“The Aleinu Prayer and the Pardes Story: Major Trends in Hekhalot Literature Research”

(Via James Davila at PaleoJudaica.com)

It has come to my attention (via her blog Forbidden Gospels) that Rice University Professor of Biblical Studies, April DeConick, will be a part of an extended research seminar that will be studying how different religions/cultures have prepared themselves for the “afterlife journey” that they anticipate having to traverse at death, including religious teachings and practices.

From her blog:

The semester is a week advanced and this year I am facilitating a Mellon Seminar. The topic? Mapping Death: Religious Preparations for the Afterlife Journey. The Seminar consists of myself, five graduate students from various departments (Religious Studies, French Studies, and Anthropology) and a webmaster. We are in the process of developing a webpage for the Seminar, so if you are interested you can track our progress.

Each student has an individual research project to work on, and then we are collaborating in terms of method and theory, sharing our approaches with each other. It is an exciting seminar and I am so pleased to be part of it. My own individual research project involves mapping ancient Gnostic metaphysics and praxis.

Here is a short description of the seminar:

This is a collaborative research seminar consisting of fellows working on cross-culturally mapping death journeys and religious preparations for them in order to investigate the relationship between the anticipated afterlife journey and the group’s metaphysics and praxis. The fellows will be engaged in the creation and cultivation of a rich interdisciplinary approach to the comparative study of traditions, a ‘new’ history-of-traditions approach that is conscious of the historical contexture of traditions, their referentiality, confluence, communal generation and conveyance, responsiveness, changeability, accumulative nature, and variability in transmission. Members will be working on individual research projects related to the seminar’s mission and their dissertations. At the end of the year, they will present their final projects in a roundtable symposium that also will feature invited papers from three external scholars who will visit the seminar at various sessions during the Spring semester. The papers from the symposium will be edited for publication in a volume.

I will be keeping a close eye on this seminar to see what they up with and look forward to the subsequent publication. This is an important topic and the research done will be significant for anyone interested in Temple studies (and Heavenly Ascents!) — preparation for the “afterlife journey” is one of the main purposes of the Temple, both ancient and modern.

I have met April DeConick and some of her graduate students and I highly respect the work that they do there at Rice University. You can expect it to be very professional and methodologically sound.

ON THE ORIGINS OF THE ALPHABET: An interesting debate was started up in the March/April issue of BAR by Orly Goldwasser on whether the alphabet was invented in elite scribal circles or (her position) in a working-class environment. Anson Rainey and now Christopher Rollston have replied, taking the contrary view. Much of the discussion is online:

Orly Goldwasser, How the Alphabet Was Born from Hieroglyphs (mostly behind a subscription wall).

Anson Rainey, with Goldwasser’s rebuttal, Who Really Invented the Alphabet—Illiterate Miners or Educated Sophisticates? (BAR website).

Christopher Rollston, FEATURED POST by Christopher Rollston: The Probable Inventors of the First Alphabet (ASOR blog).

Note also the recent discussion of The Origins of ABC in a post at John Boardley’s I Love Typography blog.

Israel archeologists uncover 2,000-year-old cupid in City of David dig

Israel Antiquities Authority says added inlaid semi-precious stone is of the ‘Eros in mourning,’ one of a group of visual motifs linked with mourning practices.

By Haaretz Service Tags: Israel news archeology Jerusalem

Israeli archeologists unveiled a 2,000 year old semi-precious cameo bearing the image of Cupid on Monday, which the Israel Antiquities Authorities (IAA) said was among several items located in the City of David archeological area in Jerusalem’s Old City in the last 12 months.

The cameo, which will be displayed at the 11th Annual City of David Archaeology Conference scheduled to take place later this week, is 1 cm in length and 0.7 cm in width, and was discovered in the Givati Parking Lot Excavation, a part of the Jerusalem Walls National Park.

[...]

Click on the link for a photo and detailed description.

Via Jim Davila’s PaleoJudaica.com

This is an interesting find that demonstrates how the syncretization of religious ideas and symbols in the ancient world was deeper than we sometimes think.

Now I’m not trying to make any profound connection here between modern LDS temples and ancient practices, but it was interesting for me to read about this find in light of a recent discussion I had with some LDS colleagues regarding an apparent image of Cupid inside the LDS Salt Lake Temple.  I think this does demonstrate that no matter the original or subsequent interpretation of a specific religious symbol, that symbol can, and very often is, reapplied by others to fit their own belief system.

• Yom Kippur and the Symbolism of Jonah’s Spiritual Journey — by Bored in Vernal (who wouldn’t be! Hey, I have family in Vernal!) — beautiful post with a stimulating and refreshing take on the topic
• OT Lesson #33: Sharing the Gospel with the World – by Nancy W. Jensen — more straightforward, but very well put-together commentary on the whole lesson
• Joel’s Monastery – Although his post on this lesson is not up yet, Gerald Smith’s site is always a good one to check for thorough and insightful treatments of the SS OT lessons

OT Lesson 34 — Hosea 1-3; 11; 13-14

Background

The Book of Hosea is placed first in our Bibles in a collection of twelve short books known as “the Minor Prophets” — called “minor” not because they were any less important or influential, but simply because what we have of their writings is much less than the writings of the “major” prophets: Isaiah, Jeremiah, Ezekiel.  The books of the Minor Prophets are supposed to be, traditionally, ordered chronologically, but an analysis of the texts reveals that this is not likely the case.  For example, although Hosea is placed first, this is likely due to an erroneous reading of the Rabbis of Hosea 1:2 (RSV): “When the LORD first spoke through Hosea”, which they took to mean that Hosea was the first of these prophets who was called to speak for the Lord.¹  However, the text of Hosea (Hosea 1:1) puts the prophet in the days of Jeroboam, Uzziah, and up to King Hezekiah’s time.  Chronologically, then, his book should be placed after those of Obadiah, Joel, Jonah, and Amos. Hosea was a younger contemporary of Amos,² and also served as prophet at roughly the same time as Jonah, Isaiah, and Micah.

Hosea was a prophet of Israel, the Northern Kingdom (while Isaiah and Micah were in Judah), before the destruction and exile of those northern tribes.  We can’t be sure if he witnessed that destruction, as it is not mentioned in his book, but some of the turmoil of the times leading up to that event is evident.  Hosea’s name in Hebrew, Hoshea, means “salvation.”

