The Eternal Father

In the sacrament prayers (Moroni 4 - 5) God is referred to as God, the Eternal Father. Each title that our Heavenly Father bears carries meaning. This evening as I was studying I started thinking about the word "eternal" and what it means. Here is Webster's 1828 dictionary definition of "eternal":

ETER'NAL, a. [L. oeternus, composed of oevum and ternus, oeviternus, Varro. The origin of the last component part of the word is not obvious. It occurs in diuturnus, and seems to denote continuance.]

1. Without beginning or end of existence.
The eternal God is thy refuge. Deu 33.

2. Without beginning of existence.
To know whether there is any real being, whose duration has been eternal.

3. Without end of existence or duration; everlasting; endless; immortal.
That they may obtain the salvation which is in Christ Jesus with eternal glory. 2 Tim 2. What shall I do, that I may have eternal life? Mat 19.
Suffering the vengeance of eternal fire. Jude 7.

4. Perpetual; ceaseless; continued without intermission.
And fires eternal in thy temple shine.

5. Unchangeable; existing at all times without change; as eternal truth.

We know, however, that when the scriptures use the word "eternal" it is not strictly used in describing time. The Lord explained this a little in section 19 of the Doctrine and Covenants.

It seems as though that "eternal" as used in the scriptures also describes creation as explained by Elder Bruce R. McConkie on page 166 of the Promised Messiah:

When our revelations say of Christ, "From eternity to eternity he is the same, and his years never fail" (D&C 76:4), they mean that from one preexistence to the next he does not vary, his course is one eternal round.

Often times the English words that we use to describe spiritual things have down to us through various translations of the Bible. The word "eternal" appears about thirty five times in the Bible. The word "eternity" appears only once.

More than one Hebrew or Greek word has been translated into the word "eternal". Here are some examples:

קדם - keh'-dem
עולם - o-lawm
αιωνιος - ahee-o'-nee-os
αιδιος - ah-id'-ee-os

It is interesting to look at the definitions of these words to gain some insight into what the authors were trying to communicate. Here are the definitions of these words (along with another Greek word that was translated into the word "eternal") from Strong's concordance:

H6924
קדמה קדם
qedem qêdmâh
keh'-dem, kayd'-maw
From H6923; the front, of palce (absolutely the fore part, relatively the East) or time (antiquity); often used adverbially (before, anciently, eastward): - aforetime, ancient (time), before, east (end, part, side, -ward), eternal, X ever (-lasting), forward, old, past. Compare H6926.

H5769
עלם עולם
‛ôlâm ‛ôlâm
o-lawm', o-lawm'
From H5956; properly concealed, that is, the vanishing point; generally time out of mind (past or future), that is, (practically) eternity; frequentative adverbially (especially with prepositional prefix) always: - always (-s), ancient (time), any more, continuance, eternal, (for, [n-]) ever (-lasting, -more, of old), lasting, long (time), (of) old (time), perpetual, at any time, (beginning of the) world (+ without end). Compare H5331, H5703.

G166
αιωνιος
aiōnios
ahee-o'-nee-os
From G165; perpetual (also used of past time, or past and future as well): - eternal, for ever, everlasting, world (began).

G165
αιων
aiōn
ahee-ohn'
From the same as G104; properly an age; by extension perpetuity (also past); by implication the world; specifically (Jewish) a Messianic period (present or future): - age, course, eternal, (for) ever (-more), [n-]ever, (beginning of the, while the) world (began, without end). Compare G5550.

G126
αιδιος
aidios
ah-id'-ee-os
From G104; everduring (forward and backward, or foward only): - eternal, everlasting.

Ether 13:8

This morning I was studying Ether 13:8 which reads:

"Wherefore, the remnant of the house of Joseph shall be built upon this land; and it shall be a land of their inheritance; and they shall build up a holy city unto the Lord, like unto the Jerusalem of old; and they shall no more be confounded, until the end come when the earth shall pass away."

I looked up the definition of the word "confound" in Webster's 1828 dictionary and was really fascinated by the definitions it gave. Here is what it says:

Webster's 1828 Dictionary:

CONFOUND, v.t. [L., to pour out. Literally, to pour or throw together.]

