Ammon

Fasting–how to make this work?

Ammon as Christ type:

25 But Ammon said unto him: Nay, but I will be thy servant. Therefore Ammon became a servant to king Lamoni. And it came to pass that he was set among other servants to watch the flocks of Lamoni, according to the custom of the Lamanites.
26 And after he had been in the service of the king three days, as he was with the Lamanitish servants going forth with their flocks to the place of water, which was called the water of Sebus, and all the Lamanites drive their flocks hither, that they may have water—
27 Therefore, as Ammon and the servants of the king were driving forth their flocks to this place of water, behold, a certain number of the Lamanites, who had been with their flocks to water, stood and scattered the flocks of Ammon and the servants of the king, and they scattered them insomuch that they fled many ways.
28 Now the servants of the king began to murmur, saying: Now the king will slay us, as he has our brethren because their flocks were scattered by the wickedness of these men. And they began to weep exceedingly, saying: Behold, our flocks are scattered already.
29 Now they wept because of the fear of being slain. Now when Ammon saw this his heart was swollen within him with joy; for, said he, I will show forth my power unto these my fellow-servants, or the power which is in me, in restoring these flocks unto the king, that I may win the hearts of these my fellow-servants, that I may lead them to believe in my words.
30 And now, these were the thoughts of Ammon, when he saw the afflictions of those whom he termed to be his brethren.
31 And it came to pass that he flattered them by his words, saying: My brethren, be of good cheer and let us go in search of the flocks, and we will gather them together and bring them back unto the place of water; and thus we will preserve the flocks unto the king and he will not slay us.
32 And it came to pass that they went in search of the flocks, and they did follow Ammon, and they rushed forth with much swiftness and did head the flocks of the king, and did gather them together again to the place of water.
33 And those men again stood to scatter their flocks; but Ammon said unto his brethren: Encircle the flocks round about that they flee not; and I go and contend with these men who do scatter our flocks.
34 Therefore, they did as Ammon commanded them, and he went forth and stood to contend with those who stood by the waters of Sebus; and they were in number not a few.
35 Therefore they did not fear Ammon, for they supposed that one of their men could slay him according to their pleasure, for they knew not that the Lord had promised Mosiah that he would deliver his sons out of their hands; neither did they know anything concerning the Lord; therefore they delighted in the destruction of their brethren; and for this cause they stood to scatter the flocks of the king.
36 But Ammon stood forth and began to cast stones at them with his sling; yea, with mighty power he did sling stones amongst them; and thus he slew a certain number of them insomuch that they began to be astonished at his power; nevertheless they were angry because of the slain of their brethren, and they were determined that he should fall; therefore, seeing that they could not hit him with their stones, they came forth with clubs to slay him.
37 But behold, every man that lifted his club to smite Ammon, he smote off their arms with his sword; for he did withstand their blows by smiting their arms with the edge of his sword, insomuch that they began to be astonished, and began to flee before him; yea, and they were not few in number; and he caused them to flee by the strength of his arm.
38 Now six of them had fallen by the sling, but he slew none save it were their leader with his sword; and he smote off as many of their arms as were lifted against him, and they were not a few. [7 = all]
39 And when he had driven them afar off, he returned and they watered their flocks and returned them to the pasture of the king, and then went in unto the king, bearing the arms which had been smitten off by the sword of Ammon, of those who sought to slay him; and they were carried in unto the king for a testimony of the things which they had done.
1 And it came to pass that king Lamoni caused that his servants should stand forth and testify to all the things which they had seen concerning the matter.
2 And when they had all testified to the things which they had seen, and he had learned of the faithfulness of Ammon in preserving his flocks, and also of his great power in contending against those who sought to slay him, he was astonished exceedingly, and said: Surely, this is more than a man. Behold, is not this the Great Spirit who doth send such great punishments upon this people, because of their murders?
3 And they answered the king, and said: Whether he be the Great Spirit or a man, we know not; but this much we do know, that he cannot be slain by the enemies of the king; neither can they scatter the king’s flocks when he is with us, because of his expertness and great strength; therefore, we know that he is a friend to the king. And now, O king, we do not believe that a man has such great power, for we know he cannot be slain.
4 And now, when the king heard these words, he said unto them: Now I know that it is the Great Spirit; and he has come down at this time to preserve your lives, that I might not slay you as I did your brethren. Now this is the Great Spirit of whom our fathers have spoken.
5 Now this was the tradition of Lamoni, which he had received from his father, that there was a Great Spirit. Notwithstanding they believed in a Great Spirit, they supposed that whatsoever they did was right; nevertheless, Lamoni began to fear exceedingly, with fear lest he had done wrong in slaying his servants;
6 For he had slain many of them because their brethren had scattered their flocks at the place of water; and thus, because they had had their flocks scattered they were slain.
7 Now it was the practice of these Lamanites to stand by the waters of Sebus to scatter the flocks of the people, that thereby they might drive away many that were scattered unto their own land, it being a practice of plunder among them.
8 And it came to pass that king Lamoni inquired of his servants, saying: Where is this man that has such great power?
9 And they said unto him: Behold, he is feeding thy horses. Now the king had commanded his servants, previous to the time of the watering of their flocks, that they should prepare his horses and chariots, and conduct him forth to the land of Nephi; for there had been a great feast appointed at the land of Nephi, by the father of Lamoni, who was king over all the land.
10 Now when king Lamoni heard that Ammon was preparing his horses and his chariots he was more astonished, because of the faithfulness of Ammon, saying: Surely there has not been any servant among all my servants that has been so faithful as this man; for even he doth remember all my commandments to execute them.

