“Out of Zion shall go forth the Law”#

–Isaiah 2:3

Modified from an essay 1983-12-06 for a class taught by Dr. Donald Q. Cannon

Preface

One morning while reading from Section 59 of the Doctrine and Covenants, I was arrested in my reading by this phrase from verse 22: “Behold, this is according to the law and the prophets.” I realized that many of the passages of this modern revelation paralleled or summarized elements of the Old Testament, from the Creation to the Psalms to the prophets. Especially, D&C 59 reiterates much of the ancient law, although in an altered and condensed form. Furthermore, the Lord promises a rich, abundant land to the faithful, just as he had to the people of Moses. The admonitions in Section 59, however, are of a more general form, as though to suggest that the Law is not restricted to that faraway people who perished in a wilderness or reached a promised land, but applies to all those who struggle through a spiritual desert on their way to a future recompense.1

In this paper I propose to observe and comment upon similarities between the setting of D&C 59 and the Old Testament. These similarities are not presented in any of the D&C commentaries listed in the bibliography, with the closest comparison being offered by the Church Educational System’s Student Manual, in which a comparison is made between the laws given in the Old Testament and their expansion in sections 42 and 59 of the D&C.2 I thus feel that this paper represents a new and interesting viewpoint for understanding the beautiful doctrinal messages contained in D&C 59. As a full exposition of these doctrines has already been provided by more experienced writers,3 and would flee from the central purpose of my theme, I will touch only briefly on the standard items of theological novelty presented in this revelation, except insofar as they pertain to my topic.

I hope that the comments presented here may provide the reader the same excitement and reverence they have given me.

–Kevin Black

In 1831, Missouri was a new state, and still frontier country. However, the state’s natural resources greatly impressed visitors. For instance, in July of 1831, W. W. Phelps wrote to a New York paper he had previously edited with the following description of western Missouri:

The prairies are beautiful beyond description, yielding prairie grass, wild sun flowers, small flowers in great variety and color, and continually presenting, or “keeping up appearances” of a highly cultivated country without inhabitants. . . . Prairie pluvers, prairie hens, wild turkies, rabbits, gray squirrels, prairie dogs, wolves, rattlesnakes (the big breed,) prairie rattlesnakes, copperheads, panthers, deer, &c. go when they have a mind to and come when they please.4

Many other visitors to the state also glorified its rich, pristine soil and apparently limitless possibilities. As a matter of fact, the Native Americans were forced to leave because the administration of Fort Osage saw in the Missouri territory such a paradise.5 On the very borders of the territory, the Latter-day Saints were trying to establish their own paradise–a spiritual one. Why had the Saints come to the edge of civilization? A visiting newspaper reporter from the East would write a year later that they were trying to establish a “New Jerusalem . . . where, at no distant period, they expect the re-appearing of the Lord Jesus to live and reign with them on earth a thousand years.”6 This remarkable idea was already familiar to the Mormons.

As early as September 1830, church members learned the approximate location of the future City of Zion,7 followed at the beginning of 1831 by the following unforgettable revelation:

Thus saith the Lord your God, even Jesus Christ, the Great I AM, . . . I hold forth and deign to give unto you greater riches, even a land of promise, a land flowing with milk and honey . . . for the land of your inheritance… . But, verily I say unto you that in time ye shall have no king nor ruler, for I will be your king and watch over you. Wherefore, hear my voice and follow me, and you shall be a free people, and ye shall have no laws but my laws when I come, for I am your lawgiver, and what can stay my hand?8

The similarities between this charter and that given to Moses millennia before should be obvious. On Horeb Moses heard, “Thus shalt thou say unto the children of Israel, I AM hath sent me unto you… . And I have said, I will bring you up out of the affliction of Egypt . . . unto a land flowing with milk and honey.”9 The commandment to have “no king” also echoes Exodus:

Now therefore, if ye will obey my voice indeed, and keep my covenant, then ye shall be a peculiar treasure unto me above all people: for all the earth is mine: And ye shall be unto me a kingdom of priests, and an holy nation.10

