April 3 - Tying the Law of Moses to the LDS Sacrament Table

1. *There were three kinds of sacrifice under the Law of Moses, and an order by which they were carried out. These are outlined as follows with regard to sin. When one committed a sin, they would follow the steps outlined below. But first, it is important to understand that food and the eating of it represents a feeling of being satisfied. The consuming of sacrifices whether by eating or burning representing the satisfying of the demands of justice.
1. The Chatat חטאת. An animal was killed upon the altar and divided two ways. The first half was for the priest and his family and represented becoming reconciled with the church, and with the Savior (represented by the priest). The second half was consumed on the altar, and went up in smoke, symbolically going up to God. Scriptures often refer to the sweet savor, or smell, etc, that a burnt offering was to God. 
2. The Olah עֹלָה. (The one God asked Abraham to perform with Isaac) The animal is slaughtered, divided, washed, annointed, and burned completely. This sacrifice belonged entirely to God. The entire aspect of this sacrifice represents the total consecration necessary to satisfy God, and fully repent.
3. The Shalom. An animal is slaughtered and divided 3 ways; The first was eaten by the offender; the 2nd by the priest, and the 3rd was consumed by God. This three way participation represents oneness and unity that follows true repentance among the offender, the priest (the church/Christ), and God.
2. *Genesis 22:16 - Grammatical mistranslations: Extra emphasis on the me/I pronoun. Should be translated more like "I am swearing to myself...". Then there were many words and Direct Object Markers that created repetition and emphasis. The message in Hebrew that was lost in English was "This Covenant is a DONE DEAL, absolutely, completely, wholly."
3. *Once again, the covenant with Abraham involved the following: 1) A city (the worldwide Zion that is yet to be built) 2) Become a God and have endless posterity, and so will his children 3) Priesthood/ordinances/covenant marriage ordinance of exaltation.

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!

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