(Wikimedia Commons public domain image)
I’m behind in announcing this because . . . well, because I was back in the nineteenth century much of today, a time when the social media were much less developed. But there’s a new article up in Interpreter: A Journal of Latter-day Saint Faith and Scholarship. It was written by Dr. Richley Crapo, formerly a member of the Department of Sociology, Social Work, and Anthropology at Utah State University with a dual appointment in USU’s Department of Psychology (1981–1994). From 2007 until his retirement in 2009, he was a faculty member of USU’s Religious Studies Program. Here it is:
Lehi, Joseph, and the Kingdom of Israel
Abstract: I present evidence of two priesthoods in the Jewish Bible: an Aaronite priesthood, held by Aaron and passed down through his descendants; and a higher Mushite priesthood, held not only by Moses and his descendants but also by other worthy individuals, such as Joshua, an Ephraimite. The Mushite priests were centered in Shiloh, where Joshua settled the Ark of the Covenant, while the Aaronites became dominant in the Jerusalem temple. Like Joshua, the prophet Lehi, a descendant of the northern tribe of Manasseh, held the higher priesthood. His ministry, as recounted in the Book of Mormon, demonstrates four characteristics that show a clear connection to his ancestors’ origins in the northern Kingdom of Israel: (1) revelation through prophetic dreams, (2) the ministry of angels, (3) imagery of the Tree of Life, and (4) a positive attitude toward the Nehushtan tradition. These traits are precisely those which scholarship, based on the Documentary Hypothesis, attributes to texts in the Hebrew Bible that originated in the northern Kingdom of Israel rather than in Judah.
***
Here’s important news, which includes an 18.5-minute-long video:
***
***
And now, as part of our continuing Christopher Hitchens Memorial “How Religion Poisons Everything” Series, we offer the following:
“Latter-day Saints Around the World: Country Newsroom Websites, September 27, 2019”
***
I love to hear news of about new temple construction:
Fortunately, President Nelson has already indicated that new temples will be announced at the upcoming General Conference of the Church. I’m looking forward to them. (I expect that they will be small.)
Ad-Free & Subscriber Log-In