The book of Hosea presents an overview of the history of Israel, how they were loved as God’s chosen people (his bride/children), how they proved unfaithful by loving other gods more than the Lord, how they consequently fell into error, apostasy, and destruction, but how they would finally repent and return to their true God and be restored to the blessed state of abiding in his everlasting love.

Woodcut Illustration. Hosea, Gomer, and three children. From Zurich Bible, 1531.

The “Wife of Whoredoms” Metaphor

The initial narrative of the book of Hosea is very interesting in that it really makes you wonder if it is to be taken as fact or fiction — if it is all meant to be symbolic.  From the onset we see the Lord commanding his prophet to involve himself in a rather odd family situation — God commands Hosea (Hos. 1:2) to “Go, take unto thee a wife of whoredoms and children of whoredoms: for the land hath committed great whoredom, departing from the LORD.” Why in the world would the Lord ask his prophet to go and marry a prostitute?  Apparently, it was to serve as a symbol to Israel of the condition of their relationship, as a nation, to the Lord.  Just as Hosea was married to an “unfaithful” woman, Israel had also prostituted themselves with false gods and broken their covenants with the Lord.  Of course it is hard to know whether Hosea in reality married a harlot or if this is all metaphorical, but the book of Hosea teaches important principles regarding our covenant relationship to the Lord.  Hosea and his adulterous wife, Gomer, are presented as symbols of the Lord as the faithful husband and the land of Israel as his unrighteous wife.

This metaphor is in line with the symbols we pointed out in Proverbs (and elsewhere) of the “Strange Woman” and “Lady Wisdom”, the harlot and the virtuous wife of God (see my post here). This is a recurring theme in biblical literature that we get even in the NT book of Revelation.  As I explained in that post, “Running after” or “going in unto” the prostitute is symbolic of apostasy from the truth, while the virtuous wife represents wisdom, seeking and being faithful to the Truth.

According to the text, Israel’s “adultery” consisted of worshiping false gods (esp. Baal) in place of the true God of Israel (compare to the situation described in the story of Elijah).  It is interesting that Hosea is so focused on the sin of Baal worship in Israel, while his contemporary in the North, Amos, does not seem concerned about it much at all.  It is hard to know the reason for this, but for our purposes here we should understand that the Lord calls different prophets to serve different functions, and the prophet fulfills the specific duties that the Lord has called him to accomplish.

It is important to note in analyzing this metaphor of the unfaithful wife that we understand that the emphasis here is on the relationship of the Lord to Israel and not on Hosea’s relationship to his wife (or of any man to his spouse).  The reason I bring this up is because in some places in our reading of the text (see, for example, the beginning of chapter 2), the prophet, or the Lord, seems to be condoning the use of very harsh methods to punish the “adulterous wife.” As we read on, it becomes obvious that the Lord is speaking of the judgments that would come upon Israel for their unfaithfulness.  We should not see in this (not that anyone reading this would) any type of justification for mistreating or abusing our spouse in any way.³

The last item I wanted to make note of on this topic is the prophetic nature of the names given to Hosea’s children.  Their names all have symbolic meaning and represent judgments that will befall Israel, much like the names of the children of Isaiah (see, for example, Isa. 8).  The following, from Collins, is helpful in understanding the symbolism behind the given of these names:

The children of Hosea and Gomer are made to bear the prophet’s message by symbolic names. The first was named Jezreel, the name of the summer palace of the kings of Israel. It was at Jezreel that Jehu had slaughtered Jezebel and the royal family (2 Kings 9). Jeroboam II and his short-lived son Zechariah were the last kings of the line of Jehu, and this oracle must date from their time. There may have been many acts of bloodshed at Jezreel during the time of the Jehu dynasty. The most conspicuous one, however, was the bloody coup that involved the murder of Jezebel. According to 2 Kings, Jehu acted with the sanction of the prophet Elisha, but his bloodshed nonetheless warranted punishment in the eyes of Hosea.

The second child is named [lo' ruhamah], which may be translated “not pitied” or “not loved” (the name is related to the Hebrew word for womb, rehem). The point is that Israel will no longer be pitied. The third child receives an even harsher name, [lo 'ammi], “not my people.” The phrase echoes the common formula for divorce (“she is not my wife”) and reverses the common formula for marriage…⁴

Apostasy and Restoration

The book of Hosea emphasizes the apostasy and subsequent restoration of Israel.  As discussed above, Hosea prophesies of the consequences that will come upon the land of Israel because of her insistence on breaking her covenants with the Lord and apostasy from the truth. In each of the first three chapters, and then in the book as a whole, we see this pattern of apostasy and then repentance and restoration to the Lord’s favor.  For example:

• In Hos. 1, we see that God reaches the point that he declares that Israel “is not my people,” but later it is stated that after their repentance, he will say to them, “Ye are sons of the living God” (Hos. 1:10).
• In chapter 2, after divorcing his “bride” and leaving her to be shamed and punished in various manners, in the end the Lord makes a covenant with Israel that He will “betroth thee unto me for ever; yea, I will betroth thee unto me in righteousness, and in judgment, and in lovingkindness, and in mercies.  I will even betroth thee unto me in faithfulness: and thou shalt know the LORD” (Hos. 2:19-20).  The bride would refer to her husband as Ishi (“my man/husband”) rather than Baali (“my master/Baal”) — this reflects the popular affinity in Hebrew writing for plays on words — Baal was the name/title of the false god, but also a common way in Israel for a woman to refer to her husband, but the Lord did not want any “baal” references to be used at all anymore (Hos. 2:16-17).
• Chapter 3 speaks of the repentance of Israel — their abstinence from idolatrous practices instigated by unrighteous kings — and their return to seeking the Lord their God and David their ideal king.
• The intervening chapters, 4-13, generally outline how Israel has sinned and how the Lord has tried to call them to repentance. There is special focus on the tribe of Ephraim, unto whom the Lord had promised many great blessings, but who seem to have been leading the way in sin.  Ephraim had rejected their one and only Savior (Hos. 13:4) and in so-doing, brought destruction (i.e., the Assyrian destruction and Exile) on themselves. However, we learn that in the end, in chapter 14, Ephraim will return to the Lord and he will “love them freely” and turn away his anger from them (Hos. 14:4).

