Celestial Astronomy

Some days, I only study one or two verses from the Book of Abraham because there is so much scriptural nourishment in feasting upon these words.  Just as with nutritionally dense foods, this food for the soul is best enjoyed slowly to allow for the digestion of the material.  However, the next place Abraham takes us in Chapter 3 are 6 related verses explaining his first lesson in Celestial Astronomy.  This is so intense, it my take me days of study and I may end up with a headache!  So let's get started.

In verses 5 - 10, the Lord seems to have several objectives for what He is teaching Abraham.  These are a few I have gleaned and I'm sure, as I think and pray about it more, other ideas will come to mind.

• When you compare two similar things (in this case, God's dwelling pace and earth) one of them will be greater than the other. 
• The greater light to rule the day is, for us, the Sun.  For other planets, it is the star/sun associated with that planet, for example Kolob.
• The lesser light to rule the night is the moon (or in some cases moons) that orbit the planets.
• Times and seasons are determined by the orbits of the moons around the planets and the planets around the sun.  A day orbiting Kolob is like a 1000 years of our Earth orbiting the Sun.
• All of the stars in the universe are connected in a hierarchy (known only to God) which is in contrast to the chaos theory proposed by some scientists.
• The star, Kolob, "rules" over all of the stars and planets in our (the Earth's) "order." [1]

And the Lord said unto me: The planet which is the lesser light, lesser than that which is to rule the day, even the night, is above or greater [longer] than that upon which thou standest in point of reckoning, for it moveth in order more slow; this is in order because it standeth above the earth upon which thou standest, therefore the reckoning of its time is not so many as to its number of days, and of months, and of years.

  

And the Lord said unto me: Now, Abraham, these two facts exist, behold thine eyes see it; it is given unto thee to know the times of reckoning, and the set time, yea, the set time of the earth upon which thou standest, and the set time of the greater light which is set to rule the day, and the set time of the lesser light which is set to rule the night.

Now the set time of the lesser light is a longer time as to its reckoning than the reckoning of the time of the earth upon which thou stand. [2]

And where these two facts exist, there shall be another fact above them, that is, there shall be another planet whose reckoning of time shall be longer still;

And thus there shall be the reckoning of the time of one planet above another, until thou come nigh unto Kolob, which Kolob is after the reckoning of the Lord’s time; which Kolob is set nigh unto the throne of God, to govern all those planets which belong to the same order as that upon which thou standest.

And it is given unto thee to know the set time of all the stars that are set to give light, until thou come near unto the throne of God. (Abraham 3: 5-10)

Oh, wow!  God gave Abraham the knowledge of all of the stars and galaxies until He came to Kolob near unto the throne of God!  How did one mortal man absorb that?  The above picture is just one galaxy - ours.  The greatest living astronomers know only the tip of the iceberg, even with their sophisticated instruments.  I know only slightly more than nil.  No wonder Abraham could teach the Egyptians so much about astronomy that archaeologists today still marvel at the precision of the pyramids in relationship to the heavens.

Now I do have a headache!  See you all tomorrow!

[1] Does this mean there are other orders of stars and planets?  There is a scripture in the Doctrine and Covenants that says there are no empty spaces where there are not orders and kingdoms.  How did Joseph Smith absorb all of this?
[2] Does this mean that the orbit of the moon of God's planet is longer than one Earth year?

© Gebara Education, 2016

If You Could Hie to Kolob

And I saw the stars, that they were very great, and that one of them was nearest unto the throne of God; and there were many great ones which were near unto it;  And the Lord said unto me: These are the governing ones; and the name of the great one is Kolob, because it is near unto me, for I am the Lord thy God: I have set this one to govern all those which belong to the same order as that upon which thou standest.  And the Lord said unto me, by the Urim and Thummim, that Kolob was after the manner of the Lord, according to its times and seasons in the revolutions thereof; that one revolution was a day unto the Lord, after his manner of reckoning, it being one thousand years according to the time appointed unto that whereon thou standest. This is the reckoning of the Lord’s time, according to the reckoning of Kolob. (Abraham 3: 2-4)

During the 2012 presidential campaign, I saw an ad showing Mitt Romney wearing a clown's hat and saying, "I believe God lives on a planet named Kolob." (I was going to post the ad, but I decided I would not dignify it.)  I won't get into the subject of election propaganda, but this ad displayed ignorance on a lot of levels.  It certainly showed that the creators of the ad were totally ignorant as to what the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints teaches about the dwelling place of God.  According to Abraham 3, Kolob is not a planet but rather a star, the greatest of all the stars God showed to Abraham.  God then told him that His dwelling place was near unto Kolob.  In other words, our Heavenly Father does not live on the star but near the star just as we live on the Earth and near the Sun, our governing star. 

