Moroni 7-9 Quotes and Notes

The Peaceable Followers of Christ Entering into Rest – Several Ideas in Code

If we read Moroni 7.3 looking for clues, we can start to see some things coming together. When we look at Matthew 5.48, we see that the Savior is telling his followers that if they hearken unto his teachings that he will make them perfect:

Ἔσεσθε οὖν ὑμεῖς τέλειοι ὡσπερ ὁ πατὴρ ὑμῶν ὁ ἐν τοῖς οὐρανοῖς τέλειός ἐστιν.

Ἔσεσθε =you will be (Second person plural, future indicative-2PPFI) οὖν ὑμεῖς τέλειοι = Therefore you all will be teleioi = perfect. Jesus is essentially asking us to follow him, and as we do, we will become perfected through his merits, mercy and grace. I believe his promise.

ὡσπερ ὁ πατὴρ=even as the Father; ὑμῶν=of you all;  ὁ ἐν τοῖς οὐρανοῖς= in the heavens; τέλειός ἐστιν= he is perfect/finished.

Therefore you all will be perfect even as the Father of you all who is in the heavens is perfect (Matthew 5.48).

The word τέλειός is most likely associated with “peaceable” in this portion of the Book of Mormon. John Walton explains how the concept of rest and specifically the idea of the “rest of the Lord” or God’s rest could only mean one thing. It could only take place in the temple.₁ As to “peaceable”, David Butler has emphasized, this entire chapter is associated mysteries, laying hold upon the iron rod and coming into the holiest place in the temple. Butler writes the following:

The word translated ‘perfect’ is also interesting. The participants will be or must be teleioi, a Greek word that can mean ‘complete,’ including ‘complete’ in the ritual sense, ‘fully initiated.’ A teleios, in other words, can be someone who has gone through initiatory ordinances, someone who has participated in the mysteries. I will observe at this point that a Hebrew equivalent of this word is shalem, which means ‘complete’ and also means ‘peaceable.’ … For now remember this: at the border between the First Room and the Second Room, the participants in the Sermon on the Mount ordinance are either pronounced shalems, or told they must become shalems, in either case like their father in ‘heaven.’₂

Later when explaining Moroni 7.3 Butler explains:

Mormon addresses the “peaceable,” or shalem, followers of Christ, who can “enter into the rest of the Lord.” This is not a statement of hope that in the future his congregants will get to heaven, it’s specified as something they do at “this time.”

Shalems enter into the Lord’s rest. Peace and rest are associated with each other, with Melchizedek the shalem king who gave bread and wine to Abraham and established peace, and with Solomon who built the great temple in Jerusalem. When God finishes the six days of creation in the ritual of Genesis 1, he “rests.”…

What do we read of, after the creation ritual? We read about Eden, where there are four rivers flowing from the center (Genesis 2:10-14), two special trees (Genesis 2:9) and a banquet—in this case, a forbidden one (Genesis 3:1-6)—followed by a dressing (Genesis 3:7). We go from the creation to the symbols of the temple and ritual behaviors associated with the shalems, even if told in a story form …there is strong evidence that the Worship of the Shalems, set out in the Sermon on the Mount and seen in vision form in 1 Nephi 8… also included a creation component that was related to, or an enactment of, Genesis 1.₃

Peaceable Walk and Bringing Good Gifts

Note that Moroni speaks of the shalems or peaceable ones having a peaceable walk with the children of men (Moroni 7.4). They have covenanted to be those that live the way, the halakah. They have promised to be kind to one another. This is what we today call the Law of the Gospel, as President Benson has stated:

“We covenant to live the law of the gospel. The law of the gospel embraces all laws, principles, and ordinances necessary for our exaltation. We agree to exercise faith in Jesus Christ and sincere repentance borne out of a broken heart and a contrite spirit. As we comply with the ordinances of baptism and confirmation, and continue in faith and prayer, the power of the Savior’s atoning sacrifice covers our sins and we are cleansed from all unrighteousness. …  The law of the gospel is more than understanding the plan of salvation. It consists of partaking of the ordinances and the sealing powers culminating in a man being sealed up unto eternal life. ‘Being born again,’ said the Prophet Joseph Smith, ‘comes by the spirit of God through ordinances.’”₄