Many other similarities between the commandments given to those going to possess these two “promised lands” will soon be evident. In early June of 1831 another revelation designated Missouri as “the land which I will consecrate unto my people.”11 The Saints accepted the revelations readily, and as soon as late June, a large congregation of church members were led from near Church headquarters in Kirtland, Ohio, to a spot a little west of Independence, Jackson County, Missouri.12 The prophet Joseph arrived in Jackson County by mid-July and soon announced that the Lord had reconfirmed Missouri as not only the promised land and the gathering place for the Saints, but also as “the place for the city of Zion.”13 And just as the Zion Isaiah had foreseen, this modern one would also be the place of preparation for a “feast of fat things,” in fulfillment of prophecy.14

The day following the revelation above quoted, August 2, 1831, witnessed the start of the construction of Zion15 and an impressive ceremony in which, following a litany questioning the Saints’ future obedience, Sidney Rigdon of the church’s First Presidency dedicated and consecrated the land by prayer.16 Once again this recalls ancient Israel when promising to obey the Lord in exchange for the promised land and His continued blessings.17 Thus the first week of August began with a highly symbolic possession of the land. The idea of the City of Zion could certainly not have been far from the hearts of any present.

When the people of Moses had turned their faces toward their promised “land of milk and honey,” they had left behind the system of laws to which they had become accustomed in the Captivity. Besides, those laws had been of another people, and not of the Lord. A law was necessary for them and on Mount Sinai it was received. In the same manner, this modern people of God needed a new law. Admittedly, they had already received specific and numerous instructions from the Lord to which the prophet referred as “the law of the Church,”18 but now they were in a new wilderness, seeking, in effect, to create their own promised land. Was such a law received? The parallels continue, for on Sunday, August 7, 1831, the Lord gave to those assembled in Jackson County “commandments especially applicable to the saints in Zion,”19 recorded now as Section 59 of the Doctrine and Covenants.

By now the astute reader may have noticed a severe breakdown in this comparison: Moses’ people received the Decalogue at Mount Sinai, far from their promised land, while this new group following a prophet to a better land received a similar law only upon their arrival. However, a closer look provides an explanation of this apparent discrepancy.

The Saints were quite aware that if Missouri held promise, it had not yet been fulfilled. Writing later, Joseph Smith himself would recall arriving at “the confines or western limits of the United States, and looking into the vast wilderness of those that sat in darkness” and feeling moved to “exclaim in the language of the Prophets: ‘When will the wilderness blossom as the rose? When will Zion be built up in her glory?’”20 The Saints had just been reminded that, rather than arriving in Zion to rest, they would “be honored in laying the foundation . . . of the land upon which the Zion of God shall stand.”21 Newel Knight, for example, knew a great deal of work would be required, when he said Missouri appeared to be

. . . inviting the hand of industry to establish for itself homes upon its broad bosom. And this was the place, where . . . Zion should be and our hearts went forth unto the Lord desiring the fulfillment, that we might know where to bestow our labors profitably.22

In short, then, as has been suggested by Warren Jennings, the “desert would yet ‘blossom as a rose’”; their Land of Promise would become such “only after the physical and social conditions had been altered by a righteous people.”23 Thus it may be more accurate to say that both groups received their law after they had left their former homes, but while still in the wilderness.24

Surprisingly, at the time, the Prophet and the members commented only lightly on this important revelation. The entire preface Joseph gives to Section 59 is: “On the 7th, I attended the funeral of Sister Polly Knight, the wife of Joseph Knight, Sen. This was the first death in the Church in this land, and I can say, a worthy member sleeps in Jesus till the resurrection. I also received the following:” (D&C 59 follows.)25 Newel Knight gives nothing more in his journal: “On the 6th, my mother died… . On the 7th, Brother Joseph attended the funeral, and addressed us in an impressive and consoling manner. This was the first death that had occurred in this Church in this land.”26

Many similarities do exist between the revelation of August 7, 1831, and the Lord’s revealed word to his ancient covenant people: Section 59 is indeed “according to the law and the prophets” (verse 22). Its first verses apparently have special reference to Sister Polly Knight,27 but promises blessings to all those who had come to Missouri, both to those who lived and to those who died.

  1. Behold, blessed, saith the Lord, are they who have come up unto this land with an eye single to my glory, according to my commandments.

  2. For those that live shall inherit the earth, and those that die shall rest from all their labors, and their works shall follow them; and they shall receive a crown in the mansions of my Father, which I have prepared for them.

