Throughout history, people have tried to achieve what Enoch and his people accomplished: building an ideal society where there is no poverty or violence. As God’s people, we share this desire. We call it building Zion, and it includes—in addition to caring for the poor and promoting peace—making covenants, dwelling together in righteousness, and becoming one with each other and with Jesus Christ, “the King of Zion” (Moses 7:53).
President Spencer W. Kimball spoke of establishing Zion in our day:
“May I suggest three fundamental things we must do if we are to ‘bring again Zion.’ . . .
“First, we must eliminate the individual tendency to selfishness that snares the soul, shrinks the heart, and darkens the mind. . . .
“Second, we must cooperate completely and work in harmony one with the other. There must be unanimity in our decisions and unity in our actions. . . .
“‘If the Spirit of the Lord is to magnify our labors, then this spirit of oneness and cooperation must be the prevailing spirit in all that we do’ . . . (Teachings of the Prophet Joseph Smith, p. 1983.) . . .
“Third, we must lay on the altar and sacrifice whatever is required by the Lord. We begin by offering a ‘broken heart and a contrite spirit.’ We follow this by giving our best effort in our assigned fields of labor and callings. We learn our duty and execute it fully. Finally we consecrate our time, talents and means as called upon by our file leaders and as prompted by the whisperings of the Spirit” (in Conference Report, Apr. 1978, 122–24; or Ensign, May 1978, 81).
Donald and Jay Parry give us the following regarding Zion: In this remarkable revelation to Enoch, the Lord reveals much regarding the latter-day Zion. He designates this city by four names: Zion, New Jerusalem, Holy City, and mine abode. The first name attests that the city will be a place of safety: the Hebrew word Zion means “stronghold” or “citadel.” New Jerusalem, the second name, relates Zion to Jerusalem of ancient Palestine but is marked New to differentiate it from Old Jerusalem; the third name, Holy City, shows Zion to be consecrated and set apart from other places; and the fourth, mine abode, (Moses 7.68) indicates that Zion will be the Lord’s home, where he will reign for a thousand years. See: D. W. Parry et al., Understanding the Signs, p. 184.
Some people see God as a distant being who isn’t emotionally affected by what happens to us. But Enoch saw a vision in which God wept for His children.
God is not exempt from emotional pain. Exempt? On the contrary, God’s pain is as infinite as His love. He weeps because He feels compassion. As the Lord explains to Enoch, “unto thy brethren have I said, and also given commandment, that they should love one another, and that they should choose me, their Father; but behold, they are without affection, and they hate their own blood . . . and misery shall be their doom; and the whole heavens shall weep over them, even all the workmanship of mine hands; wherefore should not the heavens weep, seeing these shall suffer?” (Terryl and Fiona Givens, God Who Weeps, Ensign Peak, 2012, p. 24)
Elder Jeffrey R. Holland taught:
“In the midst of a grand vision of humankind which heaven opened to his view, Enoch, observing both the blessings and challenges of mortality, turns his gaze toward the Father and is stunned to see Him weeping. He says in wonder and amazement to this most powerful Being in the universe: ‘How is it that thou canst weep?’ …
“Looking out on the events of almost any day, God replies: ‘Behold these thy brethren; they are the workmanship of mine own hands. … I gave unto them … [a] commandment, that they should love one another, and that they should choose me, their Father; but behold, they are without affection, and they hate their own blood. … Wherefore should not the heavens weep, seeing these shall suffer?’ [Moses 7:29–33, 37].
“That single, riveting scene does more to teach the true nature of God than any theological treatise could ever convey. … What an indelible image of God’s engagement in our lives! What anguish in a parent when His children do not choose Him nor ‘the gospel of God’ He sent! [Romans 1:1]. How easy to love someone who so singularly loves us!” (“The Grandeur of God,”EnsignorLiahona,Nov. 2003, 72).
Elder Ronald A. Rasband: “Take heart, brothers and sisters. Yes, we live in perilous times, but as we stay on the covenant path, we need not fear. I bless you that as you do so, you will not be troubled by the times in which we live or the troubles that come your way. I bless you to choose to stand in holy places and be not moved. I bless you to believe in the promises of Jesus Christ, that He lives and that He is watching over us, caring for us and standing by us” (“Be Not Troubled,” Ensign or Liahona, Nov. 2018, 21).