Before Abraham and Sarah went into Egypt, God showed Abraham this vision of Kolob.  This is just part of the celestial astronomy that God taught him through the Urim and Thummim.  Later in this chapter, we will read that God commanded Abraham to teach the Egyptians.   I am confident that he did just that.

It interests me that the Egyptian Pharaohs are often portrayed holding the symbols of their royalty, the Staff and the Flail.  The staff represents the shepherd's crook indicating salvation and mercy.  The flail represents the whip of justice.  Pharaoh himself was the purveyor of both mercy and justice.  There is a hieroglyphic symbol showing the intertwined staff and flail above a foundation.   The symbol means "The Home of Justice and Mercy." In Egyptian, the place of Justice and Mercy resided with Pharaoh because he was considered to be a god representing Osiris on the throne. 

An interesting hypothesis is raised in the book, The Abraham Enigma by Jack Lyon,  in which he separates the component parts of the Egyptian symbol which, when written out, represent the Hebrew letters of K, L, and B.

 K is KAF and it represents the flail which indicates JUSTICE

 

 

 

 

L is LAMED which represents the crook or staff (notice in the diagram on the right that the Torah script on the bottom right actually looks like a shepherd's staff) which indicates MERCY



 

B is BEIT or BETH which represents house (as in Beth-le-hem: house of bread; Beth-el:house of El or Elohim/God) indicating place or location.







If you put the three together: KLB and pronounce it, it certainly sounds like KoLoB to me.  In Hebrew "The Home of Justice and Mercy" resides with God: Kolob, the Home of Justice and Mercy. 

If Joseph Smith simply made up the word, how on earth did he make these subtle connections?  Jesus told the Pharisees that they swallow camels and choke on gnats.  People accept that there are an infinite number of galaxies in a limitless universe.  Some even spends millions of dollars looking of ephemeral signs of extra-terrestrial intelligence (SETI) and cry when ET phones home or cheer when the Empire is defeated.  Yet because of spiritual blindness, they ridicule Joseph Smith about Kolob.  And put clown hats on a decent man striving to serve his country.

This link will take you to YouTube and a beautiful music video of the Mormon Tabernacle Choir's rendition of the W.W. Phelps hymn, If You Could Hie to Kolob.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=D6coZ57wvJE

© Gebara Education, 2016

"I Saw the Stars. . . "

 

CHAPTER 3

Abraham learns about the sun, moon, and stars by means of the Urim and Thummim

And I, Abraham, had the Urim and Thummim, which the Lord my God had given unto me, in Ur of the Chaldees;   And I saw the stars, that they were very great, and that one of them was nearest unto the throne of God; and there were many great ones which were near unto it; (verses 1, 2)

We read in Genesis about Abraham seeing the stars in the heavens and being told by God that his posterity would be as numerous.  The picture on the left illustrates what most of us see in our mind's eye: an old man staring up at the sky in awe.  While he certainly may have done that, I am grateful to the Pearl of Great Price for revealing more about Abraham's experiences with the stars.  I love that modern-day revelation shows us, not a backward Bedouin who smelled of sheep and goats (although he probably did smell of sheep and goats), but a brilliant and spiritual giant who talked with God.

Extra-Biblical sources discovered in the mid-20th Century indicate that Abraham knew so much about the heavens that he taught Pharaoh and his court the science of astronomy.  It is clear from the archaeological evidence that the Egyptians certainly understood astronomy better than most of us do.  Where did they learn it?  If they learned it from Abraham (which the Pearl of Great Price and other sources indicate that they did) where do Abraham learn it?

The Book of Abraham tells us that he attained his great knowledge of the things of God by using the Urim and Thummim, Seer Stones that have been used by prophets and patriarchs, including the high priest of the Levitical Priesthood, to see, prophecy, and translate things that God wants His children to know and understand. [Note: the picture on the let demonstrates that when the crystals overlap, they form a Star of David, the symbol associated with Israel for millennia.]

