March 16, 2015 - Slaves; Abrahamic Tests

1. * indicates doctrinal significance
2. *Gen. 22:4 - It is difficult to translate the word "Na'ari", into English. The same word is used for Abraham's servants and his son, Isaac. It has the context of belonging to Abraham, servants, slaves, etc. 
3. *Slaves - This word has negative context in English. I think of task masters with whips. However, ancient apostles referred to themselves as 'slaves' to the Lord's work, and used expressions like "We are bought with a price". Brother Satterfield said "I would be God's slave any day - He treats his slaves really well". Unlike Lucifer. In short, we should not judge scriptures and the people for using phrases like this using our cultural norms... as if to say our cultural norms have gotten it right??!?! We should seek to be "Na'arim"(slaves) of Abraham, or Christ, or the Father.
4. How old was Abraham/Isaac at the time of the test? No one is certain, but the Hebrew account of Josephus (Apocryphal ancient writings?) said Abraham was 125 years old (100 years old when he and Sarai bore Isaac), so Isaac would have been about 25 years old. The Old Testament study manual puts Isaac at 33, but this is probably speculation based on the strong comparisons that exist between Isaac as a Type of the Savior.
5. **Gen 22:4 - "And he lifted up his eyes"... this is a possible indication of the state of depression, remorse, or whatever the right word for the deep feelings Abraham must have experienced the previous three days of his journey, knowing what he was about to do to his son.

March 15, 2015 - Abrahamic Covenant

Best day of class yet. Brother Satterfield jumps into the doctrine of Abraham. The discussion was so involved I couldn't take notes, so here are some highlights:

1. *As discussed previously, Abraham's offering of Isaac was more than just a commandment to kill his most loved son. Abraham knew full well that the Lord intended for him to take his son and literally butcher him, divide his body parts and fat, and then consume him on the altar. The word in Hebrew is Olah, which means to cause to go up. There would have been nothing left of Isaac since he would have gone up in smoke and ash to God. Abraham knew all this is what God was asking of him.
2. *Abraham got up early the next day to commence the three day journey. He was eager to serve the Lord, but must have walked in absolute disgust (not the best word... remorse, melancholy, terror, horror, depression??)
3. *Genesis 22:2-4 says "go to the land I will show you and 'olah an olah'". That means "go up and cause to go up". This is common Hebrew talk, to take a verb and turn it into a noun. Other examples include for example Lehi who said "I have dreamed a dream" (I have verbed a noun, same word), "or in other words, I have seen a vision (or I have seen a seen... same word). 
4. *The best part of the lesson for me was when the class was over, I went up and asked him a follow up question. I have loved the scripture Abraham 1:2-3 for a long time and wanted him to connect the two scriptures together. He did... He explained it something like this: Abraham was living in a land of heathon's and had attained the lower gospel from someone, somehow - meaning he was baptized and may have attained the lesser priesthood. Then he sensed there was something greater to be had and longed for it, the Lord led him to a strange land and ultimately to Melchizedek, where he attained the higher priesthood and higher laws and ordinances he so desperately sought.
5. *He then explained the power of Abraham's covenant with God, how diligent he was to the Lord, and how his righteous faithfulness had placed God in a position to honor His part of the covenant to feel after Abraham's posterity, and reclaim them. God is bound to do this because of Abraham's faithfulness. This concept is prominently declared on the Title Page of the Book of Mormon, where it says "Which is to show unto the remnant of the house of Israel what great things the Lord hath done for their fathers; and that they may know the covenants of the Lord, that they are not cast off forever". I loved hearing this! It made me rejoice in Abraham's faithfulness, and made me want to do my part to fulfill this covenant. 
6. *Lastly, he spoke of the return of Elijah in this dispensation and the important event that was in fulfilling the Abrahamic covenant, I suppose in part to turn our hearts to the Abrahamic Covenant, but also in providing ordinances of exaltation.
7. This discussion really moved me today. As I write this two days later, I'm exploring everything I can get my hands on related to Abraham and am really overwhelmed by what an amazing person he was and what a special role he plays in the Plan of Salvation. I may need to make a blog post on this stuff soon!

March 4, 2015 - No Original Bible

I haven't made a post for awhile because we have been focusing on Hebrew grammar, which is important to be able to translate. But today had some doctrinal significance worth writing about...

1. Brother Satterfield begins the discussion by saying "I'm not here to teach you grammar - I'm here to teach you doctrine!" (LOVE IT!!)
2. *There is NO Original Hebrew version of the bible! Consequently, there really is no original bible. Moses received revelations and wrote them down, and these revelations may have been changed slightly until we received the Masoritic Hebrew bible we have today.
1. This is important. Best translations come from original texts. 
2. *Even the Doctrine & Covenants written in the early 1800's doesn't have the same meaning we infer today due to changes in language over the years. Therefore, it is wise to consult Webster's Dictionary of 1828, a dictionary written precisely at Joseph Smith's time, and which he is known to have owned. Looking up such words as "Chastise" can reveal a different meaning than we might use today
3. The ongoing translation of Genesis 22 1-3 deals with Abraham's test. This test is more significant than I realize!

