Tuesday, February 4, 2020

Ezra Dalby on the Fall


In book, copyrighted by Heber J. Grant, then-president of the Church, for the Education Department of the Church, Ezra Dalby wrote the following about the Fall. Note how, unlike many modern commentators on this topic, he recognises that the Fall was not purely positive; instead, there were many unfortunate, negative consequences as a result:

But now the scene changed. Sin came to destroy the close companionship between God and man. Disobedience was the cause of the separation. Adam and Eve had been warned not to partake of the fruit of the tree of knowledge. Eve was the first to break this commandment. The tempter came, and he told her that it would be to their advantage to eat of the forbidden fruit. He denied that she would die, as the Lord had said; and he suggested that if she eat the fruit her eyes would be open and she would be as the gods, knowing good and evil. This appealed to her curiosity, and she yielded to the tempter’s promptings by eating the fruit. And so Eve fell. Adam might have been able to resist the wiles of the serpent; but when his wife urged him to join her in eating the fruit, he also broke the commandment which God had given them. Next, instead of making a frank confession when God questioned them and asking his forgiveness, each tried to shift the responsibility upon someone else. As a consequence they were driven from the garden, and from the presence of God. Henceforth, they were compelled to learn in the sad school of experience and suffering the hard lessons of life. They were to walk by faith, not by sight. This was not without its compensations, however, for the innocence of man in the garden could never have become virtue. Moral strength must be attained by slow self-conquest and constant striving toward perfection. And through this struggle and achievement comes the joy of final victory. (Ezra C. Dalby, Land and Leaders of Israel: Lessons in the Old Testament [2d ed.; Salt Lake City: Department of Education of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, 1933], xvi-xvii)