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.

The deep sleep of Adam and Abram

This post is not directly related to the Book of Mormon, but I wanted to share my thoughts nonetheless. Incidentally I noticed that both Adam and Abram entered into a "deep sleep" at one point.

And the Lord God caused a deep sleep to fall upon Adam (Genesis 2:15)

And when the sun was going down, a deep sleep fell upon Abram (Genesis 15:12)

This might be a coincidence. In a long text such as the Old Testament, it is natural that certain phrases will repeat. But I think that this is an intentional example of scriptural repetition. It seems that the account of Abram (who was later renamed and now better known as Abraham) refers to Adam in the Garden of Eden. My reason for this conclusion is that there is a relationship between these two events that I will try to explain in this post and that is more obvious in a Latter-Day Saint context.  

When Adam wakes up there is a woman brought to him. A "help meet". This is the first marriage in the scriptures and symbolic for the marriage covenant in my view. There is a subtle clue in the original Hebrew in the form of "ha'adam". "ha" is the definite article in Hebrew, so God caused a deep sleep to fall upon "the Adam", which seems strange. But Adam means "man or "mankind" in Hebrew. A deep sleep fell upon the man or mankind. This is not just a story about Adam. The symbolism and relation to each of us is made clear in the temple. Eve, the mother of all living (which is more or less the literal translation from Hebrew), is brought to man and joined together to become one flesh.

From the deep sleep of Adam and the marriage covenant, we move on to the deep sleep of Abram and the Abrahamic covenant. Abraham's deep sleep has a covenant theme that is easily missed when we don't get the cultural context. In Hebrew, you don't enter into a covenant, you cut a covenant. That is a weird expression and naturally it is not translated like that into English. But the literal Hebrew term is cut a covenant. This has been described in a previous post:

In Old Testament tradition, a covenant agreement was formally made by cutting animals in half and walking between the carcasses. It symbolized "what happened to these animals will happen to me if I break this treaty". In a time when literacy was rare, this act was the (dramatic and a through a modern lens a bit grotesque) signature. This article elaborates on it.

But the Abrahamic covenant is a special case. In Genesis 15, we read that Abraham chopped up the animals but instead of walking between them he fell asleep. Later, there was a fire passing between them instead. We have previously written about fire signifying God's presence on this blog. It was actually God signing the treaty saying that he should be cut in half if he didn't keep the covenant! This cannot happen of course, so Abraham had a sure promise that God would fulfill his covenant. God makes a lot of promises to Abraham and we learn that they apply to all those who are of his seed.

Abram means "exalted father". Later, as a consequence of the covenant he had made, God gave Abram the new name, Abraham, which means "father of a multitude". By coupling these two stories and covenants with the deep sleep, we move from "man" to "exalted father" to "father of a multitude". We move from a man and woman united by a covenant in marriage to a people and their God united in a covenant between heaven and earth. So there is a covenant context in both of these deep sleeps. But we read about covenants in the scriptures all the time so that alone is perhaps not enough to convince the reader that these two instances of deep sleep are related. There are no other apparent links between Adam and Abraham or the marriage covenant and Abraham's covenant in the Old Testament, at least not that I know of. In fact, there is not much about marriage as a covenant at all. 

The marriage covenant and the idea of eternal marriage may have been one of the plain and precious truths that were eventually lost at some point before the Bible as we have it today was compiled. D&C 132 suggests so. It is about the new and everlasting covenant of marriage and states twice (in verses 40 and 45) that Joseph Smith has been appointed to "restore all things". In this chapter, Abraham is mentioned 20 times! Why would Abraham be discussed so much in relation to eternal marriage in the new and everlasting covenant? A closer look reveals several reasons.

• The plurality of wives is discussed in this chapter along with the principle of eternal marriage and the covenant in general. Abraham was one of the Old Testament prophets practicing plural marriage and is mentioned in that regard (see D&C 132:1, 34-37)
• Another reason why Abraham is brought up is that the sacrifices made to enter into the covenant (in this case especially related to plural marriage) are compared to the sacrifice required of Abraham, where he paradoxically was asked to offer up his own son, the heir of his promises (see verses 50-51).
• "Abraham received promises concerning his seed" (L&P 132:30). The intended way for God's children to have seed has always been through a marriage union. But there is more to that statement. Much more. As Abraham's seed, we also have access to the same covenants and promises. Reading on in verse 30, we see that his seed was not limited to mortality. Seed "innumerable as the stars" is a promise also to us who enter into the new and everlasting covenant (see verse 31). It is a promise about "a continuation of the seeds forever and ever." (verse 19)

Although man (Adam) will return to dust, this is not his end state, nor the purpose of his creation. We can become an "exalted father" (Abram) through covenants. Being faithful and obedient like Abraham we can even become "father (and mother) of a multitude" through the new and everlasting covenant of marriage. Then why did Adam and Abram sleep deeply (in the dust?) in these two stories? I'm not sure I have the answer but perhaps their deep sleep was symbolic of our state before we enter into the covenant. It could also be symbolic of our temporary sleep in the dust after mortality before we rise in glory to inherit the unimaginable blessings related to the new and everlasting covenant. In any case, it makes me think of the words of Alma

