Episode Transcript
[00:00:00] Speaker A: Okay, to start this whole episode out, Dawn, I have a question. I didn't prep you for this question, so maybe I don't even know if you'll have an answer. But I was thinking about our discussion today and the person we're going to talk about, and it immediately made me think of a time when I received a calling that I thought, there is no way I can do this. Have you ever had a calling like that?
[00:00:16] Speaker B: Absolutely.
[00:00:16] Speaker A: You have? Okay, what is it?
[00:00:17] Speaker B: 1987. Dawn, will you be the nursery leader in Jerusalem?
[00:00:24] Speaker A: What?
[00:00:24] Speaker B: In Jerusalem. The branch president called me in. Will you be nursery leader? And I thought, what?
And I'm working on my PhD. Can I even relate to 18 month olds? We had four or five children, and so every week we do something else. I had a sister from Denmark or somewhere. She came in and helped one time and helped me know how to help the kids.
So it was hard. My hardest calling ever.
[00:00:55] Speaker A: Okay. What I love about your story is that it was something you're like, no way, I can't do this. It was hard. And then I love that God's like, I'm gonna help you out. I'm gonna send you people that'll help you do this calling. Isn't that how God always works?
[00:01:05] Speaker B: Yes.
[00:01:06] Speaker A: When I think about callings in my life that I'm like, oh, boy, here's my hardest calling ever. I was called to play the organ.
[00:01:12] Speaker B: Oh.
[00:01:12] Speaker A: Now I don't play the organ.
[00:01:13] Speaker B: Oh, at all. That would be hard.
[00:01:15] Speaker A: I play the piano. And I made the mistake. We needed help with organ playing in my ward. And I made the mistake of mentioning, you know, most people who play the piano can play the organ. You just have to keep your fingers on the. The key's a little longer, which it's not really true, but kind of, he's like, great. And they called me in and asked me to play the organ, and that was the hardest calling. I've never put in more effort in my entire life. And funny story, as I was playing, I was so nervous the first time, my hands were shaking and my finger slid and hit one of the buttons and it turned into chimes.
And it was the Sacrament hymn, so we had to sing to chimes. I love moments like that. If you've ever had a calling and you thought, what in the world? There's no way I can do this. That's what I thought about when I was preparing and getting ready for our discussion of this specific person. Because he had a moment where he thought, there's no way I can do this and we're going to show you who that is and what he had to say to the Lord. Welcome to Jesus Christ in Scripture. Finding Christ on every page. I'm Tammy Usalak hall And this is Dr. Donald W. Perry. Grab your scriptures and let's dig in. We want to go to Genesis chapter 5 and you want to start in verse 21. We get this really great genealogy here. And then verse 21 of Genesis 5 says this. And Enoch lived 60 and 5 years and begat Methuselah. And Enoch walked with God after he begat Methuselah 300 years and begat sons and daughters. The end. That's the end of Enoch's story in the book of Genesis. But it's not the end of the story. You want to cross reference it. So to the outside of those verses, put Moses, chapter 6, verses 21, all the way through Moses 7. And that's where we're going to be today. Let's go to Moses, chapter six. And Don, talk to us about this person Enoch. And he gets two verses here, but thank goodness. So much more in Moses.
[00:02:50] Speaker B: Yes, so much more. And there's more to come. I am so anxious to read the rest of the Book of Enoch. I just. And I study scriptures. I research and study scriptures in the Dead Sea Scrolls and I. Oh, I'm just yearning. Please reveal the rest of the Book of Enoch. He's so interesting. What an interesting life.
[00:03:12] Speaker A: Absolutely.
[00:03:13] Speaker B: And so unique. So let's look at some of his.
Who was he? He's the seventh generation from Adam. Notable descendants are Methuselah. I remember him as a high schooler, being so old. What an old guy, right? And Lamech. And then Noah. Noah is Enoch's great grandson who built the famous ark. And Noah later became Gabriel the angel.
[00:03:36] Speaker A: When I looked at this genealogy, I wanted to figure out where Enoch falls, like in my grandparent brain. And so Enoch would have said, Adam is my great, great, great, great, great grandfather. Great. Which we can't even relate to our greats other than through storylines that have been written. But I think something that's significant that the scriptures teach us is all of these men were on the earth at the same time.
[00:03:54] Speaker B: Yes, yes.
[00:03:55] Speaker A: So he wouldn't even speak of Adam as if he were dead. He's like, oh, yeah, my great, great, great, great, great, great grandfather. He's down the road. Okay, so here are some descriptions of Enoch. First of all, in chapter six, verse 31, he's saying, I'm just a lad. Like he's getting this Call. And he's like, I don't know. I'm just a little lad. Then he says to the Lord, I'm slow of speech. Are you sure?