President Russell M. Nelson put it this way:

“As individual members of the Church, you and I participate in the Lord’s ‘own way.’ At least once a month, we fast and pray and contribute generous offerings to funds that enable bishops to disperse aid. This is part of the law of the gospel. Each of us truly can help the poor and the needy, now, and wherever they are. And we, too, will be blessed and protected from apostasy by so doing.”₅

The Bringing of Gifts to the Altar and Our Inner Hearts

After we have covenanted to have this peaceable walk, note that Moroni speaks of giving a gift (Moroni 7.6-10). Anciently this “gift” was taken to the altar of the temple. It is noteworthy that Moroni speaks of our hearts as we do this. We are not to bring this gift “grudgingly,” rather we are to bring this gift with “real intent,” something that only God can see.

The Peaceable Ones or the shalems are instructed on how to discern true servants of God from the false ones: “Ye may know good from evil; and the way to judge is as plain, that ye may know with perfect knowledge, as the daylight is from the dark night” (Moroni 7.15). These individuals are warned about the persuasions of the devil and “his angels” (Moroni 7.17). All of these motifs were played out in the First Israelite temples: getting on the path, bringing gifts to God, knowing how to discern truth from error, and “laying hold” upon truth (Moroni 7.21).

Lay Hold on Every Good Thing

In Moroni 7.21-24 we read “I will tell you the way whereby ye may lay hold on every good thing… and in Christ there should come every good thing.” Moroni instructs his audience that God “declared unto prophets by his own mouth, that Christ should come” and that “there were divers ways that he did manifest things unto the children of men, and all things which are good cometh of Christ.” Who were these prophets to the Book of Mormon peoples? Nephi, Lehi and all of the Book of Mormon prophets. Other ways this was manifest to these people would have been the recorded visions, for example 1 Nephi 8 and 11. We would also probably include the festivals or feasts held each year when the Nephites were walking in truth: The Day of Atonement, the Feast of Tabernacles, and so forth. We see another manifestation of “divers ways” that Christ was manifest in the missionary efforts of those that preached to the people as well as their righteous military leaders. We would also include their written text.

One thing worth mentioning here as well is the idea of “laying hold” upon every good “thing.” The word for thing and word in Hebrew is דָּבָר davar and isthe same word. Could Moroni be speaking in a layered way here? Could the things we are to “lay hold” upon also be words? To “lay hold” means to take by the hand. A great symbol for trust or faith in the ancient world is the image of two hands clasping. Note how Moroni phrases this: “And now I come to that faith, of which I said I would speak; and I will tell you the way whereby ye may lay hold on every good thing” (Moroni 7.21). The image of faith and grasping something is intentional. One way to think of this is in the image of grasping the iron rod (which is also the word, as well as a thing), which is another symbol of Christ. By “grasping” Christ, these peaceable followers are coming into his presence.

After laying hold on every good thing “by faith” (there it is again- see Moroni 7.25), they “become the sons of God” (Moroni 7.26) and are given the promise that “whatsoever thing (word) ye shall ask the Father in my name, which is good, in faith (again!) believing that ye shall receive, behold, it shall be done unto you.”

All of these ideas are wrapped up in the teaching on miracles. Have miracles ceased? Moroni tells us they have not – see Moroni 7.27, 29, 35. He then proceeds to tell his audience that faith leads to hope which leads to charity. These are symbolic of the three areas of sacred space in the temple. Once we attain charity, we have the pure love of Christ and we see the Savior. We are called “true followers of his Son” and “he shall appear” and “we shall be like him, for we shall see him as he is” and be “purified even as he is pure” (Moroni 7.48). This has many echoes and connections ritually to the sermon Moroni gave at the end of Ether 12. These two chapters really should be read together and considered from a ritual perspective.