  3. Yea, blessed are they whose feet stand upon the land of Zion, who have obeyed my gospel; for they shall receive for their reward the good things of the earth, and it shall bring forth in its strength.

  4. And they shall also be crowned with blessings from above, yea, and with commandments not a few, and with revelations in their time–they that are faithful and diligent before me.28

The promise given by the Lord to the ancient Israelites was slightly different. The Lord said to Moses and his people,

Ye shall walk in all the ways which the Lord your God hath commanded you, that ye may live, and that it may be well with you, and that ye may prolong your days in the land which ye shall possess.29

A striking difference in section 59 is the apparent inunction to increased patience implicit in verse 2. Rather than promising that all the obedient would receive a longer mortal life, the new, more realistic (as we would see it) version offers a heavenly blessing to all, and physical inheritance of the earth to those who remain behind. Of this more enlighted modern people, to whom more understanding was given, more patience was required.30

The 1831 revelation, after promising commandments to the faithful, proceeds to enumerate many of the most important:

  1. Wherefore, I give unto them a commandment, saying thus: Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, with all thy might, mind, and strength; and in the name of Jesus Christ thou shalt serve him.

Here, as in the New Testament,31 the first three of the Ten Commandments are beautifully summarized in one compelling statement. Often the command to love the Lord is thought of a originating in new Testament times, but the injunction was given long before. For example, after reminding his people of the “great,” “mighty,” and “terrible” God they were to worship, Moses said, “Therefore thou shalt love the Lord thy God, and keep his commandments.”32 Another verse reads, “Thouh shalt love the Lord thy God with all thine heart, and with all thy sould, and with all thy might.”33

The rest of the Decalogue (with one important exception discussed later) is condensed into the sixth verse:

  1. Thou shalt love thy neighbor as thyself. Thou shalt not steal; neither commit adultery, nor kill, nor do anything like unto it.

Here the modifications from the Exodus version to D&C 59 again indicate an extension of the commandments and an additional expectation of spiritual maturity on the part of the people: now the Saints are to avoid not only murder, adultery, and theft in their strict senses, but anything “like unto it,” all of which is certainly contained in the verse’s first sentence.

The following verse offers a commandment that is not replicated so explicitly anywhere else in Holy Writ. “Thou shalt thank the Lord thy God in all things” (v. 7) is an oft-repeated theme of the Psalms, but rarely emphasized elsewhere in the Bible. It would certainly be interesting to find a counterpart to this verse in the ancient scripture. And we do! When the twelve tribes, like the Missouri Saints, were about to take possession of the promised land, Moses reminded them of the Lord’s generosity, concluding, “When thou hast eaten and art full, then thou shalt bless the Lord thy God for the good land which he hath given thee.”34 Moses then pronounced the dire consequences that would befall the Israelites if they forgot, a much more pointed reminder than that given in D&C 59:21, where God’s wrath is revealed to be directed especially at those “who confess not his hand in all things, and obey not his commandments.”

The eighth verse provides a strong parallel with the ancient law and at the same time a logical introduction to the remainder of the revelation. The original giving of the Ten Commandments was followed immediately by a command to sacrifice:

An altar of earth thou shalt make unto me, and shalt sacrifice thereon thy burnt offerings, and thy peace offerings, thy sheep, and thine oxen: in all places where I record my name I will come unto thee, and I will bless thee.35

In the same manner, the repetition of the commandments in D&C 59:5-6 precedes a commandment to offer a new type of sacrifice:

  1. Thou shalt offer a sacrifice unto the Lord thy God in righteousness, even that of a broken heart and a contrite spirit.

Although generally this “new” sacrifice is associated with 3 Nephi 9:19-20, the Psalms foreshadow it. In Psalm 51, the psalmist addresses Deity:

For thou desirest not sacrifice; else would I give it: thou delightest not in burnt offering. The sacrifices of God are a broken spirit: a broken and a contrite heart, O God, thou wilt not despise.36

Psalm 34:18 suggests this idea less obviously: “The Lord is nigh unto them that are of a broken heart; and saveth such as be of a contrite spirit.” Still, this verse from section 59 compares admirably with part of “the law and the prophets”: all the wave offerings and peace offerings and other sacrifices are here summarized in a sentence. Here is Leviticus in a verse!