The first part of chapter 4 is particularly interesting as it includes Israel’s priesthood as a casualty of this falling away from the truth (as would the later Great Apostasy).  Note also that a lack of knowledge is one of the great effects (or causes) of this apostasy.

Hosea 4:1–10 Hear the word of the LORD, ye children of Israel: for the LORD hath a controversy with the inhabitants of the land, because there is no truth, nor mercy, nor knowledge of God in the land.

2 By swearing, and lying, and killing, and stealing, and committing adultery, they break out, and blood toucheth blood.

3 Therefore shall the land mourn, and every one that dwelleth therein shall languish, with the beasts of the field, and with the fowls of heaven; yea, the fishes of the sea also shall be taken away.

4 Yet let no man strive, nor reprove another: for thy people are as they that strive with the priest.

5 Therefore shalt thou fall in the day, and the prophet also shall fall with thee in the night, and I will destroy thy mother.

6 My people are destroyed for lack of knowledge: because thou hast rejected knowledge, I will also reject thee, that thou shalt be no priest to me: seeing thou hast forgotten the law of thy God, I will also forget thy children.

7 As they were increased, so they sinned against me: therefore will I change their glory into shame.

8 They eat up the sin of my people, and they set their heart on their iniquity.

9 And there shall be, like people, like priest: and I will punish them for their ways, and reward them their doings.

10 For they shall eat, and not have enough: they shall commit whoredom, and shall not increase: because they have left off to take heed to the LORD.

The Lord’s Long-suffering and Persevering Love

I believe that the key lesson to be learned from the book of Hosea is that of the Lord’s long-suffering nature and persevering love for his people.  The Lord loves Israel like a husband loves his bride.  Notwithstanding this great love and the blessings that come with the “marriage covenant” with the Lord, Israel has so often been unfaithful.  And, just as in the case when Hosea married Gomer, the Lord knew that Israel had some tendency towards “adulterous” behavior. Nevertheless, the Lord loved the people of Israel and made them his.  Drawing on the customs of the time regarding what a man would do with an unfaithful wife, the Lord “put away” his bride, letting her wander in grief and shame, fending for herself, for a time.  The Assyrian conquest of the Northern Kingdom (and of much of the South) and the exile of Ephraim and the other tribes seemed like an unbearable punishment.  But this does not mean that the Lord ever stopped loving Israel.

In chapter 11, we see the Lord recalling how he had brought Israel, as a son, out of Egypt (Hos. 11:1; compare Matt. 2:15) and carried Ephraim in his arms (Hos. 11:3). He had always loved his people, although all He received in return was disobedience and disloyalty.  However, his love did not wane:

(RSV Hosea 11:8) How can I give you up, O Ephraim! How can I hand you over, O Israel! How can I make you like Admah! How can I treat you like Zeboiim! My heart recoils within me, my compassion grows warm and tender.

Through it all, the Lord would not force his people to love him, but sent them reminders through his prophet: “O Israel, return unto the LORD thy God; for thou hast fallen by thine iniquity.” If they would remember and return to him, God would show his people his great love for them — the arms of his mercy were perpetually extended.

The loving Father knows that his children will return to him in the end. In his perfect foreknowledge, he can see them repenting and receiving the full blessings of his love and parental protection.

(Hosea 14:4–8)  4 I will heal their backsliding, I will love them freely: for mine anger is turned away from him. 5 I will be as the dew unto Israel: he shall grow as the lily, and cast forth his roots as Lebanon. 6 His branches shall spread, and his beauty shall be as the olive tree, and his smell as Lebanon. 7 They that dwell under his shadow shall return; they shall revive as the corn, and grow as the vine: the scent thereof shall be as the wine of Lebanon. 8 Ephraim shall say, What have I to do any more with idols? I have heard him, and observed him: I am like a green fir tree. From me is thy fruit found.

1. John J. Collins, Introduction to the Hebrew Bible, 296
2. Ibid.
3. See Ibid., 299-300
4. Ibid., 297

Plain and Precious Things Restored: Why Margaret Barker Matters

Plain and Precious Things Restored: Spiritual Blindness

Plain and Precious Things Restored: Margaret Barker and Josiah’s Reform

Plain and Precious Things Restored: Margaret Barker and Wisdom

Plain and Precious Things Restored: Margaret Barker and the Queen of Heaven

Plain and Precious Things Restored: Jesus and the Temple Tradition

Margaret Barker’s Understanding of Jesus Christ

Margaret Barker on Christmas: The Original Story

The Temple, the Monarchy, and Wisdom: Lehi’s World and the Scholarship of Margaret Barker

Nephi, Wisdom, and the Deuteronomist Reform

Jacob’s Connections to First Temple Traditions

The Deuteronomist De-Christianizing of the Old Testament

A Response to Paul Owen’s Comments on Margaret Barker

The complete text of Paradigms Regained: A Survey of Margaret Barker’s Scholarship and Its Significance for Mormon Studies

—————-

For a complete set of links to Kevin Christensen’s articles on Margaret Barker as well as related papers from other LDS authors, plus links to .PDF files, please see http://www.thinlyveiled.com/kchristensen.htm.

PSEUDEPIGRAPHA WATCH: Bob Kraft e-mails:

I just returned from the Papyrology Congress in Geneva, and you will be interested in the paper by Dirk Obbink (Oxford), “A New Fragment of Ezekiel’s Exagoge from Oxyrhynchus.” According to the abstract, this “newly identified papyrus … preserves the earliest textual witness to the Hellenistic tragedy Exagoge by Ezekiel. … The new papyrus attests the widespread circulation of this work and affords a unique opportunity to view its textual paradosis and graphic presentation in literary circles in Roman Oxyrhynchus.” The handout provided a critical edition of the text and comparison with other witnesses.

This text is a retelling of the Exodus story in the form of a Greek verse drama by the Hellenistic author Ezekiel the Tragedian. (We covered this in my Old Testament Pseudepigrapha course some years ago. And for much more, see here and here.) Apart from this manuscript, it survives only in quotations (and quotations of quotations) by later writers. Assuming, that is, that this is a manuscript of the Exagoge and not one of the later embedded quotes. Still, an actual manuscript of the work of Alexander Polyhistor would be pretty cool too.

The website for the 26th International Congress of Papyrology is here.

