Page "Book of Moses" Paragraph 2

* Moses 1: The events described in Moses 1 are portrayed as taking place sometime after Jehovah spoke to Moses out of the burning bush but before Moses had returned to Egypt to deliver the children of Israel.

The details of Moses ’ experience in chapter 1 place it squarely in the tradition of ancient “ heavenly ascent ” literature ( e. g., the pseudepigraphal Apocalypse of Abraham ) and its relationship to temple theology, rites, and ordinances.

Following a brief prologue, Moses is given a description of God ’ s majesty and a confirmation of the work to which he had previously been foreordained as a " son of God.

" He is then shown the “ world upon which he was created ”— referring to the premortal spirit realm where the LDS believe that all men and women lived before birth — and “ all the children of men which are, and which were created ” ( cf.

Apocalypse of Abraham 21: 7 ; 22: 2, 5 ; and the LDS Book of Abraham 3: 22-23 ).

Then, having gone out the presence of the Father and no longer being clothed with His glory, Moses falls to the earth ( cf.

Apocalypse of Abraham 10: 1-3 )— meaning, first, that he collapsed in weakness, and, second, that he descended again to the relative darkness of the telestial world.

He is then left to himself to be tested in a dramatic encounter with Satan ( cf.

Apocalypse of Abraham 13-14 ).

Having banished Satan through the power of the Only Begotten ( a motif linked to baptism ), Moses is “ filled with the Holy Ghost .” Continuing to press forward, he “ calls upon the name of God ” in sacred prayer, and is answered by a voice from behind the veil enumerating specific blessings.

While “ the voice is still speaking ,” Moses looks at the veil and beholds every particle of the earth and all of its inhabitants ( cf.

Apocalypse of Abraham 21: 1 ).

The culminating sequence begins in verse 31 when Moses, having continued to inquire of the Lord, comes to stand in His presence ( cf.

the corresponding illustration in the Codex Sylvester, the oldest complete account of the Apocalypse of Abraham ).

God then speaks with Moses face to face, describing His purposes for this earth and its inhabitants (" this is my work and my glory: to bring to pass the immortality and eternal life of man ").

Finally, the chapter closes with an allusion referring to Joseph Smith's restoration of the lost words of scripture ( echoing a similar prophecy in the pseudepigraphal 2 Enoch 35: 1-2 ), and stating that these words are to be shown only to those that believe ( paralleling the pseudepigraphal 4 Ezra 14: 6, 45-47 ).

Then follows a vision outlining the Creation, the Fall, and subsequent events in the lift of to Adam and Eve and their descendants ( cf.

Apocalypse of Abraham 21: 3-5, 23: 1-14 ).

This is consistent with ancient Jewish sources which affirm that Moses saw these events in vision.