Doctrine and Covenants 1: An Ancient Treatise Pattern?

A few years ago, during the summer months as I was preparing to teach the Old Testament for early morning seminary, I happened across a podcast that was a beginner’s guide to the Old Testament. The podcast is called Discovering the Old Testament by Sheldon Greaves. It has since become one of my favorite beginner podcasts and one that I suggest for anyone wanting to get a good sampling of Old Testament studies. Each episode is short (only approx. 20 minutes in length) and Greaves keeps the conversation rolling along in his rather hypnotic voice. He has a way of going just deep enough to make a newcomer feel a little lost at sea before returning to more familiar waters.

Throughout the first few episodes, Greaves describes the Old Testament concept of “covenant making” and how this idea is perhaps strange or new to most Christian listeners. As a Latter-day Saint I smiled because I don’t know if I’ve ever been to Church where the word “covenant” wasn’t used at least once. We are very much a covenant-oriented people. We make covenants, live up to our covenants, and “walk the covenant path.” The idea of covenants may be a new(ish) concept for many Christians, but for Latter-day Saints it’s just another day at Church.

After only a couple minutes into first listening to Episode 8: Abraham’s Covenant, I immediately made a connection that I had never seen before between Section 1 of the Doctrine and Covenants and relatively recent scholastic discoveries of ancient patterns of covenant/treaty making.

As Greaves explained, in the 1950s there was a well-known scholar by the name of George Mendenhall (1916-2016) who was studying international treatises originating from Mari, Syria. Through this study, Mendenhall identified a formal legal pattern for how ancient Egyptian and Hittite covenants/treaties were constructed. He then turned his attention to the Old Testament text and discovered that the same pattern of covenant/treaty making were exampled throughout that text as well. Dr. Mendenhall published his findings in his book Law and Covenant in Israel and the Ancient Near East.

Roughly stated, Greaves details 6 basic elements that Mendenhall found in what constituted what is known as the “Treaty Covenant.”

PREAMBLE: Placed at the beginning of the covenant/treaty, the preamble makes clear and states the parties, even if just in the voice of one person, who is/are making the covenant/treaty.
BRIEF HISTORICAL PROLOGUE AND/OR THE COVENANT/TREATY REASON FOR EXISTENCE: This describes the history and relationship between the two (or more) parties in the covenant/treaty up and until the time that the covenant/treat was made. It also describes the reason for the covenant/treaty.
STIPULATION OF TERMS: This is where the entirety of the covenant is laid out and where the terms are stated that are incumbent on each of the parties involved in the covenant/treaty.
PROVISION FOR THE DEPOSITION OF TEXT: This is where we learn who gets copies of the covenant/treaty, where they are to be kept, how they will be stored, or how, when, and why they will be shared or disseminated.
LIST OF WITNESSES AND AUTHORITIES TO THE TRANSACTION: This can be a set of gods, angels, representatives, agents, or anybody else. Those chosen and agreeable to stand as a witness are also obligated and tasked with helping to enforce the covenant.
LIST OF BLESSINGS/PENALTIES: This is where the benefits or cursings of the covenant/treaty are listed. If the stipulations are followed, then blessings (or lack of penalties) occur; if the stipulations were not followed, then the punishment/cursings occur.

As I applied this list to Section 1, I couldn’t help but see every single last provision explicitly detailed within it. This alone is pretty remarkable, but what adds more to this is the context of how Section 1 came to Joseph Smith. The following is an excerpt from the Church’s new historical narrative Saints 1815-1846: The Standard of Truth (available to read on the LDS Tools app):

