Patriarchal Promises

Joseph Smith Sr.

Patriarchal blessings are special because they indicate our lineage and the promise of special gifts. It doesn't happen often, but there are times when someone is told that they are from one of the other tribes, other than the usual Ephraim or Manasseh. For instance, the Bishop from our last ward was from the tribe of Dan. The same can be said for promised gifts.

 What did patriarch Joseph Smith Sr. promise Eda Rogers in her 1837 patriarchal blessing?

 a.      That she would be the mother of nations

b.      That she would be the Church’s first female missionary

c.       That she would be given the gift of healing

d.      That she would be the Church’s first Relief Society President

Yesterday’s answer:

a.      Dead bloated oxen

Boys from one of the earliest parties along the Oregon Trail came across a dead ox, it’s punch swollen tight with gasses of decay, and somehow they discovered that if they jumped against the animal’s bloat, it would fling them vigorously back. Champions rose and fell as the boys ran faster, jumped harder and bounced farther. Finally, Andy, a long-necked redhead, backed off a great distance, lowered his head, sprinted, leaped—and plunged deep into the rotting carcass. His friends pulled him out, though with some difficulty, and the contestants were on their way, the observers with a good story, Andy with a deeply entrenched memory.

Nearly Everything Imaginable, Walker, Ronald W., Doris R. Dant ed., (Provo, Utah: BYU Press, 1999), 317.