Exodus 17-20 and the Temple

 Members of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints have a modern temple worship that hearkens back to the temples of the Old Testament.  The events of this section of Exodus are forerunners of Israelite temple worship.  There were two main ideas that struck me related to temples from these chapters.

1. The intention when Moses brought the House of Israel to Sanai was so they could become "a kingdom of priests, and an holy nation." (Exodus 19:6). More than that, the Lord wanted to show himself to the people "for the third day the LORD will come down in the sight of all the people upon mount Sanai." (Exodus 19:11).  The people washed their clothes and purified themselves, and then came to the base of the mountain, but when they saw the lightning and thunders and fire on the mountain, they were afraid, "and they stood at the nether part of the mount."  That is not the best translation.  What it really says is they stood a ways off, or in other words, they weren't willing to go forward. It was too scary.  The LORD told Moses to set bounds, and no one was thereafter allowed to go up and speak with the LORD except Moses.  This practice was continued when the Israelites set up their tabernacle, and later the temple.  The general population could come to the outer court, but only the high priest could come into the Holy of Holies, and only on the Day of Atonement. The goal of making a kingdom os priests was set aside, and a limited priesthood was set up lead by Aaron and the Levites.

When Joseph Smith established temple worship once again, he fulfilled the Lord's original purpose at Sanai.  In modern LDS temples, people are washed and purified symbolically, and then led, step by step back into the presence of God.  On the way they are ordained to become priests and priestesses.  The LORD, at last, has his "kingdom of priests" who can all enter his presence. 

2. This temple symbolism made one other thing I found during my reading even more impactful.  The chapter I decided to read in Hebrew this week was Exodus 20, the chapter with the ten commandments.  (It was pretty much easier to read than the Song of the Sea last week.) A lot of the podcasts I listened to talked about the commandments and how they could be divided up into behavior toward God and behavior toward man.  But the verses that stood out to me were 5 and 6.  The LORD is expounding on the not worshiping idols commandment.  He says, "for I the LORD am a jealous God, visiting the iniquity of the fathers upon the children unto the third and fourth generation of them that hate me; And shewing mercy unto thousands of them that love me, and keep my commandments."  Anyway, that is what is says in the KJV, but that is not what I read in Hebrew.  The NIV translation better reflects the Hebrew.  It says "but showing love to a thousand generations of those who love me and keep my commandments."  The LORD will punish those that hate him for 3-4 generations, but bless those that love him and keep his commandments for a thousand generations.  That sounds like a hyperbole, but, as I thought about it,  I realized it really isn't.  Yes, if someone turns away from God, it will affect their children and grandchildren, and maybe their great-grandchildren who miss the chance to be raised in the gospel.  But after that, it is their own responsibility to find the truth and aren't being affected by their ancestor's choices as much.  On the other hand, we are the still being blessed because the children of Israel, at least at some point, decided to love God and keep his commandments.  If they hadn't, we wouldn't have the Bible which is the foundation of most of Western culture.  Even if we are not direct descendants of the Hebrews, (though, we are all, probably, at some point descended from the house of Israel), members of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints believe they are adopted into the House of Israel when they make and keep temple covenants.  

Easter

This week we took a break from reading Exodus to celebrate Easter.  David and I decided to read the account from Matthew.  I also put together a little Easter gift for my neighbor who has small children. It was a version of the Easter Week activities we used to do when our kids were little.  I thought I would just include that here as it might be useful to someone. For each day there is a symbol, a scripture and an activity.

Easter Week for Little Kids

Monday: coin

On the first day of Holy Week Jesus road a donkey into Jerusalem.  Then he went to the temple and overturned the tables of the money changers.  Can you imagine all the coins spilled all over the floor? Jesus loved his Heavenly Father and wanted the temple, his “Father’s House” to be sacred and holy.