Of course, some of the Mosaic sacrifices were purification rites, and, as promised, verse 8 provides an introduction to the modern version of the purification process:

  1. And that thou mayest more fully keep thyself unspotted from the world, thou shalt go to the house of prayer and offer up thy sacraments upon my holy day.

Now, in order to keep ourselves “unspotted from the world,” the former ablutions and sacrifices are replaced by a new ordinance, that of partaking of the sacrament in the Lord’s house on His day. Observe the difference: when the children of Israel were about to covenant with the Lord, Moses “sanctified the people; and they washed their clothes. And he said unto the people, Be ready against the third day: come not at your wives.”37 Jehovah also commanded, “Let the priests also, which come near to the Lord, sanctify themselves, lest the Lord break forth upon them.”38 The modern revelation changes the order of things: now the people are to go up to the house of prayer and covenant with God in order to be clean.

The previous verse leads naturally into verses ten through twelve, wherein the Lord further clarifies and renews his command that there be a day set aside for worship. Just as in Exodus the Sabbath received more detailed explication than any other of the Ten Commandments, so it receives the major emphasis in Section 59. In fact, the First Presidency once stated that this revelation “regarding the Sabbath” was given “that modern Israel might know this law still stood,”39 and Church members today still identify D&C 59 chiefly with the Sabbath.

  1. For verily this is a day appointed unto you to rest from your labors, and to pay thy devotions unto the Most High;

  2. Nevertheless thy vows shall be offered up in righteousness on all days and at all times;

  3. But remember that on this, the Lord’s day, thou shalt offer thine oblations and thy sacraments unto the Most High, confessing thy sins unto thy brethren, and before the Lord.

  4. And on this day thou shalt do none other thing.40

Here again some parts of the old law are condensed and others expanded. All of the ancient feast days, the sabbatical year and jubilee, and the other “holy convocations,”41 are replaced by one day–the Lord’s day. On the other hand, the old Sabbath commandment was primarily one of prohibition from labor. For example, “Six days shall work be done: but the seventh day is the sabbath of rest, an holy convocation; ye shall do no work therein: it is the sabbath of the Lord in all your dwellings.”42 The commandment remains, but the emphasis now appears slightly shifted toward the positive command to pay devotions, participate in the sacrament of the Lord’s Supper, and confess sins, rather than the negative prohibition of labor.

An obvious shift is from “sabbath” to “holy day” and “this, the Lord’s day,” although the day’s purpose is obviously still one of worship. This identification, together with the fact that the revelation was received on a Sunday, has been used by many Mormon apologists as justification for the Saints’ following the general Christian practice of first-day Sabbath observance.43 It is natural to wonder if a scripture so important to the modern Latter-day Saint brought about any significant change in the early Saints’ worship habits. The truth is that since the majority of the early converts were of a Protestant background, they were already accustomed to Sunday churchgoing. Here are two examples from the year before the Church received Section 59: “On Sunday, April 11th, 1830, Oliver Cowdery preached the first public discourse that was delivered by any of our number.”44 Also, “The Sabbath arrived, and we held our meeting. Oliver Cowdery preached, and others of us bore testimony” (June 13, 1830).45 However, there seemed to be no restriction to meeting only on Sunday, for several important church meetings were held on other days. For example, the organizational meeting of the Church, on April 6, 1830, in which the sacrament was passed, and time “was spent in witnessing and feeling for ourselves the powers and blessings of the Holy Ghost,” was held on a Tuesday.46 The same description applies to the first conference of the Church, on June 9, 1830, a Wednesday.47 Even after Section 59, Newel Knight, a branch president in Jackson County, called a mid-week branch meeting when the necessity arose.48 However, there did seem to be a general Sabbath observance among the people in the Missouri period. Parley P. Pratt wrote, “On Sundays, the people assembled to preach, pray, sing, and receive the ordinances of God. Other days all seemed busy in the various pursuits of industry.”49 By later times the practice was well established; the pioneers’ Sunday stopovers on their trek to Utah are well-known. It is interesting that although beginning with the Utah period church leaders often used Section 59 to reinforce their teachings on Sunday worship,50 Joseph Smith never quoted from it in any of his available Nauvoo sermons.51

The use of the word “oblation” in verse 12 is intriguing and appropriate. An oblation is “a religious or ritualistic offering usually of something without life in contrast to a sacrifice of living things . . . something offered or presented in worship or sacred service.”52 Capitalized, it refers to the sacrament of the Lord’s Supper. The use of this word, which derives from the Latin offere, to offer, might be seen as a reminder that this is our new offering, taking the place of bullocks and birds.

