Old Testament Lesson 15

Gospel Doctrine Lesson #15, Look to God and Live
Numbers 11-14, 21




Background: The Israelites have spent months at Mt Sinai, where they have received the Mosaic Law and built the Tabernacle, a mobile temple. The people refused to enter into God’s presence, and so lost the main blessings of the Melchizedek Priesthood and the key to the “mysteries of godliness.” In its place, they received the Levitical or Aaronic Priesthood to perform outward ordinances in the tabernacle, with the view that these would prepare them for the higher ordinances later on (D&C 84:19-27).

D&C 84  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;

 27 Which gospel is the gospel of repentance and of baptism, and the remission of sins, and the law of carnal commandments, which the Lord in his wrath caused to continue with the house of Aaron among the children of Israel until John, whom God raised up, being filled with the Holy Ghost from his mother’s womb.

Already the Israelites have shown intent to murmur and rebel, choosing to replace Jehovah with the golden calf, complaining about God leading them into the wilderness to die of thirst and/or starvation, etc. It is only through God and Moses’ patience that the people are not destroyed and replaced. These rebellions will occur frequently and often, just like Laman and Lemuel…

With the Tabernacle (temple or House of God) and the Ark of the Covenant/Mercy Seat (God’s throne) to lead the way, Israel departs from Sinai and heads towards the Promised Land.

Flesh Pots of Egypt again
Numbers 11

After several months of eating manna, the people began to wish for a varied diet. They reminisce about the meat they had to eat in Egypt, and murmured.

Flesh Pots is a term that sounds almost like it has a sexual connotation, but in the OT it doesn’t.  (More modern usage makes this QUITE a sexual term, but here it doesn’t) It simply hearkens back to the pots of food in Egypt.  The boiling cauldrons.  In a way it’s a metaphor for wanting what they can’t have. 

One of the things we didn’t cover last week is in Exodus 16.  In it we read that God provided both manna and quail, supposedly as a permanent solution. Why would they long for meat now, if quail was already provided?

Exodus 16 ¹¹ And the Lord spoke to Moses, saying, ¹² “I have heard the complaints of the children of Israel. Speak to them, saying, ‘At twilight you shall eat meat, and in the morning you shall be filled with bread. And you shall know that I am the Lord your God.’”

¹³ So it was that quails came up at evening and covered the camp, and in the morning the dew lay all around the camp. ¹⁴ And when the layer of dew lifted, there, on the surface of the wilderness, was a small round substance, as fine as frost on the ground. 

 In Numbers 11:13, Moses tells the Lord that he has no idea how to provide enough meat for the people.

Number 11 ¹³ Where am I to get meat to give to all these people? For they weep all over me, saying, ‘Give us meat, that we may eat.’ ¹⁴ I am not able to bear all these people alone, because the burden is too heavy for me.

 If God had already provided quail in the past, why would Moses now be uncertain on how to provide quail again? Also, was the quail given in Exodus 16 a temporary event, or was it to be a continual event for them? If continual, why would they need to ask for meat again and complain about the Egyptian flesh pots? If temporary, why did they complain again about Egyptian flesh pots, and instead ask God to provide quail again? And if so, why would God satisfy their need at Sinai, but deal with them angrily now?

Number 11 ³¹ Now a wind went out from the Lord, and it brought quail from the sea and left them fluttering near the camp, about a day’s journey on this side and about a day’s journey on the other side, all around the camp, and about two cubits above the surface of the ground. ³² And the people stayed up all that day, all night, and all the next day, and gathered the quail (he who gathered least gathered ten homers); and they spread themout for themselves all around the camp.

The Documentary Hypothesis

This is an example of evidence for the Documentary Hypothesis. As discussed before, some scholars believe that the Old Testament and particularly the Books of Moses as we now have them were compiled from various oral traditions somewhere between 800-500 BC. Here we see the same story told twice, but with a different ending. The two oral traditions were brought into Old Testament text and treated as two separate incidents by later scribes, such as Ezra.