(Matthew 21: 12-13)

(donkey piñata)

 Tuesday: fig

When Jesus entered Jerusalem, he saw a fig tree that had lots of leaves but didn’t have any fruit.  In Jesus’s day there wasn’t any candy like we know it.  Figs were one of the sweetest things they had could eat. Maybe Jesus felt like the Jews of his day were like the fig tree.  They pretended to be good to show off, but they didn’t “bring forth fruit” by keeping the most important commandments. (Matthew 21: 19-21)

(fig newtons)

 Wednesday: light

Jesus taught many parables during the last week of his life on earth.  One of them was about 10 young women who were waiting for a wedding to start.  Some had brought extra oil to burn in their lamps, and some had not.  When it was time for the wedding to start, the ones who had brought extra oil filled their lamps and joined all the people walking into the wedding party.  Those that didn’t have extra oil, had to go and buy some and by the time they came back the gates to the party were already closed and they couldn’t get in.  If Jesus were telling this parable today he would have probably talked about flash lights and batteries.  We need to keep our batteries of faith charged by reading our scriptures, saying our prayers and being kind to others.  (Matt 25: 1-13)

(read our scriptures by flashlight)

 Thursday: unleavened bread

On Thursday Jesus invited his disciples to join him in celebrating the Passover.  During the Passover Jews don’t eat any bread that contains yeast.  This “unleavened bread” is a little bit like crackers.  After he kept the Passover, the told the discipled that the bread and wine used in the Passover really represented his body and blood that he would give for them.  Taking the sacrament each week reminds us of the same thing! (Matthew 26: 26-28)

(do the children’s sedar, or just eat crackers and grape juice)

Friday: love

On Friday Jesus was taken by the Roman soldiers and hung on the cross until he died.  This seems like a terrible thing but it was a way for Heavenly Father and Jesus to show their love for us. Jesus died for us so that we could someday live again with him. John, one of Jesus’ disciples said, “For God so loved the world that he gave is only begotten son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life.” (John 3:16)

(Make heart-shaped cookies)

Saturday: key

On Saturday while his body lay in the tomb, Jesus’ spirit went and visited people in the Spirit world.  He arranged for people to go and preach to those who were in Spirit Prison.  Jesus’ sacrifice unlocked the chains of death and allowed those who are captives of sin to go free through repentance. (D&C 138:28-30)

(Easter Egg Hunt: represents the pagan side of Easter, or Easter without/Christ)

Sunday: empty

On Sunday morning some of Jesus’ disciples went to the place where they had put Jesus’ body, and found the tomb empty. Where had he gone?  His spirit and body had been reunited and he returned to Heavenly Father. He came back to tell his disciples the good news-- because he died for us we will someday be resurrected like he is and live with Heavenly Father again. (Matthew 28:5-7)

(I always gave each person some new piece of clothing for Easter Sunday.  When we were poor it might only be a tie, or new socks instead of a whole outfil. Putting on new clothes was like Jesus putting on his new resurrected body.)

Findind Jesus in the Exodus

 When Cleopus and the other disciple were on the road to Emmaus, the resurected Jesus joined them and talked to them.  They were trying to understand Jesus' death and resurrection, and "Beginning at Moses and all the prophets, he expounded unto them in all the scriptures the things concerning himself." (Luke 24:27).  I had often wondered what he talked to them about, since I had a hard time seeing the wrathful Jehovah as the compassionate Jesus. This time, though, as I have been going through the Old Testament and taking a deeper dive into my studies, I keep seeing Jesus all over the place.  There is hardly anything in the story of the Exodus that isn't a symbol of Jesus and the plan of salvation.  Here are a few

The killing of the Lamb at the passover=Jesus death saving us from death.

Crossing the Red Sea=Through baptism, our sins are washed away, like the evil Egptians, and we start a new life leading to the presence of the Lord.  

Mana=Jesus is the bread of life that came from heaven

The water from the rock=Jesus is the living water, flowing unto eternal life

The Quail=Jesus told his deciples that they must eat of his flesh and drink of his blood.

I could go on and on.  It is really an amazing story.  Once you see it, then as you read the New Testament, you can see that the New Testament authors puposefully refer back to the Exodus story in the detail they include in their narrative.

But there was a reference to Jesus that literally took my breath away this week. 

