Land of our inheritance -- Part 2

In Part 1 we looked at the covenant connection of the Hebrew yeresh, meaning to inherit/possess. The promised land is an inheritance given by covenant. It is a blessing ("flowing with milk and honey") but also a great responsibility. 

9 And now, we can behold the decrees of God concerning this land, that it is a land of promise; and whatsoever nation shall possess it shall serve God, or they shall be swept off when the fulness of his wrath shall come upon them. And the fulness of his wrath cometh upon them when they are ripened in iniquity.

10 For behold, this is a land which is choice above all other lands; wherefore he that doth possess it shall serve God or shall be swept off; for it is the everlasting decree of God. And it is not until the fulness of iniquity among the children of the land, that they are swept off. (Ether 2)

In Deuteronomy, Israel are repeatedly instructed to purge the evil out of their midst when they possess the promised land. The evil that should be purged comes from breaking God's statutes, judgments and commandments. Sin made unclean and defiled the whole land.

As we have often seen from Old Testament rhetoric, the blessings and cursings associated with the promised land were temporal and physical in nature. It was all about crop yields, weather, success or failure in warfare, children and posterity. There was little concern with the afterlife. But then the Book of Mormon comes along and adds a spiritual dimension to it all, indicating that the Old Testament instructions and events also functioned as "a type and a shadow" (Mosiah 13:10). For instance, in 1 Nephi 15, Nephi teaches his brothers about the Abrahamic covenant and the restoration of the Jews and ties it into his and his father's vision of the tree of life. His brothers seem confused about the temporal and spiritual aspects of this.

31 And they said unto me: Doth this thing mean the torment of the body in the days of probation, or doth it mean the final state of the soul after the death of the temporal body, or doth it speak of the things which are temporal?

32 And it came to pass that I said unto them that it was a representation of things both temporal and spiritual; for the day should come that they must be judged of their works, yea, even the works which were done by the temporal body in their days of probation.

33 Wherefore, if they should die in their wickedness they must be cast off also, as to the things which are spiritual, which are pertaining to righteousness; wherefore, they must be brought to stand before God, to be judged of their works; and if their works have been filthiness they must needs be filthy; and if they be filthy it must needs be that they cannot dwell in the kingdom of God; if so, the kingdom of God must be filthy also.

34 But behold, I say unto you, the kingdom of God is not filthy, and there cannot any unclean thing enter into the kingdom of God; wherefore there must needs be a place of filthiness prepared for that which is filthy. (1 Nephi 15)

The temporal promised land of inheritance for Israel should be kept clean, otherwise God could not dwell there among them. This is a type and a shadow of our eternal inheritance. No unclean thing can enter in there, because then "the kingdom of God must be filthy also". Another example from Alma 40:26

But behold, an awful death cometh upon the wicked; for they die as to things pertaining to things of righteousness; for they are unclean, and no unclean thing can inherit the kingdom of God;

The bolded phrase is recurrent in the scriptures, especially the idea that the kingdom of God is an inheritance, like the promised land was to Israel. But Laman and Lemuel's confusion about the physical and spiritual dimension of this may be the reason for their statement in 1 Nephi 2:11

11 Now this he spake because of the stiffneckedness of Laman and Lemuel; for behold they did murmur in many things against their father, because he was a visionary man, and had led them out of the land of Jerusalem, to leave the land of their inheritance, and their gold, and their silver, and their precious things, to perish in the wilderness. And this they said he had done because of the foolish imaginations of his heart.

1 Nephi 17:21

Behold, these many years we have suffered in the wilderness, which time we might have enjoyed our possessions and the land of our inheritance; yea, and we might have been happy.

Learning about the covenant context of yeresh (possess/inherit), I realize that Laman and Lemuel's lament here is also an appeal to the Abrahamic covenant. Their land of inheritance was according to their tribe, Manasseh, granted as a covenant promise from God. They had gold, silver and other possessions, indicating covenant blessings in the land. So why should they leave it? This seems like a fair argument but they are missing the bigger point that Nephi explains. He launches into a long speech in 1 Nephi 17 after their comment that I will not quote. But the point is that God establishes different lands of promise for the righteous. "he leadeth away the righteous into precious lands, and the wicked he destroyeth" (1 Nephi 17:38). 

