ANALYSIS & OBSERVATIONS

In contrast to teachings that Adam is the father of Jesus Christ and the father of our spirits, the teaching that Adam is the Ancient of Days referred to in Daniel 7 is not a shocking revelation to members of the modern LDS Church. Many of the members of the LDS Church already believe this to be true—and they subsequently do not see any correlation to Adam-God teachings. In contrast, fundamentalists perceive this teaching as proof not only of Adam-God teachings, but as proof that Joseph Smith originated Adam-God doctrines. The above statements do little to resolve that conflict. However, the information below may be helpful in bridging this academic gap a little better.

The statements that follow inform us of two things. First, a now classic biblical commentary authored by Adam Clark (a Hebrew scholar and Methodist minister) and used by Joseph Smith proclaims that the Ancient of Days was God the Father. Second, representative commentaries from various Jewish, Catholic, and Christian sects all concur that the Ancient of Days was God the Father.

1706

Matthew Henry Bible Commentary

The Judge is the Ancient of days himself, God the Father, the glory of whose presence is here described. He is called the Ancient of days, because his is God from everlasting to everlasting.

circa 1754

John Wesley’s Explanatory Notes on the Whole Bible

God the king, and judge of all, called the Ancient of days, because of his eternal deity.

Adam Clark circa late 1700s

Clark’s Commentary of the Bible, Daniel 7-9

[The] Ancient of Days is God Almighty. . . . This is the only place in the sacred writings where God the Father is represented in human form. . . . Hence Abraham worshipped the Ancient of Days.

The Jewish Encyclopedia 1:571-572

The Ancient of Days is a poetical epithet for God. . . . [Daniel uses the title Ancient of Days to describe] the venerable character of the being whose name the author hesitates to mention.

circa 1823

Matthew Easton’s Bible Dictionary

Ancient of Days—an expression applied to Jehovah three times in the vision of (Daniel 7:9, 13, 22) in the sense of eternal. In contrast with all earthly kings, his days are past reckoning.

1871

Commentary Critical Explanatory on the Whole Bible

Ancient of days—“The everlasting Father” (Isaiah 9:6). He is the Judge here, as the Son does not judge in His own cause.

1907 ed.

The Catholic Encyclopedia 1:463

The Ancient of Days is a name given to God by the Prophet Daniel. . . . It is from these descriptions of the descriptions of the Almighty that Christian art derived its general manner of representing the first person of the Holy Trinity.

Erdman’s Commentary on the Bible, 480

The Ancient of Days is the description given by Daniel, who pictures God on His throne of judgment, judging the great world empires. . . The title alternates with the ‘Most High.’

The Anchor Bible 23:217-218

Even though God is not explicitly mentioned by name, every reader would at once recognize as God ‘the Ancient One’ who presides at this celestial tribunal. . . . The term ‘the Ancient One’ is used of God, though not found in older Biblical literature is partly based on the . . .popular notion of God as an old man.

The Zondervan Pictorial Encyclopedia of the Bible 1:156

This expression [Ancient of Days] occurs only in Daniel 7:9, 13, 22. . . . It is an elegant Semitic expression to designate an old man. . . . Although the passage does not directly say so, the numerous commentators unite to take it at once to be a euphemistic term for God.

That all of these statements concur in their belief that the Ancient of Days was God the Father is significant because it strongly suggests that the early saints, upon hearing Joseph proclaim that Adam was the Ancient of days, would have been aware of the implications of this doctrine. However, what fundamentalists often tend to overlook when arguing this point is that these early saints could have understood these proclamations by Joseph to mean that Joseph was contradicting all of these sectarian teachings about the Ancient of Days—after all, Joseph commonly contradicted a vast amount of teachings prompted by competing sects of his day (e.g., baptism by immersion, the laying on of hands, the gathering, plural marriage, plurality of gods, differing degrees of glory, etc.). Thus, even though fairly compelling on their own, Joseph’s pronouncements that Adam is the Ancient of Days are not sufficient to conclude that the early saints understood that Joseph was claiming Adam was God the Father. Nevertheless, when the above information is combined with the information found in the subsection “Did Joseph Smith Introduce Adam-God Teachings?” and the “Millennial Star 15:801-04” subsection along with its analysis, the fundamentalist position that the early saints understood this teaching as a pronouncement that Adam is God the father is firmly defendable.