Abraham & the Priesthood - Genesis 12:1, Abraham 1:1-4

As things settled after the Lord confused the languages at the tower of Babel, we circle back to Ether 1-3 and 6-7 where Jared and his brother and their families and friends were granted the ability to stay together and speak the same language. We have the account of the Jaredites being led away from the main population where they are commanded to make barges and travel across the ocean to the American continent. There are hundreds of years’ worth of records of this people living in the Americas before Lehi and his family showed up. As Genesis goes through the generations from Noah to Abram, there is simply the statement that Terah took his family “and they went forth with them from Ur of the Chaldees, to go into the land of Canaan; and they came to Haran, and dwelt there.” We learn from modern revelation that it was instead Abram who took his family into the new land at the command of God, but when we go back to Abraham chapter 1, we get a more in depth account of what really happened and why leaving was so necessary. 1:1-4 - Abraham starts out saying that he realized “that it was needful for me to obtain another place of residence.” He seeks out “the blessings of the fathers… I became a rightful heir, a High Priest, holding the right belonging to the fathers… I sought for mine appointment unto the Priesthood.” This has been an interesting concept for me to think about probably because priesthood ordination is so structured now, who gets it, they have to have bishop interviews, be a set age, have held the previous level first, etc. It just seems so foreign for Abraham to decide that even though his ancestors weren’t righteous that he wanted to be and wanted the priesthood specifically. The IM quotes Elder Neal A. Maxwell as teaching, “The true disciple has an inborn questioning to know, personally, all that God is willing to teach us. Nephi could have accepted gladly the vision of his father, Lehi. But Nephi ‘desired to know the things that (his) father had seen.’ Abraham sought, even though he had a father who had turned from the faith, ‘for greater happiness and peace’ and ‘for mine appointment unto the Priesthood.’ Abraham described himself as desiring ‘great knowledge, and to be a greater follower of righteousness,’ questing for the world of Christ. Divine discontent in the form of promptings can move us to feast because we know that by feasting we can increase our knowledge, effectiveness, and joy.” I’ve also wondered where he got it, like did Jesus come down himself and ordain him, did he get it from some obscure person that we know nothing about? The IM notes that it is possible that Noah was still alive when Abraham was coming of age, so he could have learned the gospel at the hand of the future angel Gabriel. We learn in D&C 84:14-16 that Abraham was ordained to the priesthood by Melchezidek, which makes sense as Abraham pays tithes to Melchezidek later because he was the priesthood authority at that time. The IM also quotes President Ezra Taft Benson as noting “Abraham explained that he had ‘the records of the fathers, even the patriarchs, concerning the right of Priesthood. These records confirm Abraham’s right to the priesthood.” Back at a time when the priesthood was limited to fathers and sons in lineage, the priesthood probably wasn’t something that could just be given to anyone who showed just a slight interest, but the fact that Abraham had the records of the patriarchs indicates that he was within the lineage and had a right to the priesthood if he made himself worthy. It’s also important to note that these records probably served as the scriptural material at that point in time and Abraham’s possession of them was probably what he needed to allow his desire for righteousness blossom. It’s just an excellent commentary on the importance of scripture in growing and preserving testimony.