Entering into His rest, Part 3

The name, Noah, comes from pre-Israelite tradition and sounded to Israelite ears like the Hebrew, "nuach", which means "rest". Both in the Old Testament and in the Book of Mormon, there are word-plays based on this name and meaning. In the Book of Mormon, King Noah and his priests, "rest" their bodies while they make the people labor (see Mosiah 11:11). Considering the previous blog posts on "entering into His rest", we can approach this story from a different angle.

As demonstrated in part 1, the "rest" in the Old Testament was linked to the promised land or inheritance. Lehi's group had arrived at the promised land and Zeniff, the father of King Noah, had even taken possession of the land of their first inheritance. But King Noah got it all wrong. The rest in the promised land was not a rest for the physical body, it was only symbolic for a rest of the soul in heaven. Noah rested too soon and in the wrong way. Compare with Mormon who got it right in Moroni 9:6

And now, my beloved son, notwithstanding their hardness, let us labor diligently; for if we should cease to labor, we should be brought under condemnation; for we have a labor to perform whilst in this tabernacle of clay, that we may conquer the enemy of all righteousness, and rest our souls in the kingdom of God

Take note, King Noah!