Blood and soul

Israel are commanded time and again not to eat or drink any blood. This strict prohibition is repeated many times in the Torah. For example, in Leviticus 17:

10 And whatsoever man there be of the house of Israel, or of the strangers that sojourn among you, that eateth any manner of blood; I will even set my face against that soul that eateth blood, and will cut him off from among his people.

11 For the life (Hebr. nephesh) of the flesh is in the blood (Hebr. dam): and I have given it to you upon the altar to make an atonement for your souls (Hebr. nephesh): for it is the blood (Hebr. dam) that maketh an atonement for the soul (Hebr. nephesh).

12 Therefore I said unto the children of Israel, No soul (Hebr. nephesh) of you shall eat blood (Hebr. dam), neither shall any stranger that sojourneth among you eat blood (Hebr. dam).

13 And whatsoever man there be of the children of Israel, or of the strangers that sojourn among you, which hunteth and catcheth any beast or fowl that may be eaten; he shall even pour out the blood (Hebr. dam) thereof, and cover it with dust (Hebr. aphar).

14 For it is the life of all flesh; the blood of it is for the life thereof: therefore I said unto the children of Israel, Ye shall eat the blood of no manner of flesh: for the life of all flesh is the blood thereof: whosoever eateth it shall be cut off.

I have written the original Hebrew for some selected words in verses 11-13. The Hebrew word, nephesh, does not have a clear English equivalent and is translated into soul, living being, life, self, person, desire, passion, appetite, emotion. It is the essence of our inner being. I think the idea that nephesh is closely connected to blood is an important part of understanding all the instructions and focus on blood in general in Jewish law. 

For instance, as stated in verse 11 above, "it is the blood (where nephesh is found) that maketh an atonement for the soul (nephesh)". When the Israelites sinned, it came from their nephesh, their desire, passion, appetite, ... To make amends, they had to sacrifice it. But instead of sacrificing their own blood (the physical representation of the more abstract nephesh), an animal representing them could be used instead. Their blood would then represent the nephesh where the sin originated and be dashed against all sides of the altar as a sacrifice to God. This would also represent Christ, who like the animals, took our sins upon him and made atonement. There are many approaches to and layers of symbolism related to the ancient practice of animal sacrifice and this is merely one of them. But this relation between nephesh and dam perhaps reflects Jacob's worldview, adding context to his statement in 2 Nephi 9:44

O, my beloved brethren, remember my words. Behold, I take off my garments, and I shake them before you; I pray the God of my salvation that he view me with his all-searching eye; wherefore, ye shall know at the last day, when all men shall be judged of their works, that the God of Israel did witness that I shook your iniquities from my soul (nephesh), and that I stand with brightness before him, and am rid of your blood (dam).

Jacob didn't write in Hebrew, but I assume that the words translated into "soul" and "dam" here are Nephite equivalents of nephesh and dam. It was important to Jacob that his nephesh was not mingled with and contaminated by the nephesh in the blood of the wicked. Removing his garments marked a separation.

The prohibition to eat blood did not originate in the Law of Moses, though. It was given for the first time in Genesis 9

3 Every moving thing that liveth shall be meat for you; even as the green herb have I given you all things.

4 But flesh with the life (nephesh) thereof, which is the blood (dam) thereof, shall ye not eat.

This is right after the flood when the earth "re-starts" with multiple references back to the creation account. This leads to another verse in Genesis:

And the Lord God formed man of the dust (Hebr. aphar) of the ground (Hebr. adamah), and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life; and man became a living soul (Hebr. nephesh). (Genesis 2:8)

According to instructions in Leviticus 17 and other parts of the Torah, blood should be poured on the ground and covered with dust. It is a reversal of the creation of man who was formed from the dust of the ground and became a living soul. Indeed, "for dust (aphar) thou art and unto dust thou shalt return" (Genesis 3:19). The soul simply returning to the dust from which it was formed does not really sound like the plan of salvation as we know it. But here is the twist:

53 Then Jesus said unto them, Verily, verily, I say unto you, Except ye eat the flesh of the Son of man, and drink his blood, ye have no life in you.