This is a common theme in the Book of Mormon. Lehi leaves the land of his inheritance in 1 Nephi 2 and arrives at the promised land, later described by Book of Mormon prophets as the land of their first inheritance. Then history repeats itself. The Nephites become wicked for the most part and Mosiah-I leads a small group out of that land that the Lamanites take over, as prophesied by Jacob

And the time speedily cometh, that except ye repent they shall possess the land of your inheritance, and the Lord God will lead away the righteous out from among you. (Jacob 3:4)

Later, the sons of Mosiah-II go back to "the place of their father's first inheritance" (Alma 22:28) to preach the gospel. They have great success, but their coverts are under serious threat by the wicked and must once again be led out of the land into a new land of inheritance. The Nephites come to the rescue and grant the Lamanite converts the land of Jershon, meaning "place of inheritance/possession" according to rules of Hebrew name formation. The 'Y' in yeresh becomes 'J' according to typical English transliteration of Hebrew, and the suffix, "on", indicates a place. The wordplay is evident

And it came to pass that the voice of the people came, saying: Behold, we will give up the land of Jershon, which is on the east by the sea, which joins the land Bountiful, which is on the south of the land Bountiful; and this land Jershon is the land which we will give unto our brethren for an inheritance...And now behold, this will we do unto our brethren, that they may inherit the land Jershon...And it came to pass that it did cause great joy among them. And they went down into the land of Jershon, and took possession of the land of Jershon (Alma 27:22, 24, 26)

According to Matthew Bowen, the land grants to the Lamanite converts therefore stand as a symbol of the restoration of the Abrahamic covenant and reintegration into the House of Israel. His most recent article in the Interpreter Journal touches upon several of the aspects in these two posts as well as some that I have not addressed.

The Book of Mormon is also full of promises about lands of inheritance in the latter days. For example

7 But behold, thus saith the Lord God: When the day cometh that they shall believe in me, that I am Christ, then have I covenanted with their fathers that they shall be restored in the flesh, upon the earth, unto the lands of their inheritance.

8 And it shall come to pass that they shall be gathered in from their long dispersion, from the isles of the sea, and from the four parts of the earth; and the nations of the Gentiles shall be great in the eyes of me, saith God, in carrying them forth to the lands of their inheritance.

9 Yea, the kings of the Gentiles shall be nursing fathers unto them, and their queens shall become nursing mothers; wherefore, the promises of the Lord are great unto the Gentiles, for he hath spoken it, and who can dispute?

10 But behold, this land, said God, shall be a land of thine inheritance, and the Gentiles shall be blessed upon the land. (2 Nephi 10)

As covenant children of Abraham, we are part of the restoration of the latter days where, according to the Book of Mormon, the righteous inherit their original promised lands, preparing for a time when we may inherit a place at the right hand of God (see Alma 5:58).

Captivity

Captivity is a very central theme in both the Old Testament and the Book of Mormon. Searching for that particular word gives 163 results in those two volumes of scripture combined and 4 results in the rest of the standard works! No wonder, perhaps, considering the captivity in Egypt between Abraham and Moses, when the covenant people of Israel was established, as well as the Babylonian captivity after they had broken the covenant in the promised land. Jeremiah in particular talks about it a lot. He prophesied of the Babylonian captivity but also the later escape and restoration of the Jews.

Lehi was a contemporary with Jeremiah. With the imminent Babylonian captivity as backdrop, there is no wonder that this is an important theme in the Book of Mormon too. Lehi prophecied

That after they should be destroyed, even that great city Jerusalem, and many be carried away captive into Babylon, according to the own due time of the Lord, they should return again, yea, even be brought back out of captivity; and after they should be brought back out of captivity they should possess again the land of their inheritance. (1 Nephi 10:3)

Similar to Jeremiah

And I will be found of you, saith the Lord: and I will turn away your captivity, and I will gather you from all the nations, and from all the places whither I have driven you, saith the Lord; and I will bring you again into the place whence I caused you to be carried away captive. (Jeremiah 29:14)

It is a theme repeated time and again in the Book of Mormon, not only in remembrance of their father Lehi who escaped the Babylonian captivity. Nephi reminds his brothers of the Egyptian captivity and escape

Therefore let us go up; let us be strong like unto Moses; for he truly spake unto the waters of the Red Sea and they divided hither and thither, and our fathers came through, out of captivity, on dry ground, and the armies of Pharaoh did follow and were drowned in the waters of the Red Sea. (1 Nephi 4:2)

The reminder of the Egyptian captivity is repeated in the next chapter (see 1 Nephi 5:15). Eventually, the Nephites get their own captivity and escape narratives to commemorate, for instance the parallel stories of Limhi's people and Alma's people. Remembering this captivity becomes vital and is even commanded by an angel, as previously written in this post.

