• Skip to primary navigation
  • Skip to main content
  • Skip to primary sidebar
  • Skip to footer

FairMormon

Read 2019 FairMormon Conference Transcripts!
Missed the conference? Streaming is still available.

  • Find Answers
  • Blog
  • Media & Apps
  • Conference
  • Bookstore
  • Archive
  • About
  • Get Involved
  • Search

Sinai

What Were Israel’s Most Serious Provocations of the Lord in the Wilderness? (Old Testament Gospel Doctrine Lesson 14B)

April 18, 2018 by Jeffrey M. Bradshaw

Nicolas Poussin, 1594-1665: The Adoration of the Golden Calf, 1634-1635

An Old Testament KnoWhy relating to the reading assignment for Gospel Doctrine Lesson 14: “Ye Shall Be a Peculiar Treasure Unto Me” (Exodus 15-20; 32-34) (JBOTL14B)

Question:The making of the golden calf is often presented as the height of Israel’s rejection of God and His law. But it was only one of several incidents of rebellion that occurred in the wilderness. Among all these provocations, which ones were the most serious?

Summary: The translations, revelations, and teachings of the Prophet Joseph Smith make it clear that the most serious provocations of Israel had nothing to do with their frequent complainings in the wilderness, as one might otherwise imagine. Rather, they had to do with Israel’s deliberate rejection of “the last law from Moses,” a law associated with the fulness of the priesthood and its blessings. In their rejection of that law, Israel had refused “to sanctify [themselves] that they might behold the face of God” at Sinai. Instead, they prayed “that God would speak to Moses and not to them.” “In consequence of [their actions, God] cursed them with a carnal law.” And, as a result of their actions, the generation of Israelites who left Egypt in the Exodus would neither enter into the promised land nor into “the rest of the Lord” during their mortal lives. Happily, the Lord holds out the possibility of receiving these sometimes-rejected blessings to faithful disciples in our day who are willing to make and keep the covenants that will enable them to continually enjoy the divine presence. Through “sufficient hope,” the “peaceable followers of Christ” may “enter into the rest of the Lord” in this life, “until [they] shall rest with him in heaven.” This rest “is the fulness of his glory.”

 

The full article may be found at the Interpreter Foundation website: KnoWhy OTL14B — What Were Israel’s Most Serious Provocations of the Lord in the Wilderness?

 

Filed Under: Bible, Lesson Aids, Questions, Resources, Temples Tagged With: Egypt, Exodus, Golden Calf, Gospel Doctrine: Old Testament, Moses, Provocations, Rest of the Lord, Sinai, Tabernacle

Primary Sidebar

Subscribe to Blog

Enter your email address:

Delivered by FeedBurner


RSS-Icon RSS Feed (all posts)

Subscribe to Podcast

Podcast icon
Subscribe to podcast in iTunes
Subscribe to podcast elsewhere
Listen with FairMormon app
Android app on Google Play

Pages

  • Blog Guidelines

FairMormon Latest

  • FairMormon Conference Podcast #49 – Angela Hallstrom, “Women’s Voices in Saints Volume 2”
  • FairMormon Conference Podcast #48 – Ben Spackman, “A Paradoxical Preservation of Faith: LDS Creation Accounts and the Composite Nature of Revelation”
  • FairMormon Conference Podcast #47 – Richard Terry, “The Dirt on the Ancient Inhabitants of Mesoamerica”
  • FairMormon Conference Podcast #46 – Daniel Peterson, “‘Idle Tales’? The Witness of Women”
  • A Guide to the First Century Apostasy

Blog Categories

Recent Comments

  • thechair on FairMormon Conference Podcast #48 – Ben Spackman, “A Paradoxical Preservation of Faith: LDS Creation Accounts and the Composite Nature of Revelation”
  • Dennis Horne on FairMormon Conference Podcast #48 – Ben Spackman, “A Paradoxical Preservation of Faith: LDS Creation Accounts and the Composite Nature of Revelation”
  • whizzbang on FairMormon Conference Podcast #48 – Ben Spackman, “A Paradoxical Preservation of Faith: LDS Creation Accounts and the Composite Nature of Revelation”
  • whizzbang on FairMormon Conference Podcast #48 – Ben Spackman, “A Paradoxical Preservation of Faith: LDS Creation Accounts and the Composite Nature of Revelation”
  • Dennis Horne on FairMormon Conference Podcast #48 – Ben Spackman, “A Paradoxical Preservation of Faith: LDS Creation Accounts and the Composite Nature of Revelation”

Archives

Footer

FairMormon Logo

FairMormon is a non-profit organization dedicated to providing well-documented answers to criticisms of LDS doctrine, belief, and practice.

Quick Links

  • About FairMormon
  • Bookstore
  • Contact Us
  • Get Involved
  • Sign Up for Updates

Follow Us

  • Facebook
  • Twitter
  • Google+
  • iTunes
  • YouTube

Donate to FairMormon

We are a volunteer organization. We invite you to give back.

Donate Now

Donate to us by shopping at Amazon at no extra cost to you. Learn how →

Site Footer

Copyright © 1997-2019 by The Foundation for Apologetic Information and Research, Inc. All Rights Reserved.

No portion of this site may be reproduced without the express written consent of The Foundation for Apologetic Information and Research, Inc.

Any opinions expressed, implied, or included in or with the goods and services offered by FairMormon are solely those of FairMormon and not those of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.

Foundation for Apologetic Information and Research (FAIR) Logo

FairMormon™ is controlled and operated by the Foundation for Apologetic Information and Research (FAIR)