Seminary Manual
In Moses 7:62, Enoch was told about the Restoration of the gospel in the latter days. He was told of two important things that would happen to help gather the “elect” from the whole earth to prepare for the Second Coming: “Righteousness will I send down out of heaven; and truth will I send forth out of the earth.”
Most ofGenesis 5is a list of the generations between Adam and Eve and Noah. We read a lot of names, but we don’t learn much about them. Then we read about Enoch, six generations from Adam, who is described with this intriguing but unexplained line: “And Enoch walked with God: and he was not; for God took him” (Genesis 5:24). Surely there’s a story behind that. But without further explanation, the list of generations resumes.
Thankfully,Moses 6reveals the details of Enoch’s story—and it’s quite a story. We learn of Enoch’s humility, his insecurities, the potential God saw in him, and the great work he performed as God’s prophet. We also get a clearer picture of the family of Adam and Eve as it progressed through the generations. We read of Satan’s “great dominion” but also of parents who taught children “the ways of God” and of “preachers of righteousness” who “spake and prophesied” (Moses 6:15, 21, 23). Especially precious is what we learn about the doctrine these parents and preachers taught: faith, repentance, baptism, and receiving the Holy Ghost (seeMoses 6:50–52). That doctrine, like the priesthood that accompanies it, “was in the beginning [and] shall be in the end of the world also” (Moses 6:7).
OT Seminary Manual:
Adam and Eve fell because of disobedience to a law, and they were “shut out” from the presence of God (Moses 5:4). We read in Moses 5 how disobedience leads men even further away from God—as in the case of Cain, Lamech, and others. After Adam and Eve left the Garden of Eden, they were taught to understand and live doctrines and make and keep covenants. They also learned which saving ordinances were required for them to return and live in the presence of God. Many of these teachings are found in Moses 6. The prophet Enoch taught his people these truths in an attempt to inspire them to repent of their sins and wickedness so they could be redeemed and brought back into the presence of God.
As children of God, we are entitled to inherit all that He has. When we sin, however, we become unclean, and no unclean thing can inherit the kingdom of God. The Lord taught Adam how to become clean and thus qualify to inherit eternal life. Enoch taught these same principles to his people.
OT Minute: Genesis
The first part of Moses 6 and Genesis 5 describes the final events in the life of Adam as a patriarch to the righteous branch of his posterity (compare Abraham 1:26). The focus of the account is on the birth of the righteous Seth and the beginning of the patriarchal line that will culminate, in the seventh generation from Adam, with the call of Enoch.
Joseph Smith’s “Book of Enoch” provides “eighteen times as many column inches about Enoch . . . than we have in the few verses on him in the Bible. Those scriptures not only contain greater quantity [than the Bible] but also . . . contain . . . [abundant] new material about Enoch on which the Bible is silent.”
Moses 6:5–23 describes the ideal family order established by Adam and Eve.
A celestial marriage order can also be inferred from 8:13, in which Noah and his righteous sons are formally given the title of “sons of God,” just as Adam was given the same title after having had “all things . . . confirmed . . . by a holy ordinance,” including the fullness of the Melchizedek priesthood after the “order of the Son of God.” The patriarchal order of the priesthood, “which was in the beginning” and “shall be in the end of the world also.
Speaking of the difference between Adam’s line of descendants and that of all other creatures that may have preceded him biologically, Nibley wrote: “Adam becomes Adam, a hominid becomes a man, when he starts keeping a record. What kind of record? A record of his ancestors—the family line that sets him off from all other creatures. . . . That gap between the record keeper and all the other creatures we know anything about is so unimaginably enormous and yet so neat and abrupt that we can only be dealing with another sort of being, a quantum leap from one world to another. Here is something not derivative from anything that has gone before on the local scene, even though they all share the same atoms.”
6:7. “this same Priesthood.” In the beginning, God established a patriarchal order on earth like the order that exists in heaven. Robert L. Millet and Joseph Fielding McConkie explained: “It was a perfect theocratic, patriarchal system with father Adam at the head. This system prevailed among the righteous from Adam to the time of Abraham and beyond.” In the last dispensation God has restored the higher priesthood and associated ordinances of the Abrahamic covenant that had been generally withheld from Israel (see Doctrine and Covenants 84:23–25). According to Lynn A. McKinlay, “today dedicated husbands and wives enter this order in the temple in a covenant with God. The blessings of this priesthood [are] given only to husbands and wives together.” Hyrum L. Andrus wrote that this restored order is “the Melchizedek Priesthood organized according to an eternal family order, rather than according to offices, quorums, and councils that comprised the Church as an instrument to build up the divine patriarchal order.”