A peculiar addition to the captivity focus of the Book of Mormon is the Jaredite history with lots of kings living in captivity for much or all of their lives. Perhaps an expression of the Jaredite's failure to comply with the special conditions of the promised land.

Behold, this is a choice land, and whatsoever nation shall possess it shall be free from bondage, and from captivity, and from all other nations under heaven, if they will but serve the God of the land, who is Jesus Christ, who hath been manifested by the things which we have written. (Ether 2:12)

But as mentioned before, the Book of Mormon tends to use physical phenomena and apply them spiritually. The physical captivity of their fathers becomes an analogy of the captivity of the devil. Or perhaps it is even regarded as more or less one and the same. It is interesting to note the transitions between physical and spiritual captivity in the Book of Mormon. For instance, in 2 Nephi 1, Lehi talks to his sons and repeats the promises and conditions that the Lord gave to the Jaredites

Wherefore, this land is consecrated unto him whom he shall bring. And if it so be that they shall serve him according to the commandments which he hath given, it shall be a land of liberty unto them; wherefore, they shall never be brought down into captivity; if so, it shall be because of iniquity; for if iniquity shall abound cursed shall be the land for their sakes, but unto the righteous it shall be blessed forever. (2 Nephi 1:7)

Only a few verses later, he speaks of the captivity of the devil

Or, that a cursing should come upon you for the space of many generations; and ye are visited by sword, and by famine, and are hated, and are led according to the will and captivity of the devil. (2 Nephi 1:18)

It's not even easy to determine whether he talks about physical or spiritual captivity in this verse. Sword and famine are physical and "captivity of the devil" is added in that context. They go hand in hand. The same thing happens again when Lehi speaks to his son, Joseph, only two chapters later

4 For behold, thou art the fruit of my loins; and I am a descendant of Joseph who was carried captive into Egypt. And great were the covenants of the Lord which he made unto Joseph.

5 Wherefore, Joseph truly saw our day. And he obtained a promise of the Lord, that out of the fruit of his loins the Lord God would raise up a righteous branch unto the house of Israel; not the Messiah, but a branch which was to be broken off, nevertheless, to be remembered in the covenants of the Lord that the Messiah should be made manifest unto them in the latter days, in the spirit of power, unto the bringing of them out of darkness unto light—yea, out of hidden darkness and out of captivity unto freedom. (2 Nephi 3)

First a reminder of Joseph's (physical) captivity in Egypt. Then a prophecy of his descendant's escape out of darkness and (spiritual) captivity. 

One final example from Alma:

5 And behold, after that, they were brought into bondage by the hands of the Lamanites in the wilderness; yea, I say unto you, they were in captivity, and again the Lord did deliver them out of bondage by the power of his word; and we were brought into this land, and here we began to establish the church of God throughout this land also.

6 And now behold, I say unto you, my brethren, you that belong to this church, have you sufficiently retained in remembrance the captivity of your fathers? Yea, and have you sufficiently retained in remembrance his mercy and long-suffering towards them? And moreover, have ye sufficiently retained in remembrance that he has delivered their souls from hell? (Alma 5)

God delivered their fathers out of physical captivity and bondage. He also delivered their souls from hell. Whatever type of captivity, God has the power to deliver. This is an important message from Nephite prophets. 

Blood, murder and guilt

The Book of Mormon is a Jewish book. This has become increasingly clear to me as I have studied it in much detail while learning more of ancient Israelite culture and language. I mean "Jewish" in a broad sense, since Lehi was from the tribe of Manassah, but he came from Jerusalem and the inhabitants there at the time are generally referred to as Jews. This is what Nephi does too. 

I have charity for the Jew—I say Jew, because I mean them from whence I came. (2 Nephi 33:8)

This post only gives one example of the Book of Mormon as a Jewish book by which I mean, the Book of Mormon is telling the story of a people with Jewish heritage. There are many other examples here.

There is a Jewish idea (and ancient Near Eastern idea in general) of guilt from homicide associated with blood pollution. For instance, Moses kills an Egyptian and flees to Midian. Upon his return many years later, he is still carrying the guilt and undergoes a ritual that seems rather strange to us in Exodus 4:25-26, involving blood. The NRSV cultural backgrounds study Bible explains:

The idea may be that, even though Moses is free in a legal sense to return, he still carries about on his person a kind of spiritual or religious pollution as a result of the homicide— a pollution that must be purged. In the case of homicide, the pollution is referred to by the Hebrew word dam (“ blood”); the perpetrator has been contaminated by the victim’s blood. This notion of blood contamination turns up in ancient Greece and Mesopotamia as well. An Assyrian text from the mid-600s BC declares that the perpetrator of a homicide must make a payment (what is really a ransom for his own life) to the victim’s family and in so doing “wash the blood away.” A text from Mari (c. 1800 BC) refers to a “criminal who is polluted with that blood (shed in murder).” In ch. 4, Yahweh cannot allow Moses to emerge from his place of asylum unless the contamination is purged.

