Abram and the Joseph Smith Translation

Yesterday I finished getting the full Joseph Smith Translation added into Scripture Notes so today I went straight to Genesis 14 to study Melchizedek. However, before I even got to those verses I discovered something I’d never seen about Abraham before. Watch it here:

 

YouTube Transcript:

I just wanted to kick this video out because I just added the Joseph Smith translation of the Bible into scripture notes and I’m super excited about that and you know the first thing I wanted to do was open up Genesis 14 because that is one of the greatest chapters where we have an expansion of knowledge specifically about Melchizedek but I haven’t even gotten to that part of the chapter. I was just looking at Abraham or Abram and what was said about him and it just triggered this discovery. So if you go into Scripture Notes you can just open up now, you may have to add it to your library, if you go to your library and hit manage you can add down here the Old Testament JST, New Testament JST and hit save and then once that’s in your library it’ll appear right here below the scriptures. So open up both the Old Testament Genesis 14 and Old Testament JST Genesis 14 so you can compare them. You can see I’ve got them side by side here’s Old Testament JST and I just started going down through these verses from verse one and as I was going down through them. Sorry this is Genesis 17 here I had to open that one up to get a reference. I’ll slide it over here. Okay so here’s Genesis 14 and Joseph Smith translation Genesis 14. As I was coming down here kind of contrasting some of the language what was added that’s significant, we can see that when Abram came to Melchizedek in the Old Testament it says Melchizedek brought forth Bread and Wine and he was the priest of the most high God so it sounds like it could be a sacramental kind of encounter. Maybe he’s just feeding him but in the Joseph Smith translation we see here Melchizedek brought forth Bread and Wine and he break he break the bread and blessed it and he blessed the wine so this is clearly a Sacrament experience that they are sharing together. Then here in verse 18 he gave to Abram and he blessed him and said, well here first in the Old Testament, blessed be Abram of the most high God possessor of Heaven and Earth. It’s interesting and there’s some fascinating stuff there but it’s like not as clear as in the Joseph Smith translation where he says blessed Abram thou art a man of the most high God possessor of heaven and of Earth and it hit me he’s not saying that God is possessor of Heaven and Earth he’s saying that Abram is possessor of Heaven and Earth. He’s a man of God and possessor of Heaven and Earth that just hit me because it reminded me and I had to do a search over here for possessor and things which then when I hit this verse in the Doctrine and Covenants section 50 verse 27, I opened it up here he that is ordained of God and sent forth the same is appointed to be the greatest, notwithstanding he is the least and the servant of all, wherefore he is possessor of all things for all things are subject unto him both in heaven and on the Earth. This is Abram. This is like a description of what this looks like in somebody’s life Abram is blessed by Melchizedek and ordained by a mortal, preparatory to receiving something even greater from the Lord so right here he’s promised these things, he’s going to be possessor of all things, all things will be subject to him in heaven and on Earth, the life and the light, the spirit and the power sent forth by the Father through Jesus Christ his son. No man is possessor of all things except he be purified and cleansed from all sin and if you are purified and cleansed from all sin ye shall ask whatsoever you will in the name of Jesus and it shall be done so this is Abram. This is a description of somebody that has achieved this status now when we come back here the interesting thing is this is Genesis 14. and it’s over here in Genesis 17 when the Lord appears to Abram and he says walk before me and be thou perfect I will make my Covenant between me and thee and multiply thee exceedingly and Abram fell on his face and God talked with him saying as for me my Covenant is with thee and thou shalt be a father of many nations neither shall thy name any more be called Abram but thy name shall be called Abraham for a father of many nations have I made thee. So what Melchizedek did was Preparatory to what Abram received directly from the Lord later it’s very similar to the endowment where we are promised things in a mortal setting but then the promise is we can experience those things in this life directly by the Lord and that’s what we’ve been instructed to seek for. That’s what the scriptures teach us to seek for is to seek the face of God and enter into that Covenant with him so I just thought that was fascinating and I would share that I’m really excited to continue on down here in the Joseph Smith translation of Genesis 14 because down here a little further as you probably know there is a great expansion on Melchizedek right here. Melchizedek was a man of faith. We get very little in the Old Testament about Melchizedek you know down here we we really only get a fragment a mention of Melchizedek but there’s many verses here in the JST on Melchizedek and the powers that he attained which blessed his life and his people and he defended them through the power of the priesthood and his people actually obtained the city of Enoch. So it’s it’s an amazing addition to the scriptures and if you’ve never read that you should definitely go read JST Genesis 14 because it’s powerful. So I just wanted to share that with you and leave that in the name of Jesus Christ, Amen.