Background: Adam & Eve were cast out of the Garden. For decades, they live raising children and making sacrifice to God under their limited understanding. They would not know the fullness of the gospel until an angel explains the atonement. Adam and other believers are baptized as part of the new and higher covenant.
With a greater knowledge of the gospel and its ordinances, Eve bears Cain and Abel with the hope that she can raise them up in the gospel's fullness.
The Fall of Cain - A Study in Rebellion
Cain was the first of Adam's children to be born after the full gospel was on the earth. It seems that for a time, he must have been a faithful follower of God, given that God speaks with him on several occasions and Cain seems comfortable enough to question God. However, Cain became more interested in worldly things. He began to question God's methodology.
Perhaps his younger brother, Abel, was smarter, better looking, and played center on the high school basketball team; while Cain struggled to get "C's", had acne, and sat on the bench. Clearly, sibling rivalry and jealousy played into Cain's fall.
Since Abel excelled in spiritual things, Cain searched for an alternative wherein he could excel. This opened the door for Satan to entice Cain with a new and different philosophy. This new belief system was radical, with Satan slowly guiding Cain away from God and towards worshiping him.
That Satan encouraged Cain to offer sacrifice, suggests the Adversary was carefully guiding him to disappointment. Cain offered the first fruits of the field. While not the normal animal sacrifice expected, it was not the main reason the offering was rejected by God.
God rejected Cain's offering because it was made without the key ingredient: faith and repentance.
In explaining to Adam the purpose of sacrifice, the angel explained it "is a similitude of the sacrifice of the Only Begotten of the Father....do all thou doest in the name of the Son, and thou shalt repent..." (Moses 4:6-8).
Satan knew that Cain neither had faith in Christ, nor desired to repent.
Somehow it was communicated that Abel's sacrifice was accepted, while Cain's was not. Once again, Abel, the golden boy, triumphed. Cain became angry, and when God attempted one last time to reach out to him, Cain refused. God told him, he could be equal with his brother, Abel. But Cain wanted to best his brother, not just be even.
This was a competition between brothers. Such a competition predated earth life, when Lucifer sought to best Jehovah in a struggle for ultimate power. Lucifer did not want to be equal, but to reign supreme: "...surely I will do it; wherefore give me thine honor" (Moses 4:1-4, Isaiah 14:12-15).
The story of Cain and Abel is an earthly version of Lucifer and Jehovah. When Cain does something, we see Lucifer doing the same. Both Cain and Lucifer's offered sacrifices were rejected, because they were not done with faith nor real intent, but with a personal and not-so-hidden agenda.
Both "rejected the greater counsel which was had by God" (Moses 5:25), and in a final act of rebellion, both Cain and Satan slew their brother. Each made a human sacrifice of the righteous sons (of Adam and God).
Satan endows Cain in his own apostate endowment. While God's temple involves covenants of love, faith, brotherhood and service to others; Satan makes Cain and his followers make secret oaths, under penalty of death, to promote his apostate combinations (Moses 5:28-30).
In the temple, we are sealed up to be like God in eternal families (D&C 132:19-20).
Lucifer's apostate endowment also offered a special promise. Cain rejoiced in his new title: "Mahan, the master of this great secret" (Moses 5:31).
In his new role as Master Mahan, Cain meets Abel in the field (of battle). Cain seeks to challenge Abel's God and methods with the new secrets he has learned from his new god, Satan.
The meek Abel is no physical match for Cain's trickery. Cain slays Abel. He has finally triumphed over his brother. "I am free!" His sacrifice is acceptable before his new god, Lucifer. And there is a perceived additional benefit: "surely the flocks of my brother falleth into my hands" (Moses 5:33).
Satan could say the same things, as he sought to defeat the mortal Jesus. In the early Christian book, Gospel of Nicodemus, Satan happily goes to see Death, the guardian of hell/Spirit World. He brags about defeating Jesus, by nailing him on the cross. For a moment, Satan felt free and certain that the "flocks" of Jesus in the Spirit World now belonged to him.
