Jacob on Resurrection and the Tree

Bookshelf: Cornelis Van Dam

Cornelis Van Dam's recent monograph The Urim and Thummim: A Means of Revelation in Ancient Israel is a great resource for understanding the UT in the OT.  It also opens up certain Book of Mormon passages: if you look closely, you'll see that, although the UT isn't mentioned, a couple of episodes in Alma track with the language of UT use exactly (high priest, gift of prophecy, national crisis, inquire of the Lord, possible indications of use in secluded / consecrated space, etc.), suggesting that the Nephites used the Urim and Thummim not only to translate, but also to make military decisions.  See, e.g., Alma 16:5-6 and Alma 43:23-24.

The Reformers and the Rest

From today's lesson:

The Temple Roots of Tithing

The first appearance in the OT of the institution of tithing is in Genesis 14.  Abram pays tithing to Melchizedek ("my king is righteousness"), the shalem (peaceable) king (Alma knows this pun), after a feast of bread and wine.  This is a temple passage, also shown in the Sermon on the Mount: those who hunger and thirst after righteousness (Melchizedek) are filled when they share a feast with God (the Lord, Melchizedek).

Jacob also pays tithing.  He commits to it after an experience in which he sees God and angels ascending and descending to and from "heaven," sets up a standing stone and anoints it, makes the covenant of Abraham, changes the name of the place from "Ulam Luz" (the KJV mysteriously drops "Ulam," which is the name of the first room of the temple) to Beth-El (the "house of God," which he also describes as the "gate of heaven"), and agrees that God will keep him in the way and give him bread and clothing.  The result of this covenant will be shalom, "peace."  This is also manifestly a temple passage.

Finally, Malachi's famous passage about tithing is set in a context in which the Israelites are chastised for abandoning the Lord's true pattern of worship.  They are promised (warned?) that the Lord still appears, and that he will do so, as he has always done, in his temple, preceded by an angel priest.

I Am Gabriel

The angel who brings the news to Zacharias is the Melchizedek priest -- he has come from the presence of God and he bears the name Gabriel = El Gibbor, the mighty God.

Was the giving of curses as signs a special power of the Melchizedek priest?  I am reminded of Abinadi and Alma.  Maybe this is how we should read Isaiah 10-14, as a curse/sign from the rightful and righteous Melchizedek priest.

A More Excellent Sacrifice

We begin to "witness" the "elders" and we see that their stories have temple dimensions.  Abel's sacrifice is of the firstlings -- it's the same as God's own sacrifice, which is laid on the table for consumption in the Worship of the Shalems.  Enoch ascends to heaven and overcomes death, which Alma shows us is God's gift to the shalems.

I Unfold Unto You a Mystery

I read this with the kids this week.  Alma's doctrine of revelation clearly comes from or informs the Worship of the Shalems.  He's unfolding a "mystery," he twice describes resurrection in the language of dressing, and he identifies it as something that doesn't happen until Christ comes.  This corresponds to the action in the Hekal, when the Lord-Melchizedek descends (Christ arrives) and dresses the initiates.

Abideth a Priest Continually

Hebrews tells us that Salem isn't to be understood as a place -- it means "peace," confirming our reading that Melchizedek is the shalem king (Alma says a similar thing).  Hebrews knows that Melchizedek isn't a mortal; he's a Son of God, a priesthood office.

The Cloud of Darkness Having Been Dispelled

Nephi knows the "goodness and the mysteries of God."  The "mysteries" are God's sacred and private ordinances, of course, but what is the "goodness"?

Ammon seems to tell us that God's goodness is the "light" of "life," which is behind a "veil."  That makes the goodness of God the temple lamp.

One Shall Be More Intelligent

God explicitly compares the stars to eternal spirits.  Some are more intelligent than others.

Alma teaches Zeezrom that priests are eternal spirits.  Some are more faithful than others.

I think this is the same doctrine.

Nearest Unto the Throne of God

Abraham has a vision of stars.  The lexicon of the visionary men suggests that these are angel-priests.  The use of the words "governing ones" and "order" tend to confirm that view.  Also, the final phrase of verse 3, "I have set this one to govern all those which belong to the same order as that upon which thou standest," says that Abraham is standing on a star... which tells us that we're not being told facts about physical space, but about something else.

The Judge Executed Authority

Interesting how much this discussion of legal procedure tracks with this element in the Worship of the Shalems.  There are judges and officers, and in Matthew 5 an adversary -- an antidikos, the person opposite you in a lawsuit, or in Hebrew a satan.  In Alma 11 the passive voice formulation "he was complained of to the judge" hides the necessary counterparty, which in the narrative is of course Zeezrom.

So we see that the scene between Alma and Amulek on the one hand and Zeezrom on the other looks like a stop in the worship of the shalems, with Zeezrom playing the role of Satan.  No wonder Zeezrom is an expert in the "devices of the devil," and a "child of hell."

Amulek's response to Zeezrom is interesting.  Does his description of himself as "the righteous" mean that Alma has made him a Melchizedek priest?  Is he jolting the scene out of joint by telling the Satan Zeezrom that he's tempting the wrong person, trying to test the angel-priest rather than the initiates?

In My Hands

Amulek says angel-priests announce the Lord's coming with "equity and justice" in his hands.