Each week I choose one chapter from the Come Follow Me reading to read through in Hebrew.  This week I chose Exodus 15, which contains the "Song of the Sea".  It is a song that was sung by Moses and Miriam after the Egyptians were swallowed up in the Red Sea.  A couple of the podcasts I listened to mentioned that this song is probably one of the oldest texts in the Old Testament.  Or in otherwords, as the scribes were recording the story of the Exodus, they took an old, pre-existing, liturgical poem and inserted into the narrative. As I started working through it, I could tell it was written in a different style than the rest of the text.  For one thing, it calls God, El instead of Elohim, and the Lord, Ya, instead of Yaweh. Then I got to verse 2 and read 

ﬠזּי וזמרת יה ויזי לי לישׁוּﬠה

The King James translation is"The Lord is my strengh and my song, and he has become my salvation"

But in Hebrew the word "Lord" is really Ya, or what later became Yaweh, and the word for "salvation" is Jeshua.  Jeshua is the Hebrew name for Jesus.  So it really says, "Yaweh is my strength and my song, and he has become my Jesus".  When I read that, my mind kind of exploded.  Here is the most ancient text of the Pentateuch, and it says, Yaweh has become Jesus. What would it have been like for Mary when the angel told her that she would have a child and his name would be Jeshua?  She would have known this "song."  They would have read it or maybe even sung it every year during passover.  It would have been as well known to her as "Silent Night" is to us.  Did she instantly make the connection?  Did she know that her son would fulfill this thousands of years old prophecy?  I think, by the spirit, she did. 

No wonder Jesus said, "Search the scriptures for in them ye think ye have eternal life, and they are they which testify of me."  (John 5:39). They really do.

Exodus 7-13: Moses before Pharaoh

 Once again, this passage has so much in it! The story of the Exodus is perhaps the most important story of the Old Testament, especially to the Jews.  I could try to a four -old interpretation of it, but that might turn out to be a book rather than a blog post.  So, here are a just few things that stood out to me this week.

The plagues=smack-down of Egyptian Gods

One new idea this week was from Andrew Skinner on the Follow Him podcast.  He talked about how many of the 10 plagues the Lord inflicted on Egypt through Moses and Aaron were targeted at specific Egyptian gods.  For example:

Aaron's staff-snake eating up Pharaoh's staff-snakes: The snake is one of the personal symbols of Pharaoh. Remember how Pharaoh's crown has a snake on it?  One might ask why the Lord asked Moses to do the staff-snake trick first when He knew that Pharaoh's magicians could do the same trick.  It was because he wanted Moses' snake to eat Pharaoh's snakes as a foreshadowing of the ultimate outcome of this confrontation.

The the Nile to Blood: The Nile was also considered a deity in the Egyptian pantheon. The cursing of the Nile was also a foreshadowing of when the Egyptians would be swallowed up in the Red Sea later in the story.

The frogs, the killing of livestock, destroying crops, and the swarms of insects:  There are Egyptian gods with frog heads, cattle heads, gods of the harvest and even an insect god, the Scarab Beetle.  The message is "our God is greater than your gods"

The Darkness: the highest god in the Egyptian Pantheon was Ra.  He was the creator god and the sun god.  When God, in his penultimate curse, darkened the sky, he was showing his dominance over the most powerful Egyptian god. 

There may be more, but these were the most obvious to me.

Crucifixion Imagery

The other thing that struck me this week was how the New Testament writers were very concious of the Old Testament when they wrote the account of the crucifixion. They clearly saw it as the manifestation of the symbols of the Passover.  There are tons of parallels, but two small details struck me, both surrounding the blood that was put on the doorposts of the houses of the Hebrews so that they would be saved from death.  They were supposed to kill a lamb, and use a hyssop branch to put the blood on the top and sides of the door.  This always seemed like a really gruesome and random thing to ask them to do.  But if you think about the visual image, and then think about the crucifixion it, all of a sudden, becomes the same image.  The question is, where is the blood.  When Jesus was crucified, the blood was coming from his feet, his hands, and his head, from the crown of thorns.  That's where the blood in the Passover would have been as well.  On the floor, because that is where they would have slaughtered the lamb, and then at the sides, and across the top, because that is where they had to put it with the hyssop branch. 

I think it is no coincidence that, in John 19:29, when Jesus asked for a drink as he hung on the cross, the soldiers dipped a hyssop branch in sour wine and lifted it to his lips. It is the same visual image; lifting the reddened hyssop branch up. The New Testament writers, especially John, was clearly saying, "Look, this is what you have been celebrating every year at the Passover.  This is the Lamb of God who was sacrificed to save us from Death, and the captivity of sin."