addition to stating the obvious about a boat crossing the ocean, the Brother of Jared appealed for the Lord's approval and redemption in the same way that a high priest entering the temple symbolically was redeemed from the Fall in order to enter the presence of God.

"Now behold, O Lord," he continues, "and do not be angry with thy servant because of his weakness before thee; for we know that thou art holy and dwellest in the heavens, and that we are unworthy before thee; because of the fall our natures have become evil continually; nevertheless, O Lord, thou has given us a commandment that we must call upon thee, that from thee we may receive according to our desires" (Ether 3:2).

Admitted into the temple, the Brother of Jared asks the Lord to touch the stones with his finger that they may have light. What follows reminds us of Moses' temple experience when the Ten Commandments were written with the finger of the Lord to give light to Israelites (Deuteronomy 9:10). Like Moses, Ezekiel, and others, when the Brother of Jared saw the finger of the Lord, he "fell down before the Lord, for he was struck with fear" (Ether 3:6, see also Exodus 3:6, Ezekiel 1:28).

Continuing in compassion and perhaps pleased to see the Brother of Jared accepting the invitation to come to the temple, the Lord tells the Brother of Jared to rise and commends him for his faith. Aware of the sacred nature of the temple ordinances that were about to take place, the Lord then inquires, "Believest thou the words which I shall speak?" (Ether 3:11). This is the Brother of Jared's last opportunity to withdraw rather than accepting the obligations and blessings the Lord is prepared to place on him.

When the Brother of Jared answers affirmatively, the Lord accepts the Brother of Jared's earlier appeal to enter his presence. "Because thou knowest these things ye are redeemed from the fall; therefore ye are brought back into my presence; therefore I show myself unto you" (Ether 3:13). The Lord then teaches the Brother of Jared face to face about the creation, the Plan of Salvation, the Atonement of Jesus Christ, all the inhabitants of the earth, and many more things that cannot be written (Ether 3:14-17, 4:5).

Moroni, the editor of this account, references the Brother of Jared's temple endowment as he writes, "there never were greater things made manifest than those which were made manifest unto the brother of Jared" (Ether 4:4). He records, "And because of the knowledge of this man he could not be kept from beholding within the veil... and he had faith no longer, for he knew, nothing doubting" (Ether 3:19).

Like the Brother of Jared, Moroni writes that we can also obtain the greatest knowledge manifested to mankind so that we can behold within the veil and enter the presence of the Lord. To do so, we must "repent of [our] inquity, and become clean before the Lord" through baptism. We must exercise faith, as the Brother of Jared did, and become sanctified through the gift of the Holy Ghost (Ether 4:6-7).

If we will apply these first principles and ordinances of the gospel in our lives, the Lord will, "manifest unto [us] the things which the brother of Jared saw, even to the unfolding unto them all my revelations" (Ether 4:7). Further, the Lord advises us, "he that believeth these things which I have spoken, him will I visit with manifestations of my Spirit, and he shall know and bear record. For because of my Spirit he shall know that these things are true; for it persuadeth men to do good" (Ether 4:11). If not, we will be accursed, or spiritually separated from God and limited in our progression and potential (Ether 4:11).

As the Lord inquired of the Brother of Jared, so he inquires of us: "What will ye that I should do that ye may have light in your vessels?"

"And again, verily I say unto you that it is your privilege, and a promise I have unto you that have been ordained unto this ministry, that inasmuch as you strip yourselves from jealousies and fears, and humble yourselves before me, for ye are not sufficiently humble, the veil shall be rent and you shall see me and know that I am-- not with the carnal neither natural mind, but with the spiritual" (D&C 67:10).

Three Sons, Three Priesthood Generations

Though he lived to be 950 years old, the scriptures only record three of Noah's children by name. "And Noah was four hundred and fifty years old, and begat Japheth; and forty-two years afterward he begat Shem of her who was the mother of Japheth, and when he was five hundred years old he begat Ham" (Moses 8:12). From these three sons would come the peoples known in scripture as the Gentiles, the Israelites, and the people of Egypt and Africa.

It appears that each of these sons were righteous before the flood. "And Noah and his sons hearkened unto the Lord, and gave heed, and they were called the sons of God... And thus Noah found grace in the eyes of the Lord; for Noah was a just man, and perfect in his generation; and he walked with God, as did also his three sons, Shem, Ham, and Japheth" (Moses 8:13, 27).

