Thanks to one of my best friends I read Daniel C. Peterson’s article entitled, “Nephi and His Asherah,” that is quite closely related to my questions about the female nature of wisdom. This provides insight into the very strange answer to Nephi by the angelic visitor who taught him. In the apocalyptic dream that he shared with his father Lehi, they saw the tree of life and various aspects related to it. They saw the tree with white fruit, delicious and beautiful. They saw those who failed to reach the tree in various traps in the world that are really timeless. The dream itself is fascinating and has been the topic of much discussion over the years since Joseph Smith first brought the Book of Mormon to light. I have always been fascinated that he prayed, asked to have a vision and then said that he wanted to see the same vision that my father saw, and that it was granted.
Now, the truly strange thing that Peterson addresses and I had always thought it strange but never having been a great thinker, had not put any effort into figuring it out. Of course I lacked the information and intellect to do so but Peterson is a dfferent case. The strange thing is that Nephi asks for an explanation to the dream and more specifically to know the tree’s interpretation. As a result the angel disappears and Nephi is shown the vision of Mary the virgin mother of Christ. Until now, it had seemed something of a non-sequiter that meant very, very little to me. However, the article puts it into the light of the concept the tree related to wisdom, the female personage in ancient religious belief. It is truly an incredible article since it is yet a virtually impossible thing for Joseph Smith to have known from any text available to him other than the golden plates. The article is well worth reading and is found on the FARMS website: http://farms.byu.edu/publications/jbms/?vol=9&num=2&id=223
Thursday, January 8, 2009
Saturday, December 27, 2008
Thoughts on Ether 14 and 15
While I read Ether 14 and 15 this morning I was struck by the incongruity of the story of the Jaredite destruction.
In verse 2 of chapter 14 we read of the, apparently polygamous participants in the aggression that would prove the nation’s complete downfall. “Wherefore every man did cleave unto that which was his own, with his hands, and would not borrow neither would he lend; and every man kept the hilt of his sword in his right hand, in the defence Sic. of his property and his own life and of his wives and children.” This was just 7 years, more or less from the bitter end that only two would remain alive to witness, Ether and Coriantumr. Ether, whose name the book bears wrote down his tale of the destruction for us to read and the latter simply bore verbal witness to the late-comer Nephites.
It struck me that despite the doomsday nature of this text and the nearness of oblivion, Jared’s descendants were still concerned with being good family men and women. They cared for their belongings and their loved ones right up to the total anarchy and barbarous annihilation of their race. Indeed, they doubtless thought themselves righteous and they were pious in their defense of their freedoms and security but in the end the Lord kept his promise to sweep them off the continent and destroyed them for their wickedness and failure to comply with His teachings.
Are we so far from them?
In verse 2 of chapter 14 we read of the, apparently polygamous participants in the aggression that would prove the nation’s complete downfall. “Wherefore every man did cleave unto that which was his own, with his hands, and would not borrow neither would he lend; and every man kept the hilt of his sword in his right hand, in the defence Sic. of his property and his own life and of his wives and children.” This was just 7 years, more or less from the bitter end that only two would remain alive to witness, Ether and Coriantumr. Ether, whose name the book bears wrote down his tale of the destruction for us to read and the latter simply bore verbal witness to the late-comer Nephites.
It struck me that despite the doomsday nature of this text and the nearness of oblivion, Jared’s descendants were still concerned with being good family men and women. They cared for their belongings and their loved ones right up to the total anarchy and barbarous annihilation of their race. Indeed, they doubtless thought themselves righteous and they were pious in their defense of their freedoms and security but in the end the Lord kept his promise to sweep them off the continent and destroyed them for their wickedness and failure to comply with His teachings.
Are we so far from them?
Tuesday, December 2, 2008
Who Is Wisdom
Mosiah 8:20 reads,
20 ...O how marvelous are the works of the Lord, and how long doth he suffer with his people; yea, and how blind and impenetrable are the understandings of the children of men; for they will not seek wisdom, neither do they desire that she should rule over them!
Later on Proverbs 3:15-19 I read
13 ¶ Happy is the man that findeth wisdom, and the man that getteth understanding.
14 For the merchandise of it is better than the merchandise of silver, and the gain thereof than fine gold.
15 She is more precious than rubies: and all the things thou canst desire are not to be compared unto her.
16 Length of days is in her right hand; and in her left hand riches and honour.
17 Her ways are ways of pleasantness, and all her paths are peace.
18 She is a tree of life to them that lay hold upon her: and happy is every one that retaineth her.
19 The LORD by wisdom hath founded the earth; by understanding hath he established the heavens.
First off I was struck by the use of feminine pronouns in these scriptures. Originally, I decided that it was because in the original languages the word has a female ending as in the Romance, Greek, Germanic, Latin, Semitic, and Slavic languages. However that seemed a pretty thin explanation really.
