The Everlasting Inheritance of Abraham and His Seed: The Promise of Land and Priesthood, Lecture notes of Humanities

“A strange land . . . I will give unto thy seed after

thee for an everlasting possession” (Abraham 2:6; see

also Genesis 12:7; 13:14–15; JST, Genesis 15:9–12;

Genesis 15:18; 17:8).

This blessing specifically refers to the land “from the

river of Egypt [not the Nile, but a river that separates

Egypt from Israel] unto . . . the river Euphrates”

(Genesis 15:18), which actually goes beyond the

boundaries of what we usually call Canaan (or Israel,

land of Canaan as an inheritance but would also

spread “to the west, and to the east, and to the

north, and to the south” (Genesis 28:14).

For example, the posterity of Jacob’s (Israel’s) son

Joseph were promised a special land beyond Canaan

where they would “push the people together to the

ends of the earth” (Deuteronomy 33:17; see vv.

13–17; see also Genesis 49:22–26). This prophecy

refers to the Western Hemisphere, where the people

of the Book of Mormon—who were descendants of

taught that “the whole of America is Zion itself from

north to south” (Teachings of the Prophet Joseph

Smith, 362), where it is prophesied that others of the

lost tribes gather to receive their blessings of the

Abrahamic covenant “by the hands of . . . the

children of Ephraim” (D&C 133:32; see vv. 26–34).

The Lord even designated a place in North America

for the city of Zion (see D&C 57:1–3), the place of

the New Jerusalem (see D&C 84:2–5).

All of the tribes, or families, of Israel will yet receive

15:9–12; D&C 45:57–59; 63:20; 88:17–20).

THE ABRAHAMIC COVENANT

Promises Explanatory Notes