1. To mingle and blend different things, so that their forms or natures cannot be distinguished; to mix in a mass or crowd, so that individuals cannot be distinguished.

2. To throw into disorder.

Let us go down, and there confound their language. Gen 11.

3. To mix or blend, so as to occasion a mistake of one thing for another.

A fluid body and a wetting liquor, because they agree in many things, are wont to be confounded.

Men may confound ideas with words.

4. To perplex; to disturb the apprehension by indistinctness of ideas or words.

Men may confound each other by unintelligible terms or wrong application of words.

5. To abash; to throw the mind into disorder; to cast down; to make ashamed.

Be thou confounde and ber thy shame. Ezek 16.

Saul confounded the Jews at Damascus. Acts 9.

6. To perplex with terror; to terrify; to dismay; to astonish; to throw into consternation; to stupify with amazement.

So spake the Son of God; and Satan stood a while as mute confounded what to say.

The multitude came together and were confounded. Acts 2.

7. To destroy; to overthrow.

So deep a malice to confound the race of mankind in one root.

The house of Joseph was confounded many times throughout it's history, most notably when the Northern Kingdom of Israel (of which the Josephite tribes were a part) was conquered by the Assyrians in 721 BC. The Assyrians followed a policy of forced deportations in which people of one location were deported to another and mixed with the native population. This was done to make the conquered people lose their identity and cohesiveness. This is exactly what happened to the northern Ten Tribes of Israel and that is why they are "lost".

Reading the definition of the word "confound" in Webster's 1828 in light of this knowledge illustrates why the Lord inspired Joseph Smith to select that particular word for this verse.

Genesis 3:15

On Saturday my wife and I were in the temple for our stake temple day and we were talking with another couple in our ward about the scripture in Genesis 3:15 which reads:

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

This verse is almost universally understood among Christendom to refer to Jesus Christ. The woman the Lord is speaking of here is Mary the mother of Jesus and her seed is Jesus Christ.

Figuratively, the Savior's heel was bruised when he was subjected to the full fury of Satan during his passion. As with the wounds Jesus suffered during his atoning sacrifice a bruised heel can be very painful but it is not fatal and generally heals completely. A bruise to the head on the other hand is much more serious and is very often fatal.

Figuratively, Satan's head was bruised on the morning of Christ's resurrection. With the completion of the Atonement Satan's power was forever broken and he no longer had any chance of victory.

The translators of the King James Version of the Bible often chose phrases that are difficult to understand to modern readers. In the temple we discussed what the Lord meant when he said that he would place "enmity" between Satan and Jesus Christ. I've been thinking about this since Saturday and this evening I have had the chance to study the verse a little. The Hebrew word that was translated into English as "enmity" is איבה ('êybâh). Strong's Hebrew Dictionary says this word can be translated as: "hostility: - enmity, hatred."

Reading that didn't shed much light on the meaning for me so I looked at some other translations of the Bible and I came across a rendering of Gen. 3:15 in the Bible in Basic English. In that version the verse reads:

"And there will be war between you and the woman and between your seed and her seed: by him will your head be crushed and by you his foot will be wounded."

I'm not sure if this version of the verse is the most accurate or whether this translation misses some of the original meaning but it is more readable and makes more sense to modern ears.

Abraham

This is a short clip from the film "Faith of an Observer". Hugh Nibley tells the story from the Midrash of when Abraham was promised his son Isaac.

Hezekiah

This is a video I put together about King Hezekiah of Judah and the Assyrian invasion of 701 BC. I hope you enjoy it.

Roman Era Home Found in Nazareth

The New York Times
By REUTERS
Published: December 21, 2009
Filed at 8:48 a.m. ET

NAZARETH, Israel (Reuters) - Remains of a house from the time of Jesus have been found in Nazareth -- the first discovery of its kind in the place where he grew up, Israel's Antiquities Authority said on Monday.

Archaeologists did not draw any direct link between the Nazareth dwelling and Jesus. His mother Mary's childhood home, many Christian faithful believe, was a cave over which Nazareth's imposing Church of the Annunciation now stands.

Yardenna Alexandre, who directed a dig near the church, said it exposed the walls of a first-century house that consisted of two rooms and a courtyard.

