Perhaps its better that I didn’t comment on the scriptural narratives of David and Solomon, as I don’t feel that the books of Samuel and Kings (histories composed by the Deuteronomists), nor the book of Chronicles (composed by the post-exilic priestly historians) are necessarily dependable accounts of the lives and actions of these men. I feel that both histories were written and/or edited by redactors who had a theological agenda and who generally disapproved of the monarchy. They seem to have had motives to want to discredit the Davidic monarchy and its religious beliefs and practices. I could go on and on about this, but I will refrain for now.  If you want to read a couple of the many posts I’ve written touching on this topic in the past, see here and here.

Okay, on to Elijah.  Elijah is one of the most revered characters in Scripture for Jews, Christians, Muslims, and others.  He appears in the Old Testament (Hebrew Bible), the New Testament, the Talmud, the Mishnah, the Qur’an, and elsewhere.  The Abrahamic faiths (except LDS) are all generally awaiting the return of Elijah “before the coming of the great and dreadful day of the LORD” (Mal. 4:5).  While some groups believe that this scripture was fulfilled with the coming of John the Baptist or at the appearance of Elijah at the Transfiguration of Christ, neither seems to quite fulfill the expectation that he would come at the advent of the eschaton or (in Christian understanding) the Second Coming of Christ.  Latter-day Saints believe that his coming in 1836 to Joseph Smith and Oliver Cowdery in the Kirtland Temple fulfilled the promises in Malachi, including the idea that he was sent “to turn the heart of the fathers to the children and the heart of the children to their fathers” (Mal 4:6).

The fact that his name means “Yah[weh] is my God” is very significant for the role he plays in the narratives in 1 Kings 17-19, 21, and the beginning of 2 Kings.  Elijah is the champion of the cult (“religion”) of Yahweh against the evils of the cult of Baal that have now virtually become the “state religion” of the northern tribes of Israel.  King Ahab has wholly adopted the religion of his idolatrous foreign wife Jezebel, who has made it her goal to rid Israel of its traditional worship of Yahweh. She ordered the prophets of Yahweh put to death (note the interesting detail that the governor of Ahab’s house, Obadiah, who was faithful to God, hid one hundred of the prophets in caves).  As indicated in 1 Kings 18:22, Elijah becomes practically the only prophet of Yahweh who continues to be active in Israel.  Elijah fights to return the people and its rulers to the correct worship of God.

The great irony in these Elijah narratives is apparent when we realize that Baal was believed to be the great “storm god”, the “rider of the clouds” that was responsible for bringing rain, which produced fertility and life for his worshipers.  In the Ugaritic (Canaanite) myths, when Baal is overcome and killed by his enemies and descends to the Underworld, there is no rain, the ground dries up, and all mankind is in peril until he is revived again, which miracle is signaled by the commencement of the rainy season.  Although we generally like to contrast the thought of the “pagan” religions that surrounded Israel from the true beliefs of Yahweh, it is likely that the reason the Israelites so easily fell into this pattern of Baal worship is because the two religions/gods were very similar.  For traditional Israel, Yahweh was the one who truly possessed the attributes claimed for Baal — He was the Son of God Most High, the true Lord/Master (Hebrew ba’al), the God who brought rain, fertility, and life (see, e.g., Pss. 36:5-9; 68:9; 77:16-19; 84; 104:3; 107; 135:7; 144:10-15; 147:8; etc.). To them, Yahweh was the Rider of the Clouds (see Ps. 68:4, where it should likely read “rider of the clouds”, instead of “heaven” or “desert”; also Ps. 104:3).  With this in mind, we see the clear polemics in these stories arguing for Yahweh as the bringer of rain and life rather than Baal.

At the beginning of chapter 17, Elijah, through his authority as a prophet of Yahweh, promises King Ahab that “there shall not be dew nor rain these years” until he says there will be. This is a direct challenge to the religion of Baal and its prophets, who believed that they could call on their god to bring rain.  Elijah shows the almighty power of Yahweh and the utter impotence of Baal as he, in the name of Yahweh, brings a lengthy drought that cannot be overcome despite the idolatrous prophets’ best efforts.