54 Whoso eateth my flesh, and drinketh my blood, hath eternal life; and I will raise him up at the last day.

55 For my flesh is meat indeed, and my blood is drink indeed.

56 He that eateth my flesh, and drinketh my blood, dwelleth in me, and I in him. (John 6)

This image may be grotesque enough for a modern reader, but imagine how horrific it sounds to a faithful and strictly Torah-abiding Jew, who would never even think the thought of eating anything with blood in it. When we partake of the blood of other unholy beings, we contaminate ourselves with their impure nephesh instead of becoming holy like God wants us to. But when we partake of the blood of Christ we dwell in him and he in us as stated in verse 56. His nephesh is pure and holy and this is why we can make an exception to the rule. Instead of staying in the dust that we return to at death we are raised up to eternal life at the last day, according to verse 54.

Consider the words of Christ to the Nephites:

And he said unto them: He that eateth this bread eateth of my body to his soul; and he that drinketh of this wine drinketh of my blood to his soul; and his soul shall never hunger nor thirst, but shall be filled. (3 Nephi 20:8)

The nephesh in the blood of Christ fills up our nephesh and purifies it.  

The 8th day of creation?

Disclaimer: This post contains speculation as I think about some deep scriptural ideas. I'm merely fleshing out thoughts, not taking a definitive position about what I believe.

We all have a pretty good understanding of the six days of creation as recorded in Genesis 2 and Moses 2, followed by a day of rest.  The imagery is beautiful and the words are becoming increasingly familiar to me as I study them in multiple translations. I also look at the original Hebrew, too, and have posted many times about insights that come from that effort.

This post explores a question that came to me recently as I pondered the concept of tilling. Stisa and I have both posted about how often a covenant people are said to have tilled the land. (Here's a recent example from Stisa and here's an old example written by me.) As I pondered all of these examples, I thought about how it is said in Genesis that God "planted" a garden:

8 ¶ And the Lord God planted a garden eastward in Eden; and there he put the man whom he had formed. (Genesis 2)

That led me to ask this question: When did God plant the garden? From Genesis 2:8, it seems clear the Garden was planted after the man was formed (though I'm the first to admit that thinking about these deeply symbolic stories with a linear timeline in mind is problematic), but it couldn't have been on the seventh day because we know He rested on that day (see Genesis 2:3). It's probably not technically sound to interpret these verses in this way. With that caveat in mind, I'll proceed.

I really like the symbolism of the 8th day of creation. This day of creation continues in some ways.  It is the "today" referred to by Christ:

23 Behold, now it is called today until the coming of the Son of Man, and verily it is a day of sacrifice, and a day for the tithing of my people; for he that is tithed shall not be burned at his coming.

24 For after today cometh the burning—this is speaking after the manner of the Lord—for verily I say, tomorrow all the proud and they that do wickedly shall be as stubble; and I will burn them up, for I am the Lord of Hosts; and I will not spare any that remain in Babylon.

25 Wherefore, if ye believe me, ye will labor while it is called today. (Doctrine & Covenants 64)

And by Jacob:

5 Wherefore, my beloved brethren, I beseech of you in words of soberness that ye would repent, and come with full purpose of heart, and cleave unto God as he cleaveth unto you. And while his arm of mercy is extended towards you in the light of the day, harden not your hearts.

6 Yea, today, if ye will hear his voice, harden not your hearts; for why will ye die?

7 For behold, after ye have been nourished by the good word of God all the day long, will ye bring forth evil fruit, that ye must be hewn down and cast into the fire?

8 Behold, will ye reject these words? Will ye reject the words of the prophets; and will ye reject all the words which have been spoken concerning Christ, after so many have spoken concerning him; and deny the good word of Christ, and the power of God, and the gift of the Holy Ghost, and quench the Holy Spirit, and make a mock of the great plan of redemption, which hath been laid for you? (Jacob 6)

"Planting" is a possible common link between these two passages and the Garden of Eden narrative. In Jacob 6, Jacob is explaining the extending allegory, which is rife with "planting" imagery. In Jacob 6:7, Jacob makes it clear that the covenant people are the plants He intends to "nourish" and "bring forth fruit."   In Doctrine & Covenants 64, by contrast, those who believe are commanded to "labor," similar to God's commandment in Genesis 2:15. 

I like this concept -- that the work of God's glory continues on the 8th day. This is the covenant process taking place on the earth -- in which those people in the fallen world who will hearken to the words of God's messengers voluntarily embark on the covenant path and remove the curse from the earth, converting barren wasteland back into the Garden of Eden.

