Blood and soul

Israel are commanded time and again not to eat or drink any blood. This strict prohibition is repeated many times in the Torah. For example, in Leviticus 17:

10 And whatsoever man there be of the house of Israel, or of the strangers that sojourn among you, that eateth any manner of blood; I will even set my face against that soul that eateth blood, and will cut him off from among his people.

11 For the life (Hebr. nephesh) of the flesh is in the blood (Hebr. dam): and I have given it to you upon the altar to make an atonement for your souls (Hebr. nephesh): for it is the blood (Hebr. dam) that maketh an atonement for the soul (Hebr. nephesh).

12 Therefore I said unto the children of Israel, No soul (Hebr. nephesh) of you shall eat blood (Hebr. dam), neither shall any stranger that sojourneth among you eat blood (Hebr. dam).

13 And whatsoever man there be of the children of Israel, or of the strangers that sojourn among you, which hunteth and catcheth any beast or fowl that may be eaten; he shall even pour out the blood (Hebr. dam) thereof, and cover it with dust (Hebr. aphar).

14 For it is the life of all flesh; the blood of it is for the life thereof: therefore I said unto the children of Israel, Ye shall eat the blood of no manner of flesh: for the life of all flesh is the blood thereof: whosoever eateth it shall be cut off.

I have written the original Hebrew for some selected words in verses 11-13. The Hebrew word, nephesh, does not have a clear English equivalent and is translated into soul, living being, life, self, person, desire, passion, appetite, emotion. It is the essence of our inner being. I think the idea that nephesh is closely connected to blood is an important part of understanding all the instructions and focus on blood in general in Jewish law. 

For instance, as stated in verse 11 above, "it is the blood (where nephesh is found) that maketh an atonement for the soul (nephesh)". When the Israelites sinned, it came from their nephesh, their desire, passion, appetite, ... To make amends, they had to sacrifice it. But instead of sacrificing their own blood (the physical representation of the more abstract nephesh), an animal representing them could be used instead. Their blood would then represent the nephesh where the sin originated and be dashed against all sides of the altar as a sacrifice to God. This would also represent Christ, who like the animals, took our sins upon him and made atonement. There are many approaches to and layers of symbolism related to the ancient practice of animal sacrifice and this is merely one of them. But this relation between nephesh and dam perhaps reflects Jacob's worldview, adding context to his statement in 2 Nephi 9:44

O, my beloved brethren, remember my words. Behold, I take off my garments, and I shake them before you; I pray the God of my salvation that he view me with his all-searching eye; wherefore, ye shall know at the last day, when all men shall be judged of their works, that the God of Israel did witness that I shook your iniquities from my soul (nephesh), and that I stand with brightness before him, and am rid of your blood (dam).

Jacob didn't write in Hebrew, but I assume that the words translated into "soul" and "dam" here are Nephite equivalents of nephesh and dam. It was important to Jacob that his nephesh was not mingled with and contaminated by the nephesh in the blood of the wicked. Removing his garments marked a separation.

The prohibition to eat blood did not originate in the Law of Moses, though. It was given for the first time in Genesis 9

3 Every moving thing that liveth shall be meat for you; even as the green herb have I given you all things.

4 But flesh with the life (nephesh) thereof, which is the blood (dam) thereof, shall ye not eat.

This is right after the flood when the earth "re-starts" with multiple references back to the creation account. This leads to another verse in Genesis:

And the Lord God formed man of the dust (Hebr. aphar) of the ground (Hebr. adamah), and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life; and man became a living soul (Hebr. nephesh). (Genesis 2:8)

According to instructions in Leviticus 17 and other parts of the Torah, blood should be poured on the ground and covered with dust. It is a reversal of the creation of man who was formed from the dust of the ground and became a living soul. Indeed, "for dust (aphar) thou art and unto dust thou shalt return" (Genesis 3:19). The soul simply returning to the dust from which it was formed does not really sound like the plan of salvation as we know it. But here is the twist:

53 Then Jesus said unto them, Verily, verily, I say unto you, Except ye eat the flesh of the Son of man, and drink his blood, ye have no life in you.

