Tag: 1 Nephi 8
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“From the blood of Abel unto the blood of Zacharias”
This curious phrase is used by Jesus as he condemns the lawyers who “load people with burdens hard to bear, and you yourselves do not lift a finger to ease them” (Luke 11:46, NRSV). I’ll be honest here in admitting that for most of my life, I’ve had an aversion to pondering the concept of…
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Nephi’s vision of the harlot
In my last post, I noted that Nephi’s description of his own vision carefully synthesizes elements from his father’s visions, adding layers of depth to his writings. In this post, I want to focus on one particular detail of Nephi’s vision, and look at what Lehi had to say on the same topic. We’ll begin…
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Nephi’s synthesis
Stisa and I often discover a new theme and then work together looking at various scriptures through the lens of that theme. Such is the current situation with the “bride/harlot” theme. His last two posts have looked at King Noah and Abinadi through the “bride/harlot” lens, and my last few posts have done the same…
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Thoughts on ‘wisdom’ and ‘joy’ — the two trees
It’s hard to read through the Book of Proverbs in the Old Testament without asking this question: what is ‘wisdom’? The Proverbs repeatedly admonish us to seek and cherish wisdom, personified as a female, above all else. 13 ¶ Happy is the man that findeth wisdom, and the man that getteth understanding. …35 The wise shall inherit glory: Proverbs 3 5 Get wisdom, get understanding: forget it not; neither decline from the…
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The Cosmic Mountain, Part 2
Part 1 of this series is found here. At the end of the last post, I promised to connect more scripture stories to the cosmic mountain. Below, I’ll lay out key quotes from each of these important passages, and invite you to read the full passage on your own time and ponder the common elements.…
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The Cosmic Mountain, Part 1
Buckle up. This series of posts is going to tie together ideas from many different places. When considered together, I can honestly say this set of ideas is by far the most important thing I’ve gained from several years of intense study of the Book of Mormon. To understand the significance of the cosmic mountain,…
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"Formless," "functionless" and "dark" — the connection between the pre-creation state, covenant rebellion, and the desert
Mortality is a place of co-existing contrasts held in tension by the agency of man. This is not a coincidence, it is by design: 24 And there stood one among them that was like unto God, and he said unto those who were with him: We will go down, for there is space there, and…
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Endowment Narratives in the Book of Mormon, Part 5
This post continues the exploration of an endowment pattern found throughout the Book of Mormon in which a new covenant group is formed and called by God to: leave the fallen world behind, enter into the wilderness, learn to be led by the hand of God, and find a promised land. In previous installments of…
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Lehi, Nephi and the shekinah — Part 5 (The Feasts of Tabernacles)
This is presumably the last post of this series. Here are links to Part 1 Part 2 Part 3 Part 4 In the last part, we read about the expanding tent and the feast for a covenant people in Isaiah 54 and Revelation 19-21 in the latter days. I mentioned that this can be viewed…
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"Chaneph" (×—Ö¸× Öµ×£) — defiling the heavenly pattern (part 1 of 3)
This three-part series of posts will hopefully accomplish three things: Unfold the meaning of \”chaneph,\” an important covenant-related Old Testament root. (this post) Demonstrate how a deeper understanding of biblical Hebrew can unlock meaning and connections between all books of holy scripture. This can be done with many different root words and concepts, but I\’ll…