"...in time to come, you will return to the LORD your God and heed him."

26 I call heaven and earth to witness against you this day, that ye shall soon utterly perish from off the land whereunto ye go over Jordan to possess it; ye shall not prolong your days upon it, but shall utterly be destroyed.

27 And the Lord shall scatter you among the nations, and ye shall be left few in number among the heathen, whither the Lord shall lead you.

28 And there ye shall serve gods, the work of men’s hands, wood and stone, which neither see, nor hear, nor eat, nor smell.

29 But if from thence thou shalt seek the Lord thy God, thou shalt find him, if thou seek him with all thy heart and with all thy soul.

30 When thou art in tribulation, and all these things are come upon thee, even in the latter days, if thou turn to the Lord thy God, and shalt be obedient unto his voice;

31 (For the Lord thy God is a merciful God;) he will not forsake thee, neither destroy thee, nor forget the covenant of thy fathers which he sware unto them. (Deuteronomy 4)

It's exciting to find prophecies about the "latter days" in the Old Testament like the one above.  In a speech to the Israelites near the end of his life, Moses prophesies of the scattering of Israel followed by a period of serving false gods, and finally culminating in a gathering in through obedience. The title of the post comes from the NRSV translation of verse 30.

It strikes me how similar this voice of prophecy and warning is compared to the vision given to Nephi about the fate of his seed, which was given to him after his family left Jerusalem. I'll have more to say about that below.

Notice the promise underpinning the entire arc of Israelite history: God will not forget the covenant made to their fathers.

This is also a major theme of the Book of Mormon. For example, we see similar themes in 1 Nephi 22:

3 Wherefore, the things of which I have read are things pertaining to things both temporal and spiritual; for it appears that the house of Israel, sooner or later, will be scattered upon all the face of the earth, and also among all nations. ...

8 And after our seed is scattered the Lord God will proceed to do a marvelous work among the Gentiles, which shall be of great worth unto our seed; wherefore, it is likened unto their being nourished by the Gentiles and being carried in their arms and upon their shoulders.

9 And it shall also be of worth unto the Gentiles; and not only unto the Gentiles but unto all the house of Israel, unto the making known of the covenants of the Father of heaven unto Abraham, saying: In thy seed shall all the kindreds of the earth be blessed.

10 And I would, my brethren, that ye should know that all the kindreds of the earth cannot be blessed unless he shall make bare his arm in the eyes of the nations.

11 Wherefore, the Lord God will proceed to make bare his arm in the eyes of all the nations, in bringing about his covenants and his gospel unto those who are of the house of Israel.

12 Wherefore, he will bring them again out of captivity, and they shall be gathered together to the lands of their inheritance; and they shall be brought out of obscurity and out of darkness; and they shall know that the Lord is their Savior and their Redeemer, the Mighty One of Israel. (1 Nephi 22)

Comparison to Nephi

I can't help but see a parallel between Moses and Nephi.  It strikes me as odd that Moses would predict a scattering during this momentous occasion shortly before Israel occupies the promised land, but that's exactly what he does. Similarly, just after his family departs from Jerusalem, Nephi sees in vision that his seed will eventually be overcome by wickedness and will be overtaken by the seed of his brethren (see 1 Nephi 12:14-23).

In another parallel to Moses, Nephi also sees that in the latter days, this mighty work would bring about a grand gathering of Israel and would bring redemption to the house of Israel:

2 And harden not their hearts against the Lamb of God, they shall be numbered among the seed of thy father; yea, they shall be numbered among the house of Israel; and they shall be a blessed people upon the promised land forever; they shall be no more brought down into captivity; and the house of Israel shall no more be confounded. (1 Nephi 14).

In the midst -- Part 1

This has been mentioned several times on the blog before, but for the benefit of new readers and because many do not know about this ancient Israelite tradition (I didn't until quite recently), I will repeat some things about covenant making. At a time and in a culture where literacy was rare, covenants were not signed at the bottom of a piece of paper. In the Hebrew language, you literally cut a covenant. That does not make sense in English and is therefore translated differently. But it is found frequently in the Old Testament. This reflects the (somewhat grotesque to the modern Westeners) practice of cutting animals in half and walking through the carcasses. This act is the signature and a declaration that the covenant is taken very seriously. ("Let me be cut in half like these animals if I break the covenant").

This happens in Genesis 15:10 when God makes a covenant with Abraham. But in this case, Abraham falls asleep after he has cut the animals and God himself, in the form of a burning lamp, walks through the carcasses (see Genesis 15:17-18). God is the active part in the Abrahamic covenant giving all the promises. Back to verse 10, we read

And he took unto him all these, and divided them in the midst, and laid each piece one against another: but the birds divided he not.