54 Whoso eateth my flesh, and drinketh my blood, hath eternal life; and I will raise him up at the last day.

55 For my flesh is meat indeed, and my blood is drink indeed.

56 He that eateth my flesh, and drinketh my blood, dwelleth in me, and I in him. (John 6)

This image may be grotesque enough for a modern reader, but imagine how horrific it sounds to a faithful and strictly Torah-abiding Jew, who would never even think the thought of eating anything with blood in it. When we partake of the blood of other unholy beings, we contaminate ourselves with their impure nephesh instead of becoming holy like God wants us to. But when we partake of the blood of Christ we dwell in him and he in us as stated in verse 56. His nephesh is pure and holy and this is why we can make an exception to the rule. Instead of staying in the dust that we return to at death we are raised up to eternal life at the last day, according to verse 54.

Consider the words of Christ to the Nephites:

And he said unto them: He that eateth this bread eateth of my body to his soul; and he that drinketh of this wine drinketh of my blood to his soul; and his soul shall never hunger nor thirst, but shall be filled. (3 Nephi 20:8)

The nephesh in the blood of Christ fills up our nephesh and purifies it.  

Paneh (פָנִים): face

The Hebrew word for face would seem a quite trivial thing to make a blog post about, but I find it interesting for several reasons. Just like other body parts, face can be taken literally but also carry deeper symbolic meaning. For an ancient Jew, the face was also synonymous with "presence". This is sometimes reflected in the English translations of the Old Testament. The Hebrew word is paneh (פָנִים). For example, Psalm 95, that has been discussed many times on this blog, begins like this:

1 O come, let us sing unto the Lord: let us make a joyful noise to the rock of our salvation.

2 Let us come before his presence with thanksgiving, and make a joyful noise unto him with psalms.

3 For the Lord is a great God, and a great King above all gods.

4 In his hand are the deep places of the earth: the strength of the hills is his also.

5 The sea is his, and he made it: and his hands formed the dry land.

6 O come, let us worship and bow down: let us kneel before the Lord our maker.

"Face" is not even mentioned once in English in these verses, but in the Hebrew text it is found twice (the bold parts). A literal translation of the bold part in verse 6 would read "kneel face Yahweh". That would make little sense in English. Knowing that the Lord's face has to do with his presence, the translators choose the preposition "before" even though there is no preposition in the Hebrew text. This is only one of very many examples, which means that whenever "paneh" is used in Hebrew in the meaning of presence, it gets a bit lost in translation. 

"Before the Lord" or "paneh Yahweh" is often used in the context of bringing sacrifices to the Lord. As I have often mentioned before, the Book of Mormon frequently uses Old Testament terms in a context that seems to expand on or show a deeper meaning to the Old Testament usage. "Before the Lord" in the Book of Mormon is almost always in the context of humility. The Book of Mormon people humble themselves before the Lord. They were humble in the Lord's presence, or literally his face. Perhaps this indicates that bringing sacrifices in the temple, which by definition is in the Lord's presence, is an act of humility.

The word, "face", is also frequently used in the early chapters of Genesis. Notice the reference to the creation in verse 5 of the Psalm quoted above. There is a poetic reference to both hands and face that is lost in translation. The creation account mentions the face of the waters and the face of the earth. Searching for "face" in the Book of Mormon, I also found that the overwhelming majority of uses of this word, is in the phrase "face of the earth/land". Lord Wilmore has previously postulated that this is a covenant term, and I think he is absolutely right. I want to expand on the theme in his linked post to further demonstrate this. The Book of Mormon frequently describes the activity of a chosen covenant people on the face of the (promised) land. I am not going to quote a lot of these verses, but I find Ether 6:12 particularly interesting:

12 And they did land upon the shore of the promised land. And when they had set their feet upon the shores of the promised land they bowed themselves down upon the face of the land, and did humble themselves before the Lord, and did shed tears of joy before the Lord, because of the multitude of his tender mercies over them.

13 And it came to pass that they went forth upon the face of the land, and began to till the earth.

If the Nephite language preserved this feature from Hebrew, perhaps the "face of the land" and "before the Lord" were linked by a common word as it would be in Hebrew. This is also seen in the early chapters of Genesis. When Adam and Eve had partaken of the fruit, they

hid themselves from the presence (Hebr. paneh) of the Lord God amongst the trees of the garden. (Genesis 3:8)

Instead of humbling themselves before the face of the Lord, they hid themselves from it. This is repeated when describing the curse of Cain.When Cain's sacrifice was rejected, his countenance (Hebr. paneh) fell, as we read in Genesis 4:5. Then he murdered his brother, Abel, and was cursed.

