Temple Themes

I often wonder what was going through the mind of Abraham and Sarah with the commandment to sacrifice Isaac. We get a clue in the text. “And Abraham said unto his young men, Abide ye here with the ass; and I and the lad will go yonder and worship, and come again to you” (Genesis […]

Abraham received the promises of the New and Everlasting Covenant. The Lord said, “Sarah thy wife shall bear thee a son indeed; and thou shalt call his name Isaac: and I will establish my covenant with him for an everlasting covenant, and with his seed after him. . . . my covenant will I establish

In Genesis 18:1-2, it states that “the Lord appeared unto (Abraham) in the plains of Mamre: and he sat in the tent door in the heat of the day; And he lift up his eyes and looked, and, lo, three men stood by him: and when he saw them, he ran to meet them from

Abraham knows his covenant with the Lord will be fulfilled through his offspring, but he has no children. The Lord reassured him saying, “Look now toward heaven, and tell the stars, if thou be able to number them: and he said unto him, So shall thy seed be. And he believed in the Lord; and

Abraham learns that his nephew, Lot, has been captured in battle and the goods of Sodom and Gomorrah were taken. He and his servants rescue Lot and bring back the goods of the city.  The king of Sodom urges Abraham to take the spoils of the battle, to which he replies,   “I have lift

It seems that after Abraham enters into a covenant with the Lord he is blessed both temporally and spiritually. Abraham and Sarah travel to Egypt due to a famine in the land. Abraham fears for his life, as he believes the Egyptians would kill him to take Sarah. He tells her, “Say, I pray thee,

The word father (or fathers) appears 17 times in Abraham 1. This would certainly qualify as a Leitwort or theme word in these early chapters in the Book of Abraham. Abraham’s name means “father of a multitude,” so we shouldn’t be surprised at the recurrence of this word. Abraham 1:2 states:   “And, finding there

Like many of the crossroads of life, there’s a right way and a wrong way. The Tower of Babel story provides a stark contrast to a Book of Mormon event. The Babel (or Babylon) story centers around an attempt to bypass the covenant path. It’s an attempt at re-creation without the aid of the Creator.

We have this odd story in Genesis 9:20-24 about Noah planting a vineyard, getting drunk, and being “naked” inside his tent. But did it really happen that way? Joseph Smith taught that Noah stands next in authority to Adam in the priesthood. He is identified by latter-day revelation as Gabriel. As Gabriel he appeared to

The Ark gets finished and the eight souls get aboard—Noah, his three sons, and their wives. This number eight is associated with baptism in 1 Peter 3:20 since “eight souls were saved by water.” The number eight symbolizes renewal or a new beginning. There are many examples of this—eight years for Lehi and his family