This post continues the exploration of an endowment pattern found throughout the Book of Mormon in which a new covenant group is formed and called by God to:
- leave the fallen world behind,
- enter into the wilderness,
- learn to be led by the hand of God, and
- find a promised land.
In previous installments of this series, we've focused on many symbols and details shared in these stories, and then discussed the meaning of those symbols. I've mentioned that I believe this pattern is typified by the story of Adam and Eve being cast out of the Garden of Eden into the world to fulfill the first commandment given to them by God, that they should "be fruitful, and multiply, and replenish the earth, and subdue it: and have dominion over ... every living thing that moveth upon [it]." (See Genesis 1:28.) In this post, we'll look at other ancient stories which also follow this endowment pattern, at least to some degree, and see what we can learn.
There are two comprehensive examples, Abraham and Moses, followed by a few partial examples. We'll begin the Abraham, as found in Genesis and the Book of Abraham. With each example we cover, I'll begin by giving references to the symbols we've already discussed, then I'll give a general assessment of how the endowment pattern relates to that story.
Abraham
Cry unto God: Abraham 1:15 "...I lifted up my voice unto the Lord my God, and the Lord hearkened and heard..."
Warned to depart: Abraham 2:3 "Now the Lord had said unto me: Abraham, get thee out of thy country, and from thy kindred, and from thy father’s house, unto a land that I will show thee." Also Genesis 12:1.
Escape secret plans to murder: Abraham 1:7, 12, 15
Bring all who will hearken: See also Abraham 2:6 for a connection to a promise contained in the Abrahamic covenant that all who hearken to God's voice will be given to Abraham as his "seed" for "an everlasting possession."
Pass through a wilderness: Genesis 12:9 makes reference to the Negev, a desert region in the south of Palestine.
"Many days": Not specifically found, but we know from the chronology of the story that the journey was long.
Tents: Genesis 12:8; Abraham 2:15, 20
Animals: Genesis 13:2.
Seeds: A reference to bringing physical seeds or grain is not found. Abraham 2:15 mentions "all our substance that we had gathered." See also Genesis 12:5. There is an important connection to the word "seed" in Abraham 2:6 (see note about "hearken" above). See also Abraham 3:14.
Inherit a new land: Abraham 2:3
New Name: Genesis 17:5.
Obedience to Commandments: Genesis 22:18.
"Prosper": Genesis 13:2
Led by a righteous patriarch/king: Abraham 1:2-3 contains father/son language (he sought "the blessings of the fathers" and desired to be "a father of many nations" and "a rightful heir" and "a prince of peace." Verse 3 describes Adam as the Firstborn and the first father.)
Moses
Cry unto God: Exodus 2:23 - "...the children of Israel sighed by reason of the bondage, and they cried, and their cry came up unto God by reason of the bondage." See also Exodus 3:9.
Warned to depart: See Exodus 3:8-10.
Escape plans to murder: Pharaoh's plan for the Israelites is bondage and captivity.
Bring all who will hearken: Exodus 3:16-18 - "Go, and gather the elders of Israel together, and say unto them, The Lord God of your fathers, the God of Abraham, of Isaac, and of Jacob, appeared unto me ... And they shall hearken to thy voice"
Pass through a wilderness: Exodus 13:20.
"Many days": The Israelites wandered forty years in the wilderness.
Tents: The tent/tabernacle of the congregation is a major topic of the later chapters of Exodus. See Exodus 39:32 for example.
Animals: Exodus 12:38. Of additional note, Moses was keeping the flock of his father in law at the time of his call on Horeb.
Seeds: Manna, which fed the children of Israel of forty years, is described as "like coriander seed" in Exodus 16:31.
Inherit a new land: Exodus 3:17.
New Name: Interesting note -- In Numbers 13, Moses sends twelve spies to assess the land of promise. He gives a new name to Hoshea, the head of the tribe of Ephraim in Numbers 13:16 (This will be the topic of a standalone post in the near future.)
Obedience to Commandments/"Prosper": Deuteronomy 29:9 - "Keep therefore the words of this covenant, and do them, that ye may prosper in all that ye do."
Led by a righteous patriarch/king: Moses has a dual lineage. He is a Levite by birth (Exodus 2:1) but was raised in the house of Pharaoh (Exodus 2:10).
The story of Moses is long and complex, but these symbols offer fascinating insights into deeper meaning. For example, notice in Exodus 9 how the fiery hail destroys the Egyptians' cattle and some of their crops (interestingly only those which had fully ripened -- more about this in a future post). See Exodus 9:19-22, 31-32. The cattle of the Israelites had been gathered to Goshen and were unaffected (see Exodus 9:26).
Incomplete examples
From this point on, we won't be dealing with complete patterns. The following examples contain a few of the symbols, but I'm not sure how interpret these examples aside from pointing out the symbols that are present.
Christ
The story of the beginning of Christ's earthly ministry breaks the pattern in some ways, but many of the same symbols are present when we look at the ministry of John the Baptist.
Mark describes it like this:
12 immediately the Spirit driveth him into the .
13 And he was there in the wilderness forty days, tempted of Satan; and was with the wild beasts; and the angels ministered unto him. (Mark 1)
Cry unto God: We don't have a direct mention of Christ crying to God (at least not at the beginning of His ministry), but we do see John the Baptist in the wilderness. John is described as "the voice of one crying in the wilderness" (Matthew 3:3).
Warned to depart: See Matthew 3:7.
Pass through a wilderness: Matthew 4:1, Luke 4:1.
"Many days": Forty days in the wilderness
Seeds: Wheat mentioned in the context of gathering in Matthew 3:12 and Luke 3:17.
