Noah, the ark, and "rest" -- part 4 ('Tevah' and 'the word')

This post continues a series of posts connecting Noah, his ark, Enoch, his city, and the "rest" we find as we enter into the everlasting covenant.

In this post, I'll lay out the case connecting Noah's ark to 'the word' of God, which is an expansive concept Stisa and I have both discussed many times (see here, here and here for some examples).  In that first link, written in February 2020, I said the following:

I believe ... that we can greatly benefit by seeing the rod as an implement of gathering in the hands of a divine messenger. It is more than just printed words on a page, it is divinely inspired messages, the voice of the Spirit, and invitations to follow the Savior.

A rod is a very apt metaphor for the word of God, a tool used by shepherds to direct their flock. How we choose to respond to the portion of the word we receive is what will ultimately determine our destiny.

In that same post, I outlined how Nephi connects "the word" with the power to save (particularly power over the waters) and do "great work" on the earth. (See 1 Nephi 17:26.)

My recent studies on the topics of Noah and 'entering into His rest' have repeatedly led me back to the concept of the word.  I'll attempt to illustrate how intimately connected these concepts are in this post.

Let's take a closer look at the two Old Testament stories in which the Hebrew word 'tevah' is used: the story of Noah and the story of infant Moses.

• In both cases, a group of people faces death by drowning: all humanity in the case of Noah (see Genesis 6:7) and all male sons of Hebrew women in the story of Moses (see Exodus 1:22). 
• Both vessels were covered in pitch (Genesis 6:14 and Exodus 2:3). 
• In both cases, only a single family or individual is saved from the waters.

These specific parallels to tell me that a deeper message connecting these two stories can be found here. So imagine my surprise when I learned that the Hebrew word 'tevah' -- only used to describe these two life-saving vessels -- can also mean 'the word' of God! The connection is very old, so old that two main branches of Judaism and the Ethiopian Christian church use the word in a similar context yet in different ways:

Post-biblically, however, the use of tevah to signify the ark in the synagogue is old, going back to early rabbinic times, in which the word also meant “box.” (As it does today in such contemporary words as tevat-do’ar, or “mailbox.”) We know this not only from the Talmud, but also from the more exotic evidence of Ge’ez, the ancient sacred language of the Ethiopian Christian church, in which tabot means “holy ark,” too. This usage has, according to the scholars, no indigenous Ge’ez derivation and must have entered Ge’ez in the early centuries C.E. from a Hebraic source. (The old legend that the original Ark of the Covenant was taken to Ethiopia after the destruction of the Temple may be related to this.) ... The word teva does designate the pulpit in Sephardic synagogues, i.e., the table or stand on the bima or platform from which prayers are recited and the Torah is read. The ark, on the other hand, is called by Sephardic Jews the hehal (pronounced “HEY-khal”), from the Hebrew heykhal, “temple.” (source)

It's very intriguing to realize that 'tevah' can refer to the pulpit in a Sephardic synagogue or the box in which the Torah scrolls are kept in an Ashkenazi synagogue. A variant of the same word refers to a replica of either the Ark of the Covenant or the Tablets of Law (ten commandments) in the Ethiopian Church. (Not to mention that Sephardic Jews refer to the ark using the Hebrew word for temple.)

This is particularly interesting because in the Old Testament the Ark of the Covenant is not referred to using the word 'tevah.' Rather, 'aron' is used.  But the fact that three very old Judeo-Christian religions substituted a form of 'tevah' to refer to 'the word' is quite telling. 

In light of all of this, it seems that one deeper message we can take from both stories is this: 'the word' can save us from death if we "enter into" it. On that, it seems there is general consensus.  This begs this question, though: How do we enter into God's word? The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints is uniquely positioned to offer a deep answer to that question, which has to do with Christ, covenants, baptism, temples, and latter-day revelation.

