5/13 - The doctrinal significance of "East"

I love the doctrines of the gospel, and I love Geography. How awesome it is when they both come together!!

1. Brother Satterfield began our discussion by advising us to always begin our studies with prayer, and on the knees if possible. I felt something special when he said this.
2. When translating, before tackling individual words, take a look at the grammatical whole of the verse. This is taking a 'macro' before 'micro' approach.
3. GEOGRAPHIC DIRECTIONS - Ancient people didn't have the concept of magnetic north, which is a relatively new way of thinking about geography. Ancient people oriented themselves using "East" in the way we think of "North" today. 

1. In Hebrew, compass directions have meaning rather than a geographic direction and are shown as follows: East = "Front" / West = "Behind" / South = "Right hand" / North = "Left hand". 
2. Old Testament had negative views of things "East". Babylon was East. The desert was East. Adam and Eve were driven out "Eastward". In new times East is positive. Some face east when praying. Temples often face east. Christ will come from the east.
3. Temple structure is spiritually symbolic. In the Israelite Tabernacle, the Holy of Holies (Kodesh - Kodesheem) was on the west side of the temple. The outer court (the world) was to the east (remember, east was negative). Therefore, God was to the west. Migrating through the temple happened in a westward fashion toward God. Temple worship takes us to God.
4. The Atonement occurred with directional significance: In ancient times there was only one sacrifice that did not occur in the temple, because it was so dirty, so messy, it wasn't fit for temple worship (read about the red heifer sacrifice here). In this sacrifice the entire animal was burned, intrals, feces, and all. This sacrifice was performed east of the temple (remember east is bad, dirty, etc). Gethsemane, where the Savior suffered for the dirty, filthy, iniquities of the world was east of the temple. Christ progressed westward to Golgotha where he sealed the atonement and was reunited with God.
5. Last Days. Christ will come from the east to the west. The sun rises in the east and sets in the west as a daily reminder of the coming of the son of God the second time.

5/11 - The mistranslation of the word "Tree" in Genesis 12:6

1. When I translate from Hebrew to English, I have to admit, I always double check my version against the King James version, just to see if I'm close. The translations usually agree, especially with Nouns. But not today...
2. Genesis 12: 6 refers to 'the plain of Moreh', a special land that eventually became basically the Hill where Jerusalem is, where Abraham offered Isaac, and not far from where the Savior was crucified. The King James translated אֵלוֹן (ehl-own) as "plain", but is clearly "tree". "Moreh" means "Teaching", so the translation might have been better as "To the tree of teaching", or at least "To the Tree of Moreh", but NOT the Plain. Interestingly, the "El" prefix has the divine derivative of "Elohim", or God, so the tree can also be rendered "Tree of God".
3. For a tree to have a name like this, and for the narrator to point this out means this was a special tree; a holy tree; a tree held in high regard and was famous. It was a sacred place to Israelites. Many covenants were made there, including by Abraham, Jacob, and possibly by Joshua many years later.
4. Oh yeah, one more thing. William Tyndale translated this word correctly, but the King James translators changed it to "Plain". A Greek professor was with us in class and said he has often found the King James version of the Bible has a Latin twist on many words, though primarily written in Hebrew. Translators were much more familiar with Latin than Hebrew, so when a word got difficult, they relied on their Latin expertise, which in this case could have been either Tree or Plain. But there is no question that in Hebrew, it's "Tree". 

5/6 - 5/8 - Spiritual Hardware Store / Slaves / Crossing Over

5/6

1. The Geography of Israel. An 80 mile strip of land strategically placed at the intersection of three continents. This is the promised land for Israelite's for a reason.
2. Abraham was led there by the Urim and Thummim. His story is very similar to Lehi's story (Book of Mormon), who was also led to a promised land by a curious instrument, the Liahona. The Jaredites also were lead through the wilderness by urim and thummim to a promised land. Bro. Satterfield joked that he would like access to that 'spiritual store' of such curious devices.
3. He suggested our current technological devices are similar to Urim and Thummim's, and are in a way, actually preparing us for the day when we will learn through these curious instruments.
4. The Abrahamic Covenant is to prepare the world for the Millenium (Something that has coincidentally been on my mind a great deal. See blog post). The Lord has been preparing us for the 'knowledge of all things', line upon line, precept upon precept.
5. The Lord work's through societal culture to bring about his purposes: Evidence of this is found in the Savior's words: Moses, because of the hardness of your hearts gave this law (that a bill of divorce must be given. See Matthew 19:8)
6. New Testament Apostles referred to themselves as "Slaves" (Greek). Old Testament prophets
   