According to the Documentary Hypothesis, there were a variety of sources that combined over centuries to make the Bible as we now have it. The earliest written versions were by “J” (the Yahwist /Jehovah) and “E” (the Elohist / Elohim). Later additions and changes were made by “D” (Deuteronomist), “P” (Priest) and “R” (Redactor – usually thought to be Ezra). Little by little, these various versions were combined into the Old Testament we now have.

We see another example in the story of getting water at Meribah. We see Moses and Israel going twice to a place named Meribah. In the first example, God gladly gives them water by having an angel stand above the rock Moses is to strike (Exodus 17). In the second instance, Moses goes to the rock and angrily chastises Israel asking them if he has to get them water from a rock before they will believe him. God is angry with Moses and Aaron for not giving God credit for the miracle, and does not allow either of them to enter into the Promised Land (Numbers 20).

Here we see the conflict that early authors brought into the sacred writ.

“J” wanted to ensure King David and the temple priests looked good,

“E” sought to show Moses and the patriarchs as strong and righteous individuals.

“J” had God chastise Moses and Aaron at Meribah

“E” did not such thing.

“J” was written in the land of Judah, probably in King Solomon’s reign, or the reign of his son.

“E” wrote his version of the sacred text after the division of Judah and Israel in King Jeroboam’s day, to support their version of the faith and to support their version of the priesthood, based upon Moses’ authority, and not on Aaron’s.

Interestingly, the Book of Mormon does mention Moses at Meribah (2 Ne 25:20).

 20 And now, my brethren, I have spoken plainly that ye cannot err. And as the Lord God liveth that brought Israel up out of the land of Egypt, and gave unto Moses power that he should heal the nations after they had been bitten by the poisonous serpents, if they would cast their eyes unto the serpent which he did raise up before them, and also gave him power that he should smite the rock and the water should come forth; yea, behold I say unto you, that as these things are true, and as the Lord God liveth, there is none other name given under heaven save it be this Jesus Christ, of which I have spoken, whereby man can be saved.

There is no mention of God chastising Moses, but rather that Moses did great miracles by God’s power. This is exactly how “E” would have written the story in the northern kingdom of Israel. Interestingly, there is a potentially stronger tie-in to the Book of Mormon.  (John Barney discussed the documentary hypothesis in Dialogue: A Journal of Mormon thought here.) John Sorensen, an LDS scholar “goes on to state as his thesis that the variant Old Testament text of the brass plates corresponds to one of the "documents" from which the Pentateuch was compiled. In particular, he suggests E for this role, due to its origins in the north, the ancestral home of Lehi, and for other reasons.” In other words, Laban’s Brass Plates most likely originated in the northern kingdom of Israel, and may have been the original source for “E”! 

This is one of the reasons it’s important to not be an “offender for a word”, or base your testimony or belief in one word or phrase.  Think of the time span we are talking about here.  If the Torah is compiled from 800-500bce from documents written thousands of years ago, and more than that being compiled from various documents, the J, E, D, R, P…when I discuss the idea that “Jehovah” said a certain thing to “Elohim”, or they relate together in a certain way, keep in mind that these documents are being compiled together in ways we don’t entirely understand, and we do not want to base our testimony on something this shaky.  When I have said earlier this year that Jehovah always appears for Elohim, and Patriarch Johnson or others disagree, intimating that perhaps Elohim himself appeared…we cannot know this from the Torah, from these books of the bible.  We use our best guess. 

Were they compiled together by an inspired prophet such as Isaiah?  Were they compiled by the uninspired Deuteronomists as a political move to push their agenda?  We don’t know.  The history is too old and the compilation is too old to know.  The Documentary Hypothesis is at play here in the OT as well as the NT.  There is a nice 8 part article written by a church member that appears in the Ensign in the early 80s that discusses how the Bible came to be.  It’s an excellent resource to explore this formation.  It is linked at the end of today’s lesson.  The articles that discuss the Brass Plates being a source or THE source for E are linked here in the lesson as well.