Then I ran onto an article by a Methodist scholar from England named Margaret Barker. In her studies she has found that in ancient documents wisdom was considered to be a female personage who was present at the foundation of the world. It has an interesting connection to verse 19 of Proverbs 3.
Wisdom was considered to be the one who provides balance and keeps things in tune and in fact as such, was translated as Harmozouza in the Greek translation of the Old Testament, the Septuagint. The Greek word for wisdom not personified, of course is Sofia. Harmozouza then, is a personage who keeps things in tune. Both words are feminine in Greek in any case. Harmozouza was also considered the antithesis of diablos who is the character, the one who sews discord. Diablos is the Greek word that got translated into Germanic and later English as Devil. In Romance languages it is virtually the same as the Greek.
These documents go on to correlate her to the tree of life as in verse 18 of Proverbs 3. As such she stood in opposition to the tree of Knowledge of Good and Evil, the tree that Lucifer masquerading as Christ/Serpent promoted to Adam and Eve. The tree of life was thought to have a sweet smelling oil and anciently this was thought to be myrrh or olive oil. It was also always connected to gold and frankincense, the three gifts of whom… The Wise men in the gospel of Matthew 2:11.
In contradiction to the tree of life which gave wisdom and life they were charged not to partake of the tree of knowledge of good and evil because it would bring not only partial and potentially dangerous knowledge but would bring immediate spiritual death and ultimately physical death. The Jewish menorah was a symbol of the tree of life/wisdom and burned myrrh scented olive oil. In 70A.D. the Roman violation and sacking of the temple included the loss of the temple “furniture.” Among this stuff was the menorah that was representative of wisdom because it is basically a tree of light. This got me to thinking about Moses’ burning bush and all that that could imply where he received a veil experience and so forth. The menorah is also likely what John referred to in the Revelation when he talked about the seven lamps since this is the design of the menorah.
In some ancient Jewish texts Adam did not leave the garden empty handed. They were given garments made of skins to protect and guide them. They were also new symbols of his mortality, replacing the garments of light that some texts suggest they wore in the Garden. Adam is also said to have brought with him to keep things going the same three things that the wise men brought to Jesus. He then hid them in the famous Cave Of Treasures and used it when it was necessary and passed it along to Seth so he could recall the garden. The oil was to be used to anoint the eyes of the high priests so that they would see the same things but would do so differently or wisely and likewise with the ears and so forth. The frankincense was to be used in burnt offerings, a lot of stuff to do with smells. They used the gold to build the first temple.
There is a whole discussion about the veil of the temple that shielded the Holy of Holies. The Holy of Holies was called “Day One” of creation. This differs from the first day of creation and it was considered that the High Priest, going through the veil into the presence of God’s throne passed into a realm that was without time and matter. Anciently, the teaching was that the HP/Prophet went through the veil to receive his revelations because all of history was embroidered on the temple’s veil. There he learned that the creation of the world happened conceptually and we would say, spiritually beyond time and matter on this Day One of creation.
Regarding wisdom itself, I now think that the word itself is feminine in all of these language groups because it is a word for the personage or her characteristics and came down to the speakers of these languages in that form. I don’t think it is a quirky little mistake of the Prophet Joseph Smith in Mosiah. Indeed, it boils down to another mistake that Joseph Smith did not make.
20 ...O how marvelous are the works of the Lord, and how long doth he suffer with his people; yea, and how blind and impenetrable are the understandings of the children of men; for they will not seek wisdom, neither do they desire that she should rule over them!
Later on Proverbs 3:15-19 I read
13 ¶ Happy is the man that findeth wisdom, and the man that getteth understanding.
14 For the merchandise of it is better than the merchandise of silver, and the gain thereof than fine gold.
15 She is more precious than rubies: and all the things thou canst desire are not to be compared unto her.
16 Length of days is in her right hand; and in her left hand riches and honour.
17 Her ways are ways of pleasantness, and all her paths are peace.
18 She is a tree of life to them that lay hold upon her: and happy is every one that retaineth her.
19 The LORD by wisdom hath founded the earth; by understanding hath he established the heavens.
First off I was struck by the use of feminine pronouns in these scriptures. Originally, I decided that it was because in the original languages the word has a female ending as in the Romance, Greek, Germanic, Latin, Semitic, and Slavic languages. However that seemed a pretty thin explanation really.
Then I ran onto an article by a Methodist scholar from England named Margaret Barker. In her studies she has found that in ancient documents wisdom was considered to be a female personage who was present at the foundation of the world. It has an interesting connection to verse 19 of Proverbs 3.