Part of verse 13 was quoted above; its entirety follows:

  1. And on this day thou shalt do none other thing, only let thy food be prepared with singleness of heart that thy fasting may be perfect, or, in other words, that thy joy may be full.

  2. Verily, this is fasting and prayer, or in other words, rejoicing and prayer.

The Lord here touches again a topic that received a more extensive treatment in the Old Testament; namely, that of food preparation. Smith and Sjodahl’s commentary identifies “singleness of heart” with simplicity of preparation.53 If this identification is correct, it would contrast with the Mosaic law’s stricter specifications on food selection and preparation.54 The most unusual portion of this verse, however, may be that food is mentioned with fasting, and that the latter is equated with joy. Verse 15 strengthens this connection by placing “fasting” and “rejoicing” in a parallel construction. As in the first few verses, the Lord is replacing near threat with promise, again leading the Saints to a higher level of obedience.

Once more the theme of “joy” and “rejoicing” provides a natural bridge to the next idea considered in the revelation:

  1. And inasmuch as ye do these things with thanksgiving, with cheerful hearts and countenances, not with much laughter, for this is sin, but with a glad heart and a cheerful countenance–

  2. … the fulness of the earth is yours.

Here again the manner of obedience is emphasized: thanksgiving and a cheerful nature are essential parts of an acceptable offering of obedience. The connection has been made between this verse and some occasions in the Old Testament in which God asked the people to bring, not a forced offering, but “of every man that giveth it willingly with his heart.”55 The connection is not perfect, but considering the emphasis in preceding verses on offerings, certainly not inappropriate.

The reader is now reminded of the setting of this revelation: the Saints entering Missouri were faced with a fine, untouched land, and the Lord now grants them the deed as the climax of the section. If they would obey the laws he had just given them,

  1. Verily I say, that inasmuch as ye do this, the fulness of the earth is yours, the beasts of the field and the fowls of the air, and that which climbeth upon the trees and walketh upon the earth;

  2. Yea, and the herb, and the good things which come of the earth, whether for food or for raiment, or for houses, or for barns, or for orchards, or for gardens, or for vineyards;

  3. Yea, all things which come of the earth, in the season thereof, are made for the benefit and the use of man, both to please the eye and to gladden the heart;

  4. Yea, and for food and for raiment, for taste and for smell, to strengthen the body and to enliven the soul.

  5. And it pleaseth God that he hath given all these things unto man; for unto this end were they made to be used, with judgment, not to excess, neither by extortion.

Here is one of the most eloquent (and least quoted) passages of scripture on the purposes of the Creation. These verses would find their Old Testament counterpart in the book of Genesis.56 Here one of the few significant divergences between the present and 1833 editions of the commandments should be noted: the first edition has, in verse 20, “unto this end were they made, to be used with judgment,”57 a phrasing which better emphasizes the significance of the idea before it.

The idea of verse 21 is closely related to that of thanksgiving. It pleases God to give us all things (v. 20), and, rightly, offends him when we return no thanks.

  1. And in nothing doth man offend God, or against none is his wrath kindled, save those who confess not his hand in all things, and obey not his commandments.

As noted above, compared with the Old Testament treatment, this comprises a very mild warning to the disobedient.

The first half of verse 22 now takes on a fuller significance: parts of Section 59 correspond to the accounts of the Creation and the Exodus, the Law, the prophecies, and even the poetry of the Old Testament.

  1. Behold, this is according to the law and the prophets; wherefore, trouble me no more concerning this matter.

  2. But learn that he who doeth the works of righteousness shall receive his reward, even peace in this world, and eternal life in the world to come.58

Roy W. Doxey and Walter D. Bowen chose this last verse, the epitome of all the foregoing promises, as one of two verses in the Doctrine and Covenants best exemplifying “eternal truths which should be remembered worthy of particular attention,”59 and for obvious reasons.

