“Man makes a distinction between temporal and spiritual laws, and some are very much concerned about keeping the two separate. To the Lord everything is both spiritual and temporal, and the laws He gives are consequently spiritual, because they concern spiritual beings. When He commanded Adam to eat bread in the sweat of his brow, or Moses to strike the rock that the people might drink … such laws were for their spiritual welfare, as well as physical. To obey such laws, when given, is a spiritual duty” (Smith and Sjodahl, Doctrine and Covenants Commentary, 156).
What is meant by the statement that the ten tribes of Israel “are already lost”? (22:4) “It ought also to be observed that the lost tribes are not lost in the sense that we do not know where they are. The scriptures plainly tell us they have been scattered among every nation, kindred, tongue, and people. How then are they lost? They are lost temporally in the sense that they are in many instances lost to the lands of their inheritance. Of greater importance, they are lost in a spiritual sense: they are lost to the gospel and its saving ordinances, they are lost to the priesthood and all the blessings that flow from it” (McConkie and Millet, Doctrinal Commentary, 1:169–70).