[00:04:14] Speaker B: Then.
[00:04:14] Speaker A: Then in verse 36, a seer hath the Lord raised up unto his people. He's getting us some assurances here. And the next one. There is a strange thing in the land. A wild man hath come among us. That's a fun title.
[00:04:24] Speaker B: Yeah.
[00:04:25] Speaker A: All the titles.
[00:04:26] Speaker B: I don't know what they meant.
[00:04:27] Speaker A: I know.
[00:04:28] Speaker B: I think he or Enoch. A wild man.
[00:04:30] Speaker A: Then lastly, Enoch's name probably means dedicated. That's pretty neat.
[00:04:35] Speaker B: Yes. And you've heard of Hanukkah? Hanukkah, which means dedication.
[00:04:39] Speaker A: Okay.
[00:04:39] Speaker B: Enoch is how we say it. And in the Hebrew, it's.
Yeah, let's look at his call and commission.
So the setting is, Enoch is journeying, quote in the land among the people. He's on a journey. He hears the Lord's voice from heaven. So here's what the voice says. Enoch, my son, I love the Lord. He uses our name. And then he says, my son, how?
How loving is that?
[00:05:08] Speaker A: Well, and I love that too, because he does the same thing with Moses.
[00:05:11] Speaker B: Yes, he does.
[00:05:12] Speaker A: Moses, my son.
[00:05:13] Speaker B: Yes. Yes, he does.
[00:05:14] Speaker A: You could put your name in that.
[00:05:15] Speaker B: Very good.
[00:05:15] Speaker A: Your own callings. Like Tammy, my daughter.
[00:05:18] Speaker B: Yes.
[00:05:18] Speaker A: Don. My son, you can take care of the nursery.
[00:05:20] Speaker B: Kids prophesy, that's a command form. He's not asking, he's commanding. Prophesying to this people and saying to them, repent. For thus saith the Lord, they. The people have gone astray, and they have denied me. And they've sought their own counsels in the dark. And in their own abominations, they have devised murder and have not kept the commandments which I gave unto their father, Adam. Oh, no. I have to go among these people. And then to show how great Enoch is, he's going to getting the followers to build a famous city. And they'll be so righteous, they'll be translated. I mean, what a person.
[00:06:01] Speaker A: Enoch's response? He bowed himself to the earth before the Lord and spake before the Lord saying, why is it that I have found favor in thy sight and am but a lad? And all the people hate me, for I am slow of speech. Wherefore am I thy servant? Oh, that breaks my heart. All the people hate me. And you could talk about that for a while. Who can't relate to that?
[00:06:20] Speaker B: Oh, I feel really bad for him.
[00:06:23] Speaker A: Yeah. To not feel liked. Then the Lord says, go forth and do as I have commanded thee, and no man shall pierce thee. Open thy mouth and it shall be filled. And. And I will give the utterance, for all flesh is in my hands, and I will do as seemeth me. Good. Behold, my spirit is upon you. Wherefore all thy words will I justify. And the mountains shall flee before you, and the rivers shall turn from their course. And thou shalt abide in me and I in you. Therefore walk with me.
[00:06:50] Speaker B: And walk with me is a theme. We're going to get back to that one, right?
[00:06:53] Speaker A: Yeah, we're going to talk about that. I wanted to give a cross reference, though, because I noticed when I was reading this, when he talks in there and he says that I, the Lord will give you your words. And there's in Moses 7, 13, it says it again. Like he's like, the Lord gave me these words. Like there's that connection there, that to think the Lord gave him the words he would have had to this person who's like, I can't do this when you read the words, he got, wow. Blows my mind.
[00:07:15] Speaker B: And when he says I'm slow speech down the road, we're going to see that when he speaks, how the people react and the power of his speech.
Before we go on, I wanted to point out, as a Dead Sea Scrolls guy, absolutely, there are a lot of Enoch scrolls. Most of them are fragments like this, but we can still do a lot of study about Enoch. And Enoch is big. In the Dead Sea Scrolls. You pointed out in Genesis, what, two or three verses?
Yeah. In the Dead Sea Scrolls, he's big. In fact, there's a group of us that study Enoch. It's the Enoch group, really. And I'm a member of the Enoch group. We study Enoch. There's just so much to study from the Dead Sea Scrolls. Enjoy. Even though it's fragmented.
