Essay #59: Moses Witnesses the Fall (Moses 4): Satan’s Original Glory and the...
In this Essay, we will explore how William Blake’s masterpiece describes Satan in his original glory. One can see in his perverse appropriation of the symbols of kingship not only his selfish...
View ArticleEssay #60: Moses Witnesses the Fall (Moses 4): The Willing and Unwilling Sons...
After a rapid sweep across the vast panorama of the Creation and the Garden of Eden in Moses 2-3, the scope narrows and the narrative slows to a more measured pace in Moses 4—and with good reason, for...
View ArticleEssay #61: Moses Witnesses the Fall (Moses 4): The Tree in the Sacred Center...
One thing that has always perplexed readers of Genesis is the location of the two special trees in the Garden of Eden. The Hebrew phrase corresponding to “in the midst” means literally “in the center.”...
View ArticleEssay #62: Moses Witnesses the Fall (Moses 4): What Was the Nature of Satan’s...
In Essay #60, an overview was given of the proposals put forth in the council of heaven for the salvation of mankind. In the present essay, we attempt to attempt to answer related questions in more...
View ArticleEssay #63: Moses Witnesses the Fall (Moses 4): The False and the True “Keeper...
The battle begun in the premortal councils and waged again in the Garden of Eden was a test of obedience for Adam and Eve. However, it should be remembered that the actual prize at stake was...
View ArticleEssay #64: Moses Witnesses the Fall (Moses 4): The False Apron and the Tree...
We read in Moses 4:13 that after Adam and Eve had eaten of the forbidden fruit, “the eyes of them both were opened, and they knew that they had been naked. And they sewed fig leaves together and made...
View ArticleEssay #65: Moses Witnesses the Fall (Moses 4): A Curse for the Serpent (Moses...
Jewish pseudepigraphal texts tell of how, after Adam and Eve’s transgression, God’s “chariot throne [descends and] rests at the Tree of Life and all the flowers come into bloom.” Of this painting,...
View ArticleEssay #66: Moses Witnesses the Fall (Moses 4): The Challenges and Blessings...
I will greatly multiply thy sorrow and thy conception. In sorrow thou shalt bring forth children, and thy desire shall be to thy husband, and he shall rule over thee. In the poignant sculpture by...
View ArticleEssay #67: Moses Witnesses the Fall (Moses 4): Was Eve Beguiled? (Moses 4:5–12)
The scriptures say that Eve was “beguiled” by Satan when she partook of the forbidden fruit. But Latter-day Saints believe she made the right choice. How can both statements be true? The purpose of...
View ArticleEssay #68: Moses Witnesses the Fall (Moses 4): The Nakedness and Clothing of...
Western art typically portrays Adam and Eve as naked in the Garden of Eden, and dressed in “coats of skin” after the Fall. However, the Eastern Orthodox tradition depicts the sequence of their change...
View ArticleEssay #69: Moses Witnesses the Fall (Moses 4): “Stand Ye in Holy Places, and...
In his characteristic epic style, Thomas Cole depicted Adam and Eve being driven from the lush garden to live in the relative wilderness of the mortal world. The exit of the Garden of Eden—and...
View ArticleEssay #70: Moses Witnesses the Fall (Moses 4): The “Temple Work” of Adam and...
Though Biblical commentaries often derive the name “Eden” from the Sumerian edinu (i.e., “a plain”), an alternative meaning, based on an Aramaic-Akkadian bilingual description, is “luxuriance” or...
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