D&C 42:30-42
Doctrine & Covenants > Section 42
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Lexical notes
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Exegesis
Verse 39
This verse, situated in the text as a kind of conclusion to the law of consecration, forces one to think carefully about the role of economics in the revelations. It is perhaps far too common to talk about consecration as a kind of revealed economic order or revealed political system, but this verse in particular suggests that such an approach is oversimplistic in that it ignores a major facet of the Lord's intentions with consecration. Consecration is a question, at the very least, of (1) fulfillment of prophecy and (2) the relationship between the Gentiles and Israel. These somewhat surprising facets of consecration (as revealed in the Doctrine and Covenants) call for careful interpretation of verse 39.
From the Book of Commandments
First, it should be noted that the text here differs in a few points from the "original" version of the text as published in the 1833 Book of Commandments:
- "For it shall come to pass, that which I spake by the mouths of my prophets shall be fulfilled; for I will consecrate the riches of the Gentiles, unto my people which are of the house of Israel." (Book of Commandments 44:32)
What are the differences between the two texts?
(1) The Doctrine and Covenants version adds the word "of" after the word "consecrate": "for I will consecrate of the riches of the Gentiles...." (2) The Doctrine and Covenants version adds the phrase "those who embrace my gospel among" between "of" and "the" (just before the word "Gentiles"): "I will consecrate of the riches of those who embrace my gospel among the Gentiles...." (3) The Doctrine and Covenants version adds the phrase "the poor of" between "unto" and "my people": "I will consecrate of the riches of those who embrace my gospel among the Gentiles unto the poor of my people...." (4) The Doctrine and Covenants replaces the word "which" with "who": "unto the poor of my people which are of the house of Israel."
All four of these changes seem, on close analysis, to be clarifications rather than modifications of the text, made in order to forestall drastic misinterpretations of the text's intentions (though it should be noted that changes in the preceding nine verses seem often enough to be genuine modifications rather than clarifications, made in light of the change in the Saints' situation with respect to Zion). A brief analysis of each change might be profitable:
(1) The addition of the word "of" might seem minor, but it softens what might be called the "violence" implied in the "original" text: whereas the 1831-33 version of the text might be read to imply that everything the Gentiles have will be taken from them and handed over to Israel, the "of" makes it clear that the Gentiles will retain something of their substance, even as their riches are used to outfit Israel in whatever ways are needed. ( (2) The addition of the phrase "those who embrace my gospel among" is more drastic a change, and it alters the significance of the verse more substantially. Though one might presume from the 1831-33 text, if it were read in abstract from the surrounding text, that the Gentiles were to be impoverished with or without their consent, the change makes it quite clear that the riches to be consecrated are to be those specifically belonging to the Gentiles who embrace the gospel. (3) The addition of the phrase "the poor of" is also more substantial. While the 1831-33 text might be taken to suggest that the Gentiles are to be impoverished while Israel is to be made rich, this change makes it clear that the shift of goods from the Gentiles to Israel is a question of transferring the excess of the Gentiles to the impoverished of Israel. (4) The change from "which" to "who" seems only to be a simple grammatical correction, of no particular importance.
For it shall come to pass, that which I spake by the mouths of my prophets shall be fulfilled
The revelation here draws on a relatively common phrase, one that appears both in the New Testament and the Book of Mormon before making its several appearances in the Doctrine and Covenants. All three of the New Testament instances are Lucan, the first appearing in Zacharias' words of praise he shouts when his dumbness is removed (Luke 1:70), the second and third appearing in Peter's speech in the temple shortly after the Pentecostal outpouring (Acts 3:18, 21). Taken together, all three references attribute to the collective prophets the teaching: first, that Christ would come into the world; second, that Christ would suffer; and third, that Christ would be received into heaven until all things have been restored. The phrase seems to be genericized in the Book of Mormon, being used to summarize what is written in the brass plates (1 Ne 3:20), what has been said by the Old World prophets about the Abrahamic covenants (2 Ne 9:2), what should be taught by ordained priests in the Nephite church (Mosiah 18:19), what Nephite prophets had taught about "restoration" (Alma 40:22, 24), what the prophets had claimed about Jesus' mortal ministry (3 Ne 1:13), and what the Jaredite prophets had told Coriantumr would happen if he did not immediately repent (Ether 15:3).