"In the midst" in the Old Testament

I happened to look up the word, "midst", and how it is being used in the scriptures. This is the Hebrew word, תָּוֶךְ (tavek). It comes from an unused root meaning "to sever", which makes it hard for me not to see the covenant relations of this word. It is sometimes used in a literal sense in the scriptures, but quite frequently, it seems to be used in a more spiritual sense. For instance, 1 Kings 6:19 describes King Solomon preparing the "inner sanctuary inside the temple". But the "inside" in this case is translated from the Hebrew tavek, even though we know that the holy of holies was not physically in the middle of the temple. Rather, it was the focal point, the most holy place, the center of attention, the heart of the covenant, so to speak.

Similarly, we find this word constantly popping up in the Old Testament in relation to important covenant themes.

• In the creation account, God made a firmament in the midst (tavek) of the waters to separate the waters of heaven and earth (Genesis 1:6)
• In the Garden of Eden, God planted the two trees in the midst (tevek) of the garden (Genesis 2:9 and 3:3).
• God talked to Moses out of the midst (tavek) of the burning bush (Exodus 3:2, 4) and again from the midst of the cloud on Mount Sinai (Exodus 24:16). The covenant theme is especially evident when the events are recounted in Deuteronomy 4:12-13

12 And the Lord spake unto you out of the midst [Hebr. tavek] of the fire: ye heard the voice of the words, but saw no similitude; only ye heard a voice.

13 And he declared unto you his covenant, which he commanded you to perform, even ten commandments; and he wrote them upon two tables of stone.

• In an act similar to the creation in Genesis 1:6, Moses parts the Red Sea and the Israelites walk in the midst (tavek) of the sea followed by the Egyptians (repeated over and over in Exodus 14:16, 22, 23, 27, 29, 15:19)
• In Exodus 25:8, the Lord instructs Israel to build a tabernacle

And let them make me a sanctuary; that I may dwell among (Hebr. tavek) them. (A more literal translation would be "dwell in their midst")

• According to Psalm 116:19, Solomon's temple was also in the midst of Jerusalem. Again, whether it was physically in the middle of Jerusalem is probably not the main point here.

Ancient Israel had the tabernacle and temple in their midst. It was God's dwelling place and represented his presence. In other words, God, the author of the covenant, was in the midst of Israel, just like he walked in the midst of the carcasses that Abraham had prepared. This is also expressed repeatedly in the Old Testament. Here is one example:

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

"In the midst" in the Book of Mormon

Not surprisingly, we see a similar pattern in the Book of Mormon. I noticed in particular how Jesus is repeatedly described as being in the midst of the people in 3 Nephi. 3 Nephi is the heart of the covenant, the new covenant that Jesus brought to the Nephites. Consider these examples:

And it came to pass, as they understood they cast their eyes up again towards heaven; and behold, they saw a Man descending out of heaven; and he was clothed in a white robe; and he came down and stood in the midst of them; and the eyes of the whole multitude were turned upon him, and they durst not open their mouths, even one to another, and wist not what it meant, for they thought it was an angel that had appeared unto them. (3 Nephi 11:8)

12 So they brought their little children and set them down upon the ground round about him, and Jesus stood in the midst; and the multitude gave way till they had all been brought unto him.
13 And it came to pass that when they had all been brought, and Jesus stood in the midst, he commanded the multitude that they should kneel down upon the ground. (3 Nephi 17)

And it came to pass that while the angels were ministering unto the disciples, behold, Jesus came and stood in the midst and ministered unto them. (3 Nephi 19:15)

And Jesus again showed himself unto them, for they were praying unto the Father in his name; and Jesus came and stood in the midst of them, and said unto them: What will ye that I shall give unto you? (3 Nephi 27:2)

Just like ancient Israel had God in their midst, a branch of Israel in the Americas now had the resurrected Jesus in their midst.

There are many other examples of God/Jesus being in the midst. So many, in fact, that I will save them for my next post. But I want to end with a different example related to Lord Wilmore's recent posts about Nephi-II, Moses and Elijah. He made a point of the division "hither and thither" in this verse, echoing the parting of the sea by Moses and Elijah.

And it came to pass that there arose a division among the people, insomuch that they divided hither and thither and went their ways, leaving Nephi alone, as he was standing in the midst of them. (3 Nephi 10:1)

See his comments here under the subheading, "creation by division". "The midst" shows up again, echoing the creation and Moses parting the Red Sea, among other things. When the two-edged sword divides, that sword, often symbolizing the word of God, is in the middle of whatever it divides. In this case, Nephi as the conveyor of the word, played that role. God/the Word/the covenant in the midst can have this divisive effect. But hopefully, like the Nephites in 3 Nephi, we can all let Jesus take the center stage of our lives without causing division.

