"Stretch forth thine hand" -- Part 2 (Old Testament)

This post continues a series I began last Monday on the phrase "stretch out thine hand." In this post, we'll look at examples from the Old Testament, and we'll learn about the underlying Hebrew word shalach.

As demonstrated below, that word also appears twice in the creation account. This is only really evident when we look at the Hebrew.  I'll put in bold the words connected to Hebrew shalach in the verses below:

22 ¶ And the Lord God said, Behold, the man is become as one of us, to know good and evil: and now, lest he put forth his hand, and take also of the tree of life, and eat, and live for ever:

23 Therefore the Lord God sent him forth from the garden of Eden, to till the ground from whence he was taken. (Genesis 3)

shalach: to send (שָׁלַח)

The word means 'to send' but when the thing being sent is a part of the body it is translated in English as "stretch forth" or "put forth" etc.

Here are several additional examples of this root showing up in more than one verse very close together.  I'm not certain what to make of it other than it reminds me of the usage in Genesis 3.

Noah

7 And he sent forth a raven, which went forth to and fro, until the waters were dried up from off the earth.

8 Also he sent forth a dove from him, to see if the waters were abated from off the face of the ground;

9 But the dove found no rest for the sole of her foot, and she returned unto him into the ark, for the waters were on the face of the whole earth: then he put forth his hand, and took her, and pulled her in unto him into the ark.

10 And he stayed yet other seven days; and again he sent forth the dove out of the ark;

11 And the dove came in to him in the evening; and, lo, in her mouth was an olive leaf plucked off: so Noah knew that the waters were abated from off the earth.

12 And he stayed yet other seven days; and sent forth the dove; which returned not again unto him any more. (Genesis 8)

In a prior post, I discussed these same verses in the context of receiver becoming giver. See the numbered items in the section titled "Replenish/fill". I believe this "send/put forth" pattern might touch on a similar pattern, which I'll discuss in the conclusion of this post (see below).

Abraham

10 And Abraham stretched forth his hand, and took the knife to slay his son.

11 And the angel of the Lord called unto him out of heaven, and said, Abraham, Abraham: and he said, Here am I.

12 And he said, Lay not thine hand upon the lad, neither do thou any thing unto him: for now I know that thou fearest God, seeing thou hast not withheld thy son, thine only son from me. (Genesis 22)

Moses

The last example we'll look at is Moses.  As I mentioned in part 1, the phrase "stretch out thy hand" and similar phrases show up quite a bit in the story of Moses.  Here's a sampling, with words translated from 'shalach' in bold:

20 And I will stretch out my hand, and smite Egypt with all my wonders which I will do in the midst thereof: and after that he will let you go. (Exodus 3; shalach also appears five times in Exodus 3:10-15)

 

4 And the Lord said unto Moses, Put forth thine hand, and take it by the tail. And he put forth his hand, and caught it, and it became a rod in his hand:

5 That they may believe that the Lord God of their fathers, the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob, hath appeared unto thee.(Exodus 4; shalach appears eight times in Exodus 4)

1 And afterward Moses and Aaron went in, and told Pharaoh, Thus saith the Lord God of Israel, Let my people go, that they may hold a feast unto me in the wilderness. (Exodus 5)

14 For I will at this time send all my plagues upon thine heart, and upon thy servants, and upon thy people; that thou mayest know that there is none like me in all the earth.

15 For now I will stretch out my hand, that I may smite thee and thy people with pestilence; and thou shalt be cut off from the earth. (Exodus 9)

Conclusion

A pattern is starting to take shape which I believe will become more clear as we move on to the Book of Mormon and Book of Moses. I can't help but connect these additional Old Testament examples to the group: 

9 Then the Lord put forth his hand, and touched my mouth. And the Lord said unto me, Behold, I have put my words in thy mouth. (Jeremiah 1)

 

8 Also I heard the voice of the Lord, saying, Whom shall I send, and who will go for us? Then said I, Here am I; send me. (Isaiah 6)

It seems to me that the stretching forth of the hand is a sign related to God showing forth His power to bring about His will. His servants (those He sends) are sometimes commanded to stretch forth their hands as a sign that they come from God.  I believe this pattern will become more clear in the next part as we look at the examples from the Book of Mormon.  We will then conclude this series by looking at the most unusual and significant interaction between Enoch and God from the Book of Moses.

