Moses 1; Abraham 3

NEXT WEEK
Genesis 1-4; Moses 2-5; Abraham 4-5

“All of the other standard works, the New Testament included, are built upon the spiritual history and tradition recorded in the Old Testament. This fact alone merits its study.”
James Ferrell, “The Hidden Christ”

Four Keys to Understanding the Old Testament 
by Dr. Kerry Muhlestein
Follow Him Podcast

1. Recognize that the Old Testament is willing to record warts and all more than any other book of scripture. It is cultural that they are just going to lay it all out there.

2. Culturally they are much more symbol oriented than we are, so they are going to rely on symbols as their primary and most important way of communicating.

3. We need to look for the whole story. The Old Testament teaches more about God’s love and mercy than any other book of scripture.

4. Recognize the importance of the Abrahamic covenant. The covenant is the core central thematic element of the entire book.

Objectives for Our Class Study

1. The Book of Mormon 
2. Women
3. Christ

“The Bible, a product of a patriarchal society, is shaped by the concerns of the men of Israel who were involved in public life. As such, it is a public book, concerned with matters of government, law, ritual, and social behavior. But why, then, does this clearly androcentric text from a patriarchal society have so many stories that revolve around women? And why are there so many memorable women in the Bible? The sheer number of their stories demands an explanation: What are they doing here? Why were they written? Why were they included in this compact text?”

Frymer-Kensky, Tikva. Reading the Women of the Bible

“If everything given of God from the beginning bears record of Christ, then it follows that our understanding on any particular matter is incomplete until we see how it bears record of Christ. So of every scriptural element and story, we should ask, “How does this typify or bear record of the Savior?” When we ask this divine question of every element and story in the Old Testament, the scriptures come alive with redemptive meaning.”

Ferrell, James L.. The Hidden Christ: Beneath the Surface of the Old Testament

“Considerable controversy surrounds the Book of Abraham. Joseph Smith’s interpretations of the three facsimiles have come under scrutiny by Egyptologists, and in 1967 some fragments of the papyri once possessed by Joseph Smith were recovered and published. These papyri fragments were translated and found not to contain the Book of Abraham but Egyptian funerary texts known as the Book of Breathings and the Book of the Dead. The relationship between these papyri fragments and the Book of Abraham is a matter of ongoing study and debate.
Since at least the 1960s, Latter-day Saint scholars have explored the text of the Book of Abraham to see what clues might exist that situate it in a plausible ancient setting. They have also argued for the legitimacy of Joseph Smith’s interpretation of the facsimiles as Egyptological knowledge has progressed. These efforts, in conjunction with ongoing progress in the fields of Egyptology and Near Eastern archaeology, have uncovered numerous points of convergence between the text and the ancient world. Evidence for Joseph Smith’s interpretation of the facsimiles has also come to light. These various lines of evidence do not “prove” the Book of Abraham is true, but they do help us situate the text in a plausible ancient environment, inform how we read the text, and positively impact our evaluation of Joseph Smith’s claims to prophetic inspiration.”
Pearl of Great Price Central, https://www.pearlofgreatpricecentral.org/book-of-abraham/

Abraham 

by Dr. Kerry Muhlestein                                                                                                              Follow Him Podcast

1. There is always an order to spheres in the heavens. There is always something above and something below until you get to Kolob which is the highest.

2. Order is determined by how long a day is.

3. The slower the rotation or the longer the orbit, the higher the order.

4. Kolob is the highest because it has the slowest rotation (1 day = 1000 earth years) and is closest to God.