In the Worship of the Shalems, initiates are taught to do eleemosyne (verse 1) and dikaiosyne (verse 2). These are both translated as "alms," but a better translation would be "equity" and "justice."  How do they do these things?  With both their hands (verse 3) and in secret (verse 4).

From the Beginning of Time

Abraham says the Melchizedek priesthood is from the beginning.  In this, he agrees with Alma.

The Blessings of the Fathers

This verse is astonishingly clear.  The man writing under the name Abraham is a shalem, because he has had happiness (joy), peace, and rest.  He has followed Righteousness behind the veil.  He wants knowledge, instructions, and to keep the commandments.  He wants to be a prince of peace, a title whose only other possessors in ancient scripture are Melchizedek and the Lord.  He wants ordination in the higher order of temple priesthood.

The King of Zion

God tells Enoch some of the titles of the great Melchizedek Priest.  These shouldn't surprise us: the Anointed, the King (Isaiah, Alma, Genesis), the Rock (Helaman, Isaiah, Matthew).

I Am Also a Son of God

This description of Satan's role in an apparently temple setting, tempting men not to be believe and to become carnal and devilish, is the role Korihor ascribes to Satan.  Curious, unless Korihor knows this temple role.

Yea, Greatly Afflicted

I noticed this while reading with my kids.

The fifth year of the reign of the judges ends.  Immediately, the people are afflicted and worry about judgment.  "Affliction" is what you feel on the Day of Atonement, the great holiday forecasting the Lord's judgments, which comes ten days after the start of the new year.

Helaman 5

Here is my outline for today's Sunday School lesson on Helaman 5.

Temple:

·       3 rooms: ulam, hekal (great and spacious building), debir (place of speaking)

·       incense altar, table/bread, lamp/tree – confusion about tables and tree

·       veil, ark, stone, 2 x 2 cherubim

·       Temple is UP

Temple Visions:

·       Isaiah 6: throne, seraphim, glory, smoke

·       Ezekiel 1-2: four living creatures, firmament, throne, voice of the Lord

·       Daniel 7: four great beasts, ancient of days sitting on a throne of fire, the Son of Man comes on clouds of heaven

·       1 Enoch 14: three rooms (outside, great house, greater house), God on a fiery throne

·       1 Nephi 1... twice: pillar on the rock; then, heavens open, throne of God, singing angels, one and twelve descending

Controversy:

·       Hezekiah removed Nehushtan

·       Josiah removed “grove,” killed and burned priests

·       1 Nephi 13: temple visions, “precious above all,” “plain and precious things” removed

·       WHAT IS LEFT IS FRAGMENTED, HARD TO UNDERSTAND OR IN CODE.  THIS IS WHAT NEPHI MEANS BY SAYING ISAIAH’S WORDS ARE PLAIN TO THOSE WH ARE FILLED WITH A SPIRIT OF PROPHECY, AND NEPHI WILL ALSO PROPHESY PLAINLY (2 N. 25:4)

Sermon on the Mount:

·       not a Sermon.  Luther thought it was Satanic.  scholars think a collection of sayings.

·       ORDINANCE: 3 chapters = 3 rooms

·       priests = angels: Mal 2:7, Alma 12-13 (called, foundation of the world, teach Christ’s redemption), Alma 29 wants to “go forth” as an angel teaching the plan of redemption, but God in his “wisdom” lets people know what he sees fit

·       WALK THROUGH ORDINANCE WITH MODEL, note: blessings (seeing God, children of God, kingdom of heaven) / prison break / shalems / dress / kingdom of heaven / rock / authority and astonishment

·       1 Nephi 8, Gen. 14 shalem king, Ps. 23, Lev. 7 and Exodus 24 worship of the shalems, Peace

Shalem Imagery in Scripture:

·       Nephi 4:30-35 shows rock, prison escape by redemption, straight path and gate of heaven, encircled in robe

Helaman 5:

·       vv. 5-13, endowment from the father: private, many things not written (cf. 1 N. 1:16, 8:29)

·       v. 18-19 authority (not in 3 Nephi... ??)

·       vv. 21 ff.:

o       jail (21-22)

o       encircled (23)

o       pillar of fire (24)

o       cloud of darkness (28)

o       voice (29) (cf. 3 Nephi 11:36 – hear the voice three times)

o       kingdom of heaven (32)

o       good tidings and fear (29, 34; cf. Luke 2:9-10)

o       Aminadab (vv. 35, 37-39ff) = “John”, angel priest guide

o       faces shine (36) (cf. Alma 40:25, Matthew 13:43)

o       repent, are encircled (41-43)

o       Nephi and Lehi come to them (44), they are dressed and feel joy (1 N. 8:12)

o       “peace” (47)

o       heavens open (48)

o       JAILBREAK STORY IS TOLD IN TERMS OF AN IRONY: THE PRISONERS ARE REALLY THE HIGH PRIESTS, AND THE JAILORS ARE REALLY THE INITIATES IN THE MIST, UNTIL THEY REPENT, AND BECOME CLOTHED, HAVE PEACE, SEE THE HEAVENS OPEN

Why Is Helaman Awesome?

·       It’s at the heart of the BoM theme – visionary men vs. Gadiantons

·       It’s genre fiction

Because of Your Peaceable Walk

The shalem followers of Christ, who must be the children of God (per Alma, John, and Ether, and see Matthew), walk in a shalem fashion among the "children of men"... the people who are not shalems.