The desire for power and the happiness felt by Cain and Satan was short-lived, as both are shown that their evil acts were temporary victories. They had not succeeded in stopping God's plans. Both were driven out of God's presence. Neither received the flocks of his brother. They were not free, but trapped in an existence built on poor and selfish choices. They lost their own place and standing before God.
The Curse of Cain
Protestant tradition held that Cain's curse was passed down through those with black skin, and justified the trafficking of black Africans as slaves.
There is no evidence that Joseph Smith neither believed nor taught this. In fact evidence shows the opposite. Joseph ordained blacks to the priesthood, including Elijah Abel.
It is possible the issue did not arise until the move West. Near Winter Quarters, a black member began a community where he engaged in polygamous marriages with several white women. Such a 19th century scandal began a big discussion among Church members on what to do. The end result was the priesthood ban with the Protestant belief in the curse of Cain to justify it.
(see more at these websites:
Keepapitchinin, the Mormon History blog “The Long-Promised Day”
Blacks and the Priesthood | Blacklds.org )
The Watchers
Cain continues to promote the apostate version of things. He even bore a son, Enoch, and established a city named Enoch. But it was not the real thing.
The story of Lamech and his wives continues the secret combination. Lamech boasts that he slew a man who tried to warn the "sons of Adam" about the secret works.
Common in many ancient works is the concept of the "Watchers."
The Watchers are described as fallen angels who stole the secrets of heaven and used them for their own selfish purposes. In LDS views, angels are just another form that spirits and mortals can take along their path of progression. With Satan's help, Cain stole the temple knowledge and used it for evil. Cain, Lamech, and the others who took the evil oath were cast out of God's presence, even as Satan and his devils were cast out, and God "ministered not unto them" (Moses 5:52). From an LDS viewpoint, these are the Watchers.
The Watchers also had other secrets. They were the artisan masters of music, weaving, and metal work (see Moses 5:45-46). As we go along, we’ll see how they greatly impacted today’s lesson in ancient Jewish and Christian belief.
The Promised Land
Adam and his family lived in a "land of promise" (Moses 6:17).
In the early book, Conflict of Adam and Eve, Adam and his faithful children dwell on a mountain (symbolizing the temple) in the Cave of Treasures. Cain dwelt below in the lowlands. In the Second Book of Adam and Eve, we read: “But by the time Enos was eight hundred and twenty years old, Cain had a large progeny; for they married frequently, being given to animal lusts; until the land below the mountain, was filled with them” (chapter 12, vs. 16).
Adam, Seth and the righteous high priests of the day, were worried about the sons of Adam being tempted away from the mountain:
Quote:
| 1 WHEN Enos was nine hundred years old, all the children of Seth, and of Cainan, and his first-born, with their wives and children, gathered around him, asking for a blessing from him. 2 He then prayed over them and blessed them, and adjured them by the blood of Abel the just saying to them, "Let not one of your children go down from this Holy Mountain, and let them make no fellowship with the children of Cain the murderer" (Book 2, ch 14). But eventually, the children of Cain find a way to tempt and overcome many of Seth’s children: 13 When, at the end of that year, Genun (a Watcher) saw that they (people living in the lowlands) were being won over to him little by little, Satan entered into him, and taught him to make dyeing-stuffs for garments of divers patterns, and made him understand how to dye crimson and purple and what not. 14 And the sons of Cain who wrought all this, and shone in beauty and gorgeous apparel, gathered together at the foot of the mountain in splendour, with horns and gorgeous dresses, and horse races, committing all manner of abominations. 15 Meanwhile the children of Seth, who were on the Holy Mountain, prayed and praised God, in the place of the hosts of angels who had fallen; wherefore God had called them "angels," because He rejoiced over them greatly. 16 But after this, they no longer kept His commandment, nor held by the promise He had made to their fathers; but they relaxed from their fasting and praying, and from the counsel of Jared their father. And they kept on gathering together on the top of the mountain, to look upon the children of Cain, from morning until evening, and upon what they did, upon their beautiful dresses and ornaments. (Book 2, ch 20). |
Many ignored the prophetic warnings and left the mountain for what seemed to be greener pastures. Today, many ignore modern prophets and apostles, thinking that the world offers good solutions. While the world does have many wondrous dresses and ornaments, bells and whistles to offer us, they are all temporary comforts that do not bring true joy and happiness.
