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Book of Moses Essays
Moses Witnesses the Fall (Moses 4)

Essay #70: Moses Witnesses the Fall (Moses 4): The “Temple Work” of Adam and Eve (Moses 4:23–25, 31)

Though Biblical commentaries often derive the name “Eden” from the Sumerian edinu (i.e., “a plain”), an alternative meaning, based on an Aramaic-Akkadian bilingual description, is “luxuriance” or “abundance”—more specifically referring to an abundance of life-enriching water. The idea of luxuriance brings to mind the prominent place-name “Bountiful” in the Book of Mormon—in fact, one proposed region for the Old World Bountiful was reputed to have been a place of such great plenty that its inhabitants were denounced by Islamic Hud traditions for their “attempt to create an earthly replica of Paradise...

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Essay #68: Moses Witnesses the Fall (Moses 4): The Nakedness and Clothing of Adam and Eve (Moses 3:25, 4:13–17, 27)

Western art typically portrays Adam and Eve as naked in the Garden of Eden, and dressed in “coats of skin” after the Fall. However, the Eastern Orthodox tradition depicts the sequence of their change of clothing in reverse manner. How can that be? The Eastern Church remembers the accounts that portray Adam as a King and Priest in Eden, so naturally he is shown there in regal robes. Moreover, Orthodox readers interpret the “skins” that the couple wore after their expulsion from the Garden as being their own now-fully human flesh. Gary Anderson interprets this symbolism to mean that “Adam has exchanged an angelic constitution for a mortal one”—in Latter-day Saint parlance, they have lost their terrestrial glory and are now in a telestial state....

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Essay #66: Moses Witnesses the Fall (Moses 4): The Challenges and Blessings of Celestial Marriage (Moses 4:22–26)

I will greatly multiply thy sorrow and thy conception. In sorrow thou shalt bring forth children, and thy desire shall be to thy husband, and he shall rule over thee. In the poignant sculpture by Delaplanche pictured here, the vacant, tearless eyes and agonized posture of the solitary slumped figure bespeak the depth of Eve’s utter hopelessness immediately after her transgression. While scripture describes the results of transgression differently for Adam than for Eve, the ultimate effect of these consequences is essentially the same: a mortal life replete with the opposing experiences of good and evil, pleasure and pain....

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Essay #64: Moses Witnesses the Fall (Moses 4): The False Apron and the Tree of Death and Rebirth (Moses 4:13)

We read in Moses 4:13 that after Adam and Eve had eaten of the forbidden fruit, “the eyes of them both were opened, and they knew that they had been naked. And they sewed fig leaves together and made themselves aprons.” The ending of the verse implicitly signals to the reader that the making of the aprons is the culminating event in the story. However, Emily Mahan observes that the Old English manuscript shown above punctuates the verse differently, with three dots in triangle form, highlighting the importance of the opening of the eyes of Adam and Eve: “and the eyes of them both were opened .·.”...

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Essay #60: Moses Witnesses the Fall (Moses 4): The Willing and Unwilling Sons in the Council in Heaven (Moses 4:1-4)

After a rapid sweep across the vast panorama of the Creation and the Garden of Eden in Moses 2-3, the scope narrows and the narrative slows to a more measured pace in Moses 4—and with good reason, for it is at this point that the purpose of Creation begins to unfold. John Henry Newman summed up a lesson from the combined accounts of the Creation and the Fall...

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Essay #69: Moses Witnesses the Fall (Moses 4): “Stand Ye in Holy Places, and Be Not Moved” (Moses 4:29–31)

In his characteristic epic style, Thomas Cole depicted Adam and Eve being driven from the lush garden to live in the relative wilderness of the mortal world. The exit of the Garden of Eden—and presumably the only means of access—is on the east side, at the end farthest away from the mountain of God’s presence. The image of the tiny couple is almost lost in the wide expanse of the landscape, emphasizing the greatness of the power of God and the grandeur of His Creation as compared with the forced humility of fallen mankind....

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Essay #65: Moses Witnesses the Fall (Moses 4): A Curse for the Serpent (Moses 4:14–21)

Jewish pseudepigraphal texts tell of how, after Adam and Eve’s transgression, God’s “chariot throne [descends and] rests at the Tree of Life and all the flowers come into bloom.” Of this painting, Conisbee writes: The Rebuke of Adam and Eve perfectly illustrates Domenichino’s classical style at the peak of his career. … The group of God and the angels is derived directly from Michelangelo’s Creation of Adam. … and should be read as an homage by the seventeenth-century painter to his great predecessor....

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Essay #63: Moses Witnesses the Fall (Moses 4): The False and the True “Keeper of the Gate” (Moses 4:5–12)

The battle begun in the premortal councils and waged again in the Garden of Eden was a test of obedience for Adam and Eve. However, it should be remembered that the actual prize at stake was knowledge—the knowledge required for them to be saved and, ultimately, to be exalted. The Prophet taught that the “principle of knowledge is the principle of salvation,” therefore “anyone that cannot get knowledge to be saved will be damned....

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Essay #61: Moses Witnesses the Fall (Moses 4): The Tree in the Sacred Center of the Garden of Eden (Moses 3:9)

One thing that has always perplexed readers of Genesis is the location of the two special trees in the Garden of Eden. The Hebrew phrase corresponding to “in the midst” means literally “in the center.” Although scripture initially applies the phrase “in the midst” only to the Tree of Life, the Tree of Knowledge is later said by Eve to be located there, too....

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Essay #59: Moses Witnesses the Fall (Moses 4): Satan’s Original Glory and the Symbols of Kingship (Moses 4:1–4)

In this Essay, we will explore how William Blake’s masterpiece describes Satan in his original glory. One can see in his perverse appropriation of the symbols of kingship not only his selfish aspiration to God’s own power, but also an anticipation of his ignominious fall from grace. Nowhere are the premortal events related to this theme described more fully and accurately than in Moses 4:1–4....

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