Lamoni’s father: Half a kingdom for his life, all his kingdom for eternal life, sins to know God.

Melchizedek

Margaret Barker’s comments on the tree of knowledge and the tree of life:

The problem was knowledge. The knowledge of good and evil from the tree which had been forbidden. The Garden of Eden was full of trees, but the storyteller named only two – the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, and the tree of life – and only one of them was forbidden, the tree of the knowledge of good and evil. Similar myths have only one tree, and so we recognise that this is the point to investigate. Why two trees? Those who first heard this story would have known that the tree of life was also the source of knowledge, so why does the storyteller describe two trees, both of them sources of knowledge, but one of them forbidden? The tree of life was not forbidden to Adam until he had chosen to eat from the other tree. Adam could not eat from both trees.

The tree of knowledge appears nowhere else in the Bible, but the tree of life is elsewhere described as Wisdom (Proverbs 3.18). In the vision of the Book of Revelation, the fruit of the tree of life is promised as a reward for the faithful, and there are other ancient texts in the Hebrew tradition which describe the beautiful perfume of the tree of life and how its fruit would one day be given to the righteous (1 Enoch 25). This fruit is described as the ‘sevenfold instruction concerning his creation’ (1 Enoch 93.10). The tree of life was a source of knowledge about the creation, it was the source of life, and, as we shall see, it was the source of healing and renewal.

It has sometimes been said that the story of Adam and the forbidden tree shows that the biblical tradition did not want humans to have knowledge. The Adam story would then have been the Hebrew version of the Prometheus myth, with Adam trying to wrest secrets from a jealous God. This is not correct. The position was far more subtle. The fruit of the tree of life gave ‘sevenfold instruction concerning his creation’, and the writings of the Hebrew wise men are full of lists which can be regarded as summaries of the scientific knowledge of their time: ‘the breadth and length of the earth and how it was founded and the number of the stars and where they rest’ (1 Enoch 93.13-14). Detailed astronomy texts have survived. The story of the two trees saw the problem with knowledge in terms of the source of the knowledge, the attitude to its possession, and how it was used.

After Adam & Eve were cast out of the garden, God sent angels to teach them the Gospel.

28 And after God had appointed that these things should come unto man, behold, then he saw that it was expedient that man should know concerning the things whereof he had appointed unto them;
29 Therefore he sent angels to converse with them, who caused men to behold of his glory.
30 And they began from that time forth to call on his name; therefore God conversed with men, and made known unto them the plan of redemption, which had been prepared from the foundation of the world; and this he made known unto them according to their faith and repentance and their holy works.
31 Wherefore, he gave commandments unto men, they having first transgressed the first commandments as to things which were temporal, and becoming as Gods, knowing good from evil, placing themselves in a state to act, or being placed in a state to act according to their wills and pleasures, whether to do evil or to do good—
32 Therefore God gave unto them commandments, after having made known unto them the plan of redemption, that they should not do evil, the penalty thereof being a second death, which was an everlasting death as to things pertaining unto righteousness; for on such the plan of redemption could have no power, for the works of justice could not be destroyed, according to the supreme goodness of God.
33 But God did call on men, in the name of his Son, (this being the plan of redemption which was laid) saying: If ye will repent, and harden not your hearts, then will I have mercy upon you, through mine Only Begotten Son;
34 Therefore, whosoever repenteth, and hardeneth not his heart, he shall have claim on mercy through mine Only Begotten Son, unto a remission of his sins; and these shall enter into my rest.

