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Egypt

What Were Israel’s Most Serious Provocations of the Lord in the Wilderness? (Old Testament Gospel Doctrine Lesson 14B)

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Nicolas Poussin, 1594-1665: The Adoration of the Golden Calf, 1634-1635

An Old Testament KnoWhy relating to the reading assignment for Gospel Doctrine Lesson 14: “Ye Shall Be a Peculiar Treasure Unto Me” (Exodus 15-20; 32-34) (JBOTL14B)

Question:The making of the golden calf is often presented as the height of Israel’s rejection of God and His law. But it was only one of several incidents of rebellion that occurred in the wilderness. Among all these provocations, which ones were the most serious?

Summary: The translations, revelations, and teachings of the Prophet Joseph Smith make it clear that the most serious provocations of Israel had nothing to do with their frequent complainings in the wilderness, as one might otherwise imagine. Rather, they had to do with Israel’s deliberate rejection of “the last law from Moses,” a law associated with the fulness of the priesthood and its blessings. In their rejection of that law, Israel had refused “to sanctify [themselves] that they might behold the face of God” at Sinai. Instead, they prayed “that God would speak to Moses and not to them.” “In consequence of [their actions, God] cursed them with a carnal law.” And, as a result of their actions, the generation of Israelites who left Egypt in the Exodus would neither enter into the promised land nor into “the rest of the Lord” during their mortal lives. Happily, the Lord holds out the possibility of receiving these sometimes-rejected blessings to faithful disciples in our day who are willing to make and keep the covenants that will enable them to continually enjoy the divine presence. Through “sufficient hope,” the “peaceable followers of Christ” may “enter into the rest of the Lord” in this life, “until [they] shall rest with him in heaven.” This rest “is the fulness of his glory.”

 

The full article may be found at the Interpreter Foundation website: KnoWhy OTL14B — What Were Israel’s Most Serious Provocations of the Lord in the Wilderness?

 

What Similarities Are There Between Egyptian and Israelite Temples? (Old Testament Gospel Doctrine Lesson 14A)

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Israel Camped Around the Wilderness Tabernacle

An Old Testament KnoWhy relating to the reading assignment for Gospel Doctrinesson 14: “Ye Shall Be a Peculiar Treasure Unto Me” (Exodus 15-20; 32-34) (JBOTL14A)

Question:Hugh W. Nibley and other LDS scholars have written at length about Egyptian temple rites. What similiarities are there between Egyptian and Israelite temples?

Summary: Temple rituals in the ancient Near East may seem in some respects far removed from current LDS teachings and ritual practices. However, what resemblances exist may be of significance to a people who claim that divine revelation about the ordinances go back to the beginning of mankind. Predating, as they do, the Israelite Tabernacle by more than a millennium, such resemblances may be “an embarrassment to exclusivistic readings of religion.” However, to Mormons they represent “a kind of confirmation and vindication.” Thus, Egyptian and other ancient temples should be better understood by Latter-day Saints. For although, as Hugh Nibley observed, “the Egyptian endowment was but an imitation, it was still a good one, and we may be able to learn much from it.”

 

The full article may be found at the Interpreter Foundation website: KnoWhy OTL14A — What Similarities Are There Between Egyptian and Israelite Temples?

An excellent short video discussing the Tabernacle and the Messiah is available from Daniel Smith at https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TygiChDYd4Y. See also his presentation on “The Ancient Israelite Tabernacle, Its Accoutrements, and the Priestly Vestments,” given at the Interpreter Foundation 2016 Temple on Mount Zion Conference, 5 November 2016, Provo, Utah (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rEb4u4OB-aU).

On 7 October 2015, Joshua Berman gave a talk for the Academy for Temple Studies on “Differences between the Tabernacle and the Temple,” https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LB6xlYpcO-w. He gave a similar talk on 8 October 2015 at the BYU Kennedy Center, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=15ew7on3UL4 and https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=K3nw2C1J5Lg.

Is There Any Evidence in Egyptian Sources for the Exodus? (Old Testament Gospel Doctrine Lesson 13C)

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. Smaller Tablet of the Hittite version of a Peace Treaty with Egypt, executed ca. 1259 BCE, sixteen years after the battle of Kadesh. It “is believed to be the earliest example of any written international agreement of any kind.”

An Old Testament KnoWhy relating to the reading assignment for Gospel Doctrine Lesson 13: Bondage, Passover, and Exodus (Exodus 1-3; 5-6; 11-14) (JBOTL013C)

Question:Most of the evidence for the historical Exodus comes indirectly from general archaeological findings and analysis of biblical texts. Is there any specific evidence for the reality and timing of the Exodus that can be corroborated from Egyptian sources?

Summary: Very possibly, but only indirectly. Although the Egyptians, like other ancient (and modern!) peoples, were understandably loathe themselves to truthfully advertise a military defeat, the Israelites had no qualms about publicizing such an event on their behalf. According to Hebrew Bible scholar Joshua Berman, the author of the “Sea Account,” the oldest description of Israel’s final escape in the book of Exodus, may have intentionally imitated the structure and vocabulary of Egyptian propaganda trumpeting a claimed victory at the Battle of Kadesh in order to mock the pharaoh’s failure to stop the flight of the Israelites. Berman makes the case that the Israelite “Sea Account” must have been authored within a reasonable period of time after the battle of Kadesh by someone personally acquainted with the Egyptian inscriptions that reported it.

The full article may be found at the Interpreter Foundation website: KnoWhy OTL13C — Is There Any Evidence in Egyptian Sources for the Exodus?

A three-minute synopsis of Joshua Berman’s ideas can be found in “A Passover Story: Archaeology and the Exodus,” https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZOGeusWwI-g

For a video describing the historical context and weapon technology of the battle of Kadesh, see Ancient Discoveries: Egyptian Warfare (History Channel), Ancient Discoveries: Egyptian Warfare (History Channel), https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SS3eQbQG5mA.

What Can We Learn About the Historical Exodus from Outside the Scriptures? (Old Testament Gospel Doctrine Lesson 13B)

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Egyptian Figurine of a Semitic Slave

An Old Testament KnoWhy relating to the reading assignment for Gospel Doctrine Lesson 13: Bondage, Passover, and Exodus (Exodus 1-3; 5-6; 11-14) (JBOTL013B)

Question:Many people nowadays believe that the Exodus never happened. Are there traces of the historical Exodus from sources outside the scriptures? And do they help us to identify the Pharaoh of the Exodus?

Summary: Traces of the historical Exodus from sources outside the scriptures are available — but only if you are looking for the right things in the right direction. For example, if you are expecting to find archaeological evidence for a group of millions of Israelites crossing the Sinai desert after leaving Egypt in shambles, you are likely to be disappointed. True it is that large numbers of Semitic people came and went from Egypt in the centuries before a much smaller group eventually left in the Exodus. But teasing out the subtleties of the historical context of scripture requires tedious and diligent efforts of dedicated scholars. In this article, we present a few tentative conclusions to help familiarize readers with the current landscape.

 

The full article may be found at the Interpreter Foundation website: KnoWhy OTL13B — What Can We Learn About the Historical Exodus from Outside the Scriptures?

A video version of a presentation by Richard Elliott Friedman on the subject entitled “The Exodus Based on the Sources Themselves” can be found at https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=H-YlzpUhnxQ