There is a precedent for the bit of faking — a most distinguished one. Satan, being neither stupid nor inexperienced, knows the value of a pleasing appearance — there are times when it pays to appear even as an angel of light. He goes farther than that, however, to assure the success of his masquerade (given out since the days of Adam) as a picturesquely repulsive figure — a four-star horror with claws, horns, or other obvious trimmings. With that idea firmly established, he can operate with devastating effectiveness as a very proper gentleman, a handsome and persuasive salesman.
The worst sinners, according to Jesus, are not the harlots and publicans, but the religious leaders with their insistence on proper dress and grooming, their careful observance of all the rules, their precious concern for status symbols, their strict legality, their pious patriotism.
The Persistent Widow; Pharisee & Publican
Two parables about prayer, set back to back and pointing opposite ways. A widow with no standing wears down a judge who fears neither God nor man, and gets justice because she will not stop asking. Then two men pray in the temple, and the one who goes home right with God is the one who asked for nothing but mercy.
Note. The Joseph Smith Translation is careful with the first parable, because read carelessly it makes God into the judge. The revision moves the speed from the wearing-down to the coming: he will come, and when he does come, he will avenge his saints speedily. Joseph then used the parable himself: writing to the Saints driven out of Jackson County, he told them to importune the judge, the governor and the president, and a revelation six days later gave the same counsel back as a commandment.
? How to read this edition
The reading is the Joseph Smith Translation, in the text of the Covenant Christian Edition, carried beside each Gospel and set against the King James baseline. Headers give both numbering systems: the CCE chapter and verse, and the traditional KJV reference.
1And he spoke a parable unto them (saying men ought always to pray and not faint), 2saying, There was in a city a judge who feared not God nor regarded man. 3And there was a widow in that city, and she came unto him, saying, Avenge me of my adversary. 4And he would not for a while, but afterward he said within himself, Though I fear not God nor regard man, 5yet because this widow troubles me, I will avenge her, lest by her continual coming she weary me. 6And the Lord said, Hear what the unjust judge says. 7And shall not God avenge his own elect who cry day and night unto him, though he bear long with them men? 8I tell you that he will come, and when he does come, he will avenge them his saints speedily. Nevertheless, when the Son of Man comes, shall he find faith on the earth?
9He spoke this parable unto certain men who trusted in themselves that they were righteous and despised others: 10Two men went up into the temple to pray, the one a Pharisee, the other a publican. 11The Pharisee stood and prayed thus with himself: God, I thank you that I am not as other men — extortionists, unjust, adulterers, or even as this publican. 12I fast twice in the week, I give tithes of all that I possess. 13But the publican, standing afar off, would not lift up so much as his eyes unto Heaven, but smote upon his breast, saying, God, be merciful to me, a sinner. 14I tell you, this man went down to his house justified rather than the other, for everyone who exalts himself shall be abased, and he who humbles himself shall be exalted.
Importune at the Feet of the Judge
In November 1833 the Saints were driven out of Jackson County, Missouri. Joseph Smith heard of it in Kirtland and wrote to them on 10 December, telling them to keep their lands and to exhaust every lawful appeal (judge, executive, president) and, when all of it failed, to weary God with their importunings as the poor woman did the unjust judge. Six days later a revelation came back with the same parable and the same three steps, this time as a commandment. The revelation is given first below because it is scripture; the letter that preceded it follows.
I Will Liken Them unto the Parable of the Woman and the Unjust Judge
D&C 101:81–95 (CCE T&C 101:18–20) · December 16–17, 1833 · scriptures.info ↗Given at Kirtland while the exiles were camped on the north bank of the Missouri. The parable is quoted almost entire and then applied: the widow’s persistence becomes a sequence of legal appeals, and the judge who will not hear becomes a nation.
Now, unto what shall I liken the children of Zion? I will liken them unto the parable of the woman and the unjust judge (for men ought always to pray and not faint), which says: There was in a city, a judge which feared not God, neither regarded man. And there was a widow in that city and she came unto him, saying, Avenge me of my adversary. And he would not for a while, but afterward he said within himself, Though I fear not God nor regard man, yet because this widow troubles me, I will avenge her, so that by her continual coming she won’t weary me.
Thus will I liken the children of Zion. Let them importune at the feet of the judge; and if he heed them not, let them importune at the feet of the governor; and if the governor heed them not, let them importune at the feet of the president; and if the president heed them not, then will the Lord arise and come forth out of his hiding place, and in his fury vex the nation, and in his hot displeasure and in his fierce anger, in his time, will cut off these wicked, unfaithful, and unjust stewards, and appoint them their portion among hypocrites and unbelievers, even in outer darkness where there is weeping, and wailing, and gnashing of teeth.
