Lessons from the JST (Joseph Smith Translation) in Genesis and Exodus

Before we transition from the books of Genesis and Exodus to Numbers this week, let's take a few minutes to highlight what we learn from the JST. The JST was started by the Prophet Joseph Smith in June 1830 and completed by July 1833, although he continued to edit it until his death in 1844, and it is possible that he intended to make more changes had he lived to publish the final version. As the entry in the Bible Dictionary states: "The JST to some extent assists in restoring the plain and precious things that have been lost from the Bible" [see 1 Nephi 13 and 14].

GENESIS:

1. We sometimes forget that Moses is an extract from the Joseph Smith Translation of the Bible. Therefore, we should always refer to this book (located at the beginning of the Pearl of Great Price) whenever we study the first five books especially of the Old Testament. Among other things, the Book of Moses teaches us about the war in Heaven and the Creation and gives important details about the Plan of Salvation: "For this is my work and my glory -- to bring to pass the immortality and eternal life of man" [Moses 1: 39]. Moses not only learned that he was chosen by God to deliver the Israelites from bondage, but he saw the world "and there was not a particle of it which he did not behold ... and also the inhabitants thereof, and there was not a soul which he beheld not" [Moses 1: 27-28]. Like the prophet Nephi, Moses truly witnessed our day. Though Moses was specifically commanded to write about the history of the world from Adam to his day, he also witnessed our day: "And in a day when the children of men shall esteem my words as naught and take many of them from the book which thou shalt write, behold, I will raise up another like unto thee; and they shall be had again..." [Moses 1: 41]. Moses witnessed the latter-day restoration of the Lord's Church and holy scripture by Joseph Smith. He also beheld so many worlds and heavenly increase without number [see Moses 1: 37-38] that (and this is my personal favorite of all the verses in Moses) he was blown away by it: "Now, for this cause I know that man is nothing, which thing I never had supposed" [Moses 1: 10].
2. The Book of Moses also shows that Adam was a very obedient man. Soon after Adam left the Garden of Eden he built an alter and offered sacrifices to the Lord. When an angel appeared to him and asked him why he performed sacrifices, Adam's response was innocently to the point: "I know not, save the Lord commanded me" [Moses 5: 6-8]. The angel revealed to Adam that the ordinance of sacrifice was a similitude of the atoning sacrifice of Jesus Christ.
3. In Moses Chapter 6 it is learned that Adam kept a record of his family history in his language [verses 7-9]. Adam received the priesthood and was baptized. Moses 6: 7 reveals that "this same Priesthood, which was in the beginning, shall be in the end of the world also."
   
4. Moses, Chapters 6 & 7 devote much of their content to describing the prophet Enoch and his close relationship to God: "And the Lord showed Enoch all things, even unto the end of the world; and he saw the day of the righteous, the hour of their redemption, and received a fulness of joy" [Moses 7: 67]. Enoch saw the Flood and knew that Noah and his family would be spared [Moses 7: 42], and that the rest of humanity would suffer utter destruction. Whereas the Old Testament story of the Flood might be interpreted that a harsh and vengeful God carried out this extreme punishment, Moses shows a Heavenly Father with compassion and emotion. There is a dual context given in Moses that juxtaposes the destruction of the Flood with the redemption of the City of Enoch. If God ultimately rewards wickedness with destruction, He rewards righteousness with salvation. After the "City of Holiness, even Zion" is taken into Heaven, Enoch witnessed the Lord weep tears of compassion and is caused to ask: "How is it that the heavens weep, and shed forth their tears as the rain upon the mountains?" [Moses 7: 28], to which the Lord responds: "they are the workmanship of mine own hands, and I gave unto them their knowledge, in the day I created them ... I said ... that they should love one another, and that they should choose me, their Father; nut behold, they are without affection, and they hate their own blood" [Moses 7: 32-33].
   
5. Enoch was a very successful missionary. Though "but a lad" and "slow of speech," Enoch put his faith in the Lord instructing the righteous (many years before Joshua) to: "Choose ye this day, to serve the Lord God who made you" [Moses 6: 33]. Enoch was a tireless minister of truth and the only prophet referred to by scripture as "a wild man" [Moses 6: 38]. Enoch was also the first missionary to quote from scripture... using Adam's Book of Remembrance" to preach to the people [see Moses 6: 46-68]. In these important lines of scripture Adam teaches about the Fall, the Atonement of Jesus Christ, and the doctrine of redemption from sin and death through faith, repentance and baptism.
6. Moses Chapter 8 reiterates the righteousness of Noah, and extends the same praise to his sons who we learn were just as righteous as their father [see Moses 8: 27]. Noah was told to preach the Gospel just as Enoch had done before him [see Moses 8: 19]. However, with all of the righteous people of the City of Enoch now gone, it doesn't surprise us to learn that "they hearkened not unto the words of Noah" [Moses 8: 21].
7. The JST modifies Genesis Chapter 7: 18 by adding the words "even as I have sworn unto thy father, Enoch, that of thy posterity shall come all nations." Enoch, who was Noah's great grandfather, had received the same promise [see Moses 41-53].
   
