Friday, November 8, 2019

Joseph Smith on the Melchizedek Priesthood Persisting After Moses


In D&C 84:25 we read, as a result of the sinfulness of the Israelites, that:

. . . [God] took Moses out of their midst, and the Holy Priesthood also;

However, as we know, prophets after Moses held the Melchizedek Priesthood, including the Davidic Kings who were ordained “after the order of Melchizedek” (Psa 110:4), with Christ being the ultimate fulfilment of these type (for more on Psa 110:4 and related texts, see my book, After the Order of the Son of God: The Biblical and Historical Evidence for Latter-day Saint Theology of the Priesthood [2018]).

In his account of a meeting dated 5 January 1841, William Clayton provided the following record of Joseph Smith's comments that addresses this very issue:

Answer to the question, was the Priesthood of Melchizedeck taken away when Moses died.

All priesthood is Melchizedeck; but there are different portions or degrees of it. That portion which brought Moses to speak with God face to face was taken away; but that which brought the ministry of angels remained. All the Prophets had the Melchizedeck Priesthood and was ordained by God himself.

In other words, the fullness of the Melchizedek Priesthood was taken away from the people, but I persisted, albeit, in a weaker form, after Moses. Indeed, as I wrote about this verse in my book:


Taking the higher priesthood out of the midst of the Israelite people is not the same as taking it entirely from the earth. I understand that the higher priesthood was still present in very limited channels for there were prophets of God among the Israelites - but the blessings of that priesthood were not available in general to the Israelites, including the higher ordinances that go with it. The context of D&C 84 is the Temple, which is the crowning aspect of the higher priesthood. (After the Order of the Son of God, p. 258)

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