Whose Faith Follow

The author of Hebrews urges his readers to follow their leaders' "faith" ("faith" is also described as being the motive power in Ether and Moroni, in clear temple contexts).  They are to do this "considering" (anatheorountes, looking up at) the "end" (ekbasin, walking out or exit) of their "conversations" (anastrophes, turning upward).

He That Cometh to God

Faith is the motive power by which one approaches God, "seeks" him, and asks for a reward.  This is the same thing we are told by the Brother of Jared and also by Matthew.

My Son, My Son

Abraham becomes a son of God by the Lord's outstretched hand.  This is exactly what John describes, and also the brother of Jared.  For Nephi, grasping the bearer of the iron rod brings one into the presence of the tree of life.

The Appointment of God Unto the Fathers

We seriously need to study the word "seed."  Abraham here connects it with being ordained a priest.  "Raising up seed" connects a strange and hard to understand series of texts: Tamar and Judah, the widow of seven brothers, and the Nephites' whoredoms in Jacob's day.  The priesthood has to do with seed.

Lehi's party brought with them "seeds of every kind."  So did the Jaredites.  Might this be a reference to carrying a genealogical right to the priesthood in their midst?

Many Have Believed

A son of God is something you become.

John and Ether teach the same thing.

By Thy Throat

Cain learns an oath from Satan.

It's the one forbidden to the shalems, and the one Akish employed for the same purpose as Cain... to take a head.

Behold, Thou Art My Son

In the moment of seeing God, Moses is pronounced to be his son.

The Brother of Jared had the same experience.   For John, the "sons of God" are those who grasp Jesus (Greek elabon; received is a bad translation).

He Saw God Face to Face

Moses saw God.

This is one of the promises made to those entering the Worship of the Shalems, and one of the blessings they received in the actual ordinance.  Nephi tells us that he, Jacob, and Isaiah all had this experience.  So did the Brother of Jared.

Grasping the Word

I also taught the Elders yesterday.  Here's that lesson outline:

The Iron Rod

• is the “word of God”, which leads to the tree (1 Nephi 11:25)
• iron rod leads along strait and narrow path to the tree; catch hold, cling, hold fast: 1 Nephi 8:19-20, 24, 30

Is There A Rod in the Worship of the Shalems?

• the shepherd has one: Psalm 23:4

Is the “word of God” the same as the “Word”?

• John 1:1-12
• vv.11-12 “received” is two different verbs; 2nd verb should be “grasped”
• those who grasp the Word become the sons of God

The Brother of Jared at the Veil

• Ether 3:1 they called the mount Shelem
• Ether 3:6-16 veil removed, sees finger (hand), enters presence, become sons and daughters

Sermon on the Mount Revisited

• Matthew 5:9: promised to become a child
• Matthew 5:43-45: urged to behave worthily of being a child
• Matthew 7:7-11: you are a child, asking for the heavenly gift

Grasping and Entering Imagery Elsewhere

• Helaman 3:28-30 is Mormon’s commentary: lay hold on the word, strait and narrow course, kingdom of heaven
• Moroni 7:3-4, mixed audience
• 7:5 (cf. Matthew 7:15-20) Mormon is quoting from the Worship of the Shalems to cue in those who have ears to hear
• 7:6-10 evil man gives an evil gift (cf. Matthew 5:21-24, Shalems bring their gift to the altar)
• 7:12 all good things come from God
• 7:22 good things come from God, in Christ: this is the doctrine of ministering angels
• 7:19 lay hold of good things, become a child of Christ

Lay Hold Upon Every Good Thing

Mormon, preaching to a mixed audience of shalems and non-shalems, uses shalem imagery to communicate hidden layers to part of his audience.  All good things come from God.  They come from God in Christ.  Lay hold upon the good things, and you become a child of Christ.  This happens by faith (which is how the brother of Jared got through the veil) and the ministering of angels.

This same image is used by John.  As many as "took hold of" Jesus (elabon in Greek) became the sons of God.

This imagery shows us the shalem grasping the high priest after the order of Melchizedek to be pulled behind the veil and into the Holy of Holies.

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.

In a Secret Pass

The Jaredite nobles are devotees of the dark mysteries.  We know this because Gilead's "high priest" is "one of the secret combinations."

He Hid Himself in the Cavity

Ether hides "in the cavity of a rock," and creeps out at night to look around.

This might just be a cave.  On the other hand, it might be an evocation of the same imagery that underlies this passage in Isaiah.  The foundation stone in the holy of holies of the Jerusalem temple has a hole in it, that leads to a cave underneath.

Hiding in the cavity of a rock might therefore just mean a cave.  Or it might mean that Ether hid in a temple, a sanctuary.  Or maybe he hid in a cave, and Moroni means to evoke for us that his hiding place thereby became a sort of hallowed ground.

1 Nephi, John and Ether as Temple Texts

Bill Hamblin has a great article in the new Mormon Interpreter.

I should also point out that the Interpreter's inaugural article was David Bokovoy's essay about liturgical language in 1 Nephi and Ether.

There Are They Who Were First

The temple context of Ether 13 and the New Jerusalem prophecy tells us that this famous couplet likely has a shalem, temple sense.

Blessed Are They Who Dwell Therein

The New Jerusalem is a temple-city.  Its inhabitants are dressed shalems who are "blessed."  That makes it the city set on a hill that cannot be hid.

And the Holy Sanctuary of the Lord

The New Jerusalem of Ether / Moroni explicitly comes out of the temple.  It isn't a city that will descend from the sky, it's a city built on temple principles -- the practices of the temple, and the content of the oaths sworn by its visionaries.  Later the city is explicitly to be "built up."

After the Waters Had Receded

Ether's vision of the waters receding is a very old one.  It's a vision of creation that underlies the "Song of the Sea," which we have repurposed as a tale of the Lord defeating the Egyptians in Exodus 15.  The vision is a temple one: read Exodus 15 and notice the temple / holy mountain imagery in verses 13 and 18.

Thou Hast Been Faithful

Seeing your weakness and becoming strong leads to sitting down with clean garments in the mansions of the Father.

The mansions of the Father are therefore the same thing as the kingdom of God.

Thou Hast Prepared a House for Man

Hope is an expectation of receiving an inheritance in the mansions of the Father.