Wisdom was considered to be the one who provides balance and keeps things in tune and in fact as such, was translated as Harmozouza in the Greek translation of the Old Testament, the Septuagint. The Greek word for wisdom not personified, of course is Sofia. Harmozouza then, is a personage who keeps things in tune. Both words are feminine in Greek in any case. Harmozouza was also considered the antithesis of diablos who is the character, the one who sews discord. Diablos is the Greek word that got translated into Germanic and later English as Devil. In Romance languages it is virtually the same as the Greek.
These documents go on to correlate her to the tree of life as in verse 18 of Proverbs 3. As such she stood in opposition to the tree of Knowledge of Good and Evil, the tree that Lucifer masquerading as Christ/Serpent promoted to Adam and Eve. The tree of life was thought to have a sweet smelling oil and anciently this was thought to be myrrh or olive oil. It was also always connected to gold and frankincense, the three gifts of whom… The Wise men in the gospel of Matthew 2:11.
In contradiction to the tree of life which gave wisdom and life they were charged not to partake of the tree of knowledge of good and evil because it would bring not only partial and potentially dangerous knowledge but would bring immediate spiritual death and ultimately physical death. The Jewish menorah was a symbol of the tree of life/wisdom and burned myrrh scented olive oil. In 70A.D. the Roman violation and sacking of the temple included the loss of the temple “furniture.” Among this stuff was the menorah that was representative of wisdom because it is basically a tree of light. This got me to thinking about Moses’ burning bush and all that that could imply where he received a veil experience and so forth. The menorah is also likely what John referred to in the Revelation when he talked about the seven lamps since this is the design of the menorah.
In some ancient Jewish texts Adam did not leave the garden empty handed. They were given garments made of skins to protect and guide them. They were also new symbols of his mortality, replacing the garments of light that some texts suggest they wore in the Garden. Adam is also said to have brought with him to keep things going the same three things that the wise men brought to Jesus. He then hid them in the famous Cave Of Treasures and used it when it was necessary and passed it along to Seth so he could recall the garden. The oil was to be used to anoint the eyes of the high priests so that they would see the same things but would do so differently or wisely and likewise with the ears and so forth. The frankincense was to be used in burnt offerings, a lot of stuff to do with smells. They used the gold to build the first temple.
There is a whole discussion about the veil of the temple that shielded the Holy of Holies. The Holy of Holies was called “Day One” of creation. This differs from the first day of creation and it was considered that the High Priest, going through the veil into the presence of God’s throne passed into a realm that was without time and matter. Anciently, the teaching was that the HP/Prophet went through the veil to receive his revelations because all of history was embroidered on the temple’s veil. There he learned that the creation of the world happened conceptually and we would say, spiritually beyond time and matter on this Day One of creation.
Regarding wisdom itself, I now think that the word itself is feminine in all of these language groups because it is a word for the personage or her characteristics and came down to the speakers of these languages in that form. I don’t think it is a quirky little mistake of the Prophet Joseph Smith in Mosiah. Indeed, it boils down to another mistake that Joseph Smith did not make.
Thursday, January 10, 2008
Children of the Promise
I have a friend in Peru, a young woman that I have known for about five years. She is of a fairly mixed lineage with beautiful Inca features: jet black hair, aquiline nose and high cheekbones. She is a staunch Catholic and got very burned by a radical Christian group several years back. Over the years, I have given her a couple of copies of the Book of Mormon and asked her to read it. She has never responded other than to read the odd page here and there.
She works for me now and I had pestered her about it just before year’s end and asked when she was going to read it. Anyway, I came back to Peru and met up with her after my three weeks trip home. I asked all of the niceties, how was your Christmas and New Years??? She said, “o, bien, bien… Adivina que estoy leyendo. Guess what I am reading.”
I actually had no idea and when she said, “The Book of Mormon!” I was surprised. She then went on to tell me that it was like a story and that it had her gripped and that she was already almost finished with 1Nephi. She is reading five chapters a night. She told me that she can see the people in her mind’s eye and that the book has come alive for her. She sees them as she thinks they might have looked. Then she said, “They are like my family.”
I felt that powerful impulse of the Holy Ghost and told her, “That, I think is more profound than you imagine. I think that that is literal because these are your family, your distant ancestors and this is a book, first of all for you and your people and not necessarily for me and mine.” In all of the years I have lived among the Lamanites of Peru 11 now, I have never felt a sense so strong of someone identifying with the characters in the Book of Mormon. I am still kind of overwhelmed by it.
She works for me now and I had pestered her about it just before year’s end and asked when she was going to read it. Anyway, I came back to Peru and met up with her after my three weeks trip home. I asked all of the niceties, how was your Christmas and New Years??? She said, “o, bien, bien… Adivina que estoy leyendo. Guess what I am reading.”