14 Behold, thou hast driven me out this day from the face of the earth; and from thy face shall I be hid; and I shall be a fugitive and a vagabond in the earth; and it shall come to pass, that every one that findeth me shall slay me. (Genesis 4:14)

Cain was banished from the face of the earth and hidden from the face of the Lord. But how could he be driven out from the face of the earth? He would be a fugitive and vagabond, but surely he was not going to be sent to another planet(!). I think there is a deeper and profound meaning here. Temporarily, we are all on the face of mother earth that was created for us to learn and grow. Her presence lets us enjoy the bounty she can bring forth, the fruit of the tilled ground. The face of mother earth is a gateway to the face/presence of the Lord. In the context of the plan of salvation, we know this to be the case. Because of his murder and rebellion, Cain was banished from the face of the earth, who would no longer yield its strength, and thereby also excluded from the possibility to come before (the face of) the Lord.

The humble Jaredites in Ether 6:12 represent the polar opposite of that. I have recently written about a reversal of curses in the beginning of Genesis, but apparently there are layers to that. Bowing ourselves upon the face of the earth in humility, tilling the earth and bringing forth her yield as a righteous sacrifice before the Lord, leads us to his face/presence. 

Adam and adamah -- Part 4

Here are the links to

• Part 1
• Part 2
• Part 3

I didn't think I would make a part 4, but I keep coming back to these three levels of the state of adamah (Hebrew for ground/earth)

1. Garden of Eden. No cultivation needed because the ground brings forth "every tree" (Genesis 2:9)
2. Cursed ground outside the Garden of Eden. Needs cultivation by man to bring forth fruit. (Genesis 3:19,23)
3. Both ground and tiller of the ground (Cain) are cursed. The ground no longer yielding its strength. (Genesis 4:12)

One reason is because three levels like this is a recurring temple theme. In our modern temples and theology, we talk about the telestial, terrestrial and celestial kingdoms or worlds. In the ancient tabernacle/temple, there were different names but the same structure. There was the outer court, the holy place within the temple and then the inner sanctuary referred to as the most holy place or the holy of holies. These three levels of the temple correspond to the three levels of man. The NRSV Cultural Backgrond Study Bible explains

Ancient Israelite society operated on the understanding that there were three distinct categories or states in which persons (and objects) could find themselves: the state of uncleanness, the state of cleanness and the state of holiness. Yahweh inhabited the last, and animals unfit to eat inhabited the first. Persons could move between being clean and unclean, depending on what they had recently been doing, eating, touching, etc. Persons in a state of uncleanness were not allowed to approach anyone or anything deemed holy. Even persons who believed themselves to be in a state of cleanness could suffer dire consequences for coming into contact with that which was holy without authorization (e.g., 2 Sam 6.6–7). One of the goals of Yahweh’s covenant with the Israelites was to make of them a “holy nation” (Ex 19.6).

The three different states of adamah in Genesis 2-4 therefore follows a recognizable pattern

Unclean - clean - holy

Outer court - holy place - holy of holies

Telestial - terrestrial - celestial

In the outer courts of the tabernacle/temple, there were bronze basins for washing to become clean. For the high priests, who were the only one who could enter into the inner sanctuary, there were sanctification/purification rituals to make them holy (Hebr. qodesh). The Garden of Eden is where the tree of life and God's presence is found. Man was cast out for his disobedience. But if we enter into and keep covenants (somehow associated with tilling the earth), we can be clean and prepare to become holy. If not, we are stained with blood and the earth will not yield its strength. 

I have discussed in the previous parts how Christ and covenants prepare a reversal of these curses and can help us progress through the three levels to a holy state back to the tree of life. What I did not fully realize is how the atonement of Christ symbolized this reversal. In the second part, I discussed the blood of Christ falling to the ground in Gethsemane. This is related to the third state where ground and man is cursed after the blood of Abel was swallowed up by the ground. Christ reverses the curse by spilling his own blood. The next day, Jesus is mocked and beaten prior to the crucifixion. The soldiers make a crown of thorns and put on his head. This reminds us of the second state of adamah, where it is cursed after Adam's transgression. Remember what the account says about the curse

cursed is the ground for thy sake; in sorrow shalt thou eat of it all the days of thy life; Thorns also and thistles shall it bring forth to thee; and thou shalt eat the herb of the field (Genesis 3:17-18)

