1/29/2019 - Section 136:1-11

January 29, 2019

Section 136:1-11

Pioneer Exodus, Lord’s Organization, Lord’s Preparations in Our Lives, Lord’s Rules for Living, Zion, Ministering to One Another, Pure Heart and Faithfulness Winning Combination,

This revelation was given about 2 ½ years after Joseph’s and Hyman’s deaths. Mob violence did not stop after the martyrdom at Carthage Jail. Brigham Young, as president of the quorum of the 12, was leading the church. He went forward with plans first spoken about by Joseph to take the saints to the Rocky Mountains where they might be able to live in peace. Under Brigham’s direction, the saints had started leaving Nauvoo in February 1846 (1 ½ years after Carthage). As they moved west across Iowa, they established camps for those who would follow.

B H Roberts wrote: “The serious business of preparing for the continuation of the march into the wilderness, the completion of the exodus from the United States, was not neglected. It was considered in many council meetings of the presiding authorities, it was the chief topic of conversation and of discussion wherever two or three were gathered together. Thought upon it finally so crystallised in the mind of Brigham Young that on the 14^th of January, 1847, at Winter Quarters, he was prepared to announce, ‘The Word and Will of the Lord’. Upon the march of the Camps of Israel to the West.” (History of the Church 3:154-55)

I find the short synopsis at the beginning of this section wonderfully informative: “1-16 How the Camp of Israel is to be organized for the westward journey; 17-27 The saints are commanded to live by numerous gospel standards; 28-33: The saints should sing, dance, pray, and learn wisdom; 34-42, Prophets are slain that they might be honored and the wicked condemned.”

Smith and Sjohahl wrote: A specific organization of people was determined before the main travel began. The saints left Nauvoo where they were living in very trying circumstances, and in poverty and destitution in large measures. They had been robbed by their enemies. This revelation came to them in a time of distress to tell them which way to go, how to travel, and to keep the commandments faithfully that they might have the guidance of the spirit. (that is my favorite part) Interestingly, they were organized much as Zion’s Camp was on their march from Kirtland to Missouri. It is interesting how the Lord so often prepares us for what is to come. I wonder how often we recognize this help from him…for to many, Zion’s Camp did not accomplish what it was thought to be its primary goal. But what it did do, was to establish a pattern.

V 4 is one of my favorites: “And this shall be our covenant—that we will walk in all the ordinances of the Lord.” That should be our credo at all times of our lives…and things would go far better for us!

V 5: The companies were to provide themselves with all the teams, wagons, provisions, clothing and other necessaries for the journey that they could—which makes me think that the group could better help those who arrived to go, but without the ability to gather all that they would need. It was a plan that would make it easier to help those who needed help.

V 6-10 Not only were they to help one another prepare for the journey, but they were to take plows and seeds and plant in the spring and leave that work for the benefit of those who would follow. They paid special attention to those who were widows or whose husbands were not with them. This was a mammoth operation. And v 11 gives the most important advice: “And if ye do this with a pure heart, in all faithfulness, ye shall be blessed; you shall be blessed in your flocks, and in your herds, and in your fields, and in your houses, and in your families.” I don’t see any reason why that is not just as true today. It is a simple way to the blessings of our father. But it takes our continued efforts and watchfulness to keep ourselves yearning and striving and behaving and thinking in such a way as to bring us ever closer to the Pure Hearts AND Faithfulness that Christ has asked us to work toward.

11/24/2021 – D&C 136:1-20

This revelation was given to Brigham Young in January of 1847 while he and others were camped at Winter Quarters. Even in February of 1844, under Joseph’s direction, the Quorum of the Twelve had begun planning for a move to western North America. Many people (not part of the church) thought that after Joseph’s death, the Church would collapse. Instead, the city of Nauvoo continued to grow and prosper. But those who against the church increased their efforts to drive the saints out of Illinois. They “systematically burned outlying Mormon farms and homes. They…torched many unprotected homes, farm buildings, mills, and grain stacks” (History of the Church, 7:439-44)

On Sept 24, 1845, The Quorum of the Twelve published a letter promising that the Church would leave the following spring. But because of the threats of violence from local mobs and the state militia, Church members began leaving Nauvoo in February 1846-- in terrible weather and with not enough supplies. They were able to travel only about 10 miles a day in making their journey across Iowa. They stopped in Winter Quarters which was on the west side of the Missouri River in Nebraska. 3,500 saints built houses of logs and dugouts of willows and dirt. Their housing did not do well in protecting them from the cold weather. The cold, plus malaria, pneumonia, tuberculosis, cholera, and scurvy did great damage that winter, and more than 700 saints died that first winter.

Brigham Young prayed for the Lord’s direction regarding the emigration to the West, and the result was Section 136. The Lord told the Saints to organize themselves into companies “with a covenant and promise to keep all the commandments and statutes of the Lord our God.” These companies would be organized “with captains of hundreds, captains of fifties, and captains of tens, with a president and his tow counselors at their head, under the direction of the Twelve Apostles.” (v 3) V 4 gives them their covenant “that we will walk in all the ordinances of the Lord.” 

This group was the first to go further west and in v 7 the Lord instructs them to decide who will continue on to the west after the weather gets better, and who would stay where they were and “choose out a sufficient number of able-bodied and expert men, to take teams, seeds, and farming utensils, to go as pioneers to prepare for putting in spring crops.” In this way they would help those who would be coming by preparing better lodgings and more plentiful food. And those who traveling into this preparation, would do the same for those who would follow them. Then in v 8, the Lord tells them to be sure to take into their care “the poor, the widows, the fatherless, and the families of those who have gone into the army, for those who had responded to Brigham’s call to enlist in the US Army to serve during the Mexican war…their service would earn money to help those saints who were poor and without family protection. The Lord wanted a society in which the “cries of the widow and the fatherless come not into the ears of the Lord against this people.” (v 8) They were also to store grain for those coming later in weather when crops could not be grown.

And then, after giving specific instructions, He gives them His promise [the scriptures often have a pattern of ‘if, then’] in v 11 “And if ye do this with a pure heart, in all faithfulness, ye shall be blessed; you shall be blessed in your flocks, and in your herds, and in your fields, and in your houses, and in your families.”

And then in v16 the Lord then told them to make this care of one another simply a way of living—for them and for all the saints: “And let my servants that have been appointed go and teach this, my will, to the saints, that they may be ready to go to a land of peace.”  V 17 encourages the even more “Go thy way and do as I have told you, and fear not thine enemies; for they shall not have power to stop my work.”

Then the Lord gives them specific warnings: “And if any man shall seek to build up himself, and seeketh not my counsel, he shall have no power…”.  (v 19) We are to do the Lords work for His sake and the for the sake of those around us. The Lord follows this with v 20: “Seek ye; and keep all your pledges one with another; and covet not that which is they brother’s.” Our concern is to do the Lord’s will, and help others to do the same thing.