February 23, 2015 - Significance of name David; Verb Paradigms

1. *Interesting discussion on the inherent numeric aspect of Hebrew Names. Hebrews do not have numbers so they use the letters in their alphabet to represent numbers. Therefore, every word is also a number. Because of this, Hebrews were inclined to play word games with numbers, but they were also used for more than entertainment - some words/numbers had doctrinal significance.
1. דוד means "David" The letter for D is the 4th letter in the alphabet, and the letter for V is the 6th letter of the alphabet, creating the equation 4+6+4=14. 
2. David was the first king to fully unite Israel. He declared that future kings would come from his own house, the house of Judah. 
3. Mathew Chapter 1 presents the ancestry of Jesus Christ, which includes David, but does a bit more than that. In verse 17 he was careful to show that Jesus was a literal descendant of David, and used the number 14 to distinguish three significant events. Readers and followers of prophecy would have recognized Matthew's announcement of Jesus' ancestry as a fulfillment of prophecy.
2. My name (Eric) would be spelled אֶרִך and is 1+20+11 = 32
3. VERB PARADIGMS

FORM - COL ASPECT - ROW	Qal simple active	Nifal passive or reflexive	Piel active intensive	Pual passive intensive	Hifil Causative Active	Hofal Causative Passive	Hitpael Causative intensive
Perfect - Complete (past, present, and future)	He Killed	He was Killed	He Slaughtered	He was Slaughtered	He caused to be killed	He was caused to be killed	He was caused to be slaughtered
Imperfect - Incomplete (past present, and future)	He will kill	He will be killed	He will slaughter	He will be slaughtered	He will cause to kill	He will cause to be killed	He will cause to be slaughtered
Imperative - Command (2nd person)	You will kill	You will be killed	You will slaughter	You will be slaughtered	You will cause to kill	You will cause to be killed	You will cause to be slaughtered
Cohortative - Command (1st person or to oneself)	I must Kill	I must be killed	I must slaughter	I must be slaughtered	I must cause to kill	I must cause to be killed	I must cause to be slaughtered
Jussive - Command (3rd person)	They must kill	They must be killed	They must slaughter	They must be slaughtered	They must cause to kill	They must cause to be killed	They must cause to be slaughtered

February 18, 2015 - Amen; Hebrew Verbs; Church/State

1. * Every language has at least one Hebrew word... "Amen" אַמּן. It is most often translated "Verily", and means "Of a truth". We do not use the word "Amen" in English the way the Savior used it, in fact, it is usually used as a meaningless word to us. He often used it in the middle of sentences, and even twice to place emphasis on particular doctrines, many of which uses had reference to covenants.
2. The Hebrew bible has 23,000 verses, and contains 72,000 verbs, averaging 3 verbs per verse. This means Hebrew loves the verb! This is convenient to English which also loves the verb, unlike Latin which favors the noun. Therefore Hebrew to English translations flow better. All nouns are derived from verbs, such as "Walk" to "Walker".
3. * The sense of the horrific nature of the Lord's commandment to Abraham to offer his son Isaac is lost in the English translation. The King James version renders the command "sacrifice", but due to some grammatical conditions in the original text a more accurate translation might be "Slaughter". The point is that it would have been a difficult command to heed. 
4. *When you explore the bible it is important to understand it in all of its contexts, such as:
1. Language, 
2. Culture (Religion and State)
1. * Our culture has a strong divide between church and state, and that divide grows day by day. This divide was not present in Hebrew culture, as church and state were one. Our divide was necessary to bring about the restoration of the gospel, but secularism continues to grow as the religion of the state
3. History
4. Geography
5. Climateology, etc
5. Hebrew verbs fall in one of two categories:
1. Actions
2. Can describe the state of being (to be).

_____________1st Person_________2nd Person____________3rd Person

• PAST           I was                      You were                         He/she was, They were
• PRESENT   I am                        You are                            He/she is, they are
• FUTURE     I will                       You will                          He/she will, they will

6. Verbs turn into nouns through the participle aspect

February 13, 2015 - Offering; Trees/Living Water; Moriah

1. All Hebrew nouns are derived from verbs
2. * The word for "Offering" is the same as the word for "to go up". עֹלָה  "Olah"
3. *I was SO glad brother Satterfield provided a handout with many of the scriptural references to his discussion on the theme of the tree from the Hebrew Bible. Here is a followup to that conversation. 

