"Striving," Part 2

In part 1, we looked at the use of the word "striving" in the Book of Mormon and noted that the most common context relates to the final ripening of a wicked people rejecting the covenant and inviting destruction.

In this post, we'll take a look at how "striving" is used in other books of scripture.

Old Testament

Out of the 23 occurrences in the King James Old Testament, "strive/striving" usually occurs in the context of contention between people. The most notable exception is the first instance:

2 That the sons of God saw the daughters of men that they were fair; and they took them wives of all which they chose.

3 And the Lord said, My spirit shall not always strive with man, for that he also is flesh: yet his days shall be an hundred and twenty years. (Genesis 6)

Other exceptions:

1 Plead my cause, O Lord, with them that strive with me: fight against them that fight against me. (Psalm 35)

10 ¶ Fear thou not; for I am with thee: be not dismayed; for I am thy God: I will strengthen thee; yea, I will help thee; yea, I will uphold thee with the right hand of my righteousness.

11 Behold, all they that were incensed against thee shall be ashamed and confounded: they shall be as nothing; and they that strive with thee shall perish.

12 Thou shalt seek them, and shalt not find them, even them that contended with thee: they that war against thee shall be as nothing, and as a thing of nought.

13 For I the Lord thy God will hold thy right hand, saying unto thee, Fear not; I will help thee. (Isaiah 41)

9 Woe unto him that striveth with his Maker! Let the potsherd strive with the potsherds of the earth. Shall the clay say to him that fashioneth it, What makest thou? or thy work, He hath no hands? (Isaiah 45)

New Testament

In the New Testament, we have 13 occurrences, usually related to "endeavoring," but sometimes meaning "fighting against." Here is one example of each context:

24 ¶ Strive to enter in at the strait gate: for many, I say unto you, will seek to enter in, and shall not be able.

25 When once the master of the house is risen up, and hath shut to the door, and ye begin to stand without, and to knock at the door, saying, Lord, Lord, open unto us; and he shall answer and say unto you, I know you not whence ye are:

26 Then shall ye begin to say, We have eaten and drunk in thy presence, and thou hast taught in our streets.

27 But he shall say, I tell you, I know you not whence ye are; depart from me, all ye workers of iniquity.

28 There shall be weeping and gnashing of teeth, when ye shall see Abraham, and Isaac, and Jacob, and all the prophets, in the kingdom of God, and you yourselves thrust out. (Luke 13)

24 And the servant of the Lord must not strive; but be gentle unto all men, apt to teach, patient,

25 In meekness instructing those that oppose themselves; if God peradventure will give them repentance to the acknowledging of the truth; (2 Timothy 2)

Doctrine and Covenants

The two examples from the D&C are listed below:

33 And he that repents not, from him shall be taken even the light which he has received; for my Spirit shall not always strive with man, saith the Lord of Hosts.

34 And again, verily I say unto you, O inhabitants of the earth: I the Lord am willing to make these things known unto all flesh;

35 For I am no respecter of persons, and will that all men shall know that the day speedily cometh; the hour is not yet, but is nigh at hand, when peace shall be taken from the earth, and the devil shall have power over his own dominion. (D&C 1)

68 O Lord, remember thy servant, Joseph Smith, Jun., and all his afflictions and persecutions—how he has covenanted with Jehovah, and vowed to thee, O Mighty God of Jacob—and the commandments which thou hast given unto him, and that he hath sincerely striven to do thy will. (D&C 109)

Pearl of Great Price

We have one occurrence in the Book of Moses. It is this context I'd like to focus the next post on.  Notice the connection to Enoch in these verses.

17 And the Lord said unto Noah: My Spirit shall not always strive with man, for he shall know that all flesh shall die; yet his days shall be an hundred and twenty years; and if men do not repent, I will send in the floods upon them.

18 And in those days there were giants on the earth, and they sought Noah to take away his life; but the Lord was with Noah, and the power of the Lord was upon him.

19 And the Lord ordained Noah after his own order, and commanded him that he should go forth and declare his Gospel unto the children of men, even as it was given unto Enoch. (Moses 8)

In the next post, I'd like to pick up with the story of Enoch and the City of Zion, which is found in Moses 7, and connect the concept of the Spirit/divine messengers working to bring about Zion with the concept of the Spirit "striving with man."