8. The JST modifies Genesis Chapter 9 in several important ways. It establishes that the Lord gave instructions to Noah as to how to administer sacrifices and burnt offerings after the Flood. Noah is instructed regarding the sanctity of life: "blood shall not be shed, only for meat, to save your lives; and the blood of every beast will I require at your hands" [see JST Genesis 9: 11]. God extends the same commandment to Noah that was originally given to Adam that he should be fruitful and multiply [see JST Genesis 9: 14]. The JST footnote to Genesis 9: 9 states that the covenant God made with Noah was an extension of the same covenant He had made with Enoch. The JST footnote to Genesis 9: 15 states that the covenant was between God and Noah, not between God and every living creature. Finally, the sign of the rainbow is further explained as a remembering of the "everlasting covenant" that the Lord made with Enoch that when "men should keep all my commandments, Zion should again come on the earth, the City of Enoch which I have caught up unto myself" [JST Genesis 9: 21]. This was the first time the phrase "everlasting covenant" had been used in the Old Testament. The JST clearly establishes the "everlasting covenant" as the same covenant given to Enoch... as given to Noah... as would be given to Abraham [see comment #9 below].
   
9. As Abraham entered the land of Hebron (after he had come up out of Egypt and parted ways with Lot), he cast his eyes round about and the Lord promised him "all the land which thou seest, to thee will I give it, and to thy see for every" [Genesis 13: 15]. From the JST, we learn that the Abrahamic Covenant will also encompass the prior covenants He had made to Enoch and to Noah, and it was again an "everlasting covenant" [see JST Genesis 13: 14 footnote].
10. The JST modifies Genesis Chapter 14 in several important ways. It establishes that Melchizedek was a High Priest in the Lord's Priesthood and blessed and passed an early version of the sacrament bread and wine [see verse 18 footnote]. The JST adds 15 additional verses to chapter 14 from which we learn many important details about the life and mission of Melchizedek: he was called the "Prince of peace" [verse 33], also "king of heaven" and "King of peace" by his people [verse 36], and he was "keeper of the storehouse of God" having been appointed "to receive tithes for the poor" [verses 37-38]. The passage also explains that Abraham visited Melchizedek to pay his tithes and offerings and became indeed more prosperous as a result of his generosity and obedience to this law, and was blessed by Melchizedek [see verses 39-40]. See also Hebrews Chapter 7 and JST for verses 3, 19-21, and 25-26, which further explains the significance of the Melchizedek Priesthood as the "order of the Son of God."
11. In Genesis Chapter 15, the JST teaches that Abraham "saw the days of the Son of Man, and was glad, and his soul found rest" [see JST Genesis 15: 9-12].
    
12. While the King James Version of the Bible Genesis 17: 17 says that Abraham "laughed" when he heard that Sarah would bear a son, an alternate translation of the Hebrew word is "rejoiced." The JST says that Abraham "rejoiced" at the news. The JST further clarifies verses 3-7 by teaching that the ordinance of baptism by immersion for the remission of sins had become corrupted by those who would attribute sins to small children. The covenant of circumcision was instituted "that thou mayest know for ever that children are not accountable before me until they are eight years old" [see verses 11-12].
    
13. In the JST, Genesis 19:11–13 states that Lot did not offer his daughters to the men of Sodom; rather, he tried to protect his daughters from the men. Finally, in verses 31-36 the JST shows that Lot's daughters "did wickedly" when they conspired to conceive children by their father.
14. At the end of Chapter 21: 33-34, the JST clarifies that Abraham did not plant a grove of idols in Beer-sheba, but this was done by other men. Abraham was true and faithful to his priesthood covenants: "And Abraham worshiped the everlasting God" [JST Genesis 21: 32].
15. Genesis 24: 9 is rewritten in the JST as "And the servant put his hand under the hand of Abraham his master, and sware to him..."
16. Genesis 39: 8 is rewritten in the JST as "But he refused, and said unto his master's wife, Behold my master knoweth not what is with me in the house, and he hath committed all that he hath to my hand." Also Genesis 39: 22 as "And the keeper of the prison committed to Joseph's hand all the prisioners that were in the prison; and whatsoever they did there, he was the overseer of it."
17. The JST of Genesis 48: 5-11 contains Jacob's blessings given to Joseph's sons Ephraim and Manasseh whereby they are given equal shares as full tribes of Israel. Jacob elevated Manasseh and Ephraim to the status of his own sons and removed the birthright of Reuben and Simeon thereby giving it to Joseph's sons. Joseph had delivered Israel from famine and certain destruction, "wherefore the God of thy fathers shall bless thee, and the fruit of thy loins, that they shall be blessed above thy brethren, and above thy father's house" [verses 8-9]. This was in further fulfillment of Jacob's earlier prophecy at Luz, in the land of Canaan that Joseph's brothers would bow down to him.
    