"the Spirit of God moved upon the face of the waters"

The creation account

The phrase in the heading has always been a bit mysterious. You may recognize it from the second verse of Genesis. The creation is a fascinating account chock full of symbolism. What to make of this phrase? Two important things are worth mentioning for a start. "Spirit" in this phrase is from the Hebrew word, "ruach", which can mean spirit, breath or wind. I will get back to that. Next, the symbolism of water. This is a complex symbol in ancient Hebrew culture with both positive and negative connotation. We have the pure, living waters, the fountain of righteousness, the symbolism of the life-giving substance that can be applied to our spiritual life. But it is also used as a chaos motif, especially when it is not confined within its bounds and when the tempest is raging. This is what we see in the very early stages of the creation account. The "darkness...upon the face of the deep" was frightening. But God did not remove the water. He separated the water and dry land and then "God saw that it was good" (Genesis 1:10).

Noah and the flood

I have begun to understand how fundamental the creation account was in the Israelite culture. It keeps getting referenced, both in the Bible and the Book of Mormon, sometimes more subtly than others. This post shows some examples of how the story about Noah and the flood refers to the creation account. It is another story where the chaos motif of water is used, but also with a positive connotation because the earth was baptized and got a new start. But there was no spirit moving upon the waters. Or was there? In Genesis 8:1

God made a wind to pass over the earth, and the waters assuaged

Recall that wind and spirit is the same word in Hebrew. Ruach is used both in Genesis 8:1 and 1:2, only translated differently into English. So in both cases we have a "ruach" before the separation of water and land. Just to underscore the reference to the creation account, the next sentence in Genesis 8:2 starts with "the fountains...of the deep". "Deep" is translated from the Hebrew "tehom" that is also found in Genesis 1:2. It can also be translated into "sea" and is therefore synonymous with "waters" (Hebr. mayim). But it has a more negative connotation (it is also sometimes translated into "abyss").

Moses and the parting of the Red Sea

This 'ruach' of God turns up again in Exodus 14 prior to separation of waters and land

And Moses stretched out his hand over the sea; and the Lord caused the sea to go back by a strong east wind [Hebr. ruach] all that night, and made the sea dry land, and the waters were divided. (Exodus 14:21)

In English, the "Spirit of God" and the "east wind" sound like two completely different things. Not in Hebrew. As mentioned, both spirit and wind is the same, but in addition, the 'east' signifies that it comes from God. Same pattern again, quite unmistakably, especially when the "deep" (tehom) is referenced once more as the Israelites sing about their redemption from the Egyptians.

4 Pharaoh’s chariots and his host hath he cast into the sea: his chosen captains also are drowned in the Red sea.

5 The depths [Hebr. tehom] have covered them: they sank into the bottom as a stone.

6 Thy right hand, O Lord, is become glorious in power: thy right hand, O Lord, hath dashed in pieces the enemy. (Exodus 15)

Summary of the three accounts

We have three accounts where the ruach of God turns up right before the beneficial separation of water and dry land contrasted by the frightening tehom. The table below shows the contrasting context for these Hebrew words in the three stories.

Hebrew word	Creation account	Noah and the flood	Moses and the parting of the Red Sea
Tehom	Darkness (Genesis 1:2)	Broke up to cause a great flood (Genesis 7:11)	Egyptians drowning (Exodus 15:5)
Ruach	Preceding the separation of water and dry land, pronounced “good” (Genesis 1:2, 10)	Causing the flood to recede and redeem Noah and his family (Genesis 8:1)	Causing the Red Sea to divide and redeem Israel (Exodus 14:21)

There is a clear pattern. But what does it all mean? I don't know if I really have the full answer to that, but the New Testament offers intriguing insight. 

Birth/creation and rebirth/new creation

Recall when Jesus was baptized. The Spirit descended upon the waters of Jordan in the from of a dove. I don't think it is coincidence that familiar symbolism from the Old Testament accounts discussed above shows up at this event. Even though the New Testament is written in Greek and not Hebrew, there is still the same spirit/wind dualism. "Pneuma" means both and is the word used for "Spirit" in John 1:32

And John bare record, saying, I saw the Spirit descending from heaven like a dove, and it abode upon him.

The Spirit from heaven reminds us of the "ruach" from God in the Old Testament accounts, but especially Noah. After the earth had been baptized, Noah sent forth a dove that we can imagine moving upon the face of the waters. The last time the dove was sent out, it did not return and Noah never saw it again. One can speculate if the authors of the Gospels wanted to indicate symbolically that Noah's dove finally found its "rest" on the Savior.