While we can perhaps see the drought as a punishment by the Lord for King Ahab and the followers of false gods, we are also shown that Yahweh remembers and provides for those who are faithful to Him.  In the second half of chapter 17, we have the story of the widow of Zarephath who had just enough cornmeal and oil to make one last meal for herself and her son, and then expected to starve to death.  At this point of crisis, Elijah the prophet arrives, having been promised by God that this poor widow would sustain him during the famine. When she explains her desperate situation, that she doesn’t have enough even for herself and her child, she is promised by Elijah that her meal barrel and oil cruse would not fail but miraculously last through the drought.  This is a great story of faith tested, and the poor widow did not fail but was blessed with abundance sufficient for herself, her son, and the prophet.  Yahweh can bring sustenance during famine, taking care of the lowest of his followers, while Baal can’t manage to reverse the dry conditions in any manner, not even to wet the thirst of the king of Israel.

Yahweh further proves himself to be the God who brings life by raising, through Elijah, the faithful widow’s son from the dead. The power to give victory over death is the ultimate display of Yahweh’s power to bring life. This miracle is later repeated by Elijah’s prophetic apprentice, Elisha, and, of course, by Jesus himself.  At seeing her son revived, the widow exclaimed to Elijah, “Now by this I know that thou art a man of God, and that the word of the LORD in thy mouth is true.” Her testimony that Yahweh was the true Governor over life and death was greatly fortified.

The next great challenge by Elijah against the Baal worshipers was at Mount Carmel, where he engaged the four hundred and fifty prophets of Baal in a showdown to once-and-for-all show whose God had true power over the elements.  As a side note, the mention of the “prophets of the groves” (the prophets of the asherim, 18:19) seems to be a later insertion into the story, as we don’t hear much about them again. It is possible that in the original story there was a conflict between Yahweh and Baal, but not between Yahweh and Asherah (but we won’t go into that now).  The challenge from Elijah was to see whose god could bring fire down from Heaven to consume the sacrifice. The purpose of the sacrifice was apparently to request the sending of rain to end the drought, but the consumption of the sacrifice by fire from heaven would be a great visual manifestation of the true God’s power.

While the prophets of Baal called upon their god all day long and into the evening with no response manifest, Elijah began to mock them, saying:

1 Kings 18:27 Cry aloud: for he is a god; either he is talking, or he is pursuing, or he is in a journey, or peradventure he sleepeth, and must be awaked.

His taunts reflect what the author sees as the foolish traditions regarding the god Baal, that during seasons of dry weather the fertility god was either on a journey (e.g. into the Underworld) or had died.  It is possible that other related myths described the god as being away hunting, or being asleep and needing awakening before the rains would come.  These beliefs were widespread throughout the region and Elijah’s derision is clearly a deliberate attack against them.  It is odd, in light of this, to see such language used to refer to Yahweh in the Psalms and elsewhere (see Pss. 35:24; 44:23; 59:4-5;  78:65).

After the false prophets’ antics (including jumping on the altar and cutting themselves) produce no results, Elijah prepares to demonstrate the omnipotence of the Lord. So confident is Elijah that the Lord can easily consume a sacrifice with fire that he makes the show of power even more dramatic by drenching the sacrifice, the altar, and the whole area in buckets of (precious) water.  He then called upon the One whom he knew to be the true God of Israel.

(1 Kings 18:36–37)  LORD God of Abraham, Isaac, and of Israel, let it be known this day that thou art God in Israel, and that I am thy servant, and that I have done all these things at thy word. 37 Hear me, O LORD, hear me, that this people may know that thou art the LORD God, and that thou hast turned their heart back again.

The prophet’s faith was not in vain. As soon as he had called upon his God, fire descended out of heaven and consumed everything associated with his sacrifice: the offering, the wood, and, amazingly, the water and even the stones and dust!  All present were compelled to recognized Yahweh as “the God” (1 Kgs. 18:39).

