Pearl of Great Price Commentary - Abraham 4

by Don R. Hender

Scriptural Text [& Editorial]
Commentary & Explanation
Footnotes ~ References ~ JST
               CHAPTER 4

The Gods plan the creation of the earth and all life thereon—Their plans for the six days of creation are set forth.

1 And then the Lord said: Let us go downa. And they went down at the beginning, and they, that is the aGods, borganized and formed the cheavens and the earth.
2 And the earth, after it was formed, was empty and desolate, because they had not formed anything but the earth; and adarkness reigned upon the face of the deep, and the Spirit of the Gods bwas brooding upon the face of the waters.

Only One God 
The concept that the 'true worship of God' is to be found in there being only 'One True God', has complicated the truth of the matter due to the lack of knowledge and understand relative to the true nature of the 'Godhead'. That as Christian and Jew alike, we do but worship the 'One True God' who is Jehovah is a matter of true fact. But that Jehovah who is the same as Jesus Christ establishes that even He, our 'One True God' is in subjection to 'His Lord' who is 'God the Eternal Father' is also a matter of true fact. To sort this out one has to have the true perspective of eternity and the preexistant or premortal realm. In the preexistance there was God the Father of all the spirits of men including Jehovah, the Firstborn of the Father in the spirit. God the Eternal Father was already in the state of being an exalted Celestial being of Spirit housed in an immortal body of flesh and bone. The rest of us were but his Spirit Children. In order for us to become like unto the Father, we need to pass from that First Estate into a Second Estate of mortality wherein we would obtain a body of flesh and bone and learn to subject it to the order of the Spiritual or the Order of God. Now the Father was already beyond the realm of this 'Mortal Second Estate', and therefore would not be a part of it with us. We had need of an Administering God who would be 'God with Us', Immanuel, to rule and reign for and in behalf of the Father over this Second Estate. That God, our 'One True God' of this 'Second Estate' was to be so 'Anointed of the Father' with all the powers of God to be the Ministering God unto this Second Estate in the 'stead' or by the power of atorney of the Father because only those pertaining to this estate could so minister unto it (D&C 130:5). Thus so endowed, Jehovah became our God of our Second Estate. And having receive the fulness of the power of the Father, he became God, the God of our Creation, the Creation of this Second Estate realm. This is the true relationship between the Father and the Son. The Son acting for and in behalf of the Father, under the direction of the Father in all things in the stead of the Father in our behalf. He being our advocate and mediator unto the Father and that eternal realm of Celestial Exaltation in which the Father does dwell. 		 1a Let us go down The very words which are even retained in the King James Bible concerning the fact that there were more than just one involved in the creation process are echoed in Genesis 1:26 where it is recorded concerning the creation of man that it was stated, "Let us make man in our image,", and there also the plural forms are preserved that there is more than one in involved in the creative process. The fact that the Hebrew text uses the plural of Gods, in its use of 'Elohim' through out is not totally lost but mistranslated due to the Jewish perspective and the perspective of traditional Christianity which reflect the absolute need to portray only 'One God'. That we are subject to the one God appointed by the Father is the truth, but the Gods, which included God the Father, God the Son, and God the Holy Ghost constitute the Godhead. That Jehovah who is the same as Christ is our Mediator and Advocate with the Father in all things as set forth by the Father anointing Him to act in the stead of the Father in all things, is a matter as to who does administer, who is the administering God to this fallen Second Estate. And that is Jehovah, the Spirit God of the Old Testament, the Creator under the direction of the Father, and he who came to earth to obtain his body of flesh and body and to atone for the sins of the world that man might be redeemed from the fall. But is should be understood that while Christ-Jehovah is the Savior and God of this estate, He does work under the direction of his Father, giving all glory to his name and the three, which includes the Holy Spirit which reveals the Father and the Son, do work in harmony one with the other in perpose and process, Thus it is correct to state that the Gods, (elohim plural), did consult and work in harmony in respect to the creation, though the Father does state by way of the mouth of John the Apostle that all things where created by the hand of the Son, the Word who is the anointed and appointed Son of God. The correct translation is given in Abraham chapter four where it does set forth that the Gods did work together being of the same mind and by the hand of Jehovah create not only this earth, but the heavens and all things that in them are. It is reasuring the the Gods did confer and confirm the creation process acting in and as having 'one mind' supporting each other that this is and was the proper course of the creation process to be followed. The Son working under the direction of the Father and the Holy Spirit confirming and sanctioning the whole process to be proper and of one perfect accord together.  2a Heb. 11:21
   b Gen. 47:31
 3a 1 Ne. 1:14; 2 Ne. 9:46;
      3 Ne. 4:32; D&C 76:106-107;
      D&C 87:6; Moses 2:1;
      JS-H 1:29; A of F 11
   b D&C 107:54; Abr. 2:6
   c Gen 28:19; Gen. 35:6;
      Josh. 18:13
 4a TG Seed of Abraham
   b TG Promised Land
   c Gen 17:8; Abr. 2:6;
 5a JST Gen. 48:5-11
   b TG Israel, Joseph, People of
   c Deut 3:13

The First Time
3 And they (the Gods) said: Let there be light; and there was light.
4 And they (the Gods) comprehended the light, for it was abright; and they divided the light, or caused it to be divided, from the darkness.
5 And the Gods called the light Day, and the darkness they called Night. And it came to pass that from the evening until morning they called anight; and from the morning until the evening they called day; and this was the first, or the beginning,of that which they called day and night.