The Seventy Elders

Another example…
In Exodus 24 (see previous), we see that 70 elders went with Moses and saw God. In Numbers 11:14-17, we see where the seventy are called up and chosen.

Numbers 11 ¹⁶ So the Lord said to Moses: “Gather to Me seventy men of the elders of Israel, whom you know to be the elders of the people and officers over them; bring them to the tabernacle of meeting, that they may stand there with you. 

Moses sees that the work is just too much for him to manage, and so God tells him to set apart 70 elders to assist him. Yet, isn't this similar to the Exodus story of Jethro telling Moses to select judges to assist him in the work? Either Moses required both judges and 70 elders to assist him, or we again have two different versions of an event being compiled into the same book.  The Documentary Hypothesis.

The Seventy go to the Tabernacle, where in front of the congregation of Israel, the Lord descends in a cloud "and took of the spirit that was upon him (Moses), and gave it unto the seventy elders" (Numbers 11:25).

²⁵ Then the Lord came down in the cloud, and spoke to him, and took of the Spirit that was upon him, and placed the same upon the seventy elders; and it happened, when the Spirit rested upon them, that they prophesied, although they never did so again.

With the Holy Ghost upon them, they too are able to prophesy, having some of the authority given to Moses. It is possible that these elders were given the Melchizedek Priesthood, so as to see God and to perform the work given to them (as D&C says must happen). Yet, while a few in Israel would possess the higher priesthood, the people primarily received the blessings of the Aaronic Priesthood and the temple work was still based on the lesser Aaronic Priesthood. 

Joseph F. Smith

Therefore, in Israel, the common people, the people generally, did not exercise the functions of priesthood in its fulness, but were confined in their labors and ministrations very largely to the Aaronic Priesthood. The withdrawal of the higher priesthood was from the people as a body, but the Lord still left among them men holding the Melchizedek Priesthood, with power to officiate in all its ordinances, so far as he determined that these ordinances should be granted unto the people. Therefore Samuel, Isaiah, Jeremiah, Daniel, Ezekiel, Elijah, and others of the prophets held the Melchizedek Priesthood, and their prophesying and their instructions to the people were directed by the Spirit of the Lord and made potent by virtue of that priesthood which was not made manifest generally among the people of Israel during all these years.

President Smith goes on to discuss that he believes that there was always at least one man in Israel that held the MP.

Pentecost-like prophecy
Two of the elders remained in the camp, or in the general congregation of Israel, where the Spirit also fell upon them and they also prophesied. Some were upset that they would attempt to prophesy away from the tabernacle, but Moses' response is one that still registers today:

Numbers 11 ²⁸ So Joshua the son of Nun, Moses’ assistant, one of his choice men, answered and said, “Moses my lord, forbid them!”²⁹ Then Moses said to him, “Are you zealous for my sake? Oh, that all the Lord’s people were prophets and that the Lord would put His Spirit upon them!” 

In other words, Moses wished that all the people had become worthy to stand in God's presence, see him, receive the Gift of the Holy Ghost, and receive all the blessings of the Melchizedek Priesthood, which was now reserved for just a handful in Israel.  Similar things happened to Joseph Smith.  Perhaps those close to Moses are jealous of his position?

Today, many people dwell in the congregation of Israel, but refuse to receive the higher blessings of God. As discussed in a previous lesson, Moses wanted to take Israel onto the mountain of God to see God and receive a fullness of his blessings. How many of us live near a “mountain of God” or temple and never go to it, essentially “turning from it”. 

In rejecting Moses, the Israelites rejected God's fullness, and they were given the lesser priesthood and a Terrestrial or lesser blessing (D&C 84:19-26). Yet there still were a few righteous (the Seventy) that were willing to accept the fullness of the covenant, and receive a fullness of the Melchizedek Priesthood and the key to the mystery of godliness.