Elijah then capitalized on the people’s new-found faith in Yahweh and rid the country of the vast retinue of Baal’s prophets by putting them to death. He then advised the suddenly impotent King Ahab that rain was imminent. As the life-giving precipitation poured down, it was abundantly clear to all that Yahweh was the only true God in Israel.

Queen Jezebel, the matron of the Baal cult in Israel, was obviously very upset to hear of these happenings and orders that Elijah suffer the same fate that her prophets had (of course she had already been trying to kill all of Yahweh’s prophets, including Elijah). Elijah escapes and goes to spend some time on Mount Horeb (another name for Sinai, the mountain of revelation). Significantly, he fasts for forty days and nights before experiencing, similar to Moses, a theophany.

The theophany described in chapter 19 is different, however, from earlier recorded manifestations of God.  Here (vv. 11-12) we have the familiar story of the wind, the earthquake, and the fire that apparently accompany the Lord’s appearance, but he is not present in any of those phenomena. His presence is marked only by a still small voice (or, in some translations, “the voice of silence” or “the sound of sheer silence”).  While I certainly accept the concept of God communicating through a still small voice, it is apparent that this description is polemically motivated. The writer/editor clearly wants to disassociate the manifestation of Deity from the traditional images of the disruption of elements that accompanied the theophanies of earlier times. For example, consider these earlier accounts of the appearance of God.

(Psalm 18:6–15)   In my distress I called upon the LORD, and cried unto my God: he heard my voice out of his temple, and my cry came before him, even into his ears. 7 Then the earth shook and trembled; the foundations also of the hills moved and were shaken, because he was wroth. 8 There went up a smoke out of his nostrils, and fire out of his mouth devoured: coals were kindled by it. 9 He bowed the heavens also, and came down: and darkness was under his feet. 10 And he rode upon a cherub, and did fly: yea, he did fly upon the wings of the wind. 11 He made darkness his secret place; his pavilion round about him were dark waters and thick clouds of the skies. 12 At the brightness that was before him his thick clouds passed, hail stones and coals of fire. 13 The LORD also thundered in the heavens, and the Highest gave his voice; hail stones and coals of fire. 14 Yea, he sent out his arrows, and scattered them; and he shot out lightnings, and discomfited them. 15 Then the channels of waters were seen, and the foundations of the world were discovered at thy rebuke, O LORD, at the blast of the breath of thy nostrils.

(Isaiah 6:1–4)  In the year that king Uzziah died I saw also the Lord sitting upon a throne, high and lifted up, and his train filled the temple. 2 Above it stood the seraphims: each one had six wings; with twain he covered his face, and with twain he covered his feet, and with twain he did fly. 3 And one cried unto another, and said, Holy, holy, holy, is the LORD of hosts: the whole earth is full of his glory. 4 And the posts of the door moved at the voice of him that cried, and the house was filled with smoke.

These two examples are characteristic of the earliest descriptions of the appearance of the Lord. We even get such a description in the book of 1 Kings itself, in chapter 22 when the prophet Micaiah ben Imlah says:

(1 Kings 22:19) Hear thou therefore the word of the LORD: I saw the LORD sitting on his throne, and all the host of heaven standing by him on his right hand and on his left.

Traditionally, the Lord is generally seen sitting on his throne and the vision is often accompanied by grand displays of smoke, fire, and earthquake. The account of Elijah’s experience on Sinai even goes contrary to Moses’ experience, where these elements are a main feature of the theophany.  In this 1 Kings account, those points are mentioned, but it is specifically stated that Yahweh is not associated with them.  The only true manifestation of Yahweh here is the still, small voice.

It is quite clear to me that the passages in Kings are an addition from the Deuteronomist redactors. Around the time of the Babylonian captivity (centuries after the fact), these books of the Hebrew Bible were compiled/edited by individuals who had a clear theological agenda.  They didn’t like the language used in the ancient theophanic accounts and attempted to edit those stories by making it look like God was never seen in human throne (e.g., sitting on a throne), and other visual aspects were downplayed. God’s only manifestation was through his Voice/Word.  We see these redactors at work in the contradictory statements surrounding the theophany at Sinai at the time of Moses. While the fantastic natural phenomena couldn’t be erased from collective memory, we are told by the Deuteronomist that Moses was informed that:

(Deut 4:12 RSV) Then the LORD spoke to you out of the midst of the fire; you heard the sound of words, but saw no form; there was only a voice.