When it comes to the priesthood, the descendants of Shem, Ham and Japheth were each given a time and a dispensation in which they could be ordained with the priesthood power. The timing of these ordinations appears to be based in part upon the actions of these three sons of Noah, though the scripture is more clear in the cases of Ham and Shem and less clear when it comes to Japheth.

Japheth was the oldest son, yet he is often mentioned last when the sons of Noah are listed together. In a not altogether uncommon scenario, the birthright blessings and the priesthood authority passed over Japheth's descendants to Shem, who, like Nephi or Joseph, carries the spiritual torch for the family and the people of God in his time. Nothing negative is ever mentioned about Japheth, however. Japheth's descendants, the Gentiles, were allowed to be ordained to the priesthood following the resurrection of Christ (see Acts 1-2).

As mentioned, Shem was the spiritual leader of his generation. Jewish tradition holds that Shem was also known as 'Melchizedek', the great high priest to whom Abraham paid tithes. The validity of that tradition is not certifiable, but among the supporting evidences is the presiding authority common to both (for more evidences, look here). The descendants of Shem, Israelites including Peleg, Abraham, Moses, Christ and Peter were the only people considered worthy for the priesthood from the time of Shem until after the death of Christ. Including Joseph Smith in our own dispensation, descendants of Shem have had access to the priesthood in all dispensations of time since the days of Noah's ark.

Ham is the youngest son of Noah mentioned in the scriptures. His descendants, the people of Africa, were unable to hold the priesthood until the modern age because of two curses pronounced upon and preserved by Ham.

The first curse upon the seed of Ham was initially pronounced upon Adam's son, Cain (Genesis 4:11-15). This curse was not pronounced upon Ham, but it was passed to the descendants of Ham when he married Egytus, a decendant of Cain. Abraham later commented that "thus, from Ham, sprang the race which preserved the curse in the land" (Abraham 1:21-24).

A second curse was pronounced upon Ham's descendants after a curious incident in Genesis 9:20-27. In these verses, the Bible outlines a drunken Noah passed out in his tent. Ham sees the nakedness of his father and reports it to his brothers, who cover their father's nakedness without looking. When Noah awakes, he curses his youngest son's posterity while blessing the posterity of the older two.

Hugh Nibley provided the following insight into those verses about Noah's nakedness: "Incidentally the story of the stolen garment as told by the rabbis, including the great Eleazer, calls for an entirely different rendering of the strange story in Genesis [9] from the version in our King James Bible. They seemed to think that the 'erwath of Genesis [9:22] did not mean 'nakedness' at all, but should be given its primary root meaning of 'skin covering.' Read thus, we are to understand that Ham took the garment of his father while he was sleeping and showed it to his brethren, Shem and Japheth, who took a pattern or copy of it or else a woven garment like it which they put upon their own shoulders, returning the skin garment to their father. Upon awaking, Noah recognized the priesthood of the two sons but cursed the son who tried to rob him of his garment" (Lehi in the Desert and the World of the Jaredites, p. 162; see also Old Testament Student Manual, p. 57).

We subsequently read of two of Ham's descendants going on to prominent leadership positions in their respective societies. Nimrod, the mighty hunter, claimed to have the priesthood by virtue of the fact that he owned the garment of Adam stolen from Noah. Nimrod conquered many people and eventually founded a place called Babel, where the people built a tower to reach the heavens. Most of us know how that turned out, but suffice it to say the priesthood was not among the people of Nimrod.

Ham also had a righteous grandson named Pharaoh. "Pharaoh, being a righteous man, established his kingdom and judged his people wisely and justly all his days, seeking earnestly to imitate that order established by the fathers in the first generations... and also of Noah, his father, who blessed him with the blessings of the earth, and with the blessings of wisdom, but cursed him as pertaining to the Priesthood" (Abraham 1:26).

Ham's descendants were allowed to hold the priesthood for the first time beginning in 1978. The First Presidency of the Church announced at that time that "the long-promised day has come when every faithful, worthy man in the Church may receive the holy priesthood, with power to exercise its divine authority, and enjoy with his loved ones every blessing that flows therefrom... without regard for race or color" (Declaration II, September 30, 1978).