I am very interested in this text as I gave a paper on the Exagoge at last year’s SBL conference (I have also mentioned it on this blog, here and here and here). It is a very interesting text that deals with the enthronement of Moses on a heavenly throne. The most peculiar aspect of the text is that the divine figure who is on the throne actually gets off, seating Moses in his place. There is much debate regarding the identity of the figure who was previously enthroned.

What motivated you to write “Temple Themes in the Book of Moses”?

Jeff Bradshaw: My hope in writing this new book was that readers would gain a greater appreciation for the depth and sophistication of temple teachings—and the implications of those teachings for our daily lives. We are naturally drawn to the temple because it is a place apart where we can feel the peace and joy of God’s presence as we participate in sacred ordinances for ourselves and others. We take our problems to the temple and pray for help and guidance, and we also engage in group prayer for others with particular needs. These things alone are great blessings.

Often less appreciated, however, is the fact that the temple is intended to be a place of profound and very personal learning, not only with respect to the answers we seek to prayers about our immediate concerns, but also about our place in the overall economy of our divine Father’s Creation. Noting the magnitude of our opportunities in this respect, Elder Neal A. Maxwell once remarked: “God is giving away the spiritual secrets of the universe,” and then asked: “but are we listening?”^[i]

To help prepare our minds and hearts to receive this divine instruction, we have been counseled to study the scriptures and the words of latter-day prophets. Allusions to temple themes can be found throughout these writings, but it is not always easy to recognize them. Efforts have been made to bridge this gap through books that explain the meaning of specific symbols used in scripture and temple worship. However, most of us not only struggle with the meaning of individual concepts and symbols, but also—and perhaps more crucially—in understanding how these concepts and symbols fit together as a whole system. The symbols and concepts of the temple are best understood, not in isolation, but within the full context of temple teachings to which they belong.

Chesterton has compared our position to that of a “sailor who awakens from a deep sleep and discovers treasure strewn about, relics from a civilization he can barely remember. One by one he picks up the relics—gold coins, a compass, fine clothing—and tries to discern their meaning.”[ii] The point is that the essential meaning is to be found not so much in the individual relics as in a true grasps of the milieu that produced them.

As Latter-day Saints, we have access to more knowledge about the temple than has been available generally in any other dispensation. As a result, we are in a privileged position to have “the scriptures laid open to our understandings, and the true meaning and intention of their more mysterious passages revealed unto us.”^[iii]

Because its stories form such an important part of the LDS temple endowment, the book of Moses is an ideal starting point for a scripture-based study of temple themes. It is well known, for example, that the endowment, like the book of Moses, includes “a recital of the most prominent events of the creative period, the condition of our first parents in the Garden of Eden, their disobedience and consequent expulsion from that blissful abode, their condition in the lone and dreary world when doomed to live by labor and sweat, the plan of redemption by which the great transgression may be atoned.”^[iv] What is more rarely appreciated, however, is that the relationship between scripture and temple teachings goes two ways. Not only have many of the stories of the book of Moses been included in the endowment, but also, in striking abundance, themes echoing temple architecture, furnishings, ordinances, and covenants have been deeply woven into the text of the book of Moses itself.

In short, this book, though neither authoritative nor definitive, attempts to highlight a few of the temple themes that once seem to have been part of a widely-shared background of understanding for scriptural interpretation and to apply these themes as latent interpretive possibilities for the book of Moses. Though many of the arguments made will, no doubt, someday prove to have been ill-founded, my hope is that bringing such perspectives into discussion will, at the very least, help in some small way to spur deeper study and appreciation of the book of Moses and the temple.

*Can you tell me how your Temple Themes book differs from the material in the “In God’s Image” book? If someone has one of the books, would it still be helpful to get the other?

Bradshaw: Originally, “Temple Themes in the Book of Moses” was intended to be a slim and simply-worded synopsis of some of the temple-related material in the commentary that someone like my mother could pick up and enjoy reading. In the end, it turned out to be nothing like that. Perhaps the sole bit of progress I’ve made toward my goal is that at least this book is short enough that my mother can lift it—in contrast to the nine-pound hardback commentary that many found difficult to heft and read comfortably. Despite my failure on this book, I am still hoping to get a slim and simple summary volume together in the coming months.

In writing “Temple Themes,” I was freed from the obligatory chapter-by-chapter, verse-by-verse organizational scheme of the commentary, and was able to bring together related material on a given theme that was often inconveniently scattered throughout the text, endnotes, and excursus sections of the book. Moreover, I was able both to update some of the previous topics with illuminating new findings and also to branch out into subjects that had not been previously discussed.

An appendix covers frequent questions on the relationships among Genesis, the book of Moses, and the Joseph Smith Translation, as well as issues relating to authorship and translation.

Of course, the process adding in over a hundred full color images and photographs, many published here for the first time, was also a delight. The great majority of these were not included in the previously-published book of Moses commentary.

*

What are some examples of new and updated material found in this volume?

Bradshaw: As an example of updating previously-treated topics, I’ve added significant new material on the concept of the Tree of Knowledge as the veil of the sanctuary. Allusions to this idea, which I first found in rabbinic commentary and in the writings of Ephrem the Syrian, and the related association of the Tree of Knowledge with themes of death and resurrection, has proven to be much more widespread in the ancient literature than I could have ever imagined, not only appearing in the biblical stories of Noah, Babel, King Uzziah, and Esther, but also showing up in Islamic, Egyptian, Mesoamerican, and pseudepigraphal variations.

Once having understood the relevance of these sources, it is hard to imagine that the fruit of the Tree of Knowledge could have ever been construed as anything other than—obviously—knowledge! Whether speaking of the heavenly temple or of its earthly models, the theme of access to hidden knowledge is inseparably connected with the passage through the veil. For example, Jewish and Christian accounts speak of a “blueprint” of eternity that is worked out in advance and shown on the inside of the veil to prophetic figures as part of their heavenly ascent. In his final book, One Eternal Round (and, previously, in Abraham in Egypt), Nibley gave the “great round” of the hypocephalus as an example of an attempt to capture the essence of such pictures of eternity among the Egyptians, and showed how similar concepts pervade the literature of other ancient cultures.

