Cleave

After reading the admonition to Emma Smith in D&C 25:13 to cleave unto the covenants that she had made, I decided to study how this term, 'cleave', is used in the scriptures. 

It first appears in Genesis 2:24

Therefore shall a man leave his father and his mother, and shall cleave unto his wife: and they shall be one flesh.

The English term in this verse will of course depend on the translation. The Hebrew root is דָּבַק (dabaq), meaning to cling to, cleave or keep close. This same word is frequently used to describe the relationship between the Lord and his covenant people.

Ye shall walk after the Lord your God, and fear him, and keep his commandments, and obey his voice, and ye shall serve him, and cleave unto him. (Deuteronomy 13:4)

This is one of many admonitions to cleave to the Lord in the Old Testament, especially in the books of Deuteronomy and Joshua. The cleaving also goes both ways. The relationship between the Lord and his covenant people is sometimes using the marriage imagery. Just like the man shall cleave unto his wife, the Lord cleaves unto his bride, Israel, and asks her for the same in return. Let's have a look at some interesting uses of this word in the Book of Mormon.

Wherefore, my beloved brethren, I beseech of you in words of soberness that ye would repent, and come with full purpose of heart, and cleave unto God as he cleaveth unto you. And while his arm of mercy is extended towards you in the light of the day, harden not your hearts. (Jacob 6:5)

The term is usually found in a covenant setting in the Book of Mormon too. In Jacob 6, Jacob is commenting on the parable of Zenos and the fate of the House of Israel. The Master of the Vineyard is extending his arm of mercy towards the House of Israel and we should cleave unto him like a branch to a tree.

Another use of the terms shows up in Moroni 7. Lord Wilmore and I have both previously written about "every good thing" in this chapter and connected it to covenants, the atonement and ministering of angels. (See for instance here and here). Repeatedly, Mormon asks us to "lay hold upon every good thing". But in verse 28 he shifts the phrasing a little bit

For he hath answered the ends of the law, and he claimeth all those who have faith in him; and they who have faith in him will cleave unto every good thing; wherefore he advocateth the cause of the children of men; and he dwelleth eternally in the heavens.

There is a lot to unpack here so I think I will save my comments on this for a later post.

3 Nephi 10:9-10 is another interesting one:

And it came to pass that thus did the three days pass away. And it was in the morning, and the darkness dispersed from off the face of the land, and the earth did cease to tremble, and the rocks did cease to rend, and the dreadful groanings did cease, and all the tumultuous noises did pass away. And the earth did cleave together again, that it stood. 

And the mourning, and the weeping, and the wailing of the people who were spared alive did cease; and their mourning was turned into joy, and their lamentations into the praise and thanksgiving unto the Lord Jesus Christ, their Redeemer.

I removed the verse numbering and split it up a bit differently on purpose. Keep in mind that the original Book of Mormon text did not have verses. The first paragraph describes a transition of the earth. Darkness, trembling, rending, groanings and tumultuous noises cease. It culminates in the earth cleaving together again.

The second paragraph describes a transition of the people. Weeping, wailing, mourning and lamentation turns into joy, praise and thanksgiving. There is a resonance between the earth and the people. Lord Wilmore has previously posted about another aspect of this resonance in conjunction with the destruction before Christ's visit to the Nephites. 

The transition happens when the earth cleaves together. Mormon uses the same word (at least the English translation does) that is typically used to describe a bond between people or between man and God in a covenant relation. I know I have quoted this paper many times before, but it is also highly relevant in this context.

The Bible is full of words that describe the creation as a web of life, the role of human beings in guarding and preserving it, and why things went wrong...These bonds of creation formed the great covenant - the word means binding together - and as long as the bonds of the covenant remained in place, people could live in peace and prosperity. The bonds were called the covenant of peace, or the covenant of life and peace (Numbers 25.12; Malachi 2.5). ...The Servants of the LORD had to maintain the covenant of peace. When it was threatened or damaged, they had to do whatever was necessary to restore it. And here we come to the word that forms the title of this talk; righteousness, tsedaqah. Righteousness describes both the action needed to restore the broken covenant, and also the result of that action. Righteous people had been restored to their intended place in the creation, and they then had to work to restore other parts of the covenant system. Righteousness meant the activity of making righteous, protecting and maintaining the covenant.

The events in 3 Nephi 8-10, make much sense with this backdrop. Prior to these chapters, there is much wickedness. The earth responds with huge natural disasters and is certainly not at rest. The wicked are destroyed and the earth eventually restored to a peaceful state, cleaving together. As a parallel event, the people who remain turn from a state of unrest and sorrow to joy. After Mormon has described these parallel events, he goes on to say:

And it was the more righteous part of the people who were saved (3 Nephi 10:12)

Just like the earth cleaved together, righteous people will cleave to their God and maintain the bonds of creation. This was the way to restore the harmony and prepare for his coming to the Nephites in the next chapter. Similarly, we need to be righteous and cleave to our covenants and our God to prepare for His second coming.