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:

Ministers of the Word

Luke's gospel starts like John's: with the Word (logos), and his ministers (helpers, assistants) who were witnesses from the beginning (arche).

If We Hold

We are made sharers with Christ if we "hold fast" to the end.

The same image is in John and 1 Nephi.

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.

Many Have Believed

A son of God is something you become.

John and Ether teach the same thing.

Anoint Thine Eyes With Clay

Is this a record of an ordinance?

If so, is this the same ordinance?

A Genealogy Was Kept

The genealogy is of the "children of God."  This is not primarily a record of physical descent, but of priesthood descent -- those who grasp the Word receive the authority to become the sons of God.

By the Word of My Power

In Moses 2, God tells us he accomplished creation by means of the Word, the same high priestly figure who appears in John 1 and, as the "rod of iron," in 1 Nephi 8.

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).

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.

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.

They Must Prepare the Way of the Lord

When the Jaredites again go bad, prophets come crying that the people must prepare the way of the Lord.

This same phrase occurs in Isaiah, Malachi, 1 Nephi, and John.  Its location in the latter two books suggests that it can be read as a reference to the Worship of the Shalems, though the former references sound like Day of Atonement allusions: in other words, the way of the Lord is the path by which people approach the Lord, or the path by which he comes to them.  This makes perfect sense, of course, since the path in either case is the path through the temple, traversed in the one case inward and in the other outward.

Unfolded in the Eyes of All the People

In a discussion of knowledge, belief, coming behind the veil, and what we will have to do to have access to the great visions of the brother of Jared, we are again put on notice that John's writings are temple writings.

Is this the Gospel?  Revelations?  I think both.

I Shall Take Upon Me Flesh and Blood

On the mountain called "Shelem, because of its exceeding height" (did it reach to Heaven?),  the brother of Jared prays to the Lord.  His prayer starts with good basic temple doctrine: God is in the heavens, and man is fallen.  Nevertheless, man is urged to "call upon the Lord" to receive according to his desires (compare Matthew -- this is the language of the triple petition).

The Lord comes out through the veil.  He explicitly tells the brother of Jared that his coming forward through the veil is a prophecy of his taking on flesh and blood.  We have already seen that John and Alma both saw it the same way.

The King of Heaven Shall Very Soon Shine Forth

In the Worship of the Shalems, the Lord comes forth from the Holy of Holies to clothe the shalems and administer the feast of bread and wine.  He is Melchizedek, the king of rightenousness and the shalem king, and the shalems have come through the valley of the shadow of death to reach him.  The moment of his coming is the light seen by those in darkness, in the shadow of death.  It is the shining forth of the King of Heaven.

This was the moment when the veil parted and the high priest came out in his robes.  The light from the Holy of Holies (which is where the evidence of the visionary men consistently places the light and the tree) shines forth behind him.  This was the visionary men's ritual prophecy of the Lord's earthly birth, when Yahweh would come in person to administer the feast of bread and wine to his followers.  This is the imagery John uses to report that the prophecy was fulfilled... and the people in darkness and the shadow of death didn't understand what they had witnessed.

It Shall Be Brought out of Darkness Unto Light

The image of a light shining into the darkness comes from the Worship of the Shalems; the temple veil parted, shining light into the darkness of the Hekal where the initiates stood as the high priest / Lord / Melchizedek came from the Holy of Holies to join them.

Isaiah shows us this image.

John uses the image of the light shining into the darkness to identify Jesus as the high priest, i.e., as Melchizedek and Yahweh who was to come.

Lehi exhorts his errant sons to come out of that darkness and into the light.

Moroni uses the light image to describe the coming forth of the BoM.

The Father and I Are One

In the context of a temple appearance, promising blessings expressed in the terms of temple ordinances, Jesus expresses his unity with the father.  When Jesus expresses the same ideas elsewhere, we therefore infer the same, temple, context.