Parallels to Christ

I believe the symbolism embedded in the story of Noah is intended to point our minds to Christ's atonement, which is the ultimate means by which we can obtain everlasting life. Just as Noah entered the ark after hearkening to God's command to build it, each of us must build an ark of sorts from the word of God in our own lives and enter into it by trusting God to lead us and guide us through the chaos of mortality in safety. Recall that the ark had no sail and no oars.

Christ is the Word, who was with God and was God from the beginning. Those who receive Him obtain power from Him "to become the sons of God" by becoming "born ... of God." (See John 1:1-2, 12-13.)

I like the connection between baptism and the story of Noah. When we are baptized, we lay down the old creature into the water and allow a "new creature" to arise. (See Mosiah 27:25-26.) 

This new creature rejoices and diligently serves God for the rest of his or her time on earth. As discussed in this post, we do not serve Him to somehow earn eternal life. As I stated in that post:

...our good works are not performed in an effort to be saved. They are not the cause of salvation, they are an effect of it! These good works spontaneously appear when we truly recognize by what power we are saved.

The new creatures are the sons and daughters of God (Mosiah 27:25). His children perform good works such as baptism "as a testimony that ye have entered into a covenant to serve him until you are dead as to the mortal body; and may the Spirit of the Lord be poured out upon you; and may he grant unto you eternal life, through the redemption of Christ, whom he has prepared from the foundation of the world." (Mosiah 18:13)

There isn't a set number of "good works" we must perform in order to qualify for salvation.  Rather, we must use our agency to bring about a "mighty change in [our] hearts" (Alma 5:13-14), after which good works flow naturally from us like pure water from a fountain.

Baptism as the gate by which we "enter in"

The connections to Noah and baptism go a little bit deeper, too. 

• Noah "enter[ed] into the ark" (Genesis 7:13) prior to the flood. 
• Baptism is the "gate by which [we] should enter" in order to "receive." (See 2 Nephi 31:9, 17-18.) 
• This is the beginning of the process by which we become "peaceable followers of Christ" who "have obtained a sufficient hope by which ye can enter into the rest of the Lord, from this time henceforth until ye shall rest with him in heaven." (Moroni 7:3)

Alma masterfully connects the covenant and "entering into His rest" in Alma 12-13. We've touched on this a little already in this series and we'll come back to it as we contrast God's "wrath" and His rest in the next two parts of this series.

I'll give Alma-2 the last word:

37 And now, my brethren, seeing we know these things, and they are true, let us repent, and harden not our hearts, that we provoke not the Lord our God to pull down his wrath upon us in these his second commandments which he has given unto us; but let us enter into the rest of God, which is prepared according to his word. (Alma 12)

The Abrahamic and Mosaic covenants in the Book of Mormon -- Part 2

The first part was an introduction to the topic. In this part I will focus on the Abrahamic covenant and how it is used in the Book of Mormon. As explained in part 1, the term "the God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob" is used to specifically refer to this covenant and the God who gave these promises to Abraham and his posterity.

It is interesting to see how this evolves. In Genesis 17:1, God says to Abraham

I am the Almighty God

In Genesis 26:24, God says to Isaac: 

I am the God of Abraham

In Genesis 28:13, God says to Jacob

I am the Lord God of Abraham thy father, and the God of Isaac

In Exodus 3:6, God says to Moses

I am the God of thy father, the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob

From then on we see "the God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob" repeated numerous times. Moses lived hundreds of years after Abraham. But this is where God started to fulfill his promises.

the children of Israel were fruitful, and increased abundantly, and multiplied, and waxed exceeding mighty (Exodus 1:7)

Numerous offspring was one of those promises. But a promised land was another and the exodus out of Egypt was the way there. The preface of the exodus is that the Israelites were in bondage and "God remembered his covenant with Abraham, with Isaac, and with Jacob" (Exodus 2:24). So this expression, "God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob" is associated with delivery from bondage, as we shall see later, and the promised blessings to Abraham and his seed. What were those blessings? In Genesis 12:2-3, we read

2 And I will make of thee a great nation, and I will bless thee, and make thy name great; and thou shalt be a blessing:
3 And I will bless them that bless thee, and curse him that curseth thee: and in thee shall all families of the earth be blessed.