What a rich benefit of understanding this comparison between the charters of the ancient and modern peoples of God has produced! The ancient covenants have been expanded, enriched, and adapted to the growing spiritual maturity of a new chosen people. Surely the beauty of the phrasing, the natural flow of ideas, and the marvelous parallels between present and past obliterate any doubt of the revelation’s final words:

  1. I, the Lord, have spoken it, and the Spirit beareth record. Amen.

BIBLIOGRAPHY

Barrett, William Edwin. Teachings of the Doctrine and Covenants. Salt Lake City, Utah: Deseret Book Company, 1961.

A Book of Commandments. Zion [Jackson County, Mo.]: W. W. Phelps & Co., 1833. Chapter LX is equivalent to the modern Section 59.

Bowen, Walter D., and Roy W. Doxey. Doctrine and Covenants Study Guide with Selected Commentaries, 2nd ed. revised. Provo, Utah: Brigham Young University Printing Service, 1971.

Church Educational System. The Doctrine and Covenants Student Manual. Salt Lake City, Utah: The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, 1981.

Doxey, Roy W., arr. The Latter-day Prophets and the Doctrine and Covenants, vol. II: Sections 42 to 76. Salt Lake City, Utah: Deseret Book Company, 1964.

Ehat, Andrew F., and Lyndon W. Cook, comp., eds. The Words of Joseph Smith. Provo, Utah: Religious Studies Center, Brigham Young University, 1980.

Far West Record. “Far West [Mo.]: April 6, 1838.” Typescript. Americana collection, Harold B. Lee Library, Brigham Young University.

Gentry, Leland Homer. A History of the Latter-day Saints in Northern Missouri from 1836 to 1839. Provo, Utah, Brigham Young University, 1965.

Newel Knight. Newel Knight’s Journal. Pp. 46-104 in Scraps of Biography. Salt Lake City, Utah: Bookcraft, Inc., 1969.

Murdock, John. Abriged [sic] Record of the life of John Murdock, taken from His Journal by himself. Typescript. Americana collection, Harold B. Lee Library, Brigham Young University.

McGavin, E. Cecil. The Historical Background of the Doctrine and Covenants. Salt Lake City, Utah: Paragon Printing Co., c1949.

McKiernan, F. Mark, Alma R. Blair, and Paul M. Edwards, eds. The Restoration Movement: Essays in Mormon History. [Lawrence, Kansas]: Coronado Press, 1973.

Otten, L.G., comp. Historical Background and Setting for Each Section of the Doctrine and Covenants. (No publication data; preface dated 1972).

Parkin, Max H. Contemporary Accounts of the Latter-day Saints and Their Leaders Appearing in Early Missouri Newspapers, 1831-1839. (No publication information given. Americana Collection, Harold B. Lee Library, Brigham Young University.)

—. A History of the Latter-day Saints in Clay County, Missouri, from 1833 to 1837. Provo, Utah: Brigham Young University, 1976.

Roberts, B. H. A Comprehensive History of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. Salt Lake City, Utah: The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, 1977-1978.

Smith, Hyrum M., and Janne M. Sjodahl. **Introduction and Commentary on **The Doctrine and Covenants. Rev. ed. Salt Lake City, Utah: Deseret Book Co., 1972.

Smith, Joseph. History of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. 7 vols. 2nd ed. rev. Ed. B. H. Roberts. Salt Lake City, Utah: The church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, 1932-1951.

Sperry, Sidney B. Doctrine and Covenants Compendium. Salt Lake City, Utah: Bookcraft, Inc., 1960.

Revelation Book 1, p. 98. From The Joseph Smith Papers, accessed August 23, 2021.

Webster’s Third New International dictionary of the English Language, unabridged. Ed.-in-chief, Philip Grove. Springfield, Mass.: G. & C. Merriam Co., c1976.

Young, Brigham, et al. Journal of Discourses. 26 vols. Liverpool: Daniel H. Wells, 1854-1886. 2nd photolithographic reprint, Los Angeles, CA: General Printing and Lithograph Co., 1961.velation: the Saints entering Missouri were faced with a fine, untouched land, and the Lord now grants them the deed as the climax of the section. If they would obey the laws he had just given them,

1

Here I believe my thoughts were probably influenced by Charles S. Singleton’s essay on Dante’s Divine Comedy, “‘In Exitu Israel de Aegypto,’” in which he points out similarities between the struggle to heaven represented in the Comedy and the image of the house of Israel voyaging to the Promised Land. Singleton’s essay was printed in the 78th Annual Report of the Dante Society of America (1960) and reprinted in Dante: A Collection of Critical Essays, ed. John Freccero (Englewood Cliffs, N.J.: Prentice-Hall, Inc., 1965), p. 102-121.