Animals: "with the wild beasts" in Mark 1:13
Enos
This example is almost a counter-example in some ways. The Nephites are in decline as covenant-keepers.
Enos uses some familiar language as he describes his conversion process:
3 Behold, I went to hunt beasts in the forests; and the words which I had often heard my father speak concerning eternal life, and the of the saints, deep into my heart.
4 And my soul ; and I down before my Maker, and I unto him in mighty and supplication for mine own soul; and all the day long did I cry unto him; yea, and when the night came I did still raise my voice high that it reached the heavens. (Enos 1)
He is reminded of the central promise connecting obedience and that promised land, as well as the covenant God made with the Nephites:
10 And while I was thus struggling in the spirit, behold, the voice of the Lord came into my again, saying: I will visit thy brethren according to their diligence in keeping my commandments. I have unto them this land, and it is a holy land; and I it not save it be for the cause of iniquity; wherefore, I will visit thy brethren according as I have said; and their will I bring down with sorrow upon their own heads. ...
16 And I had faith, and I did cry unto God that he would the ; and he covenanted with me that he would forth unto the Lamanites in his own due time.
17 And I, Enos, it would be according to the covenant which he had made; wherefore my soul did rest.
He also contrasts the Nephites and Lamanites using some of these symbols, but the meaning doesn't seem completely clear:
20 And I bear record that the people of Nephi did seek diligently to the Lamanites unto the true faith in God. But our were vain; their was fixed, and they were led by their evil nature that they became wild, and ferocious, and a people, full of and ; feeding upon beasts of prey; dwelling in , and wandering about in the wilderness with a short skin girdle about their loins and their heads shaven; and their skill was in the , and in the cimeter, and the ax. And many of them did eat nothing save it was raw meat; and they were continually seeking to destroy us.
21 And it came to pass that the people of Nephi did till the land, and all manner of grain, and of fruit, and of herds, and flocks of all manner of cattle of every kind, and goats, and wild goats, and also many horses.
I honestly don't know how to interpret these verses. On the one hand it seems the Nephites are trying to bring about the promises of God to restore the Gospel to the Lamanites, but they are unsuccessful due to their own wickedness (see verse 22). Wandering in the wilderness and feeding upon beasts of prey makes sense in this symbolic context, but why does Enos describe the Lamanites as dwelling in tents? Perhaps he's simply documenting the facts as they are, or perhaps he's indicating symbolically that the Lamanites had not yet found the rest of the Lord. Verse 21 seems more obviously in line with the endowment pattern. Even though I don't understand all of the deeper meaning here, it is certainly interesting to ponder how these symbol impact the message of Enos' account.
Lehi's dream
This example is an endowment pattern embedded within another endowment pattern. Just after leaving Jerusalem, as his family was camped in tents in the wilderness, Lehi has this dream of the tree of life. It is interesting to note that in the first edition of the Book of Mormon, 1 Nephi 6-9 were all one chapter. Notice how the vision of the tree of life is embedded within a larger narrative -- beginning right after the brothers take wives and right before Nephi closes the chapter by describing his plates and their content.
Notice 1 Nephi 8:1-2, which opens the account of the dream --
1 And it came to pass that we had gathered together all manner of of every kind, both of grain of every kind, and also of the seeds of fruit of every kind.
2 And it came to pass that while my father tarried in the wilderness he spake unto us, saying: Behold, I have a dream; or, in other words, I have a .
And 1 Nephi 9:1, which concludes the account of the dream --
1 And all these things did my father see, and hear, and speak, as he dwelt in a tent, in the , and also a great many more things, which cannot be written upon these plates.
Cry unto God: "I began to pray unto the Lord that he would have mercy on me, according to the multitude of his tender mercies."
Bring all who will hearken:
14 ... I beheld your mother Sariah, and Sam, and ; and they stood as if they knew not whither they should go.
15 And it came to pass that I beckoned unto them; and I also did say unto them with a loud voice that they should come unto me, and partake of the fruit, which was desirable above all other fruit.
16 And it came to pass that they did come unto me and partake of the fruit also.
17 And it came to pass that I was desirous that Laman and Lemuel should come and partake of the fruit also; wherefore, I cast mine eyes towards the head of the river, that perhaps I might see them.
18 And it came to pass that I saw them, but they would come unto me and partake of the fruit.
Pass through a wilderness: "a dark and dreary wilderness" in verse 4
"Many days": "many hours in darkness" in verse 8
Other examples
This pattern is found in other stories as well. Consider the story of Isaac in Genesis 26 and see how many of these elements are contained in that account. Consider what it means that Abraham sent Hagar and Ishmael into the wilderness and the Lord hear Hagar's cry and blessed them with water (see Genesis 21:12-21). As we deepen our understanding of each individua symbol and also of the pattern as a whole, we can find beautiful new messages in these familiar stories.
Conclusion
This post is very long and contains far more references than I normally include in a single post. I sincerely hope you will take the time to look these up on your own and study these examples for yourself. I hope this exercise has been fruitful for you.
This pattern is so intimately connected to covenants, and yet (aside from the accounts of Abraham, King Benjamin, and Alma-1) covenants are not really ever the central focus of the stories. This is a great example of how hidden wisdom is contained in the scriptures, waiting to be discovered by those with eyes to see.
In my next post -- which I intend to be the final post in this series -- we will turn to the Doctrine & Covenants and look at hos some of these same symbols are found in latter-day revelations. For me, this brings the message out of the ancient past and right into my heart. It is clear that God stand ready to bless us with the same blessing he gave His people throughout human history.