Creating a covenant people

In this post, I will just elaborate on something Lord Wilmore wrote in his series on the endowment pattern. Here, he explained how new names are part of this pattern. I will just repeat and extend the quote from the NRSV Cultural Backgrounds Study Bible

If creation is the act of bringing something into existence, we must ask what constituted existence in the ancient world. In our culture, we consider existence to be either material (i.e., having molecules/taking up space and extending to energy and subatomic particles) or experiential (e.g., abstractions such as love or time). Those definitions, however, are culturally determined. By contrast, in the ancient world something existed when it had a function -- a role to play. In Mesopotamia one way to accomplish this was to name something, because a name designated a thing's function or role...In Egyptian accounts existence was associated with something having been differentiated. The Genesis account includes both of these concepts as God separates and names. (NRSV Cultural Backgrounds Study Bible, "Creation and Existence")

The creation account is an account of opposites. This explanation of the cultural background helps me understand why. By separating water and dry land, both came into existence and got a role to play. The same with light and darkness.

3 And God said, Let there be light: and there was light.

4 And God saw the light, that it was good: and God divided the light from the darkness.

5 And God called the light Day, and the darkness he called Night. And the evening and the morning were the first day. (Genesis 1)

Obviously, this was Lehi's worldview.

11 For it must needs be, that there is an opposition in all things. If not so, my firstborn in the wilderness, righteousness could not be brought to pass, neither wickedness, neither holiness nor misery, neither good nor bad. Wherefore, all things must needs be a compound in one; wherefore, if it should be one body it must needs remain as dead, having no life neither death, nor corruption nor incorruption, happiness nor misery, neither sense nor insensibility.

12 Wherefore, it must needs have been created for a thing of naught; wherefore there would have been no purpose in the end of its creation. Wherefore, this thing must needs destroy the wisdom of God and his eternal purposes, and also the power, and the mercy, and the justice of God. (2 Nephi 2)

Without division leading to opposites, all is compound in one and has no purpose.

This is all just meant as an introduction to another kind of creation: The creation of a covenant people. The first symbol of Lord Wilmore's endowment pattern is a warning to depart. This is a separation of the righteous from the wicked. They each have a role to play but not when they are "compound in one". For instance, the Lamanites "scourge unto [Nephi's] seed, to stir them up in the ways of remembrance." (1 Nephi 2:24). Very early in Nephite history, there is a separation of Nephites and Lamanites (see 2 Nephi 5). Only then can the endowment begin because otherwise the temple is defiled. This pattern repeats as Lord Wilmore has pointed out but I wanted to elaborate on the examples of King Benjamin and his people and the converted Lamanites in the context of separating and naming. We should not be surprised that the endowment pattern resembles the creation.

King Benjamin explains

And moreover, I shall give this people a name, that thereby they may be distinguished above all the people which the Lord God hath brought out of the land of Jerusalem (Mosiah 1:11)

This is happening in Mosiah 5. The people enter into a covenant and get a new name. The creation of a covenant people happens by separation and naming, just like the creation of heaven and earth. The same thing happens with the Lamanite converts in Alma 23

16 And now it came to pass that the king and those who were converted were desirous that they might have a name, that thereby they might be distinguished from their brethren; therefore the king consulted with Aaron and many of their priests, concerning the name that they should take upon them, that they might be distinguished.

17 And it came to pass that they called their names Anti-Nephi-Lehies; and they were called by this name and were no more called Lamanites.

In the next chapter they enter into a covenant and later they physically separate from the Lamanites as they obtain the land of Jershon in Nephite territory.

These are two examples of the creation of a covenant people. I find it interesting that they are created by separation and naming, just like God does in the creation account. This gives them a new purpose, a role to play. The name indicates what this purpose is and it relates to the covenant. King Benjamin's people receive the name of Christ and covenant to keep his commandments. The Anti-Nephi-Lehies take a new name that we don't know the exact meaning of, but it obviously indicates a sympathy with the Nephites that replaces their former animosity. This is suitably marked by the covenant token of burying their weapons in the ground.

Joshua as a new name

While studying the endowment pattern in the Book of Mormon, I researched new names, which are a symbol found frequently in that pattern. One very interesting detail which emerged from that study is found in Numbers 13:16, where Moses gives a new name to the head of the tribe of Ephraim prior to the twelve spies being sent to assess the land of promise.  

8 Of the tribe of Ephraim, Oshea the son of Nun.

...