"The discovery is of the utmost importance since it reveals for the very first time a house from the Jewish village of Nazareth," Alexandre said in a statement issued by the Antiquities Authority.

"The building that we found is small and modest and it is most likely typical of the dwellings in Nazareth in that period," she said.

"Until now, a number of tombs from the time of Jesus were found in Nazareth, however no settlement remains had been discovered that were attributed to this period."

Alexandre described Nazareth, now Israel's largest Arab city with a population of some 65,000, as a "small hamlet" during Jesus's time.

(Writing by Jeffrey Heller; editing by Robin Pomeroy)

O Come O Come Emmanuel

This is a short video I put together in celebration of Christmas. I hope you enjoy it.

"And the world, because of their iniquity, shall judge him to be a thing of naught; wherefore they scourge him, and he suffereth it; and they smite him, and he suffereth it. Yea, they spit upon him, and he suffereth it, because of his loving kindness and his long-suffering towards the children of men.

"And the God of our fathers, who were led out of Egypt, out of bondage, and also were preserved in the wilderness by him, yea, the God of Abraham, and of Isaac, and the God of Jacob, yieldeth himself, according to the words of the angel, as a man, into the hands of wicked men, to be lifted up, according to the words of Zenock, and to be crucified, according to the words of Neum, and to be buried in a sepulchre, according to the words of Zenos,"

1 Nephi 19:9-10

Herodian Tunnels Recently Discovered in the City of David

This is a video of a really remarkable discovery in the City of David portion of Jerusalem (To see a map of Jerusalem during Roman Times click here). The City of David is the section of the city located on the Ophel Ridge that runs south down from the Harem esh Sharif (aka Temple Mount) and is the location of the ancient Jebusite city that David conquered. During David's time the city was confined to this area and it wasn't until the time of Hezekiah, about 300 years later, that the city wall was extended to the west to incorporate the area known today as Mount Zion. This wall has become known as the broad wall and remnants of it can be seen today.

Today the City of David is not located within the walls of the city. The present walls were built in the 16th century AD by the Ottoman Sultan Suleiman the Magnificent. The tunnel shown in the video runs from the southern end of the ridge north toward the Temple Mount.

(N.B. The term "Herodian" refers to King Herod and describes the time from the commencement of his reign in 37 BC until the end of the dynasty he founded in 92 AD.)

Serpent of Brass Part 2

A few months ago I posted something about the story of Moses' brass serpent found in Numbers 21. I was never really happy with it so I tried to rewrite it a few times but finally just removed it from my blog. I was trying to provide an explanation for some of the details mentioned in that chapter which had been a source of confusion for me.

The general symbolism of the brass serpent is very clear and the scriptures do a good job of pointing that out (see John 3:14-15 & Hel. 8:14-15). What had puzzled me was, why did the Lord instruct Moses to make a brass serpent? Why create an image of the very thing that had caused so much harm and use that as an instrument to heal? It seemed that other animals could have made the message more clear. For example, the Lord could have told Moses to make a lamb or a lion. Despite this the Lord chose a serpent and the reason is that the Lord was trying to teach some additional principles.

I mentioned an article in my earlier post from the Journal of Book of Mormon Studies written by Dr. Andrew Skinner which examines the symbolism attached to serpents in ancient cultures. The article addresses the topic of the brass serpent so I have posted a section of his article below. The article is entitled Serpent Symbols and Salvation in the Ancient Near East and the Book of Mormon. It was useful in helping me to understand why the Lord used a brass serpent as a tool in teaching and healing his people. I highly recommend reading the entire article. Here is the section that specifically discusses the incident mentioned in Numbers 21:

The serpent first appears in the scriptures in the story of the fall of Adam and Eve (Genesis 3:1). In the Hebrew language the creature is called a nahash, a viper, from which derives the noun for copper or brass (nehosheth), also used as an adjective denoting the "brass" serpent that Moses erected on a pole in the wilderness for the protection and healing of the Israelites (see Numbers 21:4—9).

On the one hand, the nahash in Genesis is clearly symbolic of evil, even the evil one (Satan), precisely because the serpent was in league with the devil, promoting the cause of the adversary and acting as his agent to bring about the fall (see Moses 4:5—31). On the other hand, when used by Moses under God's inspiration, the image of the nahash or, more precisely, the nahash nehosheth (brass serpent), became the agent of life and salvation for God's covenant people.