A few days later, on November 1, 1831, Joseph called a council of Church leaders together. Ezra Booth had recently published a letter in a local newspaper accusing Joseph of making false prophecies and hiding his revelations from the public. The letter was widely read, and many people had begun to grow wary of the Saints and their message.
Many Saints also wanted to read the Lord’s word themselves. Since there were only handwritten copies of the revelations Joseph had received, they were not well known among most church members. Elders who wanted to use them in missionary work had to copy them by hand.
Knowing this, Joseph proposed publishing the revelations in a book. He was confident that such a book would help missionaries share the Lord’s word more easily and provide correct information about the Church to curious neighbors.
The council talked the matter over for hours. David Whitmer and a few others opposed publishing the revelations, worried that making the Lord’s plans for Zion more public might cause problems for the Saints in Jackson County. Joseph and Sidney disagreed, insisting that the Lord wanted the church to publish His words.
After more debate, the council agreed to publish ten thousand copies of the revelations as the Book of Commandments. They assigned Sidney [Rigdon], Oliver [Cowdery], and William McLellin to write a preface to the book of revelations and present it to them later that day.
The three men began writing immediately, but when they returned with a preface, the council was unhappy with it. They read it over, picking it apart line by line, and asked Joseph to seek the Lord’s will on it. Joseph prayed, and the Lord revealed a new preface for the book. Sidney recorded His words as Joseph spoke them.
In the new preface, the Lord commanded all people to hearken to His voice. He declared that He had given Joseph these commandments to help His children increase their faith, trust in Him, and receive and proclaim the fullness of His gospel and everlasting covenant. He also addressed the fears of those like David who worried about the content of the revelations…
After Joseph spoke the words of the preface, several members of the council said they were willing to testify of the truth of the revelations. Others in the room were still reluctant to publish the revelations in their current form. They knew Joseph was a prophet, and they knew the revelations were true, but they were embarrassed that the word of the Lord had come to them filtered through Joseph’s limited vocabulary and weak grammar.
The Lord did not share their concern. In His preface, He had testified that the revelations came from Him, given to His servants “in their weakness, after the manner of their language.” To help the men know the revelations came from Him, He issued a new revelation, challenging the council to select the wisest man in the room to write a revelation like the ones Joseph had received.
If the man selected for the task was unable to do it, everyone in the room would know and be responsible to testify that the Lord’s revelations to Joseph were true, despite their imperfections.
Taking up a pen, William tried to write a revelation, confident in his mastery of language. When he finished, though, he and the other men in the room knew what he had written had not come from the Lord. They admitted their error and signed a statement testifying that the revelations had been given to the prophet by the inspiration of God.
In council, they resolved that Joseph should review the revelations and “correct those errors or mistakes which he may discover by the Holy Ghost.”

In this amazing history we can find much to talk about, but the emphasis here is that (1) modern men tried to write a preface to the Book of Commandments and failed, (2) Joseph Smith received a revelation from the Lord constituting the necessary elements of the preface and the Book of Commandments, (3) that the revelations that came through Joseph had his fingerprint on them and were “filtered through Joseph’s limited vocabulary,” and that (4) no other men could write follow up revelations that were more eloquent, Joseph’s seemingly embarrassing “filter” notwithstanding.

In Section 1, we find evidence for every one of the six elements of ancient covenants/treaties. My own list herein I offer only as a preliminary guide and I, by no means, make no assertions that it is even remotely comprehensive, but here are a few things I have found. I have italicized the elements that stood out to me.

Part 1 — The Preamble: Who’s who in the covenant/treaty?

“Hearken, O ye people of my church saith the voice of him who dwells on high, and whose eyes are upon all men; yea, verily I say: Hearken ye people from afar; and ye that are upon the islands of the sea, listen together” (D&C 1:1).
“For verily the voice of the Lord is unto all men, and there is none to escape; and there is no eye that shall not see, neither ear that shall not hear, neither hearth that shall not be penetrated” (D&C 1:2).
“And the voice of warning shall be unto all people…
“Behold, this is mine authority, and the authority of my servants, and my preface unto the book of my commandments, which I have given unto them to publish unto you, O inhabitants of the earth” (D&C 1:6).
“Wherefore, fear and tremble, O ye people…” (D&C 1:7).
“Wherefore the voice of the Lord is unto the ends of the earth, that all that will hear may hear” (D&C 1:12).

Part 2 — The history between the parties involved and the reason for the covenant:

“Prepare ye, prepare ye for that which is to come, for the Lord is night; And the anger of the Lord is kindled, and his sword is bathed in heaven, and it shall fall upon the inhabitants of the earth. And the arm of the Lord shall be revealed; and the day cometh that they who will not hear the voice of the Lord, neither the voice of his servants, neither give heed to the words of the prophets and apostles, shall be cut off from among the people” (D&C 1:12-14)
“For they have strayed from mine ordinances, and have broken mine everlasting covenant; They seek not the Lord to establish his righteousness, but every man walked in his own way, and after the image of his own god, whose image is in the likeness of the world, and whose substance is that of an idol, which waxeth old and shall perish in Babylon, even babylon the great, which shall fall” (D&C 1:15-16).
“Wherefore, I the Lord, knowing the calamity which should come upon the Inhabitants of the earth, called upon my servant Joseph Smith, Jun., and spake unto him from heaven, and gave him commandments; And also gave commandments to others, that they should proclaim these things unto the world; and all this that it might be fulfilled, which was written by the prophets — The weak things of the world shall come forth and break down the might and strong ones, that man should not counsel his fellow man, neither trust in the arm of flesh — But that every man might speak in the name of God the Lord, even the Savior of the world; That faith also might increase in the earth; That might everlasting covenant might be established; That the fulness of my gospel might be proclaimed by the weak and the simple unto the ends of the world, and before kings and rulers” (D&C 1:17-23).