Aaron and Miriam complain
Numbers 12

About this time, Aaron and Miriam see that much of the power once given to them has now been given to the Seventy. While Aaron and his sons perform the works in the tabernacle, the Seventy see God and manage the judging and affairs of Israel. Aaron and Miriam feel that they should be able to share in the power with Moses, not understanding that God works in a heavenly hierarchy.

You can almost hear echoes of events THIS YEAR in aspiring to things that have not been granted them…

12 Then Miriam and Aaron spoke against Moses because of the Ethiopian woman whom he had married; for he had married an Ethiopian woman. ² So they said, “Has the Lord indeed spoken only through Moses? Has He not spoken through us also?” And the Lord heard it. ³ (Now the man Moses was very humble, more than all men who were on the face of the earth.)

⁴ Suddenly the Lord said to Moses, Aaron, and Miriam, “Come out, you three, to the tabernacle of meeting!” So the three came out. ⁵ Then the Lord came down in the pillar of cloud and stood in the door of the tabernacle, and called Aaron and Miriam. And they both went forward. ⁶ Then He said,

“Hear now My words:
If there is a prophet among you,
I, the Lord, make Myself known to him in a vision;
I speak to him in a dream.
⁷ Not so with My servant Moses;
He is faithful in all My house.
⁸ I speak with him face to face,
Even plainly, and not in dark sayings;
And he sees the form of the Lord.
Why then were you not afraid
To speak against My servant Moses?”

⁹ So the anger of the Lord was aroused against them, and He departed. ¹⁰ And when the cloud departed from above the tabernacle, suddenly Miriam became leprous, as white as snow. Then Aaron turned toward Miriam, and there she was, a leper. ¹¹ So Aaron said to Moses, “Oh, my lord! Please do not lay this sin on us, in which we have done foolishly and in which we have sinned. ¹² Please do not let her be as one dead, whose flesh is half consumed when he comes out of his mother’s womb!”

¹³ So Moses cried out to the Lord, saying, “Please heal her, O God, I pray!”

While there are many who can prophesy and be prophets within their own realms of responsibility, there is only one Prophet over the Congregation of Israel at any time. We shall see that throughout Israel's history, the Prophet is never a direct descendant of Aaron, but is almost always from one of the other Tribes of Israel. God seems to separate out the responsibilities of the Aaronic Priesthood and those of the higher Priesthood and authority.

In their complaint, God once again must use harsh actions to restore order. He makes Miriam a leper for seven days. Imagine what would have happened if God would have allowed Aaron and Miriam to continue in their objections and attacks on Moses. Many of the congregation, including the Levites, would have sided with the two, causing rebellion in Israel. 

The Promised Land - so near, yet so very far away
Numbers 13-14

Moses sends out spies to survey the Promised Land. One man from each of the Tribes was selected to go, including Caleb from the tribe of Judah, and Joshua from the tribe of Ephraim. Traveling through the land, they find that it is a land of milk and honey. Yet, upon their return, 10 of the men insist that they cannot enter into the land, for the people are too powerful and numerous. Not only that, the sons of Anak were giants, "we were in our own sight as grasshoppers, and so we were in their sight" (13:33). The people of Anak did not consider the 12 men a threat, because they were smaller. Sadly, after all of the miracles they had seen, the Israelites did not believe they would be able to overthrow the inhabitants of the land.

Caleb (Judah) and Joshua (Ephraim) begged the people to trust in God and Moses and to go take the land, but they refused.

It’s almost as if Judah and Ephraim will not be one of the “Lost Ten Tribes”, that they will continue until the end…and the Savior returns.

Numbers 13 ³⁰ Then Caleb quieted the people before Moses, and said, “Let us go up at once and take possession, for we are well able to overcome it.” ³¹ But the men who had gone up with him said, “We are not able to go up against the people, for they are stronger than we.