16 These are the names of the men which Moses sent to spy out the land. And Moses called Oshea the son of Nun Jehoshua.

Oshea means 'salvation.' The new name, given by Jehovah's agent on earth, is Jehoshea ("Joshua" in the KJV). This new name means 'Jehovah is salvation.'  That detail is very intriguing in the context of the gathering of Israel in the latter days. We know Ephraim was prophesied to play a great role in the great latter-day work, and just as Joshua did not fear when he saw the giants in the land of promise, we should not fear anything in mortality once we learn that salvation comes through Jehovah.

Despite everyone else's fear, Joshua and Caleb spoke boldly of their confidence in God's power to lead His people to victory:

7 ...The land, which we passed through to search it, is an exceeding good land.

8 If the Lord delight in us, then he will bring us into this land, and give it us; a land which floweth with milk and honey.

9 Only rebel not ye against the Lord, neither fear ye the people of the land; for they are bread for us: their defence is departed from them, and the Lord is with us: fear them not. (Numbers 14)

Sadly, the people fear the inhabitants of the land of promise more than they trust in God, and as a result they provoke God's wrath. 

22 Because all those men which have seen my glory, and my miracles, which I did in Egypt and in the wilderness, and have tempted me now these ten times, and have not hearkened to my voice;

23 Surely they shall not see the land which I sware unto their fathers, neither shall any of them that provoked me see it ...

29 Your carcases shall fall in this wilderness; and all that were numbered of you, according to your whole number, from twenty years old and upward, which have murmured against me,

30 Doubtless ye shall not come into the land, concerning which I sware to make you dwell therein, save Caleb the son of Jephunneh, and Joshua the son of Nun.

31 But your little ones, which ye said should be a prey, them will I bring in, and they shall know the land which ye have despised.

32 But as for you, your carcases, they shall fall in this wilderness.

33 And your children shall wander in the wilderness forty years, and bear your whoredoms, until your carcases be wasted in the wilderness. (Numbers 14)

This is the provocation spoken of in Jacob 1:7, Alma 12:35-36, Hebrews 3:8-19, and Psalm 95:8. Although the punishment seems quite severe, it is important to note that the people who incurred this wrath did so by rejecting God after experiencing His power and mighty miracles.  Each of these individuals witnessed the ten plagues in Egypt and personally followed Moses through the Red Sea on dry ground.

The context matters. The consequence of sin depends in part on what light we have received.  As Alma-2 teaches quite clearly earlier in Alma 12, the danger of hardening our heart against the word of God is that it can lead us to reject God's power to save:

13 Then if our hearts have been hardened, yea, if we have hardened our hearts against the word, insomuch that it has not been found in us, then will our state be awful, for then we shall be condemned.

14 For our words will condemn us, yea, all our works will condemn us; we shall not be found spotless; and our thoughts will also condemn us; and in this awful state we shall not dare to look up to our God; and we would fain be glad if we could command the rocks and the mountains to fall upon us to hide us from his presence.

15 But this cannot be; we must come forth and stand before him in his glory, and in his power, and in his might, majesty, and dominion, and acknowledge to our everlasting shame that all his judgments are just; that he is just in all his works, and that he is merciful unto the children of men, and that he has all power to save every man that believeth on his name and bringeth forth fruit meet for repentance.

16 And now behold, I say unto you then cometh a death, even a second death, which is a spiritual death; then is a time that whosoever dieth in his sins, as to a temporal death, shall also die a spiritual death; yea, he shall die as to things pertaining unto righteousness.

17 Then is the time when their torments shall be as a lake of fire and brimstone, whose flame ascendeth up forever and ever; and then is the time that they shall be chained down to an everlasting destruction, according to the power and captivity of Satan, he having subjected them according to his will.

18 Then, I say unto you, they shall be as though there had been no redemption made; (Alma 12)

Thus, the new name given by Moses to Hoshea/Joshua is quite significant.  'Jehovah is salvation.'  Upon receiving this knowledge by covenant, we can either choose to live accordingly and follow Christ, or reject His saving power. If we reject Him, one day we will stand before God and "acknowledge to our everlasting shame that all is judgments are just ... that he is merciful unto the children of men, and that he has all power to save every man that believeth on his name and bringeth forth fruit meet for repentance."