   referred to their children, 'handmaids', concubines, etc. as "Slaves" (Hebrew). The English word has negative overtones but did not exist in old times. Mary (Jesus' mother), when she spoke to the Angel Gabriel said "Behold thy Slave"... NOT "Behold thy handmaid". 
7. We were born into this world as 'slaves' to the devil. Christ came to deliver us from the devil's captivity ("Ye are bought with a price", see 1 Corinthians 7:23; 1 Corinthians 6:20). Which means we then become Christ's slaves, but are then made co-heirs with Christ see Romans 8:17). "I would be a slave to Christ any day. He takes care of his slaves".
8. Slaves in old days were tatoo'd on their foreheads, and would often say essentially "This is so and so, who belongs to so and so... please return him". Later this was considered a desecration to the body which was considered a temple and tatooing became outlawed. Slaves could ultimately buy their freedom in those days. Interesting that the book of Revelation and D&C refers to those in the last days who have Christ written in their forheads (see Revelation 14:1; D&C 133:18), because they are his slaves.
9. At the LDS Sacrament table, we take our master's name upon us (When done properly, we fully submit to his will, as a slave submits to his master). Through Him we buy our freedom. 

5/8

1. Genesis 12:6 - עֲבֹר (Aber) means to "pass through" or "cross over". It is the same word used for sin/transgression.
2. Two types of crossing over: Exodus 34 refers to the forgiveness of iniquities of the Israelite's (who had 'crossed over', or sinned). 
3. There is also the sin against the moral law of the world, or the Light of Christ within all of us. One is SIN, the other is TRANSGRESSION. (I missed which was which)

May 1 - May 4 - Covenants, and family relationships

• The word ברך (bah-rach) means "Bless", and also has reference to the word "Kneel". 
• Abraham's name is known by 3 major religions (Christian, Islam, Judaism) 4,000 years later. That is significant!! Who else is so well known after that much time? Why? Because of his faithfulness. Because he was great.
• Genesis 12: 3 says those who Bless and make Abraham's name great will become great! Those who curse Abraham will be cursed. DO WE BLESS ABRAHAM? The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints blesses Abraham, but it's members may or may not bless Abraham. Those who do are blessed!

• Marriage covenants in the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints have very specific reference to Abraham. Do members know what that significance is? Are they trying to understand? Do they find Abraham significant? Do they bless his name? Do they think he is great? Do they kneel to him (respect, honor, etc. NOT Worship)? If they do, the blessings of Abraham are theirs.

May 4

• Scriptures often introduce the main characters at the beginning of the narrative. Abraham chapters 12-22+ are a story of two outcomes for two different people, both of which are immediately introduced in Genesis 12 - Abraham, and Lot. The author clearly intended to highlight these two outcomes for the readers sake.
• FAMILY RELATIONSHIPS in Hebrew culture: There are no words for most family relationships we have today, such as Cousin, Nephew (Brother's son), Grandfather (Father's father). I Find this fascinating. At first I thought this was a limitation of Hebrew compared to English, but I see differently now. Imagine the intimate closeness of calling your grandpa "Father", and him calling you "My Son" (or "My Daughter"). 
• The head of a household often had many wives and concubines. There would be a house (tent) for each wife (And her servants, even if her servants bore children to the head of household). All combined would be considered a "Clan", but each wife's family would be considered a 'house". The picture above shows a Clan consisting of two wives, and therefore, two houses.