Gold and the Two Ways -- part 2

This is part 2 of a series.  Part 1 is found here.

Gold and the Two Ways in the Old Testament/Book of Moses

A previous post discussing one meaning of the name Cain ("get gain") is worth mentioning in this context. The Book of Moses teaches quite clearly how Cain and Abel are archetypes for each of these two ways.  Abel brings an offering which the Lord respected (see Moses 5:20). Cain did not. "Who is the Lord that I should know him?" (Moses 5:16)

Abel's willingness to sacrifice even the fat of the firstling of his flock (a precious substance to be sure) would have led him to find this hidden wisdom, had he not been murdered by the secret combination Cain entered with Satan for the purpose of getting gain. It's a set up for the two ways: the way of life leads to hidden wisdom but requires a willingness to sacrifice riches, whereas the way of death leads one to enter a secret combination for the purpose of obtaining riches.

This seems to me to be essence of a foundational doctrine that shows up over and over again in the Old Testament.  Below is a sampling of examples in no particular order.  For each example, I'll highlight the "wisdom over worldly wealth" sections in green and the "worldly wealth over wisdom" sections in red.

Exodus 25

The Lord gives Moses specific instructions on how to build the tabernacle, stating explicitly that (1) it is to be made from the finest materials freely donated for that purpose (see verse 2; see also Exodus 35:5, 22), and (2) the tabernacle is to be made according to a heavenly pattern revealed to Moses on the mount (see verse 40).

1 And the Lord spake unto Moses, saying,
2 Speak unto the children of Israel, that they bring me an offering: of every man that giveth it willingly with his heart ye shall take my offering.
3 And this is the offering which ye shall take of them; gold, and silver, and brass, ...
8 And let them make me a sanctuary; that I may dwell among them. ...
10 ¶ And they shall make an ark of shittim wood: ...
11 And thou shalt overlay it with pure gold, ...
13 And thou shalt make staves of shittim wood, and overlay them with gold. ...
17 And thou shalt make a mercy seat of pure gold: ...
18 And thou shalt make two cherubims of gold, ...
19 And make one cherub on the one end, and the other cherub on the other end: even of the mercy seat shall ye make the cherubims on the two ends thereof.
20 And the cherubims shall stretch forth their wings on high, covering the mercy seat with their wings, and their faces shall look one to another; toward the mercy seat shall the faces of the cherubims be.
21 And thou shalt put the mercy seat above upon the ark; and in the ark thou shalt put the testimony that I shall give thee.
22 And there I will meet with thee, and I will commune with thee from above the mercy seat, from between the two cherubims which are upon the ark of the testimony, of all things which I will give thee in commandment unto the children of Israel.
23 ¶ Thou shalt also make a table of shittim wood: ...
24 And thou shalt overlay it with pure gold,...
28 And thou shalt make the staves of shittim wood, and overlay them with gold, ...
29 And thou shalt make the dishes thereof, and spoons thereof, and covers thereof, and bowls thereof, to cover withal: of pure gold shalt thou make them. ...
31 ¶ And thou shalt make a candlestick of pure gold: ...
36 Their knops and their branches shall be of the same: all it shall be one beaten work of pure gold. ...
38 And the tongs thereof, and the snuffdishes thereof, shall be of pure gold.
39 Of a talent of pure gold shall he make it, with all these vessels.
40 And look that thou make them after their pattern, which was shewed thee in the mount. (Exodus 25)

Daniel 5

2 Belshazzar, whiles he tasted the wine, commanded to bring the golden and silver vessels which his father Nebuchadnezzar had taken out of the temple which was in Jerusalem; that the king, and his princes, his wives, and his concubines, might drink therein.
3 Then they brought the golden vessels that were taken out of the temple of the house of God which was at Jerusalem; and the king, and his princes, his wives, and his concubines, drank in them.
4 They drank wine, and praised the gods of gold, and of silver, of brass, of iron, of wood, and of stone. (Daniel 5)

Proverbs 8

10 Receive my instruction, and not silver; and knowledge rather than choice gold.
11 For wisdom is better than rubies; and all the things that may be desired are not to be compared to it. (Proverbs 8)

Lamentations 4

1 How the gold has grown dim,
how the pure gold is changed!
The sacred stones lie scattered
at the head of every street.
2 The precious children of Zion,
worth their weight in fine gold—
how they are reckoned as earthen pots,
the work of a potter’s hands! (Lamentations 4, NRSV))

Ezekiel 16

17 Thou hast also taken thy fair jewels of my gold and of my silver, which I had given thee, and madest to thyself images of men, and didst commit whoredom with them, (Ezekiel 16; see also this post)

Isaiah 2

7 Their land also is full of silver and gold, neither is there any end of their treasures; their land is also full of horses, neither is there any end of their chariots:
8 Their land also is full of idols; they worship the work of their own hands, that which their own fingers have made: (Isaiah 2)

Isaiah 31

6 ¶ Turn ye unto him from whom the children of Israel have deeply revolted.
7 For in that day every man shall cast away his idols of silver, and his idols of gold, which your own hands have made unto you for a sin. (Isaiah 31)

Conclusion

The final example I'll cite to conclude this section does not directly mention gold, but this pattern goes beyond gold itself. Notice how Isaiah describes "the daughters of Zion" during a period of covenant rebellion:

16 ¶ Moreover the Lord saith, Because the daughters of Zion are haughty, and walk with stretched forth necks and wanton eyes, walking and mincing as they go, and making a tinkling with their feet:
17 Therefore the Lord will smite with a scab the crown of the head of the daughters of Zion, and the Lord will discover their secret parts.
18 In that day the Lord will take away the bravery of their tinkling ornaments about their feet, and their cauls, and their round tires like the moon,
19 The chains, and the bracelets, and the mufflers,
20 The bonnets, and the ornaments of the legs, and the headbands, and the tablets, and the earrings,
21 The rings, and nose jewels,
22 The changeable suits of apparel, and the mantles, and the wimples, and the crisping pins,
23 The glasses, and the fine linen, and the hoods, and the veils.
24 And it shall come to pass, that instead of sweet smell there shall be stink; and instead of a girdle a rent; and instead of well set hair baldness; and instead of a stomacher a girding of sackcloth; and burning instead of beauty. (Isaiah 3)

"Divided hither and thither" -- a sermon in a phrase, part 2

Please read part 1 of this series before reading on.