Yet the people mourned, wishing they remained back in Egypt…

Numbers 14 ² And all the children of Israel complained against Moses and Aaron, and the whole congregation said to them, “If only we had died in the land of Egypt! Or if only we had died in this wilderness! ³ Why has the Lord brought us to this land to fall by the sword, that our wives and children should become victims? Would it not be better for us to return to Egypt?” ⁴ So they said to one another, “Let us select a leader and return to Egypt.”

"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. 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" (14:7-9). But the people did fear and did not want to listen to the two men. They picked up stones to slay them.

¹¹ Then the Lord said to Moses: “How long will these people reject Me? And how long will they not believe Me, with all the signs which I have performed among them? ¹² I will strike them with the pestilence and disinherit them, and I will make of you a nation greater and mightier than they.”

¹³ And Moses said to the Lord: “Then the Egyptians will hear it, for by Your might You brought these people up from among them,¹⁴ and they will tell it to the inhabitants of this land. They have heard that You, Lord, are among these people; that You, Lord, are seen face to face and Your cloud stands above them, and You go before them in a pillar of cloud by day and in a pillar of fire by night.¹⁵ Now if You kill these people as one man, then the nations which have heard of Your fame will speak, saying, ¹⁶ ‘Because the Lord was not able to bring this people to the land which He swore to give them, therefore He killed them in the wilderness.’ ¹⁷ And now, I pray, let the power of my Lord be great, just as You have spoken, saying, ¹⁸ ‘The Lord is longsuffering and abundant in mercy, forgiving iniquity and transgression; but He by no means clears the guilty, visiting the iniquity of the fathers on the children to the third and fourth generation.’^[b] 19 Pardon the iniquity of this people, I pray, according to the greatness of Your mercy, just as You have forgiven this people, from Egypt even until now.”

The only thing that kept God from smiting all of Israel was Moses plea to spare them. God would raise up a people from Moses' seed, since this people had already rejected the Melchizedek Priesthood and the fullness of the gospel, and were rebelling against key commandments to enter the Promised Land. But Moses begs God to reconsider, as it would make Jehovah look bad in the sight of all nations to have rescued Israel from Egypt, only to have them all die in the wilderness. Moses actually reminds God that he is "longsuffering, and of great mercy, forgiving iniquity and transgression..." (14:13-18). The Lord agrees to spare them, but no adults in that generation would be allowed to enter into the Promised Land, except for Joshua and Caleb, who did show faith.

From this story we learn a few things. First, Faith truly is the first great principle of the gospel. People can see great miracles and still not have faith. It is faith that helps us patiently endure the trials, believing that God will save us in his own time. Meanwhile, Fear is the antithesis of faith. The fearful doubt, pushing all faith out. Those who fear do not endure patiently, but murmur quickly and constantly. The fearful seek to remove the faithful from among them, even by murder if necessary. The faithful look forward to God's promises, while the fearful look backwards, yearning for the better days (even if they lived in chains). Those who fear will never see the Promised Land, or heaven. But the faithful will endure until God brings them into the Promised Land, whether in this life or in the next.

Fringe of the Garment
Number 15

Law Concerning Presumptuous Sin

³⁰ ‘But the person who does anything presumptuously, whether he is native-born or a stranger, that one brings reproach on the Lord, and he shall be cut off from among his people. ³¹ Because he has despised the word of the Lord, and has broken His commandment, that person shall be completely cut off; his guilt shall be upon him.’”

Clark’s commentary says this: “But the soul that doeth aught presumptuously - Bold daring acts of transgression against the fullest evidence, and in despite of the Divine authority, admitted of no atonement; the person was to be cut off - to be excluded from God's people, and from all their privileges and blessings.
Probably the presumption mentioned here implied an utter contempt of the word and authority of God, springing from an idolatrous or atheistical mind.”