This is odd when we are told elsewhere that Moses, Aaron, and the elders of Israel saw the Lord (Exod 24:10) and we are told later (in the context of the above scripture) that Moses sees God’s back — certainly part of his “form.” Yet the beliefs of the Deuteronomists would not let them admit that God could be seen — only heard.  For me, it is this theology that is behind the famous passage concerning Elijah.  While this kind of perspective may make God seem more mysterious and perhaps more omnipotent/omni-present, the older tradition is more awe-inspiring and definitely more cool!  Of course I don’t mean to say that God cannot manifest himself in any way in which He chooses — and He does make himself known in a variety of different ways — I do want to identify here the fact that the Bible is composed of differing theological views that come from disparate time periods and that sometimes these views are purposefully contradictory.  This is not due to contradictions in God’s Word or God’s own thinking, but due to the fact that the books that make up our Bible have passed through the hands of many human editors and translators.  Beyond these technicalities, however, the Word of God and the important lessons we need to learn from it continue to shine through.  God does speak to us through a still, small voice that we can only hear if we are humble and have a great desire to listen carefully to what he wants to reveal to us individually.

Noah and His Book(s)
Michael E. Stone, Aryeh Amihay, Vered Hillel

ISBN 1589834887
Status Available
Price: $45.95
Binding Paperback
Publication Date June, 2010

In a collection of original essays, this book offers new insights on the question of the lost “book of Noah,” as well as studies of Noah’s figure in postbiblical literature. It focuses on ancient Jewish literature, including the Septuagint, the Apocrypha and Pseudepigrapha, the Dead Sea Scrolls, Philo, Josephus, and rabbinic literature, but Christian sources, especially Christian iconography, gnostic literature, and Syriac material, as well as later sources such as the Qur’an and Jewish medieval traditions, are also consulted. The contributors are Michael E. Stone, Vered Hillel, Aryeh Amihay, Michael Tuval, Daniel Machiela, Claire Pfann, Esther Eshel, Jeremy Penner, Rebecca Scharbach, Benjamin G. Wright III, Nadav Sharon and Moshe Tishel, Albert Geljon, Sergey Minov, Erica Martin, and Ruth Clements.

Michael E. Stone is Professor Emeritus, Hebrew University, Jerusalem, and the author of numerous books on Second Temple literature and on Armenian studies. Aryeh Amihay is a Ph.D. candidate at Princeton University. Vered Hillel is a professor at the Israel College of the Bible in Jerusalem.

Hardback edition available from Brill Academic Publishers (www.brill.nl)

Follow the link to order it.

(Via Jim Davila)

The first thing I wanted to point out is that Nephi’s vision in chapter 11 is given only after a few pre-requisite conditions are met. These are:

1. He had a desire to know the things that his father had seen in vision.
2. He believed the words of his father and that the Lord was able to make them known to him as well.
3. He was pondering those things in his heart.

It seems to me that these are some of the basic requirements, in both ancient and modern accounts, for receiving inspiration or revelation from God.  I have read quite a lot lately about revelatory experiences in the ancient world, and there is a lot of literature that describes how visionary episodes were supposed to be brought on by some “artificial” (I say artificial for “man-made” inducers of visionary experiences, as opposed to divinely-induced) means, including sensory deprivation, consumption of hallucinatory agents such as psychoactive plants, narcotics, breathing in hydrocarbon or other gases in caves, and so on. While I have little doubt that such methods have been used throughout human history to bring individuals into a psychedelic trance that they felt allowed communication with the Beyond, it is interesting to note that there is no mention of anything of this sort here with Nephi.  All we get is that he was pondering in his heart, and suddenly he was “caught away  in the Spirit of the Lord.”

