The fringe on the vestment and the corners of the field.

This is a short note tying a few Old Testament ideas together.  Credit to Jonathan Pageau for pointing out that two important commandments deal with edges/fringes/corners. 

• The fringe on the vestment (see Numbers 15:38-39)
• The corners of the fields are to be left unharvested (see Leviticus 19:9 and 23:22)

'Fringe' comes from the Hebrew 'kanaph' which is the subject of a multi-part series by Stisa beginning here. 'Corners' comes from the Hebrew 'peah' which comes from a related word ('paah') meaning to cut in pieces.

Notice how beautifully these two concepts are brought together in the story of Ruth. Ruth is a Moabite -- a foreigner -- who desires to stay with her mother in law Naomi following the death of her husband.  They are destitute. Ruth gleans the fields of Boaz and gains favor in his eyes (see Ruth 2:2-3). She later seeks his direct protection by making a reference to his skirt:

9 And he said, Who art thou? And she answered, I am Ruth thine handmaid: spread therefore thy skirt over thine handmaid; for thou art a near kinsman. (Ruth 3)

I've noticed how carefully the Old Testament establishes a way to care for the poor and foreigners. Ruth marries Boaz and through her we get King David. One lesson we can take from this is that God cares about the edges, the margins (including the marginalized), and He can bring about great and important things from the humble seekers, even if they begin their journey outside the bounds of His protection.

The Old Testament is filled with symbolic language showing how God will gather His people and lead them from wilderness to garden.  The gleaning at the edges of the field is a symbol of the gathering, and the crossing of a boundary (between profane and holy) is a symbol of the fringe of the garment.  It turns out these two seemingly disparate symbols fit together quite nicely. 

I'll close this post with a few verses which capture the beauty of this covenant symbol:

7 How excellent is thy lovingkindness, O God! therefore the children of men put their trust under the shadow of thy wings. (Psalm 36)

 

2 From the end of the earth will I cry unto thee, when my heart is overwhelmed: lead me to the rock that is higher than I.

3 For thou hast been a shelter for me, and a strong tower from the enemy.

4 I will abide in thy tabernacle for ever: I will trust in the covert of thy wings. (Psalm 61)

 

10 He found him in a desert land, and in the waste howling wilderness; he led him about, he instructed him, he kept him as the apple of his eye.

11 As an eagle stirreth up her nest, fluttereth over her young, spreadeth abroad her wings, taketh them, beareth them on her wings: (Deuteronomy 32)

Land of our inheritance -- Part 1

Reading the Bible cover to cover during 2022, I have just finished the five Books of Moses or the Torah as the Jews would say. Torah means instruction and it is a fitting name. Reading these books also makes it very clear that the instructions are given in a covenant setting. The language often resembles other Near Eastern treaties that have survived to this day. Covenants were an integral part of society. On this blog we have identified and discussed several covenant terms. "Land of our/his/her/their inheritance" is another one of those. The Hebrew words, yeresh and yereshah mean to inherit/possess and possession, respectively. It is very likely that the name, Jershon in the Book of Alma is derived from this root, with the suffix -on denoting a place name according to Ricks and Tvedtnes. I will get back to that.

The first use of this Hebrew word in the Bible is in Genesis 15 where the Abrahamic covenant is established. Interestingly, the word yeresh (inherit/possess) is used both about his promised heir (as in "son") and the land that he is granted as inheritance for his posterity, two "yeresh" aspects of the same covenant. Later, the terms is used very frequently during the Exodus and upon entering into the promised land. This is the fulfillment of the promise given to their father, Abraham. The land promised as their inheritance by covenant is not just any land. It is:

• A land "flowing with milk and honey". This was language that would invoke the image of a prosperous land. (See e.g. Exodus 20:6, Leviticus 20:24, Deuteronomy 26:9)
• A land of rest. The Hebrew word, nuach, that we have written about on this blog extensively, is often used to describe the promised land. (See e.g. Numbers 10:33, Deuteronomy 3:20, Deuteronomy 28:64-65, Joshua 1:13)
• A land where they have to sanctify themselves to enter into and that they are obliged to keep undefiled. Most of Deuteronomy is Moses' sermon to the Israelites with covenant conditions and instructions before they enter into the promised land. The expression "purge the evil from your midst/Israel" is used 10 times in that sermon (e.g. in Deuteronomy 13:5, 17:7, 19:19)

