The Menorah

In a couple of my previous posts I have made the assertion that the Menorah in the Jerusalem temple probably represented Moses' burning bush from Exodus 3. This afternoon I have come across a source that agrees that was probably the case. For my own benefit I am posting it here so that I can look it up quickly if the need ever arises.

The source is Jeffrey M. Bradshaw's commentary on the book of Moses in the Pearl of Great Price entitled: In God's Image and Likeness: Ancient and Modern Perspectives on the Book of Moses and is found in volume 1 page 163. It reads:

"It should be emphasized that the Tree of Life does not represent eternal life merely in an abstract sense, but rather as a symbol of embodied deity. Thomas explains that 'most often in scripture... the tree is an anthropomorphic symbol. A tree serves well as such a symbol because it has, after all, limbs, a circulatory system, the bearing of fruit, and so forth. Specifically, scriptural trees stand for Christ and his attributes.' Wyatt concurs, noting that: 'The trees are... messianic symbols. The Menorah is probably what Moses is understood to have seen as the burning bush in Exodus 3.' Thus, Jehovah, the pre mortal Jesus Christ, was represented to Moses as one who dwells in the midst of the burning glory of the Tree of Life."

Here are the references Bradshaw cites in the excerpt:

M. Catherine Thomas: Jacob's Allegory: The Mystery of Christ
Nicolas Wyatt: Space and Time in the Religious Life of the Near East

The Burning Bush

In Exodus 3, the curious story is told of Moses' encounter with the burning bush where the Lord (יהוה - Yahweh or Jehovah) speaks with Moses from the midst of the bush regarding his mission to deliver the Israelites out of Egyptian bondage. While the idea of God speaking from the midst of a burning bush may seem foreign to modern readers it was not an unfamiliar theme to the ancient Israelites and carried meaning not immediately obvious to us.

The early religion of the Canaanites and the Israelites were closely related (See See Daniel C. Peterson, . "Nephi and his Asherah." Maxwell Institute. Maxwell Institute, n.d. Web. 29 Jun 2012.). In the Canaanite pantheon the chief deity was El, whose wife was a goddess named Asherah (aka Elat - the feminine form of El). Additionally, as Daniel Peterson explains:

"In the earliest Israelite conception, father El had a divine son named Jehovah or Yahweh.⁴ Gradually, however, the Israelite conception of Yahweh absorbed the functions of El and, by the 10th century BC, King Solomon's day, had come to be identified with him.⁵" (Peterson, "Nephi and his Asherah").

Asherah (אשרה) was commonly associated with many different types of trees including the almond tree. She was also associated with the concepts of fruitfulness, posterity, fertility etc. One of the main features in the temple at Jerusalem was the menorah which represented a stylized almond tree (see Exodus 25:31-35). Therefore, in the minds of the Israelites the menorah was probably connected with Asherah. It is interesting to note also that the burning bush and the menorah were both, in essence, burning trees and the Israelites would have undoubtedly have seen this connection as well.

Additionally, rabbinic writings associate the burning bush with the Shekinah or Divine Presence. The word Shekinah is a feminine word (the -ah ending making it feminine) and was thought of as having feminine attributes (See Louis Ginzberg, "Legends of the Jews.", http://philologos.org, Web 30 Jun 2012.).

We see, therefore, a strong connection between Asherah and everything associated with her and the burning bush. That connection is reinforced by the text of Exodus itself and the account of the interaction between Moses and God.

In Exodus 3, verses 2 - 6 describe how Moses sees the bush from afar, draws closer to investigate, is told to remove his shoes and then speaks with the Lord. The Lord then identifies himself to Moses as the God worshipped by Abraham, Isaac and Jacob, but does not use the name יהוה (Jehovah or Yahweh).

However, later in Exodus chapter 6 verses 2 - 3 the Lord explains that:

"I am Jehovah. And I appeared to Abraham, to Isaac and to Jacob, as El Shaddai, but by my name Jehovah I did not make myself known unto them."

In the King James Version (KJV) of the Bible El Shaddai (אֵל שַׁדַּי ) is usually translated as "God Almighty". As has been discussed in other posts, the name/title of El Shaddai carries a female connotation which is generally used while discussing the concepts of fertility, posterity, fruitfulness etc. (See Gen. 28:3 for example).

The Israelites were on the cusp of being delivered from bondage in Egypt and coming into being, as a distinct nation. It would appear, therefore, that God, by appearing in the burning bush, was sending a clear message to Moses and the Israelites that they were about to be delivered (or born) to a fruitful land to be made a fruitful people.

Holy Place as Eden

Lately I've been reading a few of Margaret Barker's books including the Gate of Heaven, the Great High Priest, Christmas: The Original Story and Temple Theology. One of the insights which her books have given me is about the creation account and fall of Adam and Eve in Genesis.

These accounts are to be understood as having taken place in the temple. The Holy Place (or hekal) was considered by the Israelites to have been a representation of the Garden of Eden. The menorah was a representation of the tree of life. On the walls of the Holy Place were representations of the cherubim as well as the flora of the garden. There is also evidence to suggest the veil served as a representation of the tree of knowledge of good and evil^[1].

Adam and Eve were expelled from the Holy Place into the outer court of the temple where the alter and laver were located. The temple faced east so they exited the Holy Place through it's east door. To the west of the holy place was the veil and the Holy of Holies (debir). Therefore in Genesis 3:24 when it says that God "placed at the east of the garden of Eden Cherubim, and a flaming sword which turned every way, to keep the way of the tree of life" we are to understand the tree of life as being the menorah and the east of the garden as being the boundary between the Holy Place and the outer court.

^[1]See Jeffrey M. Bradshaw, The Tree in the Midst of the Garden and the Temple Symbolism of the “Center”

Perhaps the most interesting tradition about the placement of the two trees is the Jewish idea that the foliage of the Tree of Knowledge hid the Tree of Life from direct view, and that “God did not specifically prohibit eating from the Tree of Life because the Tree of Knowledge formed a hedge around it; only after one had partaken of the latter and cleared a path for himself could one come
close to the Tree of Life.”

It is in this same sense that Ephrem the Syrian, a brilliant and devoted fourth-century Christian, could call the Tree of Knowledge “the veil for the sanctuary.” He pictured Paradise as a great mountain, with the Tree of Knowledge providing a boundary partway up the slopes. The Tree of Knowledge, Ephrem concludes, “acts as a sanctuary curtain [i.e., veil] hiding the Holy of Holies which is the Tree of Life higher up.” In addition, Jewish, Christian, and Muslim sources sometimes speak of a “wall” surrounding whole of the Garden, separating it from the “outer courtyard” of the mortal world.