In part 2 we will see how this symbol is used in the uniting of heaven and earth.

A note about "Prolonging" and "Lengthening cords"

Along the same lines as my previous post here regarding swelling hearts and expanding Zion's borders, I've been studying the Hebrew root 'arak,' which refers to lengthening something.

arak: to be long --  אָרַךְ -- continue (1), delay (1), endure* (1), endures (1), lengthen (3), lengthened (1), lingered (2), live (2), long (5), long* (3), makes him slow (1), prolong (8), prolonged (4), prolongs (1), stick (1), survived* (2).

We'll look at two common uses of this root in the Old Testament and the Book of Mormon.

"Lengthen thy cords"

Christ quotes Isaiah's use of this root in a covenant context, prophesying of the latter-day restoration of the covenant:

2 Enlarge the place of thy tent, and let them stretch forth the curtains of thy habitations; spare not, lengthen thy cords and strengthen thy stakes; (3 Nephi 22)

This wording fits in well with the idea of Zion enlarging when covenants are kept, as well and Zion as an enclosed garden.

Contrasting covenant theme related to cords

It should be noted that cords are occasionally mentioned in the context of Satan binding those who reject their covenants. (See 2 Nephi 26:22.) As is often the case, covenant symbols have positive and negative connotations.

"Prolong thy days"

In the Old Testament, this root is used in a covenant context, for example:

40 Thou shalt keep therefore his statutes, and his commandments, which I command thee this day, that it may go well with thee, and with thy children after thee, and that thou mayest prolong thy days upon the earth, which the Lord thy God giveth thee, for ever. (Deuteronomy 4)

Isaiah makes use of this root to speak of the results of Christ's suffering:

Yet it was the will of the Lord to crush him with pain.
When you make his life an offering for sin,
he shall see his offspring, and shall prolong his days;
through him the will of the Lord shall prosper. (Isaiah 53, NRSV)

This passage is part of Abinadi's sermon to the wicked priests of King Noah, found in Mosiah 14.

Notice how Alma uses this same wording in his masterful sermon in Ammonihah, in a passage filled with other covenant symbols. He is specifically warning the wicked Nephites that their violation of their covenant is more severe (and will therefore be treated more harshly by the Lord) than the Lamanites' wickedness:

16 For there are many promises which are extended to the Lamanites; for it is because of the traditions of their fathers that caused them to remain in their state of ignorance; therefore the Lord will be merciful unto them and prolong their existence in the land.
17 And at some period of time they will be brought to believe in his word, and to know of the incorrectness of the traditions of their fathers; and many of them will be saved, for the Lord will be merciful unto all who call on his name.
18 But behold, I say unto you that if ye persist in your wickedness that your days shall not be prolonged in the land, for the Lamanites shall be sent upon you; and if ye repent not they shall come in a time when you know not, and ye shall be visited with utter destruction; and it shall be according to the fierce anger of the Lord. (Alma 9)

Notice Lehi's teaching about Adam and Eve. Is it possible he is making reference to the fact that they were taught about covenants upon their expulsion from the Garden of Eden?

21 And the days of the children of men were prolonged, according to the will of God, that they might repent while in the flesh; wherefore, their state became a state of probation, and their time was lengthened, according to the commandments which the Lord God gave unto the children of men... (2 Nephi 2)

Connections to Zenos and the restoration of the Lamanites?

Samuel uses similar language when talking about promises made to the Lamanites:

4 But behold my brethren, the Lamanites hath he hated because their deeds have been evil continually, and this because of the iniquity of the tradition of their fathers. But behold, salvation hath come unto them through the preaching of the Nephites; and for this intent hath the Lord prolonged their days. ...
10 And now, because of their steadfastness when they do believe in that thing which they do believe, for because of their firmness when they are once enlightened, behold, the Lord shall bless them and prolong their days, notwithstanding their iniquity—
11 Yea, even if they should dwindle in unbelief the Lord shall prolong their days, until the time shall come which hath been spoken of by our fathers, and also by the prophet Zenos, and many other prophets, concerning the restoration of our brethren, the Lamanites, again to the knowledge of the truth. (Helaman 15)

Notice that mention of "Zenos, and many other prophets, concerning the restoration of our brethren." I have some ideas about what Samuel is referring to, which I will save for my next post.