Jesus voluntarily takes upon him the sting of thorns from the cursed adamah as he walks with us back to the tree of life. As a reversal of the curse, he wears them on his head as king. Finally, he is crucified by being "hanged on a tree" (see Acts 5:30, Acts 10:39, Acts 13:29, 1 Peter 2:24). Most likely, this was not a tree with roots and branches. The Greek word, xulon, that is used can mean both tree and wood. But the symbolism is clear, nonetheless. Xulon is used both for the cross where Jesus was hanged and the tree of life in Revelation 22. In a sense, this wooden cross that "the firstfruits", Jesus Christ,  (see 1 Corinthians 15:20) was hanged on becomes the tree of life for us and the reversal of curses is complete. 

Through Christ, we have gone through blood and thorns, from unclean to clean to holy and can finally enter into the inner sanctuary, the celestial world, the tree of life and God's presence. I love how earth and man follow each other on this path. As Adam goes from unclean/telestial to clean/terrestrial to holy/celestial, adamah goes from blood-stained and not yielding its strength to yielding through sweat and thorns to growing a tree of life. Adam becomes El and adamah yields elah. I know I am repeating myself a bit with this post but I just love to see previous and new themes coming together.

Footstool

I've got multiple series of posts going on at the same time, but I haven't forgotten about them.  This post will open up another topic -- footstool. After this I'll get back to the "stretch forth thine hand" series and finish that, then, I'll return to Moses 7 from my most recent post.

Footstool

This word caught my attention as I studied the Book of Moses this week. Let's look at a few verses in restoration scripture which use this term:

Moses 6:9, 44

9 In the image of his own body, male and female, created he them, and blessed them, and called their name Adam, in the day when they were created and became living souls in the land upon the footstool of God. ...

44 The heavens he made; the earth is his footstool; and the foundation thereof is his. Behold, he laid it, an host of men hath he brought in upon the face thereof.

1 Nephi 17:38-40

38 And he leadeth away the righteous into precious lands, and the wicked he destroyeth, and curseth the land unto them for their sakes.

39 He ruleth high in the heavens, for it is his throne, and this earth is his footstool.

40 And he loveth those who will have him to be their God. Behold, he loved our fathers, and he covenanted with them, yea, even Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob; and he remembered the covenants which he had made; wherefore, he did bring them out of the land of Egypt.

Abraham 2:6-8

6 But I, Abraham, and Lot, my brother’s son, prayed unto the Lord, and the Lord appeared unto me, and said unto me: Arise, and take Lot with thee; for I have purposed to take thee away out of Haran, and to make of thee a minister to bear my name in a strange land which I will give unto thy seed after thee for an everlasting possession, when they hearken to my voice.

7 For I am the Lord thy God; I dwell in heaven; the earth is my footstool; I stretch my hand over the sea, and it obeys my voice; I cause the wind and the fire to be my chariot; I say to the mountains—Depart hence—and behold, they are taken away by a whirlwind, in an instant, suddenly.

8 My name is Jehovah, and I know the end from the beginning; therefore my hand shall be over thee.

(We also see "footstool" used in Doctrine & Covenants 38:17 and 3 Nephi 12:35, but those instances don't add much to the context I'm specifically studying.)

What do we learn from these verses about the earth?

Do you notice the reference to Genesis 3:17 in 1 Nephi 17:38 above? The ground is cursed because Adam hearkened to Eve rather than God. Yet the experience in the wilderness would allow Adam and Eve to fulfill the first commandment He gave them (found in Genesis 1:28) -- to "be fruitful, and multiply, and replenish the earth, and subdue it and have dominion over ... every living thing that moveth upon [it]."

A footstool symbolizes that which has been subdued. Putting an enemy under your feet indicates you've prevailed. One essential function of the priesthood is to bring order to the "waste places" and thereby gain victory over chaos and death. This is taught rather plainly in Doctrine & Covenants 103:7-11 --

7 And by hearkening to observe all the words which I, the Lord their God, shall speak unto them, they shall never cease to prevail until the kingdoms of the world are subdued under my feet, and the earth is given unto the saints, to possess it forever and ever.

8 But inasmuch as they keep not my commandments, and hearken not to observe all my words, the kingdoms of the world shall prevail against them.