The Bible Dictionary tell us this about the Urim and Thummim:

Hebrew term that means “Lights and Perfections.” An instrument prepared of God to assist man in obtaining revelation from the Lord and in translating languages.  References to the Urim and Thummim are found in Ex. 28:30; Lev. 8:8; Num. 27:21; Deut. 33:8; 1 Sam. 28:6; Ezra 2:63; Neh. 7:65; JS—H 1:35.

 

Using a Urim and Thummim is the special prerogative of a seer, and it would seem reasonable that such instruments were used from the time of Adam. However, the earliest mention is in connection with the brother of Jared (Ether 3:21–28). Abraham used a Urim and Thummim (Abr. 3:1–4), as did Aaron and the priests of Israel, and also the prophets among the Book of Mormon (Omni 1:20–21; Mosiah 8:13–19; 21:26–28; 28:11–20; Ether 4:1–7).

 

 

There is more than one Urim and Thummim. According to the Bible Dictionary, the one used by Joseph Smith to translate the Book of Mormon was the one that had belonged to the Brother of Jared right after the Tower of Babel.  One Urim and Thummim was always worn in the breastplate of the high priest in ancient Israel.  

 

Men have tried to replicate the prophetic power of the Urim and Thummin in such things as crystal balls, crystal skulls, and other paraphernalia which supposedly allow the owner to tell the future and have all knowledge.  Such are the trappings of the adversary who always creates a counterfeit to God's creations.  Our job is to seek discernment through the Holy Spirit to tell the difference.  It always amazes me that the very same people who pooh-pooh the idea of seer stones might visit a fortune teller's booth at a carnival.  Sometimes people innocently feel that they can play around with such things relating to what we sometimes call the occult. 

 

We would be wise to heed the old saying from Sheila in Darby O'Gill and the Little People, "If you sup with the devil, you'd better use a long spoon!" 

 

Better yet, just don't ever sup with the devil!

 

© Gebara Education, 2016

Blessings of the Fathers - Abrahamic Covenant

In the video clip I shared yesterday, as well as in several recent posts, I have talked a lot about covenants.  Covenants are sacred contracts: promises between God and one or more of His children.  Covenants are sacred and should not be entered into lightly.  It is not a good idea to enter into a covenantal relationship with God having the idea that you'll give it a try and if you don't like it, you'll walk away, for God will not be mocked.

Today, I'd like to talk specifically about what we call the Abrahamic Covenant. According to www.lds.org, Abraham made covenants with God when he received the gospel, when he was ordained a high priest, and when he entered into celestial marriage. In these covenants, God promised great blessings to Abraham and his family. These blessings, which extend to all of Abraham's seed, are called the Abrahamic covenant 

There are three promises God makes to Abraham, and these include 1) land; 2) seed (posterity); and 3) priesthood.

1) For Abraham himself, the land was designated in what we now call the Middle East.  However, as I mentioned in an earlier post, the Promised Land of the covenant can apply to different places for different peoples.  For Lehi's people, the Promised Land was located somewhere in the America's.  Modern-day prophets have defined the Promised Land of the covenant to be in the lands the people currently occupy.  It is often associated with temple locations, just as the center of the Promised Land of the Jews was Jerusalem with its temple.  I have sometimes wondered if this promise of a land and home could be spiritual as well as temporal (as most things in the gospel are.)  Could it refer to my final home in God's kingdom?

2) When God promised Abraham seed, that, too was both a spiritual and a temporal promise.  God referred to Abraham's seed as being as numerous as the sands of the sea or as the stars in the sky.  I think the sands of the sea refers to Abraham's literal descendants through Sarah (the 12 Tribes of Israel; and the Moabites), Hagar (the 12 Tribes of the Arab Nations), and Keturah, Abraham's wife that he married after Sarah's death (the Midanites.)  The Midianites, along with Lot's descendants, which are the Ammonites and the Moabites, are also numbered among the Arab Nations as spiritual seed of Abraham.