Noah's three sons, Shem, Ham and Japheth, each fathered large nations which covered the Earth. To each people was also given a time to hold the priesthood: Shem's descendants held it throughout scripture; Japheth's descendants received the priesthood again after the resurrection of Christ; the descendants of Ham received the priesthood just 32 years ago. Each time the priesthood has been extended, it has been done so at the Lord's direction. He knows the timing and directs all things.

To some degree, however, the priesthood has been extended or withheld based upon the choices of Shem, Ham and Japheth. Their legacy has clearly affected hundreds of generations. As we see the profound variation in blessings based upon the actions of these three brothers, it is worthwhile to also consider our own legacy. What are we doing today that will affect future generations? Will our legacy be a blessing or a curse to those who follow us? If our legacy is not what we would want it to be, what can we do today to bring our lives and teachings more in line with the teachings and gospel of Jesus Christ?

If we do all we can to bring our lives in line with the will of Christ, the legacy we leave to our children will surely be one of testimony and righteousness. Then we will find that we have more that just the authority of the priesthood, but the power of the priesthood as well. May that be our goal.

Noah's Ark Testifies of the Book of Mormon

When most of us think about Noah's ark, we imagine something like the picture below. In our minds eye, we envision the world's largest houseboat with a deck that a cruise ship would envy and a cosy cabin on top for Noah and his family. When we read the account more carefully however, we may find Noah's ark to be more like a massive Jaredite barge than an ancient cruise ship.

Before Noah's death, God scattered the people across the earth for building a tower to get to heaven in Babel. Among those scattered were Jared and his brother, along with their friends and family. In preparation for their evacuation to the American continent they didn't know existed, the family that would become the mighty Jaredite civilization built eight barges. God directed the people to make their barges like two dishes clasped together-- watertight with peaked ends and holes on the top and the bottom of the barges for air. As with Noah, God also instructed the Jaredites to take seeds and animals for their new land.

The Jaredites were commanded not to put windows in their barges. "For behold, ye cannot have windows, for they will be dashed in pieces," the Lord says, "For behold, ye shall be as a whale in the midst of the sea; for the mountain waves shall dash upon you" (Ether 2:23-24). Instead, the brother of Jared arranged for the Lord to make 16 glowing stones for the barges.

A footnote in the LDS Version of the Bible suggests Noah's vessel may not have been so different. The footnote for Genesis 6:16 explains that the Hebrew word tsohar translated as 'window' in the King James Version is believed by some rabbis to reference a precious stone that shone in the ark.

This explanation of Noah's 'window' also provides some insight into how the brother of Jared had that same idea for his eight barges. Noah was still alive, after all, and even if the brother of Jared didn't speak to him in person, the story of Noah's ark was recent and many details would have been more readily available. But the glowing stone reference alone doesn't mean Noah's ark was a larger version of Jared's windowless barges.

Consider what happened to Noah after the rains had ceased, however. Noah sent a dove "out of the ark" to find dry land. Had Noah been able to stand out on the deck of his houseboat, such a gesture may have been unnecessary. When the dove returned, Noah "put forth his hand, and took her, and pulled her in unto him in the ark" (Genesis 8:9-10). The verbiage of sending forth a dove out of the ark and pulling it back in unto him in the ark contributes to the idea that Noah's ark may have been a deckless, windowless, closed-top barge.

Finally, when the dove discovered dry earth, Noah, "removed the covering of the ark, and looked, and behold, the face of the ground was dry." Noah emerged from the belly of a closed, cave-like ark to see the dry ground for himself for the first time since the rains began. His initial reaction is reflected in the expression, "behold," not inaccurately repeated, "Behold! The face of the ground was dry."

The exact shape and form of Noah's ark is wonderfully irrelevant to our individual salvation. Understanding its ties to the Book of Mormon, however, may be inspiring to a degree. The Jaredite barges found in Ether mirror the shape and planning of the ark on a smaller scale. Details of the ark not known to scholars of the day and still not commonly perceived by Christians are unlikely to have been noticed and recreated by a young, uneducated Joseph Smith.

Like so many other Book of Mormon evidences now confirmed, Noah's ark and the subsequent descriptions of the Jaredite barges testify the Book of Mormon is true. The Jaredite people really did leave Babel thousands of years ago to settle on the American continent. The historical account of this people in the Book of Mormon is valid, just as the recorded teachings of their prophets are inspired of God. And if the Book of Mormon is true, Joseph Smith was a true prophet whose teachings were also inspired of God. It is then only a few small steps to find the truthfulness of the church he founded and the revelation that continues today.