Adam and adamah -- Part 4

Here are the links to

• Part 1
• Part 2
• Part 3

I didn't think I would make a part 4, but I keep coming back to these three levels of the state of adamah (Hebrew for ground/earth)

1. Garden of Eden. No cultivation needed because the ground brings forth "every tree" (Genesis 2:9)
2. Cursed ground outside the Garden of Eden. Needs cultivation by man to bring forth fruit. (Genesis 3:19,23)
3. Both ground and tiller of the ground (Cain) are cursed. The ground no longer yielding its strength. (Genesis 4:12)

One reason is because three levels like this is a recurring temple theme. In our modern temples and theology, we talk about the telestial, terrestrial and celestial kingdoms or worlds. In the ancient tabernacle/temple, there were different names but the same structure. There was the outer court, the holy place within the temple and then the inner sanctuary referred to as the most holy place or the holy of holies. These three levels of the temple correspond to the three levels of man. The NRSV Cultural Backgrond Study Bible explains

Ancient Israelite society operated on the understanding that there were three distinct categories or states in which persons (and objects) could find themselves: the state of uncleanness, the state of cleanness and the state of holiness. Yahweh inhabited the last, and animals unfit to eat inhabited the first. Persons could move between being clean and unclean, depending on what they had recently been doing, eating, touching, etc. Persons in a state of uncleanness were not allowed to approach anyone or anything deemed holy. Even persons who believed themselves to be in a state of cleanness could suffer dire consequences for coming into contact with that which was holy without authorization (e.g., 2 Sam 6.6–7). One of the goals of Yahweh’s covenant with the Israelites was to make of them a “holy nation” (Ex 19.6).

The three different states of adamah in Genesis 2-4 therefore follows a recognizable pattern

Unclean - clean - holy

Outer court - holy place - holy of holies

Telestial - terrestrial - celestial

In the outer courts of the tabernacle/temple, there were bronze basins for washing to become clean. For the high priests, who were the only one who could enter into the inner sanctuary, there were sanctification/purification rituals to make them holy (Hebr. qodesh). The Garden of Eden is where the tree of life and God's presence is found. Man was cast out for his disobedience. But if we enter into and keep covenants (somehow associated with tilling the earth), we can be clean and prepare to become holy. If not, we are stained with blood and the earth will not yield its strength. 

I have discussed in the previous parts how Christ and covenants prepare a reversal of these curses and can help us progress through the three levels to a holy state back to the tree of life. What I did not fully realize is how the atonement of Christ symbolized this reversal. In the second part, I discussed the blood of Christ falling to the ground in Gethsemane. This is related to the third state where ground and man is cursed after the blood of Abel was swallowed up by the ground. Christ reverses the curse by spilling his own blood. The next day, Jesus is mocked and beaten prior to the crucifixion. The soldiers make a crown of thorns and put on his head. This reminds us of the second state of adamah, where it is cursed after Adam's transgression. Remember what the account says about the curse

cursed is the ground for thy sake; in sorrow shalt thou eat of it all the days of thy life; Thorns also and thistles shall it bring forth to thee; and thou shalt eat the herb of the field (Genesis 3:17-18)

Jesus voluntarily takes upon him the sting of thorns from the cursed adamah as he walks with us back to the tree of life. As a reversal of the curse, he wears them on his head as king. Finally, he is crucified by being "hanged on a tree" (see Acts 5:30, Acts 10:39, Acts 13:29, 1 Peter 2:24). Most likely, this was not a tree with roots and branches. The Greek word, xulon, that is used can mean both tree and wood. But the symbolism is clear, nonetheless. Xulon is used both for the cross where Jesus was hanged and the tree of life in Revelation 22. In a sense, this wooden cross that "the firstfruits", Jesus Christ,  (see 1 Corinthians 15:20) was hanged on becomes the tree of life for us and the reversal of curses is complete. 

Through Christ, we have gone through blood and thorns, from unclean to clean to holy and can finally enter into the inner sanctuary, the celestial world, the tree of life and God's presence. I love how earth and man follow each other on this path. As Adam goes from unclean/telestial to clean/terrestrial to holy/celestial, adamah goes from blood-stained and not yielding its strength to yielding through sweat and thorns to growing a tree of life. Adam becomes El and adamah yields elah. I know I am repeating myself a bit with this post but I just love to see previous and new themes coming together.

