Updated Lesson Links

Please click on Old Testament Lessons above or to the left (depending on your device) for a complete index of updated links to Old Testament Lessons (or use this quick link).

Proverbs and Ecclesiastes

From Come, Follow Me:

“You might think of the book of Proverbs as a collection of wise counsel from loving parents (see Proverbs 1:8). Its main message is that if you seek wisdom—especially God’s wisdom—life will go well. But Proverbs is followed by the book of Ecclesiastes, which seems to say, ‘It’s not that simple…’

“And yet..they teach similar truths.” Just from opposite directions.

From Bible Dictionary:

·        Prov. 1–9, is the most poetic and contains an exposition of true wisdom. 

·        Prov. 10–24 contain a collection of proverbs and sentences about the right and wrong ways of living. 

·        Prov. 25–29 contain the proverbs of Solomon that the men of Hezekiah, king of Judah, copied out. 

·        Prov. 30–31 contain the “burden” of Agur and Lemuel, the latter including a picture of the ideal wife, arranged in acrostic form (a poem in which the first letters of each line spell a word).

The book is frequently quoted in the New Testament, the use of Prov. 3 being especially noteworthy.

From Bible Dictionary:

·        The book of Ecclesiastes consists of reflections on some of the deepest problems of life, as they present themselves to the thoughtful observer.

·        The epilogue (Eccl. 12:9–14) sets forth the main conclusions at which the writer has arrived.

·        The author describes himself as “son of David, king in Jerusalem” (1:1).

Ecclesiastes (Greek for “The Teacher”) says there is no formula for permanent happiness or safety in this life. (The phrase “under the sun” means in this life and occurs 19 times.) There is no permanence: everything will change. (The word “vanity” means literally “vapor:” something you cannot hold on to.) God has given us the gift to enjoy the good times in the moment and that is what we should do, rather than worry.

Sometimes it is helpful when studying the scriptures to change up your method. If you’ve always used one style, switch to the other for a while. You’ll see different things.

1)     Reading slowly and carefully, parsing out individual gems, digging deep into word meanings, cross-stitching them on pillows…

2)     Reading the whole thing in one sitting, getting a general idea of its purpose, seeing an overview of the whole message.

Proverbs is great for slow reading in the King James Version, 1 chapter a day, even 1 verse a day. We can cherry-pick whichever ones we want and catch the meaning. There really isn’t a context or a story—just nice maxims.

Ecclesiastes is better for fast reading in a contemporary English translation. Even though we seldom read it, we know lots of sayings that come from it, and even a whole poem from it, thanks to The Byrds and their song, “Turn, Turn, Turn.” But pulling little bits out of it obscures the overall meaning of the book.

OLD TESTAMENT PAIRINGS

Often the Hebrew Bible (Old Testament) compilers and writers juxtaposed opposing stories or books next to each other to emphasize two different viewpoints or the opposition of experiences in this life.

Proverbs is such a comfortable book! It’s full of formulas that work. If you do X, you will get Y result. It’s so nice to know that you have the power to make everything work out in your life, just by acting wisely!

Considering the misery that Jews have suffered over many centuries throughout the world, they might have a hard time relating to Proverbs. But Ecclesiastes…

But right after it, we have Ecclesiastes, “The Teacher,” a dour and depressing book. But if you read it in a modern language version (New Living Bible is really great), and you read it quickly, The Teacher says there is no formula! In this world (“under the sun”), you might do good and reap evil. Or you might achieve great success and be unhappy. Righteousness doesn’t grant freedom from trouble in this life. What an uncomfortable message! Many people learn this truth and say, “I can’t believe in a god that would allow bad things to happen to good people (especially to children).”

But The Teacher says, trust God anyway. And thank God for every good moment that comes.

Considering that The Teacher, as all Hebrews in ancient times, really had no knowledge of life after death, that’s a pretty bold faith!

So what good does it do to trust God if bad things might still happen? 

BECAUSE OF THE FALL, THIS LIFE IS UNPREDICTABLE.

BECAUSE LIFE IS UNPREDICTABLE, LIFE IS SCARY.

“Notably, one of the first effects of the Fall was for Adam and Eve to experience fear (Gen. 3:9-10). This potent emotion is an important element of our mortal existence…

“We can be blessed to conquer our fears and strengthen our faith as we follow the Lord’s instruction: “Look unto me in every thought; doubt not, fear not” (D&C 6:36)…

“We can be blessed to hush our fears as we receive the fortitude that comes from learning and living gospel principles and resolutely pressing forward on the covenant pathway” (Elder Bednar, “Therefore, They Hushed Their Fears,” April 2015 GC).

This is exactly what both Proverbs and Ecclesiastes teach us, each coming from a different direction: 

“Trust in the Lord with all thine heart” (Proverbs 3:5; see also verse 7).

“Fear God, and keep his commandments: for this is the whole duty of man” (Ecclesiastes 12:13).

“Unlike worldly fear that creates alarm and anxiety, godly fear is a source of peace, assurance, and confidence” (Elder Bednar).

EVEN THOUGH LIFE IS SCARY, WE CAN HANDLE IT WITH JESUS CHRIST

Gaining and keeping a relationship with Jesus Christ (Jehovah for the Hebrews) is the solution to managing good times and bad. Some parts of life we can—and should—control. A lot of life consists of reacting to what happens to us. And in a world set up by a God who values agency above all else, life is very seldom fair. Bad things happen to good people. Sometimes bad people happen to good people! Knowing what little we know about the next life and the judgment, we will know more than The Teacher did: we know all wrongs will be righted through the Atonement of Jesus Christ. But we will be spiritually okay, even in this life, if we trust in God.

From Church Media Library

How to Teach in 25 Minutes

First, my apologies for missing a few lessons. I was just busy and didn't really feel any special inspiration for those. I'm sure you did fine without me.

However, I just gained some  marvelous insights into how to teach in 25 minutes from the Faith Matters podcast of August 23, 2026 with guests, Patrick and Melissa Mason. You can find it here on YouTube or on any audio podcast app, but for us visual learners, I thought I would just post the major points I received from their conversation here.

Patrick delved into the question of why we meet on Sundays. Why not just commune with nature or study the scriptures at home? 

PURPOSES OF GATHERING FOR CHURCH ON SUNDAY

1) Individual conversion

2) Love for God and each other

3) Healing

4) Preparation to build Zion

Adding to his thoughts, often we can "thicken" the Spirit's presence when we are in a worshipful group, physically gathered. 

"For where two or three are gathered together in my name, there am I in the midst of them" (Matthew 18:20). 