I actually had no idea and when she said, “The Book of Mormon!” I was surprised. She then went on to tell me that it was like a story and that it had her gripped and that she was already almost finished with 1Nephi. She is reading five chapters a night. She told me that she can see the people in her mind’s eye and that the book has come alive for her. She sees them as she thinks they might have looked. Then she said, “They are like my family.”
I felt that powerful impulse of the Holy Ghost and told her, “That, I think is more profound than you imagine. I think that that is literal because these are your family, your distant ancestors and this is a book, first of all for you and your people and not necessarily for me and mine.” In all of the years I have lived among the Lamanites of Peru 11 now, I have never felt a sense so strong of someone identifying with the characters in the Book of Mormon. I am still kind of overwhelmed by it.
Monday, December 31, 2007
Book of Mormon Intro
I have re-read the Book of Mormon again. This is not exactly a news flash, rather, something I do twice a year since 1986. Before that, I read it once annually since 1978 but first read it all the way through in 1973. I have read the Italian and Spanish translations each a couple of times. “Why,” you may ask, “Would a sane person read the same book over and over again with such frequency.” The answer comes only with reading it over and over again in reality and in simple terms, it is not just, “A book.” In my estimation, it is simply the most profound and poignant book to have been written in human history.
By the way, it is not the only book I read either. I have read the Bible three times and the Koran once (I understand that to a Muslim, I have not read the Koran but an English translation of it but, that is ok too). I have read much of the writings of Buddha, the Apocrypha, much of the Pseudepigrapha and the Gnostic gospels. I have read works by Homer, Herodotus, Xenophon, Julius Caesar, Churchill, Marx, Hitler, Jefferson, Voltaire, Che Guevara, Mao, Aldus Huxley, Jimmy Carter, Plato, Yeats, Gabriel Garcia Marquez, Socrates, Aristotle, Solon, Shakespeare, Heaney, Keats, Shelly, Milton, Dickens, Payne, Swift, Steinbeck, Llosa, Einstein, Hawking and Kaku and lots of others, ad nauseum really. Simply stated, nothing compares with the Book of Mormon for content and relevance.
Since I first started to read and then immediately re-read the book each year, sometimes a page per day and sometimes ten or twenty, the book has overwhelmed me with its contemporary relevance. Joseph Smith translated the sacred volume by the gift and power of God and hence, it is not so much a translation as it is the word of God spoken directly to us in our own language of modern times. Indeed, even the strange names in the book were each spelled out by Joseph Smith to avoid misunderstandings by his scribes. These people spoke a vernacular of Hebrew with Egyptian overprint, much like the Jews at Elephantine Egypt but corrupted by time and separation until the book itself says that no one knew their language… Hence, Joseph Smith’s need for the support of God to translate it was met and we have this remarkable volume essentially direct from God to us and to serve as a guide to us. I love it and treasure it above all other books.
As a result, I have decided to create this Blog and dedicate the space to my thoughts on the Book of Mormon this year.
By the way, it is not the only book I read either. I have read the Bible three times and the Koran once (I understand that to a Muslim, I have not read the Koran but an English translation of it but, that is ok too). I have read much of the writings of Buddha, the Apocrypha, much of the Pseudepigrapha and the Gnostic gospels. I have read works by Homer, Herodotus, Xenophon, Julius Caesar, Churchill, Marx, Hitler, Jefferson, Voltaire, Che Guevara, Mao, Aldus Huxley, Jimmy Carter, Plato, Yeats, Gabriel Garcia Marquez, Socrates, Aristotle, Solon, Shakespeare, Heaney, Keats, Shelly, Milton, Dickens, Payne, Swift, Steinbeck, Llosa, Einstein, Hawking and Kaku and lots of others, ad nauseum really. Simply stated, nothing compares with the Book of Mormon for content and relevance.
Since I first started to read and then immediately re-read the book each year, sometimes a page per day and sometimes ten or twenty, the book has overwhelmed me with its contemporary relevance. Joseph Smith translated the sacred volume by the gift and power of God and hence, it is not so much a translation as it is the word of God spoken directly to us in our own language of modern times. Indeed, even the strange names in the book were each spelled out by Joseph Smith to avoid misunderstandings by his scribes. These people spoke a vernacular of Hebrew with Egyptian overprint, much like the Jews at Elephantine Egypt but corrupted by time and separation until the book itself says that no one knew their language… Hence, Joseph Smith’s need for the support of God to translate it was met and we have this remarkable volume essentially direct from God to us and to serve as a guide to us. I love it and treasure it above all other books.
As a result, I have decided to create this Blog and dedicate the space to my thoughts on the Book of Mormon this year.
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