President Thomas S. Monson taught: “Some of you may be shy by nature or consider yourselves inadequate to respond affirmatively to a calling. Remember that this work is not yours and mine alone. It is the Lord’s work, and when we are on the Lord’s errand, we are entitled to the Lord’s help. Remember that whom the Lord calls, the Lord qualifies” (“Duty Calls,”Ensign,May 1996, 44).
The doctrine of Christ is central to God’s plan of salvation.
6:62
Although Latter-day Saints today typically use the term “plan of salvation” to refer to the cosmic journey of God’s children from and back into His presence, here and in other Restoration scripture (for example, Alma 24:14; 42:5) it refers to the process of sanctification through the atonement of Jesus Chris
6:66–68 The voice of the Lord ratifies Adam’s baptism by water and spirit and affirms that he is a priest after the order of the Son of God (compare Hebrews 7:3; Alma 13:7, 9; Doctrine and Covenants 78:16; 84:6–17). Not only the gospel but also the priesthood is thus projected by the text as reaching back into the earliest days of humanity
Moses 6:6 - A book of remembrance was kept to write by the spirit of inspiration. A Genealogy was kept. (Connection etween genealogy and priestood: family sealings/temple work?)
Moses 6:22-23: ...the genealogy of the sons of Adam, who was the son of God, with whom God himself, conversed. And they were preachers of righteoeusness and spake and prophesied and called upon all men/ everywhere, to repent. And faith was taught untoil the children of men.
“Our Heavenly Father’s goal in parenting is not to have His childrendowhat is right; it is to have His childrenchooseto do what is right and ultimately become like Him. If He simply wanted us to be obedient, He would use immediate rewards and punishments to influence our behaviors.
“But God is not interested in His children just becoming trained and obedient ‘pets’ who will not chew on His slippers in the celestial living room. No, God wants His children to grow up spiritually and join Him in the family business” (“Choose You This Day,”EnsignorLiahona,Nov. 2018, 104).
Why does Heavenly Father allow us to experience “opposition in all things”?
President Dallin H. Oaks’s message “Opposition in All Things” (Ensign or Liahona, May 2016, 114–17)
How do Heavenly Father and Jesus Christ help us when we face temptation?
“The devil has no power over us only as we permit him. The moment we revolt at anything which comes from God, the devil takes power” (Joseph Smith, Teachings of the Prophet Joseph Smith, sel. Joseph Fielding Smith [1938], 181).
Moses 4—The Fall
We cannot completely understand the importance of the Fall in Heavenly Father’s plan unless we understand that because of the Fall, Adam and Eve would die both physically and spiritually (see Moses 3:17). Spiritual death means to be shut out of the presence of God (see Moses 5:4). Physical death is the separation of the spirit and the body. Although Adam and Eve did not immediately die physically when they ate the fruit, a change occurred in them that would cause them to eventually die. Eventually, they would die physically just as God said. Adam and Eve did not have the power to overcome physical or spiritual death. Knowing these truths helps us understand why they, and we as their children, need a Savior and the Atonement. Adam and Eve were taught about the Atonement after the Fall. We read some of those teachings in Moses 5.
Jesus Christ’s Atonement offers hope and redemption from the Fall.
Genesis 3- Institute
Elder Joseph Fielding Smith concerning Adam and Eve and the Fall of man.
“When Adam and Eve were placed in Eden they were not subject to the power of death and could have lived, in the state of innocence in which they were, forever had they not violated the law given them in the Garden.
“The earth also was pronounced good, and would have remained in that same state forever had it not been changed to meet Adam’s fallen condition.
“All things on the face of the earth also would have remained in that same condition, had not Adam transgressed the law.
“By partaking of the forbidden fruit, and thus violating the law under which he was placed, his nature was changed, and he became subject to (1) spiritual death, which is banishment from the presence of God; (2) temporal death, which is separation of spirit and body. This death also came to Eve his wife.