I think when you have a group that is actively loving each other, God's presence, His love, graces that group, and it shows up through the Holy Ghost. If your group is not spiritually healthy, if it's not friendly, if you don't fit in or feel noticed, or if it's just a boring talk or lesson, you can always turn to God in a silent prayer and say, "Teach me." The Holy Ghost will show up for you if your heart and mind are willing. 

PURPOSES FOR OUR THREE SUNDAY MEETINGS

Patrick then expounded a bit on why we have three separate meetings.

Sacrament Meeting

Here we all gather together--all ages, all abilities, all genders--to partake of the sacrament, to remember Jesus Christ's great love for us and recommit to our covenants with Him. 

Sacrament meeting is universal. Throughout the world, in every country, Sacrament meeting is held in the same basic format.

Sunday School

Here we divide into age-groups to "commune with the history of the saints" of all times, all ages, as recorded in all our standard works to learn how they responded to Jesus Christ's love. We study together. We learn from their examples and errors. We learn from what God said to them. We share our personal insights. 

The Sunday School hour is very different for different ages, from nursery age through Primary, youth Sunday School, adult classes. Sunday School is handled differently throughout the world. A Sunday School class in a new branch of new members and investigators will be very different from one full of religion teachers. An adult class will be very different from a youth class in the same ward. 

Relief Society/Priesthood/Young Women

Here we divide further, now into gender-specific groups, and discuss how we take that "fuel," that information, insight, new understanding we have gained collectively out into the world to build Zion. These classes should not be just another Sunday School class. They should be more actionable. 

The third block of Sunday worship time is very specific to age, gender, circumstance, and locale. For example, Young Women in different areas of the world, in different size classes, with different cultures and socio-economic backgrounds will manage their class very specifically according to what their lives are like.

A young teacher with a Primary class of 85 children in Sierra Leone. 

Photos by Mission Leaders Scott and Kathy Wyatt

HOW TO PRIME THE CLASSROOM

Melissa starts every adult Sunday School class with two questions on the board, which I think would also be excellent for youth Sunday School classes:

• What does this teach me about Jesus Christ?
• What does this teach me about myself?

I think another question might also be appropriate, even if added later in the lesson:

• What will I do this week with this knowledge?

HOW TO MAKE IT WORK IN THE SHORTENED TIMEFRAME

We may have to start a lesson by reminding people that we want lots of comments, but comments are best if they are concise. Sometimes we may have to cut a comment short--if the Spirit guides us to do so. Sometimes we will see a need in a person to share a longer story and the Spirit will tell us not to interrupt. This is one of the trickiest skills an adult Sunday School teacher has to learn.

Often it will be good to "warm up" the class with a story or personal experience. Coming straight in with a question for class members who just walked in is going to lead to some silent wasted time. 

Our general leaders have counseled us to be in the scriptures within 5 minutes. Some class members won't have read the lesson, some can't read and you don't know it, some have had a busy week with 3 toddlers and 2 soccer players and they can't even remember what the lesson is. That's life! But that doesn't mean you want to spend the class reading through the lesson as if none of them studied. That's boring for the prepared ones. Just hit a few key reminder scriptures and start your discussion from there. Let the class fill it in.

Speaking of members who can't read well, you can employ a tool to make Sunday School comfortable for adults with disabilities. If you are reading a string of scripture verses, have an item or a card that you pass around the class. Whoever is holding it will read the next scripture. Those who don't want to read can just pass it on.

Maybe take a moment to help class members download an alternate translation of the Bible onto their devices, something like Bible Hub, so they can go back and forth between versions and gain greater understanding of the Old Testament stories.

Plan on making only 1 or 2 points, not "covering all the material." The teacher is wise to put in a lot of deeper study so they can understand context and handle comments, but stick to a gospel principle that you feel inspired your class needs that relates to their life.

Don't worry about always wrapping it up beautifully; instead, end with an invitation to apply the principle to their week or refer to your third question on the board.

If you have more ideas, please add a comment below! (Commenting is not usually available on phones, but is on computers.)

Update

 The Book of Job slide show had some errors and omissions. I have fixed it now. So if you looked at it before, you might go back and look again. 

The Book of Job

 Here is a link to my new slide show on Job. 

Please be sure to read through the presenter notes beforehand. 

To use the presenter notes as you share the slide show, click on the Slide Show drop-down menu on the top right side of the screen and choose "Presenter View." This will cast only the slides to the TV and will show both the slides and the presenter notes to you on your device.

Here is a link to my old lesson on  Job.

The Book of Esther, the Queen of Persia

I have previously published a lesson on Esther, which you may find at this link. It is a deep dive into the story, its possible writers, its alternate form in the Greek Bible, and its comparison to the story of Daniel and his three friends.

Since then, I have purchased The Bible Storybook: The Old Testament, vol. 2., by LDS authors and Bible scholars, Josh and Sarah Sabey. Just as the Bible writers fancified their histories a bit to teach their lessons and prove their points, the Sabeys have fancified Esther a little bit to make her relatable to our day. Reading their story, "The Queen of Persia," I got a whole different perspective on Esther than I had before. I loved it so much that I wrote and requested permission to include it in its entirety which the Sabeys graciously allowed. Here it is for you. You're welcome.

Illustration by Maddie Baker from The Bible Storybook

(Used with permission. Please do not copy.)

THE QUEEN OF PERSIA

by Josh and Sarah Sabey

Hadassah lived in a place called Persia. When she was young, her mother and father had died, and so she was raised by her cousin Mordecai. And even though they lived in Persia, they were not actually Persian. They were immigrants. Well, sort of. They had not chosen to come here. Their great-grandparents had been taken out of Jerusalem by an army and plopped here to help build buildings, clean streets, and paint houses. And so while Hadassah and Mordecai lived in Persia and spoke Persian, they were also part of the family of Jacob. And they were called Jews. And while some Jews had returned to rebuild Jerusalem, Hadassah and Mordecai stayed behind. They thought things would be better for them in Persia.

But sometimes Mordecai would talk about their ancestors in Jerusalem and what their life would have been like. He'd tell Hadassah the stories of Ruth, and David, and Moses. But Hadassah didn't want to look back or care to imagine a world she'd never known. Instead, she looked out the window facing the big, beautiful palace in the center of the city and listened to the giant parties, smelled the huge feasts, heard the loud music, and dreamed of a different life. A better life. A better life for her and for Mordecai. And the best life she could imagine was here in Persia, in that palace.

