I Will Write

Exodus 34 shows us something spectacular and unappreciated about the religion of Moses.

First, Moses' ascension to the mountain (he spends 40 days fasting in the presence of the Lord) results in him having the appearance of God.  In his descent, he shines.

Second, in Moses' time on the mountain, he performs the tasks that God performs.  The first time around, God speaks the ten commandments and then He writes them with His own finger.  When He invites Moses up, God says that God will write the commandments again.  Then, in what seems like a craftsman's apprenticeship, Moses remains in the presence of the Lord and writes the commandments himself.

On the mountain, Moses becomes divine.  Does this shed light on Jesus' 40 days fasting in the wilderness?

Every One Which Sought the Lord

In class and on this blog we have seen repeatedly that the religion of the patriarchs is the religion of meeting God.  This same religion continues into the Mosaic period, at least as recounted in Exodus.  Anyone of the camp of Israel can seek the Lord; they do it in the tabernacle, which is named in Hebrew 'ohel mo'ed.  This is sometimes translated as the Tent of the Congregation, but can also be read the Tent of Meeting.  Meeting whom?  Meeting God.

Exodus 33 also provides us an image that is echoed in Benjamin's speech (and which I think is more relevant comparison than Lot and Sodom).

Come Up to Me in the Mount

I have noted before in class, and also in Plain and Precious Things, I think Exodus 24 shows a feast in the temple, the same feast with the Lord that is shown in Psalm 23, Genesis 14, Matthew 6, and 1 Nephi 8.

What I only noticed on this re-reading (this is why I have to read this stuff over and over again; I am dense) is that the feast of Exodus 24 happens in three-part sacred space, and the feast is in the middle of the three parts, exactly as in the Sermon on the Mount (where Matthew 5 is the first room, Matthew 6 is the second, and Matthew 7 is the third).

Three Times a Year

Exodus 23 has some interesting glimpses into what the religion of Israel was before the reformers got hold of it.

Exodus 23:14-17 sets out the requirement that three times a year the men of Israel went to the temple.  Even as the KJV translates it, the fact that they appear in the presence of the Lord three times a year is interesting.  But since "presence" is literally pen, "face," and "appear" could also be read "see," there's an even more provocative possibility: that three times a year, the men of Israel saw the face of the Lord.

Exodus 23:25 is also very suggestive.  To "serve" here is 'avadtem, meaning worship in liturgy, perform ordinances.  What ordinance is it?  It appears to be an ordinance in which the Lord will bless the people's bread and water (cf. Matthew 6).  The LXX here adds "wine," suggesting that the Greek-speaking Jews of Alexandria knew that this was a specific ordinance being referred to, and that ordinance, as they knew it, was a feast of bread and wine.

Shall Surely Make Restitution

Exodus 22 contains a number of laws governing situations in which one Israelite will be required to make restitution to another (for instance, if your animal gets into someone else's field (v. 4), if a fire on your land spreads to a neighbor's (v. 5), if an animal in your care is stolen (v. 11)).

In English, this stuff is dry and doesn't seem relevant, but a look at the Hebrew shows something interesting.  "Restitution" comes from the root SH-L-M, and the repeated phrases in Exodus 22 are yeshalem (he shall make restitution) and shalem yeshalem (he's really going to make restitution, emphatic).  Restitution is paying back, making whole, redeeming.

This is really interesting, because I think that Matthew 5:48 in Hebrew, as Nephi knew it, had people pronounced shalems as they transitioned to the second room of the temple.  With Exodus 22 as the background, one of the associations the initiates made must have been that they were becoming redeemers.  Similarly, Melchizedek, melekh shalem, must have been heard to be the redeeming king, as well as the initiated king and the peaceable king.

The Staff of the Gods

(The church website is down as I write this, so I won't have the usual links.  I'm not going to come back and add them later, so you'll just have to look the verses up yourself.)

I mentioned in class and have written elsewhere that the Melchizedek priest bears a staff (see Psalms 110 and 23, as well as the "rod" of 1 Nephi 8, and elsewhere).  The staff imagery in the Book of Exodus is really interesting.