2

Church Educational System, The Doctrine and Covenants Student Manual (Salt Lake City, Utah: The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, 1981), pp. 125-26.

3

For doctrinal commentaries, the Student Manual cited in the above note was my favorite; see also bibliography.

4

Ontario Phoenix (Canandaigua, N.Y.), September 7, 1831, in Max H Parkin, Contemporary Accounts of the Latter-day Saints and their Leaders Appearing in Early Missouri Newspapers, 1831-1839 (No publication data given; available at Brigham Young University Special Collections), (no pagination). Hereafter cited as Contemporary Accounts. Original spelling and punctuation.

5

Max H Parkin, A History of the Latter-day Saints in Clay County, Missouri, from 1833 to 1837 (Provo, Utah: BYU, 1976), pp. 9-10.

6

B. Pixley, “The Mormonites,” letter dated October 12, 1832, published in the Independent Messenger (Boston, Mass.), November 29, 1832, in Parkin, Contemporary Accounts (n.p.).

7

D&C 28:9

8

D&C 38:1, 18-22

9

Exodus 3:14-17

10

Exodus 19:5-6. See also Deuteronomy 26:16-19 and Isaiah 33:22 (“For the Lord is our judge, the Lord is our lawgiver, the Lord is our king; he will save us”). Compare, 5 months before section 59, D&C 45:59 (“For the Lord … will be their king and their lawgiver”).

11

D&C 52:2 (June 7, 1831)

12

B. H. Roberts, A Comprehensive History of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (Salt Lake City, Utah: The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, 1977-1978), vol. I, p. 251. [Hereafter CHC.]

13

D&C 57:2(1-2) (July 20, 1831)

14

Isaiah 25 (especially verse 6); D&C 58:7-8 (Aug. 1, 1831)

15

The Saints were practical enough not to wait for the gold to arrive with which to pave the streets of the marvelous city. They started with a log cabin. CHC I:255.

16

CHC I:255

17

Exodus 19:7-8; 24:3-8; Joshua 24:14-27

18

Joseph Smith, Jr., History of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, 2nd ed. revised (Salt Lake City, Utah: Deseret Book Company, 1976), I:148. [Hereafter referred to as HC.]

19

Doctrine and Covenants, 1981 ed., preface to Section 59 (p. 108).

20

HC I:189.

21

D&C 58:7 (Aug. 1, 1831)

22

Newel Knight, “Newel Knight’s Journal,” pp. 46-104 in Scraps of Biography (Salt Lake City, Utah: Bookcraft, Inc., 1969), p. 71. Compare Joshua 24:13, when after the wars fought to obtain the promised land, the Lord cited the miracles involved in the conquest, and reminded his people that “I have given you a land for which ye did not labour.”

23

Warren Jennings, “The City in the Garden: Social Conflict in Jackson County, Missouri,” pp. 99-119 in The Restoration Movement: Essays in Mormon History, ed. by F. Mark McKiernan, Alma R. Blair, and Paul M. Edwards ([Lawrence, Kansas]: Coronado Press, 1973), p. 104.

24

The law was given a second time to ancient Israel in Deuteronomy 5, and the Lord reminded his people that it was the same law and the same covenant: “The Lord our God made a covenant with us in Horeb. The Lord made not this covenant with our fathers, but with us, even us, who are all of us here alive this day” (Deut. 5:2-3). Similarly, section 59 represents a renewal of the law given earlier in 1831 (D&C 42:2-3, 18-29, 59, 79-87), yet in section 42 the location of the New Jerusalem was yet to be revealed (D&C 42:9, 62).

25

HC, 199.

26

Newel Knight’s Journal, p. 72. There is no further information in any of the following sources, either: CHC, the Journal History, the Far West Record, John Murdock’s journal, or in any of the commentaries listed in the bibliography. Revelation Book 1, p. 98 summarizes this section as “instructing the sa[i]nts how to keep the sabath & how to fast and pray … &c.” From The Joseph Smith Papers, accessed August 23, 2021.

27

Several commentaries noted this point; for example, Student Manual, p. 124.

28

This and all subsequent quotations set off in this style with verse numbers are from section 59.

