LDS Gospel Doctrine Class - Old Testament #9 - God will
provide himself a Lamb
Lesson 9 - “God Will Provide Himself a Lamb” – Abraham 1;
Genesis 15-17; 21-22
Background:
Over the last few lessons, we’ve covered several events in Abraham’s life, including early stories of his childhood in Chaldea, being cast into a raging furnace, his sojourn in Egypt, his triumphs in battle, being blessed by Melchizedek, entertaining heavenly hosts, and receiving the Abrahamic Covenant.
Background:
Over the last few lessons, we’ve covered several events in Abraham’s life, including early stories of his childhood in Chaldea, being cast into a raging furnace, his sojourn in Egypt, his triumphs in battle, being blessed by Melchizedek, entertaining heavenly hosts, and receiving the Abrahamic Covenant.
Today we will cover more Abraham, we will take a detour into groves and
tree symbolism, then finally onto the offering of Isaac.
Patterns emerge in the scriptures, as God creates events that will symbolize future events (Melchizedek symbolizing both God and Christ). Abraham has been promised vast posterity and power, but in his older years the odds of such an event occurring becomes less and less probable.
Patterns emerge in the scriptures, as God creates events that will symbolize future events (Melchizedek symbolizing both God and Christ). Abraham has been promised vast posterity and power, but in his older years the odds of such an event occurring becomes less and less probable.
Why all these types?
We learn by repetition. Prayer is
repetitive. The Sacrament is
repetitive. The endowment is repetitive. God is telling us something about ourselves
when he chooses repetition as the primary vehicle to teach us. We should pay attention to the things that
are presented that way.
(discuss the “rhythm” or “frequency” that we are all tuned
to, music, who was the Education Day music lecture?
http://www.byutv.org/watch/8bf61cd8-434b-4c8a-a458-47999cb684b1/byu-education-week-michael-ballam-1998)
Already, we’ve seen that some ancient texts, including the Quran discuss Abraham being cast into a fiery furnace. His father, Terah not only worships idols, but has become a maker of idols. As a youth, Abraham destroys the idols as part of his stance to worship Jehovah/Yahweh.
Why would his father and others turn to idols of wood and stone? Because such idols do what they are told to do: sit there. Man can use his imagination to advance wonderful stories about gods, but the reality was still there. When Abraham blamed the biggest idol for killing the others because they were all greedy for the food offering he brought them, Terah and the others knew Abraham lied. They knew their idols were incapable of reaching for the food, eating it, or fighting over it. For Terah, it meant he would have to go through the trouble of carving replacements. However, it also brought reality to the forefront. These idols did not have the ability to do anything, therefore they were impotent. They were carved and recast by Terah, so that man had more power than the idols had.
Abraham would face other attempts on his life.
Abraham and the priest of Elkenah
In Abraham 1, we find that Abraham is once again getting himself into trouble. A major sacrifice to the gods of Chaldea and of Egypt is occurring. It may have been a part of the Year Rite – a ceremony many Middle Eastern kings performed (including Israelite and Nephite kings). This ceremony would show the power of the king as a divine son of the national god. In the case of Abraham and Israel, it would represent the king/Abraham being the divine son of Jehovah/Yahweh, who was the divine son of Elohim, the chief God.
Imagine slaying the divine son of Yahweh! This would show the world that the gods of Chaldea/Egypt were more powerful. Previously in the ancient texts, we read how Abraham confounded King Nimrod, even when cast into a fiery furnace. Imagine Nimrod’s surprise when Abraham did not die after days in the furnace. The king would have to admit that Abraham’s god was stronger than his own gods.
Already, we’ve seen that some ancient texts, including the Quran discuss Abraham being cast into a fiery furnace. His father, Terah not only worships idols, but has become a maker of idols. As a youth, Abraham destroys the idols as part of his stance to worship Jehovah/Yahweh.
Why would his father and others turn to idols of wood and stone? Because such idols do what they are told to do: sit there. Man can use his imagination to advance wonderful stories about gods, but the reality was still there. When Abraham blamed the biggest idol for killing the others because they were all greedy for the food offering he brought them, Terah and the others knew Abraham lied. They knew their idols were incapable of reaching for the food, eating it, or fighting over it. For Terah, it meant he would have to go through the trouble of carving replacements. However, it also brought reality to the forefront. These idols did not have the ability to do anything, therefore they were impotent. They were carved and recast by Terah, so that man had more power than the idols had.
Abraham would face other attempts on his life.
