NOAH AND THE FLOOD—CHIASM

This 10th Post accompanies Gospel Doctrine lesson 6. "Noah . . . Prepared an Ark to the Saving of His House".

The Flood story, in Genesis 6-9, is diagrammed in my Noah and the Flood—Chiasm article. This is the longest Hebrew Poem I've posted so far this year, and there are longer ones coming later.

One exercise I recommend is to compare the chiasm with the actual scriptures. Is there really a parallel structure in the story of Noah, or is this chiasm just the result of someone's feverish imagination?

Would you come up with the same structure if you tried to diagram it?

Noah Sacrificing by Anton Koch (1803).

Why are Genesis 6:4 (Nephilim) and Genesis 6:6 (God Grieved) paired? I have no idea. Let me warn you that if you Google Nephilim, you'll find so much speculative garbage and cow manure that you'll have to go rinse your eyes out. Don't waste any time on this nonsense.

You may be incensed by my statement that The Flood is allegorical. If you want to learn about some really big floods that actually did happen, right in our part of the world, start with Huge Floods in the Pacific Northwest by geologist Nick Zentner. If you find this interesting, Nick has lots of other videos on YouTube.

You are probably tired of all these "poems". Too bad, because a LOT of what I have for you in the weeks to come will be more of the same, piled higher and deeper.

I include this Noah and the Woodpecker cartoon to help make up for forcing you look at another stupid chiasm.

If you think this stuff is cool, or if you think I'm a twit, feel free to leave a comment.

Don't forget to read your Book of Mormon today.

CAIN AND ABEL—CHIASM

This 9th Post accompanies Gospel Doctrine lesson 5. "If Thou Doest Well, Thou Shalt Be Accepted".

Today's linked article shows a Hebrew poem about Cain and Abel found in Genesis 4.

Moses 5:2-3 tells us Adam and Eve had "sons and daughters" who "began to divide two and two in the land . . . and they also begat sons and daughters."

The births of Cain and Abel are not mentioned until verse 16. This suggests they were not the first children born to Adam and Eve.

Moses 5:28 tells us Cain married one of his nieces. They named their son Enoch.

In Moses 6:10 we read that Adam's great-great-great-great grandson was also named Enoch. If I did my arithmetic right, Enoch was born when Adam was 622 years old—well, 622 years after the fall, anyway. Enoch was the sixth generation after Adam, but you'll find some sources that say he was the fourth generation after Adam. Bless their hearts. That probably comes from Enoch being Adam's great-great-great-great grandson. Writers count those four greats and forget the grand and the son. Adam had reached middle age by then. He still had more than 300 years of mortality ahead of him.

Adam 130
Seth 105
Enos 90
Cainan 70
Mahalaleel 65
Jared 162
Enoch

I'd like to think that Abel had a wife and children when Cain slew him. But we are not told about Abel's posterity.

The Midrash tells us that Cain had a twin sister, and that Adam had triplet sisters. It says Cain married his twin and Abel married one of his triplets, and that the conflict between Cain and Abel arose over who should marry Abel's other triplet sister.

The painting below reflects the idea expressed in most commentaries that Abel was very young when he was murdered. That is one explanation for there being no mention of any descendants.

Cain Leadeth Abel to Death by James Tissot (1836-1902)

We are truly blessed to have modern scriptures and prophets to dispel so many false sectarian notions.

None of this has anything to do with the main idea in the Sunday School lesson, which is about the importance of obeying God’s commandments.

We are commanded to read the Book of Mormon.

LDS STAINED GLASS

This 8th Post is a follow-up to Post #7, about the Creation and Fall Chiasms. In that Post I included a couple of stained glass windows and my comment that "I've often wished we had beautiful stained glass windows in our churches. I'm certain there is a good reason why we don't. Maybe someone who reads this can bring me up to speed."

The First Vision - in the Palmyra, New York temple.

I posed a number of other questions: Why was Adam gazing at Eve in one of those windows, while Eve gazed at the serpent? Do angels have wings? Would Adam and Eve have been safe ten feet from a tiger after the fall? None of these gained any traction, which is what I've come to expect.

My comment about stained glass uncharacteristically elicited a number of responses. Emails were exchanged. Even though this has nothing to do with the Old Testament, I thought the answers were interesting enough to include them in The Use of Stained Glass in LDS Buildings.

Thanks for the comments and suggestions! This really made my day.

I hope you read your Book of Mormon today.

THE CREATION AND THE FALL—CHIASMS

This 7th post provides some "Bible as Literature" color for Gospel Doctrine lessons 3. The Creation of the Earth and 4. The Fall of Adam and Eve.

The scriptures are filled with a Hebrew poetic form known as Chiasmus.

Several simple examples are found in my article The Creation and the Fall—Chiasms.

This is just for fun, and is not intended to convey any special doctrinal message.

You should be reading your Book of Mormon every day: it is the most nearly perfect of any book!

I'll be posting more examples of Old Testament poetry in the weeks to come.

THE FALL OF ADAM AND EVE

This 6th post goes along with Gospel Doctrine lesson 4. "Because of My Transgression My Eyes are Opened".

In 1999 I put together a harmony of the scriptural accounts of The Fall of Adam and Eve.