It also needs to be mentioned that this new name is the Hebrew name of Jesus. The Messiah took this same name upon Himself when He came to earth.  As I've mentioned previous (see section on 'new names' at the end of this post), with a name comes a purpose. Christ's condescension to earth made salvation possible, so the name 'Joshua' is perfect.

The everlasting covenant and gospel dispensations -- Part 5 (Moses)

The previous parts of this series are found here:

• Part 1: Introduction and Adam
• Part 2: Enoch
• Part 3: Noah
• Part 4: Abraham

I honestly thought that I would combine at least 2-3 dispensations in each post, but this turned out to be more elaborate and a longer series than anticipated. 

Moses

This post is about the gospel dispensation of Moses. Usually, there is a general apostasy between the dispensations. But this dispensation is a bit different in that regard. We know that there was a righteous priesthood line from Abraham: Isaac, Jacob and Joseph. They lived in Egypt and prospered before they were enslaved. The text does not really say anything about the people of Israel falling into apostasy and it does not really seem to be the case. The midwives described in Exodus 1 feared God and in Exodus 2, the people cried to him in their agony.

Yet, this is counted as one of the seven gospel dispensations, perhaps because there is a re-establishment of the everlasting covenant, which underscores my point of this series. 

And God heard their groaning, and God remembered his covenant with Abraham, with Isaac, and with Jacob. (Exodus 2:24)

This is the backdrop of the Exodus. God remembers the covenant with Abraham and therefore he liberates the people of Israel and establishes a covenant with them, basically giving them the terms by which they can obtain the blessings promised to Abraham's seed. So this is another example of a connection between the dispensations with a new dispensation referring to other dispensations. When it comes to Moses and Abraham, this article discusses the many similarities between the Book of Moses and the Apocalypse of Abraham. 

There are also obvious similarities to Noah. The name, Moses, means "to pull/draw out" (implied: of water). This is what he is called because he is placed in an ark on the Nile and pulled out or rescued by Pharaoh's daughter. Lord Wilmore describes more about the similarities here. 

The similarities to Enoch are also interesting. Compare Moses 1 and Moses 7:

1 The words of God, which he spake unto Moses at a time when Moses was caught up into an exceedingly high mountain,

2 And he saw God face to face, and he talked with him, and the glory of God was upon Moses; therefore Moses could endure his presence.

3 And God spake unto Moses, saying: Behold, I am the Lord God Almighty, and Endless is my name; for I am without beginning of days or end of years; and is not this endless?

4 And, behold, thou art my son; wherefore look, and I will show thee the workmanship of mine hands; but not all, for my works are without end, and also my words, for they never cease. (Moses 1)

This is Moses talking with God face to face on a mountain and being shown his works. Just like what Enoch experienced. 

3 And it came to pass that I turned and went up on the mount; and as I stood upon the mount, I beheld the heavens open, and I was clothed upon with glory;

4 And I saw the Lord; and he stood before my face, and he talked with me, even as a man talketh one with another, face to face; and he said unto me: Look, and I will show unto thee the world for the space of many generations. (Moses 7)

Enoch establishes Zion on the mountain and they are blessed there (see Moses 7:17-18). "In the process of time" they are taken up because of their righteousness. So Enoch was blessed on the mountain, talked with God face to face and saw his glory. But he also managed to gather a people and prepare them for that same experience. The same can be said about Moses on Mount Sinai, except he did not manage to give the people the same experience. The people of Israel were invited to prepare to be in God's presence too, but failed (see Exodus 20:18-19). D&C 84 explains this in more detail. 

19 And this greater priesthood administereth the gospel and holdeth the key of the mysteries of the kingdom, even the key of the knowledge of God.

20 Therefore, in the ordinances thereof, the power of godliness is manifest.

21 And without the ordinances thereof, and the authority of the priesthood, the power of godliness is not manifest unto men in the flesh;

22 For without this no man can see the face of God, even the Father, and live.

23 Now this Moses plainly taught to the children of Israel in the wilderness, and sought diligently to sanctify his people that they might behold the face of God;

24 But they hardened their hearts and could not endure his presence; therefore, the Lord in his wrath, for his anger was kindled against them, swore that they should not enter into his rest while in the wilderness, which rest is the fulness of his glory.