Moroni 8 Infant Baptism

I decided to put some information about infant baptism in another post, and so would refer listeners of the podcast to those articles. I believe the historical evidence is sufficient to indicate that infant baptism was a later development in the third and fourth centuries and that religious thinkers like Pelagius illustrate to modern Christians that not everyone was on board with infant baptism and Original Sin. I also believe that evidence suggests that these ideas sprang out of circumcision. That being said, it is noteworthy that Mormon, when asked about this, goes to the Lord with the question (Moroni 8.7). To me this is the pattern. Do you have a question? Have you gone to the Lord? When he does, he receives his answer. This is probably the most important thing about Moroni 8, as well as the positive statements about the children of God.

This really is the heart of the message of the Book of Mormon: it’s message about Christ – his eternal sacrifice and his established order and how we can attain eternal life through his sacrifice and submitting ourselves to his will. All of these things are contingent on our humbly asking God if these things are real. Our work as Latter-day Saints is to share the message and invite others to read the Book of Mormon and know whether it is true.

Here We Stand

Joseph Fielding McConkie once expressed this truth so firmly that it has always stuck with me. When he was a mission president he challenged his missionaries to focus on using the Book of Mormon in their work. He said:

During a round of zone conferences, I challenged the missionaries to proselytize for one month without taking their Bibles with them. This meant that they had to do all of their teaching from the Book of Mormon or the Doctrine and Covenants. I told them that any principle that they could not teach from those sources they had no business teaching because it was not a part of the message that the Lord had commissioned us to take to the ends of the earth. It seemed a reasonable assumption to us that if the gospel had indeed been restored and we in reality represented a new gospel dispensation, then we could teach the message as the Lord had given it to us.

Between then and our next round of zone conferences, the reports flooded in. The missionaries spoke of a stronger spirit in their meetings, even to the point of being overwhelming. It was obvious that the Holy Ghost liked being a part of what they were doing. Their confidence increased when they knew they were standing on their own ground. Naturally, they found more people to teach than they ever had before. These things I expected, but I did not expect the report that the spirit of contention, common to many efforts to teach, was now gone. After our one-month experiment, our missionaries refused to return to their old methods. Their faith was centered in the revelations of the Restoration. They liked the spirit of the whole thing.

The missionaries conceded that they did not necessarily know any more about the Bible than did those they taught. There was no reason to argue over the meaning of Bible passages, which was not their message. Their message was that God had spoken through a living prophet, and they stuck to that message. When those they were teaching understood this, they asked questions about what God had told the Prophet about this or that, and with every question came the opportunity to open the revelations of the Restoration and let their light shine. That light carries its own spirit. One can accept it or reject it, but one cannot argue with it. Imagine arguing with Moses about whether the Lord gave him the Ten Commandments. Surely someone must have said, “Moses, I do not think you got the Ten Commandments from God; I think Aaron wrote them.” Someone else must have said that Moses was just quoting from a book that was really written by Miriam. And what would Moses say to all of this? “I got them from God; if you question that, I suggest that you ask Him about it.”

That’s our message: ask God. The way we answer questions about our faith ought to be by finding the quickest and most direct route to the Sacred Grove. The heavens are open, class is in session, and it is time to ask questions. God gives answers, and if we do not get the answer from Him, we are not going to do very well on the test.

The Restoration began with Joseph Smith on his knees in the Sacred Grove, and that is where the testimony of all Latter-day Saints must begin, on their knees in a sacred moment, asking of God. Everything that we believe as Latter-day Saints rests on the reality of what God said that spring morning to Joseph Smith. The great irony of it all is that the harder the saying, the more offensive it seems to the world and the more peace it actually brings. It is the very light that chases away the darkness of contention with all that are honest in heart.₆

To Those Offended at Mormon’s Words

Sometimes new converts to the faith, especially when coming from a Catholic background, are offended at some of the words contained within Moroni 8. They feel that since they were baptized as infants that they are somehow under condemnation or that their parents are deemed negatively in some sense. I would argue that to each of us is granted a certain degree of light and truth, and we are all held responsible for acting in agreement with the light that we have been given. This also can apply to things we used to believe, do, or otherwise have felt in our hearts that we no longer subscribe to.