Like so many ancient accounts of visionary experiences, Nephi is caught up into a high mountain, the ideal place for a meeting between God and man.  The Spirit here (and I’m assuming that this is the Holy Spirit, the third member of the Godhead), serves as Nephi’s angelus interpres, the “interpreting angel” that usually accompanies the visionary in similar accounts, explaining to him what he is seeing.  In verse 11, we are told that this Spirit, who is the Spirit of the Lord, “was in the form of a man.” If, as it would seem, this figure is the Holy Ghost, then, according to Nephi, although He is a spiritual being, He is “anthropomorphic.”  There are a good number of ancient texts that support this view, as a number of recent studies have pointed out (see my early posts on this topic here and here). Following on ancient Jewish traditions, many early Christians believed that the Holy Spirit was an angel that stood by the throne of God. Of course, being “angelomorphic” is essentially the same as being anthropomorphic.

The Spirit explains to Nephi (verse 7) that after he sees the object of his desire, the Tree of Life which his father saw, he would be given a “sign” — he would see a man descending out of heaven, who the Spirit identifies as the Son of God.  Apparently, the Spirit means for Nephi to see the Son of God as parallel to the Tree of Life.

However, when Nephi actually asks for an interpretation of the Tree (v. 11), he is shown a virgin who was “exceedingly fair and white” and “most beautiful and fair above all other virgins” (vv. 13, 15).  The virgin, then, is another parallel for the Tree. Note how Nephi’s description of the virgin compares to his description of the Tree: “the beauty thereof was fare beyond, yea, exceeding of all beauty; and the whiteness thereof did exceed the whiteness of the driven snow” (v. 8). Nephi is told that this virgin that he saw “is the mother of the Son of God, after the manner of the flesh.” In verse 20, Nephi sees this virgin mother carrying the holy child, the Lamb of God, in her arms.

Now the fact that parallels are made between the Tree of Life and both the Son of God and his Mother is very significant. As I’ve mentioned before, Margaret Barker picked up on the significance of this symbolism when she read these passages from the Book of Mormon. Barker, who is an expert in the religious culture of Jerusalem at the time Lehi and Nephi would have been there, explained in a speech at a conference held at the Library of Congress in 2005:

…[A] text discovered in Egypt in 1945 described the tree [of life] 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.

From my own studies, I have been intrigued to find that in ancient Israel, the Tree of Life was understood to represent both the King of Israel and also the Queen Mother (the king’s mother). (See also, on this topic, Daniel Peterson’s great article on this topic here) As I have pointed out before, there was a common ancient image of the Tree of Life, as a mother goddess, nourishing the “new born” king.

This image is paralleled by the many ancient images we find of the mother goddess holding and nursing the young god/king.

Besides the symbols of Mother and Son of God, it is interesting that the Spirit identifies the Tree with yet another idea. When He asks (v. 21) Nephi, after giving two symbols already, what he thought the Tree stood for, Nephi, without hesitating, answers that “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.” For Nephi, it seems that this was the obvious message being communicated by the vision of the Tree, the virgin and the Divine Son. It all represented the love of God for his children on Earth. I don’t know if that is the conclusion that I would have automatically come up with, but this is what the clear meaning was for Nephi. Perhaps the cultural and religious environment of 600 BC would have prepared Nephi to attach these symbols together to lead him to understand this great truth.

What helped me understand these connections a bit better as I read them this time around was pondering as well the comparable thoughts found in John 3:16:

For God so loved the world that he gave his only begotten Son (through the favored and chosen virgin, Mary), that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life.

This is the Tree of Life! This is the fruit that is “desirable above all things” and “the most joyous to the soul” (vv. 22, 23)! To know that God loves us all so much that he was willing to send his most beloved Son, by means of a precious and pure young woman, into the world to save us — to share with us Eternal Life! There is no greater or sweeter gift that we could possibly ask for!

Chapter 11 of 1 Nephi, along with the following chapters, contain many more amazing examples of ancient religious thought, some of which I have pointed out in previous posts. However, I felt very strongly about these points as I read over these verses, and wanted to share them here. May we all hold fast to that iron rod that leads to the precious Tree and endure on until we can eat of that most desirable fruit, and share the journey with those we love.