I also think that the stars in the sky represent the spiritual reference in the token.  All who accept the gospel, who i follow Jesus Christ, and who live faithful to the covenant will be numbered among Abraham's seed and blessed with the blessings of the Abrahamic Covenant: And he brought him forth abroad, and said, Look now toward heaven, and tell the stars, if thou be able to number them: and he said unto him, So shall thy seed be. And he believed in the Lord; and he counted it to him for righteousness. (Genesis 15:4-6)

3) The third blessing is described in the Bible as you shall be my people and I shall be thy God. Modern-day revelation indicates that those people thus identified are those who experience the blessings of priesthood power, both those who hold it and those who are blessed by it.  The Pearl of Great Price (see Abraham, chapters 1 and 2) makes it abundantly clear that the Lord means priesthood as the means by which all the earth shall be blessed by the promises made to Abraham.

I am among those who are blessed through Abraham.

© Gebara Education, 2016

Blessings of the Fathers - Posterity

The last of the blessings of the fathers was the blessing of posterity.  In addition to priesthood and land, he wished to be:

father of many nations

a prince of peace

a rightful heir of God and to have a rightful heir

Family is and always has been the pillar of heaven.  Righteous men and women throughout the ages had sought a progeny through whom they could pass on their name, seed (genetics), and faith.  God had promised Abram such a posterity when he left Ur (see Abraham chapter 1.)

But Sarai was barren.  Many years had passed and Abram had no rightful heir.  Sarai gave Abram her handmaiden, Hagar the Egyptian, to wife and Hagar bore Abram a son, Ishmael.  But Abram still desired see through Sarai.  The Old Testament tells this story:

And when Abram was ninety years old and nine, the Lord appeared to Abram, and said unto him, I am the Almighty God; walk before me, and be thou perfect.  And I will make my covenant between me and thee, and will multiply thee exceedingly.   Abram fell on his face: and God talked with him, saying,  As for me, behold, my covenant is with thee, and thou shalt be a father of many nations.  Neither  shall thy name any more be called Abram, but thy name shall be Abraham; for a father of many nations have I made thee.   And I will make thee exceeding fruitful, and I will make nations of thee, and kingd shall come out of thee (Genesis 17: 1-6)

God also changed Sarai's name to Sarah, which means princess.  God went on to say:

And I will bless them that bless thee, and curse them that curse thee; and in thee (that is, in thy Priesthood) and in thy seed (that is, thy Priesthood), for I give unto thee a promise that this right shall continue in thee, and in thy seed after thee (that is to say, the literal seed, or the seed of the body) shall all the families of the earth be blessed, even with the blessings of the Gospel, which are the blessings of salvation, even of life eternal. (Abraham 2:11)

All the world has been blessed through Abraham.  He is the father of all of the nations of the Middle East.  Three great religions have come from his progeny: Judaism, Christianity, and Islam.  The world has been bless also through his priesthood, that priesthood he received at the hands of Melchizedek, particularly since it restoration in 1830.  Finally and most profoundly, all mankind, all those who has ever lived, who live now, and who will ever live has been blessed by the greatest King to come from the seed of Abraham, even Jesus Christ, the Great Jehovah, who took upon Himself a body of flesh and who redeemed all flesh through His infinite atonement.

When times look bleak, it helps me to remember that God's promises are sure, even when He asks me to wait.

 

© Gebara Education, 2016

Blessings of the Fathers - Land

We have spoken about Abraham seeking the blessings of the fathers.  One of these blessings was the priesthood and, through it, covenants in which Abraham promised to worship God and God promised that Abraham and his family would be God’s people.

 

The second part of the blessings of the father was the promise of a land inheritance.  During his lifetime, Abraham owned only one small piece of land and that was the place where he buried his beloved Sarah [1]  But a promised land was visited upon the heads of Abraham’s descendants for generations and, in fact, is still in force to those who claim Abraham as the ancestor.

Now the Lord had said unto Abram, get thee out of thy country, and from thy kindred, and from thy father's house, unto a land that I will [show] thee: And I will make of thee a great nation, and I will bless thee, and make thy name great; and thou shalt be a blessing: And Abram passed through the land unto the place of Sichem, unto the plain of Moreh. . . . And the Lord appeared unto Abram, and said, Unto thy seed will I give this land: and there [built] he an altar unto the Lord, who appeared unto him.  And he removed from thence unto a mountain on the east of Beth-el . . .and there he [built] an altar unto the Lord, and called upon the name of the Lord. (Genesis 12: 1, 2, 6-8)

What does this mean to me personally?  I am a descendent of Abraham through Ephraim, whether by birth or adoption, it doesn't matter (see the allegory of the olive tree.) This does not mean that I am to go back to the middle east and claim Abraham's land, nor does it mean that I claim all of Lehi's promised land (although I live in a country that is part of that promise.) 

