Jubilees and Enoch, part 2

With wond’ring awe the wisemen saw
The star in heaven springing,
And with delight, in peaceful night,
They heard the angels singing:
Hosanna, hosanna, hosanna to his name!
By light of star they traveled far
To seek the lowly manger,
A humble bed wherein was laid
The wondrous little Stranger.
Hosanna, hosanna, hosanna to his name!
And still is found, the world around,
The old and hallowed story,
And still is sung in ev’ry tongue
The angels’ song of glory:
Hosanna, hosanna, hosanna to his name!
The heav’nly star its rays afar
On ev’ry land is throwing,
And shall not cease till holy peace
In all the earth is growing.
Hosanna, hosanna, hosanna to his name!

“With Wond’ring Awe” Hymn #210

Sometimes I find hints of a connection between two scriptural symbols and wonder if I’m making it up, exaggerating it, or seeing something for what it has been all along. And then as I study more, I see confirmatory evidence in numerous places.

Such was the case recently as I sang the opening hymn (#210, quoted above) in my ward’s sacrament meeting. Notice how nicely this imagery fits into the pattern I discussed in the last post from 1 Nephi 1. The angels and the stars are tightly connected in the story of Jesus’ birth. Furthermore, the name of Christ used in verse 2 (“wondrous little Stranger”) is an very interesting tie-in with what we discussed about Abraham.

In this post, we’ll connect the symbolism discussed in part 1 with the temple by way of the menorah.

Enoch’s astronomy and the temple

In my last post, I began to unfold what I’ve learned about Enoch’s astronomy, how that connects to Abraham, and how a prophet/Apostle might be likened to a planet in the night sky. In this post, we’ll go a little bit deeper and connect these same concepts to the temple. Lets start by looking at two items from the list in part one, which was a breakdown of eleven specific comment the Book of Jubilees makes about Enoch.

#5 [Enoch] saw in a vision what has happened and what will occur — how things will happen for mankind during their history until the day of judgment. He saw everything and understood.
#7 [Enoch] was … with God’s angels for six jubilees of years (see Moses 6:25; 7:68). They showed him everything on earth and in the heavens — the dominion of the sun — and he wrote down everything.

Book of Jubilees

It’s not difficult to see how Enoch has become like an angel as a result of his visionary experience. Lehi’s experience in 1 Nephi 1 again offers a striking parallel:

9 And it came to pass that he saw One descending out of the midst of heaven, and he beheld that his luster was above that of the sun at noon-day.
10 And he also saw twelve others following him, and their brightness did exceed that of the stars in the firmament.
11 And they came down and went forth upon the face of the earth; and the first came and stood before my father, and gave unto him a book, and bade him that he should read.
12 And it came to pass that as he read, he was filled with the Spirit of the Lord.
13 And he read, saying: Wo, wo, unto Jerusalem, for I have seen thine abominations! Yea, and many things did my father read concerning Jerusalem—that it should be destroyed, and the inhabitants thereof; many should perish by the sword, and many should be carried away captive into Babylon.

1 Nephi 1

The Book of the Watchers (1 Enoch) is filled with judgment/prophecy imagery. (Read the first few pages of this link to get a sense.) Like Enoch, Lehi gained knowledge about the actions of the inhabitants of earth and a duty to preach repentance at the same time.

36 And he beheld the spirits that God had created; and he beheld also things which were not visible to the natural eye; and from thenceforth came the saying abroad in the land: A seer hath the Lord raised up unto his people. …
47 And as Enoch spake forth the words of God, the people trembled, and could not stand in his presence.
48 And he said unto them: …
50 But God hath made known unto our fathers that all men must repent. …
52 And he also said unto him: If thou wilt turn unto me, and hearken unto my voice, and believe, and repent of all thy transgressions, and be baptized, even in water, in the name of mine Only Begotten Son, who is full of grace and truth, which is Jesus Christ, the only name which shall be given under heaven, whereby salvation shall come unto the children of men, ye shall receive the gift of the Holy Ghost, asking all things in his name, and whatsoever ye shall ask, it shall be given you.

Moses 6

10 And the Lord said unto me: Go to this people, and say unto them—Repent, lest I come out and smite them with a curse, and they die. (See also verse 12)
21 And it came to pass that the Lord showed unto Enoch all the inhabitants of the earth…
22 And Enoch also beheld the residue of the people which were the sons of Adam…
23 And after that Zion was taken up into heaven, Enoch beheld, and lo, all the nations of the earth were before him; …
65 And it came to pass that Enoch saw the day of the coming of the Son of Man, in the last days, to dwell on the earth in righteousness for the space of a thousand years;
66 But before that day he saw great tribulations among the wicked; and he also saw the sea, that it was troubled, and men’s hearts failing them, looking forth with fear for the judgments of the Almighty God, which should come upon the wicked.
67 And the Lord showed Enoch all things, even unto the end of the world; and he saw the day of the righteous, the hour of their redemption, and received a fulness of joy;

Moses 7

Notice also in these chapters that Enoch’s words and actions mirror the words of God. I could write more about this, but for two examples compare who is weeping in Moses 7:28, 41, and 44 and whose hands are stretching forth in Moses 7:36 and 41. I believe we are seeing the process of Enoch becoming holy and gaining an eye single to God’s glory.

