Abraham 1 Explained: Race, Priesthood, and Joseph Smith

<p>This article is a written summary of a <strong>Let’s Get Real</strong> episode featuring Stephen Jones and historian Don Bradley. The discussion explores <strong>Abraham 1, the Book of Abraham, Joseph Smith, race and priesthood, agency, revelation, and Jesus Christ</strong>. A major theme of the conversation is that the Book of Abraham is often misunderstood when modern readers interpret it primarily through later controversies instead of first considering its scriptural and historical context. Bradley argues that Abraham 1 gives a richer picture of Abraham as a seeker of God, provides important context for the sacrifice of Isaac, and offers a different way of understanding difficult language about Pharaoh being “cursed as pertaining to the priesthood.”</p>

<h2>TL;DR: What Abraham 1 Teaches About Seeking God, Race, Priesthood, and Jesus Christ</h2>

<p>The central takeaway of the episode is that <strong>Abraham 1 becomes much more meaningful when it is read as Restoration scripture rather than only through later controversies</strong>. The chapter portrays Abraham as someone who actively seeks God, receives divine deliverance, and develops the trust that later helps him face the command involving Isaac. Don Bradley also argues that Joseph Smith’s own actions toward Black Latter-day Saints, his opposition to slavery, and related Kirtland documents suggest that Joseph did not understand Abraham 1 as a justification for racial inferiority or slavery. Ultimately, the episode presents the Book of Abraham as scripture that points readers toward agency, covenant, divine purpose, and Jesus Christ.</p>



<h2>How the Book of Abraham Gives More Context to the Biblical Abraham</h2>

<p>One of Don Bradley’s first major observations is that the Book of Abraham gives Latter-day Saints a <strong>first-person backstory</strong> that is largely absent from Genesis.</p>

<p>Genesis tells Abraham’s story in a relatively direct third-person narrative. Readers learn what happens to Abraham, but the text says comparatively little about his motives before the Lord calls him.</p>

<p>Abraham 1 changes that.</p>

<p>Abraham explains that he is seeking another place of residence, greater peace and happiness, the blessings of the fathers, priesthood, greater knowledge, and blessings for his posterity.</p>

<p>That makes Abraham immediately more relatable.</p>

<ul>
<li>He wants a home.</li>
<li>He wants peace.</li>
<li>He wants a family.</li>
<li>He wants greater spiritual knowledge.</li>
<li>He wants priesthood blessings.</li>
<li>He wants a deeper relationship with God.</li>
</ul>

<p>Bradley argues that this changes the entire way Abraham’s call can be understood.</p>

<h3>Abraham Was Seeking God Before God Called Him</h3>

<p>If readers only have the Genesis account, it can appear that God simply chooses Abraham without any explanation for why.</p>

<p>The Book of Abraham gives a different picture.</p>

<p>Abraham is already rejecting idolatry. He is already seeking truth. He is already pursuing God.</p>

<p>As Bradley explains, <strong>God comes to Abraham because Abraham has been trying to come to God</strong>.</p>

<p>That turns Abraham into a model that believers can actually follow.</p>

<p>If God simply chose Abraham arbitrarily, there would be little for readers to imitate. But if Abraham’s seeking opened the way for deeper revelation, then his story becomes an invitation to every disciple.</p>

<p>Are we seeking spiritual knowledge?</p>

<p>Are we pursuing greater spiritual power?</p>

<p>Are we deliberately making space in our lives for God?</p>

<h2>Seeking God Is a Pattern Throughout Restoration Scripture</h2>

<p>The conversation connects Abraham’s experience with Joseph Smith, Nephi, Moses, and other scriptural figures.</p>

<p>Joseph Smith did not simply wander into the Sacred Grove and unexpectedly encounter God. He had questions. He studied the Bible. James 1:5 impressed him deeply. He decided to act on the invitation to ask God.</p>

<p>Joseph was seeking.</p>

<p>Nephi sought understanding from the Lord.</p>

<p>Moses went toward God.</p>

<p>Abraham actively pursued spiritual knowledge and covenant blessings.</p>

<p>The pattern is consistent: <strong>people exercise agency by reaching toward God, and God responds to their seeking</strong>.</p>

<h3>Why God Does Not Force Himself Into Our Lives</h3>

<p>This leads to a larger discussion about agency and mortality.</p>

<p>If Heavenly Father wanted to make His existence overwhelmingly undeniable every moment of every day, He could.</p>

<p>But mortality is designed to preserve agency.</p>

<p>The veil creates room for faith, choice, spiritual initiative, and genuine covenant relationships.</p>

