A good man out of the good treasure of the heart bringeth forth good things

Consider, if you will, the account of the creation found in the book of Moses in the Pearl of Great Price (Or you could look at Moses' account in Genesis; there it is in chapter 1 instead of 2).
At the end of each creationary period, God declared the creation "good" (emphasis is mine).

Moses 2:

10 And I, God, called the dry land Earth; and the gathering together of the waters, called I the Sea; and I, God, saw that all things which I had made were good.

12 And the earth brought forth grass, every herb yielding seed after his kind, and the tree yielding fruit, whose seed should be in itself, after his kind; and I, God, saw that all things which I had made were good;

18 And the sun to rule over the day, and the moon to rule over the night, and to divide the light from the darkness; and I, God, saw that all things which I had made were good;

21 And I, God, created great whales, and every living creature that moveth, which the waters brought forth abundantly, after their kind, and every winged fowl after his kind; and I, God, saw that all things which I had created were good.

25 And I, God, made the beasts of the earth after their kind, and cattle after their kind, and everything which creepeth upon the earth after his kind; and I, God, saw that all these things were good.

31 And I, God, saw everything that I had made, and, behold, all things which I had made were very good.

I have long believe that meant that the various creations were well made. While I do not doubt that to be the case, I have found that the book of Abraham (also in the Pearl of Great Price) uses different wording that provides an additional understanding of what "good" might mean (emphasis is mine, again).

Abraham 4:

10 And the Gods pronounced the dry land, Earth; and the gathering together of the waters, pronounced they, Great Waters; and the Gods saw that they were obeyed.

12 And the Gods organized the earth to bring forth grass from its own seed, and the herb to bring forth herb from its own seed, yielding seed after his kind; and the earth to bring forth the tree from its own seed, yielding fruit, whose seed could only bring forth the same in itself, after his kind; and the Gods saw that they were obeyed.

18 And the Gods watched those things which they had ordered until they obeyed.

21 And the Gods prepared the waters that they might bring forth great whales, and every living creature that moveth, which the waters were to bring forth abundantly after their kind; and every winged fowl after their kind. And the Gods saw that they would be obeyed, and that their plan was good.

25 And the Gods organized the earth to bring forth the beasts after their kind, and cattle after their kind, and every thing that creepeth upon the earth after its kind; and the Gods saw they would obey.

31 And the Gods said: We will do everything that we have said, and organize them; and behold, they shall be very obedient. And it came to pass that it was from evening until morning they called night; and it came to pass that it was from morning until evening that they called day; and they numbered the sixth time.


In both accounts, the first (light/dark) and second (firmament, water dividing) do not get pronounced as good or obedient. It is said that they were as they were ordered. The lights and the waters do not have living souls, perhaps, whereas the plants, all manner of animal life, and man do? Just a guess there. The beasts are pronounced good/obedient, but then after man is made, God looks over all of creation and calls the entirety very good/obedient.

The point I am moving towards is that when Moses says "good" it can be understood to mean "obedient" or that it did as it was commanded - live, multiply replenish, fulfill measure of creation, etc. This doesn't seem a very large stretch of meaning for me. Think of good v. evil - in this case, good is the opposite of evil. Synonyms for the antonym (that's fun to say) of evil include righteous and obedient and true and faithful. When God made everything, He made it in a Good, Righteous, Obedient state. Creation later fell with Adam, but that is too large of a tangent.

Keeping in mind that good=obedient, remember the famous scripture mastery verse in Abraham 3:22-23,

22 Now the Lord had shown unto me, Abraham, the intelligences that were organized before the world was; and among all these there were many of the noble and great ones;

 23 And God saw these souls that they were good, and he stood in the midst of them, and he said: These I will make my rulers; for he stood among those that were spirits, and he saw that they were good; and he said unto me: Abraham, thou art one of them; thou wast chosen before thou wast born.

True to form, God chose those souls that were obedient and gave them further gifts and responsibilities. Those spirits who were obedient were called and chosen to preach the gospel, shepherd the flock, and lead Zion in the ways of righteousness.

I think this works well with what Alma had to say about High Priests (think Christ, Melchizedek, Abraham, Adam, Seth, Noah, Enoch among others) in Alma 13:3-13 (it is a long quote, but the whole thing worth reading - go read it). Consider also what God says about High Priests (and others) in Doctrine and Covenants 76:51-70 (57) - another long quote but one I suggest you read in its entirety.

I think there is a lot of harmony in these passages and an interesting insight into what the Lord means when He says He seeth not as a man seeth, for man looketh on the outward appearance, but the Lord looketh on the heart. What is He looking for there? Love. The kind of love that goes with "If ye love me, keep my commandments." The kind of love that spurs you on to obedience. 

"Remember... and learn wisdom in thy youth; yea learn in thy youth to keep the commandments of God." (Alma 37:35) 

"O be wise, what can I say more?" (Jacob 6:12)