“Had Adam and Eve not transgressed the law given in Eden, they would have had no children.
“Because of this transgression bringing mortality, the children of Adam and Eve inherited mortal bodies and became subject to the mortal death.
“Because Adam transgressed the law, the Lord changed the earth to suit the mortal condition and all things on the face of the earth became subject to mortality, as did the earth also.
“To defeat the power which death had gained it became necessary that an infinite atonement be offered to pay the debt and thereby restore Adam and Eve and all of their posterity, and all things, to immortal life through the resurrection.” (Man, His Origin and Destiny,pp. 50–51.)
Genesis 3:3. Adam and Eve Were Not Mortal in the Garden and Did Not Fully Comprehend Good and Evil
“Adam’s status before the fall was:
1.He was not subject to death.
2.He was in the presence of God. …
3.He had no posterity.
4.He was without knowledge of good and evil.
He had knowledge, of course. He could speak. He could converse. There were many things he could be taught and was taught; but under the conditions in which he was living at that time it was impossible for him to visualize or understand the power of good and evil. He did not know what pain was. He did not know what sorrow was; and a thousand other things that have come to us in this life that Adam did not know in the Garden of Eden and could not understand and would not have known had he remained there. That was his status before the fall.” (Smith, Doctrines of Salvation, 1:107–8.)
“The devil in tempting Eve told a truth when he said unto her that when she should eat of the tree of knowledge of good and evil they should become as Gods. He told the truth in telling that, but he accompanied it with a lie as he always does. He never tells the complete truth. He said that they should not die. The Father had said that they should die. The devil had to tell a lie in order to accomplish his purposes; but there was some truth in his statement. Their eyes were opened. They had a knowledge of good and evil just as the Gods have. They became as Gods; for that is one of the features, one of the peculiar attributes of those who attain unto that glory—they understand the difference between good and evil.” (Cannon,Gospel Truth,1:16.)
(3-6)Genesis 3:6. Why Did Adam and Eve Partake of the Fruit?
The accounts in both Moses and Genesis state only that Satan approached Eve, but latter-day revelation records that he first approached Adam and was refused. Eve, however, was deceived by Satan and partook. Knowing that she would be driven out and separated from him, Adam then partook. Paul the Apostle wrote of the Fall, “And Adam was not deceived, but the woman being deceived was in the transgression” (1 Timothy 2:14).
Elder James E. Talmage explained how, even in her being deceived, Eve still brought about the purposes of the Lord:
“Eve was fulfilling the foreseen purposes of God by the part she took in the great drama of the fall; yet she did not partake of the forbidden fruit with that object in view, but with intent to act contrary to the divine command, being deceived by the sophistries of Satan, who also, for that matter, furthered the purposes of the Creator by tempting Eve; yet his design was to thwart the Lord’s plan. We are definitely told that ‘he knew not the mind of God, wherefore he sought to destroy the world’ [Moses 4:6]. Yet his diabolical effort, far from being the initiatory step toward destruction, contributed to the plan of man’s eternal progression. Adam’s part in the great event was essentially different from that of his wife; he was not deceived; on the contrary he deliberately decided to do as Eve desired, that he might carry out thepurposes of his Maker with respect to the race of men, whose first patriarch he was ordained to be.” (Articles of Faith,pp. 69–70.)
Brigham Young said that “we should never blame Mother Eve,” because through her transgression, and Adam’s joining her in it, mankind was enabled to come to know good from evil (Discourses of Brigham Young,p. 103; see also Reading 3-12 for a discussion of the greatness of Eve).
“And out of the ground made the Lord God to grow every tree” (Genesis 2:9).
Genesis 3:6–7. The Transgression of Adam and Eve Did Not Involve an Offense against the Laws of Chastity and Virtue
Speaking of the transgression of Adam and Eve, Elder James E. Talmage said:
“I take this occasion to raise my voice against the false interpretation of scripture, which has been adopted by certain people, and is current in their minds, and is referred to in a hushed and half-secret way, that the fall of man consisted in some offense against the laws of chastity and of virtue. Such a doctrine is an abomination. … The human race is not born of fornication. These bodies that are given unto us are given in the way that God has provided. …
“Our first parents were pure and noble, and when we pass behind the veil we shall perhaps learn something of their high estate.” (Jesus the Christ,p. 30.)