<p>Bradley compares this to parents raising children. When children are very young, parents have to manage almost every aspect of their lives. As children mature, wise parents give them more freedom so they can learn to choose, develop, and ultimately decide what kind of relationship they will have with their parents.</p>

<p>Similarly, Heavenly Father gives His children room to choose Him.</p>

<p>He is not absent because He does not constantly overwhelm us with His presence. Rather, He invites us to seek.</p>

<h3>“I Gave Up on God. God Never Gave Up on Me.”</h3>

<p>Bradley makes this principle deeply personal by referring to his own period of spiritual wandering.</p>

<p>He says:</p>

<p><strong>“I gave up on God. God never gave up on me.”</strong></p>

<p>Bradley explains that God continued reaching toward him, but never forced him to return.</p>

<p>Eventually, Bradley himself had to develop the hunger to seek God again.</p>

<p>For people who feel distant from Heavenly Father, this is one of the most encouraging teachings in the episode. <strong>God respecting our agency does not mean God has abandoned us.</strong></p>

<p>The invitation remains open: ask, seek, knock, and come unto Christ.</p>

<h2>Why Abraham 1 Can Be Viewed as Abraham’s “First Vision”</h2>

<p>The conversation identifies a powerful parallel between Abraham’s experience and Joseph Smith’s First Vision.</p>

<p>Abraham seeks God.</p>

<p>An adversarial power is trying to destroy him.</p>

<p>The Lord descends and delivers him.</p>

<p>God addresses Abraham personally by name and calls him “my son.”</p>

<p>Bradley describes this memorable pattern by saying:</p>

<p><strong>“This is Abraham’s first vision.”</strong></p>

<p>The experiences are not identical, but they follow a recognizable pattern found across dispensations.</p>

<p>A person seeks God, encounters opposition, receives divine intervention, learns something about their relationship to God, and is prepared for a prophetic mission.</p>

<h2>Abraham’s Near-Sacrifice Changes the Story of Isaac</h2>

<p>The Book of Abraham also introduces something Genesis does not: <strong>Abraham himself was nearly sacrificed</strong>.</p>

<p>According to Abraham 1, his father participated in idolatrous practices, and Abraham was placed on an altar before God intervened and delivered him.</p>

<p>This gives dramatically different emotional context to the later story in which Abraham is commanded to offer Isaac.</p>

<p>Abraham is not encountering the concept of human sacrifice for the first time.</p>

<p>He has personally been its intended victim.</p>

<h3>Why Abraham May Have Trusted God With Isaac</h3>

<p>Bradley suggests that Abraham’s earlier deliverance may help explain the extraordinary trust he later demonstrates.</p>

<p>Abraham already knew something about God’s character.</p>

<p>He knew that the Lord had rescued him.</p>

<p>He knew from personal experience that God could intervene.</p>

<p>Therefore, when faced with an incomprehensibly difficult command involving Isaac, Abraham was not dealing with an unknown God.</p>

<p>He had a history with Him.</p>

<p>That history gave him a foundation for trust.</p>

<h2>Remembering God’s Past Mercy Builds Faith for Future Trials</h2>

<p>This becomes one of the practical lessons of the episode.</p>

<p>Faith is strengthened when believers remember what God has already done.</p>

<p>Bradley connects this with Moroni’s invitation to remember how merciful the Lord has been throughout history.</p>

<p>Just as trust between friends grows through shared experiences, trust in God grows as believers remember the ways He has guided, delivered, forgiven, strengthened, or comforted them.</p>

<p>Abraham could face the future because he remembered what God had already done in the past.</p>

<h2>What Does “Cursed as Pertaining to the Priesthood” Mean in Abraham 1?</h2>

<p>The conversation then turns to one of the most controversial phrases in the Book of Abraham: Pharaoh being described as <strong>“cursed as pertaining to the priesthood.”</strong></p>

<p>The hosts acknowledge that this language was later associated with explanations for the former priesthood restriction affecting Black Latter-day Saints.</p>

<p>That association has caused significant confusion and pain.</p>

<p>Bradley argues, however, that readers need to distinguish between <strong>what later generations did with the passage and what Joseph Smith may have understood it to mean when the Book of Abraham was produced</strong>.</p>

<h2>Why Historical Context Matters When Reading Joseph Smith</h2>

<p>Bradley explains that modern readers naturally bring everything that happened afterward into their interpretation of older texts.</p>

<p>A historian tries to resist that tendency.</p>

<p>Instead of looking backward from today, the goal is to imaginatively stand beside Joseph Smith in the 1830s and ask:</p>