Numbers 21 is particularly intriguing because it demonstrates the dual nature of serpent symbolism in Israelite culture in a striking fashion.

And the people spake against God, and against Moses, Wherefore have ye brought us up out of Egypt to die in the wilderness? for there is no bread, neither is there any water; and our soul loatheth this light bread. And the Lord sent fiery serpents among the people, and they bit the people; and much people of Israel died. Therefore the people came to Moses, and said, We have sinned, for we have spoken against the Lord, and against thee; pray unto the Lord, that he take away the serpents from us. And Moses prayed for the people. And the Lord said unto Moses, Make thee a fiery serpent, and set it upon a pole: and it shall come to pass, that every one that is bitten, when he looketh upon it, shall live. And Moses made a serpent of brass, and put it upon a pole, and it came to pass, that if a serpent had bitten any man, when he beheld the serpent of brass, he lived. (Numbers 21:5—9)

The agent of both harm and healing, death and life, is, in this instance, the serpent. The people sin and fiery serpents bite them. Moses constructs a brass image of the harmful creatures and the people are spared. But it is really Jehovah who is the cause working behind the image, the actual instigator of both death and life. The Israelites may already have been familiar with images of fiery serpents from their exposure to Egyptian mythology while sojourning in Egypt. But the serpent symbol is now seen in its true light—a valid and important representation of God's ultimate power over life and death. God is the reality behind the symbol.

In the early part of the story of Israel's deliverance from Pharaoh, king of Egypt, Jehovah showed Moses in a dramatic way that He was the real God represented by the image of the serpent or snake, an image that Pharaoh himself wore on the front of his official headdress as a symbol of his own deity and sovereignty. (It will be remembered that every pharaoh was regarded as a living god on earth by his subjects.) When Moses threw down his staff, as commanded, it became a serpent. God told the Lawgiver that just such a demonstration should be conducted in front of Pharaoh and his court so that all would know that Jehovah was the one true God who had commissioned his representative, Moses, to stand before the false gods of the Egyptian people, which pantheon included Pharaoh himself (see Exodus 4:1—5, 8).

When Moses and Aaron went before Pharaoh, they did exactly as the Lord had commanded. Their staff became a snake, which in the Hebrew text is denoted by two different terms, one of which is the very same word used earlier in Genesis to describe Eve's tempter, nahash (see Exodus 7:9, 10, 15). Either through sleight of hand or by demonic power, Pharaoh's magicians were able to duplicate the action and turn their staffs into serpents as well. In what might be viewed as a quintessential showdown between God and the devil, the serpent of Jehovah swallowed up the serpents of Pharaoh as the God of Israel demonstrated his omnipotent supremacy (see Exodus 7:10—13). This scene dramatically illustrates the duality of serpent imagery in the scriptures. The one true God was represented by a serpent. The false gods of Egypt were also represented by serpents...

But what of the serpent image as a symbol for Christ? If the serpent was a legitimate emblem of the coming Messiah, how and why did Lucifer usurp the serpent symbol after Adam and Eve were placed on this earth? In a roundabout way, the Prophet Joseph Smith may have provided a clue regarding the origins of serpent imagery as a symbol for Christ and why Satan appropriated it for his own.When speaking of the dove as an identifying symbol of the Holy Ghost, Joseph Smith said, "The sign of the dove was instituted before the creation of the world, a witness for the Holy Ghost, and the devil cannot come in the sign of a dove."

A possible implication of this statement is that other signs, symbols, and tokens may have been instituted in premortality to represent deity, but the one that Satan absolutely could not imitate was the dove. However, as the preeminent counterfeiter and deceiver, Satan could and does usurp other signs and symbols properly applied to God in order to try to legitimize his false identity as a god. This is why Satan chose to appropriate and utilize the sign of the serpent as the best means of deceiving Eve as well as her posterity.