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 (Alma 5:7)

Alma talks about his fathers who awakened from a deep sleep and were illuminated by the everlasting word. Abraham woke up from a deep sleep to a covenant received by God's word

Abraham received all things, whatsoever he received, by revelation and commandment, by my word, saith the Lord, and hath entered into his exaltation and sitteth upon his throne. (D&C 132:29)

 

Faith, hope and charity in Hebrew

Faith, hope and charity are sometimes mentioned together in the scriptures. It is also made clear that they belong together because it really is not possible to have one without the other. When hearing a word, our associations with that word is influenced both by our language and our culture and background. As usual I will go to the ancient Hebrew understanding of these words, because we don't know the Nephite language but we do know that they came from Jerusalem 600 BC and to some degree brought the Hebrew tradition with them.

For us today in English, faith, hope and charity are primarily abstract terms. This is a potential pitfall. We may come to view these as entirely abstract concepts and lose all practical application of these principles. Faith and hope become merely mental exercises whereas charity is a nice feeling inside. One thing that I have learned about the Hebrew language is that abstract terms are often rooted in very physical, tangible concepts. We will have a closer look at these three words in Hebrew.

Faith - Hebr. "emunah" (אמונה)

This is an action oriented word that might as well have been translated into "support", "faithfulness" or "loyalty". This way of understanding the term, changes things entirely. When we have English faith, we place the action on the one we have faith in. We believe that God exists and will act for our benefit. When we have Hebrew faith, the action is on the person who supports God. It is about our loyalty to him, typically in a covenant relation. In other words, having faith in this manner is not so concerned with the question about the existence of God, it is concerned with how we should show our devotion to him.

Hope - Hebr. "tiqvah" (תִּקְוָה)

This is an interesting word in Hebrew. It is based on the root, qavah, which means to wait. Hoping is closely related to waiting. Hebrew hope is waiting for something that will happen. There is also another aspect that exemplifies the abstract being rooted in something physical, that I mentioned. Tiqvah means both "hope" and "cord". This connection may seem strange on the surface. But the basic idea seems to be that hope is a cord attached to something bigger in the future. When something tangible as a cord is used to describe something abstract, it may also be easier to envision how to go about and apply the principle in our daily lives.

Charity - Hebr. "chesed" (חָסַד)

This one is tricky. When we read about charity in the Book of Mormon, this is the English translation of some unknown Nephite word. To help understand what that word possibly meant to the Nephites, we could turn to Hebrew like we did for faith and hope, but in this case it is difficult to find a Hebrew equivalent. "Charity" is not found at all in the English KJV Old Testament. There are several possible candidates, but I think "chesed" is the closest we get. It is usually translated into mercy, goodness or kindness. It is the Hebrew word that comes closest to the Greek "agape" which is the divine love translated into charity in the New Testament and matches "the pure love of Christ" expression very well.

In English, we might have a tendency to relate faith and hope more easily and think of charity as something quite different from the two. In Hebrew, I would say these three words are more closely related. In some English Bible versions, chesed is even translated into loyalty on a few occasions. This is because, just like faith (emunah), chesed is about commitment and often linked to a covenant. Here are some examples:

1 I will sing of the mercies [chesed] of the Lord for ever: with my mouth will I make known thy faithfulness [enumah] to all generations.
2 For I have said, Mercy [chesed] shall be built up for ever: thy faithfulness [enumah] shalt thou establish in the very heavens.
3 I have made a covenant with my chosen, I have sworn unto David my servant (Psalms 89)

Know therefore that the Lord thy God, he is God, the faithful [aman, related to enumah] God, which keepeth covenant and mercy [chesed] with them that love him and keep his commandments to a thousand generations (Deuteronomy 7:9)

Not only in these examples, but very often in the Old Testament, it is God who is faithful/loyal [enumah] and merciful/loving [chesed]. These are Godly attributes that we should strive to obtain. But we also see examples of these terms used to describe Old Testament people. When Abraham received promises from God as part of the covenant, 

he believed [aman, related to enumah] in the Lord; and he counted it to him for righteousness. (Genesis 15:6)

When best friends, David and Jonathan, had covenanted with each other, David asked of Jonathan

Therefore thou shalt deal kindly [chesed] with thy servant; for thou hast brought thy servant into a covenant of the Lord with thee (1 Samuel 20:8)

Of course, we don't know to what degree Nephites maintained this ancient Hebrew understanding when their language was developed over time. So this will inevitably be a bit speculative. But I think it is useful still to get a different perspective on this and at least be open to the possibility that these words might have had slightly different meaning for the Book of Mormon authors than they have for us today. Just for fun, let us try to read a well-known Book of Mormon verse (that happens to be one of my favorites) through that lens:

Wherefore, whoso believeth in [is loyal to] God might with surety hope wait for a better world, yea, even a place at the right hand of God, which hope [cord] cometh of faith [by faithfulness], maketh an anchor to the souls of men, which would make them sure and steadfast, always abounding in good works, being led to glorify God. (Ether 12:4)

First a disclaimer: I believe the Book of Mormon translation to be given to Joseph Smith by God directly. There may be "faults of men", but if God wanted us to have the version I just made, he would make sure to give us that. My suggestion is therefore not meant to replace the version that we have that is written in our language for our benefit. To make the text flow, one needs to limit the words, and there is no room for commentary on the text in the text itself. Rather, consider my alternative "translation" a fun way to possibly gain more insight into the Hebrew heritage of the Book of Mormon authors.