• *The reader of the Hebrew bible immediately picks up on an interwoven theme of trees and living water, and their strong association with covenant making, and ultimate reunion with God. This is perhaps the greatest of the "plain and precious truths" that have been lost in the bible translation, mentioned by Nephi. The authors of the bible intended the reader to understand the basic lesson of the tree, which in essence is this: The world as we know it came about by Adam and Eve partaking of the fruit of a certain tree. Prior to this event they lived in the presence of God. The fundamental lesson for all of God's children on this earth is that we must strive to go back to that original tree state of existence when Adam and Eve lived with God. That's it! It's true, we get that message in a round about way in the scriptures, but in the Hebrew text it is apparently in the forefront of the readers attention. Here are a number of scriptures that describe this theme, a number of which have been mistranslated, or left out altogether (NOTE: Not an exhaustive list), (NOTE2: Watch for words like Tree, Water, Moriah, Moreh, etc. Trees are often a symbol of the Lord's covenant people, Israel. Also, the Ladder is a symbol of a tree. Lastly, the land of Moriah is a sacred hill where many ancient prophets made covenants. This is where Abraham offered Isaac, and ultimately where Jesus Christ was crucified)

• Gen. 2:8-17
• Gen. 3:1-24
• Gen. 12:6 - Mistranslation, we don't see Abraham and the tree
• Gen. 13:18
• Gen. 21:33 - Abraham plants grove of trees
• Gen. 28:11-22 - Isaac has a dream in the area of Moriah. The Ladder is a symbol of the tree AND Christ and thus, the way to get to heaven.
• Gen. 35:1-15
• Ex. 15:23-26
• Deut. 21:22-23 - Law of Moses requires grievous sinners to be hung on a tree (reference to Christ)
• Joshua 24:1-28
• Psalms 1
• Jer. 17:1-8
• Ezek. 47:1-12
• John 1:43-51 - Verse 51 is the key... Jesus Christ is the ladder from the tree to heaven
• Gal. 3:13
• 1 Pet. 2:24
• Rev. 2:7
• Rev. 22:1-5
• 1 Nephi 8:9-12
• 1 Nephi 11:1-23
• 1 Nephi 15:22
• 2 Nephi 2:14-25
• Alma 5:34
• Alma 12:20-37
• Alma 32-33
• Alma 42:1-28
• Helaman 3:27-30
• D&C 101:44-56

Conclusion: 

1. Jesus Christ is the way for men to return to the heaven-like prefallen garden state before Adam and Eve took of the fruit of the tree.
2. The Land of Moriah (Moreh, etc) is a sacred and specific land consecrated by God and many holy prophets, and is strongly associated with covenants necessary for exaltation

February 11, 2015 - Idioms, Scriptures have lost Tree significance

Today I tried to drink from the firehouse of Brother Satterfield's exceptional lesson but I'm afraid I couldn't keep up. I do however have enough clues that I might be able to reconstruct many of his thoughts using the scriptures and some Hebrew insights to share it properly in another blog. But for now, here are some interesting highlights:

1. *IDIOMS. Common in English and Hebrew (And most languages). They exist as a way of respectfully discussing special topics such as using the bathroom (an idiom in itself), sexual topics, and I would add the topic of death to the list. As languages and cultures devolve, they become more literal, crude, as they move further from respect.
2. Translators must figure out these idioms and find some way to translate them - doing so literally would not make any sense in English. For example, Hebrews used the expression "to cover ones feet" with regard to 'going to the bathroom'. This expression has been incorrectly translated a number of times in the King James Bible. When King Saul was with his men, he told them he needed to go cover his feet, but it was rendered go to sleep in a cave. This translation of going to sleep has been repeated, probably because covering ones feet provides the imagery of pulling a blanket over the person.
3. *CONSTRUCT STATES. This phrase is a familiar concept to anyone who has read the scriptures and is familiar with what we think of as strange word orders. There is no word for "of" in Hebrew, so they simply put two nouns together. Anytime we see two nouns together, we simply stick an "of" between them in English. Examples include "Altar of Stone" (Eng. Stone Altar); Plates of Brass (Eng. Brass Plates); Sword of Laban (Eng. Laban's Sword).
4. *TREES have enormous significance in the Bible that has been lost in English. Beginning with Adam and Eve's Tree of life, and tree of knowledge (death); Then a bunch of trees in the old testament (I couldn't write fast enough); The familiar biblical reference to "The plains of Moriah" is actually "The Tree of Moriah" in Hebrew. Aparently Abraham always lived near/under trees. Lehi's dream is centered around a tree. He and his family camped near trees, gathered seeds of every kind, etc. Psalms has strong tree imagery. The tree of Shechem, where covenants were made. Joshua put a rock under a tree as a token to Israel's righteous covenant. This same tree was on the plains of Moriah, and was later purchased by King David. Jerusalem was built on this location. And finally, Jesus Christ was lifted up on a tree at this same location. This truly was/is sacred ground.