Genesis 3:15. What Is the Meaning of the Curse Put on Satan?
Since Satan has no body and therefore can have no literal children, his seed are those who follow him, both the one-third he led away in the premortal existence and those who follow his enticements in mortality until they come under his power. The seed of the woman refers to Jesus Christ, who was the only mortal born of an earthly mother and a Heavenly Father.
President Joseph Fielding Smith referred to what the Apostle Paul wrote:
“Near the close of his epistle to the Roman saints, he said: ‘And the God of peace shall bruise Satan under your feet shortly. The grace of our Lord Jesus Christ be with you. Amen.’ [Romans 16:20.]
“The ‘God of peace,’ who according to the scriptures is to bruise Satan, is Jesus Christ.” (Answers to Gospel Questions,1:3.)
The promise concerning the bruising of the heel and head means that while Satan (as the serpent) will bruise the heel of the Savior by leading men to crucify Him and seemingly destroy Him, in actuality that very act of Atonement will give Christ the power to overcome the power that Satan has over men and undo the effects of the Fall. Thus, the seed of the woman (Christ) shall crush the head of the serpent (Satan and his kingdom) with the very heel that was bruised (the atoning sacrifice).
Genesis 3:16. What Is the Significance of the Pronouncement upon Eve?
“The Lord said to the woman: ‘… in sorrow thou shalt bring forth children.’ I wonder if those who translated the Bible might have used the termdistressinstead of sorrow. It would mean much the same, except I think there is great gladness in most Latter-day Saint homes when there is to be a child there. As He concludes this statement he says, ‘and thy desire shall be to thy husband, and he shall rule over thee.’ (Gen. 3:16.) I have a question about the wordrule.It gives the wrong impression. I would prefer to use the wordpresidebecause that’s what he does. A righteous husband presides over his wife and family.” (Spencer W. Kimball,“The Blessings and Responsibilities of Womanhood,”Ensign,Mar. 1976, p. 72.)
Adam and Eve made all things known unto their sons and daughters.
Genesis 3:16–19. Were Adam and Eve “Punished” for Their Transgression?
“We can picture the plight of Adam and Eve. They had been condemned to sorrows, woes, troubles, and labor and they were cast out from the presence of God, and death had been declared to be their fate. A pathetic picture, indeed. But now a most important thing happened. Adam and Eve had explained to them the gospel of Jesus Christ. What would be theirreaction? When the Lord explained this to them, that a redemption should come through Jesus Christ, the Only Begotten of the Father, Adam exclaimed: ‘Blessed be the name of God, for because of my transgression my eyes are opened, and in this life I shall have joy, and again in the flesh shall I see God.’ (Moses 5:10.)
“And what was the response of Eve, his wife? She ‘heard all of these things, and was glad, saying: Were it not for our transgression we never should have had seed, and never should have known good and evil, and the joy of our redemption, and … eternal life.’ (Ibid.,5:11.)
“There is the key to the question of evil. If we cannot be good, except as we resist and overcome evil, then evil must be present to be resisted.
“So this earth life is set up according to true principles, and these conditions that followed the transgression were not, in the usual sense, penalties that were inflicted upon us. All these that I have named to you that seem to be sad inflictions of punishment, sorrow, and trouble are in the end not that. They are blessings. We have attained a knowledge of good and evil, the power to prize the sweet, to become agents unto ourselves, the power to obtain redemption and eternal life. These things had their origin in this transgression. The Lord has set the earth up so we have to labor if we are going to live, which preserves us from the curse of idleness and indolence; and though the Lord condemns us to death—mortal death—it is one of the greatest blessings that comes to us here because it is the doorway to immortality, and we can never attain immortality without dying.” (George Q. Morris, in Conference Report, Apr. 1958, p. 39.)
Genesis 3:19. The Fall of Adam Introduced Two Kinds of Death into the World
“Because of Adam’s transgression, a spiritual death—banishment from the presence of the Lord—as well as the temporal death, were pronounced upon him. The spiritual death came at the time of the fall and banishment; and the seeds of the temporal death were also sown at that same time; that is, a physical change came over Adam and Eve, who became mortal, and were thus subject to the ills of the flesh which resulted in their gradual decline to old age and finally the separation of the spirit from the body.” (Smith,Doctrines of Salvation,1:111; for further information on the principle that spiritual death also resulted from the Fall, seeD&C 29:40–41;Alma 42:7.)