Adam and adamah -- Part 1 (Introduction)

As I read the beginning of Genesis recently, I noticed the central role of the ground in chapters 2-4 in particular. The Hebrew word adamah means land, ground, earth, soil (listed in order of translation frequency in the Old Testament). Linguistically, it is closely related to Adam, the Hebrew word for man or mankind in addition to the personal name. But it can also mean "red". This is the exact same word in Hebrew, only spelled differently in English (adom or edom, written old Hebrew did not really have vowels anyway). Scholars are not unified on this issue, but many believe that both adamah and Adam come from the root meaning "red". Adamah could then be more literally translated “red ground,” and the name Adam could be said to mean “red man” or “man from the red dirt". Living in the cold and wet north, I would usually not consider the ground red, but this is probably more natural for people in the hot and dry Near East. 

Another related word is blood, dam in Hebrew. I don't know if the word for blood and its color, red,  being so similar is coincidence or not. But there are definitely relations that are used as an integral part of the narrative and symbolism in the early chapters of Genesis. Identifying all the cases of "adamah" in chapters 2-4, we can summarize the following story of the ground:

·      Man is formed from the dust of the ground (Genesis 2:7) because there is nobody to cultivate it (Genesis 2:5)

·      Out of the ground God formed every tree (Genesis 2:9)

·      Out of the ground God formed every beast of the field and fowl of the air (Genesis 2:19)

·      After Adam’s transgression, God curses the ground for his sake (Genesis 3:17)

·      The fall brings about death so that Adam returns to the ground (Genesis 3:19)

·       Man is sent out of the garden to cultivate the ground (Genesis 3:23)

·       Cain, who was a tiller of the ground (Genesis 4:2) made an offering of fruit of the ground (Genesis 4:3)

·       After Cain murdered Abel, his brother’s blood was crying from the ground (Genesis 4:10) and the ground opened its mouth to receive it (Genesis 4:11)

·       As a result, Cain became cursed from the ground (Genesis 4:11) and future cultivation of the ground would no longer yield as before (Genesis 4:12)

Considering the fact that ground (adamah), man/Adam and blood (dam) are all very similar words in Hebrew, there are lots of puns in these chapters that are lost in translation. I am fascinated by the story of the ground in these chapters as summarized above. The ground gives and receives. It is heavily involved in the creation and the fall. We will also consider some later events that I think might tie back to these.

In Hebrew, the ground, adamah, is a feminine noun. There is nothing extraordinary about that. All Hebrew nouns are either masculine or feminine. However, the ground/earth is sometimes personified. Genesis 4:11 gives one example of that. Adamah opens her mouth to swallow the blood of Abel. Another is Moses 7:48

And it came to pass that Enoch looked upon the earth; and he heard a voice from the bowels thereof, saying: Wo, wo is me, the mother of men; I am pained, I am weary, because of the wickedness of my children. When shall I rest, and be cleansed from the filthiness which is gone forth out of me? When will my Creator sanctify me, that I may rest, and righteousness for a season abide upon my face?

The earth is portrayed as a woman, even "the mother of men". This is consistent with Genesis 2, where man beast and tree was formed out of the ground, like a mother gives birth.

There is much to say about this but one thing is clear: The Old Testament teaches that there is an intimate relationship between man and the ground. Adam/man is formed from the ground, the ground is cursed for his sake, he is set to cultivate the ground and returns to the ground at his death. Is this relationship a good or a bad thing? I think both. When man is too bound to the ground, he becomes like the serpent who crawls on it and eats dust. On the other hand, the ground provides the means to grow a tree that rises above it and produces fruit that man can eat instead of dust. I have written on this symbolism before here and here.