Redeemer - kinsman -- Part 1

The Hebrew term for "Redeemer" is the word גואל (goel). It is also used in connection with its cognate - the term גאל (gaal) which means kinsman. The spelling of gaal is the exact same as the verb, "redeem".

In ancient Israelite thought, the kinsman-redeemer was a male relative, who should act on behalf of a relative who was in trouble or need. There are many examples of this in the Jewish Law. See Leviticus 25:25 for instance

If thy brother be waxen poor, and hath sold away some of his possession, and if any of his kin come to redeem it, then shall he redeem that which his brother sold.

Perhaps the best description of a kinsman-redeemer in the Old Testament is Boaz in the Book of Ruth. He is a wealthy relative of Naomi and her daughter-in-law, Ruth, appeals to him as their goel.

And he said, Who art thou? And she answered, I am Ruth thine handmaid: spread therefore thy skirt over thine handmaid; for thou art a near kinsman. (Ruth 3:9)

As Ruth's goel, Boaz offers her protection, redeems her from her difficult situation as a widow with a widowed mother-in-law to take care of, and marries her. They later bear a son named Obed who becomes the grandfather of David and a forefather of Jesus.

This background is useful to better understand how ancient Israelites would view scriptures describing the Lord as their Redeemer. We find several of those, often with allusions to the Messiah.

I will help thee, saith the Lord, and thy redeemer, the Holy One of Israel. (Isaiah 41:14)

This poetic parallelism connects "help" with "redeemer" and "Lord" with "Holy One of Israel".

For thy Maker is thine husband; the Lord of hosts is his name; and thy Redeemer the Holy One of Israel; The God of the whole earth shall he be called. (Isaiah 54:5 / 3 Nephi 22:5)

Here is another connection between Redeemer and the Holy One of Israel, who Nephi in no uncertain terms says is Christ (see 2 Nephi 25:29). It is also interesting to note that this is the chapter Jesus quotes to the Nephites after having told them about the gathering of Israel and the covenant with them. "thine husband" is a symbol of the covenant relationship between Jehovah and his people. Actually, the underlying Hebrew here is the verb "to marry". "He who espouses/marries you" (is perhaps a better translation) is also "thy Redeemer" and directs our minds to the Boaz and Ruth story.

Another example in Psalms

35 And they remembered that God was their rock, and the high God their redeemer. (Psalm 78:35)

Again a poetic parallelism connects redeemer to another word, this time "rock". When the Psalmist multiple times in other Psalms writes about "the rock of my salvation", it should be clear who that rock is. But again, the Book of Mormon removes all doubt.

And now, my sons, remember, remember that it is upon the rock of our Redeemer, who is Christ, the Son of God, that ye must build your foundation (Helaman 5:12)

So the concept of a kinsman-redeemer is something the ancient Israelites attributed to the Messiah who would come, the rock and the Holy One of Israel. He would be their redeemer. They also believed he would be their kinsman. In light of this it is interesting to see how this word is used in the Book of Mormon. The first time it is used, is by Lehi in 1 Nephi 10:4-6

5 And he also spake concerning the prophets, how great a number had testified of these things, concerning this Messiah, of whom he had spoken, or this Redeemer of the world.

6 Wherefore, all mankind were in a lost and in a fallen state, and ever would be save they should rely on this Redeemer.

We have just seen that prophets of old testified of a redeemer like Lehi says. But as I have discussed in a previous post, Lehi's view of this redeemer was perhaps quite radical at his time. "Redeemer of the world" is not found anywhere in the Old Testament. They perceived a Messiah who was their kinsman and would redeem them, not the whole world. They did not understand that

as many of the Gentiles as will repent are the covenant people of the Lord; and as many of the Jews as will not repent shall be cast off; for the Lord covenanteth with none save it be with them that repent and believe in his Son, who is the Holy One of Israel. (2 Nephi 30:2)

or that

God is able of these stones to raise up children unto Abraham. (Matthew 3:7)

This is getting too long for one post so I will split it up and write more about the use of "Redeemer" in the Book of Mormon in part 2 and how it fits with the Old Testament kinsman idea.