Abraham and the priest of Elkenah
In Abraham 1, we find that Abraham is once again getting himself into trouble. A major sacrifice to the gods of Chaldea and of Egypt is occurring. It may have been a part of the Year Rite – a ceremony many Middle Eastern kings performed (including Israelite and Nephite kings). This ceremony would show the power of the king as a divine son of the national god. In the case of Abraham and Israel, it would represent the king/Abraham being the divine son of Jehovah/Yahweh, who was the divine son of Elohim, the chief God.
Imagine slaying the divine son of Yahweh! This would show the world that the gods of Chaldea/Egypt were more powerful. Previously in the ancient texts, we read how Abraham confounded King Nimrod, even when cast into a fiery furnace. Imagine Nimrod’s surprise when Abraham did not die after days in the furnace. The king would have to admit that Abraham’s god was stronger than his own gods.
Abraham 1:11 Now, this priest had offered upon this altar
three virgins at one time, who were the daughters of Onitah, one of the royal
descent directly from the loins of aHam. These virgins were offered up because of their
virtue; they would not bbow down
to worship gods of wood or of stone, therefore they were killed upon this
altar, and it was done after the manner of the Egyptians.
12 And it came
to pass that the priests laid violence upon me, that they might slay me also,
as they did those virgins upon this altar; and that you may have a knowledge of
this altar, I will refer you to the representation at the commencement of this
record.
We will see such contests again and again in the Old Testament. Jehovah is pitted against other gods, some of whom would traditionally be other divine sons of El Elyon. These gods competed for primacy among the nations and in the divine council, just as Lucifer sought to obtain preeminence in the premortal grand council (Abraham 3, Moses 4:1-4).
At this time in Chaldea, such major ceremonies would require the sacrifice of not just animals, but also human flesh. The ancient belief was that gods obtained greater power from the flesh of humans. And the ultimate sacrifices of power were little children.
Abraham notes that 4 virgins, direct descendants of Ham, one of the holy sons of Noah, refused to worship the gods of the nation. It is likely that these girls were abducted during a military campaign or while plundering a nearby nation. In many instances, the acceptable worship would have required the girls to submit themselves sexually to their conquerors, perhaps even to the priest of Elkenah. When they refused to be sexual slaves, perhaps living comfortably in a harem, they were taken for the sacrifice.
In Abraham 1:8-9, we find that Pharaoh offers the sacrifice at this special Year Rite. He would have chosen foreigners, slaves, and non-believers to sacrifice. Pharaoh offered sacrifice to two gods: Osiris and Ra. Osiris was the first born god of the earth. He was god of the Underworld, who was slain by his enemy Seth, and resurrected by Isis. Pharaohs saw themselves as the descendants and incarnation of Osiris through his divine son, Horus.
Abraham 1:8 Now, at
this time it was the custom of the priest of Pharaoh, the king of Egypt, to
offer up upon the altar which was built in the land of Chaldea, for the
offering unto these strange gods, men, women, and children.
9 And it came
to pass that the priest made an offering unto the god of Pharaoh, and also unto
the god of Shagreel, even after the manner of the Egyptians. Now the god of
Shagreel was the sun.
Shagreel or Ra (the Egyptian name) was the Sun. The traditions on Ra changed over time, as Ra was initially viewed as the Sun at mid-day only, but later became the Sun at all times. At one point, he was considered Horus, the son of Osiris, and other times as the brother of Osiris.
With this relationship between Pharaoh, Osiris and Ra/Horus established, we can see how important it would be to destroy the son of Jehovah, Abraham. As with the four virgins, Abraham would not bow down and worship the gods of Chaldea or Egypt. Abraham believed Jehovah to be greater than the Sun itself!
Abraham was violently laid upon the lion bed, which anciently was used for both sacrifice and mummification. As the priest of Elkenah lifted up the knife to slay him, Abraham prayed for deliverance. Abraham has a vision of God Almighty (El Elyon/Elohim), and the “angel of his presence” appeared and released him. As seen previously, the “angel of his/El Elyon’s presence” is Jehovah/Yahweh. God the Father sent his divine Son down to rescue Abraham, who was Jehovah’s divine son (Abr 1:13-16). Jehovah then informs Abraham that it is time to depart of the land, and go to a land of promise.
15 And as they lifted up their hands upon me,
that they might offer me up and take away my life, behold, I lifted up my voice
unto the Lord my God, and the Lord ahearkened and
heard, and he filled me with the vision of the Almighty, and the angel of his presence stood by me, and
immediately bunloosed my
bands;
16 And his voice was unto me: aAbraham, Abraham, behold,
mybname is
Jehovah, and I have heard thee, and have come down to deliver thee, and
to take thee away from thy cfather’s house,
and from all thy kinsfolk, into a strange dland which
thou knowest not of;
The Land of Promise
Interestingly, Abraham is delivered from the sacrifice, only to immediately be called to leave. The land is full of idolatry. As with the people of Sodom discussed last week, they have become inhospitable. They seek to force their beliefs upon foreigners. Rather than destroy Chaldea, the Lord removes the prophet to a new land.