(Alma 12:28-34. Emphasis mine.)

Two points: this state is one where we can be agents and not suffer immediate consequences, and God called on us first.

Alma 13:1 “These commandments” (Given to Adam and Eve)
“ordained priests” Aaron’s sons Ex 19:6, oath and covenant D&C 84 (made by God to us–I think this is what it means above that God called on men in the name of his son)

Adam was first priest: baptized, confirmed and ordained Moses 6:59-68 Note how it begins with chilbearing imagery: birth is an ordinance performed by women, rebirth by men. Harah=pregnant, har=mountain/temple. “Thou art one in me, a son of God” cf. 1Jn 2:28-3:2

Holy order. See the previous post, near the middle for etymology of order & related concepts.

To teach:Jacob 5:61, Moro 7:31-2, D&C 1:17-23, Jer 23:18-22, D&C 76:57,70, Num 11:29

“…that thereby the people might know in what manner to look forward to his Son for redemption” Called to be Christ-types.

The preparatory redemption redeems priests and prepares them to face God D&C 84:23 The priesthood and the priests were called and ordained like Christ was. They are called to teach others to be priests tat they may also enter his rest (Moro 7:3). Verses 3-9 focus on preparatory, 10-12 on redemption.

D&C 84:33Sanctify bodies, abhor sin. How?

Christ, the great High Priest Heb 4:14-5:16
Repent and work, repent and serve God Alma 42:4
Convert a sinner, hide sins James 5:20

Melchizedek (= King of Righteousness) as Christ type in Salem (= shalom, peace):

16 Now these ordinances were given after this manner, that thereby the people might look forward on the Son of God, it being a type of his order, or it being his order, and this that they might look forward to him for a remission of their sins, that they might enter into the rest of the Lord.
17 Now this Melchizedek was a king over the land of Salem; and his people had waxed strong in iniquity and abomination; yea, they had all gone astray; they were full of all manner of wickedness;
18 But Melchizedek having exercised mighty faith, and received the office of the high priesthood according to the holy order of God, did preach repentance unto his people. And behold, they did repent; and Melchizedek did establish peace in the land in his days; therefore he was called the prince of peace, for he was the king of Salem; and he did reign under his father.
19 Now, there were many before him, and also there were many afterwards, but none were greater; therefore, of him they have more particularly made mention.

We watch for the day of his coming.

Alma 14 Compare lake of fire & brimstone for righteous & wicked.

A talk from Oct ‘07 on reverence

First impressions: revere, want to be like someone. When in their presence, you listen, you pay attention. You take pleasure in their notice and approval.

C.S. Lewis’ sermon The Weight of Glory discussed an apparent paradox:

I turn next to the idea of glory. There is no getting away from the fact that this idea is very prominent in the New Testament and in early Christian writings. Salvation is constantly associated with palms, crowns, white robes, thrones, and splendour like the sun and stars. All this makes no immediate appeal to me at all, and in that respect I fancy I am a typical modern. Glory suggests two ideas to me, of which one seems wicked and the other ridiculous. Either glory means to me fame, or it means luminosity. As for the first, since to be famous means to be better known than other people, the desire for fame appears to me as a competitive passion and therefore of hell rather than heaven. As for the second, who wishes to become a kind of living electric light bulb? (ibid., p. 5)

He concludes,

It is written that we shall “stand before” Him, shall appear, shall be inspected. The promise of glory is the promise, almost incredible and only possible by the work of Christ, that some of us, that any of us who really chooses, shall actually survive that examination, shall find approval, shall please God. To please God…to be a real ingredient in the divine happiness…to be loved by God, not merely pitied, but delighted in as an artist delights in his work or a father in a son—it seems impossible, a weight or burden of glory which our thoughts can hardly sustain. But so it is.

