Monday, February 17, 2020

D&C 13 and the Aaronic Priesthood being Restored "that" not "until" the Sons of Levi Make an Offering


In the modern text of D&C, we read the following:

Upon you my fellow servants, in the name of Messiah I confer the Priesthood of Aaron, which holds the keys of the ministering of angels, and of the gospel of repentance, and of baptism by immersion for the remission of sins; and this shall never be taken again from the earth, until the sons of Levi do offer again an offering unto the Lord in righteousness.

However, the earliest texts do not use the conjunction "until" but "that” (i.e., a purpose clause). One can see this in the 1844 Doctrine and Covenants and other works, including the following:

. . as he said, "upon you my fellow servants, in the name of Messiah, I confer this priesthood and this authority, which shall remain upon earth, that the sons of Levi may yet offer and offering unto the Lord in righteousness!" (Messenger and Advocate, October 1834, p. 16)

This is a superior reading, as it means the text is not ambiguous as to whether the Aaronic priesthood will continue once the offering is made (“until,” even in biblical languages, is ambiguous but predominately means a termination of the main clause once the “until” [Heb: עד ; Greek: εως] is reached); instead, it teaches that a (if not the main) function of the restoration of the Aaronic Priesthood is to bring about the completion of the promise that the sons of Levi will make an offering to the Lord in righteousness.