That's right, she wanted to be a princess. And who hasn't imagined being a king or queen, and having a palace with servants? But Hadassah was not just a dreamer. She was a believer. And she trusted that one day she'd get the chance to impress the king, and he'd be so struck by her charm and beauty and wit that he'd fall in love and make her his queen.

And so when the king announced that he was hosting a contest to help him pick his next bride, Hadassah jumped for joy. "It's going to be me!" she shouted. And people must have thought she was crazy to even try to compete. How could an orphan girl, an immigrant and refugee, become the queen of the most powerful empire in the world? There were lots and lots of perfectly fun, smart, rich, and beautiful Persians who were lined up ahead of her. Why would the king ever pick Hadassah?

Do you remember the princes who refused to eat the Babylonian food or say the Babylonian prayers? That is the opposite of what Hadassah did. She wasn't going to miss out on her one and only opportunity. She would do anything to win. Hadassah learned to look, smell, dress, eat, and talk like a Persian. 

She ate their meat and drank their drinks. She switched her linen and wool clothes for silks and velvet. She did all the fancy baths and beauty treatments. Nothing could stop her. Not naysayers, not poverty, not her ancestry. She'd give up sleep, time, and her own name if she had to. And it turns out she had to. Her name was too...foreign. It wasn't Persian enough. And so she changed it. She started to call herself Esther, and Mordecai called her Esther, and soon everyone was calling her Esther.

And she learned to walk in high heels, and figured out dresses and colors that complemented her complexion. She practiced applying mascara, foundation, blush, and eyeliner. She learned to tell jokes and laugh loudly but not too loudly, and to eat food without spilling like she was already a princess.

On the day of the competition, as she walked through the doors of the palace, she couldn't help but gasp. The windows were draped in rich, blue linen tied back with thick silver rings. The floor was made of marble and shells that collected into pictures that told stories all the way down the halls. There was gold and jewels on all the cups and plates, and utensils. It was even more gorgeous than she could have imagined. And she thought, "How could this ever be my home?" And for a moment, she doubted herself. But Mordecai came up behind her and whispered, "You've got this," and that was just what she needed. So Esther took a deep breath and a step forward.

When it was her turn to compete, she walked with confidence. Her hair was thick. Her skin was smooth. Her face was bright. Her clothes were perfect. Her body smelled like jasmine and rose. And as she walked through the palace, she heard the contestants around her whispering together in despair because Esther looked like a queen already. And she smiled, a stunning, radiant smile. She was steps away from a new life. She took a deep breath, then turned down the hallway to see the king.

And the king immediately saw what everyone else had seen already: Esther was going to be the next queen. And so he threw a huge party and put a crown on her head. She had done it. And soon enough, they were married and Esther became a queen, joined a family, and received a country.

It was just like she dreamed. She was given a giant bedroom filled with beautiful things and lots of women to do her hair and draw her baths. Her sheets were made of the most comfortable silk. Her windows were stuffed with flowers. Her dresser was filled with jewels. She had money to spend and influence to wield. This was all even better than she'd imagined.

But in another way, it wasn't quite what she had hoped. Because living in a palace surrounded by people who take care of you isn't necessarily the same thing as living in a home with people who care about you. And while the king thought Esther was beautiful, he wasn't around very much. She was never asked for her opinions about anything important. In fact, she wasn't even allowed to go and talk to him uninvited. If she came to him with her own ideas, or thoughts, or even just to talk, she'd be kicked out of the palace and maybe even killed.

And so she spent her evenings alone and remembered her time with Mordecai, when he would tell her about life in Jerusalem, and their ancestors, and she felt an emptiness that no throne, or jewel, or wardrobe could fill. And one day, as she was looking out the window, thinking of Mordecai, she saw him. But he wasn't coming to visit her. He was holding a poster above his head, protesting at the palace gate. Why? Esther sent a servant to find out.

As it turns out, Mordecai had a good reason. The king was planning to drive out the family of Jacob. Even though the Babylonians had taken the family of Jacob from their homes and brought them into their city to do their work, the Persians didn't want them anymore. There were just too many of them now. They were taking good Persian jobs, joining gangs, and causing crime. They had to get rid of them, one way or another.

Mordecai cried, "You have to stop this!"

Esther swallowed hard, "What can I do about it? I'm Persian now. I've changed my clothes and my name, the food I eat, the laws I keep. I don't belong to the family of Jacob anymore. I never really did."

"Hadassah," said Mordecai, "you are still part of the family. You can put on new clothes, change your name, and conquer the whole world, and still you would be part of our family. It's not something you can get out of. It's who you are. You did not become queen because you are Persian. You became queen because you're a Jew. Your strength, your beauty, your determination, those are gifts from your parents. Remember the old story of Ruth, who left her family to take care of her mother-in-law? You are like Ruth to me. Remember David, who was a shepherd boy who became a king? You are like David. And remember Moses, who saved his people even though he didn't think he could? You are going to need to be like Moses now. Save us."

And Esther, who had broken every Jewish law, who had worked so hard to become the perfect Persian queen, who had spent months forgetting old habits and learning new manners, decided again to become Hadassah the Jew. She prayed and she fasted. She trusted and hoped. And then she stormed right up to the king and told him who she was. "I am Hadassah, a descendant of Kish, the great-grandson of Benjamin of the family of Jacob. And so if you're going to get rid of the family of Jacob, I guess you're going to have to start with me."

The king was speechless. Esther could hear the servants whispering together. She'd come uninvited. She would be banished for sure, if not killed. But Esther did not die that day. Instead, the king was impressed with her bravery, and the family of Jacob was saved.

And as Esther walked away, she no longer felt lonely or empty or hollow. Instead, she felt something she hadn't felt in a long time. She felt home. And she ran out to tell Mordecai the good news. She ran out through the large palace doors. She walked through the crowded streets, past mud-brick buildings, along the open sewage lines, to the neighborhood where she'd grown up, into the home where Mordecai was. And as she entered their old, broken-down apartment, she never felt more like a queen.

Ezra and Nehemiah

 RETURN TO JERUSALEM

This lesson takes us back in time 400-500 years before the first "Christmas" in Bethlehem to the time of Ezra and Nehemiah.  Ezra and Nehemiah were contemporaries and colleagues in the rebuilding of the kingdom of God.  The two books go together and are actually just one book in the Jewish Bible.  Babylon, where the Jews had been taken, had been overthrown by Cyrus of Persia, as foretold by King Nebechudnezzar's dream of the great image (Daniel 2).  Cyrus encouraged the Jews to begin their return to Jerusalem to build up their temple.  And why did he feel inclined to do that?  Because he found his name in the prophecy, foretelling that he would.

