Episode 46: D&C 37 - 40

Ben and Shiloh discuss the context of the early Saints being called to “the Ohio” in December of 1830. Barely 9 months old, the Lord commanded Joseph and the fledgling church to leave its home in New York and relocate to Kirtland. With so many farms going on the market and so quickly, the members knew that they would take severe losses on their farms — which many did. Some refused to go. Yet the Lord promised those who went that a “land of promise” had been “prepared” for them where “I hold forth and deign to give unto you greater riches, even a land of promise, a land flowing with milk and honey…” (D&C 38:18). In retrospect, “greater riches” and “a land flowing with milk and honey” likely had at least a double meaning to the mind of the Lord than what the Saints imagined. But why not just spell it out plainly for the Saints? Was it their own unfaithfulness that failed to produce the “riches” or the flowing “milk and honey”? The Lord knew the beginning from the end, so how does this language convince them and give them the fortitude to act and have faith? The text helps us resolve some of these questions and causes us to ask others in this week’s episode.