Another subject that has been treated in much more depth is the vision of Moses (Moses 1). As you know (as a co-author of that chapter), the discussion in the new book goes far beyond what was included in the book of Moses commentary to include a thorough discussion of striking parallels in the Apocalypse of Abraham, as well as the first known publication in more than a hundred years of the full set of illustrations from the Sylvester Codex, a fourteenth-century Slavonic manuscript of that work.

In my opinion, one of the most significant new topics treated in the book is the question of how much Eve understood when she took of the fruit of the Tree of Knowledge. In light of the LDS understanding that the Fall was a necessary prerequisite for mankind’s further progression and our rejection of the generally negative portrayals of Eve in historical Christianity, Mormon authors typically emphasize her perceptiveness and interpret her role as ultimately constructive. A few have, however, taken this view to what I take to be an untenable extreme, not only rightfully exonerating her from full accountability for her transgression and honoring her lifelong faithfulness, but in addition arguing that, for various reasons, she was not actually “beguiled” by Satan in her decision to take of the forbidden fruit. One of the chapters in the new book is dedicated to correcting what I take to be as some misconceptions relating to this important topic that bears on some of our foundational doctrines.

Another favorite new chapter has to do with the surprisingly ubiquitous ancient theme of “standing in holy places.” Though this idea is explicitly found only once in the New Testament[v]—and that in a context that seems a difficult fit to current LDS construal of the phrase—it turns up frequently in modern scripture. In surprising echoes of modern revelation, the theme of one’s fitness to stand in holy places can be shown to be of paramount importance in the Old and New Testament—not to mention its particular relevance for our own time. Indeed, Avivah Zornberg has argued that to “hold [one’s] ground” in sacred circumstances is the meaning of being itself—“kiyyum: to rise up (la-koom), to be tall (koma zokufa) in the presence of God.”^[vi]

In another chapter, drawing on the arguments of Sarah Ruden and LDS scholar Lynne H. Wilson, I counter George Berrnard Shaw’s conclusion that the apostle Paul was “the eternal enemy of Woman.^”[vii] For example, in Paul’s description of the veiling of women during prayer, there seems to be no question of the woman being presented as a second-class participant in the ordinances or, for that matter, in eternal life, as some have erroneously concluded. Rather, by way of analogy to the divine radiance of Moses in Exodus 34:33–34, the veil might be understood not only as a woman’s sign of authority, necessary for her own exaltation, but also as a witness of womanhood’s glory, a glory that must eventually be shared with man if he is to attain completeness in God’s sight.

There is also new material relating to what I call Adam and Eve’s “temple work.” In contrast to frequent attempts to draw parallels between modern “secular employments” and the work required of the first couple in Paradise, I believe that the very point of the scriptural injunction in Moses 4:15 is to inform Adam and Eve that no labor of the ordinary kind was required in Eden so long as they qualified to remain in that place. In this view, any conception that they were to focus their energies on digging and pruning the trees of Eden is surely mistaken, since the account makes clear that “man’s food was ever ready at hand.”^[viii] Instead, I argue that a different, and even more strenuous and demanding kind of work was required of Adam and Eve while they lived in the Garden of Eden. Moreover, I attempt to show that the divine injunctions given there to the first couple have not changed in their priority since mankind fell from Paradise.

*

What is the relationship between this book and the weekly columns you wrote for Meridian Magazine during the first half of 2010?

Bradshaw: Some of the challenging questions raised in the “Temple Themes” book were first addressed in Meridian Magazine. Though some links and articles have been lost due to problems with a recent Web site update at Meridian, we’ve updated the links to this series on http://www.imageandlikeness.net so they can still be freely accessed. The new book has allowed me to correct, expand, and more fully illustrate the subjects treated in these articles.

Regretfully, I had to give up the weekly column in May 2010, due to a recall to service as a bishop, and the consequent reprogramming of my early-morning reading and writing time to nearly-full-time shepherding matters. My first day as a bishop, I received 79 email messages! Happily, my scripture study is still just as intense as it was when I was writing for Meridian—but my time and attention are now spread among many more topics!

*

Where can the new book be found? What about “In God’s Image and Likeness,” now that the hardbound edition is sold out?

Bradshaw: “Temple Themes in the Book of Moses” is published by Eborn Publishing. It’s available at any of the Eborn bookstores and at Amazon.com. It’s in stock and available for purchase in both inexpensive black and white ( $19.95) and full-color two-volume ($59.95) editions at the FAIR Online Bookstore and the BYU Bookstore. Full-color PDF versions ($19.95) of both “In God’s Image and Likeness” and “Temple Themes in the Book of Moses” for laptops, the iPad, Kindle, and virtually any other reading device are also available at BYU and FAIR, as well as at www.imageandlikeness.net.

A four-part softcover version, of “In God’s Image and Likeness” is also available for $19.95/volume or $59.95 for the four volume set. It incorporates corrections of many typographical errors and minor mistakes of other sorts, and adds several new and updated sources.

The key thing in all these new publications was to keep them as inexpensive as possible. Unlike the now-sold-out hardcover edition of the commentary, we did not have benefactors to subsidize the cost of publication—thus some compromises in print quality had to be made. Though the softcover volumes do not fully match the beauty and servicability of the single-volume hardcover edition, I am happy to have both the book of Moses commentary and the “Temple Themes” book in print in editions that are as affordable as we could possibly make them.

At the other end of the spectrum, a handful of copies of the limited leather edition of “In God’s Image and Likeness” are still available for $5000 each—certainly out of my own price range! Twenty-five pounds in the clamshell box, with beautifully-tooled gold decorations adorning the fine English leather–certainly not something you’d want to read in bed, but it is reputed by Eborn Publishing to be the most beautiful LDS book ever printed.

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What are your personal feelings about the book of Moses?

Bradshaw: It is my firm witness that the book of Moses is a priceless prophetic reworking of the book of Genesis, made with painstaking effort under divine direction. While neither “complete” nor “inerrant,” it is a text of inestimable value that should be a centerpiece of our gospel study. With respect to yet unrevealed portions of the book of Abraham, a companion to the book of Moses, Hugh Nibley reminds us:^[ix]

Important parts of the Pearl of Great Price which are still being held back include “writings that cannot be revealed unto the world; but is [sic] to be had in the holy Temple of God,”^[x] “ought not to be revealed at the present time.”^[xi] Years ago, when we cited some passages from what we called an Egyptian endowment,^[xii] without elaborating, many Latter-day Saints quietly recognized their own temple endowment. Important things are still expressly withheld which “ought not to be revealed at the present time”; these include Facsimile 2, figures 12-21. For some of the secrets there is a standing invitation: “If the world can find out these numbers, so let it be. Amen.”^[xiii] That was over a century and a half ago, and the invitation to search is still open.