Ezra 1:1-4:  "Now in the first year of Cyrus king of Persia, that the word of the Lord by the mouth of Jeremiah might be fulfilled, the Lord stirred up the spirit of Cyrus king of Persia, that he made a proclamation throughout all his kingdom, and put it also in writing, saying, Thus saith Cyrus king of Persia, the Lord God of heaven [remember, that is the Persian term for the God of the Jews; see previous post] hath given me all the kingdoms of the earth; and he hath charged me to build him an house at Jerusalem, which is in Judah."

Josephus wrote, "This was known to Cyrus by his reading the book which Isaiah left behind him of his prophecies; for this prophet said that God had spoken thus to him in a secret vision:--'My will is, that Cyrus, whom I have appointed to be king over many and great nations, send back my people to their own land, and build my temple.'  This was foretold by Isaiah one hundred and forty years before the temple was demolished.  Accordingly, when Cyrus read this, and admired the divine power, an earnest desire and ambition seized upon him to fulfil what was so written; so he called for the most eminent Jews that were in Babylon, and said to them, that he gave them leave to go back to their own country, and to rebuild their city Jerusalem, and the temple of God, for that he would be their assistant, and that he would write to the rulers and governors that were in the neighbourhood of their country of Judea, that they should contribute to them gold and silver for the building of the temple, and besides that, beasts for their sacrifices."  (Josephus, Antiquities of the Jews, Book XI, Chapter 1, verses 1 & 2)

Here is the prophecy Cyrus read about himself as recorded in our present-day Old Testament:  "Thus saith the Lord, thy redeemer, and he that formed thee from the womb, I am the Lord that maketh all things...That saith of Cyrus, He is my shepherd, and shall perform all my pleasure: even saying to Jerusalem, Thou shalt be built; and to the temple, Thy foundation shall be laid."  (Isaiah 44:24, 28)  The prophecy to Cyrus continues on in Isaiah 45, promising the Lord's aid to Cyrus as he performs this work.

So nearly 50,000 Jews went back to Jerusalem and rebuilt the temple.  The joy for the Jews when the temple was complete was contrasted with the sorrow of the old men who remembered the glory and splendor of the previous temple, as recorded in Ezra 3:11-13.  "Many of the priests and Levites and chief of the fathers, who were ancient men, that had seen the first house [remember this was 70 years after they had been taken captives in Babylon, so these people must have been nearing 90 or 100 to remember the first temple] when the foundation of this house was laid before their eyes, wept with a loud voice; and many shouted aloud for joy" (Ezra 3:12).  (Institute Manual 29-4, 29-14)

EZRA

The first six chapters of Ezra take place 60 to 80 years before his time.  There is no record of what happened in those years (Bible Dictionary, p. 669), but it must have been something bad, because a lot of damage had been done to Jerusalem.  Ezra was a priest (Ezra 7:6), and he received the king's permission to lead another group of Jews back to Jerusalem and reform the Jews living there.

"Along with Nehemiah, [Ezra] took steps to instruct the people in the Mosaic law.  Hitherto, the law had been to a great extent the exclusive possession of the priests.  It was now brought within the reach of every Jew." (ibid.)  In other words, most of the people had never had access to the scriptures, never heard them read in their entire lives, and their worship had, obviously, drifted and deviated from the Word of God.  It was a time similar to that following the Dark Ages in Europe, when Wycliffe and Tyndale translated the Bible into English and made it available to the commoner (although Wycliffe and Tyndale paid the price for their effort with their lives).

Read Nehemiah 8:1-4, 12, 17-18 for the beautiful account of the reading of the scriptures to the people.

(For much more on Ezra, see the Institute Manual.)

NEHEMIAH

Nehemiah, the king's cupbearer (Neh. 1:11), a high-ranking civil servant, was allowed to go back as well.  Nehemiah became the leader of the re-building effort and, while under attack, rebuilt the walls of the city.

"Nehemiah stands out as one of the noble men in the Old Testament. As he fulfilled a necessary mission in his day, he demonstrated the highest level of dedication and courage, both in the practical matter of rebuilding the walls of Jerusalem and also in the spiritual matter of rebuilding the religious life of his people" (Institute Manual).

“[Nehemiah's] career presents an exceptional combination of strong self-reliance with humble trust in God, of penetrating shrewdness with perfect simplicity of purpose, of persistent prayerfulness with the most energetic activity; and for religious faith and practical sagacity he stands conspicuous among the illustrious personages of the Bible.” (J. R. Dummelow, ed., A Commentary on the Holy Bible, p. 278, quoted in Institute Manual)

For more on Nehemiah, see the Institute Manual.

Two more July links

Here are links for my previously-published lessons that correspond to the next two weeks' study.

July 6-12

2 Kings 2-7 with Bible Balderdash

July 13-19

2 Kings 16-25 (Hezekiah)

Slide Show for June 28 & July 5 Lessons

 June 21-28 "Hear Thou in Heaven Their Prayer" - 2 Samuel 11-12; 1 Kings 3; 6-9; 11 (begins at slide 1)

June 29-July 5 "If the Lord Be God; Follow Him" - 1 Kings 12-13; 17-22 (begins at slide 14)

Feel free to lead both lesson discussions, choose just one to discuss, or start with the first and see how your class leads you.

CLICK HERE for the link. To show to your class or family full-screen, click "view" in the tool bar and select "slideshow." Hit the space bar or the mouse to advance. Enjoy!

Links for June 8-14; June 15-21; June 22-28; June 29-July 5

Here are links to my Gospel Doctrine lessons from the old curriculum that line up fairly well for the next four weeks' "Come, Follow Me" lessons. 

June 8-14 

1 Samuel 8-10; 13; 15-16

June 15-21

1 Samuel 17-18; 24-26; 2 Samuel 5-7

June 22-28 

I will also be preparing a slide show for this lesson and the next, combined, and will post a link.

2 Samuel 11-12; 

1 Kings 3; 6-9; 11

June 29 - July 5

1 Kings 12-13;

1 Kings 17-22

Rahab, Deborah, Ruth, Hannah (Joshua 1-8, 23-24; Judges 2-4, 6-8, 13-16; Ruth 1-4; Samuel 1-7)

Go here for my Google slides on Rahab, Deborah, Ruth and Hannah. There is probably too much to cover in one lesson, so feel free to choose just one or two of them, or skip over slides. Click VIEW from the top bar, then SLIDESHOW. Tap your mouse or the space bar to progress through the slides. Leave a comment if you liked it!