In any case, this symbolism shows up again a couple of chapters later. In John 3, Nicodemus comes to Jesus to ask him questions. Jesus teaches him about birth and rebirth.

3 Jesus answered and said unto him, Verily, verily, I say unto thee, Except a man be born again, he cannot see the kingdom of God.

4 Nicodemus saith unto him, How can a man be born when he is old? can he enter the second time into his mother’s womb, and be born?

5 Jesus answered, Verily, verily, I say unto thee, Except a man be born of water and of the Spirit, he cannot enter into the kingdom of God. (John 3)

Jesus himself had been born of water and Spirit by John the baptist as quoted, and thereby set an example. He teaches Nicodemus that he set an example that everyone must follow to enter the kingdom of God. Then he goes on to say

The wind bloweth where it listeth, and thou hearest the sound thereof, but canst not tell whence it cometh, and whither it goeth: so is every one that is born of the Spirit. (John 3:8)

Jesus uses a wordplay here since "wind" and "Spirit" both are the same word (not only in Greek, but also in Aramaic, the language that Jesus spoke).

These teachings by Jesus as recorded in John provides an excellent perspective into the passages from the Old Testament that we have discussed. The creation account is the birth of the earth. It is born of water and spirit. Later, at the time of Noah, we read about the rebirth of the earth, by water and spirit. Notice the similarity between the Hebrew "ruach" and "nuach" by the way, the latter meaning (divine) rest, a prevalent theme in the story of Noah from which also his name is derived. Even later, in Exodus, we learn about the spiritual rebirth of a covenant people, Israel. Again, water and "ruach" are the central components. The waters are a blessing and new beginning for the covenant people and a destructive force, the abyss ("tehom"), for the unrepentant sinners.

Jesus invites us to follow his example by becoming a new creation and entering into a covenant at the waters of baptism. The Old Testament teaches about these truths through deep symbolism.

The small meal, the grand feast, Adam and Eve, and ancient temple worship -- Part 2: "Delivered into your hand"

In my last post, I noted this verse from Genesis outlining the commandment God gives to Adam and Eve right after their creation. 

28 And God blessed them, and God said unto them, Be fruitful, and multiply, and replenish the earth, and subdue it: and have dominion over the fish of the sea, and over the fowl of the air, and over every living thing that moveth upon the earth. (Genesis 1)

I've color-coded 5 components to this commandment.  Overall, I've always taken this to mean that Adam and Eve were supposed to have children, fill the earth with humans, and exercise righteous dominion over God's creation. This still seems perfectly valid, but I'm beginning to see a deeper layer of meaning in these commands.

"Replenish/fill"

Here's one example, I recently pointed out how an important Hebrew expression for "consecration" literally means "filled hand." "Replenish" in the verse above comes from that same root: "male/mala."

Bible scholars describe the numerous connections between Adam and Noah.  The story of Noah is steeped in references to the earlier chapters about Adam and Eve. (For example, compare Genesis 9:1-3 with Genesis 1:28.)

I read these dual commands as a charge to consecrate ourselves to God's purposes -- to live in complete harmony with God's intentions for the creation: the physical creation is intended to give mankind space and time to bring about spiritual creation.  Man is to become holy by this process, and as a result, the wilderness blossoms as a rose.

I believe this explains why Noah is commanded to gather all forms of life into the ark. I've described in many other posts how the ark is an obvious symbol of covenants (see here, for example). Noah kept God's commandment and delivered all creation into God's hand (yet another layer of meaning to Moses 7:43).

I've been reading these two accounts and looking for additional connections.  I've found a sequence related to "fulness/filling" and hands in the story of Noah:

1) Before the flood, the earth is filled with violence.

The earth also was corrupt before God, and the earth was filled with violence." (Genesis 6:11)

2) Noah obeys God's command to build the ark and fill it with "every living thing of all flesh." (See Genesis 6:14-22.)

3) Amid the chaos and destruction, Noah and the inhabitants of the ark find rest in the hand of the Lord. (Moses 7:43)

Up to this point, Noah is obeying commandments, acting in the role of obedient servant of God. Watch how this begins to change as the sequence progresses.

4) Noah sends out a dove but it finds "no rest for the sole of her foot," so he "put[s] forth his hand" and "pull[s] her unto him into the ark." (Genesis 8:9)

Did you notice the shift? After finding rest in the ark, Noah is now able to extend his own hand and offer rest.