<ul>
<li>What did Joseph Smith know at that time?</li>
<li>What had not happened yet?</li>
<li>How did he understand the biblical world?</li>
<li>What did priesthood mean in ancient scripture?</li>
<li>What did Joseph actually do regarding Black Latter-day Saints?</li>
<li>What do contemporary documents suggest about his thinking?</li>
</ul>

<p>Bradley stresses that the later priesthood restriction was not the framework Joseph Smith was working within during the early Book of Abraham period.</p>

<p>Therefore, interpreting Abraham 1 entirely through that later restriction can import a later historical lens into an earlier text.</p>

<h2>Priesthood and Kingship Were Different Roles in the Ancient World</h2>

<p>Bradley then explains that the word “priesthood” can sound different to modern Latter-day Saints than it would within the biblical world.</p>

<p>In ancient Israel, priesthood and kingship represented different offices and often different lineal responsibilities.</p>

<p>David could be king without being the high priest.</p>

<p>Aaron’s descendants were associated with priestly responsibilities.</p>

<p>Judah’s lineage carried promises associated with kingship.</p>

<p>Different families could therefore have different covenant roles without that necessarily meaning one group was spiritually inferior.</p>

<h3>Pharaoh and the “Kingly Blessings” in Kirtland Documents</h3>

<p>Bradley introduces material connected with Joseph Smith and his associates’ work with Egyptian documents in Kirtland.</p>

<p>In one document discussed in the interview, Pharaoh is described as a descendant of Ham and as:</p>

<p><strong>“an inheritor of the kingly blessings”</strong></p>

<p>while the priestly blessing is associated with another lineage.</p>

<p>Bradley argues that this provides an important clue for understanding the phrase “cursed as pertaining to the priesthood.”</p>

<p>Instead of seeing it solely as racial punishment, he proposes that Joseph may have been working within an ancient concept of <strong>different lineal stewardships</strong>.</p>

<p>One lineage was associated with priestly responsibility.</p>

<p>Another was associated with kingship.</p>

<p>That is a very different concept from saying an entire race was cursed to be enslaved.</p>

<h2>How the Book of Abraham Reverses the “Curse of Ham” Slavery Argument</h2>

<p>In Joseph Smith’s nineteenth-century America, defenders of slavery commonly appealed to the biblical curse associated with Ham or Canaan.</p>

<p>They argued that people of African descent had been divinely destined for servitude.</p>

<p>Bradley argues that the Book of Abraham-related material moves in the opposite direction.</p>

<p>Pharaoh’s lineage is associated with <strong>kingly blessings</strong>, not with being naturally destined to slavery.</p>

<p>This becomes part of what Bradley calls a series of “reversals” in Abraham 1.</p>

<ul>
<li>Abraham is not simply arbitrarily chosen; he is actively seeking God.</li>
<li>Before Abraham is asked to offer Isaac, Abraham himself is nearly sacrificed and delivered by God.</li>
<li>A lineage commonly used in nineteenth-century theology to justify slavery is associated in Joseph Smith-related material with kingship.</li>
</ul>

<p>Bradley argues that this turns the traditional pro-slavery interpretation upside down.</p>

<h2>Did Joseph Smith Allow Black Men to Hold the Priesthood?</h2>

<p>One of the most important historical arguments in the discussion concerns Joseph Smith’s actions.</p>

<p>If Joseph understood Abraham 1 as establishing a universal racial prohibition against Black men holding priesthood, one would expect his behavior to reflect that understanding.</p>

<p>But it did not.</p>

<p><strong>Elijah Abel</strong>, a Black Latter-day Saint, was ordained to priesthood office during Joseph Smith’s lifetime.</p>

<p>The conversation also references <strong>Q. Walker Lewis</strong>, another early Black priesthood holder.</p>

<p>For Bradley, these examples are significant evidence that Joseph Smith himself was not reading Abraham 1 according to the later race-based priesthood framework.</p>

<h2>Joseph Smith Envisioned Africans Worshipping in the Temple</h2>

<p>The episode also discusses the Kirtland Temple dedicatory prayer and its vision of people from nations throughout the world coming to worship.</p>

<p>Among the historical terms used is a reference to a southern African people.</p>

<p>Bradley sees this as another indication that Joseph Smith expected the blessings of the Restoration to spread across racial and national boundaries.</p>

<p>He does not claim Joseph Smith held every modern view about race.</p>

<p>Instead, he makes a more careful argument: Joseph was a nineteenth-century human being, but in several important ways his actions and ideas went beyond assumptions common in his surroundings.</p>

