Question about the D&C

[Chilltothebone]

Hey guys,

My wife and I finished reading the BOM together for the first time last year, and while reading D&C in the earlier chapters I came accross a word I am trying to remember.  This is really vague so I appologize in advance, but it was a word I had not heard before, and they were referring to the "Planet Earth"  but they were calling earth by another name.  Does anyone know what section that is or what the word was?

[Connie]

Idumea? D&C 1:36 https://www.lds.org/scriptures/dc-testament/dc/1.36?lang=eng#35

Edited March 24, 2015 by Connie

[Chilltothebone]

Idumea? D&C 1:36 https://www.lds.org/scriptures/dc-testament/dc/1.36?lang=eng#35

Hey maybe that is it.  Is that word referenced anywhere else?  Is that what they call earth.

[Just_A_Guy]

Idumea, as it appears in D&C 1:36, does not refer to "planet earth", but to "the world"--which, of course, is often simply a generic term for "the wicked".

 

From a historical standpoint:  Idumea was the Roman name for the area immediately south of Judea.  In Old Testament times, the region had been known as "Edom" and was inhabited by descendants of Esau--the brother of Jacob/Israel, who sold his birthright to Jacob for a mess of pottage.  Herod the Great, the king at the time of Jesus' birth, was himself an Idumean; and was widely despised by the Jews as not having a legitimate claim to the throne of Israel (he ultimately claimed it through his marriage to Mariamne, a Hasmonean princess; in conjunction with the approval of the Roman emperor).

 

So in the context of D&C 1:36, "Idumea" can be referred to as "the world"--those who have rejected God and have sold their birthright, but nevertheless seek to usurp authority over the covenant people.

Edited March 24, 2015 by Just_A_Guy