(Scripture Reading Exercise.)

THE ABRAHAMIC DISPENSATION.

NOTES.

1. Melchizedek (king of Righteousness): "Melchisedek, king of Salem and priest of the Most High God, who met Abram in the Valley of Shaveh (or, the level valley), which is the king's valley, brought out bread and wine, blessed Abram, and received tithes from him (Gen. xiv. 18-20). The other places in which Melchizedek is mentioned are Ps. cx. 4, where Messiah is described as a priest forever, "after the order of Melchizedek," and Heb. v., vi., vii., where these two passages of the O. T. are quoted, and the typical relation of Melchizedek to our Lord is stated at great length."

2. Melchizedek in History: "There is something surprising and mysterious in the first appearance of Melchizedek, and in the subsequent references to him. Bearing a title which Jews in after ages would recognize as designating their own sovereign, bearing gifts which recall to Christians the Lord's Supper, this Canaanite crosses for a moment the path of Abram, and is unhesitatingly recognized as a person of higher spiritual rank than the friend of God. Disappearing as suddenly as he came in, he is lost to the sacred writings for a thousand years; and then a few emphatic words for another moment bring him into sight as a type of the joining Lord of David. (Psalms cx). Once more, after another thousand years, the Hebrew Christians are taught to see in him a proof that it was the consistent purpose of God to abolish the Levitical priesthood.^[A] (Heb. vii.) His person, his office, his relation to Christ, and the seat of his sovereignty, have given rise to innumerable discussions, which even now can scarcely be considered as settled.

[Footnote A: No; not "abolish" the Levitical priesthood, but supercede it as the dominating power by restoring the Melchizedek Priesthood which holds precedence of it in power and authority; but both may exist together as in the Mosaic dispensation before Moses and the Melchizedek Priesthood was taken from Israel, (cf. Doc. & Cov. Sec. lxxxiv:19-23 and Heb. vii. whole chapter but especially verse 12.)]

3. Conjectures Concerning Melchizedek: "The faith of early ages ventured to invest his person with superstitious awe. Perhaps it would be too much to ascribe to mere national jealousy the fact that Jewish tradition, as recorded in the Targums of Pseudo-Jonathan and Jerusalem, and in Rashi on Gen. xiv in some cabalistic writers, pronounces Melchizedek to be a survivor of the Deluge, the patriarch Shem, authorized by the superior dignity of old age to bless even the father of the faithful, and entitled, as the paramount lord of Canaan (Gen. ix. 26) to convey (xiv. 19) his right to Abram. Jerome in his Ep. lxxiii. (ad Evangelum Opp. i. 438), which is entirely devoted to a consideration of the person and dwelling place of Melchizedek, states that this was the prevailing opinion of the Jews in his time; and it is ascribed to the Samaritans by Epiphanius, (Hae. Iv. 6, p. 472.) It was afterwards embraced by Luther and Melanchthon, by our own countrymen, H. Broughson, Selden, Lightfoot, Jackson, and by many others. It should be noted that this supposition does not appear in the Targum of Onkelos,—a presumption that it was not received by the Jews till after the Christian era—nor has it found favor with the Fathers." (Smith's Bible Dictionary, Hackett Edition, p. 1876.)

4. The Mystery About Melchizedek: Much of mystery is connected with the life and character of Melchizedek. "The Jews," says Kitto, in admitting Melchizedek's official superiority to Abraham, "sought to account for it by alleging that the royal priest was no other than Shem, the most pious of Noah's sons, who according to the shorter chronology might have lived to the time of Abraham." (Biblical Literature, Vol. II, Art. Melchizedek). Others have seen in him Canaan the son of Ham: Ham himself, or even Enoch; while others have held that Melchizedek was no other than the son of God himself under human appearance, and still others take him to have been an angel, the latter being among the wild notions of Origen and his school. (Ibid, as above.) All this of course is conjecture, although it is not unreasonable that he may have been Shem the son of Noah. The Book of Mormon gives this important information concerning him.

"Now this Melchizedek was a king over the land of Salem; and his people had waxed strong in iniquity and abominations; yea, they had all gone astray; they were full of all manner of wickedness: But Melchizedek having exercised mighty faith, and received the office of the High Priesthood, according to the holy order of God, did preach repentance unto his people. And behold, they did repent; and Melchizedek did establish peace in the land in his days; therefore he was called the prince of peace, for he was the king of Salem; and he did reign under his father. Now, there were many before him, and also there were many afterwards, but none were greater; therefore, of him they have more particularly made mention." (Alma xiii.)

From the Doctrine and Covenants we learn this important fact; namely, that the priesthood which Melchizedek held was formally called "the Priesthood after the order of the Son of God;" but in order to avoid a too frequent repetition of the name of Deity "this Holy Priesthood" was called Melchizedek, or Melchizedek Priesthood. (Doc. & Cov., Sec. 107, 1-4.) The mystery connected with Melchizedek arises doubtless from the language of Paul in Hebrew vii, where misapprehension of the language of the Apostle seemingly represents Melchizedek as being "without father, without mother, without descent, having neither beginning of days nor end of life, but made like unto the Son of God, abideth a priest continually." The commentators generally interpret this as meaning that Melchizedek was without a recorded genealogy. The mystery, however, disappears when these descriptive words are applied, not to the man Melchizedek, but to the priesthood which he held, which priesthood is without beginning of days or end of years, that is, it is an eternal thing—"without father, without mother, and without descent, having neither beginning of days nor end of life," but endureth as a power eternally, even as God from whom said power emanates is eternal. With this interpretation of the language of Paul the necessity for wild conjectures concerning the personality of Melchizedek disappears, and it will be enough if we fix this in the mind concerning him; namely, he was a great High Priest, co-temporary with Abraham, and the one doubtless from whom Abraham received his ordination to the patriarchal office in the priesthood, to which he had a right by reason of his descent from the patriarchs. (See Book of Abraham, chap. I:1-4.)