9 For they were set to be a light unto the world, and to be the saviors of men;

10 And inasmuch as they are not the saviors of men, they are as salt that has lost its savor, and is thenceforth good for nothing but to be cast out and trodden under foot of men.

11 But verily I say unto you, I have decreed that your brethren which have been scattered shall return to the lands of their inheritances, and shall build up the waste places of Zion.

Covenant brings about this "build[ing] up" of "the waste places of Zion." Notice the contrasting fates of those who enter into the covenant -- they will either stay faithful and prevail, and possess the earth forever and ever, or they will reject the covenant and be defeated by the kingdoms of the world, leading them to be cast out and "trodden under foot of men."

I've got a little more to say on this topic, but I'll save it until after the two open series are concluded. Interestingly, the redemption of Zion (subduing the kingdoms of the earth) ties right back into the concept of the out-stretched hand:

15 Behold, I say unto you, the redemption of Zion must needs come by power;

16 Therefore, I will raise up unto my people a man, who shall lead them like as Moses led the children of Israel.

17 For ye are the children of Israel, and of the seed of Abraham, and ye must needs be led out of bondage by power, and with a stretched-out arm.

18 And as your fathers were led at the first, even so shall the redemption of Zion be. (Doctrine & Covenants 103)

The redemption of Zion happens through God's power, also known as the Priesthood.

Adam and adamah -- Part 2 ("the earth which hath opened her mouth to receive thy brother's blood")

Adamah as the mother of adam

When I write adam with lower case 'a' in the heading, it is in the meaning of mankind, not as a personal name. 

With so much focus on the earth (Hebr. adamah) in Genesis 2-4, it is an interesting exercise to read these chapters from the perspective of the earth instead of the perspective of man. Part 1 displayed the role that the earth/ground is playing in this story. It is portrayed as much more than a lifeless planet of rock and dirt. It is "the mother of men" (Moses 7:48). Even though we all have mothers who have given us birth individually, the earth is portrayed as the mother of mankind in general. Adam/mankind is formed from the dust of the earth and has an intimate connection to adamah as shown in part 1. In Job 1:21, we read

Naked came I out of my mother’s womb, and naked shall I return thither

Obviously, Job does not think that he will return into his mother's womb, unless he considers earth itself to also be his mother. This is a reference to Genesis 3:19. But let's have a look at the larger passage for context

17 And unto Adam he said, Because thou hast hearkened unto the voice of thy wife, and hast eaten of the tree, of which I commanded thee, saying, Thou shalt not eat of it: cursed is the ground for thy sake; in sorrow shalt thou eat of it all the days of thy life;

18 Thorns also and thistles shall it bring forth to thee; and thou shalt eat the herb of the field;

19 In the sweat of thy face shalt thou eat bread, till thou return unto the ground; for out of it wast thou taken: for dust thou art, and unto dust shalt thou return.

20 And Adam called his wife’s name Eve; because she was the mother of all living.

The bold part is the allusion made by Job. It is also interesting to note that in the next verse, Adam calls his wife Eve because she is the mother of all living. As if there is a connection to the ground in the preceding verses. Eve brings forth life, just like mother earth.

Bloodshed and curse

In part 1 I noted that there are two curses in these chapters involving the ground. The passage from Genesis 3 quoted above, recounts the first curse that came as a consequence of Adam partaking of the fruit. A bit later in the story, in Genesis 4, Cain tills the ground and makes an offering of fruit. After God rejects it, he kills his brother, Abel, resulting in the second curse. So Abel also returns unto the ground, but in this particular case, the text focuses on his blood rather than his dead body made of dust. 

10 And he said, What hast thou done? the voice of thy brother’s blood crieth unto me from the ground.

11 And now art thou cursed from the earth, which hath opened her mouth to receive thy brother’s blood from thy hand; (Genesis 4:10-11)

This presents a vivid and somewhat strange image. The adamah, mother earth, opens her mouth to receive Abel's blood. I am not sure if I fully understand the symbolism here, but eating and drinking in the Bible often has cultural and symbolic meaning. I wrote here about the covenant meal. Eating together binds people together because they partake of the same substance. Whatever you eat and drink becomes part of you. This is powerful symbolism that applies to the sacrament, for instance. In this case with the ground drinking Abel's blood, there is a negative connotation. There are several examples of that in the scriptures too. In Numbers 5:23, an adulterer is made to drink bitter water. In Exodus 32:20, Moses grinds the golden calf to powder, mixes it with water and makes the Israelites drink it. This all as a way to show that you internalize the bitter consequences of your actions. 