I like to share the following quote by the Prophet Joseph Smith when relating ideas that are difficult regarding past religious traditions and ideas. Indeed, as Joseph Smith has so eloquently expressed, our Heavenly Father is the great parent of the universe, and he is looking to prepare us for heaven. He is looking to give us the best that we can possibly be ready for.

He said:

The great designs of God in relation to the salvation of the human family are very little understood by the professedly wise, and intelligent generation in which we live; various and conflicting are the opinions of men concerning the plan of salvation; the requisitions of the Almighty; the necessary preparations for heaven; the state and condition of departed spirits; and the happiness, or misery that is consequent upon the practice of righteousness and iniquity according to their several notions of virtue, and vice… But while one portion of the human race are judging and condemning the other without mercy, the great parent of the universe looks upon the whole of the human family with a fatherly care, and paternal regard; he views them as his offspring; and without any of those contracted feelings that influence the children of men, causes “his sun to rise on the evil and the good; and sends his rain on the just and unjust.” He holds the reins of judgment in his hands; he is a wise lawgiver, and will judge all men, -[not according to the narrow contracted notions of men, but]- “according to the deeds done in the body whether they be good or evil;” or whether these deeds were done in England, America, Spain, Turkey, India: he will judge them “not according to what they have not, but according to what they have;” those who have lived without law, will be judged without law, and those who have a law, will be judged by that law; we need not doubt the wisdom and intelligence of the great Jehovah, he will award judgment or mercy to all nations according to their several deserts, their means of obtaining intelligence, the laws by which they are governed; the facilities afforded them of obtaining correct information; and his inscrutable designs in relation to the human family: and when the designs of God shall be made manifest, and the curtain of futurity be withdrawn, we shall all of us eventually have to confess, that the Judge of all the earth has done right.

The situation of the Christian nations after death is a subject that has called forth all the wisdom, and talent of the philosopher, and the divine; and it is an opinion which is generally received, that the destiny of man is irretrievably fixed at his death; and that he is made either eternally happy, or eternally miserable that if a man dies without a knowledge of God, he must be eternally damned; without any mitigation of his punishment, alleviation of his pain or the most latent hope of a deliverance while endless ages shall roll along. However orthodox this principle may be, we shall find that it is at variance with the testimony of holy writ; for our Saviour says that all manner of sin, and blasphemy shall be forgiven men wherewith they shall blaspheme; but the blasphemy against the Holy Ghost shall not be forgiven, neither in this world, nor in the world to come; evidently showing that there are sins which may be forgiven in the world to come; although the sin of blasphemy cannot be forgiven.₇

The Traditions of Men

Sometimes traditions can be hard to change. Moroni 8 is also an important reminder that as followers of Jesus Christ, we need to be ready and willing to change our hearts and minds as we walk along the path that leads back to him. Joseph Smith had this to say about traditions and our tendency to resist change:

I have tried for a number of years to get the minds of the Saints prepared to receive the things of God; but we frequently see some of them, after suffering all they have for the work of God, will fly to pieces like glass as soon as anything comes that is contrary to their traditions: they cannot stand the fire at all. How many will be able to abide a celestial law, and go through and receive their exaltation, I am unable to say, as many are called, but few are chosen…

There has been a great difficulty in getting anything into the heads of this generation. It has been like splitting hemlock knots with a corn-dodger for a wedge, and a pumpkin for a beetle. Even the Saints are slow to understand.₈

Moroni 9 and the Curses of God in the Torah

Moroni 9 is a difficult chapter to read and to teach. It is a chapter that portrays the absolute loss of civilization of the Nephite culture. Their disintegration is complete. As we read in Moroni 9.18, “O the depravity of my people! They are without order and without mercy.” Indeed, “tongue cannot tell, neither can it be written” (Moroni 9.19).