What it means to me is that wherever I am, I can call upon the blessings of the Lord upon myself and my posterity to staying faithful and true to the covenants that I make with God at the waters of baptism and in the Holy Temple.  That makes whatever piece of land I occupy becomes a promised land to me.  Next to the temple, the most sacred place for me is my own home, which has been blessed through the priesthood held by my father.  Because I have sought all of my life to love like the Savior loves, my home has become a place of safety and peace to many family members and dear friends who have found sanctuary within its walls. 

I can claim the blessings of the fathers through Abraham if I seek daily to walk as a disciple of my Savior, keeping His commandments and seeing His other children through His loving eyes.

Next week, I will talk more about the concept of covenants, specifically the one we now call the Abrahamic Covenant, which embraces the blessings of the fathers which the great patriarch sought. 

[1] And after this, Abraham buried Sarah his wife in the cave of the field of Machpelah before Mamre: the same is Hebron in the land of Canaan.  And the field, and the cave that is therein, were made sure unto Abraham for a possession of a burying place (Genesis 23: 19-20.)

© Gebara Education, May 30, 2016

Priesthood and Pharoah

The Bible tells us very little about Pharaoh's interaction with Abraham, other than in relationship to his wife, Sarai. (See Genesis 12)  The Book of Abraham in the Pearl of Great Price tell us far more:

Egypt was discovered after the flood by a daughter of Ham and his wife, Egyptus (Abraham 1:23)

Her eldest son bore the name (and later, title) of Pharaoh (Abraham 1: 25)

Because he was the third generation after Noah, the government he established in Egypt was patriarchal in nature. (Ibid.)

Pharaoh's grandmother was a descendant of Cain and through her offspring the blood of Cain was preserved after the flood. (Abraham 1: 21-22)

Because of the curse and mark placed upon Cain, his descendants were forbidden to hold the priesthood at that point in the Earth's history. (Abraham 1: 26-27)

Pharaoh was a righteous man who sought to emulate the government model (Patriarchal) of his ancestral father, Adam, through his grandfather, Ham, and his great-grandfather, Noah. (Abraham 1:26)

Pharaoh coveted the priesthood and, therefore, he recognized and respected it when he met Abraham and learned of his priesthood.  This claim of a closer relationship between Abraham and Pharaoh was criticized by non-Latter-day Saint scholars for years.  Then, in 1947, an ancient document now known as the Genesis Apocrypha was discovered.  While the book is outside the accepted cannon of the Church, it does contain some astounding similarities to the Book of Abraham, recalling that this book was translated by Joseph Smith more than 100 years earlier in 1833.

Hugh Nibley, renowned LDS scholar, wrote about Abraham, Pharaoh, and the priesthood and commented on the Apocrypha of Abraham:

Pharaoh's recognition of Abraham's priesthood was unknown until the 1947 discovery of the Genesis Apocrypha, purporting, like the Book of Abraham, to contain and autobiographical account of Abraham, but continuing the narrative into Egypt.  When Pharaoh took Sarah to the palace, Abraham tearfully appealed to God, who immediately protected her by afflicting Pharaoh. The affliction worsened, but Pharaoh finally had a dream of Abraham healing him; the patriarch was then summoned and, laying hands upon Pharaoh's head, restored him to health.  This is the only known instance in the Old Testament or any related pseudepigrapha of a healing by the Laying on of Hands, and it sets the stage for the Book of Abraham's encounter with Pharaoh. . . [1]

As I study the scriptures, I love to dig deep.  I pray for insight in understanding and thoughts I have encountered in past reading are often brought to my mind. [2]  This was the case as I studied this first chapter of the Book of Abraham.  A few days ago, as I pondered the "Sarah lie," I was straightening the books on the shelves in the living room.  My hand rested on a book I purchased two years ago and hadn't finished, The Old Testament Explained.  I opened to page to where it naturally fell and there it was: a commentary on the Sarah lie.  I have a much harder time believing that this was a coincidence and find it easier to believe that the Spirit led me.  I have read quotes from leaders of the Church I would never had researched nor encountered alone.  Thank you Brother Barker for sharing your research with me.