Contrast the fate of those who choose not to follow the path:

In some sense, as dark to the intellect as it is unendurable to the feelings, we can be both banished from the presence of Him who is present everywhere and erased from the knowledge of Him who knows all. We can be left utterly and absolutely outside—repelled, exiled, estranged, finally and unspeakably ignored. (ibid., p. 7)

So that’s the sort of thing I thought of at first. But when I turned to the scriptures, I was shocked to find that the words translated as reverence were nothing like that.

The same words translated as “reverence” are translated elsewhere as fear, and shame; one literally means inversion, to turn inside out. These were forced, unpleasant feelings.

Then I remembered hebrew wordplay: In hebrew, you only write the consonants–any word with the same consonants is the same word! Vowels add connotation, not denotation. Very different from english.

3372 yare’ fear, as in “sore afraid” “fear the LORD”

but also

3384 yara’ flow, as rain or arrows falling; to point out, to teach

Reverence, then, is receiving teaching from heaven, like rain to parched earth. In Hebrew thought, there was a great bowl over the earth, the “dome of heaven.” In the dome, there were windows through which God would pour down blessings, typically in the form of rain. Speaking of those who keep the law of tithing, God says, Prove me now herewith, saith the LORD of hosts, if I will not open unto you the windows of heaven and pour you out a blessing, that there shall not be room enough to receive it.

Arrows also bring to mind the prophecy in Isaiah 49

And he hath made my mouth like a sharp sword; in the shadow of his hand hath he hid me, and made me a polished shaft; in his quiver hath he hid me; And he said unto me, Thou art my servant, O Israel, in whom I will be glorified… I will also give thee for a light to the Gentiles that
thou mayest be my salvation to the ends of the earth.”

D&C 86:11

Therefore, blessed are ye if ye continue in my goodness, a light unto the Gentiles, and through this priesthood, a savior unto my people Israel. The Lord hath said it. Amen.

Another word that gets translated as “reverence” is

7812 sachah prostrate, bow down, fall on your face, make low

but also, without even changing the vowels, you get

7811 sachah inundate, flood, fill a low place; swim;

Moses 7:62– flood the earth w/ the book of mormon (ETB talk)
“Wade in the water” baptism

The word derives from

7807 shach sunken, humble

Most of Galilee is mountainous, 2-3000 feet. But Jordan at sea of Galilee is 700 feet below sea level. Christ descended below all things when he was baptized in similitude of his death and resurrection.

Sermon at the temple, 3 ne 12:1-6, first principles & ordinances; baptism is “depths of humility”

7808 shach also means communion, meditation, thought

Amos 4:13

For, lo, he that formeth the mountains, and createth the wind, and declareth unto man what is his thought, that maketh the morning darkness, and treadeth upon the high places of the earth, The LORD, The God of hosts, is his name.

The word contemplate means
contemplate: con=with, beside tem=cut, as in atom, temple a place cut out or a place for cutting

Isaiah portrayed Christ’s “mouth like a sharp sword.” Paul explained that the word of God is quick, and powerful, and sharper than any two-edged sword, piercing even to the dividing asunder of soul and spirit, and of the joints and marrow, and is a discerner of the thoughts and intents of the heart.

Lev 1: the temple

shach is the root of the words

7818 sachat tread out, squeeze grapes or olives

7819 sachat to slaughter in sacrifice, to offer

mashach: that which is squeezed out or sacrificed :oil, annointed,
messiah, christ

Kings and priests were the only roles in Hebrew society to be anointed.

Shach, reverence, is to have communion (“to become one with”) with Christ, to meditate and think on his sacrifice.

John 17:22 Last supper

In the New Testament, the greek presents the same problem:

entrope en=inward trope=turn: to be ashamed, invert (vert=turn in latin)

But the word entropy can also be an inward transformation. In physics, entropy is a measure of how orderly something is.