Adam-Ondi-Ahman
For those who stay in the promised land, they received a particularly marvelous blessing. Three years before his death, Adam called his faithful sons together, where he blessed them. Before them came the Savior, who blessed Adam. Adam had returned into the presence of God, and brought his faithful children with him (D&C 107:53-57).
Enoch the missionary prophet
In Moses 6:25-38, we find Enoch has left the land of promise. He journeyed in the land, where the people grew ever more violent and evil, due to the secret combinations abounding in the world (vs. 15).
God calls down to Enoch from heaven and issues him a mission call. At 65 years old, Enoch still saw himself as a lad. Since he was not doing wicked things, nor was he as eloquent as the Watchers, "the people hate me; for I am slow of speech."
Whom God calls, God qualifies. As with Enoch, the Lord can help us rise above our weaknesses and fears, and cause us to succeed. Even if it means He has to perform mighty miracles through us. Moses would see in this vision that he would be a new Enoch, leading the righteous of his day to a new promised land. Both would perform great miracles against seemingly overwhelming forces. Moses spent 40 years preparing Israel in the wilderness before entering the promised land. Enoch worked 300 years building his promised land.
Enoch is described as both a "seer" and a "wild man" (vs. 36, 38). Just as with Enoch, other prophets have been so viewed. The angel Moroni told Joseph Smith that his name would be held for both good and ill. Many considered him an illiterate fool and fraud for the Book of Mormon, while others, like scholar Harold Bloom, considered Joseph Smith a genius for bringing forth the Book of Mormon.
Mahijah/Mahujah
In the middle of Enoch's story, we find a strange side story that for some reason was added. While in the land of Mahujah, a man named Mahijah questions Enoch (6:40; 7:2).
In his book, Enoch the Prophet, Hugh Nibley notes reading the Book of Enoch fragments in the Dead Sea Scrolls (4QEnoch). As he read the last fragment, the name Mahujah jumped out at him as a person asking Enoch questions! In Aramaic, Mahujah and Mahijah are essentially the same word. The Dead Sea Scrolls help demonstrate the validity and truthfulness of the Book of Moses. I’ve yet to see any competent rejoinder from LDS critics on how Joseph Smith would have known to place Mahujah/Mahijah in a story line with Enoch. The claim of “coincidence” can only be used so many times.
Enoch’s Ascension
In Moses 6:35-36 and 7:2-4) Enoch has two major visions. In the first, Enoch beholds the Spirit World, perhaps having a similar vision of the Grand Council in heaven that Abraham had (Abraham 3). From the things revealed to him, he was called a “seer.”
In the second vision, Enoch is told to climb a mountain. Ascension stories often begin on mountain tops, including Nephi, Moses, the Brother of Jared, and the apostle John (1 Nephi 11:1, Moses 1:1, Ether 3:1, Revelation 21:10).
Ascension stories are also tied directly to the temple experience. In the LDS temple, we symbolically experience ascending into God’s presence, which is what each of these individuals sees.
Once upon the mountain, the vision began, and Enoch states, “I beheld the heaven open, and I was clothed upon with glory.”
In the ancient book, Secrets of Enoch, Enoch ascends through the many levels of heaven. Some of these levels include the physical cosmos, as Enoch describes passing by the planets and stars. However, the higher levels are actual heavens in which angels dwell. The higher the heaven, the greater the glory.