[1] The Old Testament Explained, Dan Barker, Cedar Fork, Inc. 2014
[2] Remember, this is my personal study and is not the official position of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints

Gebara Education 2016

Melchizedek and the Priesthood

We know that Abram's father had left the road of his fathers to become an idol-worshipper.  Therefore, if he had ever had the priesthood of his fathers (which is doubtful) it would have long ago been taken from him (See D&C 121:27.) It stands to reason that, with his desire for the priesthood so great, that Abram would have sought out a man who held the priesthood with honor.  That man was Melchizedek.

 
The Bible tells us that Abram visited the great high priest, Melchizedek later after he returned from Egypt:

And Melchizedek, king of Salem, brought forth bread and wine: and he was the priest of the most high God.  And he blessed him, and said, Blessed be Abram of the most high God, possessor of heaven and earth: And blessed be the most high God, which hath delivered thine enemies into thine hand.  And he gave him tithe of all. (Genesis 14: 18-20)
  
Modern-day revelation indicates what seems to me to be an earlier meeting - before Egypt - because the priesthood of Abraham is mentioned in the context of his visit to Egypt, so he must have received it before the battle of the kings of Genesis 14.  Here is what modern revelation tells me:

Which Abraham received the priesthood from Melchizedek, who received it through the lineage of his fathers, even till Noah; (D&C 84:14)

Joseph Smith wrote:  Abraham says to Melchizedek, I believe all that thou hast taught me concerning the priesthood and the coming of the Son of Man; so Melchizedek ordained Abraham and sent him away.  Abraham rejoiced and said Now I have the priesthood. (Teachings of the Prophet Joseph Smith, p. 322-323)

Brigham Young said: Abraham was faithful to the True God; he overthrew the idols of his father and obtained the priesthood after the order of Melchizedek which is after the Order of the Son of God. (Journal of Discourses 11: 118)

Abraham rejoiced because he had received the key blessing of the fathers, that of priesthood.

Gebara Education 2016

Promises of the Fathers, Priesthood

We have talked about the things which composed the blessings of the fathers and for which Abram sought.  Last week, we discussed:

• happiness 
• peace
• rest 

This week, I'd like to talk about the priesthood:

• ordination to the same [priesthood] 
• High Priest, holding the right belonging to the fathers.  (See Abraham 1)

The key to all of the blessings of the father was the priesthood; the authority to act on Earth in God's name.  Ordinances performed by worthy priesthood holders were as binding on earth and in heaven as if they were preformed by God himself. (See Matthew 18:18)

As I was pondering this last night, a thought came to mind regarding the priesthood in ancient days - the days of the old covenant/testament.  After Moses led the Children of Israel out of Egypt, God commanded him to set aside his brother, Aaron, and Aaron's sons to be ministers in Israel.  They were given the lesser priesthood, what we have come to call the Aaronic Priesthood after the name of Aaron.  During those years from Aaron to Jesus Christ, the only men in all of Israel who held the priesthood were descendants of Aaron.  Others of the tribe of Levi (the tribe of Aaron and Moses) held some ministerial authority, but not the priesthood.  They are collectively referred to in the New Testament as priests and Levites.

Was there priesthood on the earth prior to Moses?  I looked to the scriptures for evidence and found it beginning in Genesis.  The first law that was given to Adam after he was driven from the Garden of Eden was the Law of Obedience and Sacrifice.  Obedience is the doctrine; Sacrifice is the convenient made through ordinance.  We learn very little about this from the Bible, but we know more from the Pearl of Great Price:

And after many days an angel of the Lord appeared unto Adam, saying: Why dost thou offer sacrifices unto the Lord? And Adam said unto him: I know not, save the Lord commanded me.

 

And then the angel spake, saying: This thing is a similitude of the sacrifice of the Only Begotten of the Father, which is full of grace and truth.  Wherefore, thou shalt do all that thou doest in the name of the Son, and thou shalt repent and call upon God in the name of the Son forevermore. (Moses 5: 6-8)

 

Through modern-day revelation, we know that priesthood ordinances must be performed by one holding the priesthood.

Prior to this time, there were no identified clergy.  Priesthood authority was passed from worthy father to worthy son in a patriarchal order.  We know this primarily because of Abraham's yearning for the priesthood since his own father was unworthy.  Abraham understood the priceless authority he sought.

Gebara Education 2016