I will not go into the details of each bullet point, but make a note on the second before focusing on the third. One of the scriptures listed in the second bullet point differs a bit from the others that describe the promised land as a place of rest for Israel. Deuteronomy 28:64-65 contrasts that with the unrest that Israel will experience when they break the covenant and are scattered among other nations. By the way, Lord Wilmore just posted about another prophecy of the scattering of Israel in Deuteronomy. 

64 And the Lord shall scatter thee among all people, from the one end of the earth even unto the other; and there thou shalt serve other gods, which neither thou nor thy fathers have known, even wood and stone.

65 And among these nations shalt thou find no ease, neither shall the sole of thy foot have rest: but the Lord shall give thee there a trembling heart, and failing of eyes, and sorrow of mind (Deuteronomy 28)

You can only find rest when worshiping Yahweh in the promised land, and not by worshiping idols among other nations. The phrasing is a bit different in English, but in Hebrew the bold part "rest for the sole of your foot" is exactly the same as in Genesis 8:9 where Noah sent out the dove. The wording is so specific that I wonder if this parallel is intentional. Perhaps the intention would be to compare the worship of idols in foreign lands with the chaos that water represents that gives no rest as long as it covers the earth. Separating water from land is the creation motif that we find in Exodus as they set out on the journey to the promised land crossing the red sea and again in Joshua when they cross the river Jordan to enter into the promised land of rest.

Regarding the third bullet point, when reading about the tabernacle in Exodus, Leviticus and Numbers, I notice what can almost be characterized as an obsession with creating and preserving sacred space. The same seems to be the case for the promised land in Deuteronomy with the repeated admonition to purge the evil from their midst, and make absolutely sure to not defile the promised land by breaking the commandments. The promised land acts as a giant tabernacle of sorts, a pure, undefiled place of rest, where God dwells, even though God cannot find complete rest there until the temple is built. The need to purge the land from evil leads to drastic measures. This was meant to show the Israelites that 

this is no trifling matter for you, but rather your very life (Deuteronomy 32:47, NRSV translation)

As a result, the imagery and language may seem a bit over the top to the modern Westerner, like this passage in Deuteronomy 13, explaining what to do if the people of a city start worshiping idols:

15 you shall put the inhabitants of that town to the sword, utterly destroying it and everything in it— even putting its livestock to the sword. 16 All of its spoil you shall gather into its public square; then burn the town and all its spoil with fire, as a whole burnt offering to the LORD your God. It shall remain a perpetual ruin, never to be rebuilt. 17 Do not let anything devoted to destruction stick to your hand, so that the LORD may turn from his fierce anger and show you compassion, and in his compassion multiply you, as he swore to your ancestors (Deuteronomy 13, NRSV translation)

I still find it very interesting, though. The defiled city in the promised land shall be burnt as a burnt offering to the Lord, as would usually be done in the tabernacle. Like the priests in the tabernacle, who literally could not touch anything unclean (like a corpse), the people in the promised land should not let anything devoted to destruction stick to their hand. Here is another scripture drawing parallels between the promised land and the tabernacle.

33 So ye shall not pollute the land wherein ye are: for blood it defileth the land: and the land cannot be cleansed of the blood that is shed therein, but by the blood of him that shed it.

34 Defile not therefore the land which ye shall inhabit, wherein I dwell: for I the Lord dwell among the children of Israel. (Numbers 35)

This is getting too long for one post, so I will get to the Book of Mormon and more about the Hebrew yeresh in the next part. But to briefly summarize this part, the land of inheritance has a covenant connotation in the scriptures. It is a land of (covenant) promise and must be kept pure and undefiled, reserved for a nation who is holy as God is.