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References

Chesterton, Gilbert Keith. 1908. Orthodoxy. New York City, NY: Image Books / Doubleday, 2001.

Maxwell, Neal A. “Our Creator’s Cosmos.” Presented at the Church Educational System Conference on the Doctrine and Covenants and Church History, Brigham Young University, Provo, UT, August 13, 2002, 2002, 1-8.

Nibley, Hugh W., and Michael D. Rhodes. One Eternal Round. The Collected Works of Hugh Nibley 19. Salt Lake City, UT: Deseret Book, 2010.

Nibley, Hugh W. 1975. The Message of the Joseph Smith Papyri: An Egyptian Endowment. 2nd ed. Salt Lake City, UT: Deseret Book, 2005.

Ruden, Sarah. Paul Among the People: The Apostle Reinterpreted and Reimagined in His Own Time. New York City, NY: Pantheon Books, 2010.

Sarna, Nahum M., ed. Genesis. The JPS Torah Commentary, ed. Nahum M. Sarna. Philadelphia, PA: The Jewish Publication Society, 1989.

Talmage, James E. 1912. The House of the Lord. Salt Lake City, UT: Signature Books, 1998.

Wyatt, Nicolas. “When Adam delved: The meaning of Genesis 3:23.” In ‘There’s Such Divnity Doth Hedge a King’: Selected Essays of Nicolas Wyatt on Royal Ideology in Ugaritic and Old Testament Literature, edited by Nicolas Wyatt. Society for Old Testament Study Monographs, ed. Margaret Barker, 55-59. Aldershot, England: Ashgate, 2005.

Zornberg, Avivah Gottlieb. Genesis: The Beginning of Desire. Philadelphia, PA: Jewish Publication Society, 1995.

Endnotes

[ii] P. Yancey, introduction to G. K. Chesterton, Orthodoxy, p. xiii.

[iii] Joseph Smith—History 1:74.

[iv] J. E. Talmage, House of the Lord, 4, p. 54.

[v] Compare Matthew 24:15.

[vi] A. G. Zornberg, Genesis, p. 21.

[vii] See S. Ruden, Paul, p. 73.

[viii] N. M. Sarna, Genesis, p. 18. But see the interesting discussion in N. Wyatt, When Adam.

[ix] H. W. Nibley et al., One Eternal Round, pp. 18-19.

[x] Abraham, Facsimile 2, figure 8.

[xi] Abraham, Facsimile 2, figure 9.

[xii] H. W. Nibley, Message 2005.

[xiii] Abraham, Facsimile 2, figure 11.

The first thing that caught my attention when I looked at the Sunday School study guide for this lesson on Job was that the prescribed lesson plan jumps around the book of Job, skipping many chapters in between.  This is, I’m sure, par for Sunday School study of Job as we obviously can’t cover 42 chapters in any detail in one lesson. But I wonder if most of us are even aware that there are so many chapters in this book. Whatever could the story be on about for so long? I was curious as to why these chapters were chosen while so many others were skipped.  Of course the main reason why these chapters were chosen is because they have the most significant theological content, but also, I believe, because they are some of the more upbeat chapters, and the ones that move the narrative along.  I’ll go into what I mean by that more in a moment.

I’d like to discuss some of the background information of the book of Job. As you may have noticed from the title of the post, Job is generally categorized by scholars as part of the same genre of Wisdom literature that we discussed last week with the books of Proverbs and Ecclesiastes.  The overall style and purpose of the book of Job can be compared to these other examples of the genre, but you will notice one major difference: Job reads much more like a narrative story than do the other two — at least the beginning and conclusion of the book are set up in narrative style.  However, generally speaking, the middle chapters are poetic dialogues that are more in line with Proverbs and, especially, Ecclesiastes. The Job of these dialogues doesn’t seem as heroic or optimistic as the Job in the opening and closing narratives. My hunch is that this is one of the main reasons why the lesson plan doesn’t cover much of this “middle” material.  Whereas the book of Proverbs contains mostly positive, encouraging advice, the dialogues that run through the middle of Job are much more pessimistic — more similar to the style of Ecclesiastes.  John J. Collins expounds on this disparity.

The Book of Proverbs represents “normal” wisdom in ancient Israel. It has much in common with the instructional literature of the ancient Near East, and it is characterized by a positive view of the world and confidence in its order and justice. This worldview was open to criticism, however, and already in antiquity some scribes found the traditional claims of wisdom problematic. The Wisdom tradition gave rise to two great works that questioned the assumptions on which the world of Proverbs was built. These works are the books of Job and Qoheleth (Ecclesiastes).¹

But what does he mean by Job questioning the wisdom tradition as found in Proverbs? Well, in Proverbs the idea is that if you do the right thing, you will be blessed. If you keep the commandments, then God will cause you to prosper.  Job, however, addresses the question of why the righteous sometimes suffer while the wicked seem to prosper.  This is an age-old question that is difficult to answer.  It is up to you to decide whether the book of Job answers this question, but we do see in the narrative that Job does (not, however, without some degree of moaning and complaining) endure his trials faithfully, and is blessed abundantly by the Lord.

Just to add a few more details of the book’s background, we should note that we don’t know when or by whom this book was written.  There is no indication in the story as to who the author was, but some tractates of the Talmud indicate that the book was thought to have been written by Moses. Some Rabbinic sources claim that Job lived before Moses and that Moses found the story of Job in an ancient Semitic tongue and translated it into Hebrew.  There are a number of expressions in the book which lead some to believe that it is quite ancient.  For example, the mention of the “sons of God” that gather together for the heavenly council (Job 1:6) is an early belief that is later usually replaced by reference to “angels” rather than “sons”.  This feature could, but not necessarily, place the book before the Babylonian exile. The fact that Job offers sacrifice is taken by some to indicate that the story is meant to be set in pre-Mosaic times, but this is not necessarily the case as the Bible depicts many post-Mosaic figures, including Israel’s kings, as offering legitimate sacrifices (note: it is possible that the story is meant to take place in patriarchal times, but need not have been written then).  The reference in that same verse to Satan (Heb. “the Satan” = the adversary, the accuser), and the role that he plays in the story, is considered by many scholars to indicate that the text is post-exilic.  In general, the modern scholarly opinion is that the book was likely written around the 5th century B.C., after the book of Proverbs and before the book of Ecclesiastes.  Notwithstanding the date that it may have finally been written down, Job preserves an ancient theology that is similar in many ways to much of the material in the Psalms, Isaiah, and other pre-exilic writings.