The "Hand" of God

One thing I've heard from Biblical Hebrew scholars is that the original Hebrew words often lose much of their richness when translated to other languages. I wish I knew ancient Hebrew better. Thankfully, I've found some online resources to help tease out some of the deeper meaning in the Old Testament. Even with my very limited knowledge, I can see how this is true.

There is a related aspect to this loss of richness -- it seems many of the temple-related symbols that are deeply embedded in the Hebrew language do not clearly translate into other languages.  Even if the surface-layer of meaning is preserved, the deeper meaning is lost in translation.

"Right Hand"

One such example is  יָמִין -- "yamin" right hand.

The Jewish Virtual Library explains the symbolism associated with this word:

It is clear from several biblical verses that "right [hand]" was often a symbol for strength. The "right hand of God" was that which overcame Israel's enemies (Ex. 15:6, 12; Isa. 62:8; Ps. 17:7; 44:4, etc.) and which was worthy of the Psalmists' praises (Ps. 98:1; 118:15, 16, etc.). (Source)

In some translations of the Bible, "power" is used, while in others we read "right hand" but the truth is a little bit deeper, reflected in the symbolism of the temple -- God's power comes as the covenant people keep their promises.

Isaiah uses this term about a dozen times in his writings, in various contexts, including this passage which uses the term twice:

10 Fear thou not; for I am with thee: be not dismayed; for I am thy God: I will strengthen thee; yea, I will help thee; yea, I will uphold thee with the right hand of my righteousness.
11 Behold, all they that were incensed against thee shall be ashamed and confounded: they shall be as nothing; and they that strive with thee shall perish.
12 Thou shalt seek them, and shalt not find them, even them that contended with thee: they that war against thee shall be as nothing, and as a thing of nought.
13 For I the Lord thy God will hold thy right hand, saying unto thee, Fear not; I will help thee. (Isaiah 41)

Hand

More generally, the hand has symbolic importance, too. One Bible scholar puts it this way:

"Hand" most frequently represents the ownership, power, or control that its possessor (either an individual or a people) exercises. ... The hand can represent the whole person, symbolizing the achievement of what is promised with the mouth ( 1 Kings 8:15 1 Kings 8:24 ). The hand's raised position can be used in blessing (pl. in Lev 9:22 ), in making an oath before God ( Gen 14:22 ), or in God's making an oath ( Num 14:30 ; right hand in Isa 62:8 ). (Source)

It makes sense, then, that the hand is both God's power to protect us according to the covenants we make and a symbol of our actions (which can be compared with the words of our mouths). Notice how Alma-2 uses the symbol of "hands" in various ways (along with mentions of "power") in his sermon at Zarahemla:

4 And behold, I say unto you, they were delivered out of the hands of the people of king Noah, by the mercy and power of God.
5 And behold, after that, they were brought into bondage by the hands of the Lamanites in the wilderness; yea, I say unto you, they were in captivity, and again the Lord did deliver them out of bondage by the power of his word; and we were brought into this land, and here we began to establish the church of God throughout this land also. ...
19 I say unto you, can ye look up to God at that day with a pure heart and clean hands? I say unto you, can you look up, having the image of God engraven upon your countenances? ...
57 And now I say unto you, all you that are desirous to follow the voice of the good shepherd, come ye out from the wicked, and be ye separate, and touch not their unclean things; and behold, their names shall be blotted out, that the names of the wicked shall not be numbered among the names of the righteous, that the word of God may be fulfilled, which saith: The names of the wicked shall not be mingled with the names of my people;
58 For the names of the righteous shall be written in the book of life, and unto them will I grant an inheritance at my right hand. And now, my brethren, what have ye to say against this? I say unto you, if ye speak against it, it matters not, for the word of God must be fulfilled. (Alma 5)

Summary

The biggest takeaway message for me is that "hand" and "right hand" are symbols associated with the covenant between God and man.  He promises to fulfill his words by the power of His hand when we obey His commandments, and we show our obedience to Him by aligning the actions of our hands and the words of our mouths.