Many people of the world teach that physical death has always been here and therefore could not have begun with Adam and Eve. President Joseph Fielding Smith commented regarding this idea:
“Modern education declares that there never was such a thing as the fall of man, but that conditions have always gone on in the same way as now in this mortal world. Here, say they, death and mutation have always held sway as natural conditions on this earth and everywhere throughout the universe the same laws obtain. It is declared that man has made his ascent to the exalted place he now occupies through countless ages of development which has gradually distinguished him from lower forms of life.
“Such a doctrine of necessity discards the story of Adam and the Garden of Eden, which it looks upon as a myth coming down to us from an early age of foolish ignorance and superstition. Moreover, it is taught that since death was always here, and a natural condition prevailing throughout all space, there could not possibly come a redemption from Adam’s transgression, hence there was no need for a Savior for a fallen world.” (Doctrines of Salvation,1:315.)
“Scant knowledge is available to us ofEve(the wife of Adam) and her achievements in pre-existence and in mortality. Without question she was like unto her mighty husband, Adam, in intelligence and in devotion to righteousness, during both her first and second estates of existence. She was placed on earth in the same manner as was Adam, the Mosaic account of the Lord creating her from Adam’s rib being merely figurative. (Moses 3:20–25.)
“Eve was the first woman; she became the mother of the whole human race, her very name signifying ‘mother of all living.’ (Moses 4:26;1 Ne. 5:11.) …
“Before the fall Eve was sealed to Adam in the new and everlasting covenant of marriage, a ceremony performed by the Lord before death entered the world and therefore one destined to last forever. (Moses 3:20–25.) …
“… Indeed, Eve is a joint-participant with Adam in all his ministry, and will inherit jointly with him all the blessings appertaining to his high state of exaltation.” (McConkie,Mormon Doctrine,p. 242.)
For an explanation of why the Lord barred Adam and Eve from the tree of life, readAlma 12:21–27;42:2–12.
2)Genesis 4:1. What Does the Account in the Book of Moses Restore to the Genesis Account?
BetweenGenesis 3:24andGenesis 4:1, fifteen additional verses are added which contain the following important points of information.
1.After they were driven from the Garden of Eden, Adam and Eve labored together to make a living for themselves and their children by tilling the soil and raising flocks (seeMoses 5:1).
2.Adam and Eve began to have sons and daughters in fulfillment of the command to multiply and replenish the earth. Their children began to marry each other and start their own families (seeMoses 5:2–3). This addition in Moses clears up a problem raised by the Genesis account. InGenesis 4:1–2, it appears that Cain and Abel are the first of Adam’s children, yet, a few verses later,Genesis 4:17talks about Cain’s wife. The Moses account makes it clear that many children were born before Cain and, therefore, his finding himself a wife would not have been a problem.
3.Adam and Eve called upon the name of the Lord, and though they no longer saw Him as they did in the Garden, He spoke with them and gave them commandments (seeMoses 5:4–5).
4.Adam and Eve were obedient to those commandments, which involved sacrificing the firstlings of the flocks as an offering to the Lord (seeMoses 5:5).
5.After “many days” of such obedience, an angel appeared and asked Adam why he offered sacrifice (Moses 5:6). When Adam responded that he did not know but was being obedient anyway (a great insight into the faith of Adam), the angel then taught him that these sacrifices were in similitude of the future atoning sacrifice of the Savior and that they were to repent and call upon God in the name of the Son forevermore (seeMoses 5:6–8).
6.After being taught the plan of salvation and being baptized, Adam and Eve had the Holy Ghost come upon them and they began to prophesy. Both understood the purpose for the Fall and rejoiced in the Lord’s plan (Moses 5:9–11).
7.Adam and Eve taught these things to their children, but Satan also began to influence their children and sought to persuade them to reject the gospel. From that time forth, the gospel was preached, and those who accepted it were saved whereas those who did not were damned (seeMoses 5:12–15).
Genesis 4:3. What Do We Know about Abel in Addition to What We Learn in This Scripture?