Without getting too into this “horrible scene,” suffice it to say that these curses the Nephites are under are of their own making. This is something that Mormon and Moroni emphasize. So much of the suffering in this life is self induced. Certainly not all, but much.

The awful things portrayed in Moroni 9 are outlined in the cursing section at the end of Deuteronomy and in Leviticus. The entire 28th chapter of Deuteronomy and Leviticus 26 both lay out the blessings and cursings associated with how Israel would expect to have fulfilled depending on whether they worshipped the Lord or abandoned his precepts. The first 14 verses of both Deuteronomy 28 and Leviticus 26 outline the blessings, and the rest of the chapter (Deuteronomy 28.15-68 and Leviticus 26.15-46) lay out the curses Israel could expect should she violate true principles. Specific to the depth of depravity of the Nephites in Moroni 9, I would point readers to the following verses:

Deuteronomy 28.25 “The Lord shall cause thee to be smitten before thine enemies” – compare to Mormon 6.15. See also Leviticus 26.25.

Deuteronomy 28.26 “Thy carcase shall be meat for all the fowls… and the beasts of the earth” – compare to Moroni 9.9.

Deuteronomy 28.30 “Thou shalt betroth a wife, and another man shall lie with her…” – compare to Moroni 9.9.

Deuteronomy 28.56-7 “The tender and delicate woman… shall eat them (her children)… wherewith thine enemy shall distress thee in thy gates” – compare to Moroni 9.8. See also Leviticus 26.29.

These descriptions by Mormon in his epistle to his son Moroni are heart wrenching. These vile acts were included in the record, I believe, because Moroni wanted to portray the absolute end of the road for those that follow the path of death as illustrated in the Book of Mormon. These events are rooted in history, and have happened at other times in other places in the events surrounding the people of the Book.₉ These things also have roots in the cursings contained in the Pentateuch.