Again, it is difficult to know who wrote the book and whether or not it is purely a work of fiction — a parable. However, the New Testament (James 5:11) speaks of Job as if he were real enough and in the Doctrine and Covenants (D&C 121:10), the Lord himself refers to the suffering of Job. Also, significantly, Job is mentioned in Ezekiel 14:14 as one of three great men who had ministered to the house of Israel.

On to the content of the book…

The lesson study guide lays out the content of the chosen passages thus:

• a. Job 1–2. Job experiences severe trials. He remains faithful to the Lord despite losing his possessions, children, and health.
• b. Job 13:13–16; 19:23–27. Job finds strength in trusting the Lord and in his testimony of the Savior.
• c. Job 27:2–6. Job finds strength in his personal righteousness and integrity.
• d. Job 42:10–17. After Job has faithfully endured his trials, the Lord blesses him.

The Introduction (chapters 1-2)

The narrative begins by presenting Job as a very blessed man. He lived in the land of Uz (somewhere in the “east”) and was the richest guy around.  He had ten children and an absolutely incredible number of sheep, camels, oxen, donkeys, and numerous servants to take care of them.  We are told that he was a perfect and upright man, one that feared God and eschewed evil.  We are probably meant to assume that this is why he was so abundantly blessed.

However, Job’s luck changes when the Adversary makes his way into the Divine Council to fulfill his role as “prosecuting attorney”.  Satan stands before Jehovah and informs him that he has been going to and fro and up and down the earth — likely just looking for someone to accuse of something, because that’s his job. The Lord presents Job as a perfect and upright man unlike any other on the face of the earth. Satan is quick to argue that this piety is only due to how blessed and protected he has been of God and that if the Lord took it all away, Job would immediately “curse thee to thy face” (Job 1:11). The Lord agrees to let Satan try Job’s faithfulness by permitting him to have power over all of Job’s possessions.

In rapid succession, all of Job’s belongings, including his ten children, are totally destroyed. Job is left with nothing! However, he did not react by cursing God as Satan had predicted. Despite his great sorrow at the loss, he worshiped God and said:

(Job 1:21)  Naked came I out of my mother’s womb, and naked shall I return thither: the LORD gave, and the LORD hath taken away; blessed be the name of the LORD.

Satan, not wanting to be proven wrong, comes to the next council meeting, where the Lord announces to him that Job “still … holdeth fast his integrity, although thou movedst me against him, to destroy him without cause” (Job 2:3).  But Satan pushed further, declaring that if the Lord would inflict Job’s own body, his personal health, then Job would curse him to his face.  The Lord agrees to allow this further test of Job’s loyalty, but advising Satan to spare Job’s life.

Job is then tortured with painful boils and sores that covered the entirety of his body.  His suffering is unbearable, to the point that his wife recommends that he “curse God and die.”

(Job 2:10)  But he said unto her, Thou speakest as one of the foolish (as opposed to wise) women speaketh. What? shall we receive good at the hand of God, and shall we not receive evil? In all this did not Job sin with his lips.

It is important to remember that although we know of the deal between the Lord and Satan, Job has no idea why he is being put through all this.  This is what makes his endurance so significant — he has always been a righteous man and has always been blessed for it — he has no reason to expect these trials that would normally expected to be God’s punishment for the wicked.

Three men, who are supposed to be his friends — Eliphaz, Bildad, and Zophar — come to comfort him, but end up just rubbing it in.  Their assumption is the traditional expectation that the righteous will always be blessed, and if you are suffering it must be because you have sinned.  As the story proceeds, they try to pressure Job into confessing his sins which obviously brought on this great suffering.  Job, however, maintains his innocence.  The lesson plan, however, does not cover these intermediary chapters, likely because Job really begins complaining about his situation, cursing the day he was born and wondering why God has decided to become his enemy.  While there are certainly some interesting philosophical discussions in these sections, some might say that they are not especially inspiring or faith-promoting.

Just a note on these three friends — Eliphaz the Temanite, Bildad the Shuhite and Zophar the Naamathite. You may notice that their genealogy — their family name– is always mentioned with their given name, while we are not told from what family Job comes from. Why is this? Looking into the geneaolgies of these three friends, we can conclude that all three are meant to be descendents of Abraham.  Some traditions held that the three friends were three kings. They also seem to have the right and authority, likely due to their relation to Abraham, to offer sacrifice (see Job 42:8, although it is difficult to know if it is they who are to make the offerings or if it is Job). We do not know that Job was not of Abrahamic heritage, but the emphasis on the Abrahamic families of the friends is likely deliberate — they represent a pious lineage and thus are in danger of falling into the holier-than-thou, hypocritical attitude that is characteristic of the Pharisees in the New Testament.  We see that in the end of the story, although they assumed superiority over Job, he is the one who is, contrary to their expectations, finally accepted.  When they bring their burnt offerings, it is Job that is to offer an intercessory prayer on their behalf.

Chapters 13, 19

Job notes, in chapter 13, that in all their accusations against him, the three friends have presumed to speak for God. They have been trying to insist that God is just and would not cause suffering to come upon a righteous man. But Job accuses them of speaking “deceitfully” for God (Job 13:7–8) by maintaining that God would always preserve the obedient from harm, implying that Job must be a sinner.  Job predicts that God will, in the end, rebuke them for this approach.  I don’t think that Job sees God as malevolent, but Job is willing to be faithful to God no matter what He decides to do.  He declares, in verse 15, “Though he slay me, yet will I trust in him” and continues to assert that he knows that God will be his salvation. He then says, and this is likely a jab at his friends, that hypocrites shall not come before God.  We see here in Job a faith that includes trusting in God although we may not know his purposes.

