Blogging Through the Book of Mormon

35:3-4 - The Lord continues to speak to SR in a way that I don’t remember hearing towards anyone else. He says he “I have looked up thee and thy works. I have heard thy prayers, and prepared thee for a greater work.” The Lord has been watching him, surely just like he watches all of us, but this is some sort of indication that SR has been praying for something to do with more light and revelation than was found on the earth at the time he was preaching. Verse 4 is very profound, as the Lord says, “Thou art blessed, for thou shalt do great things. Behold thou wast sent forth, even as John, to prepare the way before me, and before Elijah should come, and thou knewest it not.” DJR comments, “Imagine how Sidney Rigdon must have felt as he heard the next words, addressed to him by the Savior! The Lord tells him, in verses 4-5, next, that he has been preparing the way, just like John the Baptist did, but Sidney wasn’t aware of it. This is a reminder to all of us that we are often prompted an...

35:1-3 - The Lord begins by introducing himself to SR as “Alpha and Omega, the beginning and the end, whose course is one eternal round, the same today as yesterday, and forever. I am Jesus Christ, the Son of God, who was crucified for the sins of the world, even as many as will believe on my name, that they may become the sons of God, even one in me as I am one in the Father, as the Father in one in me, that we may be one.” It’s interesting to me that the Lord’s introduction of himself includes his role to us, to me that might indicate how much of his identity is rolled up into our success and salvation, just an interesting insight. There are a couple other interesting insights these first few verses, the first one is the phrase “one eternal round.” The IM teaches, “God governs by law- wholly, completely, invaryingly, and always. He has ordained that identical results always flow from the same causes. There is no respect of persons with him, and he is a Being ‘with whom is no variable...

Section 35 is to Sidney Rigdon, who we’ve met before, not in a section but in an appendage to a section, section 32. Sidney Rigdon was a friend of Parley P. Pratt’s who was visited by him on his way to a mission to the Lamanites. DJR gives some background information on this revelation as follows: “This revelation was given to Joseph Smith and Sidney Rigdon in the Fayette, New York area, in December of 1830. In the background to section 32, we mentioned that a highly successful and popular minister by the name of Sidney Rigdon, in Mentor, Ohio, had been converted to the gospel, along with some 130 of his congregation. When approached by his old friend, Parley P. Pratt, and Parley’s three missionary companions, who were en route on their mission to the Lamanites, Sidney had accepted a copy of the Book of Mormon. In so doing, he told Parley not to push him, rather, that he would read the book, and determine whether or not it was of God. He read it and was converted. He was baptized on No...

Section 34 brings us a new player, Orson Pratt, who is Parley P. Pratt’s younger brother. DJR quotes JS as recording, “In the fore part of November, Orson Pratt, a young man nineteen years of age, who had been baptized at the first preaching of his brother, Parley P. Pratt, September 19th (his birthday), about six weeks previous, in Canaan, New York, came to inquire of the Lord what his duty was, and received the following answer (section 34):” I find it very interesting that so many people are coming to the Prophet to find out what their job was, what duty they had to God. This is very different from the attitude among some of us these days, I wonder how many of us go to God asking what our duty is, I know that I’m guilty of this. DJR gives us a journal entry from Orson Pratt commenting on his receipt of this revelation, which says, “In October, 1830, I traveled westward over two hundred miles to see Joseph Smith the Prophet. I found him in Fayette, Seneca County, New York, residing ...

Section 33 is kind of an interesting one, much of what is covered here is also covered in many other sections, so I just thought that this was going to be an easy “review” chapter, but I was wrong, there is definitely some new and interesting content. We meet two new characters, but I don’t think that they are going to be brought up again, their names are Ezra Thayre and Northrop Sweet. The IM gives introduction saying, “The Lord, who is ever ready to instruct such as diligently seek in faith, gave the following revelation at Fayette, New York: (D&C 33). Ezra Thayre and Northrup Sweet came in the Church at the time of the preaching of the Lamanite missionaries. On October, 1830, they were called by revelation to enter the ministry and hearken to the voice of the Lord, ‘whose word is quick and powerful, sharper than a two-edged sword, to the dividing asunder of the joints and marrow.’ It was not long after this that Northrop Sweet left the Church and, with some others, formed what t...

Section 32 not only comes back to the Lamanite mission but also introduces two new players Parley P. Pratt and Ziba Peterson. Parley P. Pratt is a really interesting character, DJR gives his background as follows: “Parley Parker Pratt April 12, 1807, and was baptized by Oliver Cowdery early in September 1830, after having read the Book of Mormon straight through. He was ordained an elder shortly after his baptism. Some years prior to this, while still in his teens, Parley had become with society, purchased a Bible and an axe, and had moved west to the frontier, where he spent the winter alone, eating venison, studying his Bible and reading about the Lewis and Clark expedition. The Lord managed to get Parley back into society by having him think of a girl he liked back home, in New York. He went to see her and they married and then moved back to his cabin. The frontier continued moving west, and so society caught up with him and his wife. They turned the cabin into a pleasant home and m...

Section 31 introduces a new character, at least I think he’s new, I can’t remember that far back, Thomas B. Marsh. He is an interesting man and his story is pretty interesting as well, lots of lessons and insights and counsel for ourselves, he is, it seems, a man much like the rest of us. DJR gives an introduction as Brother Marsh as follows: “Born on November 1, 1799, Thomas left his parents’ home at age 14, and then wandered for many years from city to city, and finally tried to find success in the grocery business, but failed. During this time, he joined the Methodist Church, but it never did seem to ‘take’ in his soul. In the course of events, he ended up in western New York, where he heard of Joseph Smith. He pursued his interest in Joseph Smith and his ‘golden book’ and finally ended up at E.B. Grandin’s printing shop in Palmyra, New York, where the Book of Mormon was in the process of being printed. He met Martin Harris there, who gave him proof sheets of the first sixteen print...