<h2>Interracial Marriage Was Part of Joseph and Emma Smith’s Extended Family</h2>

<p>One of the episode’s most surprising historical sections concerns interracial marriage within Joseph and Emma Smith’s family circles.</p>

<p>Bradley says that Joseph Smith’s first cousin <strong>Stephen Mack Jr.</strong> married a Native American woman around the period when Joseph was translating the Book of Mormon.</p>

<p>Even more strikingly, Bradley discusses <strong>Antha Hale</strong>, an aunt of Emma Hale Smith, who married a Black man named <strong>Joseph Wallace</strong>.</p>

<p>The marriage occurred in the late eighteenth century and was highly controversial for that era.</p>

<p>According to the discussion, the minister who performed the marriage suffered consequences within his congregation because he was willing to officiate it.</p>

<p>Bradley’s point is not that this proves exactly what Joseph personally thought about every racial question.</p>

<p>Instead, it shows that interracial marriage was not some remote hypothetical issue for Joseph and Emma.</p>

<p>It existed within their extended family world.</p>

<h2>An 1831 Revelation and Marriage With Native Americans</h2>

<p>Bradley also discusses historical reports of an 1831 revelation connected with marriage between Latter-day Saints and Native Americans.</p>

<p>Although the original dictated text does not survive, historical sources indicate that such a revelation existed and viewed these marriages positively.</p>

<p>Bradley sees this as another example of Joseph Smith not simply applying ancient ethnic separation directly to the modern Church.</p>

<p>The Book of Mormon describes periods when Nephites and Lamanites maintained separation, yet the early Restoration sent missionaries directly to Native Americans and sought to bring them into covenant fellowship.</p>

<p>For Bradley, the larger pattern is important: <strong>Joseph Smith did not assume that every ancient social distinction described in scripture should become a permanent Restoration policy.</strong></p>

<h2>Joseph Smith Opposed Slavery and Proposed a Plan to End It</h2>

<p>The conversation eventually moves to Joseph Smith’s political life.</p>

<p>During his campaign for president of the United States, Joseph proposed a national plan for ending slavery.</p>

<p>He also supported political rights for Black Americans.</p>

<p>Bradley notes that later observers have suggested that a peaceful emancipation program resembling Joseph’s proposal might have spared the nation enormous bloodshed.</p>

<p>For Bradley, this illustrates the complexity of prophetic history.</p>

<p>Joseph Smith was human and lived within his century.</p>

<p>Yet being historically human does not prevent someone from also possessing prophetic foresight.</p>

<h2>Prophets Are Human, but Jesus Christ Is the Perfect Exemplar</h2>

<p>The discussion then broadens into an important principle about prophets.</p>

<p>Bradley argues that believers can sometimes unconsciously define “prophet” as meaning “superhuman.”</p>

<p>Then, when they discover mistakes, limitations, or uncomfortable historical complexities, their faith can be shaken.</p>

<p>But scripture itself does not portray prophets as flawless.</p>

<p>Noah has weaknesses.</p>

<p>Abraham’s family story contains difficulty and conflict.</p>

<p>Isaac and Jacob make mistakes.</p>

<p>Jacob’s sons commit serious sins.</p>

<p>Joseph Smith was also human.</p>

<p>The point of prophets is not to replace the Savior.</p>

<p>Their faithfulness can point us toward Christ, and even their limitations can remind us why everyone needs redemption.</p>

<h3>Jesus Christ Is the Only Perfect Example</h3>

<p>Abraham can be an example of seeking God.</p>

<p>Joseph Smith can be an example of seeking revelation.</p>

<p>But neither is the ultimate Exemplar.</p>

<p><strong>Jesus Christ is.</strong></p>

<p>Prophets need grace and redemption just like everyone else.</p>

<p>Therefore, discovering human complexity in prophetic lives does not necessarily undermine prophecy. It can instead help believers place their faith where it ultimately belongs—in Jesus Christ.</p>

<h2>What About the Book of Abraham Translation Controversy?</h2>

<p>Toward the end of the episode, the discussion addresses questions surrounding the Egyptian papyri and the Book of Abraham translation.</p>

<p>Common questions include whether the surviving papyri correspond directly to the Book of Abraham, whether additional missing material may have existed, or whether the papyri served as a catalyst for revelation.</p>

<p>Bradley does not attempt to resolve those debates in this conversation.</p>

<p>Instead, he challenges one assumption behind them.</p>

<p>He says that he once believed the value of the Book of Abraham depended heavily upon showing exactly how Joseph Smith translated a particular Egyptian text.</p>

