In D&C 82:8-10 we learn that God wants to bind himself to His Zion people. He is kind enough to provide insight on how we can ‘act before him’ to become as He is. Maybe it is just my thinking when I hear this verse read; However, I often hear this verse imply a type of inverse slave/master relationship between God and us. In the second half of verse 10, I understood that God would throw us to the lions if we didn’t do what he said. I imagined something like a slave escaping from his master and never coming back to provide support.

Read the verses and see if that is how you have read them;

And again, I say unto you, I give unto you a new commandment, that you may understand my will concerning you; Or, in other words, I give unto you directions how you may act before me, that it may turn to you for your salvation. I, the Lord, am bound when ye do what I say; but when ye do not what I say, ye have no promise.

If not slave binding, then what?

What is the new commandment that God mentions in verse 8? I think God is describing that new commandment starting in verse 11. He appears to describe the commandment of a Zion people who are bound together and to God in covenant to find equality in improving our talents. I don’t see slavery in Zion. So what might ‘bind’ mean in verse 10?

Webster’s 1828 Dictionary provides a few different ways to see the word bound. One of the definitions does fit with the master/slave relationship. The others give us a broader view of verse 10.

Bound: to restrain

obliged by moral ties; confined; restrained. Webster

I find little value in thinking about God binding to us in this context. I don’t think He wants to imply that He is constrained to work with us. He has already said that his work is focused on our glory (Moses 1:39). If this is the reading for verse 11, then the second half seems to imply that He will be free of our needs unless we bind Him to us.

Bound: A limit

the love of money knows no bounds. Webster

I like the Webster’s example phrasing for bound as a limit. I might say, ‘The love of His children knows no bounds’ in the context of our conversation. Maybe we could rephrase verse 10 to say;

[My love knows no] bound[s] when ye [enter into covenant with me]; but when ye do not what I say, ye have no [covenenant].

Maybe Elder Talmage was trying to make this point when he talked about God being accountable or devoted to laws.

‘Mormonism’ has taught me that God holds himself accountable to law even as he expects us to do. He has set us the example in obedience to law. I know that to say this would have been heresy a few decades ago. But we have the divine word for it: ‘I, the Lord, am bound when ye do what I say; but when ye do not what I say, ye have no promise.’ (Doc. and Cov. 82:10.) He operates by law and not by arbitrariness or caprice.” (In Conference Report, Apr. 1930, p. 96.)

I realize that some of you may read law as a penal system. However, if we remember the two greatest commandments, then law means love. So, by obeying law, ‘We give God, the Father of our spirits, an exclusive preeminence in our lives. He has a prior parental claim on our eternal welfare, ahead of all other ties that may bind us here or hereafter.’ (Ezra Taft Benson, 1988)

Bound: move forward by leaps

Before his lord the ready spaniel bounds. Webster

This reading may be my favorite and the one most distant from how I have heard it read. If we rewrite Webster’s phrase in the context of God’s bounding we would say, ‘Before His children the ready Lord bounds.’ I see a God that is all too willing to respond to our loving outreach for Him. If we use this reading, it solves the implication of God escaping from the relationship once we don’t obey. Under this concept, could we rephrase verse 10 as follows?

I, the Lord, [move forward by leaps with thee] when ye do what I say; but when ye do not what I say, ye [don’t get the same bounding growth].

God will always help and stay focused on our joint and individual glory. I don’t think he looks for a way to get out of that promise. However, when we keep the relational covenant with Him, our joint glory can move forward ‘by leaps.’

This post reminds me of the Pixar short called ‘Boundin’. Maybe you can see the Jackalope as a metaphor for God.

God works by love, not by slavery on His or our part. ‘Now in this world of ups and downs, so nice to know that [God] is around.’

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