This series builds on those previous posts. Reading about adamah in these chapters just gave me new understanding of the way from ground to tree, from the earthly and carnal to the heavenly and divine. This is a process in several steps, and is often referred to as "the way" or associated with "walk" in the scriptures. In President Nelson's terms, it is the covenant path and is intimately connected to the temple. In fact, the Garden of Eden may be considered the first temple, or in other words, the temple is referring to and in many ways representing the Garden of Eden. I am not going into details on that but this link provides a good explanation. The "walk" on the "covenant path" is an ascension. It is fallen man's journey back to the garden into God's presence. It is a reversal of what happened in these early chapters of Genesis when man fell and was cast out. Consequently, that was a stepwise descension. We can identify three levels:

1. Garden of Eden. No cultivation needed because the ground brings forth "every tree" (Genesis 2:9)
2. Cursed ground outside the Garden of Eden. Needs cultivation by man to bring forth fruit.
3. Both ground and tiller of the ground (Cain) are cursed. The ground no longer yielding its strength.

I want to flesh out the symbolic journey that reverses these curses in future posts. It ties into several things that have been written on this blog before. For instance, Lord Wilmore has written a long series about what he calls the endowment narrative. This narrative is a reversal of the events listed above. It starts in the wilderness where the ground does not yield its strength. Through Christ's atoning blood and covenants we can make the wilderness blossom or reach the fertile promised land and finally partake of the tree of life. I will go into this in more detail in the next posts. This post is only meant as an introduction but the next post will discuss the possible symbolic significance of the blood of Abel swallowed by the ground. A third part will consider how this story of the ground relates to the Abrahamic covenant.  

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

The last two posts have focused on the symbolism and meaning of the elements I've identified as belonging to an "endowment pattern" in the Book of Mormon.  This post will discuss the remaining six symbols.

Tents (a symbol of the presence of the Lord)

A deep dive into the symbolism of the tent can be found in this series of posts by Stisa (here, here, and here). To summarize, there is a linguistic/wordplay connection in Hebrew associating the presence of the Lord (shekinah) with a tent/tabernacle (mishkan). To quote Stisa from part 2 of his series, the tent is:

...a place for the shekinah glory. Lehi dwelt [shakan] in a tent [mishkan] and God dwelt with them and guided them along. The journey to the promised land was commanded by God and he was with them every step being a light to them in the wilderness and preparing the way (see 1 Nephi 17:13).

In part 2 of this series, I detailed how often tents are specifically mentioned when a new covenant-keeping group leaves a wicked situation. Think of all the items a group of people might bring on their journey into the wilderness.  It includes much more than tents. Weapons for hunting and defense, clothing, tools, cooking implements, etc.  The author specifically mentions tents for their symbolic significance. This is a symbol of new birth and is the author's way of telling us that they enjoyed the presence of the Lord to guide them along their journey.

They inherit a land/They obey the commandments of the Lord/Abundance & Prospering

In this next section, we'll discuss three elements which are intimately connected. If the tent represents God's guidance while in the wilderness, the land of inheritance represents the culmination of that journey, where an even greater blessing awaits the covenant people. The tent is the symbol of the  "cloud by day and pillar of fire by night," (see Exodus 13:22)  and the land of inheritance is Mount Sinai -- a place of holiness and rest, "to go no more out." (See Alma 7:25.) This land of inheritance is obtained and possessed by strict obedience to God's law.

The symbol of a promised land is at least as old as Israel itself. A land of inheritance was promised to Abraham for his posterity. One author describes it this way:

In the Bible, the term “Promised Land” refers to a specific region of land that God endowed to His chosen people, as part of their heritage. ... For migrating herders like the Jews, having a stable home of their own would be a true blessing. The promised land was a place to rest from their continual wandering. But this promise came with conditions. First, God commanded that Israel, the name of the new nation, had to trust and follow Him. Second, God demanded faithful worship of Him (Deuteronomy 7:12-15). (source)

God conditionally endows His nomadic people with a permanent dwelling place flowing with blessings as long as they serve Him and obey His word.

This theme is carried into the Book of Mormon in two key narratives.  First, at the time of Lehi's departure from Jerusalem (the original land of promise during a period of severe wickedness)he was promised that by obedience he could obtain a land of promise and prosper. (This post from Stisa demonstrates how often this 'proverb' appears in the Book of Mormon.) Notice the connection between obedience, prospering, and the land of promise from the very beginning of the Book of Mormon:

20 And inasmuch as ye shall keep my commandments, ye shall prosper, and shall be led to a land of promise; yea, even a land which I have prepared for you; yea, a land which is choice above all other lands. (1 Nephi 2)

Lehi later describes the promises associated with this land of promise in greater detail:

9 Wherefore, I, Lehi, have obtained a promise, that inasmuch as those whom the Lord God shall bring out of the land of Jerusalem shall keep his commandments, they shall prosper upon the face of this land; and they shall be kept from all other nations, that they may possess this land unto themselves. And if it so be that they shall keep his commandments they shall be blessed upon the face of this land, and there shall be none to molest them, nor to take away the land of their inheritance; and they shall dwell safely forever. (2 Nephi 1)

This pattern is repeated over and over again.  Here's Alma-2 reminding the wicked people in Ammonihah of this same set of promises and a warning:

9 Do ye not remember that our father, Lehi, was brought out of Jerusalem by the hand of God? Do ye not remember that they were all led by him through the wilderness?

...

13 Behold, do ye not remember the words which he spake unto Lehi, saying that: Inasmuch as ye shall keep my commandments, ye shall prosper in the land? And again it is said that: Inasmuch as ye will not keep my commandments ye shall be cut off from the presence of the Lord. (Alma 9)

This same promise is had among the Jaredites, first mentioned in the very earliest portion of Moroni's Jaredite account:

38 And it came to pass that Jared spake again unto his brother, saying: Go and inquire of the Lord whether he will drive us out of the land, and if he will drive us out of the land, cry unto him whither we shall go. And who knoweth but the Lord will carry us forth into a land which is choice above all the earth? And if it so be, let us be faithful unto the Lord, that we may receive it for our inheritance. (Ether 1)

What follows is a highly repetitive warning that the condition for possessing this choice land of promise is to serve God:

7 And the Lord would not suffer that they should stop beyond the sea in the wilderness, but he would that they should come forth even unto the land of promise, which was choice above all other lands, which the Lord God had preserved for a righteous people.

8 And he had sworn in his wrath unto the brother of Jared, that whoso should possess this land of promise, from that time henceforth and forever, should serve him, the true and only God, or they should be swept off when the fulness of his wrath should come upon them.

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 our modern temple worship, the same pattern is demonstrated.  We progress toward God's presence by making sacred promises to follow His commandments until we symbolically obtain a fulness and enter into His rest. We are also given warnings that by entering these covenants we take upon ourselves sacred obligations to serve God. 

New names are given (see Genesis 2:20)

The symbolism of naming is ancient and deep.  In the ancient near east, the very existence of a thing (or person) was inextricably linked to it having a name given.

If creation is the act of bringing something into existence, we must ask what constituted existence in the ancient world. In our culture, we consider existence to be either material (i.e., having molecules/taking up space and extending to energy and subatomic particles) or experiential (e.g., abstractions such as love or time). Those definitions, however, are culturally determined. By contrast, in the ancient world something existed when it had a function -- a role to play. In Mesopotamia one way to accomplish this was to name something, because a name designated a thing's function or role. (NRSV Cultural Backgrounds Study Bible, "Creation and Existence")

When it comes to the formation of a covenant people, giving them a new name would symbolically represent that they have also been given a new purpose for existence. Giving a new name in a covenant context could even be seen as an act of (spiritual) creation.

They are led by a righteous patriarch/king/royal family member

I'd love to say I left the most intriguing detail for the end, but that's not the case.  I honestly don't know what to make of this element of the endowment pattern, aside from the fact that I noticed it. It could certainly be that groups of people in the Book of Mormon tend to be led by men who are often kings, prophets, or their sons. That being said, I couldn't help but notice how often a group is led by a righteous royal figure or a father/son combination: Lehi-Nephi, Mosiah-Benjamin-Mosiah, etc.

The symbolic significance of this is pretty clear -- a king/son of king comes to the rescue of a lost people and reclaims them. Christ of course plays this role for each of us in the covenant context, acting both as our Father of our salvation as as the Son of God the Father.  This post from Stisa will shed more light on the concepts if you want to read more.

Conclusion

Now that we have taken our time identifying the pattern and discussing some of the symbolism contained within the elements of the pattern, we will continue on to the remaining parts of the series. Here is what comes next:

Part 4 -- A discussion of details that didn't make the initial list of twelve but deserve some discussion.

Part 5 -- Other scripture stories which contain elements of the pattern (including Abraham, Moses, and Christ).

Part 6 -- The endowment pattern in the latter days.