Part 3 — A list of the actual covenant(s) to be made:

“That my everlasting covenant might be established” (D&C 1:22).

Part 4 — Provision for deposition/sharing of text/message of the covenant/treaty:

“And the voice of warning shall be unto all people, by the mouths of my disciples, whom I have chosen in these last days. And they shall go forth and none shall stay them…” (D&C 1:4-5).
“Behold, this is mine authority, and the authority of my servants, and my preface unto the book of my commandments, which I have given unto them to publish unto you, O inhabitants of the earth” (D&C 1:6).
“They who go forth [the witnesses], bearing these tidings unto the inhabitants of the earth, to them is power given to seal both on earth and in heaven, the unbelieving and rebellious” (D&C 1:8).

Part 5 — A list of witnesses and agents to the covenant/treaty:

“And the voice of warning shall be unto all people, by the mouths of my disciples, whom I have chosen in these last days. And they shall go forth and none shall stay them…” (D&C 1:4-5).
““Wherefore, I the Lord, knowing the calamity which should come upon the Inhabitants of the earth, called upon my servant Joseph Smith, Jun., and spake unto him from heaven, and gave him commandments; And also gave commandments to others, that they should proclaim these things unto the world; and all this that it might be fulfilled, which was written by the prophets” (D&C 1:17-18).
“Behold, I am God and have spoken it; these commandments are of me, and were given unto my servants in their weakness, after the manner of their language, and they might come to understanding” (D&C 1:24).

Part 6 — Blessings and Cursings:

“Yea, verily, [My witnesses will go forth] to seal them up unto the day when the wrath of God shall be poured out upon the wicked with measure — Unto the day when the Lord shall come to recompense unto every man according to his work, and measure to every man according to the measure which he has measured to his fellow man” (D&C 1:9-10).
“For the Lord cannot look upon sin with the least degree of allowance; Nevertheless, he that repents and does the commandments of the Lord shall be forgiven; And he that repents not, from him shall be taken even the light which he has received; for my sSpirit shall not always strive with man, saith the Lord of Hosts” (D&C 1:31-33).
“… The hour is not yet, but is night at hand, when peace shall be taken from the earth, and the devil shall have power over his own dominion. And also the Lord shall have power over his saints, and shall reign in their midst, and shall come down in judgment upon Idumea, or the world” (D&C 1:35-36).

There is certainly a lot of crossover between verses, and some verses can serve in various roles and purposes, but it is fascinating to see just how consistent Section 1 is to the ancient legal pattern of covenant/treaty making.

In Latter-day Peace Studies’ Come, Follow Me podcast (Episode 32: Doctrine and Covenants 1), Ben Petersen and I talked at some length about this very subject and the covenant/treaty parallels. Since then, Riley Risto (from our Latter-day Contemplation podcast) sent me a link to the Church website of an article from 1980 entitled “A Covenant People: Old Testament Light on Modern Covenants,” by David J. Whittaker.

In his article, Whittaker introduces a seventh legal pattern that Mendenhall discovered in ancient covenant/treaty making that Greaves had left out of his podcast. That seventh pattern is a type of Ratification Ceremony where there would be a ratification event that would “seal” the covenant and make it binding. Whittaker offers suggestions that this event or “ceremony” could be “a meal together, sharing a drink from a common cup, using blood or salt symbolically or actually, giving the vassal a new name, or slaughtering an animal representing the vassal and cutting the carcass in pieces.”

I was intrigued that there was a seventh pattern beyond the six that Greaves had mentioned, so I went back to Section 1 to see whether there was mention of the “sealing” of the covenants. Interestingly enough, verses 8 and 9 speak of times and events coming when these covenants and commandments will be sealed:

And verily I say unto you, that they who go forth, bearing these tidings unto the inhabitants of the earth, to them is power given to seal both on earth and in heaven, the unbelieving and rebellious. Yea, verily, to seal them up unto the day when the wrath of God shall be poured out upon the wicked without measure.

It is absolutely fascinating when we get those moments of discovery in our lives to see how subtly consistent the Lord is throughout time. While there are many instances when Joseph could have known ancient nuances, it is completely improbable that he was able to produce the amount of consistent nuances that he did on a regular basis. When three other men failed to produce a preface, he received a preface from the Lord that was entirely consistent with ancient covenant/treaty patterns.

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