If any overarching usage could be said to unite the New Testament and Book of Mormon employments of the phrase, it would be that the phrase serves to indicate that whatever is under discussion should be made sense of in light of some available prophetic text (and that one can trust the prophetic texts to be fulfilled). The phrase certainly serves this purpose in its several appearances in the Doctrine and Covenants. References elsewhere in the Doctrine and Covenants are, with one exception (D&C 109:45), concerned (as the phrase is in D&C 42) particularly with the eventual building of Zion (D&C 58:8; 84:2; 86:10; 109:23, 41). Of course, in D&C 42:39, it seems clear—especially because of the specificity of the text that follows this mention of the prophets—to indicate that there are particular prophetic texts that are in mind. And, given especially the reference in the verse to the "riches of the Gentiles" (if the phrase is taken in its pre-clarified form), it seems clear which prophetic text that revelation indicates: Isaiah 60-62.
Isaiah 60-62: the riches of the Gentiles
It seems relatively obvious that the phrase (from the "original" version of the revelation) "the riches of the Gentiles" is drawn from Isaiah 60-62, where the phrase appears several times (see especially Isaiah 60:5, 11; 61:6). Some scholars, it should be pointed out, believe that these three chapters (Isaiah 60-62) form something like the kernel of Isaiah 56-66: the remainder of these eleven chapters are thematically built on the text of Isaiah 60-62. This kernel is in turn basically a commentary on a passage from Isaiah 49: "Lift up thine eyes round about and behold; all these gather themselves together, and they shall come to thee.... And kings shall be thy nursing fathers, and their queens thy nursing mothers; they shall bow down to thee with their face towards the earth, and lick up the dust of thy feet" (verses 18 and 23). Taken together, Isaiah 49 and Isaiah 60-62 paint a picture of the eschatological relationship between Israel and the Gentiles that is central to the way the Lord presents the purpose of the law of consecration in D&C 42.
Summarized, the relationship between Israel and the Gentiles is one of benefaction: the Gentiles, "blessed" with riches and excess, eventually recognize that Israel has been the chosen, covenant people of the one true God, and so they use their substance to establish the poor and downtrodden of Israel, placing them in their land of inheritance and ensuring that they have the means they need to subsist. When the same passage from Isaiah 49 is taken up in the Book of Mormon (especially in 1 Ne 22 and 2 Ne 6), it is further noted that the Gentiles will be given an inheritance with Israel for their generosity (whereas the Isaiah passages might be interpreted to suggest that the Gentiles will—in a reversal of history—be given a place in Zion only as servants or slaves). This particularly Nephite interpretation of the Isaianic texts seems to be at work in the Doctrine and Covenants, at least at the time D&C 42 was originally received: the Saints understood themselves to be (as Europeans) the Gentiles who had been called to restore the Indians (understood then as the Lamanites, and hence, as Israel) to their rightful inheritance in Zion. The relevance of this early Mormon understanding of the Gentile-Israelite relationship for making sense of D&C 42 will have to be spelled out below in more detail.
The poor of my people
When the wording of the revelation was altered for the 1835 publication of the Doctrine and Covenants, the phrase "the poor of my people" was first introduced into the text. It is not without significance, since it draws on at least two other Isaianic texts, both of which are quoted by Nephi in the Book of Mormon: Isaiah 10:2 (see 2 Ne 20:2) and Isaiah 14:32 (see 2 Ne 24:32). In both of these texts—as in so much of both the Old and the New Testaments—it is specifically the poor of the people who will be exalted, while the rich will be destroyed for their pride. In the former of the two texts, in fact, Isaiah rails specifically against the manner in which the rich use even the law to further impoverish the poor; while in the latter of the two texts, it is to be told to the "messenger of the nations (or Gentiles)" that the poor of Israel are those who will inherit Zion.
Moreover, the same phrase ("the poor of my people") appears twice more in the Doctrine in Covenants, both times in revelations that are particularly concerned with the connection between the law of consecration and the fulfillment of ancient promises and covenants: D&C 78:3 comes from the revelation that ties consecration to Adam-ondi-Ahman, while D&C 124:21 comes from the revelation that calls (very much in the spirit and at times even the words of Isaiah 60-62) for the kings and queens of the Gentiles to come and outfit the Saints in Nauvoo with their riches (it should be noted that by the time D&C 124 was revealed, the Saints understood themselves—again, as Europeans—to be Ephraimites, and so they had become, in the language of D&C 42, "the poor of my people who are of the house of Israel"). (There are a number of ways in which D&C 124 can be read as a kind of Nauvoo repetition of D&C 42.)
From all of this, it seems clear that D&C 42:39 follows in suit with other scripture in its focus on Israel's poor being exalted by the benevolent charity of the Gentiles.
My people which are of the house of Israel
Except for the present text and a passing reference in D&C 39:11, it seems this phrase is a uniquely Nephite locution: 1 Ne 14:17; 2 Ne 25:4; 29:1, 2, 14; 3 Ne 16:8, 9, 14; 23:2; 29:3; 30:2.
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