With that out of the way, here is my take: Waiting with surety for a better world is waiting with confidence instead of impatience or doubt. This is something we can do when we are loyal to our covenant with God. Notice that I used the word, cord, the second time I replace the word, hope. I do this to invoke the image of a cord that we hold on one end where we have a place at the right hand of God at the other end. When coupled by faithfulness/loyalty, this cord becomes an anchor! Notice also the word, steadfast, towards the end of the verse. In Hebrew, this is also related to emunah/aman. There is a reciprocal relation between faith and hope in this verse. emunah adds surety to our tiqvah, making our "cord" to a better world an anchor, reinforcing our emunah.

Originally, I meant to post about further insight I gained seeing how faith, hope and charity is coupled with "good" in the Book of Mormon. But I thought this background could be useful before I get into that in my next post.

The Abrahamic and Mosaic covenants in the Book of Mormon -- Part 1

Unfortunately not available to those who have not paid for the last FairMormon conference, but I found Taylor Halverson's presentation very interesting and will spend some posts on the topic he discussed - the covenant path in the Bible and in the Book of Mormon. For those who have not seen the presentation and don't have the possibility to see it, I will try to start out by briefly recapping his main points.

• Both the Bible and the Book of Mormon are covenant texts
• The word "testament" originate from the word, "covenant". The Bible is basically a documentation of the old covenant and the new covenant
• The Book of Mormon title page explains that it is written so "that they may know the covenants of the Lord"
• The two most important Old Testament covenants are:
• The Abrahamic covenant: This is all about God making promises to Abraham and his seed
• The Mosaic covenant: This is all about Abraham's seed making promises to God
• Lots of terms and expressions in the scriptures are covenant terms, often unrecognized by the modern reader (One of the examples Halverson mentioned is "keep" that Lord Wilmore just posted about)

I just have to elaborate on Halverson's point about the Abrahamic covenant because I found it fascinating. In Old Testament tradition, a covenant agreement was formally made by cutting animals in half and walking between the carcasses. It symbolized "what happened to these animals will happen to me if I break this treaty". In a time when literacy was rare, this act was the (dramatic and a through a modern lens a bit grotesque) signature. This article elaborates on it.

But the Abrahamic covenant is a special case. In Genesis 15, we read that Abraham chopped up the animals but instead of walking between them he fell asleep. Later, there was a fire passing between them instead. We have previously written about fire signifying God's presence on this blog. It was actually God signing the treaty saying that he should be cut in half if he didn't keep the covenant! This cannot happen of course, so Abraham had a sure promise that God would fulfill his covenant. God makes a lot of promises to Abraham and we learn that they apply to all those who are of his seed.

Abraham's seed were in bondage in Egypt but as part of the Abrahamic covenant, they were delivered and granted a promised land and other blessings. But to become his people and Abraham's seed in more than a biological sense, they would have to enter into and keep the Mosaic covenant given in the Exodus. The event is described in Exodus chapter 20, but it is basically the whole Book of Deuteronomy that lays out the terms.

I mentioned that the Mosaic covenant is all about the promises the people make to God or their obligations to Him. Obviously God promises something in return, but that is basically just a reiteration of what he had already promised to Abraham and his seed: Prosperity and a promised land. God's obligations are the old Abrahamic covenant that still stands and that he has not forgotten. If Israel keep the commandments that Moses received on Sinai, they will receive those promises.

In the New Testament (Matthew 5 in particular), the second Moses, Jesus Christ, updates the covenant terms. Both our obligations and God's promises become more spiritual in nature ("higher law"). We note how Jesus in Matthew 5 starts out with a reference to the law ("ye have heard that it was said by them of old time") and updates it to involve thoughts and intentions, not just actions. Similarly, the original promises of prosperity eventually relate more to things like spiritual gifts than herds and a large household. The promised land relates more to Zion and the celestial kingdom rather than a designated location on earth.

Now to an important point that Halverson made that I will look more into in upcoming posts.

• "The God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob" is code for the Abrahamic covenant. Whenever this expression is used, the author talks specifically about the God who promised certain blessings to Abraham and his seed
• The Book of Deuteronomy lays out the Mosaic covenant. It can be summarized as "keep the commandments and you will prosper in the land". Sounds familiar, perhaps? When this term is used in the Book of Mormon, it is a reference to the Mosaic covenant.

In the next post I will have a closer look at "the God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob" in the Book of Mormon.