18. The JST of Genesis 50:24–38 contains prophecies that Joseph made about one of his descendants who would become a "choice seer." The Book of Mormon prophet Lehi restated these prophecies in 2 Nephi 3: 5-15. The descendant referred to in these prophecies is the Prophet Joseph Smith. It also prophecies that one day a branch of the house of Joseph would "be carried into a far country; nevertheless they shall be remembered in the covenants of the Lord, when the Messiah cometh; for he shall be made manifest unto them..." [verse 25]. This passage of the JST is similar to Ezekiel 37 because it speaks of two writings "and that which shall be written by the fruit of thy loins, and also that which shall be written by the fruit of the loins of Judah, shall grow together unto the confounding of false doctrines, and laying down of contentions, and establishing peace among the fruit of thy loins, and bringing them to a knowledge of their fathers in the latter days..." [verse 31]. Finally, Joseph sees the Exodus and the role that Moses will have in delivering captive Israel from Egypt.
    

EXODUS:

1. In the JST, the phrase "the angel of the Lord" in Exodus 3: 2 is changed to "the presence of the Lord" in the telling of the appearance of the Lord to Moses at the burning bush.
2. Beginning with Exodus 4: 21 the JST changes the passage to "Pharaoh will harden his heart, and he will not let the people go." In all subsequent places in Exodus which read "and the Lord hardened Pharaoh's heart" are changed in the JST to "and Pharaoh hardened his heart." This happens several times.
   
3. The JST clarifies the incident involving Moses, and his wife Zipporah in the circumcision of their son at the inn. When Moses set out from Egypt he was faced by a dilemma. Should he perform the circumcision and then take the child with him? -- but the infant would be in danger of infection, etc. Should he delay leaving Egypt and perform the circumcision? -- but God had commanded him to go! He decided to travel immediately. Nevertheless, he was held responsible by the Lord because, when they arrived at the inn, he failed to immediately perform the circumcision. Moses was "ashamed" because he had committed "sin" the JST says, but was spared a deeper penalty because of the faithfulness of his wife Zipporah in performing the operation.
4. In the JST, the statement "but by my name JEHOVAH was I not known to them" in Exodus 6: 3 is changed to a question "I am the Lord God Almighty; the Lord JEHOVAH. And was not my name known unto them?" This important clarification is in keeping with earlier instances that the Lord was revealed as Jehovah to his prophets [see Abraham 2: 8, for example].
5. The JST clarifies the expression "I am of uncircumcised lips" of Exodus 6: 30 as "of stammering lips, and slow of speech."
6. Moses is a "prophet" unto Pharaoh and not a "god" as stated in the King James Version of Exodus 7: 1. The JST clarifies this confusion and names Aaron his "spokesman," and not a "prophet."
7. The JST clarifies the nature of the cloud that accompanied the Israelites in the wilderness in Exodus 14: 20, "and it was a cloud and darkness to the Egyptians, but it gave light by night to the Israelites..."
8. Exodus 18: 1 reveals that Moses's father-in-law, Jethro, was a "high priest" in the Melchizedek Priesthood, important to understand Moses's own priesthood authority.
9. The JST changes the law "Thou shalt not suffer a witch to live," to "Thou shalt not suffer a murderer to live" [Exodus 22: 18]. This particular verse was cited during the Puritan Salem witch trials in the 17th century to back their miscarriage of justice against dissident colonials of the period.
10. "Neither shalt thou countenance a poor man in his cause," in Exodus 23: 3, was changed to "wicked man in his cause," by the JST.
11. The language used by Moses in pleading to the Lord to have mercy on the offending makers of the golden calf is clarified by the JST as "Turn from they fierce wrath. Thy people will repent of this evil; therefore come thou not out against them" [Exodus 32: 12]. Then in verse 14 of the same chapter the Lord agrees to spare all those who might repent (this scripture in the JST is meant to replace the one used in the King James Version completely).
12. Moses receives stone tablets containing instructions from the Lord but breaks the tablets when he returns from Sinai and sees the people worshiping a golden calf. The JST for Exodus 32-34 illustrates the extreme displeasure of the Lord against the wicked idol worshipers in Moses's camp [see Exodus 33: 20], and explains what was lost when Moses broke the stone tablets. The Lord took away the ordinances of the Melchizedek Priesthood from Israel and gave them a lesser law, the law of Moses [see Exodus 34: 1-2]. Moses made new tablets of stone to replace those that he had broken, but the new tablets did not include "the words of the everlasting covenant of the holy priesthood."
13. The JST replaces the expression "For the Lord, whose name is Jealous, is a jealous God" in Exodus 34: 14 with "whose name is Jehovah..."