D&C 58:5-18

58:5-9 - The Lord gives us 7 reasons “for this cause I have sent you,” DJR numbers them as

1.       That you might be obedient

2.       That your hearts might be prepared

3.       That you might be honored in laying the foundation

4.       Bearing record of that land upon which the Zion of God shall stand

5.       That a feast of fat things might be prepared for the poor

6.       That the earth may know that the mouths of the prophets shall not fail

7.       A supper of the house of the Lord unto which all nations shall be invited

It’s interesting because none of these reasons are build a temple or preach the gospel or build houses or settle Zion permanently, and the IM asks, “Were these verses a foreshadowing that the New Jerusalem would not be built in 1831?” It quotes Elder Orson F. Whitney as answering, “At all events, what occurred must have been foreseen. Divine prescience (foreknowledge) extends to all things connected with the Lord’s work. When He commanded his people to build the New Jerusalem, he knew how much, or how little, they were capable of accomplishing in that direction- knew it just as well before as he did after. Such a thing as surprise or disappointment on his part is inconceivable. An all-wise, all-powerful Being who has created, peopled, redeemed and glorified ‘millions of earths like this,’ is not one to be astounded by anything that happens on our little planet. The All-knowing One knew in advance what those Zion-builders would do, or leave undone, and he shaped his plans accordingly. Evidently the time was not ripe for Zion’s redemption. The Saints were not ready to build the New Jerusalem. The proof is in the trespasses committed by them against the divine laws ordained for their government.” Like I said yesterday, coming to the knowledge that we weren’t going to stay in Missouri permanently as Zion, if I were an early saint would have been devastating to me, so the concept that we would have been righteous enough to receive the knowledge but not the fulfillment of Zion would have been tough for me, especially if I was trying my absolute best to be righteous. The IM also explains about the phrase “the supper of the Lord,” saying, “Two feast symbols from the Old Testament apply to the Supper of the Lord: the ‘feast of fat things,’ and the ‘wine on the lees well refined.’ Both are signs of richness, indicating that the feast mentioned here is of great importance. The ‘feast of fat things’ refers to serving fat, full-flavored meat, available only to royalty and to the wealthy and made even richer by the addition of bone marrow. ‘Wine on the lees’ is a substance described by the Hebrew word Shmareem, which signifies the jellies or preserves that were highly esteemed in the royal feasts of Eastern countries. These wines were prepared from less (dregs) after the fermentation process was complete, and of grape skins, which preserved the win and maintained remarkable color and flavor- truly a prized addition to the feast; but strained or not, the preservative quality of the lees kept the juices from turning to a strong vinegar.” I guess the question is, what does that mean, the full phrase in verse 8 is “and also that a feast of fat things might be prepared for the poor.” Looking at it this way, there are two seemingly contradicting concepts, poor people eating rich people food. This can speak to the Lord’s refusal to be a “respecter of persons,” and also that the gospel and the atonement are the most important valuable things in the whole of eternity and they are available to all regardless of status, position, and all this viewed in the eternal perspective.

58:10-13 - The Lord continues from verse 9 the supper that “all nations shall be invited. First, the rich and the learned, the wise and the noble… then shall the poor, the land, and the blind, and the deaf, come in unto the marriage of the Lamb.” The gospel will go first to the “rich, and the learned, the wise and the noble.” DJR has an interesting insight into this phrase saying, “We are told that the gospel will go forth in two distinct waves. In other words, the Lord says that there is an order as far as to whom the gospel will be preached in the last days. The first group is the ‘rich and the learned, the wise and the noble.’ After that, it will go to the economically severely disadvantaged, and to those who are severely spiritually ‘blind and deaf.’ While these are relative terms, it appears that there had been many converts since the beginning of the restoration who are among the ‘noble and great’ spoken of by Abraham. As such people have joined the Church and provided strength and resources, the Church has been positioned to take the gospel to all people. This is a rather interesting and exciting prophecy to see being fulfilled in our day.” The words rich, learned, wise, and noble brings to mind those who are socially and economically advantaged, but if we look at who the Lord called to fill the positions of rich, learned, wise, and noble is Joseph Smith, Brigham Young, the Pratt brothers, my ancestors, there really aren’t very many who were famous for being any of those things by the standards of the world, but they were indeed rich in faith, learned at the hand of the Lord, wise from the scriptures and personal revelation, and noble in purpose and dedication. The Lord’s important terms apply to us in ways that are different from those that the world has. The world would have us focus on money, friends, popularity, etc., but the Lord would have us focus on him and become rich, learned, wise, and noble through him.

58:14-18 - We learned back when we were discussing the difference between the law of consecration and communism that Edward Partridge was not thoroughly convinced of the wisdom in granting deeds to the saints when they were given their assigned lands from the church. This might have played a part into his multiple rebukes by the Lord for his “unbelief and blindness of hearth.” The Lord is not pleased with him, but when we first meet him we learn that he is a man almost above reproach, so to me, this is a good example of the Lord’s refining process, part of that “curriculum” that we talked about in the first part of the section. So either he is a scoundrel who is cleansed and purified through the atonement, or he’s a good man who’s perfected by it, or most likely, he’s both, just like the rest of us, decent people and scoundrels at the same time. The IM comments on Edward Partridge saying, “During the administration of Joseph F. Smith, the First Presidency of the Church issued a statement to clarify the role played by Edward Partridge. The following is an excerpt from that statement: ‘On occasion of the Prophet’s first visit to Independence, Missouri- Edward Partridge accompanied him- in the meetings and conferences help upon the land of Zion, Bishop Partridge several times strenuously opposed the measures of the Prophet, and was sharply reproved by the latter for his unbelief and hardness of heart. Indeed, the apostate, Ezra Booth, who was present, made the scene between the bishop and the Prophet one of the items that justified to him his apostasy. He refers to the circumstance in a letter, addressed to Bishop Partridge, which has been several times published in anti-‘Mormon’ literature. The Bishop, moreover, was reproved for his ‘blindness of heart and unbelief,’ and warned of the danger of falling from his high station, in a revelation given in August, 1831, while both he and the Prophet were still in Missouri: (D&C 58:14-15).” The IM also tells about what Edward Partridge’s mission is saying, “Edward Partridge was not a ward bishop, as are bishops today, for there were no wards in the Church at that time. He was at first the bishop of the whole Church, which was then quite small. A short time later Newel K. Whitney was called as bishop in Kirtland, and Edward Partridge remained as bishop in Missouri. The chief responsibility of Bishop Partridge was to administer the law of consecration: he received the consecrations of the Saints and gave them their stewardships. He was also responsible to judge the people according to the Lord’s law.” Overall, I think that Edward Partridge struggled with some issues, tried to do his best even when he needed to be more firmly directed by the Lord. All I can say is that I’m truly grateful that all my rebukes aren’t published for all the church throughout history to read.