Order is a rich word. Order can mean a brotherhood, like the Franciscan Order among the Catholics, or the Order of the Arrow in Boy Scouts, or the Freemasons. Order can mean a pattern. Pattern comes from the Latin patron, or father. Another word for pattern is template, evoking temple. Order can mean command: orders are given to keep things in order, to prevent chaos, to organize. Organic matter is living matter. Also related to order are the words ordain and ordinance. In military terms, ordinance is ammunition, the power by which one enforces one’s orders. In the gospel, an ordinance is words and actions that, when performed by the proper authority, bring about a new spiritual (and oftentimes physical) reality.

The association of “order” with the military is not accidental. Christ is the the Lord of Hosts, or literally, the Lord of Armies. The Hebrew word for armies is sabaoth, and Christ is called the Lord of Sabaoth several times in the D&C. Sabaoth is the plural form of the word saba, to dip, or dye. In Greek, to dip or dye is baptizo. The armies of the Lord of Hosts have dipped their garments in the blood of Christ and thus purified them through baptism.

The garment is that which covers our nakedness and will help us abide the day of the Lord’s coming. Speaking of the wicked and the righteous at the bar of God, Nephi says, “Wherefore, we shall have a perfect knowledge of all our guilt and our uncleanliness, and our nakedness; and the righteous shall have a perfect knowledge of their righteousness, being clothed with purity, yea, even the robe of righteousness… Wherefore, they who are filthy are the devil and his angels, and they shall go away into everlasting fire prepared for them; and their torment is as a lake of fire and brimstone.” But the righteous also inherit fire. Joseph F. Smith saw heaven in a vision recorded in D&C 137. He says, “I saw the transcendent beauty of the gate through which the heirs of that kingdom will enter, which was like unto circling flames of fire; also the blazing throne of God, whereon was seated the Father and the Son.” The difference is that the righteous have been clothed and are clean, whereas the wicked are filthy or naked.

Armies also need armor. In Ephesians 6 we find the armor of God, including feet shod with the preparation of the gospel of peace, and the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God. Peace is Christ’s doctrine. Peace will come by way of the word of God, like a two-edged sword. In 2 Ne 3:12, we see that the Book of Mormon and the Bible “shall grow together, unto the confounding of false doctrines and laying down of contentions, and establishing peace among the fruit of thy loins, unto the bringing them to the knowledge of their fathers in the latter days, and also to the knowledge of my covenants, saith the Lord.” God himself also wears armor: “For he put on righteousness as a breastplate, and an helmet of salvation upon his head; and he put on the garments of vengeance for clothing, and was clad with zeal as a cloke.” (Isa 59:17)

Order in physics turns up as symmetries. A symmetry is a way of transforming a system such that it looks the same after the transformation as it did before.

The five-pointed stars on the U.S. flag have the symmetry group D_5, which has ten elements. One of the elements is the identity transformation, which does nothing; every system has that trivial symmetry. Another element is a rotation by 72 degrees clockwise; we say the star has five-fold rotational symmetry. Since a rotation by 360 degrees is the same as the identity, there are five possible rotations, the multiples of 72 degrees (including a rotation of zero degrees), that leave the star looking the same. Another element is a reflection through a vertical line. Since any two reflections in a row behave the same as one rotation, that means the ten elements of the group are the five rotations times the two reflection possibilities (reflect or not).

Symmetries in physics include time symmetry (physics now is the same as physics yesterday), translation symmetry (physics here is the same as physics there), and rotational symmetry (physics facing north is the same as physics facing south). The mathematician Emmy Noether proved that every symmetry in a physical system gives rise to a conserved quantity. Translational symmetry gives rise to conservation of momentum, the tendency for things to move in a straight line unless pushed. Rotational symmetry gives rise to angular momentum, the tendency for a bike wheel not to tip over when it’s spinning. Time symmetry gives rise to conservation of energy. “Conservation of energy” in this sense doesn’t mean “trying not to be wasteful,” but rather a perfect accounting for the energy. “[Energy] is neither created nor made,” and it can’t be destroyed, either.

Keeping Gospel laws, conserving truth and light, brings symmetry and order into the chaos of our lives. This universe obeys the laws of physics perfectly, and thus will be exalted to be the home of those who are perfected in Christ.

Reverence then, is trying to be like Christ: it is humility, being baptized, using the priesthood to be a savior unto God’s people, making covenants of communion, the sacrament, unity with one another and Christ. It is renewing the baptismal covenant and making covenants at the temple, annointed to become kings and priests, queens and priestesses. It is an inward transformation:

And now behold, I ask of you, my brethren of the church, have ye spiritually been born of God? Have ye received his image in your countenances? Have ye experienced this mighty change in your hearts?

