God s Earthly Government During Old Testament Times Joseph Smith taught It has been the design of Jehovah from the commencement of the world and is His purpose now to regulate the affairs of the world in His own time to stand as a head of the universe and take the reins of government in His own hand When that is done judgment will be administered in righteousness anarchy and confusion will be destroyed and nations will learn war no more It is for want of this great governing principle that all this confusion has existed The Lord has at various times commenced this kind of government and tendered His services to the human family family Teachings of the Prophet Joseph Smith 1974 250 51 emphasis added The Adamic Theocracy Adam was given dominion over all the earth Moses 2 26 28 Under the direction of God he established a theocratic government often referred to as the patriarchal order Moses 6 1 22 D C 107 40 52 Joseph Smith Statement Bruce R McConkie Statement False and Imitation Theocracies Cain established an imitation theocracy Moses 5 18 42 Bruce R McConkie Statement And thus the pattern was set Ever thereafter when evil and carnal men set up governments of compulsion governments in which the secular arm imposed a way of worship upon men such governments were not of God and such ways of worship had no divine approval Bruce R McConkie A New Witness for the Articles Faith 1985 658 Enoch to Moses Enoch s Theocracy Moses 7 Bruce R McConkie Statement Government after the flood Bruce R McConkie Statement Government of Ancient Israel The Lord reestablished his theocracy through Moses Joseph Smith Statement Bruce R McConkie Statement Ancient Israel s Theocracy The Law of Moses Religious Offices Civil Offices Joshua 24 1 High Priest Urim Thummim 1 Samuel 28 6 Priests Levites Responsibilities Teaching Law Lev 10 11 Deut 33 10 Ceremonies Ordinances Deut 18 9 22 General Chief Judge Residence Num 25 1 8 Levitical Cities Prophetic Offices Deut 17 8 13 Prophets Men of God and Angels Duties Local Elders Deut 19 12 Seers Revelators 1 Sam 28 6 Judges Officers Preaching 2 Chron 15 1 13 Deut 16 18 Warning 1 Sam 2 27 36 Monarchy and Theocracy The Law of Moses Religious Offices High Priest Urim Thumim Priests Levites King Civil Offices Royal Court Officials General State Officials Chief Judge Residence Levitical Cities Responsibilities Teaching Law Ceremonies Ordinances Prophetic Offices Local Elders Judges Officers Prophets and Men of God In Days of Wickedness Elder Bruce R McConkie wrote What happened in the days of wicked and rebellious kings They simply instituted their own ways of worship appointed their own priests and when it pleased them so to do commanded the worship of Baal or Ashtoreth or Molech or whatever deity pleased their fancy The religions of the Canaanites Hittites Amorites Perizzites Hivites and Jebusites and all the nations that inhabited the land before Israel were state religions The worship in Assyria Babylonia Egypt and all the nations of the Gentiles was by government edict People were not free to choose their own gods and to worship according to the dictates of their own conscience In the minds of the credulous and superstitious Gentiles the issues of war and peace life and death national survival or defeat were all tied in to the proposition of whose god was the greatest Baal or Jehovah the god of the Assyrians or the God of Jacob the gods of the Canaanites or the Lord of Hosts who camped with Joshua the god of whatever nation or the God of Israel A New Witness for the Articles Faith 1985 661 In Days of Wickedness The Law of Moses King Royal Court Officials State Officials Religious Offices Civil Offices Prophetic Offices High Priest Urim Thumim General Priests Levites Residence Levitical Cities Responsibilities Teaching Law Ceremonies Ordinances Chief Judge Local Elders Judges Officers False Prophets Prophets and Men of God