In Genesis 15 he is also promised a land for his posterity. But I want to focus on the bold part for a while. When Jesus appears to the Nephites, this is the part he focuses on. He tells them

ye are of the covenant which the Father made with your fathers, saying unto Abraham: And in thy seed shall all the kindreds of the earth be blessed. (3 Nephi 20:25)

The Book of Abraham expands on this a bit

in thy seed after thee (that is to say, the literal seed, or the seed of the body) shall all the families of the earth be blessed, even with the blessings of the Gospel, which are the blessings of salvation, even of life eternal. (Abraham 2:11)

It explains that "blessed" is ultimately exaltation or receiving eternal life.

I searched the Book of Mormon to find all verses with "Abraham", "Isaac" and "Jacob" in them and found 12. I like how Nephi is using it in 1 Nephi 6:4

For the fulness of mine intent is that I may persuade men to come unto the God of Abraham, and the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob, and be saved.

Read in this covenant context, Nephi is inviting us to the God that has given promises to Nephi's people, who are of Abraham's seed and the "remnant" who will read this in the future and who are also of Abraham's seed. This God will always keep his promises and is therefore the source of our salvation. I also like how this is not only Nephi's intent but the fulness of his intent.

Reading all these 12 mentions of "Abraham, Isaac and Jacob" in the Book of Mormon, reveals a trend. They are usually in one of two categories:

• Delivery from captivity (with reference to Exodus 3:6 quoted above)

• Exaltation (with reference to Abraham 2:11 quoted above)

When delivery is the topic, there is sometimes reference to the exodus of their forefathers and sometimes reference to their own captivity. Here is Nephi reminding his brothers of their forefathers:

Behold, he loved our fathers, and he covenanted with them, yea, even Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob; and he remembered the covenants which he had made; wherefore, he did bring them out of the land of Egypt. (1 Nephi 17:40)

Here is Mormon wanting to demonstrate to the reader that the same God and covenants applied to them (in this case Alma the Elder): 

For behold, I will show unto you that they were brought into bondage, and none could deliver them but the Lord their God, yea, even the God of Abraham and Isaac and of Jacob. (Mosiah 23:23)

When salvation or exaltation is the topic, this expression is typically coupled with the concept of sitting down in the kingdom of heaven. One example

And may the Lord bless you, and keep your garments spotless, that ye may at last be brought to sit down with Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, and the holy prophets who have been ever since the world began, having your garments spotless even as their garments are spotless, in the kingdom of heaven to go no more out. (Alma 7:25)

As explained before, the covenant is about "blessing" the posterity of Abraham, which ultimately means eternal life. "sit down" is the enthronement that is an important part of ancient temple theology. In the holy of holies there was a throne symbolizing exaltation. This was the throne of God the Father (see e.g. 1 Nephi 1:8), but we read about Jesus Christ sitting down at his right hand (Moroni 7:27) and then preparing a place for us to "sit[...] down" (Ether 12:37).

I know I have quoted a lot of scriptures in this post, but I want to quote one more because it links the two concepts of delivery from bondage and salvation.

And the God of our fathers, who were led out of Egypt, out of bondage, and also were preserved in the wilderness by him, yea, the God of Abraham, and of Isaac, and the God of Jacob, yieldeth himself, according to the words of the angel, as a man, into the hands of wicked men, to be lifted up, according to the words of Zenock, and to be crucified, according to the words of Neum, and to be buried in a sepulchre, according to the words of Zenos... (1 Nephi 19:10)

The God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob, who delivered the Israelites out of Egypt is the same God who delivers us from spiritual bondage through his sacrifice; a sacrifice that was foreshadowed by Abraham and his son, Isaac. Just as he kept his covenant and delivered Abraham's seed out of captivity and into the promised land, he can lead us to our eternal destination where we can "sit down" with Abraham, Isaac and Jacob.

In part 3 we will have a closer look at the Mosaic covenant and how it is referenced in the Book of Mormon.