Question
Gramps
My husband and I were reading in the Doctrine and Covenants today when we came upon a verse we hadn’t recalled noticing before. The verse in question is D&C 107:52. It is one of the verses in a series defining the patriarchal order established from Adam to Noah. It states:
Noah was ten years old when he was ordained under the hand of Methuselah.
Since the Mormon Church has established a young man’s age as 12 years before he may receive the Aaronic Priesthood, this verse was puzzling. Any insight would be appreciated.
Joanne
Answer
Dear Joanne,
The age of twelve years has been established as the minimum age for a person to be ordained to the Aaronic Priesthood in our dispensation. But the procedures of the gospel and the order of the Kingdom is made to fit the conditions and circumstances of the time. In the Mormon Church today the Gift of the Holy Ghost is bestowed at the baptism of a person, after reaching the age of eight years. However, John the Baptist was filled with the Holy Ghost, even from his mother’s womb Luke 1:15.
The Prophet Joseph Smith taught the following:
“God said, ‘Thou shalt not kill;’ at another time He said ‘Thou shalt utterly destroy.’ This is the principle on which the government of heaven is conducted–by revelation adapted to the circumstances in which the children of the kingdom are placed. Whatever God requires is right, no matter what it is, although we may not see the reason thereof till long after the events transpire. If we seek first the kingdom of God, all good things will be added. So with Solomon: first he asked wisdom, and God gave it him, and with it every desire of his heart, even things which might be considered abominable to all who understand the order of heaven only in part, but which in reality were right because God gave and sanctioned by special revelation” (History of the Church, Vol.5, Ch.7, p.135).
Gramps