Pray therefore that their ears may be opened unto your cries, that I may be merciful unto them, that these things may not come upon them. What I have said unto you must needs be, that all men may be left without excuse, that wise men and rulers may hear and know that which they have never considered, that I may proceed to bring to pass my act, my strange act, and perform my work, my strange work, that men may discern between the righteous and the wicked, says your God.
As the Poor Woman the Unjust Judge
The letter, written six days before the revelation. Frederick G. Williams copied it into the letterbook, which is the only surviving version; the spelling is the manuscript’s. The Joseph Smith Papers annotate the parable citation at this exact point and note that the counsel was repeated in the revelation a week later.
Letter to Edward Partridge and Others, 10 December 1833, Kirtland Mills, Ohio; Letterbook 1, p. 73 (cf. Teachings of the Prophet Joseph Smith, p. 36) · Joseph Smith Papers ↗I pray God, in the name of Jesus that you all may be kept in the faith, unto the end, let your sufferings be what they may, it is better that you should die in the ey[e]s of God, then that you should give up the Land of Zion, the inheritances which you have purchased with your monies; for evry man that giveth not up his inheritances, though he should die yet when the Lord shall come, he shall stand upon it, and with Job in his flesh he shall see God.
Therefore this is my council that you retain your lands even unto the uttermost, and seeking evry lawful means to obtain redress of your enemies &c &c and pray to God day and night to return you in peace and in safety to the Lands of your inheritance; and when the Judge fails you, appeal unto the Executive, and when the Executive fails you, appeal unto the President, and when the President fails you, and all Laws fail you and the humanity of the people fails you, and all things else fails you but God alone, and you continue to weary him with your importunings, as the poor woman the unjust Judge, he will not fail to exicute Judgment upon your enemies and to avenge his own elect that cry unto him day and night—
Behold he will not fail you! he will come with ten thousand of his saints and all his advisaries shall be distroyed by the breath of his lips!
Pleading Like the Widow at the Feet of the Unjust Judge
Seven years after the letter, preaching at Nauvoo, Joseph Smith took up the same parable for the same grievance and turned it into a prophecy: the Saints would go on pleading like the widow before every level of government, and for years it would avail nothing. The Joseph Smith Papers annotate the sentence to the revelation printed first in this block. The words survive in Howard Coray’s polished memoranda of Martha Jane Knowlton Coray’s notes; switch to “Scribal accounts” to compare her original notes, which have the nations at war but not the widow.
Discourse, circa 19 July 1840, Nauvoo, Illinois, as reported by Martha Jane Knowlton Coray (Howard Coray’s memoranda, p. 10). The Joseph Smith Papers date it “circa 19 July” and note it may have been delivered 9 or 15 July and misdated. · Joseph Smith Papers ↗…our cry from the 1st has been for peace and we will continue pleading like the Widow at the feet of the unjust judge but we may plead at the feet of Majistrates and at the feet of Judges At the feet of Governors and at the feet of senotors & at the feet of Pre[s]idents for 8 years it will be of no avail we shall find no favor in any of the courts of this government
Let Not Any Man Publish His Own Righteousness
Joseph Smith is not expounding the second parable here and does not name it. The line is shown because it is the parable’s contrast in his own words: not the man who recites his own righteousness, but the one who confesses his sins and is forgiven. Richard C. Galbraith’s Scriptural Teachings of the Prophet Joseph Smith keys it to Luke 18:10–14. It comes from a Sunday sermon at Nauvoo in which he rebuked the Saints for resenting correction.
Discourse, 19 December 1841, Nauvoo, Illinois · Wilford Woodruff, journal, p. 115 (Teachings of the Prophet Joseph Smith, p. 194) · Joseph Smith Papers ↗…Because we will not receive chastizment at the hand of the Prophet & Apostles the Lord chastizeth us with sickness & death “Let not any man publish his own righteousness for others can do that for him.” sooner let him confess his sins & then he will be forgiven & he will bring forth more fruit when A man is chastized he gets angry & will not endure it.
Only the manuscript’s own editorial insertion marks have been resolved; the spelling, punctuation and capitalization are as Frederick G. Williams copied them. The letterbook repeats “and” at the start of the appeal sequence, a copying slip, and one “and” is dropped here.
Not the Harlots and the Publicans
Nibley’s essay on Zion turns, at this point, on the observation that the Gospels reserve their sharpest condemnation not for the obviously disreputable but for the entirely respectable. The sentence below is the parable of the Pharisee and the publican stated as a general rule; the paragraph before it explains why he thinks the mistake is so persistent.