Joshua, Judges, Ruth, Samuel

Please follow these links for study material for upcoming lessons. Stay tuned for a slideshow of the corresponding June 7th lesson, focusing on righteous women in these readings: Rahab, Deborah, Ruth, and Hannah. It plan to have it up Friday night.

May 18-24

Joshua 1-8; 23-24

May 25-31

Judges 2-4; 6-8; 13-16

June 1-7

Ruth; 1 Samuel 1

Samuel 2-7

Deuteronomy 6-8; 15; 18; 29-30; 34

 Please go to this link for my previous post on Deuteronomy.

Numbers 11-14; 20-25; 27

When reading the Old Testament, I find it very helpful to remember that this book is a whole different style of scripture than any of our other standard works. 

Painting by Matthew Larson, used with permission

The New Testament is a history and testament of Jesus Christ's mission on the earth and the beginnings of the early Christian church. It includes the literal words of Christ, written by first-person or once-removed witnesses. It contains sermons given by Christ and letters written by His apostles that contain true doctrine that will lead to unity and happiness. Only one book in the New Testament is different than this: the Book of Revelation, which is totally symbolic and teaches of God's eternal plan for His children and Christ's role in saving the world from evil in a dream-like or story-like manner.

"Alma Baptizes in the Waters of Mormon," by Arnold Friberg, 

from Church Media Library

The Book of Mormon is a similar testament. It contains literal history and accurate doctrine taught by Jesus Christ and His prophets to this group of ancient Hebrews who migrated to the American continent during the time of Jeremiah. Many different authors contributed to the Book of Mormon over hundreds of years, each testifying of God's dealings in their lives from their own perspective. There are long, detailed stories of battles written by an army captain, sprinkled with truths of the gospel (Book of Alma). There are very short entries written by keepers of the records as they passed them on to the next keeper (Book of Omni). There are histories within histories, such as the adventures of a group who left the main body with false hope of a reconciliation with their enemies in their home land (Book of Alma). There is a translation of the long past history of a previous civilization that failed (Book of Ether). And there is an editor of much of the book (from Words of Mormon through the end). The Book of Mormon can be trusted as truth, historically and doctrinally. Whenever some anacronism (thing out of place with the time) appears and critics taut it as proof the book is fake, it is eventually proven to be correct (such as horses existing in ancient America). It does contain some chapters full of symbolism (Lehi's vision or passages quoted directly from Isaiah), but they are not the norm.

The Nauvoo Temple, my own photo

 The Doctrine and Covenants is mostly the words of Jesus Christ directly to the latter-day prophet, Joseph Smith, written by a scribe but without any other middle man. There are only a couple of chapters from other prophets' times at the end of the book. Most of the sections are words from Christ through Joseph Smith to specific people about specific circumstances involving the restoration of His Church and its management. There are sections that are direct answers to questions from individual saints. The whole thing is very literal, very straight-forward, very true.

Joseph Smith Statue at the Joseph Smith Building in Salt Lake City,

my photo (and my nieces)

The Pearl of Great Price is a collection of several different works. There are re-tellings of Old Testament stories with added material revealed to the Prophet Joseph Smith as he studied the Bible in depth and through his lens as a seer (Books of Moses and Abraham). There is a copy of one chapter of the New Testament that has particular application to the latter days with President Smith's revelatory changes. There is an autobiographical account of Joseph Smith's call as a prophet, including his vision of God the Father and Jesus Christ. And there are the Articles of Faith, written by Joseph Smith.

Noah's Ark, by Edward Hicks, from Wikipedia

And then there's the Old Testament. It's a whole different type of scripture. The origin, writing and compilation of the Old Testament is hugely different than that of any other scripture book (with exceptions of those chapters of other scriptures that came from the Old Testament). 

• The Old Testament stories were not ever intended to tell an accurate, detailed history of a people. They were crafted, honed, and stylized not to be true, but to teach truths and to provide religious memory for a specific group of people, the Hebrews. If changing the literal numbers of things to highly symbolic numbers will carry the meaning better, the symbolic numbers will be chosen. (Think of 40 as "the necessary time for the trial" or 7 as "a godly, perfect, or complete amount." Think of 12 as a priesthood number, a quorum. Think of 4 as relating to earthy, temporal things.) Great events are exaggerated for effect. The number of Israelites who came out of Egypt, for example, is pretty wild and hard to imagine. As we know from our temple teachings, the story of Adam and Eve is allegorical (although Adam and Eve were real people) and we are to consider what it tells us about ourselves.
• The telling and subsequent recording of the Old Testament took place in a culture vastly different from most 21st century cultures on the earth today. To view the Old Testament as absolutely accurate would be to impose our culture upon theirs. Many of us today place a high value on telling the truth, but there are still cultures of the world where accuracy is not that important; conveying the value of something, the importance of a person, the moral of a story is way more important than accurate details. Today, a western political figure dealing with a leader from a vastly different cultural background will encounter problems if they assume that the two have the same understanding of truth or of contracts. A reader of the Old Testament can fall under a misunderstanding of religion and the nature of God Himself if they think of the Old Testament as factual.
• The Old Testament books were written long after the stories within them actually occurred. Very little of the Old Testament was written by a person who was alive and experienced the story. Maybe some of the prophetic writings would fall under this category, but not many. Mostly the stories were told and modified over many generations of illiterate but faithful people. 
• Religions were regional in the ancient world. Gods were connected to specific lands. If you moved, you left them behind and took on the gods of the place you moved to. But Jehovah was greater than that. He led the Israelites as they moved through the land. His goal was to help the people rather than rule over the land.
• The oral stories and instructions were written down by scribes when the Jews were forced out of Jerusalem by Babylon so that they could carry their religion with them. They were modified to fit the current state of the Hebrews, scattered all around the area with no centralized locus of religion. There is a lot of detail about sacrifices, which could be made on an altar anywhere, and very little detail about exactly what the temple ceremonies and practices entailed, once the temple was destroyed. Jehovah was (is) a God you could worship anywhere, if you knew about Him. The written stories provided the knowledge.
• The listener is to put himself or herself in the place of the characters of the story in order to apply them to their own lives. It doesn't matter whether Job was a real person who really experienced the losses listed in his book. It matters that you consider, "Would I be like Job? Would I handle the loss of everything I love and still be faithful to God?" That's the hope that the story is meant to convey.
• The Old Testament came from a people who had worshipped idols and whose neighbors all had multiple gods of their own creation. These gods were created in order for the people to understand their world and have hope for better things. All natural phenomena were viewed as acts of the gods. Every disease was viewed as a curse from a god. Every victory in a war was because of the support of a god. These gods were not understood to be all-seeing, all-knowing, all-powerful or even filled with love for their constituents. They were much more like the men who created them: angry, vindictive, petty. This environment influenced the way the Hebrews and their storytellers understood  Jehovah, the One True God. They expected that Jehovah took charge over every detail of life: every disease was a punishment, every victory was a reward. They could easily view Him as angry or jealous.
• Paul's statement that "When I was a child, I spoke as a child, I understood as a child, but when I became [an adult] I put away childish things" (I Cor. 13:11 NKJV) applies to civilizations as well. They begin as children and collectively mature and develop if they learn from their experience and from the teachings of the more enlightened individuals in their group.The storytellers of the Old Testament were definitely more evolved in their relationship to God the Father and Jehovah than their neighbors were, but civilizations continued to evolve and understand God better through Book of Mormon times in America, through the New Testament with the physical presence and teachings of Jesus Christ, and now with the ongoing Restoration of All Things. 
• I like to think of the Old Testament as art. If you want to show exactly what someone or something looks like, you can come relatively close by taking a photograph or by painting a realistic portrait on sight. But if you want to express a feeling about a scene or an event, you might want to do an unrealistic painting.This is a heart-to-heart way to communicate and that is why so many people love the Impressionist artists such as Monet and Van Gogh. Van Gogh's "The Starry Night" does not accurately depict the night sky but it very accurately conveys a mood of glory and joy that one might experience in viewing a beautiful starry night. As another example, the first time I turned a corner in the Church History Museum and came face-to-face with the painting "For Us," by Walter Rane, I felt the Atonement in a way I never had before. That painting with its jagged, harsh stripes of red felt like pain, agony, suffering. I felt emotionally stabbed! (Here is a link to the painting, but without the texture of the brush strokes, it is not nearly as moving.)