Chapter 19 presents a similar theme. Although his friends have turned against him, and it appears that even God has turned against him, he still maintains his faith.  Although he does not understand why God is doing this to him, he knows that he must remain faithful through it all in the hope that one day he will be redeemed from this suffering and enjoy the glorious presence of God.  He declares in the famous passage:

25 For I know that my redeemer liveth, and that he shall stand at the latter day upon the earth:

26 And though after my skin worms destroy this body, yet in my flesh shall I see God:

27 Whom I shall see for myself, and mine eyes shall behold, and not another; though my reins be consumed within me.

Although many biblical scholars attempt to dismiss such notions, these verses attest to a belief in a divine redeemer who would come from heaven to earth at some future time (see also Job 9:33; 16:19; 33:23).  It also demonstrates that Job believed that he would see God with his own eyes, apparently at some point after his death. We should take phrases such as ”yet in my flesh” and “mine own eyes shall behold, and not another” to be references to a belief in a future bodily resurrection (although this topic is very much debated and many scholars likewise do not accept this interpretation).  It is the hope in this future redemption that permits Job to maintain his famous patience.

Chapter 27

Because of his hope of future redemption, Job sees great value in continued obedience to God, although he believes that it is God who is willingly afflicting him at present.  Although he doesn’t understand why God is doing this, he recognizes God’s sovereignty and the importance of keeping his commandments and living righteously. He declares:

4 My lips shall not speak wickedness, nor my tongue utter deceit.

5 God forbid that I should justify you: till I die I will not remove mine integrity from me.

6 My righteousness I hold fast, and will not let it go: my heart shall not reproach me so long as I live.

Job knows that although the righteous are not always spared suffering and pain, the wicked have no hope whatsoever.  Because of their evil ways, their soul will not be saved at the last day; God will not hear their cries in their time of need. Those who possess wisdom know that they must fear/obey God.

Conclusion (Chapter 42)

Before commenting on the epilogue to this story — the happy ending — I want to touch on how we got there. Throughout the book, we have Job being in the dark as to why God is apparently punishing him (he doesn’t realize that this is all just a test of his faith), and we have his “pious” friends basically persecuting him, telling him that he must be a sinner because God doesn’t afflict the righteous.  The reality, in the story, is that none of them understand God’s purposes.  The friends were mistaken in that they assumed that God would never allow evil to come upon good people. Job was wrong to think that God was punishing him for no reason or that God had become his enemy.  It is the fourth visitor, Elihu (ch. 34 — note the similarity in name to Elijah), who makes this clear.  Although he, too, seems to think that Job is in the wrong, it is what Job has thought and said rather than what he has done. Job has failed to understand that God is not unjust — that God does not err in his judgments or deliberately deal wickedly with mankind.  Elihu informs Job that he has “spoken without knowledge, and his words were without wisdom” (Job 34:35); he did “open his mouth in vain; he multiplieth words without knowledge” (Job 35:16).  Job failed to understand how God does things.

At the end of chapter 37, Elihu emphasizes Job’s lack of understanding of divine things be positing a series of questions regarding “the wondrous works of God” that are simply unfathomable to human beings.  The ways of God are mysterious and beyond man’s comprehension. 

As if to testify of the correctness of Elihu’s approach here, in chapter 38 the Lord himself appears to Job in a whirlwind and continues Elihu’s line of questioning.  He asks many questions that He, God, would know, but that Job, the human would not (at least would not remember).  Where was Job when the Lord laid the foundations of the earth, measured it and stretched the line upon it (masonry talk), and when the morning stars/sons of God sang and shouted for joy (the Creation imagery of these chapters deserves a post of its own). He goes on to question Job regarding the secrets of governing the heavens and the earth, secrets that only God would know. He demonstrates God’s great power in having created the greath behemoth and leviathan — beasts that can only be subdued by Jehovah himself.  He asks Job (ch. 40):

8 Wilt thou also disannul my judgment? wilt thou condemn me, that thou mayest be righteous?

9 Hast thou an arm like God? or canst thou thunder with a voice like him?

Job had strived this whole time to maintain his innocence, assuming that his suffering must have been due to God being in the wrong.  Job was still faithful to God, but he had misjudged God’s character.  He thought that he knew better and that his own judgment was superior to God’s. But God clearly demonstrates to Job that man is nothing, that he understands nothing, especially not the purposes of God.

In the end, God proves that He is just and merciful to the righteous.  When Job recognizes his inferiority to God’s power and knowledge, and that he had misunderstood God’s ways, he quickly repents of the error in his thinking and for the incorrect things he said about God.  The Lord forgives him promptly and appears to him. Job’s faith becames full knowledge as he sees the Lord, announcing: (Job 42:5) “I have heard of thee by the hearing of the ear: but now mine eye seeth thee.”  The three friends, who also thought they knew God’s will and ways, are then chastized by the Lord, because “ye have not spoken of me the thing that is right, as my servant Job hath” (Job 42:7). Because of their unworthiness in comparison to Job, God appoints Job as their intecessor between Him and them.  Job’s prayers on their behalf are acceptable to God.  Job is subsequently blessed with twice as much as he previously had.

The lesson that I feel is to be learned from the book of Job is that we simply do not know God’s purposes. Our duty is to remain faithful to him and endure to the end with patience.  Look at Joseph Smith, who was compared to Job by the Lord, and all that he suffered through in his life.  He was a righteous prophet of the Lord, yet he had to go through so many difficult and terrible things — the suffering never seemed to end.  Do we ever think of that? Do we question why God would put him through all that?  And why did God let someone close to me die? And why do these terrible things always happen to me?  The story of Job illustrates that we simply do not know what God’s purposes are for us.  Does God hate us or simply ignore us?  Is God responsible for all the evil in the world? We must admit that we simply do not understand God’s ways or what he plans for our lives.  We must simply trust in Him and have hope for that future redemption when we will be saved from all pain and sorrow and will be able to see God with our own eyes, in our own glorified flesh, and be able to abide in his loving presence.  God loves us and knows what’s best for us.  He promises that if we are faithful, we will return to Him in his Kingdom.  He didn’t say that there would be no pain, but that there could be a bright, happy ending with blessings more abundant than we could ever imagine — but for now we must have the patience of Job.

1. John J. Collins, Introduction to the Hebrew Bible (Minneapolis: Fortress Press, 2004), 505

If you would like to contact me directly, my email address is david@heavenlyascents.com.

Sorry for any inconvenience this may have caused.

David J. Larsen