The Lord makes promises to Abraham in verse 18: “I will lead thee by my hand, and I will take thee, to put upon thee my name, even the Priesthood of thy father, and my power shall be over thee.” Let’s break this apart.
At this time, Abraham’s name is technically still Abram. The promise of a name change is decades away. In Genesis 17, Jehovah (YHWH) literally puts his name on both Abraham and Sarah by giving each of them a letter from his name (H). To put upon Abraham the “Priesthood of thy father” would suggest not the priesthood of Terah, but of Noah and Shem, his predecessors. God’s name is synonymous with His Priesthood. For this purpose, in the last lesson on Melchizedek, we found that El Elyon IS Melchizedek, as is Jehovah IS Melchizedek. Such is a holy title: Melchizedek literally means “king of righteousness” and that is what Abraham shall become.
The facsimiles in the Book of Abraham are beyond the scope of the Gospel Doctrine lessons, but I refer you to Kerry Shirts’ excellent in-depth articles on the Book of Abraham and the facsimiles: Papyri & Book of Abraham Articles
Abraham seeks an eternal seed
Once finally established in Canaan after his sojourn in Egypt, Abraham realizes that his time to have children is quickly passing him by. At first, he hoped Lot would be his adopted son. However, contentions forced Abraham to send Lot and his people to their own land. Lot was a decent man, but not the valiant servant of God that Jehovah wanted.
Abraham asked God if he would accept one of his faithful servants to fill the void, but God insists that it will be his literal seed. Sarah, wanting Abraham to be blessed with children, gives Hagar to him as a slave-wife (concubine). Hagar brings forth a son, Ishmael, and Abraham temporarily believes this is the child of the promise. Visited by three angels, one of whom was the Angel of the Lord’s Presence (Jehovah), Abraham again is promised he will bear a son through Sarah. It is such an amazing statement at their advanced ages that Sarah laughs at the thought.
Isaac and Ishmael
When Abraham was 100 years old, and Sarah was 90, Isaac was born. Ishmael was 14 years of age. Ishmael was soon to be at the age to inherit his father’s lands and receive his blessings. However, he was now the second-hand son. Semitic tradition gave all blessings to the first born son. Here continues the tradition of the second son receiving the birthright and blessings of first-born, which also occurred between Cain and Abel. It seems the older son tends to never understand why he should not inherit the first born’s blessings, for the simple fact of being born first.
When Abraham was 100 years old, and Sarah was 90, Isaac was born. Ishmael was 14 years of age. Ishmael was soon to be at the age to inherit his father’s lands and receive his blessings. However, he was now the second-hand son. Semitic tradition gave all blessings to the first born son. Here continues the tradition of the second son receiving the birthright and blessings of first-born, which also occurred between Cain and Abel. It seems the older son tends to never understand why he should not inherit the first born’s blessings, for the simple fact of being born first.
(The Lord may also be commenting on how the First Born is
not especially notable).
Abraham had asked the Lord to accept Ishmael as his first born: “O that Ishmael might live before thee!” (Gen 17:18). The Lord promised that Ishmael would become a mighty nation, but the promise was to be with Isaac.
The first-born position was one of great honor. All were expected to respect the first-born, even like they would the father. In Genesis 21, Ishmael mocks the child, Isaac. Ishmael knows this small child is taking away everything from him. Had the child not been born, he would have received the birthright. With this in mind, we perhaps can understand why Ishmael would mock his younger half-brother. For all his life, Ishmael was treated like a king, and now would be nothing but the son of a concubine.
Sacrifice of Ishmael
To ensure Isaac’s safety, Sarah had no choice but to insist that Hagar and her son leave. If at 14 years of age Ishmael was already teasing and mocking the new born baby, what would he do a few years down the road? The possible murder of Isaac would end the covenant God said he would make through Isaac, and Sarah was already past her prime.
Abraham was saddened, but reassured by the Lord that it was the best thing to do. Hagar and Ishmael were sent out into the wilderness with the Lord’s promise. Ishmael receives his own covenant in the wilderness with God. While the first born son receives the greatest blessings and promises, often other blessings can be reserved for the other children. In this instance, God promised Abraham to make a great nation out of Ishmael. An angel reaffirms this promise to Hagar when she was about to give up and die.