The Starry Night, by Vincent Van Gogh, from Wikipedia

Let's apply these ideas to the story of the Balaam and the talking donkey, one of the weirdest stories in the Old Testament. It is found in Numbers 22. And it is surprisingly relevant to all of us today.

BALAAM AND HIS DONKEY

As the host of Israel passed through various already-inhabited lands, the local tribal leaders became very alarmed. They were afraid the Israelites would consume everything and force them out. When they reached the lands of Moab, the Moabite king Balak was terrified! He sent emissaries to a non-Hebrew "prophet" who was from Mesopotamia and who knew Jehovah. He asked Balaam to come and see him and put a curse upon the Israelites. Apparently, Balaam asked God if it was okay to go (he was offered a lot of riches, after all!) and was answered that he could go to see the Moabites, but he should not be influenced by their entreaties or bribes. He should only say what Jehovah told him to say.

Balaam said no to the messengers and sent them home, but when more powerful and impressive emissaries were sent, he really wanted to go. He was probably afraid to refuse such an entourage. He asked the Lord what he should do. Was the answer still the same? God still didn't want him to go, but He said, "Fine! If you want to do it so badly, then go!" (I remember my mom reacting this way once when I begged and begged her to let me go to a carnival and she thought it was a bad idea. I learned a lesson about how wise she was when I threw up all over the Tilt-a-Whirl ride, and later all over my friend's mom's car. All my money was wasted. Sometimes experience is the only effective teacher.) 

As Balaam journeyed along the way, Jehovah tried to discourage him from getting himself into an alliance with a powerful pagan leader. Balaam's donkey got spooked several times, refusing to go forward and even crushing Balaam's foot against a wall. Balaam got frustrated with the animal and beat her. Then he remembered the donkey's normal obedience and this communicated the message to him, "What have I done to you that you have struck me these three times?" Balaam responded, "You have embarrassed me with your insolence! If I had a sword, I'd kill you!" Then the donkey seemed to say, "I don't usually act like this, do I? Have you considered there might be something unusual influencing me?"

Now let me interrupt the story right here and remind you of President Hugh B. Brown's very famous story about his conversation with a currant bush. It was part of a talk given at BYU in 1968 and has been repeated many times in General Conference and other venues, President Brown had been passed over for promotion in the military unfairly, just because he was a member of the Church. He was angry at God. But later, as he pruned a currant bush that was wildly overgrown in his own garden, a powerful connection was made in his mind. He felt the currant bush speak to him as he had spoken to God, angrily asking why it was being cut down. He felt God speaking to him as a gardener, telling him that he was being shaped for a different purpose. 

Now the talking donkey makes sense, doesn't it?

Balaam's eyes were opened after he considered this and he saw the purpose in the animal's behavior. He understood it as a warning from God, and he may have even seen an angel with a sword. The important part is that his imagination of the donkey's speech (or simply her braying) communicated God's message to him that this journey was wrong. And also that beating the messenger was wrong. God, through the angel, said to Balaam, "You can still go if you really want to, but you had better not say anything I don't tell you to say. That should be really, really clear in your mind right now."

When Balaam reached Moab, Balak, the tribal king, attempted to bribe and coerce him multiple times from multiple situations to curse the Israelites. Each time, not only was the answer the same from Jehovah, but the blessing he pronounced upon His people, the Israelites, became even greater. Each time, Balaam seemed to hope that this time, in this location, Jehovah would be willing to curse the Israelites and he would receive all the riches from the Moabite king. But each time, Jehovah remained the same: a loving, supportive God who always desired to bless His people. 

Finally, Balak panicked and said, "Okay, okay! Stop! It's fine if you don't want to curse them, but just don't say anything at all. I don't want them having any more blessings!"

Balaam said, "Remember how I told you that I would come, but I would only say what Jehovah told me to say? It's nothing personal, and it's not me being obstinate. I have to say what He tells me to say. He doesn't change." And he gave another, greater blessing.

Reading these blessings, especially in a version of the Bible that sets them apart from the story text (I like the English Standard Version), is a beautiful experience. It would have been wonderful to hear these blessings recited over and over by storytellers, just as it is wonderful to hear Elder Brown's story of the currant bush told over and over by many other storytellers. Each time our vision of God's plan for our individual lives is reinforced and our faith in Him grows.

This story is also a good one for those of us who ask God a question and are already hoping for a certain answer. If we remember that we "cannot go beyond the word of the Lord," we can more quickly accept that answer. If we try again and again, we may get a "Fine! Go ahead and do it!" answer and then have to suffer figurative bruises from our donkey along our path and not get the riches and glory we wanted from that answer anyway. Ultimately we may reach a dead end.

Remember the donkey and trust the first answer you receive from the Lord!