Enoch tells us:
Quote:
| ON the tenth Heaven, Aravoth, I saw the appearance of the Lord's face, like iron made to glow in fire, and brought out, emitting sparks, and it burns. 2 Thus I saw the Lord's face…. 4 And I fell prone and bowed down to the Lord, and the Lord with his lips said to me: 5 'Have courage, Enoch, do not fear, arise and stand before my face into eternity.' 6 And the archistratege (archangel) Michael lifted me up, and led me to before the Lord's face. 7 And the Lord said to his servants tempting them: 'Let Enoch stand before my face into eternity,' and the glorious ones bowed down to the Lord, and said: 'Let Enoch go according to Thy word.' 8 And the Lord said to Michael: 'Go and take Enoch from out his earthly garments, and anoint him with my sweet ointment, and put him into the garments of My glory.' 9 And Michael did thus, as the Lord told him. He anointed me, and dressed me, and the appearance of that ointment is more than the great light, and his ointment is like sweet dew, and its smell mild, shining like the sun's ray, and I looked at myself, and was like one of his glorious ones (Chapter 22). |
God then explains the Creation story, the story of Adam and Eve, and the Fall to Enoch. This is a key experience that ties us to our understanding of God. Lehi and Nephi saw a version of this, as they learned of the Tree of Life in vision (1 Nephi 8-15). Lehi clearly explained all of it in 2 Nephi 2. Moses had the Creation revealed to him, as have many other ancient and modern prophets. Joseph Smith designed the temple endowment around the concepts of the Creation and Fall, knowing through divine means that it is intricately tied to the ancient ascensions of Enoch, Moses and others.
Enoch is given the responsibility of being God’s scribe, a position held traditionally by Metatron, one of the archangels. In the tradition, Enoch is clothed in robes of glory and given the name Metatron. He is allowed to sit down on God’s throne– normally only allowed to God, but representing God’s sharing of His divine power with Enoch. Enoch becomes a symbol of God, and equal to God in many respects. Upon returning to earth, Enoch begins to teach the children of men the things he has written down.
Interestingly, Enoch mentions this in talking with God: “Forasmuch as thou art God, and I know thee, and… thou hast made me, and given unto me a right to thy throne, and not of myself, but through thine own grace…” (Moses 7:59).
More on the Watchers
Enoch tells us more about the Watchers in the First Book of Enoch. They are a group of fallen angels who seek to destroy Adam’s children. They use all of their knowledge to cause destruction.
Still, they fear Enoch and ask him to talk to God on their behalf. Enoch returns telling them that their insincerity will do them no good.
Quote:
| Before these things Enoch was hidden, and no one of the children of men knew where he was hidden, and where he abode, and what had become of him. And his activities had to do with the Watchers, and his days were with the holy ones. And I Enoch was blessing the Lord of majesty and the King of the ages, and lo! the Watchers (the righteous angels) called me -Enoch the scribe- and said to me: 'Enoch, thou scribe of righteousness, go, declare to the Watchers of the heaven who have left the high heaven, the holy eternal place, and have defiled themselves with women, and have done as the children of earth do, and have taken unto themselves wives: "Ye have wrought great destruction on the earth: And ye shall have no peace nor forgiveness of sin: and inasmuch as they delight themselves in their children, The murder of their beloved ones shall they see, and over the destruction of their children shall they lament, and shall make supplication unto eternity, but mercy and peace shall ye not attain."' (12:1-6, see also ch 15). |
Quote:
| “became pregnant, and they bare great giants, whose height was three thousand ells: Who consumed all the acquisitions of men. And when men could no longer sustain them, the giants turned against them and devoured mankind. And they began to sin against birds, and beasts, and reptiles, and fish, and to devour one another's flesh, and drink the blood. Then the earth laid accusation against the lawless ones” (7:1-6) |
The giants could either be mighty men or war, or as this and other traditions suggest, they were as tall as trees. Interestingly, this is also supported in the Book of Moses, where Enoch fights against the giants of his day (Moses 7:15), and later the giants attempt to assassinate Noah (Moses 8:18).
The Watchers used their secret knowledge to train mankind in the use of weapons, extravagant clothing, and to live excessively and violently (1st Enoch 8).
Enoch Builds Zion
In such a day, God prepares the world for destruction by Flood, which will be discussed in the next lesson. The preparation had to do with preparing a new land of promise, even a holy city, wherein the people of God could dwell in safety.
Enoch was an amazing missionary. He went everywhere, “save it were the people of Canaan” and call them to repentance (7:12). Why not the people of Canaan? Again, some presume they were the cursed race. But a closer reading of the Book of Moses shows that the land of Canaan/Cainan was the promised land of Enoch’s fathers. They were already righteous, and had no need to have missionaries call them to repentance (6:41). The term “Canaan” commonly was used for a group of Semitic people (not black), who lived in Moses’ day, but not in Enoch’s. Enoch could not have been referencing them as the people he did not preach to.