When the Lord commissions Moses from the burning bush, He asks Moses "What's that in your hand?" and Moses says "A staff" (Exodus 4:2).  Not my staff, just a staff.  That's interesting, because it leaves open the possibility that the Lord has just given the staff to Moses.  This possibility becomes an outright probability when we read Exodus 4:20 and 17:9, both of which call this same staff matteh haElohim.  The KJV translates this as "the staff of God," but for grammatical reasons (the ha is the article "the," which is unnecessary in front of a singular name), a better reading is "the staff of the gods."  The Lord gives Moses the staff of the Gods -- He confers on Moses the Melchizedek priesthood.

The appearance of this staff is especially interesting in Exodus 17.  In a battle against Amalek, Moses' role is to stand on top of a hill (= temple?) holding the staff in his hands.  There he sits on a Rock (enthroned like God on the Foundation Stone) with helpers (Cherubim) to his left and right.  The image here is of the Lord going to war with his people enthroned on the Ark of the Covenant, as He does for instance in 1 Samuel 4.  When he holds the staff of office, Moses is Melchizedek / the Lord.

Numerous passage connect this staff with serpents, suggesting maybe that it was a caduceus.  See Exodus 4:3-4, 7:8-10; Numbers 21:49 (in connection with which, John 3:14 and 1 Nephi 17:41), and Isaiah 14:29 (in which a murdered (righteous) priest is equated with a broken staff, which is also a defeated serpent).

The Reformers and the Rest

From today's lesson:

This Shall Be a Token unto Thee

I have suggested above that the Hebrew 'ot, meaning "sign" or "token" appears in number of contexts connected with priesthood, in other words, that the priests themselves were or bore the tokens.  We saw this in the creation account, in the covenant of the rainbow, in the story of Cain, and a propos of the Virgin and her sons.

The same idea appears in the story of the burning bush.  God tells Moses that the token of his calling will be priestly service on what Exodus calls (in the Hebrew) the "mountain of the Gods."

The God of Jacob

The Israelites, including in the time of Jesus and also including the Nephite branch, often identify themselves as connected with the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob.  So who is the God of Jacob?

The blessing of Ephram and Manasseh identifies him interestingly.  Jacob's God is one:

• In whose presence a person can walk
• Who is a shepherd (the KJV phrase "which fed me" is better translated "who shepherds me"); compare with Psalm 23; and
• Who is a redeeming angel.

Peace and Salvation

In Genesis 26, the description of the covenant-making feast between Abimelech and Isaac contains an intriguing translation point.  In verses 29 and 31, the word shalom appears, translated by the KJV both times as "peace."

Provocatively, the LXX translates the first instance as eirene ("peace"), but translates the second instead as soteria ("salvation").  This suggests that the soter ("savior"), a title the NT gives to Jesus, is the bringer of "peace," the Lord who appears in worship of the peaceable ones / the peace offerings.

There Is a Remembrance

The Day of Atonement is a remembrance.  This is key, and a plain statement, because other passages connect the ideas of remembrance, the dressing of the high priest, and the incarnation of the Lord.  See, for instance: Leviticus, Luke, Exodus, and Matthew.

I Dwell in Heaven

This verse is the self-description of the denizen of the temple.

Interestingly, the image of the Lord raising his hand over the sea and speaking to command it connects the two different versions of the parting of the Red Sea.  For Nephi, Moses speaks to the waters.  For Exodus, Moses stretches out his hand but doesn't speak.

We already know Moses as a temple figure.  One thing these verses together might suggest to us is that Nephi's reference to Moses speaking comes not from knowing a different version of Exodus, or some other text, but from knowing Moses as a character in a ritual temple drama.

Being First Discovered by a Woman

A land that rises from the waters is a temple being founded.  See, for instance, the Song of the Sea and the Book of Moses.

Abraham is talking about a temple that was founded by a woman.

Out of the Depth of the Sea

Enoch tells us that a land came out of the depth of the sea, causing enemies to flee.

This is not Atlantis, it's the vision of a new temple foundation being laid, as in Exodus 15 (read the whole chapter, but especially verses 8 and 17).

This tends to strengthen the notion that what's going on here is a war over the temple.  The people of Shum are thrown out by the Canaanites, but God gives them a new temple.

Darkness for Light

"Woe unto them that call evil good, and good evil; that put darkness for light, and light for darkness; that put bitter for sweet, and sweet for bitter!" (Isaiah 5:20)

I read this verse today and realized that this is the moment when the lamp of the holy of holies was moved into the hekal, switching light and darkness, and the bitter and sweet waters. Cf. Exodus 15 and 1 Nephi 8.

Book coming in October.

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

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.