5) After the waters abate, Noah comes forth out of the ark and God covenants with Noah, delivering "all that moveth upon the earth" into his hand. (Genesis 9:2)

This sequence begins with Noah delivering all things into God's hand, and ends with God delivering all things into Noah's hand. That's pretty powerful! The purpose of the creation is fulfilled. 

Conclusion

In the latter days, God has the same purpose in mind for each of us. Notice the same sequence in this description of the Church of the Firstborn (those who inherit the Celestial glory). These righteous souls "overcome [all things] by faith" (see D&C 76:53, 60) and as a consequence:

55 They are they into whose hands the Father has given all things—

56 They are they who are priests and kings, who have received of his fulness, and of his glory;  (Doctrine & Covenants 76)

What a beautiful pattern! This is the power of living a consecrated life.

We talk often about consecration in the church, but connecting this concept directly to Adam and Eve links it even more powerfully to the temple, where we are instructed to consider ourselves as if we were Adam and Eve.  In the next post, I'll apply this same concept to the restoration of the Gospel, the Priesthood, and the latter-day work of gathering. 

Nichoach (נִיחוֹחַ) -- "A Savor of Rest"

As I studied about incense and some of the related symbolism (see this recent post), I came across an alternative translation for Genesis 8:21, which describes God's response to Noah's sacrifice after the flood. The KJV translates this "a sweet savour" but the 1599 Geneva Bible translates the same words this way:

And the Lord smelled a savor of rest... (source)

Here is the accompanying footnote: "That is, thereby he showeth himself appeased and his anger to rest." What is so sweet that it can appease God and put His anger to rest? The Hebrew word is:

nichoach (נִיחוֹחַ): a quieting, soothing, tranquilizing (source)

Biblehub goes on to say this word derives from "nuach" (to rest), from which the name Noah is derived. So the "sweet savor" of the sacrifice is part of the deeper wordplay on the name of the central character in the story. Noah's sacrifice, a symbol of his consecrated life, pleases God and allows Noah to enter into His rest.

The NIDOTTE connects this willing sacrifice to the consecrated life of a Christian:

Perhaps the most theologically significant of all the occasions of the word is the last one (Ezekiel 20:41), where God says that the people themselves will be the “fragrant incense” to the Lord when he brings them home from the nations. As all the prophets had said again and again, it was not the people’s sacrifices that God wanted, but it was themselves, as symbolized in their sacrifices. (New international dictionary of Old Testament theology & exegesis, Vol. 3, p. 59, emphasis added by me)

What a beautiful symbol of the temple!  In the temple, we willingly "enter in" to covenants with God, wherein we promise to consecrate our lives to Him. The "sweet savor" isn't about merely burning a precious substance.  It is a symbol of a consecrated life.

In the next post, we'll carry this symbolism a little bit further by looking at the deeper meaning of an important Hebrew term for consecrate: male’ yad

Hearing, Seeing, Smelling, and Speaking the Word of God

In this post I'm going to introduce a concept from a fascinating presentation given by John Thompson, PhD, as part of the Interpreter Foundation 2021 Egypt Lecture Series. I'll have more to say in future posts on this presentation, but this post will focus on a one-minute segment dealing with ancient Egyptian anointing rituals.

Here is the one minute clip:

When he mentioned seven openings to the head and how each one is anointed, my curiosity was piqued. These rituals he is describing are extremely old, far older than Moses or Solomon's temple. The tombs in which this iconography is found are from ~2600 BC. 

Dr. Thompson points out that the Book of Abraham offers an intriguing explanation for where these rituals came from:

26 Pharaoh, being a righteous man, established his kingdom and judged his people wisely and justly all his days, seeking earnestly to imitate that order established by the fathers in the first generations, in the days of the first patriarchal reign, even in the reign of Adam, and also of Noah ... (Abraham 1)

In other words, these rituals were sincere imitations of the Priesthood ordinances established and passed down by Adam.