But what did the ground do wrong? Nothing, I guess. The story just shows the close relationship between adam and adamah (and in this case also dam). Mother earth involuntarily and unjustly suffers the consequences of human iniquity. In the Pearl of Great Price the story goes on and we get details that we don't find in Genesis. As the "children of men" began to multiply and became "numerous upon all the face of the land", there was "wars and bloodshed" (see Moses 6:15). More of that in Moses 7

15 And the giants of the land, also, stood afar off; and there went forth a curse upon all people that fought against God;

16 And from that time forth there were wars and bloodshed among them; but the Lord came and dwelt with his people, and they dwelt in righteousness.

17 The fear of the Lord was upon all nations, so great was the glory of the Lord, which was upon his people. And the Lord blessed the land, and they were blessed upon the mountains, and upon the high places, and did flourish.

Here is another curse because of bloodshed, but also a contrasted blessing upon the land. I will get more into that in the next post. Adamah suffers because of this bloodshed but has no other choice than to receive it. Here is how Mormon describes the bloodshed among his people.

15 And it came to pass that there were ten more who did fall by the sword, with their ten thousand each; yea, even all my people, save it were those twenty and four who were with me, and also a few who had escaped into the south countries, and a few who had deserted over unto the Lamanites, had fallen; and their flesh, and bones, and blood lay upon the face of the earth, being left by the hands of those who slew them to molder upon the land, and to crumble and to return to their mother earth. (Mormon 6)

As a side note, there are two Hebrew words with similar meaning, adamah and erets. Erets is usually translated as "earth" or "land". But when "face of the land/earth" is used in the Old Testament, it is usually from the Hebrew adamah.

Bloodshed and sanctification

I quoted Moses 7:48 in part 1, when mother earth cries out in agony longing for sanctification. Verse 45 explains where the sanctification comes from

And it came to pass that Enoch looked; and from Noah, he beheld all the families of the earth; and he cried unto the Lord, saying: When shall the day of the Lord come? When shall the blood of the Righteous be shed, that all they that mourn may be sanctified and have eternal life?

...as does Moses 6:60

by the blood ye are sanctified

Bloodshed both curses and sanctifies. The bloodshed by wicked men corrupting the earth is contrasted by the bloodshed of "the Righteous" that sanctifies. The latter is fulfilled in Gethsemane

And being in an agony he prayed more earnestly: and his sweat was as it were great drops of blood falling down to the ground. (Luke 22:44)

Perhaps there is a symbolic parallel between the bitter cup that Jesus had to drink and the blood that the ground had to "drink". Hebrews 12:24 ties this event to the blood of Abel that cried from the ground.

And to Jesus the mediator of the new covenant, and to the blood of sprinkling, that speaketh better things than that of Abel.

The blood that speaks

Why does the blood of Jesus speak better things that that of Abel? The speaking blood is an interesting aspect of the Cain and Abel story. Not only is adamah personified (that is, assigned attributes of adam), but also the dam is personified and cries unto God from the ground. This is unique in the Old Testament but alluded to about a dozen times in the Book of Mormon. Here is one example

22 And whatsoever nation shall uphold such secret combinations, to get power and gain, until they shall spread over the nation, behold, they shall be destroyed; for the Lord will not suffer that the blood of his saints, which shall be shed by them, shall always cry unto him from the ground for vengeance upon them and yet he avenge them not. (Ether 8)

Note that the name Cain comes from the Hebrew word for "get gain". Like the blood of Abel, the blood of the saints will cry from the ground for vengeance upon the modern Cains who seek to get gain. The blood of Abel and by extension, the blood of all righteous and innocent who are killed by the wicked, always cry for justice. The blood of Jesus, however, cries for mercy and sanctifies. This is probably why Paul says that it "speaketh better things".

3 Listen to him who is the advocate with the Father, who is pleading your cause before him—

4 Saying: Father, behold the sufferings and death of him who did no sin, in whom thou wast well pleased; behold the blood of thy Son which was shed, the blood of him whom thou gavest that thyself might be glorified;

5 Wherefore, Father, spare these my brethren that believe on my name, that they may come unto me and have everlasting life. (D&C 45)