Ishmael became an archer or hunter (Gen 21:20). Genesis seems to be antagonistic towards hunters, viewing them as the enemy of the good. The good are described as shepherds: Abraham, Isaac, Jacob. Hunters are wild and ferocious, undeserving of the blessings of the firstborn or of God: Nimrod, Ishmael, and Esau.
There was another reason for Ishmael to leave. In the Mosaic Law (Leviticus 16), the high priest annually performed rites to cleanse the entire congregation of God. This rite, which occurred on the Day of Atonement, included the scapegoat. All the sins and wrongs of the people were blamed on the goat. The high priest would lay his hands on the goat’s head to transfer all the sins to the goat. The goat was then led out into the wilderness.
Ishmael represented the world of Abraham before the full covenant was established. Ishmael represented Abram, not Abraham. He represented Hagar, the slave-wife, not Sarah the covenant and free wife. He represented the mistakes of the past, not the promises of the future. In this instance, the scapegoat and Ishmael symbolize Jesus Christ. As an innocent being, Jesus took our sins upon himself, so we would not have to bear them. He is the world’s scapegoat. And even though rejected and cast out into the wilderness by his people, Jesus has become a mighty nation of Christians, as Ishmael became a mighty nation.
Abraham had asked the Lord to accept Ishmael as his first born: “O that Ishmael might live before thee!” (Gen 17:18). The Lord promised that Ishmael would become a mighty nation, but the promise was to be with Isaac.
The first-born position was one of great honor. All were expected to respect the first-born, even like they would the father. In Genesis 21, Ishmael mocks the child, Isaac. Ishmael knows this small child is taking away everything from him. Had the child not been born, he would have received the birthright. With this in mind, we perhaps can understand why Ishmael would mock his younger half-brother. For all his life, Ishmael was treated like a king, and now would be nothing but the son of a concubine.
Sacrifice of Ishmael
To ensure Isaac’s safety, Sarah had no choice but to insist that Hagar and her son leave. If at 14 years of age Ishmael was already teasing and mocking the new born baby, what would he do a few years down the road? The possible murder of Isaac would end the covenant God said he would make through Isaac, and Sarah was already past her prime.
Abraham was saddened, but reassured by the Lord that it was the best thing to do. Hagar and Ishmael were sent out into the wilderness with the Lord’s promise. Ishmael receives his own covenant in the wilderness with God. While the first born son receives the greatest blessings and promises, often other blessings can be reserved for the other children. In this instance, God promised Abraham to make a great nation out of Ishmael. An angel reaffirms this promise to Hagar when she was about to give up and die.
Ishmael became an archer or hunter (Gen 21:20). Genesis seems to be antagonistic towards hunters, viewing them as the enemy of the good. The good are described as shepherds: Abraham, Isaac, Jacob. Hunters are wild and ferocious, undeserving of the blessings of the firstborn or of God: Nimrod, Ishmael, and Esau.
There was another reason for Ishmael to leave. In the Mosaic Law (Leviticus 16), the high priest annually performed rites to cleanse the entire congregation of God. This rite, which occurred on the Day of Atonement, included the scapegoat. All the sins and wrongs of the people were blamed on the goat. The high priest would lay his hands on the goat’s head to transfer all the sins to the goat. The goat was then led out into the wilderness.
Ishmael represented the world of Abraham before the full covenant was established. Ishmael represented Abram, not Abraham. He represented Hagar, the slave-wife, not Sarah the covenant and free wife. He represented the mistakes of the past, not the promises of the future. In this instance, the scapegoat and Ishmael symbolize Jesus Christ. As an innocent being, Jesus took our sins upon himself, so we would not have to bear them. He is the world’s scapegoat. And even though rejected and cast out into the wilderness by his people, Jesus has become a mighty nation of Christians, as Ishmael became a mighty nation.
Abraham’s well and his Asherah
We see in Genesis 21:22-32, Abraham meets up with Abimelech, a Philistine neighbor. The Philistines were probably Sea People, who came from islands near Greece. They settled the coast line of Canaan not long before Abraham entered the area, and were involved in conquest of much of the coast line of the eastern Mediterranean
22 ¶And it came to pass at that time, that aAbimelech andbPhichol the
chief captain of his host spake unto Abraham, saying,cGod is with thee in all that thou doest:
27 And Abraham took sheep and oxen, and gave them
unto Abimelech; and both of them amade a
covenant.
29 And Abimelech said unto Abraham, What mean these
seven ewe lambs which thou hast set by themselves?
32 Thus they
made (cut) a covenant at Beer-sheba: athen Abimelech
rose up, and Phichol the chief captain of his host (insert from JST) , and they returned into the land of the
Philistines.