Donkey photo from Wikipedia

Exodus 35-40, Leviticus 1, 4, 16, 19

Here is a link to my Google slideshow on this lesson. Click the View tab and then select slideshow to put it in full screen. Click your mouse, your touchscreen or your keyboard space bar to advance the slides or play the videos. Enjoy!

Exodus

Please follow this link to my previous post on Exodus 1-13.

Please follow this link to learn more about the importance of 40 in the Bible

Please follow this link to my previous post on Exodus 14-18.

Easter Story For Children and Youth

A LONG STORY ABOUT EASTER AND TEMPLES

For Children, Youth and Adults

Nancy W. Jensen

Long before Jesus was born, God told His people in Jerusalem to build him a house where they could worship Him and He could visit them. God told them how to build this temple and they wrote down every single instruction and put it in their scriptures. It would be a place where heaven and earth would meet. The people would give God gifts at the House of God and God would give them gifts as well. You can read about all of them in The Book of Leviticus in the Bible.

The House of God was amazing! It had a big courtyard around it for people to gather. It was very, very tall–10 stories tall or more, like a small skyscraper. It had gold on the front of it and beautiful carvings. It had colors of the sunset, like blue and purple and red, to remind people that this was where heaven and earth meet. And it had a very small room with golden things to remind them of how God had helped them in the past and what Jesus Christ would someday do to save them. This small but tall room had a heavy veil or curtain instead of a door. This was the Holy of Holies where God could come. Only the high priest could go in there, and he could only go in on one day of the year, The Day of Atonement. For ten days before that day, the people would repent of all the things they did wrong. They would bring their gifts to the temple. Then the high priest would pray to God for them to be forgiven. They would make covenants with God. A covenant is a special promise that brings you close together.

God told the people that coming to the temple would make them rejoice! And it did! It was a place of happiness!

 

But after a while the people began to get lazy and selfish and they weren’t obeying God’s commandments. So God sent prophets to tell them what they were doing wrong so they could change. These people got very angry! They didn’t want to change! So God told one of the prophets, named Lehi, to take his family and get away from Jerusalem because the people were doing so many bad things that God wasn’t going to protect Jerusalem anymore.

We can read their story in The Book of Mormon. The Book of Mormon is a collection of stories written by different people in ancient America over hundreds of years. They were all put together by a prophet named Mormon and that’s why it’s called The Book of Mormon. It’s really “The Books Collected by Mormon.”

The first book in the Book of Mormon tells about what God told Lehi in visions and how he had to buy tents and leave Jerusalem with his family and go camping in the wilderness and then go back to get the Brass Plates (which were the scriptures) and get another family to come with them and then travel to the beach and live there for a while and then build a ship and sail across the huge ocean to America. In America they got married and had a bunch of kids and grandkids and they were farmers and they also had fights. This book was written by Lehi’s son Nephi. After writing the story of their travels, he copied down all his favorite scriptures.

He still had more to write but he didn’t write it here. He started a Second Book of Nephi. Why a whole new book?

The first thing that Nephi wrote in his second book was that God showed Lehi that Jerusalem actually was destroyed (2 Nephi 1:1-4). Another country, Babylon, sent their armies and all the people who lived in Jerusalem were killed or pushed out and forced to live in all different places so the people who won the war could live in Jerusalem instead. The temple, the House of God, was completely destroyed.

Everything was different now. There was no House of God on the whole earth. There was no church of God in Jerusalem. The biggest group of God’s people was in America.

Remember: Lehi’s family had brought their scriptures with them, the Brass Plates. The scriptures had all the instructions for building a temple and worshipping God in the temple. So they built a new House of God in their land. The second book of Nephi is about how these people enter a closer relationship with God and learn more about Jesus Christ because they have a temple where heaven and earth meet. Now, Nephi wrote, “[They] lived after the manner of happiness” (2 Nephi 5:27) because of their covenants.

 

Back in Jerusalem, there was another war because the King of Persia wanted Jerusalem. But as he moved to Jerusalem, the king found a copy of the scriptures. He read what God told the prophets to write in the scriptures and he read a prophecy about himself there, taking over Jerusalem! And he also read a prophecy that God’s people will come back to Jerusalem. This makes him decide to let any of those people  move back if they want to and he decides to rebuild their temple. It sounds pretty cool to him.

 

Hundreds of years later, Mary and Joseph took Baby Jesus to this temple to give gifts to God for their baby. They had to travel to get there because they didn’t live in Jerusalem. Joseph and Mary worshipped at the temple as often as they could, probably every time they had a new baby, for example. (They had at least seven other kids.) On one of these trips, when Jesus was 12 years old, he sat in the courtyard teaching the priests! He didn’t even notice that all his relatives had gone home. They had to come back and find him.

When Jesus grew up, he started teaching everyone God’s commandments: how they should be baptized and they should love each other and that God should be the most important thing in their lives so that they could be happy.

He told the temple priests he was God’s Son! It was the best news in the world!

But the temple priests did not want to believe he was God’s Son. They did not want to change. They liked being in charge, being rich, being important.

They finally convinced the leaders of the city to kill Jesus. They found Jesus in the garden of Gethsemane, just outside the city. He was praying and crying and he was feeling more sad than anyone in the world had ever been, because He loved everyone so much, even the people who did bad things! And they took him and put him on a cross on a small hill behind Jerusalem. As Jesus hung on the cross, he could turn his head and see the back wall of the beautiful temple.

Because Jesus was the Son of God, no one could kill him, but he could choose to die.  It was the most painful thing in the world to be hung on a cross, but somehow his pain on the cross and before that in the Garden of Gethsemane made it possible for him to bring anyone who died back to life some day. And it also gave him the power to help people when they had troubles or made mistakes. Even us.

Then Jesus told Heavenly Father that he was done, and he let his spirit leave his body and go up to heaven.

As he left the earth, the earth began to shake, and because of the earthquake, the thick, heavy veil of the temple holy place ripped into two pieces, from the top to the bottom. It was as if to show everyone that because of what Jesus Christ did, they could now walk right through the veil and be with God!

 

There were also earthquakes in America. The people there had been getting selfish and wicked, too. They hated each other and they fought and they stole things. They said that Jesus wasn’t real and he wasn’t going to come to earth and they didn’t need him anyway. They said anybody can do whatever they want. They hated the people who still believed in Jesus. They didn’t care about the House of God. Their prophet, Nephi the 3rd, tried to teach them to repent, but only a few people listened.

With the earthquake, buildings crashed down. Lots of people were killed. Everyone who was still alive was crying. The air was black with some kind of volcanic smoke and they couldn't even see.

