Gold and the Two Ways -- part 4b

In this post, we take a detour from our main point, which is that gold and riches are often used in the scriptures to underscore the doctrine of the Two Ways. We'll divert briefly and talk about the related concept of "slippery treasure." I will connect the two concepts by way of a very ancient apocryphal teaching that directly connects to the Book of Mormon and our modern temple worship.

Hidden riches become lost

In his sermon to the wicked Nephites, Samuel the Lamanite makes a very specific prophecy, which makes repeated reference to a curse that will come upon them because of covenant rebellion:

20 And the day shall come that they shall hide up their treasures, because they have set their hearts upon riches; and because they have set their hearts upon their riches, and will hide up their treasures when they shall flee before their enemies; because they will not hide them up unto me, cursed be they and also their treasures; and in that day shall they be smitten, saith the Lord.
21 Behold ye, the people of this great city, and hearken unto my words; yea, hearken unto the words which the Lord saith; for behold, he saith that ye are cursed because of your riches, and also are your riches cursed because ye have set your hearts upon them, and have not hearkened unto the words of him who gave them unto you.
22 Ye do not remember the Lord your God in the things with which he hath blessed you, but ye do always remember your riches, not to thank the Lord your God for them; yea, your hearts are not drawn out unto the Lord, but they do swell with great pride, unto boasting, and unto great swelling, envyings, strifes, malice, persecutions, and murders, and all manner of iniquities.
23 For this cause hath the Lord God caused that a curse should come upon the land, and also upon your riches, and this because of your iniquities.
24 Yea, wo unto this people, because of this time which has arrived, that ye do cast out the prophets, and do mock them, and cast stones at them, and do slay them, and do all manner of iniquity unto them, even as they did of old time. (Helaman 13)

The end of verse 24 grabs my attention. Which people "of old time" is Samuel referencing? 

I've spent some time thinking about this curse. Slippery treasure? It's strange. So strange that I assume it is extremely old. This curse seems to serve as one final stark reminder that the covenant has been broken and the covenant people are almost completely ripe for destruction. It screams to the wicked: "Your false gods will not save you!"

The curse applies to more than just gold and silver.  Samuel goes on to mention how the curse applies to "tools" and "swords" (see Helaman 13:34). 

This aspect of the curse directly connects to the concept to a fascinating doctrine from the Book of Enoch, the "sins of the fallen angels." Though apocryphal, it is worth studying in some depth (if you ask me). You might be thinking that this has no place in a faithful discussion of the Book of Mormon, but you would be wrong. :)  Samuel makes direct reference to "demons" and "the angels of him who hath sought to destroy our souls" (see Helaman 13:37). The fact that he connects these demonic angels to the curse of slippery treasure, including tools and swords, is very interesting, because it aligns with the precise context of the Enoch tradition.

The Sins of the Fallen Angels

Before we get to that, let's step back and take a closer look that the precise nature of the curse -- why it is given and to whom/what it applies. The "slippery treasure curse" offers us a deeply symbolic warning, a stark reminder that false gods cannot save us. This is 

There is one point in Samuel's words that really stands out to me:

21 ... ye are cursed because of your riches, and also are your riches cursed because ye have set your hearts upon them, and have not hearkened unto the words of him who gave them unto you. (Helaman 13) 

The curse applies both to the covenant people and their riches.  It has two specific causes:

1) The people have set their hearts upon their riches, and

2) The people have not hearkened unto God's word.

Compare this to Jacob's warning about riches in 2 Nephi 9:

30 But wo unto the rich, who are rich as to the things of the world. For because they are rich they despise the poor, and they persecute the meek, and their hearts are upon their treasures; wherefore, their treasure is their god. And behold, their treasure shall perish with them also.