33 ¶And Abraham planted
a agrove in
Beer-sheba, and bcalled there on the name of the Lord, the ceverlasting God.
Abraham notes that he had dug a well for his flocks, and that Abimelech’s men had violently stolen it from him. Such a claim was very serious in the extremely arid Middle East. Water meant life. It meant crops could be grown and flocks fed. As a testimony of his statement, Abraham gives Abimelech 7 ewes, female sheep.
Both cut the covenant, by offering oxen and sheep on an altar to Jehovah. As mentioned in a previous lesson, covenants were very important. The breaking of a covenant meant the worst curse of God would befall the family – being cast off or totally wiped off the face of the earth.
33 ¶And Abraham planted
a agrove in Beer-sheba, and bcalledthere on the name of the Lord, the ceverlasting God.
Now, we will detour into this term Grove and it’s
implications.
The term Asherah is a title.
Groves of trees were a symbol of the consort/wife of God.
Canaanites called her Asherah, and early Semites and Canaanites believed that both El Elyon and Yahweh had a wife, named
Asherah (a title). Asherah depicted
wisdom (see Proverbs 3 below) and fertility (multiply and replenish the
earth) (Asherah
- Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia).
Bible Dictionary Grove
In Hebrew, called Asherah
either a living tree or a tree-like pole, set up as an object of worship, being
symbolic of the female or productive
principle in nature. Every Phoenician altar had an asherah near it. The
word is often translated “green trees” or “grove.” This “nature worship” became associated with gross
immorality, and so the practice of setting up such “groves” or idols was
forbidden by Hebrew prophets
For instance Deuteronomy 16 21 ¶aThou shalt not
plant thee a grove of any trees near unto the altar of the Lord thy God, which thou shalt make thee.
Isaiah 17:8 And he shall not look to the altars, the work of his hands, neither
shall respect that which his fingers have made, either the agroves, or the images.
All things have their positive and
negative as do Groves. We see groves largely negatively due to
sexual acts which will come to be associated with them (their orgiastic
function). But we have Abraham making a
grove and showing the positive side of the grove. We know the Father often hides the presence
of the feminine to offer protection from desecration. (But many many references to the female are
to be removed by Josiah which shapes our
modern bible, stay tuned)
Asherah is seen as Wisdom personified.
Proverbs 3
14 For the merchandise of it is better
than the merchandise of silver, and the gain thereof than fine gold.
15 She is more precious than rubies: and all the things
thou canst desire are not to be compared unto her.
18 She is a
tree of alife to them
that lay hold upon her: and happy is every one that
retaineth her.
BYU professor Daniel Peterson discusses Lehi and Nephi’s
Vision of the Tree of Life and how it fits in as the mother of God (Nephi
and His Asherah - Daniel C. Peterson - Journal of Book of Mormon Studies -
Volume 9 - Issue 2),
And it came to pass that the
Spirit said unto me: Look! And I looked and beheld a tree; and it was like unto
the tree which my father had seen; and the beauty thereof was far beyond, yea,
exceeding of all beauty; and the whiteness thereof did exceed the whiteness of
the driven snow.
And it came to pass after I had
seen the tree, I said unto the Spirit: I behold thou hast shown unto me the
tree which is precious above all.
And he said unto me: What
desirest thou?
And I said unto him: To know the
interpretation thereof. . . . (1 Nephi 11:8–11)
Since Nephi wanted to know the meaning of the
tree that his father had seen and that he himself now saw, we would expect
"the Spirit" to answer Nephi's question. But the response to Nephi's
question is surprising:
And it came to pass that he said
unto me: Look! And I looked as if to look upon him, and I saw him not; for he
had gone from before my presence.
And it came to pass that I looked
and beheld the great city of Jerusalem,
and also other cities. And I beheld the city of Nazareth; and in the city of Nazareth I beheld a virgin, and she was
exceedingly fair and white.
And it came to pass that I saw
the heavens open; and an angel came down and stood before me; and he said unto
me: Nephi, what beholdest thou?
And I said unto him: A virgin,
most beautiful and fair above all other virgins.
And he said unto me: Knowest thou
the condescension of God?
And I said unto him: I know that
he loveth his children; nevertheless, I do not know the meaning of all things.
And he said unto me: Behold, the
virgin whom thou seest is the mother of the Son of God, after the manner of the
flesh.
And it came to pass that I beheld
that she was carried away in the Spirit; and after she had been carried away in
the Spirit for the space of a time the angel spake unto me, saying: Look!
And I looked and beheld the
virgin again, bearing a child in her arms.