Penalty for Violating the Sabbath

God again highlights the sacredness of the Sabbath and death is indicated for breaking it.

³² Now while the children of Israel were in the wilderness, they found a man gathering sticks on the Sabbath day. ³³ And those who found him gathering sticks brought him to Moses and Aaron, and to all the congregation.³⁴ They put him under guard, because it had not been explained what should be done to him.

³⁵ Then the Lord said to Moses, “The man must surely be put to death; all the congregation shall stone him with stones outside the camp.” ³⁶ So, as the Lord commanded Moses, all the congregation brought him outside the camp and stoned him with stones, and he died.

Tassels on Garments

The people repent and are forgiven, yet still are not able to enter into the Promised Land. They accept God's will, knowing they will learn patience and faith while dwelling forty years in the wilderness. Still, there are those who insist in sinning. Already, Israel has questioned and rebelled against God and Moses on many occasions, and each time God has had to chastise them. It is better to stop the sinning early on with one man, than to have it spread throughout the congregation, requiring large loss of life again.

As part of the repentance process and their covenant, the people are commanded to

³⁷ Again the Lord spoke to Moses, saying,³⁸ “Speak to the children of Israel: Tell them to make tassels on the corners of their garments throughout their generations, and to put a blue thread in the tassels of the corners. ³⁹ And you shall have the tassel, that you may look upon it and remember all the commandments of the Lord and do them, and that you may not follow the harlotry to which your own heart and your own eyes are inclined, ⁴⁰ and that you may remember and do all My commandments, and be holy for your God. ⁴¹ I am the Lord your God, who brought you out of the land of Egypt, to be your God: Iam the Lord your God.”

A "ribband" is a ribbon used as decoration, but also to attach the tassels onto the fringe of the garments. This fringe would be a visible reminder of what was expected of Israel. They were to learn to bend their own will to that of God's. They were to begin learning to be Celestial, even as Jesus would show them: "not my will, but thine be done." It is easy to forget our place as Christians and children of God. Placing things around us to remind us of our covenants and responsibilities is important.

What are our tassels?  Filling the home with religious pictures and reminders helps everyone in the home to focus upon the things that are truly important. It reminds us to focus on Zion and the Promised Land of God, and not on the flesh pots of Egypt.

Korah's rebellion
Numbers 16

The Levites that were not descendants of Aaron had been given the responsibility to manage, care for, and transport the various parts of the Tabernacle of God. Yet this was not enough for many of them. 250 of them approached Aaron and Moses, insisting they be allowed to offer sacrifice and incense in the Tabernacle. After all, they were also children of Levi, as were Moses and Aaron.

Moses told them to fill censers (incense burners) and to stand near the Tabernacle's door. They did. The Lord told Moses to have the believers in the congregation to remove themselves from near Korah and his followers. When they were separated, the Lord caused an earthquake to occur, which opened up the earth and swallowed up Korah and his followers. This would become a major test for Israel, as they would once again see that God chose Moses over everyone else.

Still, the people became angry on the following day and stood against Moses and Aaron. Obviously Korah and his followers were some very popular people. God sends a plague among Israel to chastise them once again. Moses tells Aaron to take holy incense from the Tabernacle out into the congregation to stop the plague. "And he (Aaron) stood between the dead and the living, and the plague was stayed." Still, almost 15 thousand people died of the plague.

Aaron's Rod
Numbers 17

The people now feared God, but that isn't the same as loving or trusting God. Each tribe was told to provide a rod or wooden staff, each with the markings of their own tribe. These would be compared to the rod of Aaron.

⁵ And it shall be that the rod of the man whom I choose will blossom; thus I will rid Myself of the complaints of the children of Israel, which they make against you.”

Moses laid all of them inside the Tabernacle overnight. In the morning, Aaron's rod had not only budded, but it had brought forth blossoms and almonds. Aaron's rod was shown to the people, and then placed inside the Tabernacle, possibly within the Ark of the Covenant where the national/religious treasures were stored. With this miracle, the Lord showed the people that they could trust him as a God that could do more than just kill.