 2a Heb. 11:21
   b Gen. 47:31
 3a 1 Ne. 1:14; 2 Ne. 9:46;
      3 Ne. 4:32; D&C 76:106-107;
      D&C 87:6; Moses 2:1;
      JS-H 1:29; A of F 11
   b D&C 107:54; Abr. 2:6
   c Gen 28:19; Gen. 35:6;
      Josh. 18:13
 4a TG Seed of Abraham
   b TG Promised Land
   c Gen 17:8; Abr. 2:6;
 5a JST Gen. 48:5-11
   b TG Israel, Joseph, People of
   c Deut 3:13

The Second Time
6 And the Gods also said: Let there be an aexpanse in the midst of the waters, and it shall divide the waters from the waters.
7 And the Gods ordered the expanse, so that it divided the waters which were under the expanse from the waters which were above the expanse; and it was so, even as they ordered.
8 And the Gods called the expanse, Heaven. And it came to pass that it was from evening until morning that they called night; and it came to pass that it was from morning until evening that they called day; and this was the second atime that they called night and day.

 2a Heb. 11:21
   b Gen. 47:31
 3a 1 Ne. 1:14; 2 Ne. 9:46;
      3 Ne. 4:32; D&C 76:106-107;
      D&C 87:6; Moses 2:1;
      JS-H 1:29; A of F 11
   b D&C 107:54; Abr. 2:6
   c Gen 28:19; Gen. 35:6;
      Josh. 18:13
 4a TG Seed of Abraham
   b TG Promised Land
   c Gen 17:8; Abr. 2:6;
 5a JST Gen. 48:5-11
   b TG Israel, Joseph, People of
   c Deut 3:13

The Third Time
9 And the Gods ordered, saying: Let the awaters under the heaven be gathered together unto bone place, and let the earth come up dry; and it was so as they ordered;
10 And the Gods pronounced the dry land, Earth; and the gathering together of the waters, pronounced they, aGreat Waters; and the Gods saw that they were obeyed.

11 And the Gods said: Let us prepare the earth to bring forth agrass; the herb yielding seed; the fruit tree yielding fruit, after his kind, whose seed in itself yieldeth its own likeness upon the earth; and it was so, even as they ordered.
12 And the Gods organized the aearth to bring forth grass from its own seed, and the herb to bring forth herb from its own seed, yielding seed after his kind; and the earth to bring forth the tree from its own seed, yielding fruit, whose seed could only bring forth the same in itself, after his kind; and the Gods saw that they were obeyed.
13 And it came to pass that they numbered the days; from the evening until the morning they called night; and it came to pass, from the morning until the evening they called day; and it was the third time.

The Fourth Time
14 And the Gods organized the alights in the expanse of the heaven, and caused them to divide the day from the night; and organized them to be for signs and for seasons, and for days and for years;
15 And organized them to be for lights in the expanse of the heaven to give light upon the earth; and it was so.
16 And the Gods organized the two great lights, the agreater light to rule the day, and the lesser light to rule the night; with the lesser light they set the stars also;

17 And the Gods set them in the expanse of the heavens, to give light upon the earth, and to rule over the day and over the night, and to cause to divide the light from the adarkness.
18 And the Gods watched those things which they had aordered until they obeyed.
19 And it came to pass that it was from evening until morning that it was night; and it came to pass that it was from morning until evening that it was day; and it was the fourth time.

The Fifth Time
20 And the Gods said: Let us prepare the waters to bring forth abundantly the moving creatures that have life; and the fowl, that they may fly above the earth in the open expanse of heaven.
21 And the Gods prepared the waters that they might bring forth great awhales, and every living creature that moveth, which the waters were to bring forth abundantly after their kind; and every winged fowl after their kind. And the Gods saw that they would be obeyed, and that their plan was good.

22 And the Gods said: We will bless them, and cause them to be fruitful and multiply, and fill the waters in the seas or agreat waters; and cause the fowl to multiply in the earth.
23 And it came to pass that it was from evening until morning that they called night; and it came to pass that it was from morning until evening that they called day; and it was the fifth time.

The Sixth Time
24 And the Gods prepared the earth to bring forth the living creature after his kind, cattle and creeping things, and beasts of the earth after their kind; and it was so, as they had said.
25 And the Gods organized the earth to bring forth the beasts after their kind, and cattle after their kind, and every thing that creepeth upon the earth after its kind; and the Gods saw they would obey.

26 And the Gods took acounsel among themselves and said: Let us go down and bform man in our cimage, after our likeness; and we will give them dominion over the fish of the sea, and over the fowl of the air, and over the cattle, and over all the earth, and over every creeping thing that creepeth upon the earth.
27 So the aGods went down to organize man in their own bimage, in the image of the Gods to form they him, male and female to form they them.

28 And the Gods said: We will bless them. And the Gods said: We will cause them to be fruitful and multiply, and replenish the earth, and subdue it, and to have dominion over the fish of the sea, and over the fowl of the air, and over every living thing that moveth upon the earth.
29 And the Gods said: Behold, we will give them every herb bearing seed that shall come upon the face of all the earth, and every tree which shall have fruit upon it; yea, the fruit of the tree yielding seed to them we will give it; it shall be for their ameat.

30 And to every beast of the earth, and to every fowl of the air, and to every thing that creepeth upon the earth, behold, we will give them life, and also we will give to them every green herb for meat, and all these things shall be thus organized.
31 And the Gods said: We will do everything that we have said, and organize them; and behold, they shall be very obedient. And it came to pass that it was from evening until morning they called night; and it came to pass that it was from morning until evening that they called day; and they numbered the asixth time.