Notice how Alma 5 is completely aligned with this line of thinking. 

22 And now I ask of you, my brethren, how will any of you feel, if ye shall stand before the bar of God, having your garments stained with blood and all manner of filthiness? Behold, what will these things testify against you?

23 Behold will they not testify that ye are murderers, yea, and also that ye are guilty of all manner of wickedness?

24 Behold, my brethren, do ye suppose that such an one can have a place to sit down in the kingdom of God, with Abraham, with Isaac, and with Jacob, and also all the holy prophets, whose garments are cleansed and are spotless, pure and white? (Alma 5)

I have noticed that the Book of Mormon frequently applies secular Jewish traditions to our relationship with God. I have written about several such examples before. "Cut off from among the people" in the Old Testament becomes "cut off from the Lord's presence" in the Book of Mormon. The tradition of a kinsman-redeemer in the Old Testament is applied to our redemption from sin in the Book of Mormon. Etc. In Alma 5, the idea of blood pollution reflects ancient Jewish culture but also applies on a more spiritual level, in this case judgment day. 

Endowment Narratives in the Book of Mormon, Part 3a -- Finding Meaning in the Symbols

The more I study the scriptures and ponder their meaning, the more I realize how much we underappreciate the significance of the archetypal story of Adam and Eve as presented in the books of Genesis, Moses, and Abraham. I believe the ancient prophets saw themselves as Adam and created intentional parallels in their accounts.

As we continue this series on "endowment patterns" in the Book of Mormon, I hope I'll be able to draw out meaning from our list of twelve recurring details that connect back to Adam and Eve.

For reference, here is the list of details:

1. Commanded/warned (often in a dream or vision) to depart
2. The group they leave are involved in secret combinations or intend to kill them.
3. They seek to bring all who will hearken/listen
4. The new covenant people passes through a wilderness on their journey
5. "Many days"
6. Tents (a symbol of the presence of the Lord)
7. A list of animals (sometimes "of every kind")
8. They inherit a land
9. New names are given (see Genesis 2:20)
10. They obey the commandments of the Lord
11. Abundance/Prosper
12. They are usually led by a righteous patriarch/king/royal family member

I'm planning to take my time going through each of these symbols, so this part will be broken up into multiple sections.

Commanded/warned (often in a dream or vision) to depart

We read about a "deep sleep" that God caused to come upon Adam (see Moses 3:21 and Abraham 5:15). Waking up from that deep sleep is a powerful covenant symbol. Read the following verses from the Book of Mormon with this context in mind (for the sake of not making this post too long, I am only including the key phrases from these passages, but I encourage you to read the full context of each of the following passages to really get the message). I've highlighted references to "awake" in yellow, descriptions of what we are to awake from in aqua, and I've put in bold italics other key terms and phrases.

13 O that ye would awake; awake from a deep sleep, yea, even from the sleep of hell, and shake off the awful chains by which ye are bound, which are the chains which bind the children of men, that they are carried away captive down to the eternal gulf of misery and woe.

14 Awake! and arise from the dust, and hear the words of a trembling parent... (2 Nephi 1)

 

28 Awake, my soul! No longer droop in sin. (2 Nephi 4)

 

9 Awake, awake! Put on strength, O arm of the Lord; awake as in the ancient days. (2 Nephi 8 quoting Isaiah 51; see also verses 17 & 24, 3 Nephi 20:36, and Moroni 10:31)

 

11 O my brethren, hearken unto my words; arouse the faculties of your souls; shake yourselves that ye may awake from the slumber of death; and loose yourselves from the pains of hell that ye may not become angels to the devil, to be cast into that lake of fire and brimstone which is the second death. (Jacob 3)

 

40 ... I pray that ye should awake to a remembrance of the awful situation of those that have fallen into transgression. (Mosiah 2)

 

2 And the things which I shall tell you are made known unto me by an angel from God. And he said unto me: Awake; and I awoke, and behold he stood before me.

