7. “The Abrahamic Covenant”

7

“The Abrahamic Covenant”

What do we know about Abraham? This lesson looks at his beginnings and his search for truth and the promises God made to him.

The Abrahamic Covenant

“Abrahamic Covenant,” at LDS.org
Identifies three promises made to Abraham: his posterity would be numerous; his descendants would receive the gospel and the priesthood; and through their ministry all people would be blessed.

“Abrahamic Covenant,” Ellis T. Rasmussen, Encyclopedia of Mormonism
Abraham sought the priesthood and received it from Melchizedek. His mission was to accept and share the gospel.

Abraham, Covenant of, LDS Bible Dictionary
Abraham’s covenant was that Christ would come through his lineage and that Abraham’s posterity would receive a promised land.  The covenant involved personal salvation and eternal increase to all those who were born or adopted into it.

Locating Abraham in history

“Abraham and Idrimi,” John Gee, Journal of the Book of Mormon and Other Restoration Scriptures, Vol. 22, no. 1
Compares the book of Abraham with other literature of its time and place: the autobiography of Idrimi, which is one of the principal sources for studying the history of Syro-Palestine around 2000 BC.

“‘In the Land of the Chaldeans’: The Search for Abraham’s Homeland Revisited,” Stephen O. Smoot, BYU Studies, Vol. 56, no 3.
Discusses whether Ur of the Chaldeans was more likely at Tell El-Muqayyar in southern Iraq, or elsewhere in Syria or northern Mesopotamia.

About the Book of Abraham in the Pearl of Great Price

“Thoughts on the Book of Abraham,” Brian M. Hauglid, No Weapon Shall Prosper: New Light on Sensitive Issues. 
Examines the eleven papyri fragments that were returned to the Church in 1967 and criticisms of the Book of Abraham resulting from study of these fragments.

While closely examining the Abraham manuscripts, one fact quickly became clear: all of the surviving manuscripts containing text of the Book of Abraham represent copies of earlier documents. This means that, unlike the Book of Mormon, we have no originally dictated manuscripts for the Book of Abraham.

Available for purchase:

An Introduction to the Book of Abraham, by John Gee
The book of Abraham is connected with the papyri once owned by Joseph Smith, though which papyrus of the four or five in his possession was never specified. Those papyri would likely interest only a few specialists—were the papyri not bound up in a religious controversy. This controversy covers a number of interrelated issues, and an even greater number of theories have been put forward about these issues. Given the amount of information available, the various theories, and the variety of fields of study the subject requires, misunderstandings and misinformation often prevail. The goal with the Introduction to the Book of Abraham is to make reliable information about the Book of Abraham accessible to the general reader.