Mark 1:12-13

Mark, in his gospel, provides a very brief description of Jesus' temptation in the wilderness. It is found in the first chapter verses 12 and 13. It reads as follows (KJV):

"12 And immediately the Spirit driveth him into the wilderness.

 "13 And he was there in the wilderness forty days, tempted of Satan; and was with the wild beasts; and the angels ministered unto him."

There are a couple elements of note in these verses. One is the mention of the wild beasts. Margaret Barker in Temple Mysticism says the following:

"Jesus ... spent 40 days in the wilderness 'with the wild beasts and the angels served him' (Mark 1:13, my translation). He was alone and so must have reported these experiences to others, and presumably not in Greek. This is important because in Hebrew the 'wild beasts' would have been the same as the 'living creatures' of the chariot throne, hayyot (Ezek. 1:5; Rev. 4:6), and the serving angels would have been the working hosts in the throne vision since 'serve' 'abad,' also means worship in Hebrew (Rev. 5:11). Jesus' mystical experience in the desert is described more fully in the opening scene of Revelation" (24-25).

The important point about Barker's argument is that the inclusion of wild beasts in Mark's account is an allusion to the cherubim of the Holy of Holies in the temple. The inner sanctuary of the temple represented the Garden of Eden and so Mark is presenting Jesus as a new Adam. Paul also presents Jesus as a new Adam in 1 Cor. 15:45 & Romans 5:19.

An interesting note in the Yale Anchor Bible Commentary (YABC) for Mark mentions that:

"The reference to animals, which may be an allusion to Isa 11:6-8, 65:25, and Hos 2:18. suggests (according to Jeremias) the restoration of paradise. H.-G. Leder ... finds in this account a christological motif: the eschatological warfare with Satan has been joined, and Jesus in his ministry is proleptically the triumphant Son of Man. He denies that there is any Adam-Christ typology, deriving from Genesis 3 here, pleading that there is no clear example in Jewish literature of angels ministering to Adam" (203-4, emphasis added).

Although, as the YABC commentary points out, there is no mention of angels ministering to Adam in Jewish sources, there is in LDS sources. Moses chapter 5 mentions the visitation of an angel to Adam as he is performing an animal sacrifice:

"6 And after many days an angel of the Lord appeared unto Adam, saying: Why dost thou offer sacrifices unto the Lord? And Adam said unto him: I know not, save the Lord commanded me.

 "7 And then the angel spake, saying: This thing is a similitude of the sacrifice of the Only Begotten of the Father, which is full of grace and truth."

Therefore, with the added insight provided by latter-day scripture it seems safe to see Mark's inclusion of the wild animals as a prefigurement of the restoration of paradise, through Jesus, which was lost due to Adam's transgression.

Brigham City Temple Fountain

Brigham City Temple Fountain

This past summer my wife and I took our kids to the Brigham City Temple open house. I was very impressed by the beauty and design of the temple and enjoyed having the chance to see it prior to its dedication. It was a wonderful experience but the thing that impressed me the most was not the building itself but the fountain on the temple grounds. It is not a large or especially spectacular fountain but its symbolism is very striking. To understand its symbols it is helpful to understand the ancient Hebrew conception of the cosmos and how they understood the creation. It is also helpful to understand the prophecies regarding the New Jerusalem and the temple which is to be built there.

The Cosmic Mountain

In his essay entitled "What is a Temple? A Preliminary Typology" found in Temples of the Ancient World, John Lundquist explains that "The temple is the architectural embodiment of the cosmic mountain" (84) and that "the cosmic mountain represents the primordial hillock, the place that first emerged from the waters covering the earth during the creative process" (86).  To the ancient Israelites the earth emerged from the ocean of chaos during the creation (see Genesis 1:9-10). They believed that the first point to emerge was the cosmic mountain (aka the axis mundi or the omphalos) which they associated with the Garden of Eden (see Parry, Donald W. "Garden of Eden:Prototype Sanctuary" in Temples of the Ancient World, pp. 133-37).

Therefore, to put it simply the cosmic mountain, the Garden of Eden and the temple were all associated with one another. The temple was seen as a representation of the creation and the Garden of Eden.

Sacred Waters

Genesis 2:9-14 explains there was a river that began in Eden and split into four branches. Each river was thought to have flowed to one of the four cardinal directions (see Brown, Matthew B. The Gate of Heaven, p. 28). The names of the rivers were the Gihon, Pison, Euphrates and Hiddekel. In several places in the scriptures rivers are associated with the temple. John the Revelator saw in his vision a river flowing from the throne of God and the Tree of Life which were located in the temple (see Rev. 22:1). Nephi also saw the Tree of Life in vision which was associated with a fountain of living water (see 1 Nephi 11:25) and Ezekiel saw in vision a river flowing from threshold of the temple (see Ezekiel 47:1-12).