<p>His perspective changed.</p>

<h3>“A Prophet’s Role Is Not to Be an Academic Translator”</h3>

<p>Bradley summarizes his changed perspective with this statement:</p>

<p><strong>“A prophet’s role is not to be an academic translator. A prophet’s role is to bring forth truths from God.”</strong></p>

<p>Biblical prophets were not called because they were professional linguists or academic translators.</p>

<p>They were called because they revealed the word of God.</p>

<p>Therefore, Bradley argues that one important question regarding Joseph Smith is not simply whether he operated like a modern Egyptologist.</p>

<p>The deeper question is whether the Book of Abraham brings forth divine truth.</p>

<h2>What Does the Book of Abraham Teach About the Plan of Salvation?</h2>

<p>The discussion expands beyond Abraham 1 and considers the larger theological contribution of the Book of Abraham.</p>

<p>Bradley highlights teachings concerning:</p>

<ul>
<li>Premortal existence.</li>
<li>The purpose of mortality.</li>
<li>Agency.</li>
<li>The Creation.</li>
<li>The Abrahamic covenant.</li>
<li>Humanity’s relationship with God.</li>
<li>Spiritual growth and progression.</li>
</ul>

<p>The Book of Abraham teaches that mortal life is not a meaningless accident.</p>

<p>God’s children existed before birth.</p>

<p>Mortality belongs to a larger divine plan.</p>

<p>Human beings came here with purpose.</p>

<p>That larger framework is one of the Book of Abraham’s most important contributions to Latter-day Saint theology.</p>

<h2>Judge the Book of Abraham by Its Spiritual Fruits</h2>

<p>Bradley invites listeners to consider the Savior’s teaching that things can be known by their fruits.</p>

<p>He also connects this with Alma 32 and the invitation to experiment upon the word.</p>

<p>Instead of evaluating the Book of Abraham only from a distance, believers can ask what its teachings actually produce.</p>

<ul>
<li>Does it encourage people to seek God?</li>
<li>Does it deepen understanding of divine identity?</li>
<li>Does it clarify the purpose of mortality?</li>
<li>Does it increase faith in Jesus Christ?</li>
<li>Does it strengthen understanding of covenant?</li>
<li>Does it produce morally and spiritually better lives?</li>
</ul>

<p>Bradley argues that these spiritual fruits deserve to be considered alongside historical and translation questions.</p>

<h2>How Abraham and Isaac Point to Jesus Christ</h2>

<p>The episode eventually returns to the sacrifice of Isaac and its connection with Jesus Christ.</p>

<p>Read against the background of Abraham 1, the story becomes even richer.</p>

<p>Abraham’s earthly father participated in an attempt to sacrifice him to false gods.</p>

<p>The true God delivered Abraham.</p>

<p>Later, Abraham was asked to offer Isaac, but the sacrifice was stopped.</p>

<p>That event points forward to something greater: Heavenly Father giving His <strong>Only Begotten Son</strong>.</p>

<p>The discussion draws a contrast between destructive human sacrifice and the redemptive sacrifice of Jesus Christ.</p>

<p>Isaac was spared.</p>

<p>Jesus Christ voluntarily completed His atoning sacrifice.</p>

<p>The purpose was not destruction, but redemption.</p>

<h2>Final Takeaway: Abraham 1 Is an Invitation to Seek God</h2>

<p>The most important message of the episode is larger than any single historical controversy.</p>

<p><strong>Abraham sought God.</strong></p>

<p><strong>Joseph Smith sought God.</strong></p>

<p><strong>Nephi sought God.</strong></p>

<p>Restoration scripture repeatedly presents revelation as something connected with people who ask, search, pray, study, and act.</p>

<p>The Book of Abraham portrays Heavenly Father as a God who respects agency while remaining ready to receive His children.</p>

<p>As Bradley describes from his own life, a person may give up on God without God giving up on that person.</p>

<p>Abraham’s search for peace, family, knowledge, covenant blessings, and a relationship with God remains deeply relevant because believers today are searching for many of the same things.</p>

<p>And ultimately, Abraham’s story points beyond Abraham.</p>

<p>Joseph Smith’s story points beyond Joseph Smith.</p>

<p>Both point toward <strong>Jesus Christ—the perfect Exemplar, the Only Begotten Son, and the Redeemer who makes it possible for God’s children to return to His presence.</strong></p>

<p>The episode closes with an invitation to study the Book of Abraham personally, consider its fruits, seek God sincerely, and discover its truth through personal revelation rather than relying solely on someone else’s conclusions.</p>