The Temple: Part 2, “Three Degrees of Glory” (section a, The Bronze Laver)

The ancient Temple of Solomon was built following a three-fold structure that represented the increasingly sacred gradations of space in the Cosmos between Man on Earth and God in Heaven. These three levels can be seen to correspond with the Restored Church’s doctrine of the Three Degrees of Glory:

From what we know from the existing descriptions of the Temple of Solomon, the temple complex was divided into:

The “courts” that surrounded the temple building represented the created world in graded levels of holiness, which increased in representative glory as one approached the pinnacle of the holy mountain.

1. All objects of worship – found in the inner court were made of bronze, in contrast to the gold furnishing found within the sanctuary.
2. The “brazen sea” – an enormous bronze basin of water, half as wide as the temple itself, stood in front of the temple, supported on the backs of twelve bronze oxen. It is believed that it was used for the priests to wash themselves in, likely in the form of a ritual immersion; It was meant to represent the Deep, the primordial sea from which the creation arose The cosmic sea was imagined as surrounding the created order, which was represented by the temple building. The containment of the raging sea was a sign of Yahweh’s power and primordial victory over the chaotic waters. The bronze sea may also be seen as a symbol of the fountain of living waters that flowed from Eden, with the four sets of oxen representing the four rivers flowing forth to water the whole earth. The oxen also represented the 12 tribes of Israel.

This video is the first installment of a series of productions covering the topic of ancient temples, presented by David Larsen and David Tayman. The focus of these presentations will be to explore the nature, function, doctrine, and rituals of the ancient temple, especially the ancient Israelite Temple of Solomon in Jerusalem, in a manner that is especially helpful for those who are familiar with modern Latter-day Saint Temples. The basic assumption we are working with is that, although there are important differences, there are also a number of significant similarities that can be found between the ancient temple and the modern.

BYU Professor Richard O. Cowan explained:

Modern revelation affirms that both the Tabernacle of Moses and the Temple of Solomon were built so that “those ordinances might be revealed which had been hid from before the world was” (D&C 124:38). Hence the Lord’s people in these Old Testament times had access to at least some of the temple ordinances that would be restored in the latter days. …The Lord’s requirements for exaltation, and therefore the need for temples, were the same then as they are now.

(Richard O. Cowan, “Sacred Temples Ancient and Modern,” in The Temple in Time and Eternity (Provo: FARMS, 1999), p. 105)

Looking at the structure and function of the ancient temple, the first major point to note is that the temple was built on a location that was understood to be sacred space.

1. The sanctity of the location was often attributed to one of the following characteristics. It was: the initial place of creation, the center of the world, the top of a holy mountain, or, in many cases, a combination of all three.

2. The tops of mountains were often chosen because they were seen to be half-way between heaven and earth — an ideal place for a meeting between God and man.

3. In addition, the temple itself was an architectural reproduction of the Holy Mountain of God. According to ancient Semitic religious tradition, the holy mountain, the highest and most exalted of all mountains, was the personal dwelling place of the Most High God, and His sons, the Holy Ones.

As one ascended the mountain, one drew closer to the presence of God, who resided at the top. Only those invited and duly authorized could do so. We see the disastrous results of an unwelcome ascent in the story of the unauthorized temple known as the Tower of Babel.

The three-fold structure of the Temple of Jerusalem can be understood by its parallels to the events described in the ascent occurring at Mt. Sinai in the Book of Exodus:

a.    the children of Israel stayed at the bottom (outer courts)

b.   Aaron and the 70 elders went up to the middle (holy place)

c.   only Moses went to the top (Holy of Holies).

Each degree of the temple is more holy than the last, because of its representative closeness to God.

The script for the following installment of this temple video series, Part 2a, will be posted shortly.

