Tuesday, July 19, 2022

Reynolds and Sjodahl on Jesus and Jehovah being one of the Elohim

  

There is also a Son in the Godhead. Jesus Christ is called the Father's "beloved Son." (Ps. 2:7; Matt. 3:17) In the view of the Apostle Paul, God raised Jesus from the dead because he is his Son:

 

"And we declare unto you glad tidings, how that the promise which was made unto the fathers, God hath fulfilled the same unto us their children, in that he hath raised us Jesus again; as it is also written in the second psalm, Thou art my Son, this day have I begotten thee." (Acts 13:32, 33)

 

Jesus Christ is "the Great I AM." (D. and C. 29:1; 38:1; 39:1; 110:1-3) Compare the vision of Moses as related in Ex. 3:1-14. Here we learn that the Great I AM is none other than the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob (v. 6), whose name is Jehovah, or Yahveh.

 

Jesus Christ is also called, God's "Holy Child":

 

"The kings of the earth stood up, and the rulers were gathered together against the Lord, and against his Christ. For of truth against thy holy child Jesus, whom thou hast anointed, both Herod, and Pontius Pilate, with the gentiles, and the people of Israel, were gathered together." (Acts 4:26, 27)

 

See also John 1:34; 5:25; 19:7; Acts 9:20; Rev. 2:18.

 

Jesus speaks of his angels. (Matt. 13:41; 16:27; 24:31) He makes the claim that the Father has delivered "all things" to him, and that knowledge of the Father can be obtained only through him. (Matt. 11:27) He claims, furthermore, that prayers offered in his name will receive special attention by the Father:

 

"Verily, verily, I say unto you, Whatsoever ye shall ask the Father in my name, he will give it you. Hitherto have ye asked nothing in my name: Ask, and ye shall receive, that your joy may be full." (John 16:23, 24)

 

No mere human being could make such a claim, truthfully. (George Reynolds and Janne M. Sjodahl, Commentary on the Book of Mormon, 7 vols. [Salt Lake City: Deseret Press, 1976], 1:93, emphasis in bold added)

 

In the old Testament, Jehovah is one of the Elohim. This is very clear from numerous passages. Note that it was "the Lord God" who made the earth and the heavens. (Gen. 2:4) "The Lord God" is the English of "Jehovah Elohim," or, as I think we should understand it, "Jehovah, the Elohim." It was Jehovah Elohim who "planted a garden" (Gen. 2:8), who "took the man and put him into the garden" (Gen. 2:15), who commanded man concerning the tree (Gen. 2:16), and who appeared in the story of the fall and promise of redemption. It is Jehovah who has promised to create "new heavens and a new earth" (Is. 85:17).

 

It was Jehovah who spoke to Abraham, concerning Sodom and Gomorrah. (Gen. 18) Jehovah seems to have been one of the three men who stood before him, as he sat in the tent door. It may have been Jehovah in person, or it may have been one who was his representative, his "angel," having authority to speak in his name. Jehovah was the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. (Gen. 28:13 and many other passages.) He, probably, it was who wrestled with Jacob (Gen. 32:24-30). For, although he did not tell his name, he conferred upon Jacob, in blessing him, the authority of a "prince"—a title bestowed upon our Father, Adam, at Adam-ondi-Ahman (Doc. and Cov. 107:54)—and Jacob felt impressed with the fact that he had seen Elohim "face to face."

 

It was "the angel," or messenger of Jehovah, who first appeared to Moses in the burning bush (Ex. 3:2), but later, as soon as the attention of Moses had been attracted to the miraculous manifestation and he drew near to investigate, then, it seems, Jehovah Elohim addressed him (v. 4-17).

 

At the exodus from Egypt, the Angel of Elohim went before the camp of Israel, and when the Egyptians pursued, this divine Personage "removed and went behind them," so that he stood in the fiery cloud between Israel and the pursuers. (Ex. 14:19, 20) This Angel of Elohim was Jehovah, for so we read: "And Jehovah went before them by day in a pillar of a cloud, to lead them the way." (Ex. 13:21)

 

Jehovah, the great Angel, or Messenger, of Elohim,—the representative, in other words, of the great Council of Elohim, in which this plan of salvation was accepted, and on account of which he was afterwards known as the "Wonderful Counselor," (Is. 9:6), but when Israel, after the many manifestations of his power, turned to the golden calf, possibly with ceremonies of which obscene practices formed a part (Ex. 32:25), then he threatened to withdraw entirely. At this critical juncture of the history of Israel, Moses went up on the mountain and plead before Jehovah for Israel, whereupon Jehovah, in answer to the prayers of his faithful servant, gave him the promise that he would send his Angel with him. From this time Jehovah withdrew, and left one of his angels, or representatives, in charge.

 

Who this angel of Jehovah is, we are not expressly informed, but since Daniel says that "the great prince which standeth for the children of thy people" is Michael (Dan. 12:1; 10:13 and 21), there can be no harm in the suggestion that Michael, our venerable ancestor, possibly was the angel of Jehovah, who had already at this time performed the mission, of which Daniel speaks. But be this as it may, Jehovah withdrew, and as a sign of this, the tent in which religious ordinances were performed and which hitherto had stood in the center of the camp, was now removed a long distance from it. The cloudy pillar, in which the angel of Jehovah manifested his presence, rested there. (Ibid., 200-1)