[00:08:02] Speaker A: So this is Bruce R. McConkie. So we have the Order of Enoch. And he says this. The holy priesthood did more to perfect men in the days of Enoch than at any other time. Known then as the Order of Enoch. It was the power by which he and his people were translated. And they were translated because they had faith and exercised the power of the priesthood. Melchizedek was a man of like faith, and his people wrought righteousness and obtained heaven and sought for the city of Enoch. Since his day, the priesthood has been called after his name.
[00:08:28] Speaker B: So before it was called the Melchizedek Priesthood, it's called the Enoch Priesthood or the Order of Enoch and the Path. And right here, Elder McConkie cites Section 76. So I thought we'd just look at it. And are the priests and the most high after the order of Melchizedek, which was after the order of Enoch. And before that it was. Which was after the order of the only begotten son. This is a powerful statement about Enoch in the history of.
[00:08:56] Speaker A: It's cool because it's going to be new for so many people.
[00:08:58] Speaker B: Yeah, I think so.
[00:08:59] Speaker A: Wow. I like that. The life of Enoch. So Enoch was ordained by Adam at the age of 25 and blessed by him at the age of 65. Adam Blessed Enoch at Adam on diamond. Enoch kept a record known as the Book of Enoch.
[00:09:12] Speaker B: Enoch was called a seer.
And he beheld the spirits that God had created. And he beheld also things which were not visible to the natural eye. That's what a seer does. And from thenceforth came the saying, abroad in the land a seer hath the Lord raised up unto his people. And that seer was Enoch. Enoch prayed for Noah and his seed that the earth would never again be covered by the floods. His face was so great that the Lord could not withhold Enoch, the formidable.
[00:09:41] Speaker A: Powerful seer when they heard him. No man laid hands on him for fear came on all that heard him, for he walked with God.
[00:09:48] Speaker B: I mean, right there, that's one of those statements.
[00:09:49] Speaker A: Flow of speech. Wow. And so great was the faith of Enoch that he led the people of God and their enemies came to battle against them. And he spake the word of the Lord. And the earth trembled, and the mountains fled even according to his command. And the rivers of water were turned out of their course, and the roar of the lion was heard out of the wilderness, and all nations feared greatly. So powerful was the word of Enoch, and so great was the power of the language which God had given him. And that's the cross reference back to this.
I will give you the words to speak. And he did.
Powerful words.
[00:10:21] Speaker B: God enabled and empowered and magnified Enoch.
And I testify he'll do that with each of us in our sphere, in our stewardship.
[00:10:31] Speaker A: And one thing that my mind keeps thinking about with this is that I love that you introduced us to Enoch at the very beginning as a wild man, a lad sleep.
And like you said, we don't really know what that means, but I think what it's trying to create for us is this idea of someone who feels inadequate, can't do this. All these things going against him and now. And he wasn't a prophet like he. I think it came over its course. And we see right here what the Lord did with somebody who felt insecure. That's the point. What. What God can do with each of us. All of us wild men and women.
[00:11:02] Speaker B: Yeah.
[00:11:02] Speaker A: Slow of speech. So neat. Okay.
[00:11:05] Speaker B: There also came up a land out of the depth of the sea.
And so great was the fear of the enemies of the people of God that they fled and stood afar off and went upon the land which came up out of the depth of the sea. It's like they're going out to an island or something. Unless it's a peninsula. And the giants of the land also stood afar off. And there went forth a curse upon all people that fought against God. And it came to pass that the Lord spake unto Enoch and told Enoch all the doings of the children of men, wherefore Enoch knew and looked upon their wickedness and their misery. And then notice his reaction. He wept. He stretched forth his arms, and his heart swelled wide as eternity and his bowels yearned. And all eternity shook. If I'm reading this right, all eternity shook, reacting to Enoch's reaction to the wickedness.
[00:12:03] Speaker A: That is so good, Don. I'm so glad that I was able to mark that and just to read Enoch's reaction and how he goes from being.
Can we just focus for a minute on the fact that he's like, the people hate me, and now he's weeping for them.
[00:12:15] Speaker B: I love that insight.
[00:12:16] Speaker A: That's kind of.
[00:12:17] Speaker B: That's a great insight.
[00:12:18] Speaker A: Cause that's hard to do when people don't like you and you feel like the world is against you. You get to the point where you're so sad for them. That says a great deal again, about this Enoch, but this prophet, this wild man. And so this was a great discussion on Enoch. So thank you for preparing this. And. And please take what you've learned and teach it to other people. Especially concept of the. The Order of Enoch was the name of the priesthood.
[00:12:40] Speaker B: Yeah.
[00:12:40] Speaker A: Very cool. Thank you, Don. We hope you enjoyed this. Have a great week studying your scriptures. Shalom and goodbye.
Sa.