It is flooding the earth with the book of mormon, the two-edged word of God. It is order and symmetry in our lives, the rest of God.

Moroni finished his record by quoting from a sermon of his father to those remaining few faithful before the nephites’ utter destruction

I would speak unto you that are of the church, that are the peaceable followers of Christ, and that have obtained a sufficient hope by which ye can enter into the rest of the Lord, from this time henceforth until ye shall rest with him in heaven. And what is it that ye shall hope for? Behold I say unto you that ye shall have hope through the atonement of Christ and the power of his resurrection, to be raised unto life eternal, and this because of your faith in him according to the promise. Wherefore, my beloved brethren, pray unto the Father with all the energy of heart, that ye may be filled with this love, which he hath bestowed upon all who are true followers of his Son, Jesus Christ; that ye may become the sons of God; that when he shall appear we shall be like him, for we shall see him as he is; that we may have this hope; that we may be purified even as he is pure. Amen.

Amulek

Even though cultures other than the Lamanites, Nephites, and Mulekites are never explicitly mentioned, there are some hints of others. The city of Ammonihah was apparently under the Nephite sphere of influence because they said Alma no longer had power over them once he gave the judgement seat to Nephihah. However, they rejected the traditions of the Nephites, but were certainly not Lamanites. It’s clear from archaeological records that there were lots of civilizations in Mesoamerica, so if you assume that’s the setting for the Book of Mormon, then the Nephites must have interacted with them on their borders.

Alma was thrown out. When have you been weighed down with sorrow because of the wickedness of someone you love?

He saw the same angel, who told him “Blessed art thou, Alma.” That phrase is usually used in the context of diligence or faithfulness. Reviewed several early instances.

Then Alma was commanded to be an angel to Ammonihah. He was to use the same language the angel had originally used to convince him more than a decade before. Have you had a joyous reunion with someone who shared the gospel with you?

We in the church have received many of the same blessings as the Nephites, so we should take Alma’s warnings to heart. My gift of tongues in learning and speaking Spanish.

Amulek was rich and well known, a surprise to the people of Ammonihah. Can’t remember who said this: A civilization is in danger when its lawyers focus on the technicalities of law rather than on dealing in justice and mercy.

Money system: 1,2,4,7 relatively efficient. Six onties of silver is 3 months pay for a lawyer: a largish sum, but small enough to be insulting. Guatemalan marcos are binary because the English system of weights are binary. Both civilizations used it because binary is a good system (cf. computers). Nephites had 1,2,4,8,16,32,56,168-leah units.

All will be resurrected, even sons of perdition, and will be made whole.

Alma 12:10-12. Those that reject the gospel forget what they once knew; probably a mercy from God, so they won’t be accountable for it. Those that seek will find until they know all the mysteries of God.

Ran out of time, so will cover the latter part of ch. 12 next time.

Chiasmus

I started off the lesson reminding them of the covenant the people had made under King Benjamin, and how many now in Nephite society had either been absent (like the Zeniffites) or had been too young to have made the covenant.  Alma the Younger and the sons of Mosiah were well-educated nobility.  They’d been taught the gospel, they had good, righteous parents, but they simply didn’t believe it.  At times I find myself feeling this way, though I didn’t tell the class that.

So Alma and his buddies are going about, trying to destroy the church.  The church members pray hard for them.  Question about how prayer and agency work together, how God sends angels (=messengers) to help those that are rebelling or lost.  How due to the relationship between parent and wayward child, it’s often not possible for parents to bring them back, and other respected people are needed.  One comment I really loved from the class was that Alma Sr. as High Priest and Mosiah as King were unable to fulfill their types with the loss of their children, but through Christ the types were made perfect.

Then the account of Alma in chapter 36.  I pointed out that while chiasmus was an ancient literary form, and lends credence to the Book of Mormon being an ancient record–the whole epic story of deliverance that the angel refers to is a chiasmus–its presence does not prove that the record is ancient: witness Green Eggs and Ham and Where the Wild Things Are.  I don’t think I had any new insights on this chapter.

Question to the class: how has centering your life on Christ made a difference?