And the angel said unto me:
Behold the Lamb of God, yea, even the Son of the Eternal Father! (1 Nephi
11:12–21)
Then "the Spirit" asks Nephi the
question that Nephi himself had posed only a few verses before:
Knowest thou the meaning of the
tree which thy father saw? (1 Nephi 11:21)
Strikingly, though the vision of Mary seems
irrelevant to Nephi's original question about the significance of the tree—for
the tree is nowhere mentioned in the angelic guide's response—Nephi himself now
replies that, yes, he knows the answer to his question.
And I answered him, saying: Yea,
it is the love of God, which sheddeth itself abroad in the hearts of the
children of men; wherefore it is the most desirable above all things.
And he spake unto me, saying:
Yea, and the most joyous to the soul. (1 Nephi 11:22–23)
It should be apparent by now why Nephi, an Israelite living at the end of the seventh century and during the early sixth century before Christ, would have recognized an answer to his question about a marvelous tree in the otherwise unexplained image of a virginal mother and her divine child. Not that what he saw and how he interpreted those things were perfectly obvious. What he "read" from the symbolic vision was culturally colored.
The Coptic version of the record called the Apocalypse of Paul shows how cultural interpretation shapes meaning. This document, which probably originated in Egypt in the mid-third century of the Christian era, relates a vision of the great apostle that, in this detail at least, strikingly resembles the vision of Nephi:
"And he [the angel] showed me the Tree of Life," Paul is reported to have said, "… And a Virgin appeared by the tree…and the angel told me that she was Mary, the Mother of Christ."
But Nephi's vision goes even further, identifying Mary with the tree. This additional element seems to derive from precisely the preexilic Palestinian culture into which, the Book of Mormon tells us, Nephi had been born.
Of course, Mary, the virgin girl of Nazareth seen by Nephi, was not literally Asherah. She was, as Nephi's guide carefully stressed, simply "the mother of the Son of God, after the manner of the flesh." But she was the perfect mortal typification of the mother of the Son of God.
And it would explain how this was perfectly obvious to
Nephi, but can leave us, without this background, perplexed.
Margaret Barker noted that Nephi’s Asherah is a perfect
symbol for the First
Temple’s belief in a
mother Goddess (Margaret
Barker - A Transcript of Her Response The Worlds of Joseph Smith).
Barker – Why is there little mention of Asherah or the Female form in early scriptures?
Isaiah, who prophesied in the years before 700 BCE, spoke of a female figure and her son and also of a great tree that had been cut down, but with sacred seed surviving in the stomach. His contemporary, the prophet Micah, spoke of a woman in travail, who had gone out of the city, but would give birth to the great Shepherd of Israel. Who was this mother and what was the great tree?
Piecing together other contemporary evidence, we could conclude that she was Wisdom, the one whom Josiah eventually purged from the temple, but whose symbol, the Tree of Life, had been removed many years earlier, in the time of Isaiah, and then replaced.
In the time of Josiah, her tree, the Asherah, the Menorah, was finally removed from the temple, and not only removed, but it was then burnt, beat into dust and cast on the common graves—it was utterly desecrated.
Why such hatred? Hostility to Wisdom (the feminine) was a hallmark of the Deuteronomists (Josiah’s priests) and due to their influence the Mother and her tree have been almost forgotten. Her son was the Lord. We can deduce this from the Dead Sea Scrolls’ version of Isaiah’s Immanuel prophecy (Isaiah chapter 7). “Ask a sign,” said the prophet, “from the mother of the Lord your God. Behold a virgin shall conceive and bear a son and call his name Immanuel.” And she was attended by angels, the hosts of heaven, whom the Deuteronomists tried to obscure.
Isaiah 7:11 (KJV) Ask thee a sign (from the mother only in DSS)
of the Lord thy God; ask it either in the depth, or in the height above.
The familiar story of Adam and Eve is the reworking of an older story, after memories of the loss of Eden and the loss of the older temple had merged. The tree that had been intended in Eden for human food was the Tree of Life, and the perfumed oil of that tree anointed humans and made them like angels—Sons of God. That was the tradition of the ancient priests in the temple, who thought of themselves as angels—messengers from heaven.
The Tree of Life gave wisdom and eternal life, but the human pair disobeyed and chose knowledge that could be used for good or evil. Only then did they discover that they were barred from the Tree of Life.
The prophet Ezekiel, also in Jerusalem in 600 BCE, said that the Anointed One in Eden became mortal and died because wisdom and perfection had been abused for the sake of power and splendor.
It was the disobedience that was the problem, not the state they aspired to; and, they had to be barred from eternal life because they had disobeyed.