But the temple was not destroyed and the people gathered there. And while they were there, at the place where heaven meets earth, the sky opened up and Jesus Christ came down to visit them! He didn’t just visit the high priest on the other side of a heavy veil, but He met all of them out in the courtyard, even the little children! He taught them his gospel just as he taught it in Jerusalem. He told them he had finished his sad and painful work, the Atonement, and he had saved the world. He brought angels with him and they blessed the children. He changed their temple worship to help them remember Him and what He did. And he said this was the greatest joy he had ever felt. Nephi the 3rd wrote down everything he taught them except for the very sacred heavenly parts. And then he told his future readers, us, to not do bad things and not hate people, but to repent and get baptized and receive the Holy Ghost and join the covenant people. And that’s the end of that story.

Then he started a new book called the 4th Book of Nephi. This book was the story of how people who made new temple covenants with Jesus Christ Himself at the House of God lived. Nephi the 3rd wrote, “And they were blessed [with the many, many promises] which the Lord had made unto them [in the temple]” (4 Nephi 1:11). “And there was no [fighting] in the land, because of the love of God which did [live] in the hearts of the people” (4 Nephi 1:15). “And surely there could not be a happier people among all the people who had been created by the hand of God..[and] they were in one [like one loving family], the children of Christ, and [were promised] the kingdom of God” (4 Nephi 1:16,17). The covenant people loved everyone, even the weird ones. And they shared all their stuff so no one was poor. And they watched over each other so no one was left out.

It was the one time on earth that life was fair! And it lasted for 200 years!

 

Today we have Houses of God all over the world with many of the same things the temple in Jerusalem had, but they are used differently since Jesus did His mighty work. We no longer wait outside while the temple priest makes the covenants for all the people. If we keep our baptismal covenants, we can each go in and make more covenants ourselves. As we do, we get pulled closer and closer to Jesus Christ, as Elder Bradley Wilcox taught us in October 2024 General Conference. Our temples have veils, but now they are plain and white and lightweight and they are made in two pieces! They are made for walking through!

Sometimes hard things will happen in our lives. We might feel like we are suddenly on the other side of the world in a brand new place where everything is different, like Lehi’s family. We might even feel like we’ve been through an earthquake. Some things in our lives will break in ways that we can’t fix. But if we become covenant people with Christ, we can start new stories, better ones. We can feel more of His love and receive more of His help as we come closer to Him in our temples, where heaven meets earth. We can promise to share our money and our time and our stuff to bring others to him. And as we share his love with others, we will get it all over ourselves. And then we also will live “after the manner of happiness.”

Genesis 42-50

Follow this link to my previous post on this section of scripture.

Genesis 37-41 -- Joseph

Latter-day Saint Donny Osmond as Joseph in "Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat," which played on Broadway in New York City beginning in 1982. Image from Latter-day Saint Musicians.

A neighbor of mine shared some very interesting research she had done with our scripture study group that has application to this week's lesson on Joseph, so I will share that here and then I will link my post on Joseph.

When Adam and Eve realized that they were naked (inadequate, vulnerable), they hid from God. When He asked them why they hid and who told them they were naked, they told Him they had learned this from Satan. God's response to them was not to shame them or punish them. Instead, He clothed them in garments of skin (Genesis 3:21). The Hebrew word translated here as "garment" is kethoneth or ketonet.

Bible Hub describes kethoneth or ketonet as "a long, shirt–like garment that served as the basic article of clothing for both men and women in ancient Israel. It was normally woven from wool or linen, extending to the knees or ankles, with or without sleeves. While an ordinary tunic was common apparel, Scripture records several specialized ketonot whose design, fabrication, or use conveyed covenantal and theological truths."

The word kethoneth is used in the Old Testament in this specialized context very few times. This is the first and it refers to a tunic or inner garment worn next to the skin. 

“Yahweh [Jehovah] made garments of skin for Adam and his wife and clothed them” (Genesis 3:21). The first mention of ketonet follows mankind’s fall and sheds light on God’s initiative in providing a covering secured through the shedding of blood. This act foreshadows substitutionary atonement and establishes the biblical pattern that sin requires a divinely provided covering" (Bible Hub).

The second is to describe Joseph's coat of many colors (Gen. 37:3). In this case it is an outer robe, a long tunic. It signified a person of authority, priestly or royal, because it was a garment not practical for manual labor. It was made of finer cloth: wool, linen, cotton, or silk. 

"Jacob’s preferential love for Joseph is displayed through “a richly ornamented robe” (Genesis 37:3). The ketonet here is distinguished by length and embroidery, marking Joseph for blessing and leadership. Its blood-stained presentation to Jacob (Genesis 37:31–33) dramatizes deception and anticipated deliverance. Later, Joseph’s divinely orchestrated exaltation confirms that God’s purposes overcome human malice" (ibid.).

The third time is in reference to the temple priesthood clothing made for Aaron and his sons to wear in the tabernacle (Exodus 28:4). 

The New International Version reads, 

"These are the garments they are to make: a breastpiece, an ephod, a robe, a woven tunic, a turban and a sash. They are to make these sacred garments for your brother Aaron and his sons, so they may serve me as priests."

The New Testament was written in Greek. The Greek equivalent of kethoneth (chiton) is used to describe the specialized luxury clothing item that Jesus Christ wore to the cross, the seamless garment for which the Roman soldiers cast lots (John 19:24). (See also Psalm 22:18.) 

"In the Septuagint [the Greek translation of the Hebrew Old Testament], ketonet is rendered chitōn, the very word John uses when recording that soldiers cast lots for Jesus’ seamless tunic (John 19:23–24). The High Priest’s linen ketonet, the favored son’s multi-colored ketonet, and the sin-covering ketonet of Eden all converge in the crucified Messiah whose unseamed garment affirms His perfect righteousness and singular priesthood" (ibid.).

The New International Version translates John 19:23 as follows: 

"When the soldiers crucified Jesus, they took his clothes, dividing them into four shares, one for each of them, with the undergarment remaining. This garment was seamless, woven in one piece from top to bottom."

The significance of innner and outer priestly clothing should not be lost to members of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. As covenant temple worshipers, we have the opportunity to receive and wear our own version of kethoneth, temple clothing next to our skin, as well as kethoneth passim, outer clothing worn during temple worship. As Adam and Eve, Aaron and his sons, and Joseph, we are covered by Christ's mercy and that covering is symbolized in our temple garments. Jesus Christ wore His inner garment to the very end of His life, and so should we. (See https://www.churchofjesuschrist.org/temples/temple-garment-faq?lang=eng.)

And now here is the link to my previous post on Joseph.