God's covenant people, who definitely ought to know better, have replaced the true and living God with their riches -- a false god of their own making. As a result, both the people and their treasure are cursed. This connects quite clearly with "the sins of the fallen angels." In a 2004 essay titled "Wisdom and the Stewardship of Knowledge," Margaret Barker describes this particularly insidious type of sin, which according to the Book of Enoch were originally taught to man by a group of angels who "bound themselves in a counter-covenant and came to earth ... in this state of rebellion against the Most High God":

The mysterious Wisdom had something to do with spiritual vision, with the human mind, and with knowledge. The harmony of the world was closely connected to her way of perceiving the world, since she joined all things together. What Wisdom gave was not just knowledge and information; it was an attitude to knowledge and information such that the world was in harmony. Conversely, the fragmentation of the world was also due to human perception, to knowledge and how it was used, and the fundamental breach, as we shall see, was the separation of knowledge from the Source of knowledge. Today this is called secular knowledge, but the Enoch tradition recognised it as demonic, the teaching of fallen angels. So should we speak of destructive fragmentation or of post- modern freedom? Of one truth or many? It was and is a matter of perception, and a matter of choice. It is the question of the stewardship of knowledge. (pp. 2-3)

In the case of riches, separating knowledge from the "Source of knowledge" involves convincing us to choose riches over God. Rather than using our material goods to bless and lift our brothers and sisters and build up God's kingdom on the earth, thereby bringing about His purposes (as we have covenanted to do), we see the riches themselves as the path to happiness and set our hearts upon them. It's a subtle perversion with potentially devastating consequences. In the end, the riches we have worshipped transform into chains and we are dragged down to the gulf of misery. Truly demonic!

According to the Book of Enoch tradition, the sins of the fallen angels included a set of very specific secular knowledge (see Barker, p. 12). Metal working is perhaps foremost among these sins, including refining precious metals, constructing weapons, and of course creating tools needed for both. (Picture Satan rebelling against God and promising to use the treasure of the earth to thwart God's plans by making war, tyrants, false priests, and general chaos.)

So this makes Samuel's prophecy all the more intriguing, doesn't it?  Shortly after referencing "they of old time" who rejected the prophets, he declares that the riches, swords, and tools of the covenant-breaking Nephites will disappear and they will be "surrounded by demons." 

34 Behold, we lay a tool here and on the morrow it is gone; and behold, our swords are taken from us in the day we have sought them for battle.
35 Yea, we have hid up our treasures and they have slipped away from us, because of the curse of the land.
36 O that we had repented in the day that the word of the Lord came unto us; for behold the land is cursed, and all things are become slippery, and we cannot hold them.
37 Behold, we are surrounded by demons, yea, we are encircled about by the angels of him who hath sought to destroy our souls. Behold, our iniquities are great. O Lord, canst thou not turn away thine anger from us? And this shall be your language in those days. (Helaman 13)

I'll come back to this concept in one final post in this series that will attempt to summarize what has come out of this study. In the day of judgment, fire will be used to test what we have built up unto God on the foundation that is Jesus Christ. Will our offering pass that test of fire?

Another note about treasure from the ground

There is one additional point to make about this concept of hidden treasure from the ground, this time in a positive context. Moroni, who as the last surviving Nephite certainly understood the devastating consequences of covenant rebellion, hid up the record he and his father had carefully created. He most certainly hid it up unto the Lord, and later instructed the boy Joseph Smith to uncover this hidden treasure and flood the earth with its message.

Recall the specific instructions given my Moroni to Joseph:

I beheld the same messenger at my bedside, and heard him rehearse or repeat over again to me the same things as before; and added a caution to me, telling me that Satan would try to tempt me (in consequence of the indigent circumstances of my father’s family), to get the plates for the purpose of getting rich. This he forbade me, saying that I must have no other object in view in getting the plates but to glorify God, and must not be influenced by any other motive than that of building his kingdom; otherwise I could not get them. (Testimony of the Prophet Joseph Smith)

This Nephite record was made on plates of precious metal as an offering to God. Jacob knew that "whatsoever things we write upon anything save it be upon plates must perish and vanish away" (Jacob 4:2). King Benjamin taught that these words would "stand as a bright witness ... at the judgment day (see Mosiah 3:24). Alma-2 taught that these words "should be kept and handed down from one generation to another, and be kept and preserved by the hand of the Lord until they should go forth unto every nation, kindred, tongue, and people, that they shall know of the mysteries contained thereon" (Alma 37:4).

Having received the record, we each have an opportunity to learn the lesson that eluded the Nephites and led to their destruction. We can escape the clutches of the demons and fallen angels spoken of by Samuel and learn to esteem the wisdom of God above the treasures of the earth.