Over several centuries, Enoch was a thorn in the side of the Watchers and their secret combinations. In Moses 7:13-17, we see that Enoch and his righteous people were feared greatly. It was built upon the mountains, as it represented sacred space (a high place). This people, their city and the land they dwelt upon, became Zion. It was a people who had learned to live a Celestial Law, in stark contrast to the wicked individuals living in the land below.
Eventually, God took Zion up and out of the world. Why? Because the world was being prepared for the Flood. Even after Zion’s fleeing from the world, as people repented of their sins and became righteous, they would be translated and lifted up to the holy city, to receive their blessings with Enoch, and to escape the great destruction below (Moses 7:18-21).
Love one another and choose me, their Father
Just as Moses sought to see God a second time, as he had further things to inquire of him (Moses 1:18), so Enoch has more to learn, as well.
God takes Enoch into his confidence, to show him just how much power Satan had over the world. God wept as he pondered the terrible destruction he was about to send upon the earth. Interestingly, the earth also groans and weeps, as it is shown to be a living being. Enoch is at first unsure why God would be so moved by such a small thing as destruction. Remember, Enoch has destroyed armies, and experienced the fear of his enemies in mortality. The Lord explains that these are the “workmanship of mine own hands.” They are his children.
All God has asked of us is that we “should love one another, and that they should choose me, their Father….” Sadly, most of the people in Enoch’s day had chosen Satan as their father, and to hate one another as they sought to get gain through their secret combinations, lust, and greed.
Enoch is wholly moved by the tender feelings of the Master. As he looked upon the true misery of mankind, he “wept and stretched forth his arms (towards them), and his heart swelled wide as eternity; and his bowels yearned; and all eternity shook.” Enoch refused to be comforted (Moses 7:23-44). At that moment, there did not seem to be any way to save such a lost group of people. There was no hope for all those who had fallen into Satan’s snare.
Enoch Sees the Redemption
God showed Enoch the hope of mankind. The Messiah is proclaimed. Whosoever comes in through the gate, or climbs up by him “shall never fall” (Moses 7:53). Like Nephi in the Vision of the Tree of Life, Enoch sees the life and death of Christ. As Christ resurrected, many of the spirits in prison (Spirit World) also came forth. The others would await the day of judgment, but would still receive as much blessing as God could possibly give them. Through Christ, God seeks to maximize the blessings, and minimize the punishments. Even those who end up in the Telestial Kingdom, after they have suffered a time for their sins, will be redeemed in Christ in a kingdom of glory and goodness (D&C 76).
Enoch sees the world’s history, including the Restoration of the Gospel in the latter days. He sees that a new Zion will be established on the earth. Finally, he sees “even unto the end of the world; and he saw the day of the righteous, the hour of their redemption, and received a fullness of joy” (Moses 7:62-67).
Bibliography:
Conflict of Adam and Eve With Satan, Book One: http://www.sacred-texts.com/bib/fbe/fbe005.htm
Conflict of Adam and Eve, Book Two: The Forgotten Books of Eden Index
The First Book of Enoch (Ethiopian): Book of Enoch
The Secrets of Enoch: http://www.sacred-texts.com/bib/fbe/i...tm#section_002
Ascension of Isaiah: Ascension of Isaiah
On information regarding the priesthood ban:
Ardis Parshall’s lesson: Keepapitchinin, the Mormon History blog “The Long-Promised Day”
Website for black LDS members run by FAIR: http://www.blacklds.org/priesthood
Addendum: Later, as Enoch continues to preach, he stopped preaching to the children of Cain “for the seed of Cain were black” (Moses 7:22). The term “black” here most likely refers to their wickedness, and not their skin color. Once again, 19th century Protestant beliefs affected the modern Church’s understanding of some verses, causing them to be read in ways that, on the surface, made sense, but in depth study did not agree. The Lamanites had “skin of blackness” as a curse. Yet the American Indian does not have black skin. Once again, it suggests a deeper reading for the actual context is needed. See blacklds.org for more information on this topic.
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