"Carried away" -- part 2 (גֶּלֶה)

 As I hinted in my last post, the Hebrew root for "carried away" has deep covenant connections.

galah: to uncover, remove (גֶּלֶה)

At first glance the connection between "carried away" and "uncovered" is not apparent.  If we remember that the Semitic concept of atonement has deep connections to the concept of being "covered," the link becomes easier to understand. 

In the positive context, "carried away" and "uncovered" indicate revelation.  The Spirit carries away a person and they learn of God's mysteries.  

In the negative context, "carried away" and "uncovered" indicate a loss of divine protection. An enemy overtakes the people and carries them away captive. They are exposed and scattered.

This connection between "uncovering" and being carried away captive also makes sense when we consider the divine protection associated with the covenant. Zion as an enclosed garden fits neatly into this pattern, for example.

Old Testament double-meaning

"Galah" shows up 185 times in the Old Testament in positive and negative contexts.  For the sake of brevity, I'll limit my discussion examples to four examples -- two positive and two negative. In each case the words translated from 'galah' are in bold italics. This link will take you to a comprehensive list.

From 1 Samuel:

21 And the Lord appeared again in Shiloh: for the Lord revealed himself to Samuel in Shiloh by the word of the Lord. (1 Samuel 3)

21 And she named the child I-chabod, saying, The glory is departed from Israel: because the ark of God was taken, and because of her father in law and her husband.

22 And she said, The glory is departed from Israel: for the ark of God is taken. (1 Samuel 4)

From Psalms:

18 Open thou mine eyes, that I may behold wondrous things out of thy law. (Psalm 119)

From Isaiah:

13 ¶ Therefore my people are gone into captivity, because they have no knowledge: and their honourable men are famished, and their multitude dried up with thirst. (Isaiah 5)

Adam and Eve as archetypes

This is beautiful and deep, but it gets even more beautiful and deeper when we look at another connection between covering and divine protection from the story of Adam and Eve. 

Just prior to their expulsion from Eden, God literally covers Adam and Eve with "coats of skins" and sends them out to a realm of uncertainty and adversity to "till the ground from whence he was taken." "Cherubims" are placed to "keep the way of the tree of life."

21 Unto Adam also and to his wife did the Lord God make coats of skins, and clothed them.

22 ¶ And the Lord God said, Behold, the man is become as one of us, to know good and evil: and now, lest he put forth his hand, and take also of the tree of life, and eat, and live for ever:

23 Therefore the Lord God sent him forth from the garden of Eden, to till the ground from whence he was taken.

24 So he drove out the man; and he placed at the east of the garden of Eden Cherubims, and a flaming sword which turned every way, to keep the way of the tree of life. (Genesis 3)

Two coverings occur here:

1. Adam and Eve are covered with coats of skins.  This has very obvious connections to sacrifice. Where else would the skins have come from? We can think of the sacrifices performed at the ancient temple by priests. We can also think of the great sacrifice of Jesus Christ, the lamb of God. In either case, The person who wears the coat of skin is afforded a physical object which acts as a constant reminder of the "cover" from sin and death brought about by Jesus Christ. All of this brings new meaning to the term "the gospel of the Lamb."
2. The tree of life is covered by "Cherubims and a flaming sword." The purpose of this is to "keep the way of the tree of life." Cherubim, in this context, are divine messengers.  The flaming sword is the justice of God.  The divine messengers assist us on the journey across the gulf that is sin and lead us to the tree of life. As we follow them and draw closer to the tree of life, it follows logically that more and more knowledge about the tree of life will be uncovered to our view.

If we think of ourselves as Adam and Eve -- expelled from paradise but offered divine protection -- we find two paths available to us.  We can follow the divine messengers through the gate and along the narrow path leading to the tree of life, having God's mysteries uncovered along the way.  Alternatively, we can reject the covenant and uncover ourselves (by removing the divine protection afforded to us by Jesus Christ, symbolized by the coat of skins), thereby exposing ourselves to any number of other paths leading to other outcomes. In reality, removing our divine covering doesn't free us at all, but instead exposes us to Satan's cords and chains.

Remember the words of Isaiah quoted above, with some additional context from the preceding verse: 

...they regard not the work of the Lord, neither consider the operation of his hands. Therefore my people are gone into captivity, because they have no knowledge (Isaiah 5:12-13)

A lack of knowledge is directly connected to captivity in this verse, which strikes me as very relevant to the underlying root 'galah.' The "work of the Lord" is the work of the divine messengers, the ministry of the angels of God. Disregarding that work (the work of covenants) exposes us to the snares of the devil.

In my next post, we'll look at how neatly this connection between a physical covering and the notion of divine covenant-related protection can be found in the Book of Mormon.