5. The Book of Abraham: The Book of Abraham, to which reference is made in the analysis, consisting of five chapters, is but a fragment of Abraham's writings and history, and in it is found no reference to his meeting the Melchizedek, but reference is made of his receiving the priesthood. It was conferred upon him, he tells us, "from the fathers; it came down from the fathers from the beginning of time, yea, even from the beginning or before the foundations of the earth to the present time, even the right of the first born, on the first man, who is Adam, our first father, through the fathers, unto me. I sought for mine appointment unto the Priesthood according to the appointment of God unto the fathers concerning the seed." (Book of Abraham, chap, i; 3-4.)

This has reference doubtless to the patriarchal office in the Priesthood, since in the subsequent verses he says, "But the records of the fathers, even the patriarchs, concerning the right of Priesthood the Lord my God preserved in mine own hands; therefore a knowledge of the beginning of the creation, and also of the planets, and of the stars, as they were made known unto the fathers, have I kept even unto this day, and I shall endeavor to write some of these things upon this record for the benefit of my posterity that shall come after me." The manner in which this sacred record "The Book of Abraham" came into the hands of the Prophet Joseph Smith, is to be found in the History of the Church, Vol. II, p. 236, 348-350 and foot note.

6. The "Call" of Abraham: "In that course of God's dealing with man which is traced in the sacred narrative, a new step was taken by the choice of a Family from which the promised seed of the woman was to spring, and which should meanwhile preserve the knowledge and worship of the true God. Jehovah, in the revelation of himself to man, retires, so to speak, from the whole compass of the race of Noah into the inner circle of the family of Abraham. It was a step required by the state of the world, which had relapsed into idolatry and profaneness before the death of Noah. This is clear from the story of the building of Babel, and it is implied in the subsequent history. Joshua expressly says that the family of Terah were idolaters. * * * * * The patriarch whom God made the head of his chosen family was born only two years after the death of Noah. * * * * * He was now seventy-five years old; and this is the period usually assigned to the 'Call' of Abraham; though it was, in fact, the second step of his career. In tracing these stages, it is important to observe the special form of promise and blessing of which each was the occasion. The first of these involves the germ of all the rest, though as yet but vaguely stated:—"I will make of thee a great nation, and I will bless thee, and make thy name great, and, thou shalt be a blessing (to others): and I will bless them that bless thee, and curse him that curseth thee, and in thee shall all families of the earth be blessed." The last words already involve the crowning blessing of the Old Covenant, the Promise of the Messiah, and that to the Gentiles, "all families of the earth." (Dr. Smith's Old Testament History, p. 67 and 70.)

7. The Things Which God Revealed to Abraham: First his design to make of Abraham and his posterity in the earth the witness for himself and the truth of the Gospel unto all nations. (Gen. 12:193, Book of Abraham I:16-19, Book of Abraham 2:6-11). "I will bless them that bless thee, and curse them that curse thee," said the Lord; "and in thee (that is in thy priesthood) and in thy seed (that is, thy priesthood) for I give unto thee a promise that this right shall continue in thee and in thy seed after thee (that is to say the literal seed or the seed of the body) shall all the families be blessed, even with the blessings" of the Gospel which are the blessings of salvation even of life eternal.

Second, in the dispensation to Abraham he revealed the great doctrine of the eternal existence of intelligences. (Book of Abraham 3:16-23).

Third, he made known to Abraham the covenant of eternal life to man, "which God, that cannot lie, promised before the world began," (Titus 1:2). God, according to Abraham's record, standing among the spirits in existence before the world began, said: "We will go down, for there is space there, and we will take of these materials, and we will make an earth whereon these may dwell; And we will prove them herewith, to see if they will do all things whatsoever the Lord their God shall command them; and they who keep their first estate shall be added upon; and they who keep not their first estate shall not have glory in the same kingdom with those who keep their first estate; and they who keep their second estate shall have glory added upon their heads for ever and ever. And the Lord said: Whom shall I send? And one answered like unto the Son of Man: Here am I, send me. And another answered and said: Here am I, send me. And the Lord said: I will send the first. And the second was angry, and kept not his first estate; and, at that day, many followed after him." (Book of Abraham, p. 66). From which it appears that the whole Gospel scheme of salvation was revealed to Abraham.

Fourth, he revealed to Abraham, through Urim and Thummin great knowledge of the Universe, its planetary systems and their movements and relations (Book of Abraham, chap. 3); and also gave him an account of the preparation of the earth for man's abode, and the knowledge also of the advent of Adam upon it. (Book of Abraham, chaps. 4 and 5).