The fountain on the east side of the Brigham City temple seems to incorporate these themes into the design of the fountain. It is reminiscent of the cosmic mountain rising up from the waters of chaos from which is flowing the four rivers of Eden and it is a very appropriate symbol for a temple.

The New Jerusalem


Folio 55r of the Bamberg Apocalypse depicts
the angel showing John the New Jerusalem,
with the Lamb of God at its center.

 In John’s apocalyptic vision of the last days he saw the New Jerusalem descend from heaven and heard a voice from heaven proclaim that “the tabernacle of God is with men” (see Rev. 21). He then was shown the city in detail and saw that the city was laid out in a perfect square which was aligned to the compass.

Each side of the city square contained three gates for a total of twelve. Verse 22 explains that there was no temple in the city because the entire city itself was a temple.

Additionally, in chapter 22 John explains that he saw a river of pure water flowing out of the throne of God and of the Lamb and the Tree of Life. 

The Brigham City Temple fountain seems to reflect this imagery with its design. The fountain itself is laid out in a square with three water channels on each of its four sides similar to the gates of the New Jerusalem. Also, the fountain preserves the imagery of the fountain of living water flowing out from the abode of God.

So, while the fountain at the Brigham City Temple is not particularly large or grand it is a fascinating object. It’s simple design incorporates many temple related symbols including the creation, the Garden of Eden and New Jerusalem and to me is the most interesting portion of the entire structure.

Thou Shalt Bruise His Heel

My friend, Eric Martineau, shared this with me several days ago.

The book of Genesis tells of the appearance of the Lord to Adam and Eve after they had partaken of the fruit of the Tree of Knowledge of Good and Evil. The Lord mentions some of the consequences of their action and pronounces a curse upon Satan who had taken it upon himself to convince Adam and Eve to eat the fruit. This is what the Lord said:

Genesis 3:14-15

"And the Lord God said unto the serpent, Because thou hast done this, thou art cursed above all cattle, and above every beast of the field; upon thy belly shalt thou go, and dust shalt thou eat all the days of thy life:

"And I will put enmity between thee and the woman, and between thy seed and her seed; he shall bruise thy head, and thou shalt bruise his heel."

In verse 15 the pronoun "he" refers to the Savior. The Savior bruised the head of the serpent when he carried out the Atonement and freed all people from the bonds of physical death and made entrance into God's kingdom possible on conditions of repentance. The serpent bruised the heel of Jesus Christ when he induced the Jewish authorities of the day to have the Savior crucified.

An injury to the head is far more serious than an injury to one's heel. Implicit in verse 15 of Genesis 3 is that the Savior's wound would be temporary and relatively minor while the wound inflicted upon Satan would be severe and permanent.

Additionally, it is possible that this story alludes to the manner in which the Savior's heel would be bruised.

Jesus Christ is the most famous of all the victims of crucifixion. Crucifixion is known to have been practiced by numerous different cultures at numerous different times but the Romans have become the most famous practitioners of this horrific form of execution.

Most artwork of the crucifixion of Jesus Christ depicts the Savior hanging from the cross with nails driven through the palm of each hand and through the top of each foot. Unfortunately archaeological evidence of crucifixion is scarce and the manner in which it was carried out has been a matter of speculation.

In 1968, however, an ossuary was discovered in Jerusalem which contained the bones of a victim of crucifixion. The name of the person was Yehohanan ben Hagkol. Other than his name and manner of death not much else is known about this individual. Despite the relative anonymity of this man his remains hold great significance for students of the New Testament. His remains date to the approximate time of Jesus Christ so they provide clues about the methods the Romans used when they carried out the crucifixion of the Savior.

Typically the nails used in a crucifixion were extracted from the victim and re-used due to the scarcity of iron. However, it appears that when ben Hagkol was crucified one of the nails driven into his feet hit a knot in the wood which caused the tip of the nail to bend making it difficult to remove. When ben Hagkol was removed from the cross the crucifiers evidently cut out the portion of wood into which this nail was driven and buried him with the nail still embedded in his foot. When ben Hagkol's remains were discovered the nail was still firmly attached to his foot. Interestingly the nail was driven not through the top of the foot but perpendicularly through the heel. Pictured below is a photograph of the heel bone through which the nail can be seen.



In the figure below an artist's depiction illustrates how the feet were attached to the cross.


It is possible, therefore, that when Jesus Christ was crucified the Romans drove the nails through his heel bones as they did when crucifying Yehohanan ben Hagkol. If this was the case then perhaps the passage in Genesis chapter 3 referring to the Atonement of Jesus Christ also refers to the manner in which the Savior was to be sacrificed.

Of course there is no way to know this for certain and the exact method used to crucify Jesus Christ is not the central message of Genesis 3:15. The central message is that the Messiah would come to earth, suffer and die on behalf of all mankind and be resurrected so that we can all be resurrected and enjoy the blessings of Eternal Life through repentance.