29

Deuteronomy 5:33; see also 6:2,3.

30

D&C 82:3. The idea in v. 4 that commandments and revelations are blessings seems relatively new. However, the Lord’s promised to make the obedient “a kingdom of priests, and an holy nation” (Exodus 19:6) may foreshadow such a statement.

31

Matthew 22:37

32

Deuteronomy 11:1

33

Deuteronomy 6:5. Sidney B. Sperry cites additionally Leviticus 19:18,34; Deuteronomy 10:12; and 30:6 in his Doctrine and Covenants Compendium (Salt Lake City, Utah: Bookcraft, Inc., 1960), p. 247. Charles W. Penrose of the First Presidency quotes the commandment in verse 5 to serve God “in the name of Jesus Christ” to prove that “the ordinances we perform, all the prayers we offer, all that we do as servants of God in this Church, should be done in the name of Jesus Christ, for it is his Church, and he stand really at its head.” Conference Report, October, 1921, po. 19, cited in Roy W. Doxey, ed., The Latter-day Prophets and the Doctrine and Covenants, vol. 2 (Salt Lake City, Utah: Deseret Book Company, 1964), pp. 269-70.

34

Deuteronomy 8:10; see also 8:6-20.

35

Exodus 20:24. Similarly in Deuteronomy, a few chapters after the Ten Commandments, the Lord requires a sacrifice of “burnt offerings, the flesh and the blood” (12:27).

36

Psalm 51:16-17

37

Exodus 19:14-15

38

Exodus 19:22

39

David O. McKay, J. Reuben Clark, Jr., and Henry D. Moyle, pamphlet, June 19, 1959, quoted in Roy W. Doxey, ed., Latter-day Prophets, p. 273.

40

A very interesting comparison is made with Mosiah 18(:23).

41

Leviticus, chapters 23 and 25.

42

Leviticus 23:3, 27-31 (for similar prohibitions relative to the other holy days), and many other Old Testament verses. Exodus 35:2-3 even taught that those who worked on the sabbath were to be put to death.

43

See, for example, LeGrand Richards, A Marvelous Work and a Wonder (Salt Lake City, Utah: Deseret Book Company, 1950), chapter 23.

44

HC I:81.

45

HC I:86.

46

HC I:78

47

CHC I:203

48

Newel Knight’s Journal, p. 78.

49

Parley P. Pratt, Life and Travels of Parley Parker Pratt (Salt Lake City: Deseret Book Company, 1938), p. 93, cited in Parkin, History in Clay County, p. 15.

50

Brigham Young, et al., Journal of Discourses, 26 vol. (Liverpool: Daniel H. Wells, 1854-1886; 2nd photolithographic reprint Los Angeles, CA: General Printing and Lithograph Co., 1961): some examples are direct and indirect quotes by Brigham Young (VI:277-278(1852); X:283-84(1863); X:187(1863)) and George Albert Smith (XII:196-98(1868)).

51

Andrew F. Ehat and Lyndon W. Cook, comp. and eds., The Words of Joseph Smith (Provo, Utah: Religious Studies Center, Brigham Young University, 1980), p. 425.

52

Webster’s Third New International Dictionary of the English Language, unabridged, ed.-in-chief, Philip Grove (Springfield, Mass.: G. & C. Merriam Co., c1976), s.v. oblation (p. 1556).

53

Hyrum M. Smith and Janne M. Sjodahl, Introduction to and commentary on The Doctrine and Covenants (Salt Lake City: Deseret Book Co., 1972), p. 352.

54

Deuteronomy 14, for example.

55

Exodus 25:2. See footnote 15b in the 1981 edition of the D&C.

56

Genesis 1:26 makes a statement like that of vv. 16-19, but more tersely: “Let them have dominion. . . .”

57

A Book of Commandments (Zion [Jackson County, Mo.]: W. W. Phelps & Co., 1833), Chapter LX.

58

Here again the phrasing of the 1833 Book of Commandments facilitates understanding, where the verse division is given as “this matter, but learn. . . .” Note the contrast between verses 21 and 23: “those who … obey not,” vs. “he who doeth the works of righteousness.”

59

In Doctrine and Covenants Study Guide with Selected Commentaries, 2nd ed. (Provo, Utah: Brigham Young University Printing Service, 1971), second page of preface (not paginated).