The People of Canaan: A New Reading of Moses 7

Abstract: Moses 7 is one of the most problematic passages in all of Restoration scripture in its description of the people of Canaan as black and as a people who were not preached to by the patriarch Enoch. Later there is also a mention of “the seed of Cain,” who also are said to be black. This article argues that the reason for Enoch’s not preaching to the people of Canaan stems not from any sins the people had committed or from divine disfavor but from the racial prejudice of the other sons of Adam, the “residue of the people” who are the only ones mentioned as “cursed” in the text. This article argues that, rather than being indicative of divine disfavor toward persons of African descent, this tendency is a response to the racist attitudes of particular eras, whether the period of the Old Testament patriarchs or the post-bellum American South. Nevertheless, God can be seen as working through and within particular contexts and cultures to spread the gospel to all of Adam’s children irrespective of race.