I want to deal today with a short verse from the book of Exodus that creates 2 problems for the price of one.
King James Exodus 22:28
Thou shalt not revile the gods;
nor curse the ruler of thy people.
Problem #1= "the gods"
Joseph Smith taught about a plurality of Gods, so why did he change this verse? Joseph talked of at least 3 Gods in the GODHEAD, and the possibility of others joining them as subordinates, but never equals. No one on this planet is every going to be the equal of JESUS, let alone His Father.
I am wondering how this verse slipped past the monotheistic reformers from King Josiah's day who wanted to eliminate any mention of any Gods other than the MOST HIGH. This led to rejecting JESUS because the Jews of His day could not understand how GOD could have a Son who was also a GOD. Moses obviously knew there were more than one divine being after having been admitted to Their Heavenly Council with an assignment to write the first 5 books of the Bible. Moses also knew that their was ONE SUPREME GOD, because Moses had to be transfigured in order to withstand the glory of the MOST HIGH.
Problem #2 = "the ruler of thy people"
Is this the King, the High Priest, the President, the Governor, etc?
No, it means the GOD THE FATHER, as you shall see.
Joseph Smith Translation Exodus
Thou shalt not revile thy God;
nor curse the ruler of the people.
Problems solved. "thy God = "the ruler of the people"
This is before Israel got the King they were clamoring for. They dreamed of being like every other foolish nation in world history that has one guy or gal with too much power. Why have JEHOVAH tell you what to do? HE is merely smarter than all of us fallen mortals put together, with money left over to buy another planet. Kudos to Israel for a decision dumber than starting a land war in Asia in the fall.
The second line is meant to parallel the first line and say the same thing is a different way. This was written to help boneheaded Israel (and all boneheads after) learn how important GOD truly is. Repetition is the mother of learning. Sadly, the Jews did not learn, which is why they are now Jews instead of Christians.
Joseph makes a divinely inspired correction to show that no matter how many Gods there are, there is only supreme Ruler, and that is the GOD MOST HIGH.
I am personally surprised that the Utah version of Mormonism has not trotted out this verse to support their version of the ruler of the people, aka the "Prophet." Anciently, prophets never ran anything, but Latter-day Saints are not the best people at doing research. Now we get 15 pseudo-prophets running a corporation. I guess some of the "devil's dozen" (15) realized the quandary of the first line referring to "gods." Since they do not really use the JST, they probably do not know about the revision. Maybe they could use this passage in the future to say that they are gods, because they are being worshipped as if they were.
This is just another example that shows that Joseph Smith was either the smartest person who ever lived, or he was getting help from GOD.
I choose the latter option.