It was not the aspiration but the attitude that was wrong. In 600 BCE the sin would have been pride and disobedience, not the wish to be angels—Sons of God.
Each time the Lady was driven from the temple (that is, removed by the Deuteronomists, Josiah’s priests), so too were the angels, the “Holy Ones,” a word very similar in Hebrew to the word for prostitutes, which is how it is often translated. The divine son, the priest of the order of Melchizedek was born in the glory of these Holy Ones, or so it seems.
The Tree of Life made one happy according to the Book of Proverbs, but for other detailed descriptions of the tree we have to rely on the non-canonical texts. Enoch described it as perfumed, with fruits like grapes. But a text discovered in Egypt in 1945 described the tree as beautiful, fiery, and with fruits like white grapes. I don’t know of any other source which describes the fruit as white grapes, so you can imagine my surprise when I read the account of Lehi’s vision of the tree whose white fruits made one happy; and the interpretation of the vision, that the virgin in Nazareth was the mother of the Son of God after the manner of the flesh.
This is the Heavenly Mother (represented by the Tree of Life), and then Mary and her son on the earth. This revelation to Joseph Smith was the exact ancient Wisdom symbolism, intact, and almost certainly as it was known in 600 BCE. (end Barker)
Back to the Grove…
It is very possible that Abraham created the grove as an
outdoor temple, where he could worship his God Jehovah, while having the inspiration of Jehovah’s consort Asherah all around.
He would have been thankful that Sarah
was made fertile at such an advanced age, and safely gave birth to Isaac.
Once again, groves are often taken over and hyper-sexualized
as are all holy things, which does not make the original thing less holy than
it was.
One of the notable things that are mentioned in the article
by Peterson is the list of prophets who did NOT oppose Asherah:
What
is striking in the long story of Israel's Asherah is the identity of those who did not oppose her. No prophet appears to have denounced
Asherah before the eighth century BC The great Yahwist prophets Amos and
Hosea, vociferous in their denunciations of Baal, seem not to have denounced
Asherah. The Elijah-Elisha school
of Yahwist reformers do
not appear to have opposed her.
Although
400 prophets of Asherah ate with Jezebel along with the 450 prophets of Baal,
Elijah's famous contest with the priests of Baal, while dramatically fatal to
them, left the votaries of Asherah unmentioned and, evidently, untouched. "What happened to
Asherah and her prophets?" asks David Noel Freedman. "Nothing."24 In subsequent years the ruthless campaign against Baal
inspired by Elijah and Elisha and led by Israel's Jehu left the asherah of Samaria standing. Baal was wholly eliminated, while the veneration of the goddess
actually outlived the northern kingdom.25
The Sacrifice of Isaac
It has been said that Isaac could not have been a teenager when Abraham sacrificed him, because it would not have been a sacrifice.
All around Abraham, human sacrifice was occurring in the names of the gods. Since the days of Adam and Noah, animal sacrifice was demanded by Elohim/El Elyon and Jehovah/Yahweh. Human sacrifice was demeaning and the apostate form of worship. Or was it? While some rabbis thought that Abraham just did it on his own without God's command, Rabbi J. H. Hertz wrote that child sacrifice was "rife among the Semitic peoples" and "in that age, it was astounding that Abraham's God should have interposed to prevent the sacrifice, not that He should have asked for it." (Binding of Isaac - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia)
Regardless of whose interpretation one uses, Jehovah commanded Abraham to perform a human sacrifice! This special event is known as the Akedah, or Binding of Isaac. Unlike other times when Abraham plead with God to spare the lives of those in Sodom, or to accept someone else as his chosen son, Abraham quietly accepts God’s command and prepares for the trip.
Why such a long trip? The travel gave opportunity for Abraham to ponder what he was going to do. Yet he did not back down or change his mind. It also brought them to the traditional Mt Moriah, the holy mountain upon which the temple would one day be built by Solomon. Abraham was sacrificing Isaac on what would be the future altar of the temple of Jehovah.
Isaac accepts his part. In the ancient writings, we are told he calmly allows Abraham to bind him and lay him on the altar. In the final moments, as Abraham is about to plunge the knife, the angel of the Lord stops him. He is told the sacrifice is sufficient enough to show their obedience as father and son.
Represented in this sacrifice was the future sacrifice God the Father would make of his Son, Jesus Christ for all mankind. When Isaac asked his father where the animal was for the sacrifice, Abraham responded, “God will provide himself a lamb.” (Gen 22:8).
8 And Abraham said, My son, God will provide
himself a alamb for
a burnt offering: so they went both of them together.