“The Temple: Part 2 — Three Degrees of Glory”, produced by David Tayman ( http://www.visionsofthekingdom.com) and I, continues the series of videos discussing the ancient symbolism, doctrine, and rituals of the ancient temples, especially designed for those with a knowledge of, or interest in, the modern temples of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. This video actually comprises just the first section of Part 2, and addresses the topic of the differing levels of holiness set apart in the structure of the ancient temple, focusing here on the objects found in the court surrounding the temple, specifically, in this section, the bronze laver, or “sea”, and its symbolism.  Videos covering the great hall of the temple and the Holy of Holies will follow. LDS viewers will recognize parallels between the information presented about ancient temples and the restored doctrine of the “three degrees of glory.”

My great thanks to David Tayman for all his work in putting this presentation together!

Without further ado, here is The Temple: Part 2 — Three Degrees of Glory (section a, the Bronze Laver):

If you haven’t yet seen Part 1 of this series, I’ll post it as well:

Check back here or at my YouTube channel regularly for further updates to this series!

The “journey” starts off in the presence of God and we then travel through the immensity of space to reach the Earth, the place where God determined that our mortal experience would take place. Our purpose in this mortal life is to learn and progress so that we can return to the presence of God. I depict the place where one gains the knowledge of how to make this return journey as the temple. Temples have been built since the beginning of mankind’s history so that we could gain our bearings in the universe, learning where we came from and how to get back there.  I include a depiction of the procession at Solomon’s temple dedication, which procession I believe was meant to represent the ascent from the Earth through the heavens and back into God’s presence. This was a ritual enactment of what they expected to someday be a reality for them. Then the actual ascent/journey back through the heavens is depicted, ending with a vision of Christ on His Throne, the Godhead, and ultimate enthronement of the individual.

I could have included many more relevant images, but this was just a fun exercise for me in putting together a video.

I am posting a couple of other great videos that James from Lehi’s Library pointed out to me.

They were both put together for NOVA : the first is a reconstruction of Solomon’s Temple (which is much better done than the one I previously posted), and also a video about Asherah as a possible Hebrew Goddess, the wife of God. Some very interesting material!

(You may recognize some of this as having been included in David Tayman’s and my video The Temple: Part One — Sacred Space)

Alejandro F. Botta
The Aramaic and Egyptian Legal Traditions at Elephantine: An Egyptological Approach
http://www.bookreviews.org/bookdetail.asp?TitleId=7223
Reviewed by Margaretha Folmer

Paul F. Bradshaw
Reconstructing Early Christian Worship
http://www.bookreviews.org/bookdetail.asp?TitleId=7291
Reviewed by Tony Costa

Fredrik Hägglund
Isaiah 53 in the Light of Homecoming after Exile
http://www.bookreviews.org/bookdetail.asp?TitleId=7369
Reviewed by Ulrich Berges

John W. Yates
The Spirit and Creation in Paul
http://www.bookreviews.org/bookdetail.asp?TitleId=7374
Reviewed by James Miller

2010.06.19. Tipei, The Laying on of Hands in the NT

John Fleter Tipei, The Laying on of Hands in the New Testament: Its Significance, Techniques, and Effects
Reviewed by Panayotis Coutsoumpos

2010.06.16. Reynolds, Apocalyptic Son of Man in the Gospel of John

Benjamin E. Reynolds, The Apocalyptic Son of Man in the Gospel of John
Reviewed by William O. Walker Jr.

2010.05.22. Zetterholm, Messiah in Early Judaism and Christianity

Magnus Zetterholm, ed., The Messiah in Early Judaism and Christianity
Reviewed by Adam Winn

2010.05.01. Bucur, Angelomorphic Pneumatology

Bogdan Gabriel Bucur, Angelomorphic Pneumatology: Clement of Alexandria and Other Early Christian Witnesses
Reviewed by James F. McGrath

“Temple Animation” House of Jehovah — animation of Solomon’s Temple (Please ignore the somewhat corny nature of the film and the fact that the spire or front facade of the temple is comically high)

“Temple of God” — Dedication of Solomon’s Temple

“Jerusalem Temple 3D Model” — Herod’s Temple in Jerusalem