3 And he said unto me: Awake, and hear the words which I shall tell thee; for behold, I am come to declare unto you the glad tidings of great joy. (Mosiah 3)

 

7 Behold, he changed their hearts; yea, he awakened them out of a deep sleep, and they awoke unto God. Behold, they were in the midst of darkness; nevertheless, their souls were illuminated by the light of the everlasting word; yea, they were encircled about by the bands of death, and the chains of hell, and an everlasting destruction did await them. (Alma 5)

 

27 But behold, if ye will awake and arouse your faculties, even to an experiment upon my words ... (Alma 32)

I love this "awake from a deep sleep" symbolism. Jeff Lindsay has explored the connection between dust and chains in a series of Interpreter articles which center on the hypothesis that the Book of Moses contains source text known to authors of the Book of Mormon (part 1 here). If this topic interests you, I encourage you to read more about it. It isn't hard to find this same symbolism in our modern temple worship. The endowment is a literal gift from God, and one of the first steps in truly appreciating how sacred and important this gift is involves a spiritual awakening.

The group they leave are involved in secret combinations or intend to kill them.

My appreciation for this symbol increased as I came to understand the connection between secret combinations and the story of Cain. (See here for a detailed explanation.) Once I understood that secret combinations are Satan's mimic of the sacred covenant between God and Adam, a whole lot of seemingly random details suddenly fell into a beautiful pattern.

God's everlasting covenant offers us power and eternal "gain" as long as we are willing to follow God's way and rely upon Jesus Christ as our source of strength.  Satan offers a counterfeit to this, but it's a trap which leads to bondage and spiritual death.

Moroni, writing directly to his latter-day Gentile readers, offer us this warning, where he gives us explicit warnings about leaving these evil ways behind. I'll put in bold the descriptions of the secret combinations, and also highlight one use of "awake" as well in this passage.  References to Cain will be in orange (with verses inserted for your convenience):

23 Wherefore, O ye Gentiles, it is wisdom in God that these things should be shown unto you, that thereby ye may repent of your sins, and suffer not that these murderous combinations shall get above you, which are built up to get power and gain—and the work, yea, even the work of destruction come upon you, yea, even the sword of the justice of the Eternal God shall fall upon you, to your overthrow and destruction if ye shall suffer these things to be.

24 Wherefore, the Lord commandeth you, when ye shall see these things come among you that ye shall awake to a sense of your awful situation, because of this secret combination which shall be among you; or wo be unto it, because of the blood of them who have been slain; for they cry from the dust for vengeance upon it (Genesis 4:10), and also upon those who built it up.

25 For it cometh to pass that whoso buildeth it up seeketh to overthrow the freedom of all lands, nations, and countries; and it bringeth to pass the destruction of all people, for it is built up by the devil, who is the father of all lies; even that same liar who beguiled our first parents, yea, even that same liar who hath caused man to commit murder from the beginning; who hath hardened the hearts of men that they have murdered the prophets, and stoned them, and cast them out from the beginning.

26 Wherefore, I, Moroni, am commanded to write these things that evil may be done away, and that the time may come that Satan may have no power upon the hearts of the children of men, but that they may be persuaded to do good continually, that they may come unto the fountain of all righteousness and be saved. (Ether 8)

One major early hurdle we must clear as we seek to fully accept the endowment God desires to give us is to leave Satan and his evil, destructive ways behind.  We must cast him out the same way Jesus cast out unclean spirits. This is accomplished by seeing Satan's tactics for what they are and replacing his ways with God's ways (the Gospel of Jesus Christ).

In the stories I outlined in parts 1 and 2 of this series, the new covenant people must leave behind a fallen situation in which some evil people seek their death (or captivity). There is deep symbolic power in striving to identify and leave behind the elements of our current situation which keeps us bound down and subjected to Satan's power.  

They seek to bring all who will hearken/listen

The Book of Moses makes it clear that Adam and Eve taught what they had learned from God to their children.

12 And Adam and Eve blessed the name of God, and they made all things known unto their sons and their daughters. (Moses 5)

1 And Adam hearkened unto the voice of God, and called upon his sons to repent. (Moses 6) 

This was done in order to keep a commandment from God:

58 And thus the Gospel began to be preached, from the beginning, being declared by holy angels sent forth from the presence of God, and by his own voice, and by the gift of the Holy Ghost.

59 And thus all things were confirmed unto Adam, by an holy ordinance, and the Gospel preached, and a decree sent forth, that it should be in the world, until the end thereof; and thus it was. Amen. (Moses 5)

As I noted in the examples in parts 1 and 2, bringing everyone who will "hearken" is an important component of the formation of a new covenant people.

That's it for this post.  In the next post (part 3b), we'll continue to find connections between the details in the endowment pattern and the story of Adam and Eve.