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Notes

1. John Walton, The Lost World of Genesis 1, proposition 7: Divine Rest is in a Temple. Walton writes: In contrast, a reader from the ancient world would know immediately what was going on and recognize the role of day seven. Without hesitation the ancient reader would conclude that this is a temple text and that day seven is the most important of the seven days. In a material account day seven would have little role, but in a functional account, as we will see, it is the true climax without which nothing else would make any sense or have any meaning. How could reactions be so different? The difference is the piece of information that everyone knew in the ancient world and to which most modern readers are totally oblivious: Deity rests in a temple, and only in a temple. This is what temples were built for. We might even say that this is what a temple is—a place for divine rest. Perhaps even more significant, in some texts the construction of a temple is associated with cosmic creation. What does divine rest entail? Most of us think of rest as disengagement from the cares, worries and tasks of life. What comes to mind is sleeping in or taking an afternoon nap. But in the ancient world rest is what results when a crisis has been resolved or when stability has been achieved, when things have “settled down.” Consequently normal routines can be established and enjoyed. For deity this means that the normal operations of the cosmos can be undertaken. This is more a matter of engagement without obstacles rather than disengagement without responsibilities. Before we proceed, it is important to look at the terminology used by the author. The Hebrew verb sabat (Gen 2:2) from which our term “sabbath” is derived has the basic meaning of “ceasing” (Josh 5:12; Job 32:1). Semantically it refers to the completion of certain activity with which one had been occupied. This cessation leads into a new state which is described by another set of words, the verb nuha and its associated noun, menuha. The verb involves entering a position of safety, security or stability and the noun refers to the place where that is found. The verb sabat describes a transition into the activity or inactivity of nuha. We know that when God rests (ceases, sabat) on the seventh day in Genesis 2, he also transitions into the condition of stability (nuha) because that is the terminology used in Exodus 20:11.
2. David Butler, Plain and Precious Things, p. 103. Later in his book he writes, “Shalom can indeed mean peace in Hebrew, but the root SH-L-M (shin-lamed-mem) is very rich in meaning, and can signify other things, including welfare, soundness and completeness, performance of a vow, requiting a debt, completing or finishing a task. Something or someone described as shalem is ‘peaceable’ (in Genesis 34:21, the sons of Jacob are described as being shalem with the Shechemites) or ‘complete’ (in Genesis 15:16, the “iniquity of the Amorites” is not yet shalem).” See p. 162.
3. Butler, p. 173. For more on the creation narrative being associated with the temple see: John Walton, The Lost World of Genesis 1.
4. Teachings of Ezra Taft Benson, p. 337. See also: Prophetic Teachings on Temples.
5. President Russell M. Nelson, In the Lord’s Own Way, April 1986.
6. Joseph Fielding McConkie, Teachings and Testimony of the First Vision: Joseph Fielding McConkie Discusses the First Vision and Tolerance, part 14 of a series compiled by Dennis B. Horne, March 11, 2020. This is printed on the back cover of McConkie’s book published in 1995 entitled Here We Stand.
7. Joseph Smith, HC, 4:595-596; Teachings of the Prophet Joseph Smith, p. 218.
8. Joseph Smith, HC 6:184; Teachings, 331.
9. Josephus writes about events portrayed in these curses, showing his hearers what happened in Jerusalem during the siege of Titus. In The Wars of the Jews, he describes the plight of a wealthy woman caught in the siege: There was a certain woman that dwelt beyond Jordan, her name was Mary; her father was Eleazar, of the village Bethezob, which signifies the house of Hyssop. She was eminent for her family and her wealth, and had fled away to Jerusalem with the rest of the multitude, and was with them besieged therein at this time. The other effects of this woman had been already seized upon, such I mean as she had brought with her out of Perea, and removed to the city. What she had treasured up besides, as also what food she had contrived to save, had been also carried off by the rapacious guards, who came every day running into her house for that purpose. This put the poor woman into a very great passion, and by the frequent reproaches and imprecations she east at these rapacious villains, she had provoked them to anger against her; but none of them, either out of the indignation she had raised against herself, or out of commiseration of her case, would take away her life; and if she found any food, she perceived her labors were for others, and not for herself; and it was now become impossible for her any way to find any more food, while the famine pierced through her very bowels and marrow, when also her passion was fired to a degree beyond the famine itself; nor did she consult with any thing but with her passion and the necessity she was in. She then attempted a most unnatural thing; and snatching up her son, who was a child sucking at her breast, she said, “O thou miserable infant! for whom shall I preserve thee in this war, this famine, and this sedition? As to the war with the Romans, if they preserve our lives, we must be slaves. This famine also will destroy us, even before that slavery comes upon us. Yet are these seditious rogues more terrible than both the other. Come on; be thou my food, and be thou a fury to these seditious varlets, and a by-word to the world, which is all that is now wanting to complete the calamities of us Jews.” As soon as she had said this, she slew her son, and then roasted him, and eat the one half of him, and kept the other half by her concealed. Upon this the seditious came in presently, and smelling the horrid scent of this food, they threatened her that they would cut her throat immediately if she did not show them what food she had gotten ready. She replied that she had saved a very fine portion of it for them, and withal uncovered what was left of her son. Hereupon they were seized with a horror and amazement of mind, and stood astonished at the sight, when she said to them, “This is mine own son, and what hath been done was mine own doing! Come, eat of this food; for I have eaten of it myself! Do not you pretend to be either more tender than a woman, or more compassionate than a mother; but if you be so scrupulous, and do abominate this my sacrifice, as I have eaten the one half, let the rest be reserved for me also.” After which those men went out trembling, being never so much aftrighted at any thing as they were at this, and with some difficulty they left the rest of that meat to the mother. Upon which the whole city was full of this horrid action immediately; and while every body laid this miserable case before their own eyes, they trembled, as if this unheard of action had been done by themselves. So those that were thus distressed by the famine were very desirous to die, and those already dead were esteemed happy, because they had not lived long enough either to hear or to see such miseries. Flavius Josephus, The Wars of the Jews, Book VI, translated by William Whiston, 1895.