The Holy Candlestick

Recently, Stisa has been writing about the Menorah (see here, here, and here), which helped me make some connections between Enoch and the temple. The first and perhaps most obvious ‘aha!’ moment came when I realized that the Hebrew name for Enoch (‘Chanok‘) comes from the same root as ‘Hanukkah’, the well-known festival of lights during which celebrates the miraculous burning of the consecrated oil of the menorah at a time when the temple was being rededicated. The lights of the menorah combine the number eight to create a powerful symbol of a new, holy beginning:

The name Hanukkah is commonly understood to mean Dedication, but where our word dedication primarily conveys a devotion or consecration, the Hebrew word hanukka primarily describes a new beginning, or the initiation into a wholly renewed situation. As such our name means New Beginning or Initiation.
Note that Hanukkah relates to Enoch (who walked with God and was no more; Genesis 5:22) the way Israel relates to Jacob, and the Body of Christ relates to Jesus Christ. In each instance, the many (which is feminine) comes from the one (which is masculine). The very same relationship exists between Adam and Eve, who was called the “mother of all the living” (Genesis 3:20);

(source)

That is a fascinating connection. Incidentally, in 1 Kings 8:63, when Solomon “dedicates” the temple, the same root (the verb ‘chanak‘) is used. Through some additional study, I’ve identified two distinct connections between this lampstand and the prophets.

1 – The Watchers as the “Eyes of the Lord” (Zechariah 4:10)

In the church today, we commonly hear the living prophets and apostles referred to as “the watchmen on the tower” (see this graphic from the April 2016 Ensign, for example. See also Jeremiah 6:17, Isaiah 62:6, and Ezekiel 33:7).

Along the same vein, Zechariah 4:10 specifically describes the seven lights of the menorah as “the eyes of the Lord.” The context is a high priest Joshua being purified by angels and taught to walk in [God’s] ways:

3 Now Joshua was clothed with filthy garments, and stood before the angel.
4 And he answered and spake unto those that stood before him, saying, Take away the filthy garments from him. And unto him he said, Behold, I have caused thine iniquity to pass from thee, and I will clothe thee with change of raiment.
5 And I said, Let them set a fair mitre upon his head. So they set a fair mitre upon his head, and clothed him with garments. And the angel of the Lord stood by.
6 And the angel of the Lord protested unto Joshua, saying,
7 Thus saith the Lord of hosts; If thou wilt walk in my ways, and if thou wilt keep my charge, then thou shalt also judge my house, and shalt also keep my courts, and I will give thee places to walk among these that stand by.

(Zechariah 3, read vv. 1-10 for the fuller context, especially verse 9 which mentions a stone with seven eyes)

The righteous watchers are certainly a part of this symbolism, with Enoch serving as the archetype. Zechariah 4 directly connects these “eyes of the Lord” with the menorah. (We also talk of seven dispensations of the Gospel, each headed by a prophet, and Revelation 5:6 mentions a “slain Lamb” with seven eyes, “which are the seven Spirits of God sent forth into all the earth” (see also D&C 77:4). I won’t pretend to be an expert in deciphering this kind of complex symbolism, but the general pattern of prophets as “stars” surrounding the greatest light fits neatly both into the pattern of the night sky as observed by the naked eye from earth’s surface, and the the pattern of the lampstand of the Tabernacle.)

2 – Prophet/high priest and intermediary between heaven and earth

The lampstand in the Holy Place of the Tabernacle provided light to those who enter. It is a powerful symbol. Whereas the other elements of the temple were overlaid with gold, the lamp was to be constructed from one talent of solid gold.

I can’t help but think of the cherubim and a flaming sword, guarding the way to the tree of life. In this case, the lampstand is shaped like a tree itself, and as Stisa pointed out in part 1 of his recent menorah series, is reminiscent of the almond tree (Exodus 25:33-34), which in Hebrew also means ‘watch’ — the eyes of the Lord.

I have also been able to see a clear connection to prophets in the symbolism of the lampstand. Moses was shown this pattern while on the mountain, communing directly with God on behalf of the Israelites. In other words, while acting as the intermediary between heaven and earth, Moses is shown the symbol of the lampstand. See Exodus 25:40, which immediately follows a description of the lampstand.

Regarding the shape of the menorah, here is a commentary on that symbolism:

The Menorah depicts both God’s descent to man, as well as man’s upward ascent to God. The arms of the Menorah in a very real sense depict man holding up his arms toward heaven in prayer to God.

(source)

This takes us back to King Solomon and his dedication of the first temple in Israel:

22 ¶ And Solomon stood before the altar of the Lord in the presence of all the congregation of Israel, and spread forth his hands toward heaven:

1 Kings 8

Conclusion

This is deep and multi-layered symbolism. I’m certain I don’t understand it very well yet, but I’m always glad to discover these kinds of interesting connections. I’m certainly thankful that Stisa was writing about the menorah at the same time I was studying about Enoch’s astronomy. I don’t know how else I would have tied these two symbols together.

The ‘astronomy of Enoch’ teaches us about the proper role of a prophet — receiver of knowledge of what will happen on earth, bearer of the holy heavenly light, witness of Christ, and guide of the faithful up the mountain along the covenant path back to the tree of life.

I began this post with the lyrics to a wonderful Christmas hymn. I’ll end with another Christmas symbol:

In this evergreen tree covered in candles with a great star at the top, I think of how the view from above would resemble planets orbiting the sun. From the side, I also now see prophets lighting the way to Christ.