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.

Alma 32, "Tilling" symbolism, and covenants

As Mormon sets the scene for Alma-2's well-known sermon on faith found in Alma 32, he makes sure to mention that the audience is made up of "the poor class of people" who had been "cast out" of their place of worship. I've already pointed out how this cleverly sets up a bit of Hebrew wordplay on the names "Rameumptom" and the Hill "Onidah," but I believe I've found another layer of Hebrew wordplay in this same chapter, this time related to covenant symbolism.

"Cast out" (garash?) versus "Give place/enlarge/swell" (rachab?)

These poor Zoramites had been cast out...a detail that is mentioned in verse 2, verse 5 (twice), verse 9, verse 12 (twice), and verse 24 -- a total of 7 times.

Then Alma proceeds to teach them about the word of God, likening it to a seed. He cautions them not to "cast it out" by their unbelief. Same words...coincidence?  Maybe not.

I'm not a Hebrew expert by any means, but I try to learn what I can according to my understanding. The root "garash" can refer to casting out or driving out, so it seems to fit both contexts (the status of the poor Zoramites and what we should not do it the word of God). This root also has definite covenant connections, which I'll demonstrate below.

After that, Alma invites the people (twice) to "give place" in their hearts for the seed to grow (see verse 27 and 28). When they do, he tells them it will "swell within [their] breasts" and "enlarge [their] soul."

One particular Hebrew root "rachab" seems to fit all three of these contexts. This root also has very clear covenant connotations.

I'll outline two Old Testament examples of how these roots are used in conjunction with covenants, and you can decide for yourself if you believe Alma or Mormon is making intentional references to covenant language:

Genesis 26 -- "rachab"

In Genesis 26, Isaac is having trouble with his neighbors, who envy his wealth.  He digs a well but they fight with him over it, so he names it "Argue." He digs another well and they fight again with him, so he names that well "Fight." The third well is all his -- no one else makes a claim on it, so he names it Rehoboth ("Room enough"), and declares that the Lord has "given us room" (using the root "rachab"). He is convinced they "will flourish in the land."

Later that night:

24 The Lord appeared to him that night and said, “I am the God of your father Abraham. Don’t be afraid, because I am with you [C indicating that the covenant with Abraham would be continued with Isaac]. I will bless you and ·give you many descendants [multiply your seed] because of my servant Abraham.” 25 So Isaac built an altar [C a place of sacrifice] and ·worshiped [L called on the name of] the Lord there. He also ·made a camp [L pitched his tent] there, and his servants dug a well. (Genesis 26, Expanded Bible)

In this example, just after the Lord "gave him room," a covenant was made. This is one on several examples of how the root "rachab" is associated with covenant-making.

Exodus 34 -- "garash" and "rachab"

Here is another example where both "garash" and "rachab" show up in the context of covenant-making:

10 Then the Lord said: “I am making a covenant with you. Before all your people I will do wonders never before done in any nation in all the world. The people you live among will see how awesome is the work that I, the Lord, will do for you....I will drive out (garash) before you the Amorites...24 I will drive out (yarash -- related to "garash") nations before you and enlarge (rachab) your territory... (Exodus 34, NIV, roots from BibleHub)

The Lord commands His people to "drive out" the unbelievers in the land in order to "enlarge" their territory.

Conclusion

We have to remember that the seed is not faith, it is the word of God.  The word of God is not just the scriptures, it is embracing the entirety of the Gospel, complete with the covenants associated with priesthood ordinances.  Thus, Alma-2 is not only teaching the poor Zoramites how to have faith, I believe he is channelling specific covenant language from the Old Testament to teach them about "casting out" their unbelief to "make room" for the word of God to enlarge their hearts and bring them everlasting joy.