Fiery Flying Serpents
Numbers 21

Israel still does not learn from previous events. In their journeys in the wilderness they go through a desert place.

⁵ And the people spoke against God and against Moses: “Why have you brought us up out of Egypt to die in the wilderness? For there is no food and no water, and our soul loathes this worthless bread.” ⁶ So the Lord sent fiery serpents among the people, and they bit the people; and many of the people of Israel died.

⁸ Then the Lord said to Moses, “Make a fiery serpent, and set it on a pole; and it shall be that everyone who is bitten, when he looks at it, shall live.” ⁹ So Moses made a bronze serpent, and put it on a pole; and so it was, if a serpent had bitten anyone, when he looked at the bronze serpent, he lived.

Interestingly, the Book of Mormon gives us interesting insights into this event. Nephi explained, "And he did straiten them in the wilderness with his rod; for they hardened their hearts, even as ye have; and the Lord straitened them because of their iniquity. He sent fiery flying serpents among them; and after they were bitten he prepared a way that they might be healed; and the labor which they had to perform was to look; and because of the simpleness of the way, or the easiness of it, there were many who perished" (1 Nephi 17:41). 

Nephi notes that the serpent was not only fiery, but also "flying." In the Bible, only Isaiah uses the term "fiery flying serpents" (Isaiah 14:29, 30:6), neither verse ties directly to the story of Moses and the brazen serpent. Why would Nephi take Isaiah's term and use it for this event? Among the ancient stories of Mesoamerica is the story of Quetzalcoatl. His image on ancient temples is that of a flying serpent. He was both a ruler and a god. It is possible that Nephi used imagery in Isaiah to describe Moses' story in such a way as to relate it to ancient beliefs held by peoples already in the land. It would also allow Nephi to compare the God of Israel with one of Mesoamerica's chief gods, showing that the God he preached was equal to their own god.

There are stories of Quetzalcoatl being a bearded white god/ruler, but the stories often conflict and we cannot always distinguish the stories of the god Quetzalcoatl from the mortal ruler Quetzalcoatl. Some early LDS scholars considered the stories of Quetzalcoatl as reminiscent of the Christ in America story in the Book of Mormon. There are however several LDS Mesomerican scholars that do not see Quetzalcoatl as evidence of Christ in America.



Temple of Quetzalcoatl with the flying serpent

Regardless of this issue, Nephi's point is that Christ is our brazen serpent. He has been raised up upon the cross, and if we look upon him in faith, we will be healed of our sins and pains. It shows again that God used ancient actions as symbols for Israel and all people to look forward to Christ, believing that they may be healed in him.

It is interesting to note that Satan used the Serpent to approach Adam and Eve in the Garden, as this is clearly a symbol of the Savior.

And as we struggle through our desert of life, we can murmur and complain, show forth fear and disbelief; or we can place our faith in Christ and live.


Bibliography

For more on the Documentary Hypothesis, please see the following:

“Who Wrote the Bible?” Richard E. Friedman 

LDS member Kevin Barney discusses the Documentary Hypothesis

Fiery Flying Serpents and Quetzalcoatl: Jesus Christ/Relationship to Quetzalcoatl

Overall structure of lessons in this series, thanks to Joel’s Monastery, and Bill Beardall

There is an excellent 8 part series in the Ensign in the early 80s that discusses how the bible came to be. 

How the Bible Came to be, Ensign, Part 1

How the Bible Came to be, Ensign, Part 2

How the Bible Came to be, Ensign, Part 3

How the Bible Came to be, Ensign, Part 4

How the Bible Came to be, Ensign, Part 5

How the Bible Came to be, Ensign, Part 6

How the Bible Came to be, Ensign, Part 7

How the Bible Came to be, Ensign, Part 8