25 Therefore, he took Moses out of their midst, and the Holy Priesthood also;

26 And the lesser priesthood continued, which priesthood holdeth the key of the ministering of angels and the preparatory gospel

We learn from these verses that the priesthood is the key to seeing the face of God like Moses and Enoch did. Being ordained after his holy order is one of the characteristics of the gospel dispensations that we have discussed in this series. But since the Israelites were not ready, they got the lesser priesthood and wandered around in the wilderness without entering into his rest. The higher priesthood came back with Jesus Christ in the next dispensation. That is the topic for the next post.

But as always, there are references to the creation in conjunction with a gospel dispensation. Like Abraham, Moses is the source of one of our creation accounts. Also, just like Abraham 3 is the precursor of the creation account in Abraham 4 (as explained in the previous post of this series), Moses 1 is the precursor of the creation account in Moses 2. As explained in this article, Moses 1 (as well as the whole Book of Moses) is an example of ancient ascent literature, a temple text describing a journey that ultimately leads to God's presence. This represents the reversal of the creation and fall. (See figure 1 and figure 2 in the linked article). I consider individual covenants as steps on this way and the everlasting covenant as the sum total making up this journey that leads back to God's presence. Moses epitomized this journey, the way of life, but the children of Israel epitomized the other way, the way of death. This serves as a warning to the latter-day Israel in the final dispensation of the fullness of times.

Endowment Narratives in the Book of Mormon, Part 6

In this post, we'll close out the endowment pattern series by looking at the Doctrine & Covenants and see how the symbolism of Adam and Eve that we find repeated throughout scriptural account of the formation of new covenant groups can also be found in our modern day revelations.  God is calling us to leave the fallen world behind, enter the metaphorical wilderness, cross over the waters and enter into His rest. 

We'll conclude this series by looking at a pretty direct historical example in church history, then we'll conclude the series by reviewing some verses from the Doctrine & Covenants in which some of the elements of the endowment pattern are put to use. Below that, I'll list some verses from the Doctrine & Covenants which beautifully portray how this same endowment pattern is in effect for covenant-keeping latter-day saints in our day.

Exodus from Nauvoo

After the cold-blooded murder of their prophet and his brother, the saints were called to leave Nauvoo and travel into the wilderness to find refuge in the mountains to the west. They "covenant[ed] to leave no one behind... who wished to go west" (Saints, Vol. 1, Ch. 46).  This trek began by crossing the Mississippi river and camping (in tents) along the banks of the Mississippi, then making the trek west.

Reading Doctrine & Covenants 136 with the endowment pattern in mind is pretty interesting:

2 Let all the people of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, and those who journey with them, be organized into companies, with a covenant and promise to keep all the commandments and statutes of the Lord our God.

3 Let the companies be organized with captains of hundreds, captains of fifties, and captains of tens, with a president and his two counselors at their head, under the direction of the Twelve Apostles.

4 And this shall be our covenant—that we will walk in all the ordinances of the Lord. ...

8 Let each company bear an equal proportion, according to the dividend of their property, in taking the poor, the widows, the fatherless, and the families of those who have gone into the army, that the cries of the widow and the fatherless come not up into the ears of the Lord against this people.

9 Let each company prepare houses, and fields for raising grain, for those who are to remain behind this season; and this is the will of the Lord concerning his people.

10 Let every man use all his influence and property to remove this people to the place where the Lord shall locate a stake of Zion.

11 And if ye do this with a pure heart, in all faithfulness, ye shall be blessed; you shall be blessed in your flocks, and in your herds, and in your fields, and in your houses, and in your families. (D&C 136)

Conclusion

God desires to bless us with "the greatest of all blessings" if we will hearken to His voice and covenant to obey Him and trust in Him to guide us to a land of plenty. His promise is that if we hearken to His voice, He will teach us through (priesthood ordinances and temple covenants) to call upon Him with a voice that He promises to hear.

1 Listen to the voice of Jesus Christ, your Redeemer, the Great I Am, whose arm of mercy hath atoned for your sins;

2 Who will gather his people even as a hen gathereth her chickens under her wings, even as many as will hearken to my voice and humble themselves before me, and call upon me in mighty prayer. (Doctrine & Covenants 29)

 

66 Behold, that which you hear is as the voice of one crying in the wilderness—in the wilderness, because you cannot see him—my voice, because my voice is Spirit; my Spirit is truth; truth abideth and hath no end; and if it be in you it shall abound. (Doctrine & Covenants 88)

 

1 Hearken and hear, O ye my people, saith the Lord and your God, ye whom I delight to bless with the greatest of all blessings, ye that hear me; (Doctrine & Covenants 41)