The scriptures help us to see that Satan imitates and perverts every divine truth; every godly concept, principle, or practice; and every good and positive symbol, image, sign, and token in order to deceive and manipulate the souls of men. This even includes appearing as an angel of light (see Alma 30:53; D&C 128:20). By usurping and manipulating the symbol of the serpent, Satan tried to validate his false identity and his lies, insisting that following his ways would elevate our first parents to the status of the very God represented by the true image of the serpent (see Moses 4:10—11). Satan came to Eve clothed, as it were, in the garb of the Messiah, using the signs, symbols, and even the language of the Messiah, promising things that only the Messiah could rightfully promise. "(And [Satan] spake by the mouth of the serpent.) . . . And the serpent said unto the woman: Ye shall not surely die; . . . ye shall be as the gods" (Moses 4:7, 10—11). In reality only the one who worked out an infinite atonement could legitimately make these kinds of promises. Perhaps that is one of the reasons why Satan is justly called a liar from the beginning (see Moses 4:4; D&C 93:25).

PS - I wanted to point something out about the picture I added to the beginning of this post. Take a close look at Moses then watch the video I have posted here.

Lachish Temple

I just found this fantastic video made by Professor Bill Hamblin of BYU who is currently teaching at the BYU Jerusalem Center for Near Eastern Studies. It is about an Israelite temple found in Lachish.

Mayan creation myth found at El Mirador

Vanished Persian Army Said Found in Desert : Discovery News

Vanished Persian Army Said Found in Desert : Discovery News

The remains of a mighty Persian army said to have drowned in the sands of the western Egyptian desert 2,500 years ago might have been finally located, solving one of archaeology's biggest outstanding mysteries, according to Italian researchers.

Bronze weapons, a silver bracelet, an earring and hundreds of human bones found in the vast desolate wilderness of the Sahara desert have raised hopes of finally finding the lost army of Persian King Cambyses II. The 50,000 warriors were said to be buried by a cataclysmic sandstorm in 525 B.C.

"We have found the first archaeological evidence of a story reported by the Greek historian Herodotus," Dario Del Bufalo, a member of the expedition from the University of Lecce, told Discovery News.

According to Herodotus (484-425 B.C.), Cambyses, the son of Cyrus the Great, sent 50,000 soldiers from Thebes to attack the Oasis of Siwa and destroy the oracle at the Temple of Amun after the priests there refused to legitimize his claim to Egypt.

After walking for seven days in the desert, the army got to an "oasis," which historians believe was El-Kharga. After they left, they were never seen again.

"A wind arose from the south, strong and deadly, bringing with it vast columns of whirling sand, which entirely covered up the troops and caused them wholly to disappear," wrote Herodotus.

A century after Herodotus wrote his account, Alexander the Great made his own pilgrimage to the oracle of Amun, and in 332 B.C. he won the oracle's confirmation that he was the divine son of Zeus, the Greek god equated with Amun.

The tale of Cambyses' lost army, however, faded into antiquity. As no trace of the hapless warriors was ever found, scholars began to dismiss the story as a fanciful tale.

Now, two top Italian archaeologists claim to have found striking evidence that the Persian army was indeed swallowed in a sandstorm. Twin brothers Angelo and Alfredo Castiglioni are already famous for their discovery 20 years ago of the ancient Egyptian "city of gold" Berenike Panchrysos.

Presented recently at the archaeological film festival of Rovereto, the discovery is the result of 13 years of research and five expeditions to the desert.

"It all started in 1996, during an expedition aimed at investigating the presence of iron meteorites near Bahrin, one small oasis not far from Siwa," Alfredo Castiglioni, director of the Eastern Desert Research Center (CeRDO)in Varese, told Discovery News.

While working in the area, the researchers noticed a half-buried pot and some human remains. Then the brothers spotted something really intriguing -- what could have been a natural shelter.

It was a rock about 35 meters (114.8 feet) long, 1.8 meters (5.9 feet) in height and 3 meters (9.8 feet) deep. Such natural formations occur in the desert, but this large rock was the only one in a large area.

"Its size and shape made it the perfect refuge in a sandstorm," Castiglioni said.

Right there, the metal detector of Egyptian geologist Aly Barakat of Cairo University located relics of ancient warfare: a bronze dagger and several arrow tips.

"We are talking of small items, but they are extremely important as they are the first Achaemenid objects, thus dating to Cambyses' time, which have emerged from the desert sands in a location quite close to Siwa," Castiglioni said.