We left off with a brief discussion of several unique elements had in common among Nephi-2, Elijah, and Moses. These are the three prophets mentioned in connection with "divid[ing] hither and thither." Other details at least two of them share in common are these:

• Sealing power (Nephi-2 and Elijah)
• Power over the elements (All three)
• Dividing and crossing over water on dry ground (Moses and Elijah)
• Taken up to heaven rather than dying (All three)
• Important post-mortal responsibilities including bestowal of priesthood keys (Moses and Elijah)

Since posting the first part, I've thought more about what these three prophets have in common as well as what we're supposed to learn from all of this. The Venn diagram has expanded a little:

I'll probably dive deeper into these new additions in future posts, especially shining faces, but for now I'll just give a brief summary below.

Shining faces

A shining face is a symbol of God's favor and communion with heavenly beings. Nephi-2 is seen to have a shining face while communing with angels:

36 And it came to pass that he turned him about, and behold, he saw through the cloud of darkness the faces of Nephi and Lehi; and behold, they did shine exceedingly, even as the faces of angels. And he beheld that they did lift their eyes to heaven; and they were in the attitude as if talking or lifting their voices to some being whom they beheld.
37 And it came to pass that this man did cry unto the multitude, that they might turn and look. And behold, there was power given unto them that they did turn and look; and they did behold the faces of Nephi and Lehi.
38 And they said unto the man: Behold, what do all these things mean, and who is it with whom these men do converse?
39 Now the man’s name was Aminadab. And Aminadab said unto them: They do converse with the angels of God. (Helaman 5)

Of course Moses' face shone after he came down from speaking with Jehovah face to face.

This symbol also points our mind to Christ, whose face shone on the Mount of Transfiguration, at which time He also spake with Moses and Elias (Elijah).

1 And after six days Jesus taketh Peter, James, and John his brother, and bringeth them up into an high mountain apart,
2 And was transfigured before them: and his face did shine as the sun, and his raiment was white as the light.
3 And, behold, there appeared unto them Moses and Elias talking with him. (Matthew 17)

Dividing the waters and Priesthood Keys

Dividing the waters is a creation reference.  At the creation, God set the bounds of the sea (a symbol of death and chaos). This comes up several times in the Old Testament.

• Job 38:10-11
• Proverbs 8:29
• Psalm 104:9
• Jeremiah 5:22

The power to divide the water and pass through on dry ground is an act of creation of sorts. 

In the case of Elijah and Nephi-2, a special sealing power is given to them by God which allows them to cause a famine in the land. This done by declaring there shall be no rain in the land. (See 1 Kings 17:1; Helaman 11:17.)  Stisa pointed out to me that this is a variation on separating water and land (and creating dry ground in a bad way).

Creation by division

Another facet of this creation symbolism embedded within dividing the waters is that in the ancient Hebrew understanding, creation happens as an act of "forming or fashioning by cutting" or "shaping." (source)  You could compare it to the process of transforming a stick into an arrow. 

Covenants are also "cut" in Hebrew. Symbolism involving cutting a covenant include circumcision, purity laws, and actual cutting of animals in half (see Genesis 15). This is completely foreign to our modern culture, but it is noteworthy that cutting plays a central role in the ancient understanding of both divine creation and covenant-making. This does not seem coincidental.

This symbol also points our minds to Christ.  Just as Nephi-2 was left alone standing in the midst of a people divided in their opinion of him, Christ's invitation to mankind creates a division between those who will humble themselves and repent/follow Him and those who will harden themselves against the word.

It seems this is the message that Mormon is uncertain we'll get, so just after the account of Nephi-2 causing and then ending the famine, Mormon inserts a long aside about human wickedness, found in Helaman 12. In this passage, Mormon directly connects covenant and creation as he compares man to dust:

6 Behold, they do not desire that the Lord their God, who hath created them, should rule and reign over them; notwithstanding his great goodness and his mercy towards them, they do set at naught his counsels, and they will not that he should be their guide.
7 O how great is the nothingness of the children of men; yea, even they are less than the dust of the earth.
8 For behold, the dust of the earth moveth hither and thither, to the dividing asunder, at the command of our great and everlasting God. (Helaman 12)

In the verses that follow, Mormon repeatedly states that various elements of the creation will obey the word of God (unlike man). It's a powerful connection between creation and covenant.

Conclusion -- The Deeper Message

I included "a sermon in a phrase" in the title of this series for a reason.  Identifying the connecting phrase "divided hither and thither" has opened my mind to a deeper understanding of priesthood authority and the purpose of mortality. I've also gained a deeper appreciation of Jesus Christ's role as the Creator of heaven and earth as well as the Father of our salvation.

In only four words, a connection is made between Nephi-2, Moses, and Elijah.  Connections can then be made between these three and Christ, with additional connections to shining faces, communicating directly with heavenly Beings, and priesthood power offering power over the chaos just as these prophets had power to divide the waters.

I'm grateful for so much beautiful doctrine tucked away in just a passing phrase.