Hearing, Seeing, Smelling, and Speaking the Word of God

Three out of four of these are pretty easy to connect with the Gospel.  We "hear" the word of God by hearkening to the messengers and to the still, small voice of the Holy Spirit.  We "see" the word of God when we rend the veil of unbelief and see the heavenly light. Let's skip the nose for now. And, of course, Nephi teaches us quite clearly how we can "speak" the word of God:

2 Do ye not remember that I said unto you that after ye had received the Holy Ghost ye could speak with the tongue of angels? And now, how could ye speak with the tongue of angels save it were by the Holy Ghost?
3 Angels speak by the power of the Holy Ghost; wherefore, they speak the words of Christ. Wherefore, I said unto you, feast upon the words of Christ; for behold, the words of Christ will tell you all things what ye should do. (2 Nephi 32)

Most of my life, I interpreted "speaking with the tongue of angels" in a very broad and generic way.  Anytime anyone speaks words that are inspired by the Spirit, they are speaking with the tongue of angels. I still believe that is an entirely valid interpretation. But like so many Gospel principles, there is deeper covenant significance to be found when we understand the doctrine and symbols of the temple (modern and ancient).  Recent experiences in the temple and in the scriptures have opened my eyes to a deeper meaning for speaking with the tongue of angels. The ordinances of the priesthood literally add power -- priesthood power -- to our prayers to God. Our walk on the covenant path is an ascension. Metaphorically speaking, that added elevation takes us out of the world and draws us closer to heaven, where our prayers will be heard by God in a way not previously possible.

Notice these beautiful closing words from the dedicatory prayer of the Kirtland Temple, including the three-fold repetition "O hear" in verse 78:

77 O Lord God Almighty, hear us in these our petitions, and answer us from heaven, thy holy habitation, where thou sittest enthroned, with glory, honor, power, majesty, might, dominion, truth, justice, judgment, mercy, and an infinity of fulness, from everlasting to everlasting.

78 O hear, O hear, O hear us, O Lord! And answer these petitions, and accept the dedication of this house unto thee, the work of our hands, which we have built unto thy name;

79 And also this church, to put upon it thy name. And help us by the power of thy Spirit, that we may mingle our voices with those bright, shining seraphs around thy throne, with acclamations of praise, singing Hosanna to God and the Lamb! (Doctrine & Covenants 109)

"Speaking" the word of God, then, involves fully embracing His covenant path and "mingl[ing] our voices" with the angels who constantly sing praise to God. Notice also the tight connection in 2 Nephi 32 and D&C 109 between the "power" of the Holy Spirit and the voice of angels. We'll come back to that after we tackle the mystery of the nose in all of this.

So now we've covered "hearing," "seeing," and "speaking." What about "smelling"?

How does one "smell" the word of the Lord?

In short, temple incense, or to put it a little bit more accurately, the desire to serve God according to His divine pattern. I think we can summarize the essence of what it means to "smell" the word of the Lord as the natural effect that hearing the word and seeing the heavenly light has upon a person -- it creates a strong desire to worship God and offer Him praise for His mercy and love. 

Stisa covered much of this in this post, and one point he makes in that post is key:

The reyach [sweet savor associated with temple sacrifice rituals] should be done with ruach [the Spirit]. 

The sweet aroma produced by the burning incense is a symbol of the Spirit. Anciently, only with a broken heart and a contrite spirit could a disciple of Christ please God by sacrificing an animal, shedding its blood, and burning it on an altar. It was to be done with humility and according to the specifications given by God. The ritual, in addition to producing a "sweet savor," would also point the mind to the sacrifice of the Only Begotten Son of God.

When Noah exited the ark, he emulated Adam and built an altar and offered sacrifice, which created a "pleasing odor" to the Lord (Genesis 8:21 NRSV). God then covenanted with Noah and gave him commandments (see Genesis 9:1-17). (More to come on that "pleasing odor" in a future post.)

As an aside, this a great example of a symbol that would have been so obvious to any temple-worshipping Israelite that it would have gone without saying, but for us it is almost completely foreign, especially since we do not use incense at all in our modern temple worship. Instead, we have certain symbols which evoke the image of temple incense when understood in their original context. This paper summarizes the symbolism associated with incense in the temple.

Conclusion

There are seven openings in the head, and the arrangement and function of each outlines a heavenly pattern. As part of "becoming a new creature" in Christ (see Mosiah 27:26), each of these openings can be consecrated for the purpose of seeking the word of God. Ears to hear, eyes to see, a nose to smell (a symbol of our humble efforts to worthily worship and praise God), and a mouth to speak with the tongue of angels.  

The arrangement of these openings also points to unity with God. The ears are situated on opposite sides of the head, and we see progressive closeness with the eyes and then the nostrils, until we are united with God and the angels and are taught to speak (through one mouth) with the tongue of angels and the power of the Spirit. 

This is a beautiful set of symbols. I am constantly amazed by the layers of depth embedded in these sacred things.