Adam and Eve in the scriptures, part 2

In the last post, I focused on the number of times Adam and Eve are mentioned in each book of scripture.  I learned a few surprising things from that part of the study.  The next step was to take a qualitative look at each reference and compare how doctrine in connected to Adam and Eve.  In this regard, the Book of Mormon really stands out. First we'll look at references to Adam and Eve in each of the other books. This part will include the Bible and the Doctrine & Covenants and part three will include the Book of Abraham, Book of Moses, and Book of Mormon. I'll highlight the references which connect to doctrine, light yellow if it touches a little on core gospel doctrine, and a deeper yellow if it connects deeply with core doctrine.

The Old Testament

As discussed in part 1, 18 of the 21 references to Adam and Eve in the entire Old Testament happen in Genesis 1-5.  These occur as part of the narrative account -- there is no real discussion of doctrine, just a telling of the events that transpired.

The rest of the OT only contains 3 other references to Adam the person (there is one reference to a city called Adam in Joshua 3 which I excluded from this study):

1. Deuteronomy 32:8 -- "When the most High divided to the nations their inheritance, when he separated the sons of Adam, he set the bounds of the people according to the number of the children of Israel." (This is an oblique reference to Adam as the father of the human family.)
2. 1 Chronicles 1:1 -- "Adam, Sheth, Enosh," (This is the beginning of a genealogy.)
3. Job 31:33 -- "If I covered my transgressions as Adam, by hiding mine iniquity in my bosom:" (This is a reference to an event in the Garden of Eden.)

That's it for the entire Old Testament.  I don't see much, if any, deeper doctrine connected with these references.

New Testament

The New Testament contains a few references to Adam and Eve and includes some doctrine:

1. Luke 3:38 -- "Which was the son of Enos, which was the son of Seth, which was the son of Adam, which was the son of God." (Part of a genealogy.)
2. Romans 5:14 -- "Nevertheless death reigned from Adam to Moses, even over them that had not sinned after the similitude of Adam’s transgression, who is the figure of him that was to come." (These two mentions of Adam come in a doctrinal discussion about sin and death.)
3. 1 Corinthians 15:22 -- "For as in Adam all die, even so in Christ shall all be made alive." (This is a well-known verse in a doctrinal treatise on sin and atonement.)
4. 1 Timothy 2:13-14 -- "For Adam was first formed, then Eve. And Adam was not deceived, but the woman being deceived was in the transgression." (This set of references includes references to events in the Garden as well as some doctrinal discussion about the roles of men and women.)
5. Jude 1:14 -- "And Enoch also, the seventh from Adam, prophesied of these, saying, Behold, the Lord cometh with ten thousands of his saints," (This reference to Adam is only in passing.)

Doctrine & Covenants

For the sake of post length, I'm going to summarize the 31 references found in the Doctrine & Covenants a little more generally:

• Section 27: Connects Adam/Michael/Ancient of days.
• Section 29: "all things unto me are spiritual" / Satan rebelled before Adam and sought God's honor / Adam became subject to the will of the devil by partaking of the fruit / God gave Adam the gospel of repentance
• Section 78: Adam-ondi-Ahman
• Section 84: Abel received the priesthood "by the hand of his father Adam"
• Section 107: The history of the order of the priesthood / a description of the great priesthood meeting held prior to Adam's death
• Section 116: Identifying Adam-ondi-Ahman
• Section 117: Adam-ondi-Ahman
• Section 128: Keys of the priesthood
• Section 136: A promise that we shall behold God's glory if we are faithful in keeping all His words.
• Section 137: A vision of Adam in the celestial kingdom
• Section 138: Adam and Eve standing in the "vast congregation of the righteous" in the post-mortal spirit world

Conclusion

We're building to something here.  Notice how the Old Testament is essentially devoid of deeper doctrine connected to Adam and Eve.  The New Testament fares a little better. The Doctrine and Covenants does quite well in this regard.  In the next post, we'll see how the last three Books included in this investigation compare.