The Prophet Joseph Smith gave the following insight about Abel:
“We read inGenesis 4:4, that Abel brought the firstlings of the flock and the fat thereof, and the Lord had respect to Abel and to his offering. And again, ‘By faith Abel offered unto God a more excellent sacrifice than Cain, by which he obtained witness that he was righteous, God testifying of his gifts; and by it he being dead, yet speaketh.’ (Hebrews 11:4.) How doth he yet speak? Why he magnified the Priesthood which was conferred upon him, and died a righteous man, and therefore has become an angel of God by receiving his body from the dead, holding still the keys of his dispensation; and was sent down from heaven unto Paul to minister consoling words, and to commit unto him a knowledge of the mysteries of godliness.
“And if this was not the case, I would ask, how did Paul know so much about Abel, and why should he talk about his speaking after he was dead? Hence, that he spoke after he was dead must be by being sent down out of heaven to administer.” (Teachings,pp. 168–69.)
Joseph F. Smith’s vision of the redemption of the dead (D&C 138) indicates that Abel was among the righteous Saints who were in the spirit world awaiting the coming of the Savior, who visited there while His body was in the tomb (seev. 40).
Genesis 4:4–8. But unto Cain and His Offering He Had Not Respect
The Prophet Joseph Smith explained why Cain’s offering was not acceptable:
“By faith in this atonement or plan of redemption, Abel offered to God a sacrifice that was accepted, which was the firstlings of the flock. Cain offered of the fruit of the ground, and was not accepted, because he could not do it in faith, he could have no faith, or could not exercise faith contrary to the plan of heaven. It must be shedding the blood of the Only Begotten to atone for man; for this was the plan of redemption; and without the shedding of blood was no remission; and as the sacrifice was instituted for a type, by which man was to discern the great Sacrifice which God had prepared; to offer a sacrifice contrary to that, no faith could be exercised, because redemption was not purchased in that way, nor the power of atonement instituted after that order; consequently Cain could have no faith; and whatsoever is not of faith, is sin. But Abel offered an acceptable sacrifice, by which he obtained witness that he was righteous, God Himself testifying of his gifts. Certainly, the shedding of the blood of a beast could be beneficial to no man, except it was done in imitation, or as a type, or explanation of what was to be offered through the gift of God Himself; and this performance done with an eye looking forward in faith on the power of that great Sacrifice for a remission of sins.” (Teachings,p. 58.)
Even after the unacceptable offering, the Lord did not reject Cain, but gave him specific warning about the dangerous path he was walking. It was after that counsel was rejected that Cain’s rebellion became total. Moses records that “Cain was wroth, and listened not any more to the voice of the Lord” (Moses 5:26).
Genesis 4:7is not clear, but the Moses account explains that the Lord warned Cain that if he did not repent, he would rule over Satan. Also, the fuller account in Moses records that Cain did not immediately go into the field and kill Abel. After rejecting the Lord, Cain began to communicate directly with Satan, who suggested the means whereby he could kill Abel (seeMoses 5:28–31). Step by step Satan engineered Cain’s downfall until he reached the point where “he gloried in his wickedness” (Moses 5:31). It was at this point that he killed his brother.
Sometimes this scripture is cited as evidence that each individual has a responsibility to love and care for his fellow men. Without question that responsibility is taught in the scriptures, but is that what Cain’s question really implies? The Hebrew word which is translated as “keeper” isshomerand means “a guard or custodian.” Thus, with typical Satanic deceitfulness, Cain’s question twisted a true principle. No man has the right to be a keeper of his brethren in the sense of becoming their guard or custodian (except as assigned by civil law to guard criminals or in the case of parents and young children). And yet, for Cain to imply that he should have no concern for his fellowman, especially his literal brother, is to deny all gospel principles of love and concern for others.
Like Adam and Eve, we are cut off from the presence of God, so the same question applies to us.
Genesis tells the story of Adam and Eve being cast out of Eden and the presence of the Lord as if they had no hope of living in the Lord’s presence again.
Fortunately, the book of Moses contains inspired additions to Genesis that tell how Adam was taught about the plan that was prepared before the creation of the world so he and his posterity could be redeemed, or freed, from the sin and death the Fall brought into the world.
In addition to truths about redemption and the Atonement, Moses 5 contains an account of how Satan and his followers from the premortal life attempted to influence the family of Adam to reject the message of redemption through Christ. As you read, notice what happened to those who refused to listen to the counsel of the Lord and instead followed the counsel of Satan.