About ten years before that, I collected quotes by general authorities about The Fall to try to better understand Eve, the conflicting commandments she and Adam were given, and the true nature of what happened in the Garden of Eden.

Many people believe The Fall was a mistake—a failure of God's Plan—and that the Atonement of Jesus Christ was needed as some kind of stop-gap fix. Many people have a very low opinion of Eve because of her part in The Fall.

I hope this article will clear up some of these misconceptions.

This is Thomas Cole's Expulsion from the Garden of Eden (c. 1828). Open this picture to see it in full size!

About two years after Cole painted the above painting, the Book of Mormon was published. I wonder if Cole ever read it? What about you?

THE PLAN OF SALVATION

Post #5 is my summary of The Plan of Salvation written as a three act play.

Try searching for "Plan of Salvation" in the Bible. You won't find it. This is one of the great doctrines of the Restoration. Read your Triple Combination to learn about it.

Handbook 2, section 18.6.1 tells us, "Teaching and testifying about the plan of salvation, particularly the Savior’s Atonement and Resurrection, is an essential purpose of the services associated with a Church member’s death", and "Funerals provide an important opportunity to teach the gospel and testify of the plan of salvation."

In 1996 Elder Boyd K. Packer said this to a group of BYU Students:

Another point of order: Bishops should not yield the arrangement of meetings to members. They should not yield the arrangement for funerals or missionary farewells to families. It is not the proper order of things for members or families to expect to decide who will speak and for how long. Suggestions are in order, of course, but the bishop should not turn the meeting over to them. We are worried about the drift that is occurring in our meetings.

Funerals could and should be the most spiritually impressive. They are becoming informal family reunions in front of ward members. Often the Spirit is repulsed by humorous experiences or jokes when the time could be devoted to teaching the things of the Spirit, even the sacred things.

When the family insists that several family members speak in a funeral, we hear about the deceased instead of about the Atonement, the Resurrection, and the comforting promises revealed in the scriptures. Now it's all right to have a family member speak at a funeral, but if they do, their remarks should be in keeping with the spirit of the meeting.

I have told my Brethren in that day when my funeral is held, if any of them who speak talk about me, I will raise up and correct them. The gospel is to be preached. I know of no meeting where the congregation is in a better state of readiness to receive revelation and inspiration from a speaker than they are at a funeral. This privilege is being taken away from us because we don't understand the order of things--the unwritten order of things--that relates to the administration of the Church and the reception of the Spirit.

One of my observations at most funerals is that the plan of salvation talk is either not given, or is given in a way that any non-members present could not possibly understand. At the most recent funeral I attended, one speaker said, "I bear testimony of the plan of salvation". That was the only reference to the plan I heard during the entire service.

When I finally kick the bucket, I sincerely hope someone is chosen to deliver a good plan of salvation talk, in language a less-active person or a non-member can understand. I'd also appreciate it if my favorite LDS song, Come, Come Ye Saints, was on the program. Anything else that happens at my funeral is unimportant.

THE CREATION OF THE EARTH

This 4th post is intended to go along with Old Testament Gospel Doctrine lesson 3, "The Creation".

In 1998 I prepared a handout about The Creation of the Earth for my Gospel Doctrine class.

I added the paintings more recently.

The image below reminds us of Abraham 3:24.

THE VISIONS OF ETERNITY

This 3rd post goes along with Old Testament Gospel Doctrine lessons 1 and 2, "This Is My Work and My Glory" and "Thou Wast Chosen Before Thou Wast Born".

In 1998 I was a Gospel Doctrine teacher. I prepared a handout about the Visions of Eternity for my class.

I think it is self-explanatory.

HOW I GOT STARTED

There are several ways to study the scriptures. One way is used in Gospel Principles class. Each week the lesson covers one SUBJECT. Another method is used in Gospel Doctrine class, where one SECTION OF SCRIPTURES is covered in each lesson.

In your personal scripture study you can read the scriptures like a novel, or you can take one subject, look up all the references to it in the Topical Guide, and search for quotes about the subject by general authorities. There are other approaches. The important thing is to actually DO something.

When I come to a word or a scripture I don't understand, I do a little research project and write up or compile my findings.

One of the first times I did this was on my mission in Uruguay, sometime between 1964 and 1966. I read a book by J. Reuben Clark, Jr., called Our Lord of the Gospels, which included a “harmony” of Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John.

I'd never seen a "harmony" before. I bought a couple of cheap Spanish New Testaments, cut them up, and pasted the verses in a pair of spiral notebooks. I got a great deal of insight out of comparing the four gospel accounts side-by-side like that. Above is part of a page from one of those notebooks. From left to right the verses are from Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John. The red number is the page in Talmage's Jesus the Christ that covers this material.

Over the half century since then, I’ve written, compiled, and collected hundreds of things like that, on every gospel topic. I've also collected other "harmonies". I'll include some of them from the Old Testament in future posts.

INTRODUCTION TO THIS BLOG

In 2018 we are studying the Old Testament in Gospel Doctrine class.

I'll follow the lessons in the LDS Gospel Doctrine Teacher's Manual.

You can also read the LDS Old Testament Student Manuals from Genesis to 2 Samuel and 1 Kings to Malachi.

My goal is to present material that the Gospel Doctrine lessons may not cover; the Bible as Literature, so to speak.

I hope you find these articles interesting.