9 And they came to the place which God had told
him of; and Abraham built an altar there, and alaid the
wood in order, and bound Isaac his son, and laid him on the baltar upon
the wood.
11 And the angel of the Lord called unto him out of heaven, and
said, Abraham, Abraham: and he said, Here am I.
12 And he said, aLay not
thine hand upon the lad, neither do thou any thing unto him: for now I know
that thou bfearest God,
seeing thou hast not cwithheld thy
son, thine only son from me.
When the angel told Abraham to stop, he provided a ram, with
its horns caught in a bush. For us in our day, God has provided Jesus Christ as
our sacrificial lamb. Without Jesus as a
stand-in for Isaac and for the rest of us, none of us could return to God’s
presence and live again.
Isaac as the Atoning One
In conjunction with the scapegoat (Ishmael), would be the atoning sacrificial goat (Lev 16:15-19). This goat was pure, without blemish. It would be the perfect sacrifice to atone for the congregation’s sins. It would cleanse them. Anciently, after Aaron and the priests sacrificed the goat, its blood would be taken by the high priest into the Holy of Holies of the temple and sprinkle the Mercy Seat – God’s throne. Then the high priest would sprinkle the altar, the temple’s instruments, and finally the people. The blood would atone for their sins. Isaac and the atoning sacrificial goat represent Christ as sacrifice for all mankind.
No one but the high priest could enter into the Holy of Holies, and then only on this one day each year. This was Jehovah’s Year Rite ceremony, where He proclaimed himself king of Israel. Instead of offering up his enemies as a sacrifice, Jesus Christ offered himself. Paul teaches us that Jesus, the Great I AM and Jehovah was the Great High Priest, who entered alone into the Holy of Holies. He sprinkled his own blood on the altar and the Mercy Seat. And we are cleansed in his blood as we humbly join his congregation through faith, repentance, and baptism of water and spirit.
Isaac as the Atoning One
In conjunction with the scapegoat (Ishmael), would be the atoning sacrificial goat (Lev 16:15-19). This goat was pure, without blemish. It would be the perfect sacrifice to atone for the congregation’s sins. It would cleanse them. Anciently, after Aaron and the priests sacrificed the goat, its blood would be taken by the high priest into the Holy of Holies of the temple and sprinkle the Mercy Seat – God’s throne. Then the high priest would sprinkle the altar, the temple’s instruments, and finally the people. The blood would atone for their sins. Isaac and the atoning sacrificial goat represent Christ as sacrifice for all mankind.
No one but the high priest could enter into the Holy of Holies, and then only on this one day each year. This was Jehovah’s Year Rite ceremony, where He proclaimed himself king of Israel. Instead of offering up his enemies as a sacrifice, Jesus Christ offered himself. Paul teaches us that Jesus, the Great I AM and Jehovah was the Great High Priest, who entered alone into the Holy of Holies. He sprinkled his own blood on the altar and the Mercy Seat. And we are cleansed in his blood as we humbly join his congregation through faith, repentance, and baptism of water and spirit.
Gen 23
1 And Sarah was an hundred and seven and twenty
years old:these were the years of the life of Sarah.
2 And Sarah adied in
Kirjath-arba; the same is bHebron in
the land of Canaan: and Abraham came to mourn for
Sarah, and to weep for her.
Bibliography
Osiris: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Osiris
Ra: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ra
Kerry Shirts (Backyard Professor) on the Book of Abraham’s Facsimiles: http://www2.ida.net/graphics/shirtail/papyri.htm
Scapegoat: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Scapegoat#The_Bible
Philistines as Sea People: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sea_Peoples#Philistine_hypothesis
Asherah – God’s consort: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Asherah#In_Israel_and_Judah
Nephi’s Asherah by Daniel Peterson: http://maxwellinstitute.byu.edu/publications/jbms/?vol=9&num=2&id=223
Margaret Barker’s talk on Nephi’s Vision of the Tree of Life (from the 2005 Joseph Smith Conference at the Library of Congress): http://www.joehunt.org/joseph-smith-margaret-barker-talk.html
Akedah or Binding of Isaac: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Binding_of_Isaac
Ardis Parshall’s Keepapitchinin Blog on how this lesson was taught in the past: http://www.keepapitchinin.org/2010/02/21/how-we-taught-this-lesson-in-the-past-lesson-9-god-will-provide-himself-a-lamb/
The Akedah or Binding of Isaac: Binding of Isaac - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Ardis Parshall’s Keepapitchinin Blog on how this lesson was taught in the past: Keepapitchinin, the Mormon History blog How We Taught This Lesson in the Past: Lesson 9: “God Will Provide Himself a Lamb”
No comments:
Post a Comment