Across the Church, we have just finished a year’s course of study on the Old Testament, but I sense some confusion exists among not just a few members as to the role of the priesthood and the nature of the temple ordinances as they existed in Israel in what we refer to as the dispensation of Moses. This comment should not be viewed as a criticism of those who taught that course of study but rather should be seen as a logical result of our tendency to often avoid what appear to be seemingly unnecessary details.
When Israel was invited to settle in Egypt at the time of Jacob and his twelve sons, the Melchizedek Priesthood was operational among the people. During their many years of captivity, they began to lose their grasp on the blessings of that priesthood through increasing disobedience to the Lord’s commandments. This was the state of things as Moses led the children of Israel out of Egypt and into the wilderness.
Now a series of verses in the Doctrine and Covenants, Section 84 become very relevant. Speaking of the Melchizedek Priesthood, the Lord reveals that “this greater priesthood administereth the gospel and holdeth the key of the mysteries of the kingdom, even the key of the knowledge of God. Therefore, in the ordinances thereof, the power of godliness is manifest. And without the ordinances thereof, and the authority of the priesthood, the power of godliness is not manifest unto men in the flesh; For without this no man can see the face of God, even the Father, and live” (19-22). In the next verse, we learn that Moses “plainly taught” this truth “to the children of Israel in the wilderness, and sought diligently to sanctify his people that they might behold the face of God” (23). Very clearly at that time, the Melchizedek Priesthood still had a presence among them.
However as we well understand, while Moses was on Mount Sinai receiving further instructions from the Lord concerning Israel’s future relative to the higher priesthood, the people with Aaron’s consent fashioned a golden calf and commenced to worship it. As a result of their unfaithfulness, the Melchizedek Priesthood began to recede from their midst until it was held only by the prophets in Israel until the coming of Christ’s ministry. “But they hardened their hearts and could not endure his presence; therefore, the Lord in his wrath, for his anger was kindled against them, swore that they should not enter into his rest while in the wilderness, which rest is the fulness of his glory. Therefore, he took Moses out of their midst, and the Holy Priesthood also; And the lesser priesthood continued, which priesthood holdeth the key of the ministering of angels and the preparatory gospel; Which gospel is the gospel of repentance and of baptism, and the remission of sins, and the law of carnal commandments, which the Lord in his wrath caused to continue with the house of Aaron among the children of Israel until John, whom God raised up, being filled with the Holy Ghost from his mother’s womb” (24-27).
Until Moses was translated, he alone held the keys necessary to administer Israel by means of the Melchizedek Priesthood even though Aaron had been ordained the High Priest in the Aaronic Priesthood and as such held the keys of that priesthood. The greater priesthood is always superior to the lesser one when the keys of presidency in the greater are present. However, with Moses out of their midst, the keys of presidency that Aaron held as the High Priest within the Aaronic Priesthood gave him the authority and the responsibility to administer in Israel. From that day until the time of Christ’s ministry upon the earth, the Melchizedek Priesthood would be manifest among the children of Israel residing in the lands of the East in the workings of the prophets only. However, they did not hold the keys of presidency in that ministry, and thus they were not able to establish a Melchizedek Priesthood organization within Israel. That is what the Lord meant when He said that Moses was taken “out of their midst, and the Holy Priesthood also” (25).
Under the auspices of the Aaronic Priesthood, Israel was truly deprived of the blessings which flow from the workings of the Melchizedek Priesthood. For many of those camped at the base of Mount Sinai, they would live long enough to sense their real loss having experienced something of both worlds. For by means of the carnal commandments they were now to follow and the carnal ordinances that were then administered in their behalf, salvation was not possible. They were in possession of only a preparatory gospel, not a gospel with the power to save. In their temples, the Holy Ghost had no role. The Light of Christ was the Spirit that ministered there. For dispensations of the Holy Ghost are possible only by those who hold the greater priesthood. Perhaps needless to say in light of this, the ordinances performed in their temples were not those required for consideration of eternal life. Israel was no longer in possession of even the basic saving ordinances, for God “swore that they should not enter into his rest while in the wilderness, which rest is the fulness of his glory” (24).
How different were the circumstances of those led away from Jerusalem by the Prophet Lehi. They were in possession of the greater priesthood and not the lesser. They taught and practiced the saving ordinances of baptism and confirmation whereby they had the right to be guided, inspired, and comforted by the Holy Ghost. They organized themselves and administered the Melchizedek Priesthood according to the revealed plan of their day namely, the patriarchal order. Apparently, they were in possession of the saving ordinances necessary for exaltation. If not, why did Jacob teach over four hundred years before the birth of the Savior the following: “O then, my beloved brethren, repent ye, and enter in at the strait gate, and continue in the way which is narrow, until ye shall obtain eternal life” (Jacob 6:11). The concept of and the requirements for eternal life were well known to the people of Nephi as is attested to by the many references to the same in the Book of Mormon.
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